You. Are. Mine.

This is an edited version of the message I preached online for Sunday August 16, 2020. You can also listen to the message on YouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISyILTA1GJw 

My text today comes from the first verse of Isaiah 43: 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!

That Isaiah begins his message with “Thus says the Lord,” is not an insignificant point. Everything we say about this text is rooted in those four words: “Thus says the Lord.”

Why? Because He is the almighty Creator of all that is seen and unseen. When God speaks, who can silence Him? Who can open what he has closed, or close what He has opened? The Scriptures from one end of the book to the other proclaim His absolute and undiluted authority and sovereignty over all creation – peoples, nations, economies, even viruses, famines, plagues, hurricanes and tornadoes  – the whole of nature itself.

And it does not matter one whit the power that any person or any nation might have. They are all, each one and every one, merely tools in the divinely orchestrated symphony called ‘God’s Purpose and Will.”

Why does God keep reminding us of His authority and supreme power? Because we so easily forget to remember – not a speck of dust falls to the ground without His permission. Not a person can harm us without God’s permission. Not a demon in hell – not even Satan himself – can touch us without God’s permission.

The Lord Jesus, as He stood before the Roman governor who was about to condemn Him to the cross, Jesus said to him: “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:10-11a)

I need to repeat that – for myself, and for you. Jesus said to the Roman governor Pilate: “You would have no authority over me unless My Father had given it to you.”

And let me quickly add, He says the same thing to presidents, and congressmen and women, and to judges and Supreme Court Justices – they have not power except what God has given them. And Oh! They’d better use that power wisely and justly.

Pilate’s power was merely an illusion. Without God’s permission, he was no more powerful than a cockroach.

Remember what Jesus said to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when the soldiers surrounded them to take Jesus into custody. Matthew tells us: Then Jesus said to [Peter], “Put your sword back into its place . . . Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” (Matthew 26:52-53)

St Therese of Lisieux died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. Here is what she learned about God at a very young age:  “Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul's miseries, her burdens, her needs - everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness . . . Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events - to the heart that loves, all is well.”

Standing in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus held all authority in heaven and on earth in His grasp. Nevertheless, He let Himself be carried along by the events which, to the uninformed eye, were evil and unthinkable and ultimately deadly. But to the eye of faith, everything that was unfolding in the Garden, even to Golgotha’s hill – everything was ALL part of God’s perfect Symphony of Salvation. Everything, Jesus knew, was a grace because to the heart that loves the Father, all is well.

God also tells us through Isaiah: Do not fear.

Again through Isaiah God asks us: “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies and of the son of man who is made like grass, that you have forgotten the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, as he makes ready to destroy?” (Isaiah 51:12-13)

Christian! Do not fear; Not the COVID virus, not the riots and social upheavals rampaging across the country – not anything in your life. Our God is sovereign over all things, all things, all things. And God assures us: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty . . . . He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.” (Psalm 91:1-4)

And God then reminds us He has redeemed you and me who have given our hearts to our Savior, Jesus. One dictionary definition of redemption is: the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or the clearing of a debt.

Some of you may remember singing this song in church:

“He paid the debt he did not owe. I owed the debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace . . . Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.”

He paid the debt on calvary. He saved my soul. He set me free. I’m so glad that Jesus washed all my sins away. And now I sing a brand-new song,
Amazing Grace . . .Christ paid the debt that I could never pay.

Almighty God – the One who created us – has redeemed us! Listen to what Holy Spirit tells us through Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus . . .” (Romans 3:23-24) 

And in chapter five: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (5:8)

When God had Paul use the word “Justification’ it was because God wants us to know that as a direct result of His mercy, when we come to Him in humble faith, He imputes – He ‘credits’ to us – the righteousness of the sinless Son of God, and our sins are imputed to Him – credited, shall we say, to Him. That is precisely what Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made Him who knew no sin to BE sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

In simple terms, God now declares those who are in Christ to be without guilt because of our faith in Christ’s sacrificial atonement for us. God declares sinners like you and me ‘innocent,’ because Jesus’ righteousness has been credited to our account.

So, God He tells through Isaiah to fear not. He tells us He has redeemed us. And He also tells us He calls us by our name.

I have heard far too many preachers and apologists opine that the idea that Jesus is a “personal savior” is foreign to the New Testament message. They say Jesus came to save a ‘church’. In their opinion, community  salvation – and not personal  salvation – is the pre-eminent focus of Scripture.

What an unbiblical deceptive lie that is! No wonder so many people in the pew feel distanced from their heavenly Father. They’re told again and again in subtle and not-so-subtle ways they’re just one of a bunch. They say there’s really nothing special about them or that God’s desire is for a personal and intimate relationship with them.

I will tell you as plainly as I know how – that kind of tripe is an outrageous lie.

Yes, Jesus took on human flesh to save the “church” (Ephesians 5:25-27) and to establish a ‘people’ for Himself (Titus 2:14). But texts taken out of context are usually pretexts to teach error. For, let us not forget:

The Good Shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep safe in the fold and searched for the ONE gone astray (Luke 15:3-7). He sought for the ONE blind man who’d been ostracized from his synagogue (John 9:1-38). He made a point to pass through Samaria to meet ONE woman unwelcomed by her community (John 4:1-38). The Philippian jailer pleaded with St. Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” And the apostle answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and ‘you’ will be saved” (Acts 15:25-31). “Come to me” the Lord Jesus invited, “ALL [i.e. every ONE of you] who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give [each of] you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Over and over, the Holy Spirit makes the point through both the New Testament and Old Testament writers – Jesus longs for us to each know Him as our personal savior. He longs for us to each know Him in an intimate, warm and richly emotional relationship.

Let’s return now again to today’s primary text. God tells us -- “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name.” And now, the fifth point, God immediately adds: You. Are. Mine!

When the Holy Spirit opened our hearts to the message of God’s offer to forgive all of our sins and to adopt us into His family, and when we responded by entering the waters of baptism and our ongoing devotion to Christ, then you and I – singular, unique, special – you and I belong to God.

Please hear this: Almighty God says to you – whatever is your name – He says to you right now: “You. Are. Mine.”

Do you not know that He loves you so very much that He personally, with His own fingers, formed you in your mothers’ womb? (Psalm 139:13). He loves you so much that He is intimately involved with your every movement and moment (Psalm 139:3). He calls you by your name (John 10:3); He knows how many hairs you have on your head (Luke 12:7), and not a word passes across your tongue that He does not already know (Psalm 139:4).

Truly, you are your beloved’s, He is yours . . . and His banner over ‘you’ is love. (See the Song of Solomon 2:4)

Oh, may God the Holy Spirit help us to no longer remain biblically illiterate, but to study the Scriptures daily to see whether the words of preachers and pastors and evangelists and priests and deacons – and yes, even if MY words are truth.

The omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Creator is our FATHER – our ‘Abba’ – our DADDY, if you will. He is ours and we are His through our faith in Jesus the Messiah.

Therefore, we will not fear. He has redeemed us with His own and most costly blood. He has called you and me, each of us personally by name. And He says to each of us who are His through Christ alone:

You. Are. Mine.