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Teaching Notes
THE HAND OF GOD
ISAIAH 41:13-14
In Isaiah chapter 41 God is speaking words of comfort, encouragement and restoration to a people who truly needed to hear it. God was speaking of a time when the Southern Kingdom of Judah would be brought into captivity, a time frame of less than 100 years from Isaiah's writing.
And as God's people were captive in Babylon, it was very disheartening for them. In fact, in Psalm 137 we get a clear picture of what they were going through during this time, how they felt, how broken they were, as this Psalm is written as they were being deported to Babylon. Beginning in verse 1 of Psalm 137 we read, "By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' How shall we sing the Lord's song In a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth; If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy." Psalm 137:1-6.
As they sat by the rivers in Babylon, they wept, there was no song left in their heart, they had been removed from the land that God had given to them because of their idolatry, their sin. And yes, they were in Babylon, but as you read that Psalm you get the clear impression that their hearts were still back in Jerusalem, God's holy city.
And I'm sure that after 40, 50, 60 years of being in captivity, some must have felt that God had forgotten about them. That they were just going to die in captivity. Because of their despair, which God was aware of before they ever felt it, God wants them to awaken and see that He is still in control and actively involved with the care of His people. In Isaiah 41:10 He tells them, "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
How important it was for them to recognize that God was still with them, even in their captivity in Babylon. He was encouraging them not to lose hope, that He is still their God, and He will be the one to strengthen them and help them. It is out of all this that we read, beginning in verse 13 of Isaiah 41...
ISAIAH 41:13-14
"For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.' 'Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,' says the LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."
Interesting words of comfort, God calls His people a worm. Not a pretty picture to say the least. A worm is weak, moving around in the dust of the earth, and not much of a threat to anyone, but an easy prey to many. Think about it, how many killer worms do you know of? I don't know of any renegade bands of worms terrorizing women and children, do you?
And God is saying that His people are weak, not a threat to anyone or anything in their own strength. And yet God says that He will help them, He will redeem them from their bondage in Babylon. How is He going to do that? By taking His people by the hand and leading them. He will grab hold of their hand, and in His strength will lead them back to the land of Israel, and will strengthen them to defeat those who come against them. This worm will turn into super worm by the power of God who is leading them!
As you read the Scriptures there are many pictures that come flashing across our minds to help us understand more clearly what God is saying, and it helps us to remember the thought. I love the picture that God gives us here. I see God reaching down and grabbing tightly to our right hand so that we are tightly in His care, no one or nothing is going to take us away from Him.
When a child holds on to a parents hand there is always a chance that the child's grip will slip or they may pull away into danger. But when a parent is holding their child's hand there is a firm grip, and for the child, it brings them comfort, peace, safety, love, protection, and-so-on. As they would walk down the street, if a car came by, getting to close to the child, the parent would pull the child away, having a firm grip of the child's hand, and remove them from the danger, and God does the same with us as we walk with Him.
In saying all that, when it comes to our salvation, many feel that it is up to them to hold on, trying to make it into heaven. And if our grip is strong enough, we might just have a chance. If its not strong enough, we are going to slip, lose our grip and slide all the way down to hell, or as some believe, the un-scriptural place called purgatory for a time.
And yet, we like Israel, are a worm. We have no strength in ourselves. No ability to attain the heights we would need to reach if we want to make it into heaven. A great picture, like the worm, was printed in the Camden, Maine, Herald. In the paper that day they ran two photo's side by side, on the same page. One picture showed Camden's board of selectmen and town manger. The other was that of a flock of sheep. And I think you know what happened.
Unintentionally, of course, the captions under the picture were flip-flopped. Underneath the picture of the sheep the caption identified them, left to right, as town officials. And the one under the photo of the town fathers, who were grouped around a table, read, "The sheep fold - naive and vulnerable, they huddle for security against the uncertainties of the outside world."
What a great picture of man and the helpless condition he is in. And yet, God says to us "Fear not!" Why? Because our redemption is not based on our efforts, nor our abilities, not even our ability to hang on to God, because we would not be able. It is God that has reached down and taken hold of our hand, and He is not going to let go. You see, religion is man trying to reach up to God. Christianity is God reaching down to sinful man and lifting him up!
In saying that, I am surprised by the number of Christians that are concerned about being good enough, worthy enough, to be raptured or caught up to be with the Lord when He comes for His church. Understand this, you did nothing to obtain the free gift of salvation that is in Christ, and thus, you can't do anything to lose it! Listen to what Paul said in Philippians 1:6. We read, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Who started the work? God did! Who is doing the work in us? God is! Who will complete the work He has started in us? God will! Our part is submission to the Holy Spirit as God does the work, does the molding in our lives as the master craftsman.
I would like to spend some time this morning speaking on salvation. And I'm sure some of you have this down very well, but as Peter said, "For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth." II Peter 1:12. Hopefully this will reinforce what God has already shown you. For others, may it strengthen your faith. And for some of you, it may be new, and may the Holy Spirit guide you in all truth and open your eyes to something that has eternal consequences, your salvation!
1. THE PROBLEM
A. SIN HAS SEPARATED US FROM GOD
When God created the heavens and the earth, it was very good. There was no sin, no evil, no death upon it. And God told man that he could enjoy everything in the garden except he was not to partake from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave man a choice to make and a free will to exercise that choice. And man succumbed to that temptation, transgressed God's Word, rebelled against God, and he sinned!
Because we are all descendants of Adam, we too have inherited that sin nature. Paul said in Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned."
HAMARTANO is the Greek word that means "to sin". It speaks of "not to hit", "to miss", "to fall short morally". And this word was used as an archery term, and it meant that the person missed the mark, the bull's eye, which is perfection. As sinners, separated from God by our sin, it is because we have missed the mark of perfection, the bull's eye. Paul said in Romans 3:23 that "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
You see, no one is good enough, no one can work their way into a relationship with God, you can't buy your way back, and yes it does seem impossible, hopeless, like there is no way out of this sinful condition. And we may respond like the disciples of Jesus did, when they asked, "...'Who then can be saved?'" Matthew 19:25. And Jesus turned and looked at them and said "...'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" Matthew 19:26. I wish more people would truly understand that and apply that to their lives. Salvation by man's efforts are totally impossible, but God steps in and turns the impossible into a reality!
B. GOD IS HOLY
Many wonder why God can't just accept us the way we are. Yes, we aren't perfect, but most of us at least try to do good, and it seems that many are doing good. Why isn't that good enough for God? Our righteousness, our goodness is not acceptable before God and you are going to see why it isn't, the first being that our righteousness before God is like filthy rags, no matter how good you think you are!
You see, God is holy and righteous. That is important for us to understand. The apostle John, who spent 3 years or so walking with Jesus, listening to Jesus, looking upon Jesus steadfastly, declared "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." I John 1:5.
It is because of God's purity, His holiness, that He can't look upon, fellowship with sinful man. In Isaiah 59:1-2 we read, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear."
God can not look upon sin, that is why when Jesus hung on the cross of Calvary, bearing the sins of the world upon Himself, paying the price for our sins, the Father turned His face, broke fellowship with his Son for a period of time. Something that has never happened from eternity past nor will it ever happen again. And the reason that occurred is given clearly to us in the book of Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 13, which says, "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness..." That is the reason!
C. THE RESULT
The result of being in that condition, separated from God, is that "...the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23. That is our outlook in that condition, death! And as we are in this state, Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 2, that we "...were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." Ephesians 2:1-3.
Paul is saying in this condition we walk like spiritual zombies, and whatever direction the wind is blowing, that is where we go. Wherever popular opinion leads, that is where we go. Whatever satisfies the flesh, we are moving towards, and-so-on. In our sinful condition, many hoping one day to be good enough to enter heaven, but, because we are spiritually dead, that will never happen unless we are born again or our spirits are made alive again through Christ, which is the solution to our problem.
2. THE SOLUTION
A. JESUS CHRIST
Too often in life we have many problems with no solution. But here, in regards to our sin nature, our separation from God, there is a solution. In the Old Testament, we are told what God was going to do for us. In Isaiah 53:6 we read, "All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Again, the picture is of a man walking through life aimlessly in his sinful condition, turning away from God, and still, God steps in and atones for the sins of the world.
Peter tells us that the work of Christ was to cleanse us from our sins and reconcile us back to God. He said in I Peter 3:18, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit." What a comfort that should be to us. Our fellowship with God has been restored and our sins have been forgiven!
Paul, in Ephesians chapter 2, has told us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We have no direction in life and we are heading for eternity separated from God. Then, beginning in verse 4, he opens up with the words "But God". You see, it is a hopeless situation when man, in his strength and might tries to do something about the condition he is in. And then Paul opens up verse 4 with two words that change the entire picture. Yes, with man it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!
Lets continue reading this important section of Scripture here in Ephesians chapter 2, beginning in verse 4. We read, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:4-10.
All of us are or can be saved by grace, which is un-merited favor that God has extended to us. We don't deserve it, and yet God, in His love, extends it to all of us. All God wants us to do is receive that free gift He is given to us by asking Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life. It is as Paul said in Romans 10:9-10, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Again, we have to understand this, salvation is not by our efforts but by what Christ has done for us. You can't work your way into heaven. You can't be good enough to get into heaven, all you can do is receive the gift of life that God has given to you. As Paul said in II Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
B. ASSURANCE OF SALVATION
For some, it seems like every week they need to get saved again. They are doing great on Sunday but by the time Monday gets here, they feel totally unworthy and when Sunday rolls around again, there they are, getting saved again. But Paul says in Romans 6:5-6, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."
You see, once you give your life to Christ, you are saved, cleansed from all sin, positionally speaking. But on a practical level, on a day by day basis, we still do sin. But we should not be slaves to it. You see, once we are saved, the sanctification process begins as God is molding and shaping our lives into His image. We are told in II Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
And think about this for a minute. If we did not have or could not have assurance of our salvation, can you imagine how unstable we would be, how confused we would be, how fearful we would be? It would be horrible. But don't fear, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, and He wants you to have a peace regarding your salvation if your faith is in Christ. I am going to share with you two verses that I believe speak clearly of our ability to have confidence in our assurance of salvation.
The first are the words of Jesus, spoken of in John 5:24. He said "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." And the second is found in I John 5:13, which says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." How do we know if we have eternal life? Simple, is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior? Have you received the free gift of life that God is extending to you? If you have, then your salvation is assured.
Remember what Paul said in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." If you want to try and work your way into heaven, the wages for your effort will be death, eternal separation from God. If you receive the free gift of God, that is in Christ Jesus, then you will enter into that eternal life with Him.
So far we have seen that our salvation is a free gift, we have done nothing to attain it except receive it. Now listen carefully to what I am going to say, for it is difficult for many to accept this. Since we have done nothing to obtain our salvation except receive it, then there is nothing we can do to lose it!
What did Isaiah say, "For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand..." That is a very important statement, for God is not going to lose His grip on us, He will be able to hold onto us and sustain us. Now if our salvation was based upon us holding on to God, then I would agree and say you can lose your salvation, but it is not! Our salvation is based upon God holding on to us!
Turn to John Chapter 10, and I will show you what I mean. Beginning in verse 25 to get the flow of this passage, we read, "Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one.'" John 10:25-30.
Notice, we are in the hand of Jesus with the promise that no one can remove us. But what if for some unknown reason we tried to climb out of His hand? I don't think you can, just as Noah couldn't get out of the ark, for God closed him in, and why in the world would he want to leave the ark in the first place? And understand that we are not only in the hand of Jesus, but also the Father's, and thus, their hands are closed around us, protecting us.
Now some of you may be thinking that you know someone who claimed to be a Christian, and they may have been actively involved in the church, but now they are far from God, drifted back into the world, and it appears that they left God and thus there was no assurance of salvation here. In fact, it seems like you can lose your salvation. Now they could be backsliding, or, many times what they gave was just empty words, an empty profession of faith, they got caught up in the excitement, and once the excitement was gone, they went looking for something else to turn them on. John said in I John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." The point being, they were never really saved in the first place and that is why they left.
How about you? Where do you fit in this relationship with the Lord? His Spirit may be drawing you to Him, for He is the only one who can truly give you life and free you from the bondage of sin. If you know the Lord, draw close to Him, listen to His voice. And if you are backsliden, get right with God, for He desires that relationship with you.
As I bring this to a close this morning, I want you to have a picture in your mind that as you travel throughout the day, wherever you go, the Lord is holding on to your hand and leading you. He is always with you and will never leave you. As Jude concluded his epistle, let me conclude this message by saying, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen." Jude 24-25.