Calling The Redeemed
Isaiah 44:6-23
March 24, 2024
Psalms 107:2 “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary”
That verse really grabs the point that is being made
Here in this segment of verses we look at tonight.
• Are you redeemed?
• Has God purchased from slavery?
• Is God currently redeeming you from every evil deed?
• Has God promised you a future redemption in glory?
THEN SAY SO!
THEN ACT LIKE IT!
We’ve spent 5 sermons outlining the God’s glorious redemption.
We’ve seen that it is:
• A Particular Redemption
• A Purposed Redemption
• A Promising Redemption
• A Persistent Redemption
• A Permanent Redemption
BEING THE REDEEMED OF GOD IS A GOOD THING.
Tonight Isaiah simply wants us
To respond to those realities accordingly.
In fact, the heart of the passage is found in verse 22
When God says, “Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
This segment reads something like a salvation invitation,
But that is not really what it is.
The SALVATION CALL to the nations will come in Isaiah 45:22
Isaiah 45:22-23 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. “I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.”
This is a plea for God’s people, whom He has redeemed,
To act like those who have been redeemed.
The New Testament parallel passage would be something like:
1 Peter 1:17-21 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 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. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
• Peter reminds the church that we have been redeemed.
• He reminds that God paid a very costly price to redeem us.
• Peter reminds that we have been purchased by God for Himself.
And so very simply Peter calls the church to “conduct yourselves in fear during your time of stay on earth”.
God wasn’t joking when He redeemed you,
He paid a very high price for you to be his.
So take your redemption seriously.
Being redeemed should change your life.
That is precisely the call here from God through Isaiah.
It is really the HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY side of the argument.
We have spent weeks outlining God’s work as the Redeemer,
But we always want to pay attention to the call of God
For how we are to respond to that redemption.
God has revealed what blessings are yours in your redemption,
Now you respond to Him.
So lets examine this revival call of God to those whom He has redeemed.
3 main points.
#1 THE REMINDER
Isaiah 44:6-8
If everything here sounds repetitive and familiar that is a good thing.
• It means you’ve been paying attention over the last couple of weeks.
There isn’t anything new in this segment.
• It is a summary.
• It is a reminder of what God has just revealed.
TWO MAIN THINGS GOD EXPECTED US TO LEARN
1. I AM GOD
2. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR
(6) “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.”
That is familiar:
Isaiah 43:10-12 “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.”
That was a clear declaration by God.
• There are no other gods, there are no other saviors.
• I am the only one.
And we remember
How God challenged the validity of those false would-be gods.
Isaiah 41:21 “Present your case,” the LORD says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says.”
Isaiah 41:26 “Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”? Surely there was no one who declared, Surely there was no one who proclaimed, Surely there was no one who heard your words.”
God challenged them to reveal something they knew
If they knew anything at all.
Well here He does it again.
(7) “‘Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, From the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming And the events that are going to take place.”
That’s the same message.
• Is there any other god who knows what I know or who does what I do?
And then the REMINDER again:
(8) “Do not tremble and do not be afraid;”
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!”
Isaiah 41:10 “‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”
And why should they not fear?
(8b) “Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?”
What is “it” there?
• It is redemption.
Have I not told you over and over
Not to fear because I have redeemed you?
God is just reiterating what He has already covered in great detail.
(8c) “And your are My witnesses”
Isaiah 43:10 “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.”
(8d) “Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.”
Isaiah 43:11-13 “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?”
SO I THINK YOU GET THE POINT.
God, after outlining for us the glories of redemption
Now just sort of pulls together a summary to remind you.
I am God, and since I have redeemed you,
You don’t have anything to fear.
So pack that truth away again in your heart.
• He is God.
• The only God.
• There is no other Savior.
• But He is your Savior.
• And since He is God, you don’t have anything to fear.
And one more time we’d ask:
WHY?
Because, “I have redeemed you…you are Mine!”
So bring that back to the forefront of your heart.
The Reminder
#2 THE REALITY
Isaiah 44:9-20
Now, this section isn’t necessarily new either.
The points made here have been made before.
However this time the truth is given
In a more dramatic if not almost humorous way.
God is reminding the people He has redeemed
How foolish it is to try and trust in any other savior for deliverance.
Since there is no other god…
Since there is no other rock…
How foolish would it be to put your trust in another one?
So here God gives His redeemed people an example
Of the absolute stupidity of idolatry.
And as He reveals it, there are two main points to be gleaned here.
1) THE FUTILE SERVICE OF IDOLS (9-20)
The crux of the point that is being made here is found in verse 9.
“Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.”
You see the key words of the passage.
“futile” – “no profit” – “shame”
Verses 10-20 tell a story to simply illustrate this statement.
Look at verses 10-12
“Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit? Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame. The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.”
Isaiah begins with a question…sort of a survey.
“Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit?”
• THE ANSWER, incidentally, would be “everyone who has ever done it.”
For the result of making an idol and worshiping it are always the same.
“Behold, all his companions will be put to shame”
• It will always end in shame.
• It will always end in embarrassment.
I heard Steve Lawson one time say
That he had requested to have 8 Dallas Cowboy players be present at his funeral to serve as his pallbearers so that when he dies they could “let him down” one last time.
Anyone who has ever been a Cowboy fan knows about leaning on or trusting in something that always seems to end in shame and humiliation.
But the reality is, you have much better odds
Of being satisfied by the Cowboys than you do with an idol.
They will never come through.
They will never deliver.
They will never save.
WHY?
“for the craftsmen themselves are mere men.”
• They are created.
• They are man-made.
• They are not living.
• They are not real.
• They cannot save.
It’s going to end in utter shame and embarrassment.
“Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame.”
It is a call for all of them to be considered as to their merit.
Incidentally, of the 4 commands that God gives here, these idols will only be able to do 1 of them.
• They can’t “assemble”,
• They can’t “stand up”,
• They can’t “tremble”,
• But they can be “put to shame.”
It’s going to be bad, and trusting in them is stupid.
How stupid?
(12) “The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.”
Here we simply see human labor.
We have the man doing a great amount of work just to make a cutting tool so that he can make a god for himself.
But the key phrase I want you to see is the end of the verse.
“He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.”
When you serve a fake god, you do all the work.
Only the true God can offer you rest.
• A false god can’t do any of the pulling.
• A false god can’t do any of the saving.
I can’t help but think of:
1 Kings 18:25-29 “So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, “O Baal, answer us.” But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made. It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.” So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.”
That was a lot of effort for ZERO result.
• Baal didn’t help at all.
• Not even a spark or a puff of smoke.
Matthew 6:7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”
And every prayer they offer to a false deity is totally worthless.
I think of Mormonism and all their legalistic requirements…
I think of Catholicism and all the work that is done to earn a pardon…
And the point is simple:
Serving false gods is futile.
There is no profit. It all ends in shame.
It is the futile service of idols.
2) THE FRUITLESS BENEFIT OF IDOLS (13-20)
Here we have a guy who works like crazy to make himself an idol,
But while he is doing that he does the strangest thing.
• He takes a tree
• Cuts it down
• Cuts a chunk out of it
• And takes that chunk and carves an idol
Now, the rest of that tree is just a tree to him.
• He uses it for what men have used wood for from the beginning.
• He burns it.
• He uses it to stay warm and to cook food.
But this select piece out of the middle,
He turns into a god that he worships.
How stupid!
(19) “No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!”
• It really is laughable.
• It is that ridiculous.
AND HERE IS THE POINT.
This mighty god that this man made to be his deliverer,
CAN ONLY DO TWO THINGS.
Did you catch them?
There are only two works this deity can accomplish.
At the end of verse 13, “so that it may sit in a house.”
So it is really good at sitting.
The other thing it can do is at the beginning of verse 15
“Then it becomes something for a man to burn,”
It’s also really good at burning.
So, if you need a god that is good at sitting or burning
Then I guess we could say that you are on the right track.
Imagine having a business and you needed to hire some employees
(and it doesn’t really matter the business).
And a young man or woman comes in to interview for the job and you ask them, “What skills do you have?”
And they say, “Well, if you have a chair I could sit in it.”
Or, “Um, I sunburn really easily.”
So if you need someone to sit outside in a chair and get sunburned
Then I guess you’ve got your guy.
Do you see the stupidity here?
You’re really going to trust in a god who has no more skills than that?
Is it any wonder that God gets offended by idolatry?
Exodus 20:1-6 “Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
It is clear that God is pretty passionate about the issue of idolatry.
AND WHY WOULDN’T HE BE?
If your spouse told you tonight that they were leaving you to marry a manacan, would that offend you?
IT’S STUPID.
There are no benefits received from worshiping an idol.
But I will tell you this, there are definitely some dangers that come with it.
LIKE WHAT?
Well, if you worship idols, that idol won’t help you,
But you will succeed in infuriating the true God.
(18-20) “They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!” He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Did you catch that?
At some point they decided to dabble in idolatry and to fall down and worship some hunk of wood.
But verse 18 doesn’t speak about why they started doing it.
Verse 18 explains why they continue doing it.
Why do men who started in idolatry stay in idolatry even though it is futile and fruitless and foolish?
“They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.”
God removes from them the capacity to see how foolish their decision is.
REALLY?!?
Does God do really do that?
Romans 1:21-25 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
You see that?
“Therefore God gave them over…”
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”
You see that?
“For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence…”
Someone recently, in a debate against election, ASKED:
If man is spiritually blind and deaf and dead and can’t come to God apart from God regenerating them and waking them up, then why would God have to “smear over their eyes”?
• Why would God have to “give them over”?
• Why would God have to “send upon them a deluding influence”?
And they use that to prove total depravity isn’t true.
They argue that obviously then man can see and is not dead
And this is why God was forced to blind them.
Well first of all,
1. He was not forced to blind them.
2. They are blind and they are spiritually dead and they aren’t coming.
Then why did God blind them, if He didn’t have to?
God takes men in a sinful state and keeps them in that sinful state
That He might use them for His glory later on in their destruction.
What do you mean?
Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”
• Go read Exodus and read how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
• God hardened him and God preserved him until God could use him to
demonstrate His own glory in his destruction.
And God does this with more than just Pharaoh.
Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
Yes, but why did God have to harden them or blind them if they weren’t coming anyway?
He didn’t.
He chose to do it so that you might see that
Their blindness was not only a characteristic of their sinfulness
But was also a consequence of His judgment.
Their idolatry crossed a line of such offense to God
That He is determined to judge them.
The only reason it is not done immediately is so that
God might use their judgment to His benefit at a later date.
And with that truth we ask:
HOW ANGRY IS GOD AT IDOLATORS?
Very angry!
So do you see how foolish idolatry is?
Do you see how foolish it is to cry out to some other god to save you?
Not only can it not save you,
But what it can do is make God so angry
That you will never be saved by Him either.
The Reminder, The Reality
#3 THE REQUIREMENT
Isaiah 44:21-23
Now we come to the invitation.
Now we come to the call.
The first two points have really just been to remind us
What God has said about us trusting in other saviors.
Now God has His message for those whom He has redeemed.
It is a 3 part message.
1) REMEMBER (21-22a)
“Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me. “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist.”
What is the chief thing to remember here?
• “you are My servant”
• “I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel”
REMEMBER WHO YOU BELONG TO
• Those false gods have no claim on you, I do.
• Those false saviors have no claim on you, I do.
• You owe those false saviors nothing, but you do owe Me.
YOU ARE MINE.
1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
And even more in that letter to the Corinthians we see the dangers of idolatry.
1 Corinthians 8:4-6 “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”
What a great passage!
Why would you cry out to what is not real?
Or listen to later:
1 Corinthians 10:19-22 “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?”
Again, those false temples of those false gods aren’t real.
They are sacrificing to demons, not God.
WHAT IS THE DANGER?
That we might “provoke the Lord to jealousy”.
You don’t want to do that.
He bought us, we are His.
Do not trust in another.
We said that serving idols was FUTILE.
You’ll do all the work.
Don’t trust a false savior who only exhausts you and incites God’s wrath.
TRUST THE TRUE GOD WHO HAS REDEEMED YOU.
THE TRUE GOD DOES THE WORK FOR YOU.
• It is Jesus Christ who came and who fulfilled the Law.
• It is Jesus Christ who came and bore God’s wrath on the cross.
• It is Jesus Christ who took on death and conquered the grave.
• It is Jesus Christ who ascended to the Father where He now intercedes.
The benefits of serving false saviors aren’t even comparable
To the benefits of serving the true Redeemer.
We also said that serving idols was FRUITLESS.
They can’t do anything for you.
But what does Isaiah remind that God does for His servants?
(22a) “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist.”
Show me a false god that can remove your sin.
Psalms 32:1-2 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”
Don’t dabble in idolatry, there is no future in it.
Remember who you belong to.
2) RETURN (22b)
“Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
Again, this is NOT a call for salvation.
These are those who have been redeemed.
This is a call for recommitment.
This is a call for revival.
This is a call to God’s people who have stumbled into idolatry.
• They have started looking to other saviors.
• They have started worshiping other things.
And God is here calling them to return to the God of their salvation.
AND THIS IS REAL CHURCH.
Have you started putting your hope in something other than God?
• Money?
• Political Leader?
• Your own ingenuity?
• Your doctor?
Any of those things would be foolish choices for none of them can save.
If you’ve been sucked in by the world
And started trusting in the wrong thing to save or satisfy you,
It is time to remember that none of those things purchased you.
Those things don’t own you.
Those things can’t save you.
It is time to repent and return to the One who has ever redeemed you.
3) REJOICE (23)
“Shout for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it; For the LORD has redeemed Jacob And in Israel He shows forth His glory.”
There is a millennial reference here since the return of Israel to God will usher in the millennial reign of Christ where the curse will be lifted and all creation will rejoice in that!
Romans 8:18-22 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
It will be good when Israel comes home.
Acts 3:19-21 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”
BUT THE CALL HERE IS SIMPLE.
IT IS TIME for God’s people, whom He has redeemed
• To remember that He alone has purchased them and redeemed them.
IT IS TIME for them
• To stop trusting in other would-be saviors for their deliverance and to trust in Him alone.
IT IS TIME for them
• To stop looking for satisfaction in the things of this world and its faulty promises and to rejoice once again in the salvation God has promised.
He has redeemed you.
He is redeeming you.
He will redeem you.
Rejoice in that!
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.”
Come back to Him!
Trust in Him!
You have been bought with a price, it’s time to start living like it.
Or would the world say that you belong to some other master?
