Sermon
#120 Series: Isaiah
Title: The Unparalleled Love of God
Text: Isaiah 43:1-4, 22-25; 44:21-23
Subject: The Love of God for His
People
Date: Sunday Evening - June 14, 1992
Introduction:
Isaiah 43:1-4
Isaiah 43:22-25
Isaiah 44:21-23
Two
men who sat under one of those lean, dry, intellectual preachers, who starved
his congregation to death, met one Sunday in the church parking lot, after the
morning service. One said to the other,
“There wasn’t much in the sermon, but the text was a feast by itself.”
Well,
I hope there will be a feast in the sermon tonight. But if I fail, by the help of God’s Spirit, to feed you, there
will be a feast for your soul in just meditating on these verses of Scripture. They set before us The Unparalleled Love of God. As
they set before us the unparalleled love of God, they also expose the enormity
of sin. Sin never appears so sinful as it does in the light of God’s love. To see sin in the light of the cross,
beholding Christ bleeding and dying, is to see sin in its true colors. Nothing makes the vileness and guilt of sin
so hideously clear as the realization that our sins are perpetrated against the
infinite love of our great God.
That
is my object tonight. While I talk to
you about The Unparalleled Love of God, I want each of us to see
ourselves and our sins in the light of his great love. May God the Holy Spirit make our consciences
wide awake, so that we may make an honest, heart searching inquisition of
ourselves and honestly confess our sins to him who, because of his great love,
is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.
Notice the contrasts in our
texts.
What indictments these
are! We are called by our God; but how little we call upon
God! The Lord God is always with us;
but we seem to be weary of him! Our
great God has sacrificed everything for us; but we sacrifice nothing for
him! The Lord God has made us honorable
in his sight; but we have not made him honorable in our sight! Yet, he is faithful! He says, “O Israel, thou shalt not be
forgotten of me!” (vv. 21).
Notice also that each of our
texts have two things in common.
1. In each text God’s people are addressed under the names of Jacob and Israel, the name of nature and the name of grace. “He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Ps. 103:14).
Proposition: When Paul declared, “Love never faileth,” he was
declaring that which is absolutely true only of God’s love, for there is no
love that is absolute love but the love of God. It has no parallel.
Divisions: Tonight, I want to show you from our texts…
I. The Declaration of God’s Love (43:1-4).
In
verse 4 the Lord God declares, “I have loved thee!” But his is much more than a statement of love. God declares his love in deeds before he
declares it in words! He has declared
his special, unparallel love to us by…
A. A Special Creation- “These saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob!”
(v. 1).
“I have created him for my glory” (v. 7).
God
created all men; but he created you for his glory. He created many as vessels of wrath; but he created you as vessel
of mercy (Rom. 9:21-26).
B. A Gracious Formation- “He that formed thee, O
Israel.”
God
created Jacob so that he might form him into Israel. And he created you and me in our father Adam, that he might form
us into the image of his dear Son by his almighty grace. This formation of Jacob into Israel is the
new creation. It is the marvellous
transformation of grace.
Illus: Gen. 1:1-3
The
forming of God’s Israel involves four things:
Illus: Gomer- The Prodigal- Anesimus
C. A Particular Redemption- “I have redeemed thee.”
As
the Lord God redeemed Israel out of Egypt by the blood of the passover lamb, so
he has redeemed you out of every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ- (Rom. 5:8; Gal. 2:20; I John 3:16; 4:9-10, 19).
D. An Effectual Call- “I have called thee by thy
name; thou art mine.”
How I
thank God for irresistible grace!
Aren’t you thankful that the Lord God was determined to make you his and
would not take no for an answer from you? (Eph. 2:1-5).
E. A Constant Preservation- (vv. 2-3).
“Who shall separate us from the love of
God?” Nothing shall ever divide God
from his people, or his people from him.
To every believer he promises.
“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee!”
NOTE: To save Israel God plagued Egypt. Pharoah and his firstborn were nothing
compared to Jacob’s chosen seed. He
will sacrifice all the people of the world for the salvation of his
people. The Lord God values you more
than all the nations of the world. He
will give “men for thee and people for thy life!”
F. A Distinguishing Honor- “Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou has been honorable.” The
Lord God has made you honorable in his sight by giving you Christ and putting
you in him. “Unto you therefore which
believe he is honor” (I Pet. 2:7). Ezek 16:14.
II. The Lamentation of God’s Love (43:22-25).
Surely
a people so loved of God will love their God so intently, so feverishly that
their love for him will consume everything else! So we would think. That
would be the natural response of every heart, except the heart of a regenerate
man or woman who knows something of the depravity of his own heart. God’s love for us is so great that nothing
can be compared to it; but our love for God is so small that we can hardly, in
honesty, call it love.
A. “But thou hast not called upon
me, O Jacob!”
I
bring no accusations against you. Your
own conscience, by the Spirit of God, will do that; but I must accuse
myself! And I must, speaking as the
representative of us all, confess our sin.
Sadly, we worship God very little!
How seldom we call upon him.
B. “But thou hast been weary of
me, O Israel!”
If he
were weary of us, that would be very understandable; but for us to be weary of
our God is uncomprehendible. Yet, it is
a fact (Song. 5:2-3; Rev. 2:1-4).
Perhaps
you are thinking to yourself, “But, pastor, I am not weary of the Lord.” I hope you are right; but I wonder. If you are not weary of God-
C. “Thou hast not honored me with
thy sacrifices!” (v. 23).
These
Jews continued to perform the duties of religion; but it was only a form of
godliness. There was no spirituality in
their services. Their religion was all
duty. How sad! Yet, how common! I fear that far too much of our religious activity, scant as it
is, is just a duty without heart. While
we kneel in our closets and when we sit in the house of God, our bodies pretend
to worship, but our hearts are cold and our minds move around the world a
thousand times an hour! Correct me, if
I speak not the truth.
“Hosannas languish on our
tongues,
And our devotion dies!”
D. “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” (vv. 23-24).
Everything
we have we have by the gift of God.
Everything! How he has blessed
us! Yet, what small returns we have
made! How generous God is to us! How niggardly we are to God!
God demands nothing of us!
God needs nothing from us!
But he is grieved by our
neglect of Him!
In the worship of Christ nothing is forced or demanded under penalty of law, as it was in the Old Testament. Everything is free. Everything is of love. It spoils our gifts if we give because we must. It is the voluntariness of what we do for Christ, the willing heart, that is the excellence of it.
In
the Mosaic age there was a certain tithe to pay; but those who love their God
were never content to pay a tithe. Of
their own accord they bought sweet cane with money, and gave it for the making
of incense to burn on the altar to the praise of God.
Some
of God’s saints have denied themselves luxuries, and some still do, that they
might have the great joy of giving to the worship of Christ whom they love.
1.
It
is amazing to me that some who profess to love Christ give nothing to the cause
of Christ! Usually, the wealthiest give
the least!
2.
It
is amazing to me that some who claim to love the Lord are content to pay tithes
like object slaves!
3.
It
is amazing to me how very much some of God’s saints give with such willing
hearts!
Yet,
how little is given even from the most generous! I am amazed that any of us should ever be content with what we
give to and do for Christ. I am shocked
to hear people say, “I have done my part,” or “I have done my share,” with
regard to any service for Christ.
With
regard to this matter of giving. I
refuse to give you any laws. Do
whatever you want to do, being motivated by the love of Christ for you and
knowing that what you give to and do for Christ is the measure of your love for
him.
E. “Thou hast made me to serve
with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities! (v. 24). What sins?
Thoughtless neglect!
How
thoughtful God is of us! How
thoughtless we are of him! How tender
he is toward us! How brutish we are
toward him!
Who
is it that makes these changes? Not
me! The changes are made against me,
and rightfully so. These charges are
made by him who loves us with an unparalleled love- (Read verse 25!).
How
the Lord must love me to speak to me in such gracious tones! If he did not so greatly love us, he would
not care so much about our love toward him.
He loves us so much that he desires each of us to give him our whole
heart!
Illus: A Father does not need the
gift of his child; but he Cherishes it.
III. The Immutability of God’s Love (44:21-23).
“I am the Lord. I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed!” (Mal. 3:6).
Having loved his own, he loves them to the end.
A.
He
still calls you by the same name- Jacob and Israel!
B.
He
still owns you as his servant!
C.
He
will never forget you!
D.
He
still pardons you!
E.
He
tenderly bids you to return to him!
F.
He
still assures you of your redemption!
Application: Rev. 44:23!