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REDEEMED! – part 4
Isaiah 43:1-44:5 (43:22-28)
March 17, 2024

Thomas Watson said
“Great was the work of creation, but greater the work of redemption. It cost more to redeem us than to make us. In the one, there was but the speaking of a word. In the other, there was shedding blood. The creation was but the work of God’s fingers. Redemption is the work of His arm.”
https://gracequotes.org/author-quote/thomas-watson/

And this is the very topic we discuss here in Isaiah 43.
• The glorious redemption of God
• That we, as sinners have been redeemed.

It is a term that means to “buy back”
• It is what God did for Israel as slaves in Egypt.
• It is what God is promising to do again for Israel out of Babylon.
• Ultimately it is what God did for us through Christ on the cross.

We have been redeemed.
We have been bought back by God.
We have been rescued from our slavery to sin and set free.

And as Thomas Watson put it,
This is the great work of the saving arm of God.

This being our 4th visit to this 43rd chapter you are certainly familiar with the points that we have covered regarding this great redemption of God.

#1 A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:1-7

Namely that God has not redeemed all men, but only His people.
• He gave Egypt as a ransom for Israel.
• And the glorious reality of this redemption is that God can say, “You are Mine!”

We have been bought with a price.

#2 A PURPOSED REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:8-13

Namely that this redemption is for the glory of God.
• He redeems the blind and the deaf so that He alone gets glory as a genuine Redeemer.
• No one else can do what God has done or will do.

#3 A PROMISING REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:14-21

We saw this one this morning,
That our focus in redemption is not simply backward remembering what God has done.

(Certainly that is a glorious view.)

But we also take note of
• What God is currently doing for us even in this wicked world
• And even more we gaze upon what God has promised to do.

We do not look just at this city, but the city which is to come.

We saw this morning how God called His people to flee Babylon,
Just as we are called not to love this world.

We are to be a people like the saints of old:

Hebrews 11:15-16 “And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 13:14 “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”

God has promised us a better city.

And all of this is linked to God’s redemption.
For on the cross the redemption of Jesus was secured.
• Forgiveness of sin and Reconciliation to God.
• Freedom from sin and Sanctification before God.
• Total separation from sin and a glorified inheritance with Christ.

Ephesians 1:7-12 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.”

So as we think about the redemption of God
It is appropriate to think about
• What we have been redeemed from
• What we have been redeemed for.
• And even Who we have been redeemed for.

We have been redeemed that we might go and spend eternity
With our heavenly Father to whom we have been redeemed.

We are purchased sons being brought home to our Father.

This is a promising redemption.

Well tonight, let’s look at a 4th aspect of God’s redemption.

#4 A PERSISTENT REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:22-28

Thus far, everything we have studied in this chapter
Has been quite UPLIFTING and ENCOURAGING.

Because everything has been about God’s response to sinful man.
• We have God redeeming.
• We have God delivering.
• We have God promising.

But when we get to verse 22 we come to THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM.

And the issue we are now confronted with is
Israel’s total unworthiness and perhaps even unwillingness
To be redeemed by God.

There is something in the prideful heart of man that still likes to believe that deep down we were redeemed because we deserved it.

I see arguments to this end all the time.
Just go on social media and type in the phrase:
• “I believe in total depravity and unconditional election” and you’ll meet those people too.

And it’s not just the unredeemed.
You’ll find yourself in a hotbed of rebuttal from evangelical people who do not believe:
• Man is fallen in Adam
• Spiritually dead
• Chosen of God for salvation

They will argue with you tooth and nail that:
• Man is born innocent and only falls into sin
• Man is not spiritually dead, but has the inner capacity for faith
• Man chooses God and is therefore saved

IN SHORT, WHAT THEY BELIEVE
(though none will admit it like this)
Is that man is redeemed because he desires and deserves redemption.

It is either because
• He is so worthy that God is obligated to save him

Or at the very least because
• He is so virtuous that he made the right decision to let God save him.

There are many in evangelicalism who believe that
God redeems those who cooperate with His work of redemption.
(God helps those who help themselves)
They categorically reject what they call “determinism”,
That God elects and chooses and determines redemption.
And that the only reason men believe and are redeemed
Is because He granted them the faith to believe.

And this is nothing but human pride.
This is nothing but man seeking to squeeze out some piece of credit for his own salvation.

We know that redemption is all for the glory of God.
• It is to prove that He is the Savior,
• Not that we were worth saving
• Or that we helped Him in any way.

This is why He saved the weak and the foolish and the base,
So that no one could boast before Him.

WE’VE SEEN ALL THAT.

And yet, men still argue tooth and nail that
God’s redemption is the synergistic work of God and man
As opposed to the work of God alone.

But that view is severely damaged by the text we study tonight,
For in our text we run into a massive problem.

And the problem is this:
ISRAEL ISN’T COOPERATING WITH GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION

TONIGHT, as we look at this next segment of verses
I want to show you that the only reason people like Israel or people like us
End up being redeemed is not because we are so persistent to obtain it,
But because God is so persistent to accomplish it.

So let’s break this down a little tonight.

1) THE DILEMMA (22-24)

“Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; But you have become weary of Me, O Israel. “You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you with incense. “You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, Nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities.”

Everyone who wants to hold to the view that
Redemption occurs as a result of our believing
Is going to have problems here.

For clearly all of Isaiah 43 has been about God’s redeeming Israel.

Isaiah 43:1 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

But here we find
That these people whom God is redeeming ARE NOT COOPERATING.

“Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob…”

If you think that
• God’s salvation hinges upon the sinner finding faith from somewhere inside himself
• And then exercising the faith he created
• Then we have a problem here.

Now, IT IS TRUE what we read in Romans 10:13
Romans 10:13 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

That is totally true and we absolutely believe it.
• WE BELIEVE that if any person anywhere at any time will simply call on
Jesus that they will be saved.
• WE DO NOT BELIEVE in some sort of double pre-destination where God
handpicked people to go to hell whom He would not save even if they
wanted to be.

NOT AT ALL!

God is gracious and good and generous and merciful
There isn’t a sinner on earth, who if they called on Jesus this very moment that He wouldn’t save them completely.

That has always been true.

The problem is not that God won’t save men who call.
The problem is that NO ONE WILL CALL!

And we see that here of Israel.

When Jeremiah spoke of the purpose of the exile he was very clear:
Jeremiah 29:10-13 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

That’s pretty straightforward isn’t it.
• God will send you to Babylon for your sin.
• His plan is to bring you back.
• When you call on Him and seeking Him with all your heart.
• He will bring you home.

And so men like to read that and make some conclusions:
1. It must be within their ability to repent and call or else God wouldn’t require it.
2. God knows they just need a little pressure to cause their calling.
3. So God sends them to Babylon to create the needed pressure.
4. They then call and God redeems.

I had a conversation the other day with a man
Who was arguing for this very notion.

HE WAS ARGUING AGAINST ELECTION:
He used the prodigal as his example
• And spoke of how the father didn’t travel to get the son,
• But rather the prodigal returned to the father.

And His point was that it was the prodigal’s decision.

I simply asked:
• “I wonder what made him come to his senses?”

That’s what Luke 15:17 says:
Luke 15:17 “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!”

His response was:
• “Hunger and the smell of pigs will do that to you.”

He is reflecting the point that the choice to be saved
Was in the ability of the prodigal,
He just needed enough outside pressure.

I responded:
• “Wonder why it doesn’t do it for everyone?”

His response was:
• “I don’t think determinism is the answer.”

In other words, he doesn’t know why all sinners don’t respond in bad situations he just knows I’m wrong.

He then passed the story off as a parable and said, “It’s a wonder Calvin didn’t try to have this passage deleted from the Bible.”

But you get the idea.
There’s a common view that all God does is provide the pressure
But it is men who do the changing and calling and returning, etc.

But Isaiah reveals that we have a DILEMMA.
THEY AREN’T CALLING!

If you hold to a man-centered view of redemption
Then we have here a people who cannot be redeemed.

For how can God redeem someone who won’t call on Him?
• How can God redeem a sinner who isn’t interested in leaving his sin?
• How can God save a prodigal who actually likes the smell of pigs?

THAT IS ISRAEL HERE.

And it gets worse.

“Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; But you have become weary of Me, O Israel.”

Not only are they not calling on God save them in Babylon,
They are actually sick and tired of having to deal with God there.

That is NOT a people who are interested in salvation.
That is NOT a people who are interested in redemption.

And it continues:
(23) “You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.”

• That is to say you have totally dropped the ball on sacramental worship.
• You are sick of the burden of worship.

The “burnt offerings” were for the atonement of man’s sin.
• When you sin and you knew it,
• You brought the offering to God as an act of repentance
• And as a plea for propitiation.

The problem here is that these people weren’t bringing it.
WHY?

THEY WEREN’T LOOKING FOR FORGIVENESS FROM GOD
• They weren’t seeking atonement
• They weren’t seeking repentance
• They weren’t seeking redemption

It was too much work.
They’d rather have their goat than God’s favor.

And Isaiah continues:
“I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you with incense.”

That is to say that God’s requirements were hardly over the top.
It’s NOT like God was asking for more than what was reasonable.

The death of a goat for the remission of your sin
Seems like quite a lenient price.

And yet, the people were sick of bringing it and had stopped.
• It sounds like in Malachi’s day when people were bringing the sick and the crippled and the lame to God.

(24) “You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, Nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices;”

There are no love offerings coming from you.
• No good will offerings.
• No thank offerings.
• No blessings or giving at all.

“Rather you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities.”

• All you bring Me is your sin.
• All you bring Me is your iniquity.

DO YOU SEE THE DILEMMA?

Chapter 43 is all about
God’s promise of redemption to His people Israel who are exiled in a foreign land.

Jeremiah told us that if they would call on God He would redeem them.

But here we have a major problem.
• THEY AREN’T CALLING
• THEY AREN’T INTERESTED
• THEY DON’T WANT SALVATION
• THEY AREN’T LOOKING FOR REDEMPTION
• THEY WANT THEIR SIN

In short, they are unworthy of redemption.

If any part of this redemption is up to them,
Then it’s not going to happen.

J.I. Packer spoke about the difference between the Arminian and the Calvinistic redemption.

For instance when dealing with election:
“God’s act of election was defined by the Arminians as a resolve to receive to sonship and glory a duly qualified class of people – believers in Christ…Where the Arminian says: “I owe my election to my faith,” the Calvinist says: “I owe my faith to my election.”
(Owen, John [The Death of Death In The Death of Christ; The Banner of Truth Trust; Carlisle, PA 2020] pg.7)

Or consider their view of atonement:
“Christ’s work of redemption was defined by the Arminians as the removing of an obstacle (the unsatisfied claims of justice) which stood in the way of God’s offering pardon to sinners, as He desired to do, on condition that they believe. Redemption, according to Arminianism, secured for God a right to make this offer, but did not of itself ensure that anyone would ever accept it; for faith being the work of man’s own, is not a gift that comes to him from Calvary. Christ’s death created an opportunity for the exercise of saving faith, but that is all it did…Whereas the Arminian will only say: “I could not have gained my salvation without Calvary,” the Calvinist will say: “Christ gained my salvation for me at Calvary.”
(ibid)

You see the difference and the problem.
If you’re going to place the possibility of redemption
• On the condition of man seeking it
• Or trusting in it of his own volition
• Then we have a problem.

Now, WE DO NOT DENY that man must believe.
Nor do we deny that man must call.
Nor do we deny that man must repent.

Surely he must do those things if he is to be saved.

But what we also acknowledge is that
Those whom God has chosen to redeem
Will never do that of their own accord.

And you see that here in Isaiah 43:22
It is a massive dilemma.

Here we find that
These people aren’t just blind and deaf, they want to be.
• They don’t seek redemption.
• They don’t deserve redemption.

And that is true for all of humanity.
Romans 3:11 “THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;”

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.”

YOU KNOW ALL OF THAT.
But that is the dilemma clearly seen here.

But then we return to the good news.

2) THE DECLARATION (25)

“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.”

So we find out that Israel isn’t interested in redemption.
• We find out they aren’t calling.
• We find out they aren’t repenting.
• We find out they aren’t seeking.

SO IS IT OVER? NO!!!

WHY?
BECAUSE GOD’S REDEMPTION IS PERSISTENT.

God here declares that
In spite of her rebellion and resistance and total lack of concern for salvation
That they will be redeemed.

• God is still going to “wipe out your transgressions”
• God is still declares that He “will not remember your sins”

WHY?
“for My own sake”

What does that mean?
• That God was lonely and needed us?
• That God just couldn’t stand for us to be judged?

NO – NO – 1,000 TIMES NO!

What did we say is the purpose of redemption?
GOD’S GLORY!

I will redeem you for My glory.
In one sense we might say that God announces here that
ISRAEL IS COMING WHETHER THEY WANT TO OR NOT.

We call this God’s Effectual Call or perhaps you have heard it as, “Irresistible Grace”

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.”

Well how does that work?

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 36:16-32

Do you see what God reveals there through Ezekiel?
• God said that in order to be redeemed they would have to seek Him and call on Him.
• But we saw that they don’t want to do that.

So what will God do?

HE WILL GIVE THEM A NEW HEART AND CAUSE THEM TO CALL.
• He will transform them.
• He will regenerate them.
• He will make men who don’t want to seek start seeking.
• He will make men who don’t want forgiveness want forgiveness.
• He will take men who have no faith and give them faith.

He will make prodigals “come to their senses”

Redemption is not the result of sinners persistently seeking salvation it is the result of God persistently seeking sinners.

It was Jesus who went seeking for that 1 lost sheep.

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Romans 10:20 “And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.”

Even earlier in Ezekiel 34:
Ezekiel 34:11-16 “For thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. “As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. “I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. “I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. “I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord GOD. “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.”

Or just take the words of Jesus:
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

John 6:68-70 “Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”

And you see all of that here.

God is approaching a people who don’t even want redemption
And He is boldly declaring that I am redeeming you.

I am going to “wipe out your transgressions”.
“I will not remember your sins.”

BECAUSE YOU ARE MINE!
• He purchased them.
• He bought them.
• And He is persistent about redeeming them.

Do you want to know why you are saved?
Do you want to know why you are redeemed?

• It is not because you so persistently sought God.
• It is not because you had more natural faith than the rest.
• It is not because you hate the smell of pigs more than the rest.

It is because God chose to redeem you and His redemption is persistent.
HE SOUGHT AND AWAKENED YOU TO CALL ON HIM.
So that neither you nor I can sit here tonight
And take even a shred of credit for our redemption.

GOD DID IT.
He declared that He would save them in spite of them.

There is one more point here:

3) THE DEPOSITION (26-28)

“Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together; State your cause, that you may be proved right. “Your first forefather sinned, And your spokesmen have transgressed against Me. “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary, And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement.”

Here God sits down with Israel for a formal deposition.
Let’s have a cross-examination.

God says, “Let us argue our case together; state your cause, that you may be proved right.”

God is here going to prove that Israel’s redemption is
TOTALLY UNDESERVED.

Let’s look at the PATRIARCHS:
“Your first forefather sinned”

Who was that?
Abraham

• Abraham was a God-seeker right?
• Abraham had faith right?
• Abraham was a man of impeccable character right?

Have you read Genesis?
• God approached Abraham.
• God called Abraham.
• God chose Abraham.
• God protected Abraham.

Abraham was a sinner.
But God was persistent about redeeming him.
• Even when he fled the promised land during famine.
• Even when he passed off his wife as his sister (twice)
• Even when he had an affair with Hagar.
• Even when he wanted Ishmael to be the heir.

God was persistent, and we could go on and on
With Isaac and Jacob and Jacob’s sons.

None of the patriarchs deserved to be redeemed by God.

Then God talks about the PRIESTS and the PROPHETS.
“And your spokesmen have transgressed against Me.”

Surely those men of God deserved to be saved.
• Have you read about those men?
• Show me one without sin.

Elijah questioned God’s plan, Elisha had a temper, Isaiah had unclean lips,
Jeremiah was a pouter, Ezekiel was oblivious at times.

God said this about them as a whole:
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 22:23-31

DO YOU SEE IT?
• There has never been anyone who deserved God’s redemption.

No, what Israel deserved was exile and banishment
And that is what she received.

(28) “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary, And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement.”

• God is referencing what Israel deserved.
• God is revealing that exile was exactly what they should have received.

And He challenges them here to prove otherwise.
DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU DESERVED REDEMPTION?

(26) “Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together…”

AND THE WHOLE POINT HERE IS SIMPLE.

• You are not being redeemed because you deserved redemption.
• You are not being redeemed because you asked for redemption.
• You are not being redeemed because you wanted redemption.

You are being redeemed because I persistently chose to redeem you.

Isaiah 43:1 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

God redeems undeserving sinners.
And He is persistent about it.

AREN’T WE GRATEFUL FOR THAT!
• His redemption is stronger than human will.
• His redemption can overcome human unbelief.
• His redemption can overcome human obstinacy.
• He can change the leper’s spots.
• He can melt the heart of stone.

And He does that for all those He redeems.

Don’t you dare
• Seek to take credit for your redemption.
• Try to stand on the podium next to God and talk about your great faith or your great worth.

We are redeemed because God chose to redeem us
And no manner of our stubborn will could stop Him.

AND PRAISE GOD FOR THAT!

If you are redeemed know that
God has redeemed you with a persistent redemption.

BUT WHAT IF YOU AREN’T REDEEMED?
Any time we talk about this certainly it is possible that someone here could say,
• “But does this mean I am not chosen?”
• “Does this mean God didn’t want me?”

WHAT HAVE WE SAID?
• That if you call, He will save you.
• If you call, He will redeem you.

Could it be that your very concern is evidence
That God has this very moment now caused you to want salvation
When before tonight you never wanted it before?

Could it be that this very hour He has done a work in your heart
To cause you desire forgiveness and freedom from sin
When you never desired it before?

I would tell you that it’s as simple as this:
• Do you want to be redeemed?
• Do you want to be one of the elect?
• Then cry out to Jesus!

Answering this very issue J.I. Packer wrote:
“look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry to Christ, just as you are; confess your sin, your impenitence, your unbelief, and cast yourself upon His mercy; ask Him to give you a new heart, working in you true repentance and firm faith; ask Him to take away your evil heart of unbelief and to write His law within you, that you may never henceforth stray from Him. Turn to Him and trust Him as best you can, and pray for grace to turn and trust more thoroughly; use the means of grace expectantly, looking to Christ to draw near to you as you seek to draw near to Him; watch, pray, read and hear God’s Word, worship and commune with God’s people, and so continue till you know in yourself beyond doubt that you are indeed a changed being, a penitent believer, and the new heart which you desired has been put within you…Do not postpone action till you think you are better, but honestly confess your badness and give yourself up here and now to the Christ who alone can make you better; and wait on Him till His light rises in your soul, as Scripture promises that it shall do.”
(Owen, John [The Death of Death In The Death of Christ; The Banner of Truth Trust; Carlisle, PA 2020] pg.21-22)

John Owen, who was one of the staunchest proponents of particular redemption in the history of the church wrote:
“This is somewhat of the word which he now speaks unto you; Why will ye die? Why will ye perish? Why will ye not have compassion on your own souls? Can your hearts endure, or can your hands be strong, in the day of wrath that is approaching?…Look unto me, and be saved; come unto me, and I will ease you of all sins, sorrows, fears, burdens, and give rest unto your souls. Come, I entreat you; lay aside all procrastinations, all delays; put me off no more; eternity lies at the door…do not so hate me as that you will rather perish than accept deliverance by me. “These and the like things doth the Lord Christ continually declare, proclaim, plead and urge upon the souls of sinners…He does it in the preaching of the word, as if he were present with you, stood amongst you, and spake personally to every one of you…He hath appointed the ministers of the gospel to appear before you, and to deal with you in his stead, avowing as his own the invitations which are give you in his name, 2 Cor. v. 19,20…the message to be delivered is simply this – that Christ Jesus, the sovereign Lord, who died for sinners, now invites sinners freely to Himself.”
(ibid. pg. 18-19)

TONIGHT CHURCH
RUN TO JESUS WHO REDEEMED US
• Even when we were undeserving and disinterested.
• And praise Him for being more persistent about redemption than you were about sin.
• Where sin increased grace abounded all the more.

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REDEEMED! – part 3
Isaiah 43:1-44:5 (43:14-21)
March 17, 2024

John MacArthur shared this story in a sermon on redemption:
“I remember when I was a little boy I read a book, a little book. It left an indelible impression upon my mind. It was about a little boy who made a little boat. He got some pieces of wood and he kind of carved them out and glued them together and made a little boat and put a little mast on it and made a little sail and attached it to the boat, and worked very hard with his little tools and produced what to him was a very special little sailboat, and painted it up the way he wanted it. Went down to the lake nearby to sail it. It was carried along, however, by a strong breeze and eventually got beyond his reach and then it went out of sight. He was sad about losing this little prize of his own craftsmanship. And later walking through the little town he lived in he noticed it was for sale in the window of a shop. He went in and told the shopkeeper that it was his and he tried to lay claim to it. He was not believed, however, and the man behind the counter demanded that if he wanted it he’d have to pay for it. He’d have to buy the very boat that he had made with his own hands. He went home, broke open his little piggy bank and found that he had just enough money. So he returned to the shop, put the money on the counter and bought back his little boat. It was surely his then, twice his, he said, because he not only made it but he redeemed it.”
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-200/the-basics-of-redemption

Well that’s the concept we are talking about here in Isaiah 43.
We are talking about being REDEEMED!

We are seeing not only what redemption is, but even more specifically
We are seeing who it’s for, and what it does.

As you know,
• Isaiah is preaching prophetically to a people who will live over 100 years after him.
• He is preaching specifically to those who will be exiles in Babylon as a result of their idolatry before God.
• Those captives, no doubt were concerned that God had totally abandoned them and rejected them.

But nothing could be farther from the truth.
And the reason is because they had been redeemed.

Isaiah 43:1 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

• Certainly Israel had been exiled.
• Certainly Israel was being disciplined by God.
• Certainly they deserved it.

But that never meant that God was finished with them,
Or that that He had somehow forgotten them.

On the contrary, He had redeemed them.

We know the same to be true for the church.
Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace”

Colossians 1:13-14 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Hebrews 9:11-12 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Like Israel, we have been redeemed.

When Isaiah starts speaking about the benefits of redemption
To those captives in Babylon,
We are also very interested to learn about it.

• We want to know what this redemption is.
• We want to know who it is for.
• We want to know what it does.

And that is what we are learning here in Isaiah 43.

As we said from the outset, there are 5 realities of redemption
That we want to look at here in Isaiah 43 and the first 5 verses of 44.

We saw the first one last Sunday morning:
#1 A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:1-7

In that we mean that God didn’t universally redeem all people,
But He totally and effectively and powerfully redeemed His people.

If you try to hold to a universal redemption
Then you strip the very work of redemption of all its power.

Because it then becomes a redemption that can’t save.

When you see that Christ died to redeem everyone,
But not everyone ends up saved
Then clearly it is a redemption that can’t redeem without help.

And though we listed several problems with that,
THE ONE WE FOCUS ON here is the great disservice that does to the confidence of those who are redeemed.

Church you need to understand the benefits of a particular redemption.

Isaiah taught us that God’s redemption was NOT universal.
IN FACT God gave up Egypt to redeem Israel.

Isaiah 43:3 “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.”

Clearly God redeemed Israel, not Egypt.
• But what God did for Israel was totally effective and powerful.
• He brought them out with a mighty hand…all of those whom He had redeemed.

So God’s redemption is limited to a particular people,
But we also now know that it is a powerful redemption
To totally save everyone it is for.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING as someone who Christ redeemed
Who does not enjoy the full benefits of redemption (salvation).

Christ’s redemption is a powerful redemption!
• Those He purchases are His.
• He does not abandon them or forget them.
• It is a particular redemption.

We know that as those who have been redeemed, Christ will have us.
1. We are His!
2. We are Safe!
3. We are Precious!
4. We are Returning!

Charles Spurgeon once said on this issue:
“We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved.”
(Owen, John [The Death of Death In The Death of Christ; The Banner of Truth Trust; Carlisle, PA 2020] pg.14)

We do not say that God redeemed every man,
But those He did redeem are actually and totally redeemed indeed!

“He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood!”

“From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride, with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.”

J.I. Packer wrote:
“Redemption, according to Arminianism, secured for God a right to make this offer, but did not of itself ensure that anyone would ever accept it…Christ’s death created an opportunity for the exercise of saving faith, but that is all it did…Calvinists, however, define redemption as Christ’s actual substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners, through which God was reconciled to them, their liability to punishment was forever destroyed, and a title to eternal life was secured for them. In consequence of this, they now have in God’s sight a right to the gift of faith, as the means of entry into the enjoyment of the inheritance. Calvary, in other words, not merely made possible the salvation of those for whom Christ died; it ensured that they would be brought to faith and their salvation made actual. The cross saves. “Where as the Arminian will only say: “I could not have gained my salvation without Calvary,” the Calvinist will say: “Christ gained my salvation for me at Calvary.”
(ibid. pg. 7)

Amen to that!
“Jesus paid it all! All to Him I owe! Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

He has redeemed us! We are His!
He bought us! We are His!
He will not be without those whom He has purchased.

It is a particular redemption.

#2 A PURPOSED REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:8-13

This we saw Sunday night.
That the purpose of our redemption is the glory of God.

We saw that Israel was nothing but blind and deaf sinners, but God CALLED them out anyway.
• ABSOLUTE INABILITY
• UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
• EFFECTUAL CALL

We saw that God then CHALLENGED the false gods to show even one person whom they had been able to redeem.

Of course they could not.

We saw the CONCLUSION of the matter.
Isaiah 43:10-13 “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. “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. “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

There we were reminded that God’s redemption cannot be resisted or undone. If He redeems you, no one can reverse it.
• PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS

In short God does it all, without any aid from the sinner.

It demonstrates that God alone is God and that He alone can save.
THE PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION IS THE GLORY OF GOD.

We receive the benefits and blessings of redemption,
But the glory of it is all His!

It is a Particular redemption and it is a Purposed redemption

This morning let’s look at the third aspect of this redemption.

#3 A PROMISING REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:14-21

That is to say that benefits and blessings of redemption
Extend even into promises for the future.

When we speak of having been redeemed
• We DON’T JUST boast in what God has done for us,
• We ALSO anticipate what God has promised still to do.

Redemption has blessings remembered from the past,
But also anticipated in the future.

And this is the direction Isaiah takes his congregation in these 8 verses.

Here God speaks about His work on Israel’s behalf.

1) WHAT I AM DOING (14-15)

“Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And will bring them all down as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice. “I am the LORD, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.”

NOTICE FIRST: the way in which God here addresses Himself to His people in exile.

When we began the chapter in verse 1
God introduced Himself as “Creator” and “He who formed you”.

We noted how those titles are true, but they are also true of every man.
• God created all men.
• God formed all nations.

BUT NOW God has moved to that more glorious title
Which is reserved only for those whom He has saved.

To them we read, “Thus says the LORD your Redeemer”

God is your Creator, but for us He is more, He is also our Redeemer
Just like the boy with the sail boat, we are doubly His for He made us and bought us

We even find great joy in the second title whereby God reveals Himself as “the Holy One of Israel”

• Not just the Holy One, but Israel’s Holy One.
• We are His, but He is also ours.

It just reminds us yet again of
The personal and particular nature of God’s redemption.

I cannot stress it enough.
It is NOT just some universal indifferent powerless redemption where God redeems all but may or may not have them.

• There is a relationship here.
• There is an intimacy here.
• We are His and He is ours because He has redeemed us.

You see that language throughout.

And here we take a step forward
To see WHAT GOD IS DOING on behalf of His redeemed.

“For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And will bring them all down as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice.”

What is God speaking about here?
He is speaking about His current mission to overthrow Babylon.
• Remember, Cyrus of Persia is on his way.
• He is coming to topple Babylon.

He will “bring them all down as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans, into the chips in which they rejoice.”

When Habakkuk spoke of Babylon, he described their cruelty and idolatry like this:
Habakkuk 1:15-16 “The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, Drag them away with their net, And gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net; Because through these things their catch is large, And their food is plentiful.”

• Habakkuk spoke of them like literal fishers of men.
• He described them as those who catch men and haul them off
• And then give credit to their idols for their success.

Isaiah says God is about to treat them like the fish
And load them up in ships and carry them away.

THAT IS WHAT GOD IS CURRENTLY DOING.
Cyrus isn’t here yet, but God knows he’s coming.

And do you notice why?
“For your sake…”

• Just as God gave Egypt as a ransom for His redeemed now He will do the same to Babylon.

TURN TO: JEREMIAH 50

(READ 50:1-20)

• You see there God’s announcement of Babylon’s judgment because she has offended God and oppressed His people.
• He is answering her foul treatment of those He redeemed.

(READ 50:28)

(READ 50:33-34)

• God is coming as a strong Redeemer to rescue those whom He has purchased.

(READ 51:1-10)

And did you catch verse 5?
“For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken By his God, the LORD of hosts, Although their land is full of guilt Before the Holy One of Israel.”

You see the point over and over and over.

RIGHT NOW Israel is slaves languishing under Babylonian rule.
• It is hard to see what God is doing…if anything.
• The land is anxious because they know Cyrus is on his way.

And God’s response to His people is: I’M DOING THIS ALL FOR YOU.
• I’m the One sending Cyrus.
• I’m the One toppling Babylon.
• And I’m doing it for My people.

AND WE STOP HERE YET AGAIN
And just ponder the blessing of being one of God’s redeemed.

It is often that we have no clue what is really going on in the world.
• We are all subject to whatever deceptive media outlet we watch.
• None of them tell us the truth,
• And even if what they say is true, none of them tell us the whole truth.
• And part of the reason is, they don’t really know.

Let’s face it, WE DON’T KNOW what the future holds for our nation,
For our society, for our normal way of life.
BUT GOD DOES…

And WE DON’T FULLY UNDERSTAND everything going on right now.

We agree that our nation is a nation that is under the wrath of God.
• If you believe Romans 1 that is the only conclusion you can come to.
• There is no other explanation for the rise of idolatry, homosexuality, and
depravity.

Ours is a nation that God is judging.
• We don’t know if that judgment will be redemptive or destructive.
• We have no idea if it is God’s plan to save the United States of America or to
destroy it.

But we do know this.
WHATEVER GOD DOES,
HE DOES FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS PEOPLE.

Everything God is doing right now, He is doing for His people.

WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED…WE ARE HIS.
• We are not under condemnation.
• We are not under wrath.
• We have been redeemed.

We may feel like Lot in Sodom,
• But God pulled Lot out before He destroyed Sodom.

We may feel like Noah in a wicked world,
• But God preserved Noah through the judgment.

As we read last Sunday morning:
Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”

And again, WHY?
Because, “I have redeemed you…you are Mine”

Here you have God revealing what He is currently doing.

It is imperceptive to the eyes and ears of His people.
• But rest assured God is at work.

It may even look like everything is unravelling.
• But not for God’s people.

I promise you the same is true today.
• You may not know where.
• You man not know how.
• But I promise you that God is currently at work for the benefit of His people.

(15) “I am the LORD, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.”

• Not THE “Holy One”
• Not THE “King”
• But “YOUR Holy One…YOUR King.”

I am yours and you are Mine.
All that you see going on, I am doing for you.

That is what God is doing.
There is a second point God would make.

2) WHAT I HAVE DONE (16-17)

“Thus says the LORD, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick):”

What is God referring to here?
It is the Exodus.

• When God made “a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters”
• When He called the chariot and the horse in too,
• But then closed the waters over them and put out their candle so that they would not rise again.

It’s a reference to God’s past redemption.

Exodus 3:7-10 “The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Exodus 6:1-8 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.” God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. “I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. “Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ‘I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.’”

God is reminding them of what He has already done.
• According to His promises to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
• God promised to redeem their descendants and bring them back.
• He promised to deliver them with a mighty hand.

And God did that.

ISRAEL KNEW THIS.
Every year they commemorated it with the taking of the Passover
To remember how God delivered them out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

This is God’s way of reminding them that
He is at work for them even though they may not see it.

Do you suppose God would go to all that trouble to deliver you out of Egypt only to lose you in Babylon?

• Of course not.
• He redeemed you.
• He worked for you and He is working for you now.

And to that, we can all think of past redemption in our lives.

Certainly we think of the work of the cross.
• How our sin was imputed to Him and He bore it.
• How He rose from the dead proving He was effective.

But even on a personal note, do you remember God’s specific deliverance of you in the past?

• Think of your testimony.
• Think of our changed life.
• Think of your freedom from sin.

Do you remember what God has done for you?
Well that should give you confidence that God is currently working for you now as well.

But even that is NOT the main point.
Finally we come to it:

3) WHAT I WILL DO (18-21)

“Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. “The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people. “The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.”

After reminding them of the great deliverance God gave them out of Egypt God then says, “Do not call to mind former things, Or ponder things of the past.”

Certainly that DOES NOT MEAN that God wants them to forget the Exodus.
Certainly that DOES NOT MEAN God wants them to stop taking the Passover.

What it does mean is that Israel shouldn’t act as though
All the benefits of their redemption have already been experienced.

Don’t assume that the Exodus was
The only benefit of redemption that you will ever receive from God.

Some benefits of redemption
• Already happened (Exodus)
• Are currently happening (Cyrus is coming)
• Are still coming (you are going home)

You actually have God here speaking about a new Exodus.

(19-20) “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. “The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people.”

God says DON’T just focus on what I have done,
Turn your gaze toward what I am about to do.

The FIRST TIME I opened a roadway through the sea.
• THIS TIME “I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.”

And this river in the wilderness will be so mighty and so sufficient
That even the wild animals are going to benefit from it and love it.

They will love the waters, but they are not for them, they are for you.
“To give drink to My chosen people.”

THERE IS THAT PARTICULAR REDEMPTION AGAIN!
IT’S NOT FOR EVERYONE, IT IS FOR YOU.

Do others benefit from My blessings poured out upon you? Yes.
BUT THE BLESSING IS FOR YOU.

We see that even today.
• We are taught how the only reason the tares are allowed to exist is because
God is not willing to damage the wheat in order to destroy them.
• Peter reminded us that the only reason that God has not yet returned to
destroy the world is because He’s patiently waiting for all His elect to be saved
• Sodom benefited from the presence of Lot
• Unbelieving spouses benefit from the presence of a believing spouse

Even though wild animals may enjoy the benefits,
That river is for God’s chosen people.

And again, Who are His redeemed?
(21) “The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.”

There are those previous two points reiterated again.
• We see that particular atonement – “The people whom I formed for Myself”
• We see that purposed atonement – “Will declare My praise”

But here the call of God is for Israel
To not simply focus on what God did in the past,
But to fix their eyes on what God has promised to do in the future.

The benefits of redemption certainly BECAME OURS AT THE CROSS,
But THEY EXTEND far into eternity.

Romans 5:9-10 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Do you catch the “much more” there?
• Certainly we received justification (past tense)
• Certainly we received reconciliation (past tense)
• But there is “much more” to come.
• “we shall be saved by His life”

There is a salvation that is to us past tense (justification)
There is a salvation that is to us present tense (sanctification)
There is a salvation that is to us future tense (glorification)

Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

God did a work for us.
God is at work for us.
God will still do more for us.

THERE ARE STILL MORE PROMISES
Ours is a promising redemption.

The focus of our text this morning is to get you to lift your eyes and see
That the benefits of the cross don’t stop at the moment of your salvation.

The cross is also currently at work in your life to SANCTIFY you.

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

• Paul spoke us as “being saved” as in presently.

Let me remind you that sanctification is salvation too!
• God is saving you in your sanctification.
• That is good.

But even that is NOT the main focus of this passage.
THE FOCUS HERE IS ON WHAT GOD WILL DO.

So much so that God told these refugees, “Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past.”

And what sort of things was God talking about?
THEM GOING HOME!

Jeremiah 19:10-11 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

Church, we want to recognize this today as well.

The cross worked in the past to justify you and reconcile you to God.
The cross is working in the present to sanctify you.
But the cross is also at work in your life to bring you safely home.

I don’t want you to forget all that God did for you in the past,
But today God turns our attention toward
What He has promised to do for His redeemed in the future.

Paul said:
2 Timothy 4:18 “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Peter wrote:
1 Peter 1:3-9 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”

And in his second letter:
2 Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

Do you see what we look forward to?

Why can we anticipate such things?
• Why can we so eagerly look forward to heaven?
• Why can we know that God will do this for us?
• Because: “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

Listen to this one:
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

Do you suppose that God would pay the price of the life of His Son to redeem you and then withhold the benefits of that redemption from you?

Does God typically pay for that which He does not receive?
Of course not!

He paid for us… “how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

It is the “all things” you need to FOCUS ON this morning church.

This life is not all there is.
This broken country is not all there is.
This fallen world is not all there is.

God promised those refugees that Babylon wouldn’t last.
I’ve got something better for you!
I’m bringing you home!
Why would you cling to Babylon?

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

Philippians 3:7-13 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

We read all of those passages about Babylon’s judgment from Jeremiah.
There were also some APPEALS in there.

Jeremiah 50:8 “Wander away from the midst of Babylon And go forth from the land of the Chaldeans; Be also like male goats at the head of the flock.”

Jeremiah 51:6 “Flee from the midst of Babylon, And each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, For this is the LORD’S time of vengeance; He is going to render recompense to her.”

Jeremiah 51:45 “Come forth from her midst, My people, And each of you save yourselves From the fierce anger of the LORD.”

God IS destroying this place and He’s doing it for you!
Go read Revelation 18.

Church, Christ died to redeem us.
• He purchased our pardon and we have been forgiven of our sin.
• He also died to sanctify us and by His present work as aliens in this foreign land we are being saved through sanctification.

• But He also died to glorify us and through His redemption we have an inheritance secured and it is ours.

Let go of this broken fallen system.
Let go of this world.
And this morning set your eyes on what is coming!

Glory awaits His bride.
We are going home!

Why?
Because, “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

download here

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

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REDEEMED! – part 1
Isaiah 43:1–44:5 (43:1-7)
March 10, 2024

This morning we begin looking at this glorious truth of redemption.

If you were with us LAST WEEK you know Israel has found herself in trouble.
• She was disobedient.
• She was idolatrous.
• And as a result she has found herself in captivity.

Isaiah 42:23-25 “Who among you will give ear to this? Who will give heed and listen hereafter? Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose law they did not obey? So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention.”

God was angry, He sent Nebuchadnezzar, and He sent them to Babylon.

And the temptation might be
For Israel to assume that it is all over for them.
We have been abandoned and rejected by God.

Sometimes we are tempted to think that way,
Especially when trials come, or when we are disciplined for our sin.
• I have blown it, my trials are evidence of God’s anger,
• I have no right to expect that God will deliver me or save me.

IF YOU FALL INTO SUCH DESPAIR,
Then you need to learn what it means to be redeemed.

Isaiah 43 is addressed to the very same people
Whom God promised punishment to at the end of chapter 42.

SO HOW WONDERFUL IT IS
To come across those first two words of chapter 43, “But now…”

• The story of God’s departure from Jerusalem was not Israel’s final story.
• The story of their exile into Babylon was not their final story.
• There is another chapter to be written.

God has more in store for them.
In fact this chapter says that God is going to bring them home.

Look down at verse 6, “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth,”

Israel was in a rough place to be sure, but there is good news.

In chapter 43 we not only discuss the nature of that good news,
But also the reason for it.

WHY IS GOD GOING TO DELIVER ISRAEL BACK FROM BABYLON?
• After all, they deserved it.
• After all, it was God who sent them there.

Why is God going to bring them back?

And the answer:
BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN REDEEMED.

I did not say that God is going to redeem them,
though in a sense even that is true.

God is going to bring them home because He already redeemed them.
In verse 1, redemption is spoken of in past tense.

“I have redeemed you”

What we are talking about here church is
The nature and benefit of God’s redemption.

• What does it mean to be redeemed?
• What does redemption look like?
• Who is it for?
• How did it happen?
• What are the benefits?

IT IS PURE DELIGHT OF THE SOUL TO UNDERSTAND REDEMPTION.

So in Isaiah 43 and the first 5 verses of chapter 44
We’re going to look at 5 realities of God’s redemption.

This morning we’re going to look at the first reality of God’s redemption of His people.

#1 A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:1-7

If you are someone who likes to read and study theology
And especially if you are someone who likes to debate theological topics, THEN YOU KNOW THAT THIS TITLE IS LOADED.

We call it a Particular Redemption to indicate that it is a redemption which is for a particular people.
• Sometimes it is referred to as an Actual Atonement.
• Sometimes it is referred to as Limited Atonement

But ultimately what we are discussing here is the question of:
WHO DID GOD REDEEM?

Universalism says that God redeemed the whole world and therefore the whole world is saved and going to heaven.

Arminianism (repackaged today as Provisionism) says that God redeemed the whole world, but some rejected it and therefore only those who accept it are going to heaven.

We would say that every single person whom God redeemed is going to heaven, but He did not redeem them all.

He redeemed a particular people for Himself.

And IF THIS IS THE FIRST TIME you’ve ever heard this,
It is likely hitting you sideways.

The methodology of the past 150 years has confused the church.

Typically the invitation of Christianity today likes to go something like this:

“Why don’t you accept Jesus to be your personal savior? He has already paid for all your sins. He has already died. The price for your salvation has already been paid, now why don’t you accept what has already been done?”

• And then you know the organ music is played,
• The lights are dimmed,
• We grease the slide
• And we seek to coerce sinners to just let Jesus save them.

That has been sort of the norm in evangelism for many years.

But, as we have said before, we have a problem here if that is the case.

1) It makes man sovereign over salvation instead of God.
• Salvation then becomes a decision that the sinner makes
• Instead of a decision that God has made.
• This is not only unbiblical (it wasn’t Abraham that chose God),

2) It means that God’s redemption has no ultimate power.
• There you have God supposedly redeeming everyone, but not everyone ends up redeemed.

To which we have to ask, then what did He actually do?
It is a redemption that doesn’t necessarily save anyone, unless they agree to it.

3) It ends up putting people in hell whose sins have been atoned for.
• The offer is made that Jesus paid for all your sin,
• Then sinners reject that and go to hell where they also suffer for all their sins.
• Again we wonder what Jesus did then?

Arguers would say, “No, they only go to hell for rejecting Jesus.”
But is unbelief not a sin? And did Jesus not pay for all sins?

4) It presents a possibility where Jesus might have died and shed His own blood and no one gets saved at all.
• If it is all up to the sinner.
• What if no sinner ever accepted it?

5) It causes believers to misunderstand what it means that God has redeemed them.
• That view means that Jesus did the exact same thing for those who are in hell as He did for those who are in heaven.
• The only difference was those in heaven responded better.

SUCH A VIEW ROBS THE CHURCH
Of understanding and rejoicing in what Christ has done for them.
(that’s what we want to talk about this morning)

6) It allows men to take some credit for their redemption
• Under a universal atonement the reason they are redeemed while other men aren’t is because they were smart enough to accept it.

THAT IS BLASPHEMOUS.

A universal might initially sound good, and it might be a popular and unoffensive way to say it, but it is terribly problematic.

Instead, what the Bible teachers is that
God’s redemption is not universal, it is a particular redemption.
He is redeeming a specific or particular group of people.

YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT REDEMPTION IS.
• It will strengthen your faith.
• It will increase your hope.
• It will delight your soul.
• It will motivate your worship.

NOW, DON’T JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT,
Let’s look at what God has to say here
About His redemption to His children and you can see it for yourself.

Let me show you 4 realities or effects of this particular redemption.

1) YOU ARE MINE (1)

“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

In this verse, God is clearly addressing Israel.
• He’s talking to the same people, who according to ch. 42, He sent into exile.
• He’s talking to the same people who feel that strained relationship with God.

By the end of chapter 42 they had to be wondering
If God was finished with them.

And then we saw the, “But now…”

It is an indicator that
God is doing something for you that you do not deserve.

And God begins to expound this message of grace to His people.

We that God references 3 realities in their life.

“thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob”

The first reality God calls attention to is that HE HAS CREATED THEM.
Obviously this is true for all people, not just Israel.

• This is why Scripture can say that “we are all God’s children”
• We are all the children of God because we were all made in His image.
• We are all the children of God because we are all created by Him.
• This is true of every man.
• Certainly it is true of Israel.

“And He who formed you, O Israel,”

The second reference is to God MAKING A NATION out of them.
Now, God has done that for all people too.

We see it in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel
• Where God confused the language of all people
• And divided all peoples into separate nations.
• They all originated from God.

He created us all, and He made distinct peoples of us all.
At that point all of humanity is still universally all in the same boat.

BUT THEN we see God doing something for Israel
That He DID NOT DO for all the other nations.

What God did for Israel is why they do not have to fear
That their relationship with Him is over.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;”

Now first, let’s just examine what it means to be “redeemed”.

“redeemed” translates (GAW-AL)
And it is a word that speaks of being “bought back”.

You have heard the term “kinsman redeemer” (Ruth).
• That was the close relative who would buy back your land or marry your widow in order to keep that which was given to you by God.

Sometimes it is translated “avenger”
• As in the blood avenger who was that close relative who would avenge your life if someone struck your down in murder.

It is a word that simply speaks of buying back that which was lost.
It is a purchase.

And God tells Israel here that
The reason they do not have to fear being totally alienated by God
Is because God has “redeemed you;”

• I have bought you.
• I have purchased you.

We go on to read, “I have called you by name; you are Mine!”

So we talk here about ownership.
We talk here about possession.
God bought them and He now owns them.

We sing it when we sing “Victory in Jesus” – “He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood.”

When we sing “The Church’s One Foundation” – “From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride, with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.”

This is what it means to be redeemed.
It means to have been purchased.

1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

1 Corinthians 7:23 “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.”

You see that we were bought.
We belong to Him.
We are to be no one else’s.

Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

Revelation 5:9 “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.”

And this is the redemption of Christ.

Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”

• He bought us from the curse by being a curse for us.
• That was the payment that was made.

Titus 2:13-14 “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

• He “gave Himself for us to redeem us”; to buy us back.

Hebrews 9:11-12 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;”

There we read how Christ took His own blood into the actual presence of the Father to pay the debt of His people.
• He redeemed.
• He purchased.
• He bought us.

This is what it means to be redeemed.

It is NOT LIKE a food bank or a coat closet

Where excesses of coats or foods are stored
In case someone sometime might need it and want to go and get a coat.

That is place where coats or food is purchased for no one in particular and might or might not ever be used.

That is not redemption, that is benevolence.

God is benevolent to all men, for sure.

But we are talking about redemption
Where He specifically redeemed or bought His people,
And as a result of redemption, “You are Mine!”

The effect of the purchase is ownership.
• Because I bought you, you are Mine.
• If you are not mine, then I have not bought you.

Does that make sense?
THAT IS REDEMPTION.

Now let me show you THE BENEFIT of having been redeemed.
Why it is a good thing that God has bought you.

2) YOU ARE SAFE (2)

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”

Here we are talking about trials and tribulation.

We love to sing, “Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. His grace has kept me safe this far and grace will lead me home.”

Here God is explaining to Israel that
Even though they have in effect passed through the fire of Babylon,
That DOES NOT MEAN that He has abandoned them.

• I know your temple was burned.
• I know your city was destroyed.
• I know you have been exiled.
• I know life has been difficult in Babylon.

But I have not left you, and I will not leave you.

WHY?
Because “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

You don’t belong to Nebuchadnezzar, you belong to Me.

The presence of trials or hardships in your life
Are not evidence of Me giving you up.

I would not have bought you if I had intended to give you up.

We are taught to look at trials
• Merely as refinement and sanctification.
• Not as the absence of our Father’s love, but rather the expression of it.

Hebrews 12:5-8 “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

God is not abandoning you, He is sanctifying you.

We sing the song “How Firm A Foundation” “Though through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt you, I only design, thy dross to consume to and thy gold to refine.”

God did not send them to Babylon to destroy them, but to sanctify them.

And the whole time they were there, He never left them.
AND HE NEVER WILL.

(2) “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”

Why does God make such a promise?
Because “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

Do you understand that church?
• You have been purchased.
• You belong to Him.
You have been redeemed.
You are safe.

Jesus said:
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.”

We love what Paul told us:
Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

WHY?
Because “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

He bought us and we are His.
He protects what He has purchased.

Now, all we have done so far
Is talk about what redemption is and what the benefits of it are.

We still HAVE NOT ADDRESSED
This issue of it being a particular atonement.

Many would still just say that
What God did for us, He has done for everyone.

• He purchased everyone.
• He protects everyone.
• Sure, some have rejected it, and therefore do not receive the benefits,
• But God bought all men.

We have already read passages that prove this false.

Revelation 5:9 “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.”

• He didn’t redeem every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
• But rather He purchased men “from” every tribe and tongue and people.
• He didn’t purchase all.

Acts 20:28, which we already read says He purchased the church.

Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

So we’ve already seen it.

But even if those didn’t convince you, let’s keep going here in Isaiah 43
Let me show you another aspect of what it means to have been redeemed.

You Are Mine; You Are Safe
3) YOU ARE PRECIOUS (3-4)

(3-4) “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.”

Now here is where it gets extremely interesting.

SO FAR, we have spoken about how God purchased us.

And we know that ultimately that purchase is going to come through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
• It is Jesus who will shed His blood.
• It is Jesus who will die upon the cross.
• It is Jesus who take His blood to the Father on behalf of His bride.

WE KNOW THAT.

But here in Isaiah THAT HAS NOT YET been discussed.

We know that God told Israel that He redeemed them up in verse 1,
But nothing was said about the price of that redemption.

Nothing was said about what God gave up for them.

And this might surprise you when you read what Isaiah here says that cost was.

(3) “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.”

• God makes it very clear here that He is Israel’s savior.
• He is very specific as to who He is redeeming and saving.

BUT DID YOU CATCH THE PRICE?
“I have given Egypt as your ransom”

“ransom” translates (KO-FER) – it literally represents the “price of a life”

Exodus 21:30 “If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.”

Exodus 30:12 “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.”

A ransom is how much it costs to buy a life.
How much does it cost to buy a life?

Well here, what does God say?
“I have given Egypt as your ransom”

What was the cost of Israel’s life?
• Egypt.
• He says that He gave “Cush and Seba in your place.”
• “I gave them for you.”

When did that happen?
We have all read the story of the Exodus.
• God crushed Egypt that He might deliver Israel.
• God drowned Pharaoh and the Egyptian army that He might deliver Israel.

He did not redeem them both.
• He gave Egypt (a people He created and a nation He set apart)
• In exchange for Israel.

You see the same thing when God says “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated”
You see that God sent away Ishmael that He might give the inheritance to Isaac.

Can you see that God’s redemption of Israel was a particular redemption?
• Out of Egypt, God only redeemed Israel.
• Israel was purchased, Egypt was the price.

That is NOT TO SAY that Israel didn’t need Christ, certainly they do.
Christ was typified in that Passover Lamb
Which Israel needed to be forgiven before God.

BUT THE POINT to be made here is that
God’s redemption was particular.

So why did God do that for Israel?

(4) “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I loved you…”

“precious” is the word (YAW-KAR) and it is a word that speaks of value.

1 Samuel 26:21 “Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again because my life was precious in your sight this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have committed a serious error.”

Psalms 49:8-9 “For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay.”

GOD SAYS THAT HE REDEEMED ISRAEL
Because they were valuable to Him and because He loved them.

And here is where our minds are overflowing with gratitude.

• We know that in Adam we are a fallen race.
• We know that we are corrupt and sinful and have fallen short of the glory of
God.
• We know that we did not fear God nor do good and thus there is nothing about
us that deserves redemption.

WE KNOW THAT.

Therefore we know that as sinful people
We have no intrinsic value that would warrant salvation.

But, we have tremendous APPLIED VALUE which comes to us from God.

1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

We are not valuable in and of ourselves.
Our value is applied because of how God valued us
Based upon what He paid to redeem us.

AND NOTICE WHAT GOD SAYS TO ISRAEL HERE.
• Not only did I give up Egypt for you,
• But you are so valuable to Me
• That I will also give up Babylon.

(4b) “I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.”

God is presently sending Cyrus of Persia to destroy Babylon
Because Cyrus is the one who will set God’s people free.
“I will destroy them to save you.”

WHY?
Because: “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

You see God’s redemption was not universal, it was particular for Israel.
He gave up Egypt for them.
He gave up Babylon for them.

You need to understand the nature of God’s redemption.

IT IS A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION.
• He actually pays for and purchases His own.
• They are His.
• Not all are purchased, not all are His.
• And those who are redeemed, are redeemed not because they are valuable, but because God valued them.

He placed a value on them beyond what they are worth.

We are all saying, “Why me?” to this.
We all know we don’t deserve it.

But why Abram? Why Jacob? Why Ruth, Why Gomer?
Why any of us?

Because God chose to redeem us.

Now there is one more point here to this particular redemption.
4) YOU ARE RETURNING (5-7)

(5-7) “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

Because you are Mine.
Because I have bought you.
Not only am I protecting you in Babylon, but I am bringing you home.

“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name.”

LISTEN TO ME HERE:

God bought them and He will have them.
What God purchases, He receives.

This is why universal redemption is such a ridiculous notion.

In that view you have God supposedly loving and purchasing a people
That He does not protect and whom He will not receive.

How strange is that!?!

NO!!! God chose to love a people, He bought those people, He protects that people, and He will have them.

John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

He bought us and He will have us.

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 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

His redeemed are coming home!
There is no chance that they are not coming home!

WHY?
BECAUSE: “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

And don’t miss this last point.
It is the explanation of it all.

It explains why God would choose and love and redeem the unlovable.
(7) “Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

FOR MY GLORY!
• God redeemed the undeserving…
• God bought the unworthy…
• So that His grace would be glorified!

If you see your salvation as a definitive proof of your great worth
You don’t understand a thing about salvation.

Your salvation is definitive proof of His glorious grace!

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.”

CHURCH DO YOU SEE IT?

How do you know you will be safe through the fire?
• BECAUSE “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

How do you know that when God destroys the world He will save you?
• BECAUSE “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

How do you know God will bring you safely home?
• BECAUSE “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”

He bought you and He will have you!
YOU ARE REDEEMED.

download here

The Savior of the World – part 4
Isaiah 42:1-25 (14-25)
March 3, 2024

By now I think we’ve all got a handle on the backdrop to the chapter.

We have God speaking to Gentiles
And offering them salvation through His Son.

#1 THE SAVIOR ANNOUNCED
Isaiah 42:1-4

Here God announces the Savior He has chosen to save the world.
• He is meek
• He is mild
• He is compassionate to sinners

#2 THE SAVIOR APPOINTED
Isaiah 42:5-9

There we learned that God is the author of salvation.
God initiated it all.
• He selected Christ
• He sent Christ
• He equipped Christ
• He laid our sins on Christ
• Through Christ He saved sinners

#3 THE SAVIOR ADORED
Isaiah 42:10-13

This is the expected response of God from sinners upon being saved.
We are called upon to worship and adore God our Savior.

• For He is the One who came and not only sought us, but who also slaughtered our enemy.
• He came as a warrior clothed in zeal and set us free from the bonds of the enemy who held us captive.

We respond to Him with a new song of praise.

Tonight we move forward yet again.

#4 THE SAVIOR ADVANCING
Isaiah 42:14-17

We are able here to see something again of the heart of God
And especially His desire and commitment to save sinners.

(14) “I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant.”

Here we come across yet another analogy.

In verses 1-4 we saw God’s Savior as meek and lowly and mild and gentle to sinners.
• We understood why.
• Sinners are broken and hopeless and we need a compassionate Savior.

In verses 10-13 we saw Him as a warrior breaking the oppressor’s arm.
• And we understood why there too.
• We were held captive by a mighty foe and we need a mighty warrior to deliver us from his grasp.

But now in verse 14
We get yet another analogy and this time it is of “a woman in labor”.

What do we do with this one?

In the verse itself we get some clue because we see a CONTRAST.

• The verse begins with God revealing that “I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself.”

• And then the contrast, but “Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will gasp and pant.”

So the contrast is our first clue.
God was for a time silent, but now He is not.
God was for a time restrained, but now He is not.
• Now He is loud.
• Now He is vocal.

And God compares Himself to a woman in labor.

Many guys in here are dads and many of you were with your wife while she was in labor.
• Do any of you remember her being meek during that time?
• Do any of you remember telling her, “Honey, you’re being kind of loud you might want to tone it down”?

OF COURSE NOT!

What they are going through is extreme.
Yelling is allowed, screaming is allowed, barking orders is allowed.

And the simple illustration here is that
There was a time when God was perhaps silent and restrained
And mysterious regarding His desire, BUT NOT NOW.

Now, everyone is going to know what He wants.
• Now, He is going to shout His desires at the top of His lungs.
• Now, He is not to be denied.

He is “like a woman in labor”.

SCRIPTURE FURTHER HELPS us understand what is going on here.

In regard to Him having been “silent” or “restrained”,
Consider these texts.

Genesis 15:13-16 “God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

• This was many years before God even sent Israel into Egypt
• And they would be there for 450 years before God would bring them out,
• And 40 more after that as Israel wondered in the wilderness,
• Before God would use them to judge the Amorite.

But even during Abraham’s day
God was already announcing the sin of the Amorite,
His displeasure with Amorite, and His certain judgment of the Amorite.

So for another half a millennium God is going to silently and patiently endure the Amorite without saying anything.

They are not pleasing, but they are allowed to exist.
• He will be “silent” with them.
• He will be “restrained” toward them.

That is to say that
Even though they are living in sin and utter rebellion against God, He is not demonstrably or actively
Confronting that sin or calling them out of it.

It’s wrong, God hates it, but He is silently enduring it.

You see it again with the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4.

Ezekiel 4:4-8 “As for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. “For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. “When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year. “Then you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. “Now behold, I will put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.”

There God tells Ezekiel to lay down on his left side,
• Presumably facing north for the northern kingdom
• God will tie him there so that for 390 days (1 for each year)
• He will just sort of have to passively “bear the iniquity of the house of Israel”

And then when that is finished he will flop over,
Facing the southern kingdom and do it again for another 40 days.

Again the point is that for 430 years God passively endured their sin.
It was displeasing, He was angry, but He was simply bearing it.

OR TAKE THE DAYS OF NOAH.
• God was so angry that He had decided to judge the world by flood.
• But it would be another 100 years while Noah built the boat before God would actively judge.
• So there again was 100 years of relative silence and patience on the part of God.

And God, now speaking to these Gentiles says,
“That is how I’ve been with you.”

But now, He is speaking forcefully and loudly and will not be denied.
Now He is screaming “like a woman in labor.”

Now He is making His voice heard from on high.

And we see it as EVANGELISTIC ZEAL on the part of God.

Paul used similar language to the Galatians saying:
Galatians 4:19 “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—”

• Paul explains his demonstrative tone to the Gentiles as though he were again in labor with them.
• He is not to be denied.

We think of him speaking to the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

• There he is begging and pleading with them to come to Christ.

So you understand what is being said here.

There was a time when God sort of passively bore your sin,
Not in a saving sense as Jesus bore it,
But in a tolerance sense meaning He didn’t immediately judge.

Consider the Psalmist.
Psalms 50:21 “These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.”

• Israel sinned and God kept silent and they took that as approval.
• WRONG, it was simply momentary tolerance as He waited to judge.

It is what God is currently doing with the tares
As He patiently waits for all the wheat to be redeemed.

Don’t confuse His silence or restraint with approval.

But in any case here we see God announcing to the nations that He had previously been silent but NOW He is actively calling them to salvation.

Now He is boldly and loudly proclaiming to the coastlands
That they should leave their idolatry and He will save them.

• He has a gentle Savior.
• He has a warrior Savior.
• And He will save them.
• Now is the time to trust in Him.

And God here begins to give MOTIVATION AS TO WHY they should now listen and trust Him.

1) Namely because judgment is coming.
(15) “I will lay waste the mountains and hills and wither all their vegetation; I will make the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds.”

That is an analogy of judgment.
It speaks of a coming day in which God will lay waste this entire world.

There is coming a day when God will terrorize this entire world.
And so today He is calling loudly to sinners to come to His Savior.

Today He is Jonah, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed!”
• Today He is screaming out to sinners!
• Today He is passionately waiving His arms!
• Today He is active in His call!

We seem Him as the Savior Jesus
Determined to travel from village to village to continue to preach the gospel to all people.

We see Him as Paul telling Titus:
Titus 2:15 “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

It is the famous Spurgeon quote:
“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

That is what God is doing here.
He is actively and passionately calling to sinners like a woman in labor,
That they might escape the coming judgment and be saved.

And can we pause here and take a que regarding evangelism training?
• How badly do we want sinners saved?
• How badly do we want them to leave their sin?
• How badly do we want them to come to faith in Christ?

The gospel is not a timid message, nor is it an optional one.
We are not called to be silent or restrained,
We are called to take this gospel to the very ends of the earth.

Isaiah was told earlier:
Isaiah 40:9 “Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

That is evangelism.
Judgment is coming and men must know it.

But God is not only preaching a coming judgment,
2) He is also preaching a certain salvation.
(16) “I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.”

As sure is there a judgment for all sinners who do not repent…
THERE IS A SALVATION FOR ALL WHO DO.
• God will open the eyes of the blind.
• God will lead them to salvation.
• God will transfer them from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son.

He says, “These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.”

It is a promise of God to the nations that
If they will repent and trust in Him He will definitely save them.

This is a valid promise to every man and every woman.
• We do believe in election.
• We do believe in a particular atonement.
• But we also know that the offer of salvation is a real and valid offer to everyone
we preach it to.

Romans 10:13 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

And we take that promise with us to the world.

And we go with the confidence that all whom the Father has given to Christ will come to Christ.

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.”

And here in Isaiah we read:
(17) “They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols, Who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”

The Savior will be victorious.
He will save those He came to save.
• They will be broken over their idolatry.
• They will be broken over their sin.
• They will lave their idols and their false gods.
• And He will save them.

THIS IS THE MINISTRY AND MESSAGE OF GOD.
It was certainly the ministry and message of Christ.

God didn’t send Christ into the world
To be passive about saving sinners.

He didn’t build a little center and stay seated in it all day just waiting for someone inquisitive to come by and ask what He was doing.
• He went in search of sinners.
• He sent in search of lost sheep.
• He sent out His disciples to go find those sheep.
• He sent them out in pairs, He sent out the 70.

And before He left this world He commissioned His church:
Matthew 28:18-10 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

It is a call to active duty.
It is a call to determined service.
It is a call to get up, speak up,
And proclaim the gospel like a woman in labor!

This world is in danger of the judgment of God.
They have wrongly mistaken God’s silence and restraint as approval.
• They need to be told that God has not changed His mind about sin.
• They need to be told that judgment is closer now than it has ever been.
• They need to be told that there is a Savior.
• They need to be told that He will save them if they will repent and believe.
• They need to be told that He will set them free from their sin, deliver them from their oppressor, and save them from the wrath to come.

This is what God is doing.
HE IS ACTIVELY SAVING THE WORLD!
HIS SAVIOR IS ADVANCING!
• His kingdom is growing from that small mustard seed to the premiere kingdom of all the world.
• His kingdom is spreading like leaven until the entire lump is completely leavened.

“He has sounded forth the trumped that shall never sound retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; O be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.”

That is what you see here.

Now, if the chapter were to stop here
We would find a very nice and neat conclusion to the point.

God desires to save the nations.
God desires to save the Gentiles.

1. We see Him announcing His Savior.
2. We see Him appointing His Savior.
3. We see Him calling for the adoration of His Savior.
4. We see Him with this final loud and vocal invitation to come and submit to the
advance of His Savior.

In many ways, in our minds, this is the conclusion of the chapter.
• God has confronted Gentile sinners in their idolatry.
• He has called them to repentance and salvation.
• He has promised to save them with the Savior He has appointed and sent.

That’s a nice and neat gospel message all wrapped up right there.

BUT GOD ISN’T FINISHED.

#5 THE SAVIOR ADMONISHING
Isaiah 42:18-25

What in the world do we have here?

All of a sudden God quits addressing Gentiles
And instead He turns and addresses His people Israel.

And He gets just as loud and direct to them.
• God turns to Israel and calls them “deaf” and “blind”

“Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see.”

And all of a sudden we realize what God was doing.
This whole time we thought He was preaching to Gentiles only.

We thought it was just about those coastlands or nations.
• God was talking about their idolatry…
• God was talking about their sin…
• God was talking about their impending judgment…

And Israel was just sort of sitting over to the side,
Giving Him some distant “Amens” and “That’s right”.

“That’s right God, tell them! That’s right God, they’re sinners. That’s right God tell them about that idolatry and the coming judgment. Tell them they better repent or else.”

And in Paul Washer fashion God here spins around to them and says, “I don’t know why you’re clapping, I’m talking about you!”

Can you seriously not see your sin here too?
Can you seriously not see the same problems in your life?

If you can’t, you’re even more blind than I initially thought.

(19) “Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?”

It is God’s way of saying, “I have never seen a more thick headed, undiscerning people than My people are.”

I confront sin in others, sin they are living in,
And they can’t seem to realize that I’m speaking to them too.

(20) “You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; You ears are open, but none hears.”

You sat through this entire sermon and never once wondered if I could be talking to you at all.

You seriously thought this was only about the Gentile nations.

YOU ARE BLIND!

And in fact, your blindness is worse than the Gentiles because you have had and ignored more truth than have ever received.

(21-22) “The LORD was pleased for His righteousness’ sake To make the law great and glorious. But this is a people plundered and despoiled; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become a prey with none to deliver them, And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!”

All they have had was general revelation (conscience and creation)
• But you actually had My Law.
• You have ignored way more than they have.

The whole time I’ve been offering them freedom from bondage
It is as though you have failed to recognize that
YOU ARE IN BONDAGE TOO!

• You are also “trapped in caves”
• You are also “hidden away in prisons”
• You also “have become a prey with none to deliver”
• You also are “a spoil, with none to say, ‘Give them back!’”

How can you be so blind and deaf?
It is the equivalent of Jesus constantly looking to Israel and saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

• It is no wonder Jesus said to those same Jews that if the miracles He had worked in Capernaum had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented.

AND SO NOW THE INVITATION IS GIVEN TO ISRAEL TOO:

(23-25) “Who among you will give ear to this? Who will give heed and listen hereafter? Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose law they did not obey? So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention.”

EARLIER God asked the nations who is sending Cyrus on you?
• And God said it is Me!
• And you should repent and trust in Me.

NOW God asks Israel a question.
“Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?”

In other words, who sent you to Babylon in the first place?
• I DID!

“Was it not the LORD”

Why did He send you here?
Because you “have sinned”
• You have failed to obey His Law.

Even though He was silent and restrained about it for many years
THAT DID NOT MEAN HE APPROVED.

It is time for you also to repent!
• It is time for you also to look to His Savior!
• Open your eyes and see your sin!
• Open your ears and hear God’s saving call!

God is once again screaming like a woman in labor
Calling YOU to salvation!

Now, here is yet another place where we love the Bible.
I love how singularly focused the Bible can be.

• Isaiah 42 is an awesome chapter that at first appears just to be a rebuke of the nations and call for them to be saved
• But ends up being a call to the religious hypocrite as well.

TURN TO: ROMANS 1
If you are coming on Wednesday nights you are pretty familiar with Romans 1.

We see God announcing His wrath on the godless pagan of the world.
• This past week we saw their idolatry in verses 18-25
• Next week we’ll see homosexuality in verses 26-27
• Then we’ll see their depravity in verses 28-32

It is some of the most direct language of judgment in Scripture.
It is filled with warnings of God’s wrath
Revealed on sinful people who suppress the truth.

And for centuries church people have loved to sit there in Romans 1
And just give “Amen” after “Amen”.

Like Israel in the first 17 verses of this chapter
• The religious folk just sit back with arms folded
• And a “holier than though” look at the world
• Knowing that they deserve the judgment that is promised.

And that is when Paul does the same thing that God did here in Isaiah 42.

(READ: Romans 2:1-6)

DO YOU SEE THE SIMILARITIES?

God looks at the religious crowd and asks:
As I was laying out the details about the sin of the pagan were you really unable to detect your sin in that at all?

• Were you unable to see ways in which you also have exchanged My glory for an image?
• Were you unable to see ways in which you also have exchanged the natural for the unnatural?
• Were you unable to see way sin which you also have exchanged true for a lie?

REALLY?
You couldn’t see yourself there at all?

But did you just think that since I have been silent about your sin for so long that I was somehow in approval of it?

(4-5) “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,”

That is the same message isn’t it?
Funny how God has been speaking the same truth for thousands of years!

Paul goes on to reveal that
• The same judgment that is threatening the pagan
• Is also threatening the religious person

Only the religious person is in way more trouble
Because they actually had the words of God!

Listen to Paul confront that religious Jew at the end of the chapter.

(READ 17-24)
• Can you not see your sin as God confronts them?
• Can you not see the hypocrisy?
• Can you not see the same things in your life?

Your religion does not hide your heart from God.

And by the time we get into chapter 3
Paul does the same thing Isaiah did back in chapter 42.

(READ 3:9-18)
• We are both in trouble.
• The ignorant pagan and the educated religious person.
• THAT IS THE SAME MESSAGE!

And the SOLUTION is also the same!

(READ 3:21-26)

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World!
• He is the Savior of the Jew first and also of the Greek.
• He is the Savior of Jew and Gentile alike.
• He is the world’s Savior!
• “there is no distinction”
• “all have sinned”
• And justification for all comes only through “the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”

Everyone needs Jesus!
Everyone needs Christ!

The filthy, immoral, carnal, idolatrous pagan needs Jesus!
So does the moral, clean, disciplined, religious person!

The world may wear their sin on their sleeve,
But many a religious person has concealed it in their heart.
But God sees both and God judges both.

Is it any wonder Jesus was so frustrated with His people who had ears but didn’t hear?

John 1:11 “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

And Jesus would all but preach Isaiah’s message to them.

(18-20) “Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD? You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; Your ears are open, but none hears.”

In fact,
• He stood overlooking Jerusalem
• And wept for that city
• Saying how He longed to gather them like a hen gathers her chicks, but they were unwilling.

They just wouldn’t hear it.
• Convinced of their own innate goodness they saw no need for a Savior.
• And even when Rome burned their temple to the ground they still couldn’t see that it was the result of their sin.

Don’t let your religion participation fool you.
It certainly doesn’t fool God, He knows your heart.
And even when it may appear He is preaching to others,
He is talking to you!

Isaiah 42 is NOT some ancient passage just for the people of Isaiah’s day.
THIS IS A MESSAGE OF GOD TO US.

It is the same message that Paul preached in his day
AND THAT WAS FOR US TOO.

THE MESSAGE IS THAT EVERYONE NEEDS JESUS.
HE IS THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD!

• Selected by God.
• Sent by God.
• Equipped by God.
• It was God who laid our sins upon Him.
• It is God who calls us to trust in Him with the promise that if we will, we will be
saved.

Don’t be blind and deaf.
• If you are in your sin and trapped in prison,
• Then confess that to Jesus and ask Him to save you.

• He opens the eyes of the blind.
• He opens the ears of the deaf.
• He delivers prisoners from the dungeon.
• He transfers sinners from darkness to His kingdom of light.

He saved others and He will save you.