Isaiah 43:1-7 (KJV)1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba^{NE Africa – Meroe} for thee. 4 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. 5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 6 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; 7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Audio of Sermon: 

God founded His Church in Israel. His Church was called out of Abraham’s seed. Abraham – originally called Abram – lived in Ur of the Chaldees – heard the call of God to salvation and followed Him. From Abraham God brought about the nation of Israel, and from Israel God called His Church. I have heard Israel called God’s Old Testament Church, and we who are His by faith in Christ His New Testament Church.

Whether Israel or the Church, God calls to a people to be “in the world, but not of the world”. God created this world and loves this world, but from Adam onward this world has wandered far from God. But God is our Savior. Though we wandered from Him, God was not satisfied with this … and neither are we.

We are not satisfied unless we are in God.
We are not satisfied unless we love Him and His Word.
We are not satisfied unless we are following His design in our lives.
We are not satisfied until we are resting in God or Savior.

Why are we not satisfied unless we are in Him because it is HE that MADE US.

Isaiah 43:1 (KJV)1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob,
and he that formed thee, O Israel,

Just as God created Jacob in his mother’s womb, and formed Jacob into Israel, God created you. God has a design and a purpose for your life. He wants to elevate you from Jacob the thief and wanderer to Israel the Prince of God. He wants to bring joy to your life, joy unspeakable and full of joy.

The way of Adam is not the way of peace!

I was reading the news on the internet the other day when I came across several articles that address “Inclusiveness”. Years ago we were a society that had two genders of people, “men” and “women”. Then a vocal and somewhat angry group of people decided that this wasn’t enough, that we should have other “genders”. We were told if we had other “genders” and we were allowed to legally marry any “gender” then it wouldn’t effect the rest of us raised to believe in two genders. So the courts struck gavels and legally we decided to be more “inclusive”. Colleges and universities are now releasing what they call “new gender pronouns” because the pronouns we grew up learning are not inclusive enough. Instead of “he” or “she” we say “(f)ae”, and instead of “him” or “her” we say “(f)aer”. Instead of “himself” or “herself” we say “(f)aerself”. Don’t you feel better now? There is no standardized pronoun replacement, by the way. Some use one of these: “ze” “xem” “xyr” “verself” “perself” “eirs” “em”. I feel much better now. The departure from God’s design has gone so far that in Canada now it is against the Law to use non-inclusive language.

At a town hall meeting a voter asked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a question and used the phrase “future of mankind”. The Prime Minister told her “We like to say peoplekind not necessarily mankind because it’s more incluisive”.

My spell checker on my computer went crazy when it saw the word “peoplekind”, offering about a dozen different words in place of this foolishness. Sadly, a machine knows better than we do.

Nancy Pearcey, a teacher at Houston Baptist University and the author of Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions About Life And Sexuality was recently interviewed by The Christian Post. In the interview she stated truthfully:

“… no one really denies that on the level of biology, physiology, and anatomy, males and females are counterparts to one another. That’s the way the human sexual and reproductive system is designed. So when someone adopts a same-sex identity, they are contradicting their own biological design. Implicitly they are saying, “Why should my body inform my psychological identity? Why should my biological sex as male or female have any say in my moral choices?” This is a profoundly disrespectful view of the body. It creates inner conflict between a person’s physiology and their psychological identity, leading to fragmentation and self-alienation.” ^{(underline mine)}

The farther we get from God, the more confused we get. Feelings change. That which is popular changes. But what does not change is that it is God Who made us. He formed us. We are of His design.

God Made You And Will Redeem Imperfect You

The source of our confusion is that we think we made ourselves.
Even a test-tube baby does not make itself.
We do not make the egg, nor do we make the sperm.

Life has never been created in the laboratory. Life is from God. God equips and we enjoy what He has given us. It was God Who looked from Heaven and said:

Genesis 1:26-28 (NKJV) Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God formed us. God made us male and female. He made us in His image. He made us according to His likeness. He gave us dominion over the earth, His earth. And God in His blessing said “be FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY and FILL THE EARTH”. The commission of God is not possible if we do not see His design as male and female. The two became one, and out of the one became the many. This is God’s design. While we are in Him we …

Fear not!

God did not make us to fear, but to rejoice in Him. God offers redemption to His children. He offers us salvation from Adam’s failure. God said:

Isaiah 43:1 (KJV) … Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

The world and all that was in it was given to Adam. But Adam rejected the will of God. The Scripture says that ..

Romans 5:12 (NKJV) … just as through one man {Adam} sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned …

Adam was given the world and all that was in it, but turned from the Lord of Life to the snake of death. He ate that which was forbidden, and just as God said, “that day that you eat of it, you shall surely die”. But God was not satisfied with this, but planned to redeem man from the snake of satan.

Romans 5:19 (NKJV) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Adam sold himself and his progeny into sin, but God planned our redemption. God is our Redeemer. God sent His Son to this earth to give Himself in our place. The Scripture declares the beautiful story of God’s love in Christ, how that we are blessed by the Father’s sending of His Son for us.

Ephesians 1:3-7 (NKJV) 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, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him {our blessed Jesus} we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

God – Who cannot lie – promised Adam death the day he sinned. God kept His Word. Adam did not, but God did. God – Who cannot lie – promised even after the Fall of Adam that He would send a Redeemer to us. Jesus would come. Jesus would be born of “the seed of the woman”, the Virgin Mary. Jesus would be flesh as we are flesh, but without sin. Praise be unto God …

Psalm 111:9 (NKJV) {God} has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.

Out of His love God sent His Beloved. We are told in

Psalm 130:7 … hope in the Lord; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is ABUNDANT redemption!

God is our Redeemer. He sent His Son to give Himself for us. Christ paid the penalty we could not pay. We are …

Romans 3:24 … being justified freely by His Grace THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS …

If you have received Christ then God chose to redeem you.
He chose to call you.
He chose to save you.

The Perfect God chooses to save imperfect you

Isaiah 43:1 (KJV) … Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

He did not call you by an Angel. He did not send an emissary to you, a lackey, a save a gram. God says “I have called YOU BY YOUR NAME”. I knew you, and know you, and will always know you. God knew you before you were ever born. God told Jeremiah …

Jeremiah 1:5 (NLT) I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.

God had a plan for his life, and has a plan for yours. He called the Saul the self righteous to be Paul the Apostle. He calls you, and keeps calling to you. Are you lowly. Then listen to Him. Are you a sinner as I am? Listen to Him. Hear His Voice. He calls you to redemption asking you to receive His Son. Those who are saved were not saved of merit. What does the Scripture say?

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NKJV) For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

If you are called of God, o Jacob, He knew of your Jacobness. Hey, if a politician can invent the alleged word “peoplekind” I can invent the word “Jacobness”. My word makes better sense.

Jacob was not the best in morality.
Samson was not the best in chastity.
David was not the best son of Jesse.
Abraham did not perfectly obey God.
Moses was humble, but not enough.
Though Rahab did well, she was a whore.
Ruth was from the cursed Moabites.
Saul started out in the Church killing Christians.

When you look at anyone of stature in the Scripture they only became great when they gave their lives to the Lord. Very few in the faith of Christ are mighty, noble, or wise on their own. We glory, but we glory in the Lord. And God says to us that He loves:

Isaiah 43:1 (KJV) … Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

When We Call Upon Christ The Father Saves Us

God says “I have redeemed you … you are MINE”. He saved us by His dear Son on Calvary. Christ shed His Blood for us that we might be His, that God might cover our sins. We read:

Isaiah 43:25-26 (KJV)25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. 26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

The problem in our day is that humanity has been taught that there is no sin nor sinners. But we know in our heart of hearts this is not true. We are sinners … and God has promised to blot our sins out. We confess our sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleans us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-10)

God says “I will not remember your sins … I’ll blot them out”. Why does the Lord do this? He does it for His own dear Son’s sake. When we remember – think upon – what He did, and cry out to Him by faith – then God commutes the righteousness of Christ to us. God says:

Put Me in remembrance
Let us PLEAD together – come together in prayer
Declare thou – Confess Christ
That you may be justified.

The New Testament puts it this way:

Romans 10:9-13 (ESV) …. if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

When God saved Israel from Egypt they were in no wise perfect. And yet God looked after His Children by faith who followed Him. He carried Israel through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. He took them through many trials. God promises to look after His Children.

Isaiah 43:1-7 (KJV) When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba^{NE Africa – Meroe} for thee.

God looks after His Child. If you are His, you are His Witnesses by how you live your lives. As we come to the Lord’s Table today we are witnesses for Him. As He has said:

Isaiah 43:10-12 (KJV) Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior. 12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

As we come to His Table we cast away all strange gods and goddesses. We reject every pleasing murmur of the world. We focus our minds on Him Who gave Himself for us. We recommit ourselves to follow Christ and only Christ. We do not like Jeshrun (Deuteronomy 32:15) “forsake the God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” We now lay our sins and our burdens down at the feet of Christ. We come wholeheartedly to the God of our Salvation.

Psalms 24:3-5 (KJV) Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Isaiah 12:2-6 (KJV) Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

Let us now turn our eyes upon Jesus as the Deacons come forward to prepare His Table.