God's profound and undeserved love for humanity is the central theme, drawing from Isaiah 43 to illustrate His redemptive actions and unwavering commitment. The sermon highlights God's initiative in calling, redeeming, and loving His people, emphasizing that this love is a gift, unsought and unheeded by many. It contrasts Israel's weariness and iniquities with God's promise to blot out transgressions and forget sins, urging believers to remember God and live a victorious Christian life. The message concludes by underscoring that God's love is the persuasive force that calls for a response, reminding listeners of His constant presence and desire to save.
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turn to Isaiah chapter forty three please Isaiah chapter forty three I'd like to read the whole of this chapter but it would take so much time I'll just read some excerpts verse one of Isaiah chapter forty three But now thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob. Now there's the clue as to whom this is written two and four. And he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.
Verse three, I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Verse four, Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth there's a great future for Israel but that's not my topic for today even every man that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory I have formed him yea I have made him bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears verse ten You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am He. Now there's that word, understand again. A remark was just made about it, and here once again we come across it. Understand that I am He. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I... Even I am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. I have declared, and have saved, and have showed when there was no strange God among you, therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.
Yea, before the day was, I am. Verse fifteen. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way to the sea and a path in the mighty waters. Verse twenty, or twenty-two, but, and notice that word, but, you know, the story is told about a captain of the host who was made a exalted, higher, promoted, and it goes on to say he was this kind of soldier, he was that kind of soldier, he was the other kind of soldier, and after this list that made him stand right out, it says, but he was a leper.
That man's name was Nehemiah. This word but is very important. But After all that has gone before, we read, Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine inequities.
I, even I, am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Now notice this next. Put me in remembrance. Now the little word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you for thy word. We thank you that there is a love in each one of us in our hearts for thy word. We believe, Lord, that we are anxious this morning to hear thy voice. And we pray that we shall not be disappointed by thy Holy Spirit. Speak to us.
We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's go back to the early part of this chapter forty-three. A long time ago, and when I was reading this chapter and studying it, the story came to me. It was about a past Belgian ambassador, a diplomat with no small skills. And because of that he went on Belgium's behalf all over the world. He traveled widely in his diplomatic position.
And one day he came to a rather smaller city than he had been visiting, and they put on for him a banquet. And when everyone was seated, There was an old man seated beside the Belgian ambassador. The meal had hardly gotten under way when the old man looked at the ambassador who realized that the old man was watching him. He turned and looked into his face, and the man said to him, Sir, Could I speak to you about Jesus?
The Belgian ambassador said yes. But the conversation had drifted across the table. A man got up hurriedly, almost ran around the table, came, put his hand on the man's shoulder and said, You're sitting in the wrong seat. He wanted to spare the ambassador embarrassment. The ambassador turned to him and said, please, humor me, and leave the man there. So the man, of course, gave to the Belgian ambassador the gospel. Afterward, he said to the man who had tried to interrupt, he said, do you realize I've traveled for months in this country?
I've been to numerous towns. I've had numerous men sitting on either side of me. But this is the first time that any man ever showed a care for my soul. I think he sat up and took notice. Now we convene meetings like this because we care about the souls of men. I would love to see all these empty pews, or almost empty pews, filled with unsaved people for the message that I have this morning. Because it is about the love of God. And it is about the price that He paid for us, a reminder to our hearts.
I don't have to go into detail with you because you know all of these details. But the message that I've read to you is a message... that has a note of persuasion. I have done this, I have done that, I have done the other. And because of that it is an affectionate note. The second, secondly, that one dealing with the love of God, now we come to a note of peril. And so This is an anxious note.
And he talks to us about God's concern. And then thirdly, as we get to the end where God says, I will do this, and I will do that, we have a note of promise. And that is an attractive note. And he tells us of God's intention. I will. God never... likes to leave a man exactly as he found him. Now think about that. Because the heart of God goes out to the sinner and he doesn't want him to land in hell and so certainly he is anxious to reach that man's heart and to bring him a message that will free him.
That's why he sends us as ambassadors. across people's paths because he willeth not the death of any. And it is so with the believer that God doesn't want to leave us the way he finds us. Every day in the will of God and the wisdom of God, each day should be a little different. And because of it, We should be a little better, a little more changed, a little more like the Lord Jesus, a little more anxious to fit exactly into the will of God for our lives.
But these are solemn verses. Persuasion. Peril. And promise. There are four things that I listed here under my heading a note of persuasion. Verse one says, I have redeemed thee. Now the thought is of someone having been taken captive, kidnapped, and then for him a ransom demanded. There are a number of Americans today in the hands of rebels who have kidnapped them because they hope to get a sizable ransom.
You know, that's what the devil did with every one of us. He kidnapped us. We were never meant to be in his clutches. We were never meant to be under his control. But he kidnapped us. But God isn't going to let him get any ransom, though the Lord Jesus has paid the ransom, not to Satan, but to God. And one day he's going to be, we're going to be freed from Satan's clutches and Satan's control. and the nuisance that Satan is and the trouble that Satan gets us into.
It's all going to be eventually over because the Lord Jesus is the stronger than the strong men. The Lord Jesus is the victor. I have redeemed thee. When he went to the cross, he paid the price for our redemption and now he says in this note of wooing and persuasion I have redeemed thee I've bought you back out of slavery I paid the price look again at verse one I have called thee now this is all part of the persuasion.
The God of heaven is talking to Israel. He's speaking to Jacob and he says, I paid the price for you and I called you. Now usually when a person is kidnapped, it's the victim who calls. It's the victim who cries out. It's the victim that seeks to get attention. This is strangely back to front because God is not the victim. I have called you. I remember when I was early getting acquainted with my wife.
In fact, I think it was the very first day that I met her. She was with her mother. and we had just come out of a service where a colleague and I had been preaching and we were there for one whole week and a little group of us came out together and as we came out we saw that the sky was lurid with red and it wasn't natural red It was the red flames.
And somebody said, let's go and see where the fire is. I wasn't consulted. I was bundled into a car with my wife and her mother, three or four others, all crammed into the car, going to see the fire. when we got to the fire we found out that the collegiate high school was burning from one end to the other and the kids were dancing around no school tomorrow and then suddenly the crowd froze because there were screams from the flames a man was trapped inside i don't know whether my wife remembers Us hearing the outcome of that, I don't know whether he was rescued, I don't know whether he died in the fire.
But in his need, he cried out. But you know, we are so smug and so self-satisfied that despite the fact that we have needs and deep spiritual needs, we don't call. God who sees those needs knows them and is sufficient to meet them. He says, I've called them. He's made the approach. He's opened the door. That's the kind of God we have. He pays the price and he opens the door. I have redeemed thee and I have called thee. Now look at verse four. Since thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable and I have loved thee.
first of all we have the love of God and then we have the concern of God I've called thee now we have the promise of God a very attractive promise we go to the end of the chapter to see what God says and I want to point this out to you as we go back through the message he says I'm looking for my verse. Here it is. I, even I, am he that bloodeth out thy transgression for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Now we need to keep that in mind, because in spite of the fact that God paid the price and redeemed us, but we did nothing in return. In spite of the fact that God called, we didn't deign to answer. In our unsaved state, we had no time for God. But here's the reason why God did it. He says, I redeemed thee and I called thee because I have loved thee. It's amazing what love can do. This whole section is about love.
Love is at the bottom of it all. But that love is totally undeserved. Not a man that God loves deserved to be loved. You didn't. I didn't. And not a man breathing did. That love was totally undeserved. It was also unsought. How long have men gone on in their sin... and although God redeemed them, paid the price for them, and caused them, and though He loves them, there is no response from their hearts. A love that's undeserved, and a love that's unsought, and then it's unheeded.
Men go their way, they're taken up with other things, and the love of God, the thought of it, is thrust to one side. and that pure, that holy, that wonderful love is unheeded. And yet, it's a love that is unlimited. It would take, it takes in everyone. I was watching a film on Africa on the television yesterday. Men who were little more than animals. And as I sat there and watched it, I thought, But God loves them. God loves them.
And missionaries have laid down their lives, died at the hand of the heathen, because they knew they had to carry the story of the love of God to these people. We have very close ties now with five men who were martyred for the cause of Christ in Ecuador. The savages killed them. They went there because the love of God constrained them. And they had the only message in their hands and in their hearts that could make a difference in the lives of those men.
Now look at verse ten. So I have redeemed thee. So I have called thee. So I have loved thee. Now verse ten says this, Ye are my witnesses at the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen. I have chosen thee. It's very, very hard to understand for us being human how God could have done all this for us and done it out of a love that he had in his heart for us in spite of the fact that we treated his love the way that we did.
He refused to turn away. He said, I put my hand on you. I have chosen you. Today is my birthday. Seventy-four years ago, on a Sunday, I saw the light of day. I don't think I appreciated it very much. But however, I lived long enough to know that one birthday in a man's life or a woman's life is not enough. Word of God says, ye must be born again. Now I look around the crowd and I'm sure that there's nobody here who isn't born again.
But I'm glad to be able to remind you of these things because out of this, because we are believers, and Jacob, Israel, was chosen of God. It was to Israel that he says, as well as to you and me, I've redeemed thee, I have called thee, I have loved thee, I have chosen thee. Israel becomes a picture for us. What God did for them, God has done for us. And I'm sure that we, if God can be exasperated, I don't think he can.
But if he can, then we have exasperated him every bit as much as Israel. He never lost his love for Israel. and he's never going to lose his love for you and me. It's all very persuasive, isn't it? A God like that must be a God of love and a human heart should respond to him. Did Israel? No. How miserably Israel failed. You know, you and I have been saved by the grace of God. I don't think anyone here is unsaved.
But how it should thrill our hearts to go, were all of this again and say, it's true. All of that God did for me. And only he knew how unworthy I really was of what he did for me. But I'm glad that God chose me. He have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, he says. Now you think, if he was somebody else, would you choose you? As you know yourself to be, if you were anybody else, would you choose you? I don't think so. I don't think I will run to choose me.
But God chose us, and God chose you. That's what kind of a loving God he is. And the love of God is what makes him so persuasive, because he communicates this message to them to say, I'm still here. I'm still here. There are so many unsaved people, some of us can think of members of our own families, who have heard the gospel, know all of these things, and yet they still resist the love of God. and continue on their way with their feet planted toward the city of destruction or that God might reach them and save them now the next is a note of peril I want you to observe verse if I can read my writing here I'll know what it is there's a verse here and I've read it to you and it says Beside me there is no Savior.
Now, the persuasive one is a God who wants to bring us face to face with our peril. And he says, I'm warning you. Without me there is no Savior. If you want to go on as unconcerned, if you want to go on as unwillingly, If you want to go away as carelessly, as careless as you are, remember, beside me, there is no Savior. Now, this can apply to the believer. In this sense, every day we who are saved need to be newly saved, not from hell, but from ourselves and from our habits.
and from our sin. Every day we need to be saved. You know, there's a little verse eleven here, which is very interesting. It's not really in my notes, but I noted this. It says, Beside me there is no Savior. The verse I'm thinking of is verse seven. Everyone that is called for my name, I have created him, I have formed him, I have made him. And then God, having done that, stood us on our feet and said, Now I am appealing to you for a place, for the place in your life.
Now as the chapter unfolds here, the writer is placing before Israel... First of all, the insufficiency of men. And Israel, you know, had so much to boast about. The word here is telling us that in spite of the glory of its patriarchs, and you think of the patriarchs and their histories, you know them well. Think of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the glory of their patriarchs. In spite of the conquests of their leaders, just think about Joshua. Think about Moses. Think about Gideon. And in spite of the accuracy of their prophets, think about Isaiah himself, who's writing here, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and so on, in spite of the glory and conquest and accuracy of these, add to this the splendor of Israel's palaces.
and the marvel of Israel's ritual given to them of God, and then the miracle of her preservation unto this very day. God says, But without me there is no Savior. The insufficiency of man, all of these glories, all these wonderful things All these things that made Israel stand out above every other nation and become a favored nation in the eyes of God. All of these things, none of them could save Israel. Beside me, there is no savior.
The insufficiency of men. All that you've got. All that you've created, all that you enjoy, all the splendor that is yours, can do nothing for you when it comes to salvation. I alone can be your Savior. I mentioned Naaman and that little word, but. After parading all these things before the reader, God says, but. And in my Bible, I have a ring. around that but. Let's see what it says now a little further down here. There's the but in verse twenty-six.
I spoke of the insufficiency of man. There's nothing about him. There's nothing that he has or that he does can bring him salvation. Totally dependent upon God. Now after all these things God says, now I've redeemed you. I've called you, I've loved you, I've chosen you, but... And here it is. Thou hast not called upon me. Thou hast been weary of me. Thou hast not brought to me. Neither hast thou honored me.
Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money. Thou hast wearied me, verse twenty-four, with thine iniquities. The independence of man. It's not enough that he is totally inadequate, but he doesn't realize it. And he stands independent of God. You've not called, the scripture says, verse twenty-two. You haven't wanted me, verse twenty-two. You've been weary of me. You haven't brought me sacrifices and offerings.
Verse twenty-three, you haven't honored me. All you've thought about is yourself. Now, I think that as believers, we ought to face ourselves with some of these things and see if perhaps we are tarred with the brush of independence. You know, we've nothing to be independent for, and we've nothing to be independent with, especially independence from God. We're so totally dependent upon Him. Remember that the breath in your nostrils now is your own.
But the next, God holds in His hand to withhold if He chooses. Man who is so inadequate... dairs to try to be independent of God. Even as believers sometimes, it's our own way that we choose, because we don't weigh like the way that God has opened up for us. We have choices to make as believers, even as believers with a long life of experience, We still come into conflict with the will of God in our lives.
God says, do this, and we say, I want to do that. God says, you must do this. I want to do that. Do you ever have an argument with God like that? I know perhaps not that language. But there have been times when you have balked at the will of God for your life. And you learn, God said to you plainly, this is the way. Walk in it. And you turn around and you walk that way. And you paid the price, didn't you? I think we've all had experiences how disobedience calls for a big price. Man is independent. There was a song they used to sing when I was a boy.
I love myself, I do. I love myself, I won't go on with that, but all of us are tired with that, but we love ourselves. And yet there's really not very much that's lovely about us. Mind you, I know some people that I think have beautiful lives when God sees them. He knows the heart. I know of Christianness and I would so much like to be like them. Gentle, tender, bright, happy, useful to God. But our own independence interferes with these things.
The chapter points out something else. Not just the insufficiency of man and the independence of man. but the iniquity of man. Now look at verse twenty-six. It says here, or verse twenty-five, I even, I am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake. The iniquity of man. Verse twenty-four says, you brought me into the servile situation. By our sinning we brought God, he says, into bondage.
Because he watched as we see the Lord Jesus come down. When God said you made me to serve, he was referring to the Lord Jesus and what a servant he was. He came and became flesh for us. He came and he underwent the same limitations in the body that we have. He suffered as a man privation. He suffered on the cross for our sins. He laid down his life in death.
This message that is a note of persuasion and a note of peril ends with a note of promise. Verse twenty-five. Even I am He that blotterth out thy transgressions for mine own sakes and will not remember thy sins. I have that marked in my Bible. How can God not remember He's God? He says, I will blot out your sin.
I will not remember your sin anymore. In other words, I will forget. You know, it's one thing to forgive. And we do that from time to time. But it's another thing to forget. God says, in my power, I'm going to make it possible for you to be forgiven, and I'm going to forgive you. And then I'm going to forget you sin. Believers who keep parading old sins that they've confessed and forsaken before God is saying to them, I don't know what you're talking about.
Many people, many Christians, wallow in their sin and they go over it and over it before God and God says they're too busy going over it all to hear His voice. I don't know what you're talking about. You see, God has... as perfect a memory as he has perfect everything else. And a perfect memory remembers what it means to remember and forgets what it needs to forget. And God says, I will not remember your sins. But notice how this finishes as I finish.
It says, Put me, verse twenty-six, in remembrance. I'm not going to remember your sins, but I want you to remember me. That's not just as someone in our distant past who saved us and who has filled our lives, made us happy, and given us so much. But God says, put me in remembrance. He's really saying, keep me in mind. Don't let other things crowd me out. I know you've trusted me. I know that you love me.
But I know how Satan wants to make you fail in the matter of remembrance. You know, if we remembered God as moment, succeeded moment, we wouldn't fall into the traps that we do. God grant will not forget him. He says, I'm going to forget your sins, but I want you to put me in remembrance. And that means moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, because that is how the victorious Christian life is lived.
Shall we pray? Our Father, we are so grateful that the gospel story is something that we all know so very well. It's also a story that we cherish very much. But, Lord, we realize that it brings response.