S1: Is there anybody in here who ever went through anything?
S1: And the first thing you thought is, God, you said
S1: you love me. If you love me, why am I
S1: going through? And he's saying, you're questioning my love because
S1: I let it come into your life. I let it
S1: come into your life because I love you.
S2: This is treasure truth with pastor and author James Ford Jr,
S2: senior pastor of Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hillard.
S2: Glad you're with us. As we continue to look at
S2: Isaiah 43 today in a message. Have no fear. God
S2: is here. And pastor, I think most of us, if
S2: we're going to be honest, me included, would say, yeah,
S2: when that pain hit my life, I wondered, God, why
S2: in the world are you letting me go through this?
S2: If you love me, why are you letting me go
S2: through this? But you're saying we need to change the
S2: way we're thinking about that? If God's letting us go
S2: through that painful thing you're saying, ultimately it's because he
S2: does love us.
S1: Yes, I'm saying that everything that God allows to come
S1: into our life is because he loves us. Now see,
S1: here's the problem. Sometimes our definition of love is skewed
S1: because I would if you say, well, what's your definition
S1: of love? That if you love me, you never do
S1: anything to hurt me, to harm me. You never let
S1: anything come into my life that would disappoint me or
S1: discourage me. Uh, that's not that's not biblical love. Hmm.
S1: There's a whole lot of Ford in the Ford when
S1: there should be more Lord in Ford. And often what
S1: God has to do is use my circumstances as the
S1: hammer and the chisel in his hand to chip off
S1: the Ford so that people can see the Lord. And, uh,
S1: it's painful. I don't like it, get. But God does
S1: it because he is making me better, not bitter. And
S1: he's forming me into the image of Christ. I don't
S1: know what's ahead, but something is ahead where I'm going
S1: to need to be on a higher level of maturity
S1: to be able to deal with it. And it's like
S1: I used to I used to work out. And of course,
S1: you can see now my chest that was up around
S1: my chest area has slid down. It's now around my waist.
S2: Ah, I don't know. I still wouldn't want to mess
S2: with you.
S1: But I used to lift weights and I would lift
S1: them £5, you know, just. Just working out. But then
S1: £5 didn't work anymore, right? They had to go to ten.
S1: And then when ten stopped working, I had to go.
S1: That's the Christian walk that God is working things in us,
S1: out of us. And we need to know that's part
S1: of the development process. those trials, those tests, the tribulation.
S1: And as we are being exercised in these trials, we
S1: are getting stronger so we can look back and I
S1: can look back and say things that used to floor me,
S1: don't even faze me anymore, you know? And now I'm
S1: on to bigger problems and trials and tests.
S2: So you're saying that if our faith is being stretched
S2: and we're growing, that just means God's got bigger stuff
S2: coming our way.
S1: You know, I heard Doctor Ravi Zacharias say, whom God
S1: will use. He will always bruise. I believe that.
S2: Yeah.
S1: The more the bruising, the more the using.
S2: And that is something that is we're being bruised that
S2: we can hold on to. So let's open our Bibles
S2: to Isaiah 43 and just be reminded of the truth.
S2: We can have no fear because God is here. Here's
S2: Pastor Ford.
S3: Look at verse two. When you pass through the fire.
S3: I will be there. When you. When you pass through
S3: the waters, I will be with you. Notice what he says.
S3: You're going to go through it. Say when, not if. Amen. Amen.
S3: And notice what I said earlier. Don't promise you're going
S3: to get out. He don't promise it's going to be easy.
S3: He don't promise you're going to like it. He don't
S3: promise that it ain't going to be painful. He just
S3: promised one thing. You'll go into the water and you're
S3: going to get wet, but you ain't going to drown.
S3: And you go into the fire and you will not
S3: be burned. Alright, maybe you're going through the fire because
S3: God is trying to burn the earthly empire off of
S3: you so that you'll focus on the heavenly empire. Maybe
S3: it's because you got the wrong power. Maybe you got
S3: the power on TV 32 instead of the power of
S3: the Holy Spirit. Maybe it's because he's trying to keep
S3: you from a scandal.
S1: Come on, man. I thought I'd throw a little TV
S1: in there, get somebody mad at me. He talk about
S1: Empire scam? I don't know, he talking about. That's my show.
S1: Let's move on, he said. Because you're the property of God.
S1: Because you're the preservation of God. Number three, verse three,
S1: A listen to what he says. He says, for I
S1: am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
S1: thy Savior. Stop! He says, the third reason that you
S1: don't have to have any fear is because of the
S1: person of God. He identifies himself. Why? He wants us
S1: to know that whatever is bigger than us, he's bigger
S1: than it. I'm so glad I've got a God who's
S1: bigger than what's bigger than I am. And so what
S1: does he do? Hey, look at this, look at this,
S1: look at this, look at this. Verse one. God is able.
S1: Verse two God is available. Verse three God is awesome.
S1: You know what he's telling us? Verse one. He's powerful.
S1: Verse two, he's present. Verse three, he's perfect. I told
S1: you this before, but I'm going to repeat it because
S1: I do use Google a lot. And a couple days
S1: ago my Google went out and I was I was
S1: calling everybody I can't get my Google back on. I
S1: can't get my Google on because I get a lot
S1: of information from Google. I just call them my phone.
S1: They say, what about let me Google it. And so
S1: my administrative assistant said, okay, we're going to teach you
S1: how to do this computer thing and get it together.
S1: You got to start doing your own stuff. So I
S1: started doing my own stuff. I wish I was like
S1: Brother Garland. He does all his own stuff on a computer,
S1: puts his PowerPoint together, everything. I can't do none of
S1: that yet, doc. And so I'm trying it. So I
S1: wanted to do a series called God Is Able, and
S1: I knew there was about 8 or 9 of them,
S1: but I said, there's gotta be more than what I know.
S1: And so I put punched in God is able and
S1: it said no reference is found. I said, that's what
S1: I'm talking about. I called up my administrator. I said,
S1: this thing is stupid. I said, I know at least
S1: 4 or 5 of them. You know, God is able,
S1: you know, uh, but God is able to do exceedingly
S1: abundantly above all you know. And it didn't even pull
S1: up anything she said to me without missing a beat.
S1: Did you capitalize the G. I looked and it was
S1: a small G, and lo and behold, the stupid computer
S1: became a smart one, and the smart pastor became stupid
S1: because the computer was saying to me, I do not
S1: recognize a God who is able with a small G.
S1: What you gotta do is capitalize God, and once you
S1: capitalize God, then all the references came through. There were
S1: 30 something references, but God. And I said, oh, I wonder,
S1: is the assembly like me walking around with a small G.
S1: And you need to change from a lowercase g to
S1: a uppercase G so that you can get some references,
S1: because God won't answer when you make him too small.
S1: I'm in Bible territory. And now unto him who is
S1: able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you could
S1: ask or think, according to the mighty working power in us. Now, now,
S1: I don't have time, but I gotta go through this
S1: because I'm a teacher, not a preacher. And I want
S1: you to see something here. I want you to see
S1: something that just blew me away. 13 I's in this pericope.
S1: Watch this. But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee,
S1: O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not,
S1: for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by
S1: thy name thou art mine. When thou pass through the waters,
S1: I will be with you, and through the rivers they
S1: shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire,
S1: thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
S1: upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
S1: Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. I gave Egypt for
S1: thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast
S1: precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I
S1: have loved thee. Therefore I will give men for thee,
S1: and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am
S1: with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east,
S1: and gather thee from the west. I will say to
S1: the north, give up, and to the south keep not back.
S1: Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the
S1: ends of the earth. Everyone that is called by my name.
S1: For I have created him for my glory I have
S1: formed him. Yea, I made him third eyes. Do you
S1: think that God is trying to get our attention? I
S1: think he is. And it's like sometimes what we do
S1: is we forget who gives us everything. It wasn't your job,
S1: it wasn't who you know. It wasn't your Edumacation James
S1: said it this way, he said, but every perfect gift
S1: comes from above, from the father of lights, in whom
S1: is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We've got it twisted.
S1: We think it's agency and not source. Remember what God did.
S1: God had the ravens feed Elijah. And then the brook
S1: dried up and the ravens stopped coming. Why? One reason.
S1: Many reasons. But one of them is this. I can't
S1: have you thinking. And depending upon ravens and brooks. I
S1: can't have you looking at agency when I'm the source.
S1: So I gotta shut that down so that you won't
S1: be looking at Ravens and Brooks. And you'll look to me,
S1: and you will realize I'm the one that did it.
S1: So I'm going to supply a widow for you. And
S1: then on and on it goes. That's what God does.
S1: You ever hear that story about this guy? He went
S1: off to the service. And so every day he sent
S1: his boo a love letter. And he was in there
S1: for three years. Brother Dave in the Marine Corps. Gotta
S1: be a marine cause we were Marines. And, uh, for
S1: three years. That's a lot of letters, isn't it? Yeah,
S1: 365 every year. Guess what she did? Say what she do.
S1: She married the mailman. Yeah, she got it twisted, didn't she? Yeah.
S1: The mailman kept giving her the love letter. Oh, well,
S1: let me move on.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James
S2: Ford Junior. A message called have no fear. God is here.
S2: And we're going to get back to this teaching in
S2: just one moment. I want to let you know if
S2: you ever miss a broadcast, come to our website. You
S2: can always listen online at Treasure Truth Radio.com. You can
S2: also listen if you have the Moody Radio app. You'll
S2: find it at your favorite app store like iTunes or
S2: Google Play. We can link you to that when you
S2: come to our website. Again, it's Treasure Truth Radio. Well,
S2: we are in Isaiah 43, so join us there as
S2: we get back to the message.
S1: So notice this. Let me drop it. Let me drop it.
S1: Notice everything is about this person. Notice the character of
S1: this person. What's the character of this person for things
S1: he says here he talks about his invincibility, his immensity,
S1: his immutability, his imminency. Those are the four things that
S1: he names there when he says that those are all
S1: theological terms. I know you don't understand them, but the
S1: old preacher would say it this way he's so high,
S1: can't get over him so low. Can't get on him
S1: so wide, can't get around him. What is that? That's
S1: the transcendence of God. That God high and lifted up
S1: and above all of his creatures. He is the creator.
S1: What does it mean? He's so white? It's called the
S1: immensity of God that there's nowhere that God is not.
S1: He fills all time and space and then the ubiquity
S1: of God, that God is the God that is everywhere
S1: at the same time. Then notice the comprehensiveness of his person.
S1: What does this imply? Take my word for it. But
S1: you go through this. This seven verses covers our person,
S1: our pardon, our purity, our promotion, our protection, our prominence,
S1: and our posterity, those seven things. Look at the consistency
S1: of his person. The first verse are the eyes of
S1: the past. Two through five are the eyes of the present,
S1: and six and seven are the eyes of the future.
S1: Notice the comprehensiveness of his person. He identifies Himself as
S1: Jehovah Elohim, as Jehovah Shammah, as Jehovah, as Jehovah Shalom.
S1: This thing is powerful. But then notice with me number four.
S1: Fourth reason you don't have to fear because God is here.
S1: It is the passion or the love of God. Listen
S1: to this verse. Listen to this. He says, since thou
S1: was precious, put a pin there in my sight. Thou
S1: hast been honourable. Put a pin there, and I have
S1: loved thee. Put a pin there. Therefore will I give
S1: men for thee, and people for thy life. Now you
S1: gotta understand what God is saying here. Now let me
S1: just set it up this way, because we talk about
S1: the love of God all the time. Let me say
S1: it this way. Okay? Let me say it this way.
S1: Is there anybody in here who ever went through anything?
S1: And the first thing you thought is, God, you said
S1: you love me. If you love me, why am I
S1: going through? Is there anybody who would tell truth, shame
S1: the devil? Even though there were a lot of hands up?
S1: That wasn't enough. Because some of you sitting there lying,
S1: thinking that that makes you spiritual. He put both mine
S1: and I add stuff to it. I'm a pastor. I'm
S1: going through all this for you. Yeah. They only gotta
S1: put up with me. One person I gotta put up
S1: with them 800. Thought you love me. Every time I
S1: turn around, somebody's critical about something. Thought you love me.
S1: Every time I come around, I gotta deal with this one.
S1: Who don't like this, I deal with that one who
S1: don't like this and deal with that one. I thought
S1: you love me. And what we don't understand is God
S1: is saying I do. That's why I gave em to you.
S1: That's why you got haters. Cuz they love you. Yeah,
S1: because he knows that you ain't going to do nothing
S1: but sit on your rusty dusty. But when somebody start
S1: hating God uses your haters as your elevators. God use
S1: your haters as your motivators. God use your haters as
S1: your Consecrators God use them. You will get on your
S1: knees quicker with a hater than ten people who love you.
S1: You'll seek God's face quicker when somebody's hating. And when
S1: they're when they ain't. You ain't got no money. Yeah.
S4: Come on.
S1: And he's saying you're questioning my love. Because I let
S1: it come into your life. I let it come into
S1: your life because I love you. Yeah. Anybody ever read
S1: the Velveteen Rabbit? It's an old story. Listen. Listen to
S1: this for the first time. Some of you, it's a
S1: story about two toys. A new toy, a rabbit, and
S1: an old, worn out toy, a skin horse. What is real?
S1: Asked the rabbit one day when they were lying side
S1: by side. Does it mean having things that buzz inside
S1: of you and a stick out handle? Skin horse. Real
S1: isn't how you are made. It's a thing that happens
S1: to you when a child loves you for a long time.
S1: Not just to play with, but really loves you, then
S1: you become real. Does it hurt? Said the rabbit. Sometimes,
S1: said the skin horse, for he was always truthful. When
S1: you are real, though, you don't mind being hurt, because
S1: you know the hurt is a demonstration of love. Does
S1: it happen all at once? Like being wound up? The
S1: rabbit asked. Or bit by bit. Skin horse. It doesn't
S1: happen all at once. You become. And it takes a
S1: long time. Mhm. See, the deeper they dig the hole.
S1: Come on. Somebody remembers the hide. They're going to make
S1: the skyscraper. Okay. Let me, let me come with something different.
S1: God was working in a curious person walking by and
S1: said wow, that's intricate. What are you doing now? He
S1: was building a church and the church was already built
S1: except for the steeple. And so he said, well, what
S1: is that? I mean, I see you're done with the building,
S1: aren't you? And he said, well, no, we have one
S1: more piece to put in. It's at the top of
S1: that steeple. He said, really? So what are you doing
S1: it down here for? Listen to this. I'm carving it
S1: out down here so that it fits up there.
S4: That's good, that's good. Yes.
S1: He carving on us down here.
S4: Amen.
S1: To prepare us for up there. That's it. I'm just
S1: a work in progress, that's all. I ain't perfect, I
S1: ain't got it all together. But one day I'm going
S1: to be with him. And then the Bible says at
S1: that day I will see him as he is, and
S1: I will be like him. The transformation will take place
S1: as I'm going up in the air. I'll be transformed
S1: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. I'll
S1: look just like Jesus.
S5: Mhm. Mhm. Mhm.
S1: Yes yes yes yes yes. So here's what he's trying
S1: to get them to understand. They're saying everything has changed.
S1: We've lost our income. We lost our home. We're being
S1: taken into captivity. We have no bling. We have no Benjamins.
S1: We have no benzes. We are broke, busted, disgusted and
S1: can't be trusted. God, what do you want us to know?
S1: My love hasn't changed. And when you look at those
S1: words in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of
S1: the Hebrew Masoretic Text, here's what you find. Though. Every
S1: one of those words, those three words, that word would
S1: be agape. In the New Testament, that word precious would
S1: be what Peter would use to translate that Jesus Christ
S1: is a precious stone. Uh, that word honorable is the
S1: same word that would be translated, uh, that the Lord
S1: Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. And he is precious.
S1: All those words were about Jesus. You see what he's saying? Listen, listen, listen.
S1: Help me tell somebody. I don't got too much longer
S1: to preach to you this morning, but look at somebody
S1: and say, say, saint. God can never love you more
S1: than he does now. And he'll never love you less
S1: than he does now. Tell em you are loved by God.
S1: Unconditionally unmerited, unparalleled love. So the things have changed, but
S1: they don't change. And he said, my love for you
S1: have it the way I esteem you and consider you
S1: precious in my sight. That hasn't changed. The unconditional love
S1: hasn't changed. I'm here right now and you ain't living right.
S1: You ain't acting right. You ain't walking right. But yet
S1: I haven't abandoned you. You tried to get away from me.
S1: And every time you did, you turn around. I was
S1: right there. I said I put something together. I say
S1: everything is changed. What? Don't change. Pastor, for here they are.
S1: Let me just give em to you. Say give em
S1: to us. Alright. This ain't move on after that. Yeah.
S1: Number one, God is still sitting on his throne. Number two,
S1: God never sleeps nor number summers. Number three Jesus still saves.
S1: Number four, the Bible is still God's word. Number five.
S1: Prayer still changes things. Number six Jesus still loves us.
S1: Number seven preaching is still God's method. Number eight his
S1: grace is still sufficient. Number nine God still inhabits praise.
S1: Number ten and 11 his yoke is easy and his
S1: burden is light. And don't forget the last one. There's
S1: still room at the cross for you.
S2: Matt is pastor James Ford junior. A message called have
S2: no fear. God is here. We'll have you come to
S2: the cross of Jesus. As Pastor Ford said, there's still room,
S2: there's always room. But if you've never come and claimed
S2: these promises, don't delay. Come right now. We've got someone
S2: standing by to take your call at one 888. Need him?
S2: That's 888 him. You're listening to Treasure Truth, and you
S2: can find us online at Treasure Truth Radio. You know, pastor,
S2: one of the things that I think is really cool
S2: is just to hear from new listeners who stumble across
S2: this radio program, either online or through the radio. And
S2: it is there for them today because someone previously had
S2: given and helped get this program off the ground.
S1: Amen. That's right. It reminds me of those lepers in
S1: the Book of Kings. They had found food in the
S1: Syrian camp, and they said, we would be remiss Miss.
S1: If we didn't go back to the city and tell
S1: everybody the famine is over, there's a feast. Well, I'm
S1: telling you, not just treasure truth, but when you listen
S1: to Moody Radio, you feast on the Word of God.
S1: Great expositors of the Word of God. And who would
S1: not want someone else to be built up in their
S1: most precious faith by the teaching that comes across the
S1: Moody Network? And you can do that.
S2: You can do that by coming to Treasure Truth Radio org.
S2: Click on that donate button. There. You can give a
S2: one time gift or an ongoing monthly gift. Again, that's
S2: at npr.org and click on donate. Thanks for doing that.
S2: Thanks to our producers, Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey. For
S2: Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is a production
S2: of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.