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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?

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REDEEMED! – part 5
Isaiah 43:1-44:5 (44:1-5)
March 24, 2024

This morning we return one more time to take a look at God’s redemption.

And what a glorious look it has been!
It is nothing short of comfort and delight to the soul to understand
• What God has done
• What God is doing
• What God will do for those whom He has redeemed.

And just to quickly pull your mind back into the conversation.

God has been laying out the realities of redemption to His people Israel.

This is important because the people He is addressing
Are people who have failed Him miserably.

• They fell into idolatry…
• The shed very much innocent blood…
• Their sin was so offensive to God that His glory departed from the temple…
• Their sin was so offensive that God gave them into the hands of Babylon…
• And now, they have been in slavery there for nearly 70 years.

It is a legitimate question to wonder
If God had totally and permanently abandoned His people.

And to that God here responds with a resounding No!

If you think that God would turn His back on those He has redeemed
Then it is clear that you do not understand God’s redemption.

So we have been taking a closer look at this very thing.

#1 A PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:1-7

Namely that God DID NOT redeem all men,
(clearly God gave up Egypt to save Israel.)

But those He did redeem are totally and perfectly redeemed.
• It is not a potential redemption it is an actual redemption.
• It is not a possible redemption it is a powerful redemption.

Those whom He redeems are His…all of them.

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!”

#2 A PURPOSED REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:8-13

God redeems His people for His glory.
• He saves the otherwise unsavable to reveal that He alone is the Savior.

Isaiah 43:10-11 “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.”

No other god can do what our God does.
• He actually saves.
• He actually redeems.
• And it is the redeemed who are His evidence.

#3 A PROMISING REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:14-21

We saw this last Sunday morning, namely that
The past benefits of redemption are not all there is.

Even in the N.Y. the salvation of God is spoken of in various tenses.
• Sometimes Scripture says “you have been saved”
• Sometimes Scripture says “you are being saved”
• Sometimes Scripture says “you will be saved”

And they are all true.
• We have been saved from our sin – JUSTIFICATION
• We are being saved from our sin – SANCTIFICATION
• We will be saved from our sin – GLORIFICATION

Redemption accomplishes all of these.
Therefore God told Israel,
• Not to simply think about what God did in the past (Exodus)
• But to start thinking about what God is doing (sending Cyrus)
• And what God will do (bring them home).

Isaiah 43:18-19 “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.”

We as believers rejoice in what God has done.
We are grateful for what God is doing.
And we anticipate what He will yet do.
FOR US WHOM HE HAS REDEEMED

#4 A PERSISTENT REDEMPTION
Isaiah 43:22-28

THIS WAS LAST SUNDAY NIGHT
And for the first time we encountered a problem.

Jeremiah made it clear to us that one of the conditions of Israel returning from Babylon was their repentance and subsequent calling on the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 “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.”

So it is assumed by many that what God did in sending them to Babylon was simply to “dial up the pressure”.

• They weren’t seeking God,
• They weren’t calling on God in their own land
• So God threw them into Babylon until they learned to seek.

And many think this is how it works.
• Sinners just need to be coerced.
• And if you apply enough pressure then they will respond.

But as we found last Sunday night, IT WASN’T WORKING.

Isaiah 43:22 “Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; But you have become weary of Me, O Israel.”

Israel wasn’t calling.
• If you keep reading you find out they weren’t sacrificing or seeking or
interested in God at all.

AND SO WE RAN INTO A PROBLEM.
• How does God redeem a people who don’t want to be redeemed?
• How does God rescue a people who don’t want to be rescued?
• How does God save a people who don’t want to be saved?

And the answer is what we saw SUNDAY NIGHT
And we will discuss even more this morning.

Namely that God transforms their heart
And changes their disposition to cause them to want Him.

Today we have a saying:
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”

Theologically we would say:
“You can tell a sinner about God, but you can’t make him trust.”

WELL, GOD CAN.

See God made a promise to Israel.
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.”

• God had already determined to redeem Israel.
• God had already determined to bring glory to His name by forgiving their sin.

If they don’t call, then God gets no glory as a Savior.
So God will act for the sake of His name.

We learned then Sunday night that God’s redemption is PERSISTENT.
In short, we are not saved because we so persistently pursue God,
But rather because He so persistently pursued us.

It is Jesus who sought for sinners not the other way around.

WELL THIS MORNING
We want to look at one more aspect of God’s redemption
In some ways it merely goes deeper into the reality we looked at Sunday night.

#5 A PERMANENT REDEMPTION
Isaiah 44:1-5

So we know that chapter 43 concluded
With a rather disconcerting announcement regarding Israel.

The people, whom God had redeemed, whom God promised to deliver,
Where still unwilling to call out to Him for salvation.

That had not changed God’s decision
To atone for their sin or to wipe out their transgressions,
But it is true that they were getting what they deserved.

In fact chapter 43 ended with this startling announcement.
Isaiah 43:28 “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary, And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement.”

It was a reference to the fact that Israel’s exile to Babylon was totally just.
• They were receiving what they deserved.

What they did not deserve was the mercy God was promising in verse 25.

Had God chosen to just walk away from Israel
• And leave them forever consigned to Babylon and slavery
• To abandon them and find someone else
• That God would have been just in making such a decision.

He was under no obligation to deliver them
Or to bring them back to the land of promise.

And if God were a man like you or I, that might have been what He did.
But thankfully, He is not.

As we have learned in the past couple of weeks,
HIS REDEMPTION IS WEIGHTY.
• It’s not a fickle redemption…
• It’s not a flimsy redemption…

We are talking about a people whom God purchased for Himself Nothing will keep Him from obtaining that which He purchased,
Not even their own stubbornness.

In short, we are talking about a PERMANENT REDEMPTION

Let’s look at that here in these 5 verses.
Let me break this down a little further as well.

1) UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION (1-2)

“But now listen, O Jacob, My servant, And Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you, ‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.”

We have grown to love the word “But” in Scripture.
• It is that great transition word
• Which usually follows a discourse
• On how undeserving we are of salvation.

And that is exactly how it is used here.
• Israel deserved the exile.
• Israel deserved to stay in Babylon.
• Israel deserved to be abandoned by God.

“But…” That is NOT what is going to happen.

“But now listen, O Jacob, My servant, And Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you, ‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.”

As God addresses this sinful people
(Who refuse to call and who don’t even seem to want deliverance)
God does not approach them with words of anger.

He speaks to them in terms of election.
• Twice He calls them “Jacob, My servant”
• Twice He says they are those “whom I have chosen”
• He reminds that He is the one who “made you And formed you from the womb”
• And He reminds again of His promise to “help you”

The entire feel of those two verses is simply that
God’s promise of redemption
Is not based upon the worth of the sinner who receives it.

God has chosen a people who didn’t choose Him.

And again WE ARE BLOWN AWAY
By this doctrine which we refer to as UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION.

That God chose people who didn’t deserve to be chosen.

We have already read recently the passage in Deuteronomy 7:7
• Where God revealed that He didn’t choose Israel because they were so great.

Many times we have read the passage in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
• Reminding that there were not many wise, not many might, not many noble, but God chose us anyway.

We don’t have to revisit those texts this morning.

But consider a few other remarkable passages.

1 Timothy 1:12-16 “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.”

Paul reveals what he was at the time when Christ confronted him.
• “a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”
• In fact Paul says that he was “the foremost” of all sinners.

And our question is:
Should a persecutor and a blasphemer and a violent aggressor be chosen by God for salvation?

Of course not, but that is what God does.
HE CHOOSES THE UNWORTHY.

Think of this one:
Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

And in like fashion we ask the question here:
Should a foolish and hateful person who lives only for the lusts of the flesh be chosen by God for salvation?

And again we say “No” but that’s what God does.
HE REACHES OUT AND SAVES THE UNWORTHY.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

You are familiar with this famous list.
• It actually magnifies that passage in chapter 1 when Paul says that among the Corinthians there were not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble.

5 chapters later we find out that they were actually fornicators and idolators and adulterers and effeminate and homosexuals and thieves and covetous and drunkards and revilers and swindlers.

Notice the “such were some of you” part of that verse.

And again we ask:
Should God choose drunkards to be saved? Or homosexuals? Or thieves? Or the covetous?

And again the obvious answer is “NO” but that is what God does.
GOD CHOOSES TO SAVE SINNERS.

HIS ELECTION IS AN UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION.

So it is not surprising to us when we see here in Isaiah 44
• That God is still referring go Israel as His chosen
• Even though they are totally disinterested in being reconciled to Him.
• God never has chosen the worthy.

But here we are looking at more than just God’s initial choosing of Israel.

What we are looking at here is God’s faithfulness
TO CONTINUE TO CHOOSE THEM.

It is not just unconditional election,
It is UNCEASING COMMITMENT.

GOD DOESN’T GIVE UP.
• It is one thing to choose them when they were unworthy sinners.
• It is quite another thing to continue choosing them when they seem to never change.

But this is God too!

Remember this story?
John 21:15-17 “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

Should someone who denies the Lord 3 times be allowed to continue being a disciple?
• Should that person be allowed to preach to others?
• Should that person be entrusted with preaching the sermon of Pentecost?

And we’d say, “Of course not!”
But God didn’t back up on His calling.

Israel doesn’t deserve it, but God’s election stands.
It is an unconditional election and it is an unceasing commitment.

Do you understand that about your redemption church?
• It is not fickle.
• You were unworthy when He chose you.
• You remain unworthy, but that does not change His decision.

But that is only part of the glory here.

2) SUPERNATURAL REGENERATION (3-4)

“For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants; And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams of water.”

This is what we spoke of some on Sunday night.

THE QUESTION IS, how do you get people who don’t want to call to actually call?
• How do you get blasphemous violent drunkards and homosexuals and covetous to decide to leave that sin and call on God for salvation?

And the answer is: REGENERATION

The verses we have here are Isaiah’s version of the New Covenant.

Jeremiah’s statement is by far the most famous.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Jeremiah spoke of a day when God would
No longer make the blessings of the covenant dependent upon Israel.

God said, “I will put My law with them and on their heart I will write it”

We see God promising to do for sinners
What they could not and would not do for themselves.

Ezekiel spoke of this work of God as well:
Ezekiel 36:24-28 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.”

Ezekiel actually gave us a little more information
In that he explained to us who the Agent would be that would cause us to love God and His word.

Ezekiel identified the Catalyst and that would be the Holy Spirit.
“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes”

In the very next chapter
• God showed Ezekiel a living illustration in that valley of old dead dry bones
when God asked Ezekiel if it was possible for those old bones to live?

But that is precisely what God did.
He raised the dead to life through the power of His Spirit.

As you can see, that is PRECISELY WHAT ISAIAH SAW TOO.

He saw God pouring out “My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants.”

Isaiah likened it to pouring “water on the thirsty land”

And that of course draws our minds to what Jesus said:
John 7:37-39 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Do you see how they are all talking about the same thing?
They are talking about God doing something inside the heart of the man who cannot and will not do anything for himself.
• Man is stubborn and will not respond.
• Man is dead and cannot respond.
• Man is a valley of old dry bones.

You can tell those old bones to seek God all you want,
But it is beyond their ability to do so.

So what does God do?
HE DOES IT FOR THEM.

It is called: REGENERATION
• It makes dead sinners alive enough to be able to respond.
• It changes the disposition of the stubborn to make them want to call.
• It grants faith to the faithless so that they will believe.

Think of Lazarus in the tomb.
• He was dead.
• He could not respond.
• And his sisters couldn’t get through to him.
• The objective of the day was to get Lazarus to come out of that tomb.
• But until Lazarus was made alive he could not make that decision.

God must do that supernatural work before a response is even possible.

This is what God is revealing that He will do for the descendants of Israel.
• Yes you are stubborn.
• Yes you are incapable.
• But far be it from Me to give up on you.

• I redeemed you.
• I chose you.
• You are Mine.

So I will do a regenerating work, pour out My Spirit upon you
And cause you live and respond to Me.

And think about what we know of Israel in THE END TIMES.
(Certainly today they are in a state of obstinance)

But what does the Bible say is coming?
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

• Do you see that God does not give up on them?
• Do you see that God does whatever it takes to cause them to respond?
• He pours out His Spirit and causes them to look to and mourn over and cry out for Jesus.

IT IS HIS WORK OF REGENERATION.

I remind you that is precisely what God has done FOR US AS WELL.

Ephesians 2:1-7 “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. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

• We were dead in spirit
• We desired sin
• We were doomed to suffer

We were in just as bad a state as Israel.
• Not calling and not wanting to.
• Not even interested in reconciliation.
• We were dead.

So God intervened.
• He “made us alive”
• He “raised us up with Him”
• He “seated us with Him in the heavenly places”

We didn’t do that, God did that.

And that is what He is taking about doing here
With the descendants of Israel.

God says, “I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants; And they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water.”

In other words, “I’m going to do it and it will be no small work.”
• When I awaken My people to come back to Me they’re going to be everywhere!

It is the very ESSENCE OF REVIVAL
Which is always caused by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
God promises that He will do that.

But there is one more point to be made

3) EVIDENTIAL CONFESSION (5)

“This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’S’; And that one will call on the name of Jacob; And another will write on his hand, ‘Belonging to the LORD,’ And will name Israel’s name with honor.”

This is THE OUTCOME of the outpouring of God’s Spirit.

In chapter 43 we saw that they were totally unwilling to call.
• We saw that they would not sacrifice.
• We saw that they would not bring offerings.
• We saw that they basically had no interest in affiliation with God at all.

Well verse 5 is certainly a U-Turn.

Because all of a sudden we have a veritable competition.
They are all trying to outdo each other.

It reminds us of Corinth where one was saying, “I am of Paul” and another “I am of Apollos” and another “I am of Cephas” and another “I am Christ”.

Except here they are all after the same title,
Only to prove that they are the most devoted to it.

• They all want to be known as God’s people.
• They all want the banner on their forehead.
• They all want the T-shirt that says it.
• They all want the bumper sticker.
• And they all seem to want to out-do each other.

One commentator wrote,
“Notorious sinners become notorious believers.”

Peter wrote:
1 Peter 4:15-16 “Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”

And you see that very thing here.
They are all shouting over the top of one another.

Right after Carrie and I moved here we went with the youth to a “Hot Hearts” conference at the Coliseum in Lubbock.

We hadn’t been there long before the stadium started a chant.
• One side would scream, “We love Jesus, yes we do, we love Jesus, how
about you?”
• And then the other side would respond.

Obviously, we’re a little skeptical of stuff like that at a youth rally
Because it’s popular and expected.

But here, they’re doing everywhere, not just at the youth camp.
• They go to basketball camp and start talking about how much they love Jesus.
• They go to a football game and start cheering for Jesus.
• They are in the supermarket and their conversations are all about Jesus.

And this, incidentally, is
One of the consequences of being filled with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has tunnel vision.
• He is consumed with the person and work of Jesus.
• That is all He wants to talk about.
• And when you are filled with Him, then your passions will match His.

And you see that here.
Everyone in this crowd is trying to be more devoted than the other.

And this is where God says it is all headed for Israel.

NOW LET’S STOP HERE AND RECOGNIZE THE OBVIOUS POINT

1) We have a people whom God says He redeemed.
• He called them His.
• Because He redeemed them He promised to bring them home back to Himself.

2) However, they weren’t interested, they loved their sin.

3) So God did in them what they would not do for themselves.
• God promised to send His Spirit and to cause them to want Him.
• And by the time the Spirit does His work that’s exactly what happens.

SO WHAT IS THE POINT?

There is no chance that God’s redemption will fail.
We call it a PERMANENT REDEMPTION.

No amount of obstinance…
No amount of unbelief…
No amount of resistance…
No circumstance too difficult…
Can stop the redemptive work of God.

When Jesus said it was easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven,
The disciples asked, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus said:
Matthew 19:26 “And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

And that is not only true for rich men, that is true for all men.
Salvation is impossible for all people, only God can do it.
DEAD MEN CAN’T SAVE THEMSELVES.

We think of Abraham when God promised that Isaac would be the heir.
Hebrews 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”

Abraham knew that only God could accomplish such things
And that God could and certainly would do them.

AND THEN WE COME TO ISRAEL.
Stubborn and obstinate down to this very day.
They have rejected Christ and at the present only a remnant believe.

There would be some who say that it is all over for Israel.
• This belief fails to understand the heart of God.
• This belief fails to understand the work of redemption.
• This belief fails to understand the testimony of Scripture.

Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

That is about Israel,
But it is a priceless passage for the Gentile church as well.

WHY?
• Because it reminds us that the redemption of God is permanent.
• If it is permanent for Israel then it is permanent for us as well.
• If God was willing to pass them off, then what assurances do we have?

Well praise God His redemption is permanent!
• Those whom He redeems He will have.
• They are His and He will have them.
• And no one can undo that.

He will take His Spirit and turn the heart of even the vilest sinner
If that is what it takes to bring His redeemed home to Him.
He will change their disposition
He will not let them go.
HE WILL NOT GIVE THEM UP.

THOSE HE REDEEMS, HE PERMANENTLY REDEEMS.

2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

1 Thessalonians 5:24 “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

These are the promises we rest upon.
• That those whom God has chosen to redeem, He will redeem.
• That those whom God has chosen to save, He will save.
• That those whom God has chosen to bring home to Him, He will bring home.

AND NOTHING CAN STOP THAT.
AND NOTHING CAN UNDO IT.
IT IS PERMANENT.

Our God will have those whom He has purchased.
If you have been redeemed, you always will be.

download here

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.

download here

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