Text: Isaiah 43:1–7
Theme: In God’s eyes
Other Lessons: Psalm 29; Romans 6:1–11; Luke 3:15–22
(A) In the Name of the Father…Amen. (B) The Old Testament reading serves as our sermon text for this morning. (C) Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the heavenly Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (D) Memory verses! Isaiah 43:1–2 (NASB95) 1 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. (E) Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray: Thanks and praise be unto You, our God and Lord, for sending us the Gospel of Your Son, Jesus Christ, in which You teach us the way of salvation and comfort us with the hope of everlasting life. Make Your Word in us a power of salvation, and the anchor of our souls in life and death. Cause also the voice of Your Word to be sounded abroad, that the nations that do not know You may come to Your light. Amen.
Introduction
(A) ____________ _____________ ________________? (1) That’s a question we ask ourselves and others ask us. (2) It’s a very serious question. (3) It’s a tough question to answer. (4) Who am I? (5) How do you answer that question? (B) Some people try to _________________________ it by grounding their answers in their careers, and so we hear things like: (1) I’m a teacher, (2) a pastor, (3) a car salesman, (4) an engineer, (5) a nurse, (6) and the like. (C) The __________________________ with all this is: (1) What happens if you get laid off and lose your job? (2) What happens when you retire from that job after so many years? (3) Then what’s your identity? (4) Where is it found? (5) At times like that, you feel worthless. (D) Others try to ground their ___________________________ in their family name or family history, so, for example, I say: (1) “I am a Bacic.” (2) But what happens when that name is tarnished? (3) You feel worthless. (4) Still others ground their identity in their own talents and abilities. (5) They define themselves by the fact that they can do something better than most. (6) But what happens when you can no longer do the things you once did with ease? (7) You feel worthless. (E) Have you ever felt that sense of _________________________________? (1) Insignificant. (2) Incapable. (3) Unlovable. (4) You shrink down in your chair so as not to be seen or heard. (5) You bury your head in your hands, wanting it all to go away. (6) It is so easy to feel and to see yourself as worthless, is it not? (7) It is even harder to get out of that pit. (F) The Good News of the Gospel is that your identity comes from __________________ himself. (1) He has given it to you. (2) In Holy Baptism He called you by name. (3) You are His. (4) To God: Isaiah 43:4 (NASB95) 4 “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. (1) We feel and see ourselves as worthless because of our _____________ _______________________________, ________________, ___________________, _________________, or even with what others say about us. (A) You _______________ your job. (1) You search and search to find another one. (2) But it seems that no one wants to hire you. (3) You have nothing to offer. a) You feel worthless. (B) You go on date after date, but you never really find “____________ ______________.” (1) Or you ask and ask people to go on a date, but no one wants to say yes. (2) You feel worthless. (C) You lose your _____________________. (1) You lose by way a messy separation, divorce, or the worst thing of all: death. (2) You feel that you have nothing to offer the opposite sex. (3) You have no one to share your life with. (4) You feel worthless. (D) You’re ______________________________ with a debilitating illness: (1) cancer, (2) dementia, (3) Alzheimer’s, (4) Parkinson’s, (5) multiple sclerosis. (E) Or you dealing with the _____________________ of old age, which renders you incapable of doing the things that you are normally used to doing: (1) mowing your lawn, (2) tending to your garden, (3) working in your shop or garage, (4) driving, (5) reading, (6) feeding yourself, (7) going to the bathroom alone, (8) talking, (9) walking, (10) or seeing clearly. a) You feel incapable. b) Yes, you feel worthless. c) But are you worthless? (F) You hear those dreadful words ring in your mind and out of your loved one’s mouth, “________ __________ _____________________________ _____________________________ ___________ ___________.” (1) And you mentally kick yourself: a) “Why? Why did I do that? b) I know better. c) That was a stupid thing to do. d) If I could only just take it back. e) If I could only just change that one sin, that one moment of weakness. f) That one word. 1) That one night I lost my virginity, 2) that one day I lost my temper, 3) the one time where I lied, 4) That one time of taking the Lord’s name in vain just to save my own skin and not get caught. 5) That one moment of pride and arrogance where I should have just bit my tongue and said nothing.” g) But you can’t. h) You can’t take it back. (G) You make a mistake and you ______________ yourself down by saying you did something stupid, you screwed something up, etc. (1) Then you have someone come along, makes it personal, and says to you: a) “You are right. b) You are stupid. c) You are a screw up.” (H) And you don’t want the whole world to know what a ________________________ you are. (1) That you are not: a) the student, b) citizen, c) employer, d) employee, e) friend, f) spouse, g) parent, h) grandparent, i) brother, j) sister, k) child, l) man, m) or woman n) that you know you should be. (2) You’re not even the one you know you could be. (3) You don’t want everybody to know: a) that you fail God, b) that you fail others, c) and that you fail even yourself. (4) You feel worthless. a) Insignificant. b) Incapable. c) Unlovable. d) Shrink-down-in-your-chair, bury-your-head-in-your-hands, unworthy-of-the-time-of-day, e) “I-a-poor-miserable-sinner” (see LSB, p 184) kind of worthless. (2) The Southern Kingdom of Judah is regarded as worthless because of their _______________________________. (A) This is the Southern Kingdom of Judah’s _______________________ at the start of our Old Testament Reading this morning. (1) They are nothing. (2) They are worthless. (3) Even though the Lord led them through their forty-year wandering in the wilderness and into the Promised Land, even though they swore an oath saying: Joshua 1:16 (NASB95) 16 They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. (4) they have failed. (5) Time and time again, both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom have turned their backs on God. (6) They’ve built and worshiped golden calves. (7) They’ve burned some of their firstborn children alive on the altars of Molech and Chemosh. (8) They’ve even participated in temple prostitution as a form of worship to Baal and Asherah. (B) And despite all of God’s warning cries to them through the mouths of His prophets, Israel and Judah _______________________ in their idolatry. (1) In chapters 41 and 42 of Isaiah, Isaiah refers to them as a: Isaiah 41:14 (NASB95) 14 “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,” declares the LORD, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 42:18–25 (NASB95) 18 Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see. 19 Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD? 20 You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; Your ears are open, but none hears. 21 The LORD was pleased for His righteousness’ sake To make the law great and glorious. 22 But this is a people plundered and despoiled; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become a prey with none to deliver them, And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!” 23 Who among you will give ear to this? Who will give heed and listen hereafter? 24 Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose law they did not obey? 25 So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention. (C) In 586 BC, for their idolatrous sins, the Southern Kingdom of Judah would suffer the same fiery __________________________ of God at the hands of the Babylonians that the Northern Kingdom of Israel suffered in 722 BC at the hands of the Assyrians: (1) Exile. (2) Chains. (3) Bondage. (4) Forced to march away from Jerusalem. (5) Burning. (6) Destruction. (7) Plundering. (8) Guilt. (9) Shame. (10) Defeated, with tears of anguish as they travel to the foreign land of Babylon as if they were walking through the fire of God. (11) They experienced the fury of God while enslaved to Babylon and received the just wages of generations of unrighteousness and unbelief. (12) And to Babylon, the Judean exiles are nothing but useful tools of their economy. (D) ________________, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was worthless. (1) Insignificant. (2) Incapable. (3) Unlovable. (4) Unloving. (5) Shrink-down-in-their-chair, (6) bury-their-heads-in-their-hands, (7) unworthy-of-the-time-of-day, (8) “I-a-poor-miserable-sinner” kind of worthless. (3) In God’s eyes Judah is _______________________, because He has called them by name and given up nations in exchange for them. (A) Yet it is to these worthless _______________________, to Judah, to you, to me that God speaks to us today. (1) Today, God speaks a blazing word of hope and comfort through the mouth of His prophet Isaiah. (2) Notice how our Old Testament Reading begins. (3) It begins with a radical shift in identity. (4) You may very well feel and see yourself as worthless. (5) You have been a bunch of worthless sinners. (6) What does the Lord say?: Isaiah 43:1,4 (NASB95) 1 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 4 “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. (7) Precious in God’s eyes? (8) Honored and loved? (9) What did Judah do to deserve this radical change in identity? a) The answer is nothing! b) In and of themselves they are a bunch of worthless sinners. (10) But there are two things that make Judah of infinite worth. a) The first is a matter of who owns them. Isaiah 43:1 (NASB95) 1 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! (B) The ______________ ________________ is: (1) despite how Judah feels, (2) or how they see themselves, (3) despite their sin, (4) God has graciously, of His own accord, called them by name, on the plains of Haran, at Bethel, at the foot of Mount Sinai, and now in Babylon. (5) Even in their exile, Judah doesn’t belong to Babylon, Assyria, or Egypt. (6) And they certainly don’t belong to their sin. (7) They belong to God and to Him alone. (8) They are His treasured possession (Ex 19:5). Exodus 19:5 (NASB95) 5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; (C) Second, Judah’s ___________________ is also determined by the price that God willingly pays for them. (1) In verse 4 of our text for this morning, God says: Isaiah 43:4 (NASB95) 4 “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. (2) And so that is what God did. a) When God led Israel out of Egypt, He paid for them with the lives of some Egyptians. b) And when God led Judah out of Babylon, He paid for them with the lives of some Babylonians. (4) In God’s eyes we are precious, because He has _______________ up His only Son in exchange for us and has called us by name. (A) But the greatest ________________________ that God would make for his people, for Israel and Judah, for you and for me, was when He: Galatians 4:4–5 (NASB95) 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (1) And there, at His baptism in the Jordan River (what we remember and celebrate this day), Jesus took your sin upon Himself. a) He who knew no sin became sin for us so that on a hill outside of Jerusalem, the Father might give His only-begotten Son as ransom for you. b) Jesus willingly and graciously loved you unto death, even death upon the cross. c) He paid for your sins in full. d) Not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood, innocent suffering, and bitter death. e) You are free. f) It is finished. g) Jesus has done it all, and all that He did was for you. h) You are forgiven all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. i) There is no condemnation, no fiery judgment of God, for you who are in Christ Jesus. j) John says this in his first epistle: 1 John 3:1 (NASB95) 1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (B) Guess what? And __________ ___________ _____________! (1) Paul says it this way: Galatians 3:26–27 (NASB95) 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (1) You were buried and raised with Christ in Baptism. (2) You don’t belong to sin, death, or even the devil any longer. (3) They have no power over you. (4) You belong to God. (5) You always have and always will. (6) In Baptism: a) He who created you, b) who formed you c) numbered the hairs on your head, d) marked you with His cross, e) covered you with the robe of His righteousness, f) says to you, “You are mine.”
Conclusion
(A) Don’t you see, dear brothers and sisters of our___________________ and ______________________ God? (1) The Good News of the Gospel is that it doesn’t matter if you feel worthless. (2) It doesn’t matter if the world calls you worthless. (3) It doesn’t matter what accusations the devil throws at you, (4) or your life circumstances, (5) the turbulent waters and the fiery trials that you endure in this vale of tears. (6) It doesn’t matter if in your eyes you seem worthless. (7) None of these things define who you truly are. (B) Despite All That Makes Us Feel Worthless, We Are ___________________________ in God’s Eyes Because of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. (C) Your ________________________ comes from God himself. (1) He has given it to you. (2) He has told you who you are and whose you are. (3) To Him: Isaiah 43:4 (NASB95) 4 “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. (4) Amen. (D) Let us pray: Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace in causing us to come to Holy Baptism and to the knowledge of Your divine Word and will. We ask You to put Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that we may study Your Word and not neglect or despise it, but mark it well, that true godly fear would grow and increase in us, and that in Your Word we may finally die a blessed death and obtain eternal salvation. Amen. (E) Philippians 4:7 (NASB95) 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. (F) Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. All of us are waiting and none of us will be disappointed. The Lord continue to bless us, shine His face on us, be gracious to us, that He lift His countenance upon us, and give us His peace. (G) In the Name of the Father…Amen.
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