REDEEMED! – part 2
Isaiah 43:1-44:5 (43:8-13)
March 10, 2024
THIS MORNING we started looking at this tremendous 43rd chapter here in Isaiah’s discourse to the Babylonian captives.
• We have been breaking up the sections,
• But surely by now you recognize that from Isaiah 40 through Isaiah 49 it is all one message.
• It is a great thesis by God to emphatically declare that there is no other Savior but Him.
Here we have started looking at the issue of REDEMPTION.
It means to be purchased or “bought back”.
This is the reason why Israel, despite her failures,
Can count on God bringing them back to their land.
This segment shows us 5 truths about God’s redemption.
This morning we saw:
#1 A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:1-7
We won’t recap it a lot, though I’d love to,
Because it is such a rich truth when we learn that God has redeemed us.
He has called us His.
• Because we are His, we are safe.
• Because we are His, we are precious.
• Because we are His, we are coming home.
People can fight and argue against God’s particular redemption
But the fact remains that God has done for His people
What He has not done for all people.
• In verse 3 that God had give up Egypt in order to save Israel.
• In verse 4 we saw that God will do it again with Babylon.
He purchased His people and because they are His,
THEY ARE COMING HOME.
It is a tremendous reminder to the church God also purchased
With His own blood that these promises are true for us as well.
We have been redeemed.
• He will never leave us no matter the trial.
• We are precious in His sight even in a corrupt world.
• There is no chance that He will not bring us home to be with Him.
He sought us. He bought us. He will have us.
But we also were able to barely touch on it this morning at the conclusion of the sermon…
And that is WHY God redeemed us.
We know that in Genesis 11 God scattered and separated all the peoples into new and segregated nations.
WHY?
Certainly we are aware of the false religion aspect of Babel.
• Babel represented a “works” based salvation.
• They were going to get to heaven through their own works, literally by building a tower to get there.
• Salvation has never been by works and God’s destruction of that tower definitively stated that.
But that is not all we learn from Babel.
When we follow the Genesis narrative
• We find that God separated and scattered all the nations
• That He might, from all those nations, choose one.
When we get to Genesis 12 we see who that will be.
Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
God selects Abraham.
Of all the nations that now are represented on planet earth,
THIS IS THE ONE THAT GOD HAS CHOSEN.
Wow! Abraham must be quite the specimen!
• The best genetics
• The best abilities
• The most faithful
• The heartiest and healthiest
• His wife must be remarkable
• Certainly he must have been seeking God
• Certainly he was righteous and pious
You would think wouldn’t you?
But when we meet this guy we find him to be
The absolute worst possible candidate.
If it was fantasy football and someone made you choose Abraham as your first and only pick, you’d be convinced you were coming in last place in your league.
He was old
He was idolatrous
His wife was old and barren
Before Genesis 12 is even over we find out that he is also not that faithful.
• He was told to leave his family, he brought his nephew
• He was told to go to the land, he departed for Egypt
• He passed off his wife and seemed of no account
And when Abraham finally did believe God
He then had a child with the wrong woman instead of patiently waiting.
But God continued to be faithful to this one He had chosen.
ABRAHAM WAS HIS.
• Abraham bore Isaac who also passed off his wife.
• Isaac bore Jacob who was a liar and a schemer.
• Jacob bore 12 sons who were mostly liars and murderous.
BUT THIS IS THE NATION GOD CHOSE.
This nation would go into Egypt, but God would redeem them.
God wouldn’t change His mind and pick the Egyptians.
God stuck with the Hebrews. They were His.
HE REDEEMED THEM.
WHY?
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
• God chose them because they were the lowest and the weakest.
• God chose them because in saving them He magnified His power and grace to save.
• GOD DID IT FOR HIS GLORY.
And just as we read this morning, the church also fits here.
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
Or the famous:
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
God saved us because we were the hardest to save.
God saved us because there would be no way a rabble like us
Could gather in a room and take credit for our own salvation.
He specifically chose to save those who most glorified Him to save.
And that is where we LEFT OFF THIS MORNING,
But it is also where WE MOVE FORWARD TONIGHT.
A Particular Redemption
#2 A PURPOSED REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:8-13
What we’re going to continue to see here is that
This redemption of God has a purpose.
God saves His people for His glory.
Now let’s break this segment down too a little.
1) THE CALL (8)
“Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, And the deaf, even though they have ears.”
THIS IS A REMARKABLE VERSE.
Isaiah here once again highlights
What is the most notable characteristic of the people of Israel.
All the way back in Isaiah 6 we learned this fitting truth about them; they have eyes but they can’t see and they have ears but they can’t hear.
Isaiah 6:9-10 “He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
• We talked about even how that is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament.
• It is just who Israel is.
• They are a blind and deaf people.
It was this spiritual blindness that got them deported in the first place.
• They wouldn’t see or listen to God.
• They instead turned to idols
• And God punished them with 70 years in Babylon.
But, as God promised in the first 7 verses,
They are still His people and just as He redeemed them from Egypt
He is also going to redeem them from Babylon.
SO THE CALL HERE IS:
“Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, And the deaf, even though they have ears.”
There is no confusion on God’s part here.
HE KNOWS WHO HE IS PURCHASING.
• He is redeeming a people who cannot save themselves.
• He is redeeming a people who will never find a way out of Babylon.
If you take a blind and deaf man
• And fly him around the world
• And randomly stick him in the middle of some massive city in a foreign country
• And leave him there,
What are the odds that he will make it back home?
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
When we talk about the doctrines of grace we don’t just talk about a particular atonement, we also talk about ABSOLUTE INABILITY.
We talk about people who can in no way save themselves.
Some call it – Total Depravity
• There is no way that Lazarus was going to pull himself out of that tomb.
• There is no way that Mary Magdalene was going to rid herself of her demons.
• There is no way that woman at the well was going to turn her life around.
And we understand why.
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
There is just no hope of them ever fixing their own problems.
And I would remind you that the issue IS NOT MORALITY.
Jesus taught us about morality.
Matthew 12:43-45 “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
• There we learn about a man who was able to moralize himself.
• He rid himself of his “demons”
• But he still wasn’t ok.
• That demon came back with more wicked demons and he ended up worse off than in the beginning.
That is the point.
We’re talking about people who are absolutely unable to save themselves.
Those Hebrews had no chance of walking out of Egypt on their own.
And now they had no chance of walking out of Babylon on their own.
They were blind and deaf and in a foreign land.
BUT THIS IS EXACTLY WHO GOD REDEEMS.
God saves those who cannot save themselves.
He redeems the blind and the deaf.
THIS IS UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
He is saving people who cannot save themselves and this is intentional.
There is a reason He has chosen the blind and the deaf.
HE GETS THE GLORY
But we also see here another doctrine of grace
Which we call EFFECTUAL CALL.
Here God calls them out.
“Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, And the deaf, even though they have ears.”
He calls them out of their bondage.
He calls them out of their slavery.
• Through Moses He told Pharaoh, “Let My people go.”
• Jesus yelled into the tomb, “Lazarus, Come forth!”
• And here God is doing the same in Babylon.
Bring my deaf and blind people out!
And as we saw up in verse 7, THEY ARE COMING.
Jesus DIDN’T come to make salvation potential.
What did He say?
Isaiah 42:6-7 “I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”
• Jesus come to seek and to save the lost.
• He came to save His people from their sins.
In that upper room He said:
John 17:4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”
And on the cross He cried:
John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”
You understand what we are talking about here.
1. We have the blind and the deaf (Absolute Inability)
2. God has chosen them knowing what they are (Unconditional Election)
3. Here He calls them out. (Effectual Call)
4. And as we learned this morning, it is because they are redeemed (Particular Redemption)
But we are looking at more than that here.
We want to see THE PURPOSE.
We want to see WHY God has done this.
The Call
2) THE CHALLENGE (9)
“All the nations have gathered together So that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them can declare this And proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified, Or let them hear and say, “It is true.”
Alright, remember that town-hall meeting we talked about back in chapter 41?
Remember how God challenged the idols the nations were trusting in to promise salvation like He did?
Isaiah 41:21-24 “Present your case,” the LORD says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.”
You are now seeing the same thing here.
• THERE, God challenged those idols to make promises of salvation to their people and they couldn’t.
• HERE God is calling His people out of bondage and He is asking the nations if their god is planning on doing that for them?
I’m here to save My people, is your god coming to save you?
God looks at all the nations who are also in Babylon and asks, “Who among them can declare this And proclaim to us the former things?”
What He is asking is this:
• What other god can tell Babylon to bring out their people?
• What other god can demand his people be set free?
“Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified, Or let them hear and say, “It is true.”
It is a great challenge from God.
• Let your false gods give evidence of just one delivered captive.
• Let your false gods present one witness whom they saved.
• Let them vindicate themselves by giving evidence of their salvation.
• Let that witness come forward and say, “It is true” my idol saved me.
And once again we have crickets.
Those people are stuck in Babylon.
• No god promised to come.
• No god came.
• And they aren’t going anywhere.
And the point is simple:
OUR GOD DOES WHAT NO OTHER GOD DOES.
I love when you read through the New Testament
And you get sort of an abbreviated testimony of God.
Call them: THEOLOGY NUGGETS
Paul loves to do this.
• He loves to mention God and then give just a short testimonial to His power.
• Let me show you.
Acts 14:15 “…God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM.”
Acts 15:8 “…God, who knows the heart”
Acts 17:24 “…God who made the world and all things in it”
Romans 3:5 “…God who inflicts wrath”
Romans 3:30 “…God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith”
Romans 4:17 “…God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”
Romans 9:16 “…God who has mercy.”
Romans 15:5 “…God who gives perseverance and encouragement”
1 Corinthians 3:7 “…God who causes the growth [of the church]”
1 Corinthians 12:6 “…God who works all things in all persons.”
1 Corinthians 15:57 “…God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Corinthians 1:9 “…God who raises the dead;”
2 Corinthians 2:14 “…God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”
2 Corinthians 5:5 “…God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.”
2 Corinthians 5:18 “…God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,”
2 Corinthians 7:6 “…God, who comforts the depressed”
Ephesians 3:9 “…God who created all things;”
1 Thessalonians 2:4 “…God who examines our hearts.”
1 Thessalonians 2:12 “…God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
1 Thessalonians 4:8 “…God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”
1 Timothy 4:10 “…God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.”
1 Timothy 6:13 “…God, who gives life to all things”
Titus 1:2 “…God, who cannot lie”
James 1:5 “…God, who gives to all generously and without reproach”
1 Peter 1:21 “…God, who raised [Jesus] from the dead and gave Him glory”
Revelation 1:8 “…God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 7:10 “…God who sits on the throne,”
Revelation 15:7 “…God, who lives forever and ever.”
And the question in Isaiah would be to the nations:
Does anyone else have a god who can say the same?
He does what no other god can do.
And top on His list is redemption.
• He purchases His people out of their bondage and out of their sin.
• He saves His people from their sins.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
John 8:36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
No other would-be savior can do that!
The Call, The Challenge
3) THE CONCLUSION (10-13)
Start with the opening two lines of verse 10.
(10a) “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen.”
In verse 9 God challenged the idols to “present their witnesses” to prove that they had saving power.
• They could produce no one.
Now God turns around and says, “You are My witnesses”.
• It is God saying, “Behold: EXHIBIT A”
• Here is My evidence that I am a Redeemer.
• Look at that train of people leaving Egypt!
• Look at those captives leaving Babylon!
• Look at those who were once slaves of sin now walking in righteousness!
If you want to know if I am a Redeemer,
Then look at those whom I have redeemed.
Paul told the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 3:1-3 “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
Paul’s apostleship was being questioned and he asked if he needed to bring letters of commendation to prove that he was a true apostle?
• Then he said, “You are our letter!”
• Your transformed life is the evidence that we are genuine apostles.
Jesus told us:
Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
• You know a prophet by the converts he produces.
And God uses that same criteria here.
LOOK AT MY FRUIT!
My redeemed servant exiting Babylon is proof that I am a Savior!
• It is even more impressive when you remember that My servant is blind and deaf
• And there is no way they could come out if I hadn’t brought them out.
And the purpose of this demonstration?
“So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He.”
• I am saving the most helpless.
• I am saving the most hopeless.
• I am saving them totally and perfectly
So that one thing will be obvious:
I AM A SAVIOR.
It was John Newton (Author of Amazing Grace) who said:
“Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
THAT IS THE POINT!
Romans 3:21-27 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.”
We have men and women who have been totally transformed and absolutely set free from their sin.
• They are a new creation.
• They are sinners turned saints.
• They are not even recognizable according to their former reputation.
And at the end of the day when we witness their redemption
NO ONE IS ABLE TO SAY,
“Now there is a man who turned his life around.”
God saves those who cannot save themselves
So that He is credited as a great and powerful and gracious savior.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
You get the point!
God redeems men for a purpose and that purpose is His glory.
And look at the things GOD MAKES KNOWN ABOUT HIMSELF
By reason of His redemption.
Last two lines of verse 10:
“Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.”
He is ALWAYS GOD
• He has always been God and He will always be God.
• He does not stand on the shoulders of some other god who passed the torch to Him.
• He will not pass the baton to some other deity who will finish the job.
From Alpha to Omega, the first and the last,
The eternal God has always been God and He will always be God.
He alone bears the title and He is the only One who ever will.
(11) “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me.”
He is always God
And He is THE ONLY SAVIOR
What other deity ever delivered its people from Egypt or Babylon or sin or the grave?
Even Sennacherib asked as he stood outside of Jerusalem:
2 Kings 19:12 “Did the gods of those nations which my fathers destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?”
And the answer was no.
Jesus reminded us:
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
The apostles proclaimed:
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
No one else is coming.
No one else will save.
No other god can deliver.
There is no other savior.
(12) “it is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And I am God.”
He is always God.
He is the only savior.
And He is ALL-SUFFICIENT
When God saved His people He didn’t need any help.
He’s not like the Avengers
Who need a team of super heroes around them to win a battle.
• He recruited no other deity to help him deliver his people from Egypt.
• He’ll need no help getting His people out of Babylon.
• And when it came time to save His people from their sin, His own arm did it all.
Isaiah 63:5 “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me.”
You will NEVER once find a time in history or in the future
Where God will save anyone and then look at the person He saved
And say, “We did it!”
Over the past several weeks I have watched several theological debates between Calvinists and Provisionists (Arminians).
And it is utterly repulsive to me how those Provisionists refuse to credit God alone for salvation.
• It’s always man.
• It’s always his believing.
• It’s always his responding.
They suppose when sinners get to heaven
That they and God will high-five
As though they were great teammates in the plan of salvation.
NO!!!
Sinners who enter heaven will fall on their knees
And proclaim that Jesus Christ alone saved
And He didn’t need their help to do it!
Revelation 5:9-10 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
No other god helped Him.
No sinners helped Him.
No apostle helped Him.
GOD DID IT.
Mark 4:26-29 “And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. “The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. “But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
He needed no help, He is all-sufficient!
(13) “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
He is always God.
He is the only savior.
He is all-sufficient
He is NEVER FAILING
There is no rival who can undo or thwart God’s plan of salvation.
We call this: PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS
Jesus said:
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
John 6:39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
Those whom He purchased He will have.
Those whom He redeemed will stay redeemed.
Those who are His will always be His.
• No one can stop it.
• No one can thwart it.
• No one can reverse it.
HE IS THE ONLY TRUE REDEEMER.
The reason He redeemed you was to prove that to you and to the world!
• He didn’t need your help.
• He isn’t afraid of any opposition.
• He came to save sinners.
• He purchased them by Himself with His own blood.
• He calls them out of their tombs
• He redeems them and saves them and saves them forever.
AND NO ONE ELSE CAN TAKE ANY CREDIT FOR IT!
He is the Redeemer
We are the redeemed
We are merely the evidence that He is the all-glorious saving God.
IT IS A PURPOSED REDEMPTION
