- God is Incomparably Loving... (Is 43:4a)
- ...so I am Secure. (Is 43:1-11)
- I am secure because I am Paid For. (Is 43:1)
- I am secure because I am Protected. (Is 43:2-4)
- I am secure because my Future is written. (Is 43:5-9)
- I am secure because I am Chosen. (Is 43:10-11)
See: Rom 9-11 | Rom 11
See: 1 Cor 6:20 | 1 Cor 7:28 | Acts 20:28 | Heb 9:12
See: John 14:1-4
See: Rom 8:29-30 | John 6:44 | Eph 1:11 | Matt 5:16
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:03
Open up your Bibles with me please to Isaiah 43.
00:04-00:10
And our series is called "Incomparable God." Incomparable.
00:10-00:12
Nothing is like the Lord.
00:12-00:16
And so far we've seen in our series that God is incomparably holy.
00:16-00:18
Who is like the Lord?
00:18-00:19
Nothing. No one.
00:19-00:24
That's why even the angels proclaim holy, holy, holy.
00:26-00:27
Nothing is like God.
00:29-00:37
Last week we saw that God is incomparably just and it might not look like it today, but appearances can be deceiving.
00:38-00:43
The day is coming when He's going to make all things right and rule in perfect justice and righteousness.
00:44-00:47
Last week we saw that God is incomparably awesome.
00:48-00:54
He's the God that holds - what was it - 326 million trillion gallons of water in the hollow of His hand.
00:55-00:56
He's incomparably awesome.
00:58-01:04
Last week we talked about how that word "awesome" is so often overused.
01:04-01:19
And today we're going to talk about another word that's overused, and it's the word "love." Not only is the word "love" overused, but the word "love" is often inappropriately used.
01:20-01:23
And in the Greek, there were different words for love.
01:23-01:26
There was phileo, which is brotherly love.
01:26-01:27
That's the love you have for your buddy.
01:27-01:29
And there's eros.
01:29-01:31
That's where we get the word erotic.
01:31-01:35
That's a kind of husband and wife kind of passionate love.
01:35-01:38
And there's the word agape, which is self-sacrificing love.
01:39-01:47
And our deficiency in the English language is we use the word love in every context we can think of, right?
01:48-01:50
I can say I love pizza rolls.
01:51-01:52
And I love this church.
01:53-01:54
And I love my dog.
01:54-01:55
And I love my kids.
01:55-01:55
to my wife.
01:58-02:05
But I don't mean the same thing in all of those contexts when I talk about love.
02:06-02:11
When you think about it, love is expressed in a lot of different ways.
02:14-02:20
I love my kids, and there are ways that I show my kids that I love them.
02:22-02:26
But that doesn't translate other things. Like, I love pizza rolls.
02:28-02:31
And I was thinking this week, how do I show my love for pizza rolls?
02:34-02:35
I guess I eat them.
02:36-02:40
I guess they give themselves without even realizing how much I love them.
02:41-02:44
And I don't show love for my kids that way.
02:45-02:46
Then I was thinking about my dog.
02:47-02:49
Do you know how I show love to my dog?
02:49-02:51
He likes to be scratched.
02:51-02:53
Right there. Right on the jaw line.
02:54-03:02
You scratch him on the jawline, he puts his head back, he puts his ears back, he closes his eyes, and he will sit there as long as you scratch him right there on the jawline.
03:03-03:09
Oh, he just loves that. His little tail wags, and that's how I show my dog that I love him.
03:09-03:12
But I noticed that that doesn't work with my wife.
03:15-03:24
I'm like, "Aaron, I love you more than anyone on the earth. Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl?" And that's how I got this bruise right here.
03:25-03:27
But it doesn't work.
03:28-03:37
So we're talking about love, and then we turn to God's Word, and God's Word says that God loves us.
03:39-03:41
So the question is how does God express that love?
03:43-03:59
We express our love in so many different ways depending on the context, and then we turn to God's Word, God's Word says, "For God so loved the world." And we're like, "Well, God, how do You show it?" Is it with a hug or is it with a present?
03:59-04:01
Is it with a note?
04:03-04:05
How do You show Your love for us, God?
04:08-04:10
I want you to jot some things down in your outline.
04:10-04:12
First of all, we need to get this clear.
04:12-04:15
God is incomparably loving.
04:17-04:18
We're going to skip down.
04:18-04:19
We're going to start in verse 1.
04:22-04:24
We'll get to the sub-points here in a second.
04:24-04:27
But I want us to start off by looking at verse 4.
04:29-04:34
Verse 4 says - now this is the Lord speaking to Israel and to us.
04:34-04:35
We'll talk about that in a second.
04:35-04:43
"Because you are precious in My eyes and honored, and I love you." This is God speaking to His people.
04:44-04:52
He says, "Because you are precious in My eyes." What does the word "precious" mean?
04:53-04:56
Again, I was thinking about this this week.
04:57-04:58
What does "precious" mean?
04:58-05:02
I brought this this week.
05:03-05:08
This is a very old briefcase and a very well-used briefcase.
05:08-05:15
And inside this briefcase, This is an old, one of those old clicky pens.
05:15-05:17
It's in a really nice little display case.
05:17-05:21
It says Citizens National Bank of Evans City, Pennsylvania.
05:23-05:28
And there's an old calculator, solar power.
05:29-05:32
There's some newspaper clippings in here.
05:32-05:36
And this thing here, it's a little desk knick-knack.
05:37-06:11
And it says, I don't know if you can see it, but there's a guy like laying on his desk and he's in his pajamas and he's got a blanket and it says I'd quit this job but it's the only place I can get any sleep. Somebody wrote in pen on the bottom it says this is you Miller if you stole briefcases and I don't recommend that but if you stole briefcases and you stole this one what would this be worth to you? The answer is nothing right? You couldn't eBay all this stuff and get a nickel.
06:11-06:12
You really couldn't.
06:12-06:15
To you, this is worthless.
06:17-06:18
But I've got to tell you something.
06:19-06:23
To me, this is one of the most valuable things in my house.
06:24-06:26
Because these were all my dad's things.
06:27-06:30
My dad passed away back in 2003.
06:31-06:35
And I remember as a little kid going to his office at the bank and seeing these things on his desk.
06:35-06:38
And before he died, he put some of these things in his briefcase.
06:39-06:41
He goes, "There's just some things that I have from the bank.
06:41-06:49
If you want them, I'd like you to have them." And I said, "Yeah, I would like to hold on enough with the death talk." My point is this.
06:50-06:52
To you, this doesn't mean a thing.
06:54-06:56
To me, this is so valuable.
06:58-06:59
That's what precious means.
07:01-07:03
Precious means it has value to me.
07:04-07:10
And you see, God's Word says - The Lord says that you are precious to Him.
07:12-07:14
And the world might not think you're very valuable.
07:16-07:18
Your neighbors might not think you're very valuable.
07:19-07:22
Your co-workers might not think you're worth a thing.
07:23-07:26
And your family might think that you're worthless.
07:27-07:35
To your family, you might be worthless, but to God, God says to me, to me you're precious.
07:36-07:50
"Me, you have incredible value." Next he says, "And honored, and I love you." And this is in God's Word.
07:50-07:54
It settles it that there's no wondering how God feels about His people.
07:56-08:04
Now, this passage, as we've been going through Isaiah, I'd like to remind you since we're in the Old Testament, these passages are obviously directed towards Israel.
08:06-08:19
As we look through these principles that we're going to continue today to study, I want you to understand that God has not replaced Israel with the church.
08:19-08:29
There are some churches that teach that because Israel sinned, God's done with Israel, and the church has now replaced Israel as God's special people.
08:29-08:29
And that's not true.
08:31-08:39
In fact, Romans 9, 10, and 11, the Apostle Paul takes those three chapters is talking about that subject, to say God has always had a faithful remnant in Israel.
08:40-08:44
God has a faithful remnant now, and God always will have a faithful remnant of believers.
08:45-08:54
And it's just so clear throughout Scripture that God has not forsaken Israel, and there are big things ahead for the nation of Israel.
08:55-09:11
But you have to see that this is the same God who became Jesus Christ - flesh, taking on flesh and blood to be like His brothers in every way, as the Bible says.
09:11-09:12
This is the same God.
09:13-09:15
This is the same love that God has for His people.
09:16-09:22
So when we look through these principles, yes, at the time Isaiah wrote this, these were directed for Israel.
09:22-09:27
But these promises are also for us because we are God's people.
09:29-09:33
Gentiles that are brought in God's plan according to Romans 11.
09:35-09:44
But something you need to know about the love of God as He's expressed in His Word - you need to know that the love of God is secure.
09:45-09:52
The love of God - God's incomparable love is secure.
09:54-09:55
What do you mean by that?
09:56-10:04
Well, any time love is expressed, it is possible for the object of that love question the security of the love.
10:06-10:17
Whether it's in terms of husband and wife, girlfriend or boyfriend, parent, child - any time love has expressed the object of that love can question the security of it.
10:17-10:20
Asking things like, are you always going to love me?
10:21-10:23
Do you really love me?
10:24-10:27
If I mess up, will you stop loving me?
10:27-10:30
Is there any circumstance in which you will stop loving me?
10:30-10:36
And I think these questions are often asked relating to God's love, and they're often wrongly answered.
10:39-10:41
We say things like this, if God really loved me, why did this happen?
10:43-10:45
We're questioning the security of God's love.
10:45-10:46
I thought God loved me.
10:48-10:50
If God really loved me, why is this happening to me?
10:51-10:52
If God really loved me, why am I sick?
10:53-10:55
If God really loved me, why did my spouse die?
10:56-10:58
If God really loved me, why am I struggling?
10:58-10:59
Why can't I get ahead?
10:59-11:00
I thought God loved me.
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God really loved me.
11:03-11:04
Why do I feel so alone?
11:06-11:09
Well, here's the best news you're ever going to hear in your life.
11:10-11:11
Got this down.
11:11-11:12
God is incomparably loving.
11:14-11:15
Number two, so I am secure.
11:17-11:19
And that's what we're going to see in this passage.
11:19-11:20
This is about security.
11:20-11:22
Verse 1 and verse 5.
11:22-11:27
Twice in this passage, God's people were told to fear not.
11:28-11:36
saying, "Israel, fear not. Church, fear not." The way that God expresses His love shows security.
11:37-11:39
I want you to jot these down.
11:40-11:41
God's love is secure.
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I am secure in God's love.
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Letter A.
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I am secure because I am paid for.
11:48-11:49
Look at verse 1.
11:49-12:00
It says, "But now, thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed you.
12:00-12:01
I have called you by name.
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You are Mine." Circle that word "redeemed" in your Bible.
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We are redeemed.
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Redeemed means we are bought back.
12:14-12:20
Church, we bring this penalty of condemnation on ourselves because we are sinners.
12:20-12:24
And in our sinful rebellion, we have sold ourselves to hell.
12:27-12:33
God has stepped in to pay the penalty for our sin.
12:34-12:36
And there is so much I want to tell you about that.
12:37-12:43
But in two weeks, that's going to be the entirety of the message as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
12:43-12:50
But for today, as we talk about the security of God's love, you need to understand this.
12:50-12:55
That your salvation not based on your performance.
12:58-13:18
You know, your salvation isn't based on your performance in the sense of, "Well, I better do good or I might not get saved or God might change His mind about the forgiveness or I better behave myself." You see, if that was the mentality, you would never be secure in God's love.
13:18-13:20
Your salvation would never be secure.
13:21-13:23
And that is a completely unbiblical idea.
13:24-13:30
Your salvation is not based on your performance.
13:31-13:33
Your salvation is based on the blood of Jesus Christ.
13:34-13:38
A price needed to be paid for your sin, and God paid it.
13:38-13:39
I'm going to read a couple of verses.
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I just want you to listen.
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1 Corinthians 6:20 says that you were bought with a price.
13:45-13:48
1 Corinthians 7:23 says the exact same thing.
13:48-13:50
You were bought with a price.
13:50-13:55
Acts 20.28 says that God obtained the church with His own blood.
13:56-14:04
Hebrews 9.12 says by means of His blood, He secured an eternal redemption.
14:06-14:10
So I am secure because God paid for me.
14:11-14:14
You understand how secure that is.
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It's like when you go to Walmart.
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I don't know if this happens to you.
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If this happens to you, I need you to raise your hand.
14:22-14:26
How many people set off that stupid alarm when you go out of Walmart or Target?
14:27-14:28
I thought it was just me.
14:28-14:31
Every time I go to one of those retail stores, this happened to me.
14:31-14:33
Walmart's happened to me in Target, it's happened to me in Kohl's.
14:34-14:39
It seems like every time I go to one of these stores and I walk out, those stupid alarms go off.
14:40-14:41
I've never panicked though.
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You know, here's what I do.
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I don't know what you guys do.
14:45-14:50
When the alarm goes off, I just typically turn around, take a look around to see if if anybody's going to tackle me or whatever.
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And then I just keep on walking out the door.
14:53-14:55
But I'm never alarmed, even though the alarm goes off.
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Why?
14:57-14:59
Because I know that everything that I have is paid for.
15:00-15:04
And I can just walk out there confidently and say, yep, all my purchases are paid for.
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I'm not trying to steal anything.
15:07-15:10
I've been on the other end of that, catching shoplifters.
15:12-15:14
But you see, when it's paid for, there's security.
15:16-15:20
You have to understand that God paid incredibly high price for you.
15:22-15:23
So you're secure.
15:24-15:27
To the days you feel like does God really love me?
15:27-15:29
God's answer from His Word is yes, I love you.
15:30-15:33
I love you so much that I gave My Son to die for you.
15:33-15:36
The blood of My Son paid for you.
15:36-15:37
You are bought back.
15:38-15:39
You are heading to hell.
15:41-15:42
And I bought you back.
15:44-15:47
So you are secure because you are paid for.
15:50-15:52
Letter B - I am secure because I am protected.
15:53-15:55
Look at verses 2-4 here.
15:56-15:57
Let's start in verse 2.
15:57-16:01
It says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
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And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.
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And when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned.
16:11-16:16
And the flame shall not consume you." waters, rivers, fire, flame.
16:18-16:20
A lot of Old Testament concepts there, right?
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Waters make you think of the Red Sea.
16:24-16:26
Israel passing through Exodus 14.
16:27-16:31
The rivers, think of Israel crossing over the Jordan in Joshua 3.
16:33-16:36
The flame, the fire, you think of Daniel 3.
16:36-16:43
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown in the fiery furnace and crank it up as high as it'll go and let's incinerate them.
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And Jesus shows up.
16:47-16:49
So rivers, water, fire, flame.
16:49-16:52
The point is various trials.
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We're going to go through various trials.
16:56-17:06
The Bible doesn't say, at least no passage that I've ever read in the Bible says that if you're walking with the Lord, you're going to avoid going through trials.
17:09-17:15
that says is He's going to be with us in the trials, and nothing's going to happen outside of His control.
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God is going to protect you.
17:19-17:20
God is going to protect you.
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And I know as soon as you say that, there's going to be somebody sitting here saying, "If God's going to protect me, what's with the cancer diagnosis?
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If God's going to protect me, why was my friend in this horrible accident?
17:33-17:40
I thought God was going to protect us!" We live in a fallen world bad things happen, and we can't deny that.
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But let me just get you to think about this.
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Do you have any idea through the course of your life how many times you've been protected that you don't even know about?
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Do you have any idea?
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The answer is you don't.
17:58-17:59
And I don't know either.
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How many times in your life did the Lord allow your kids not to find their shoes that you were five minutes late in leaving so that you weren't in an accident down the road.
18:12-18:13
You're like, "I don't know." I don't know either.
18:15-18:18
Something I do know is you're a lot more protected than you think you are.
18:20-18:25
Whatever the case, we're going to talk about God's sovereignty next week.
18:25-18:31
There's not a hair on your head that's going to be afflicted outside of the sovereign control of God.
18:33-18:33
So you're protected.
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Look at this. How protected?
18:37-18:40
even at the expense of others.
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Look at verses 3-4.
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"For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
18:48-18:50
I gave Egypt as your ransom.
18:51-18:58
Push and seabuck in exchange for you, because you are precious in My eyes and honored and I love you.
18:59-19:05
I give men in return for you, in exchange for your life.
19:07-19:09
That's a hard truth, isn't it?
19:10-19:15
God will protect His people even at the expense of others.
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You're like, well, what does that even mean?
19:20-19:23
Well, let's think about one of the examples that He just gave.
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Let's take the first one there.
19:24-19:25
Verse 3 talks about Egypt.
19:27-19:29
Did God save Israel at the expense of Egypt?
19:36-19:38
You know the story of the Red Sea.
19:41-19:46
Israel leaving Egypt, the Book of Exodus, and they're basically cornered.
19:46-19:48
They've got the Red Sea in front of them.
19:48-19:49
Here come the Egyptians.
19:49-19:52
Red Sea, Egyptians. Red Sea, Egyptians.
19:52-19:55
What do you think the Egyptians were going to do when they caught up with the Israelites?
19:56-19:58
What do you think the Egyptians were going to do?
19:59-20:01
Do you think they were going to maybe slap them on the wrist?
20:02-20:04
and say, "Now Pharaoh didn't appreciate that.
20:06-20:10
We need you to come home now." I don't think that that's what was going to happen at all.
20:11-20:18
I think if those Egyptians would have caught up with Israel, I think they were going to slaughter them because of the plagues and everything else that went down.
20:20-20:21
I don't think they were there to chat.
20:23-20:27
Okay, so here's Israel at the Red Sea, here comes Egypt, Israel at the Red Sea, here comes Egypt.
20:28-20:29
And what does God do?
20:29-20:36
God, from His perspective in heaven, sees somebody's going to get hurt.
20:37-20:48
God says, "It's not going to be Israel." God opens up the Red Sea and Israel walks through, and here comes Egypt and God closes the sea on them.
20:50-20:57
So do you see how God's protecting love, says, "I am willing." I'm willing to protect you even if it's at the expense of someone else.
20:57-21:18
do you see that? And somebody would say, "Well, I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's fair. God seems awfully cruel to do that." You would do the exact same thing. Like, "I don't think I would." And I say, "I think you would." I want you to think about this scenario. I'm going to paint a little picture for you.
21:21-21:29
Imagine you have this 10-year-old child. Some of you have kids, some of you don't, but whether you do or not, we can all pretend, right?
21:30-21:30
We can pretend.
21:31-21:38
You have a 10-year-old child, and imagine that you're driving to school to pick your child up from school.
21:38-21:39
And we're just painting a little picture here.
21:39-21:40
We're pretending.
21:41-21:46
So you're driving to pick your kid up from school, and your child is just sitting in the playground.
21:47-21:48
It's a boy.
21:48-21:50
He's sitting in the playground, and he's just kind of playing.
21:51-22:08
And you're on the street to pull up to pick him up, and you see 100 feet ahead of you, standing in the middle of the road, as a man that has a gun, and he has that gun pointed at your child, what are you going to do?
22:09-22:10
What are you going to do?
22:12-22:16
Well, I would have to consider the morality of the situation.
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And would it really be-- what would you do?
22:21-22:23
Would you tattoo that guy with your car?
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How many people would hit that guy with your car without a second thought?
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Why?
22:31-22:33
Because you will do whatever it takes to protect your child.
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Because that child is precious to you.
22:37-22:39
And if it means giving your life, you will do it.
22:40-22:42
You won't think twice about running that guy over.
22:43-22:44
You will hit the gas.
22:45-22:46
You will hit the guy.
22:46-22:48
And then you'll put it in reverse and back over him.
22:49-22:51
because you will protect your child.
22:52-22:55
What would motivate you to mow a guy down in the street?
22:55-22:57
What would motivate you is this love that you have.
22:58-23:01
And you see, that's the kind of love that God has for His people.
23:02-23:06
God's like, listen, if it comes down to them or you, it's going to be them.
23:07-23:16
And if I have to destroy someone else in order to protect you, God says I am willing to do that.
23:18-23:20
That's the kind of love that God has for you.
23:20-23:22
I'm secure because I'm paid for it.
23:22-23:23
I'm secure because I'm protected.
23:23-23:24
Letter C.
23:24-23:28
I'm secure because my future is written.
23:29-23:31
Look at verses 5-7.
23:33-23:34
Because my future is written.
23:34-23:36
God says, "Fear not, for I am with you.
23:36-23:40
I will bring your offspring from the east and from the west I will gather you.
23:40-23:48
I will say to the north, 'Give up!' And to the south, 'Do not withhold.' Bring My sons from afar my daughters from the end of the earth.
23:48-23:56
Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.
23:57-23:59
The future is already written for God's people.
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And in this passage in particular, it's talking about the day that God is going to reassemble Israel from the corners of the earth, and that's already been partially fulfilled.
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And the days are coming when it's going to be fully fulfilled that Israel is going and they're tied back together totally in the land that God promised.
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Verse 8 says, "Bring out the people who are blind yet have eyes, who are deaf yet have ears.
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All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble.
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Who among them can declare this and show us the former things?
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Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right and let them hear and say, 'It is true.'" is saying, "Who else can predict the future?
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Is there any other God who has called the end from the beginning?
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Let's bring the people here." And it's just that incomparable thing again.
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God is basically saying again in other words, who is like the Lord?
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Who is like Me?
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Bring Him out.
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The point here, church, is your future's already written.
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That's a guarantee.
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And that's security.
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history and eternity to not play out for you the way that God has promised in His Word that it would play out for you, would make God a liar and give you no hope for your faith.
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We have, church, full assurance of Heaven and all the blessings that are ahead simply because God promised.
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I love how Jesus said it in John 14.
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He said to His disciples, "In my Father's house are many mansions." He said, "If it were not so, what I've told you..." Jesus was like, I'm not giving you fairy tale stuff.
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I'm not talking about unicorns.
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Jesus is like, if this stuff wasn't true, what I'd be telling you?
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That's assurance.
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That's assurance.
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My future's already written.
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To God - think about this - to God who lives outside of time - think about this.
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Future events are as factual as past events.
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Think about that.
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From God's perspective, future events are as factual to God as past events.
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Because He sees it all.
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That's how He can declare the end from the beginning.
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Because to Him, it's all fact.
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Like for example, Justin, what did you have for breakfast this morning?
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A cinnamon roll.
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breakfast at their house next week. Okay, on March 13th, Justin, Katie had a cinnamon roll for breakfast. That is now a historical fact. Your kids aren't likely to learn this in history class at school. I'm just saying that's a historical fact.
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Now, is there anything that can change that fact? Like, for example, tomorrow somebody says, "What did Justin, Katie have for breakfast on Sunday morning?" The The answer is a cinnamon roll.
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And if we're still here in 100 years, and somebody says March 13, 2016, what did Justin and Katie have for breakfast?
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The answer is going to be cinnamon roll.
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That is a fact that will never change.
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Maybe Justin tomorrow, he's like, you know what, I felt really bad about making everybody at church covet.
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So just tell them I didn't have a cinnamon roll for breakfast.
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Guess what, Justin?
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Everything's going to change the fact because it's over.
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Do you realize for God, the future events are like that cinnamon roll?
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For God, it's like I'm sure what's going to happen.
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Well, God, what if this happens?
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God, what if I ran this?
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Or what if the next president that?
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God's like, no, no, no.
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I see the end from the beginning.
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To me, they're all equally heavy facts.
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It's truth. Truth is truth.
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to God outside of time, everything's a cinnamon roll, so to speak.
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The future is certain and unchangeable.
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And finally, I am secure because I am chosen.
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I am secure because I am chosen.
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Look at verse 10.
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"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, and My servants whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He.
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Before Me no God was born, nor shall there be any after Me.
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I am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.
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I am secure because I am chosen.
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If you are saved, is because God has chosen to save you.
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The theological terms, the biblical terms, we can talk about election, predestination, chosen - what does all of this mean?
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It's God's sovereign act to initiate and complete salvation.
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Romans 8:29-30 says that whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed into the image of His Son.
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Those whom He predestined He called.
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Those whom He called He justified.
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And those whom He justified He glorified.
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It wasn't an accident.
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Like, well, God's going to be surprised to see me when I show up in heaven.
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No, God already knew.
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God knew before you did.
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John 6:44, Jesus said no one comes to Him unless the Father draws them to Him.
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That's God's sovereign act to initiate and complete salvation.
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Ephesians 1:11 says that we are predestined according to His purpose.
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So why does God save us in the first place?
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If God doesn't need us, and we are rebellious, why would God go to such incredible lengths to save us in the first place?
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Look at verse 7 again.
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We're going to jump back there.
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He says, "Whom I created..." These last three words are really what it's all about.
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It's for my glory.
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We are created to manifest God's presence.
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In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men so that they see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven." You see, the whole reason that God has saved us - the reason God has chosen to save us is to manifest His presence.
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God wants the world to see Him - He has love and He wants to do it through His people.
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So when we talk about election and predestination and all those things, I'm just going to be honest with you, I don't know what it all means.
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I don't know how it all works.
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I don't.
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The Bible says that God chooses us, but we have responsibility to respond.
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I don't know how it all works, okay?
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I live in time and space.
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God does not.
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I'm just telling you, The Bible says that both of these things are true.
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I don't know how it works, but I do know one thing for sure about the doctrine of election.
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And that is this.
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It's security.
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Because Jesus said in John 6:44 - remember I referenced that way back a couple of minutes ago?
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Jesus said no one comes to Him unless the Father draws him.
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But then Jesus made this statement.
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I will raise Him up on the last day.
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If you are one of God's, that means He's chosen you and He's going to take you all the way to the finish line.
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And you are secure in His love.
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He's not going to stop loving you.
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Nothing can separate you from the love of God.
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You are sealed in the Spirit.
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You are promised and guaranteed to be secure in this incomparable love.
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So Monday morning, when you have a rough start to your work week, Tuesday afternoon, you just can't seem to get things going.
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On Thursday evening, it seems like your whole world is crashing around you.
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And the enemy would tempt you to start to wonder does God really love me?
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I want to remind you, church, that you are paid for.
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You are protected.
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Your future has already been written and you have been chosen by God.
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So you are secure in His incomparable love.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Isaiah 43:1-11
From this passage, describe ways God expresses His Incomparable Love!
Is 43:7 says God created His people for His glory. What does that mean? What does that look like in your life?
Explain how you understand the doctrine of election, that is, “God chooses us”. How would you explain it to a new Christian that never heard the concept before? How does this concept tie into God’s Incomparable Love?
Breakout Questions:
Confess your sins and pray for one another.