1. We are precious in the sight of God because of the memories which duster round each one of us. You are to God most precious, as the token and memorial of the death of the Well-beloved.

2. Things become precious sometimes on account of the workmanship exercised upon them. Many an article has been in itself intrinsically of small account, but so much art has been exercised upon it, so much real work thrown into it, that the value has been increased indefinitely. Now, the Christian is precious to God on account of the workmanship that has been spent upon him. In divers ways the Great Worker has wrought mightily in us, and continued perseveringly to pursue His purpose.

3. Certain articles are precious because of their peculiar fashion. This was the case with the Portland vase, which to any common observer seemed to be of very small value, but because of the extreme beauty of the design, the greatest potter of the age was ready to pay his thousands to possess it. We are precious in God's sight, too, because of our fashion and form. We are to be made like unto Christ.

4. Things are precious often because of their relationship. The most precious thing a mother hath is her dear babe. Precious, therefore, in the sight of the Lord are His saints, because they are born in His household, by regeneration made to be His sons and daughters.

II. Every child of God is "HONOURABLE." Every Christian is, in God's sight, right honourable and excellent because the Lord in His discriminating grace has made him precious.

1. Every Christian is honourably born.

2. The Christian, moreover, is honourable in rank. God has been pleased to take us from the dunghill to set us among princes.

3. Right honourable in their service are the saints. I know of no service that can be more distinguished than the doing of good. Methinks the very angels before the throne might envy us poor men who are permitted to talk of Christ, even though it be to little children.

4. Christians are honourable also in privilege. It was accounted an eminent honour when a nobleman had the right to go in to his king whenever he willed to proffer a request. Approach to the royal throne was always, among Orientals, considered to be the highest token of regard. You are especially honoured, O ye saints, for ye are "a people near unto Him."

5. And every child of God who is what he should be becomes through grace honour-able by his achievements, and this is in some respects the highest form of honour, to be honoured for what you have been enabled to do, to wear a coat of arms which you have fairly won in battle, and hatchments that are not merely attributed to you by the heraldic pencil, but which are due to you because of your victorious feats of arms. To conquer sin, this is no small achievement; to keep down through a long life the corruptions of the flesh, to contend against the world and the devil, these are no deeds of carpet knights. And what an achievement it will be when Satan shall be bruised beneath our feet, as he shall be shortly.

III. The last of these notable words is "BELOVED." "I have loved thee." God hath loved thee eternally. He has loved thee actively and effectually, given His Only-Begotten for thee — an unspeakable gift; given thee everything in Him — a boundless dower of love. He has loved thee pre-eminently, better than the angels, for unto which of them has He ever said, "Thou wast honourable, and I have loved thee"? He has loved thee unchangeably. He has loved thee immeasurably. These three things being put together, I want you, practically, as they are your own by faith, to make use of them in other senses. "Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee."

1. My Saviour, dost thou say that? Why, those words Thou dost put into my mouth to give back to Thee. Thou also art precious in my sight. Is He not so — precious beyond compare? Therefore is He honourable in our esteem. Will you not honour Him? Shall it not be the continual strife of your soul to get Him renown? "Thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." You have loved Him, but, oh, how little! Look not back, then, except with Penitence, but henceforth say: "Lord, Thou hast been honourable, I will love Thee. Forgive the past, kindle in my soul a fresh flame of grace."

2. When you have so used those words turn them in another direction. Apply them next to every child of God. Let us never think of the children of God in any other way than as honouring them. Some of them are very poor, many of them illiterate, some of them not altogether in temper, action, or creed what we might desire them to be; but if they be bought with the blood of Christ they are honourable. The Lord declares them so, and let us not treat them dishonourably.

3. You might use these words in reference to unconverted men and women. There is a certain sense in which they are applicable to all of woman born, for they possess immortal souls. If that be the case, how honourable all men become as objects of our zeal! "Honour all men."

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. THE LORD COUNTS HIS PEOPLE TO BE PRECIOUS. A child of God is often far other than precious in the sight of others. "The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!" Child of God! thou art precious in God's sight, and that is infinitely more than being precious to princes. You live in a little room alone, and few know you, and those who do know you do not think much of you; but the Lord says, "Thou art precious in My sight." How can this be? Read the first verse. "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel."

1. It is clear that we are precious to God because we are His creation. The first creation was marred upon the wheel by sin; it became a thing without honour, and came under the curse. But he that believes in Jesus has been created anew by the work of the Holy Ghost. God has in a very special sense created him.

2. He has gone beyond mere creation: having first created the clay, He has formed it. We are not half made or ill made in regeneration; we are formed as well as created. The Lord who has given us spiritual existence is daily giving us fashion and completeness.

3. But what next does He say? "I have redeemed thee." We have been bought with precious blood.

4. Another blessing of grace is mentioned in the chapter, and that is that God has called us. "I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." He called us, and we answered the call.

5. We have been ever since kept by His rich grace and preserved, and this also has endeared us to the Lord. Do you not think that if you are precious in Christ s sight, then everything that has to do with Him ought to be precious to you? Remember what said: he declared that he loved every man that had "aliquid Christi — any thing of Christ — about him. Think once more. If you are precious in God's sight, do not despise yourself so as to fall into the follies and vanities which please other men. Nobility has its obligations.

II. Being precious, He adds another epithet. Since thou wast precious in My sight, THOU HAST BEEN HONOURABLE." How many of God's people were the reverse of honourable before they knew the Lord! Many a dishonourable thing they thought, and said, and did, and it is the dishonourable life that makes the dis-honourable man. Let a poor child of God tell out how he believes that he is honourable.

1. We are honourable by birth. Some are proud because they have been born of fathers who have been made baronets, or elevated to the peerage in years gone by; thus by birth they are honourable. Descended from the King of kings, each saint has a lineage before which the pedigrees of princes grow stale and mean.

2. Next, we become honourable by our possessions. Men pay honour to those who are immensely rich. "All things are yours." What an estate is that which belongs to every heir of heaven, for we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ"; and thus we become indeed honourable.

3. And the child of God becomes honourable in rank. A child of God is a prince of the Divine line.

4. We then become ennobled by our relationship. Jesus is "the first-born among many brethren"; and we as the younger brethren are all honourable.

5. We are honourable by calling, for He "hath made us kings and priests unto our God"; and these among men are the most noteworthy of all callings.

6. By Divine grace we have become honourable by character, for the Lord has sanctified His people.

7. Theirs is an honour-able life; they live for an honourable purpose; they are quickened by an honourable spirit; they are wending their way through an honourable destiny on earth to glory and honour and immortality and life eternal. The lesson to be learned from it is, do not let any child of God be bashful, shamefaced, and cowardly in the presence of men of the world.

III. "Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, AND I HAVE LOVED THEE." The Lord has not only told you of His love in the secret of your soul, but He has publicly acted love to you. If God loves us so, shall we not love Him?

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

(J. Parker, D. D.)

(Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)

     1085   God, love of
     1315   God, as redeemer
     5844   emotions

Isaiah 43:1-4

     6722   redemption, OT

Isaiah 43:1-5

     6109   alienation

Isaiah 43:1-7

     7388   kinsman-redeemer

Isaiah 43:1-13

     5805   comfort

Isaiah 43:3-4

     5974   value

Isaiah 43:3-5

     6714   ransom

Thy Name: My Name
'I have called thee by thy name.'--ISAIAH xliii. 1. 'Every one that is called by My name.'--ISAIAH xliii. 7. Great stress is laid on names in Scripture. These two parallel and antithetic clauses bring out striking complementary relations between God and the collective Israel. But they are as applicable to each individual member of the true Israel of God. I. What does God's calling a man by his name imply? 1. Intimate knowledge. Adam naming the creatures. Christ naming His disciples. 2. Loving friendship. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

February the Fourth Spiritual Buoyancy
"When thou passeth through the waters they shall not overflow thee." --ISAIAH xliii. 1-7. When Mrs. Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, was dying, she quietly said, "The waters are rising but I am not sinking." But then she had been saying that all through her life. Other floods besides the waters of death had gathered about her soul. Often had the floods been out and the roads were deep in affliction. But she had never sunk! The good Lord made her buoyant, and she rode upon the storm! This, …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

October the Eighth God's Glorious Purpose
"I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him." --ISAIAH xliii. 1-7. That is surely a superlative honour! "I have created him for My glory." I stood before one of Turner's paintings, and a man of fine judgment said to me, "That is Turner's glory!" He meant that in that picture the genius and the power and the grace of Turner were most abundantly expressed. And it is the will of God that man should express His glory, and by his righteousness and goodness witness to the …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Forgiveness
We shall notice first, this morning, the recipients of mercy--the persons of whom the Lord is here speaking; secondly, the deed of mercy,--"I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions;" thirdly, the reason for mercy--"for mine own sake;" and fourthly, the promise of mercy-- "I will not remember thy sins." I. We are about to see who are THE RECIPIENTS OF MERCY; and I would have you all listen; peradventure there be some strayed in here who are the very chief of sinners--some who have sinned …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

North and South
At this moment, my brethren and sisters, we who follow the footsteps of King Jesus are soldiers of an army which has invaded this world. This land belongs to our great Leader, for he made it. It was right that everywhere, all round the globe, his name should he honored, for he is the King among the nations, and the governor thereof: But our race has revolted, set up another monarch, and bowed its strength to support another dynasty--the dynasty of darkness and death. Our race has broken the good …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Fire! Fire! Fire!
We shall talk of three things, this morning, as the Holy Ghost may enable us; first of all, a terrible pathway,--walking around the fire; secondly, an awful danger,--the danger of being burned and utterly consumed; and thirdly, a double insurance,--"Thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the fire kindle upon thee." I. First, then, let us speak a little upon this TERRIBLE PATHWAY. The sacramental host of God's elect has never had an easy road along which to journey. I see the fields on fire, the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

Redeemed Souls Freed from Fear.
A TALK WITH A FEW FRIENDS AT MENTONE. "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee."--Isaiah xliii. 1. REDEEMED SOULS FREED FROM FEAR. I WAS lamenting this morning my unfitness for my work, and especially for the warfare to which I am called. A sense of heaviness came over me, but relief came very speedily, for which I thank the Lord. Indeed, I was greatly burdened, but the Lord succoured me. The first verse read at the Sabbath morning service exactly met my case. It is in Isaiah xliii. 1: "But now thus saith …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

How to Make Use of Christ for Steadfastness, in a Time when Truth is Oppressed and Borne Down.
When enemies are prevailing, and the way of truth is evil spoken of, many faint, and many turn aside, and do not plead for truth, nor stand up for the interest of Christ, in their hour and power of darkness: many are overcome with base fear, and either side with the workers of iniquity, or are not valiant for the truth, but being faint-hearted, turn back. Now the thoughts of this may put some who desire to stand fast, and to own him and his cause in a day of trial, to enquire how they shall make …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Nature of Justification
Justification in the active sense (iustificatio, {GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA}) is defined by the Tridentine Council as "a translation from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, …
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

Means to be Used with Sinners.
Text.--Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.--Isaiah xliii: 10. IN the text it is affirmed of the children of God, that they are his witnesses. In several preceding lectures I have been dwelling on the subject of Prayer, or that department of means for the promotion of a revival, which is intended to move God to pour out his Spirit. I am now to commence the other department: MEANS TO BE USED FOR THE CONVICTION AND CONVERSION OF SINNERS. It is true, in general, that …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

Mirrors of God
... That ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness ...'--1 Peter ii. 9. The Revised Version, instead of 'praises,' reads excellencies--and even that is but a feeble translation of the remarkable word here employed. For it is that usually rendered 'virtues'; and by the word, of course, when applied to God, we mean the radiant excellencies and glories of His character, of which our earthly qualities, designated by the same name, are but as shadows. It is, indeed, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

Eleventh Day. The Holy one of Israel.
I am the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. I the Lord which make you holy, am holy.'--Lev. xi. 45, xxi. 8. 'I am the Lord Thy God, the Holy One of Israel, Thy Saviour. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.'--Isa. xliii. 3, 14, 15. In the book of Exodus we found God making provision for the Holiness of His people. In the holy …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

A Call to Prayer and Testimony
Mark well, beloved, how he would have his people to be in tune with himself! He will have no rest till salvation work is done; and he would not have us take rest; but he would have us stirred with passionate desire, and fired with holy zeal for the accomplishment of the divine plan of grace. Till he holds his peace he will not allow us to be silent. You that have the Revised Version will be struck with the more literal and forcible rendering of our text--"Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, take …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

His Legacy.
BLESSED and ever precious are the words, which came from the lips of our loving Lord, before he went to the cross. His own were gathered around Him; before He ever comforted them and poured out His loving heart, He manifested that love by serving them. He arose from the supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. What a sight the Son of God girded! "After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Epistle xxx. To Venantius, Ex-Monk, Patrician of Syracuse .
To Venantius, Ex-Monk, Patrician of Syracuse [138] . Gregory to Venantius, &c. In addressing to you the greeting which is due I was intending to speak of what I suffer. But I think I need not relate to you what you know. For I am tormented by pains of gout, which, afflicting not dissimilarly both me and you, while they increase upon us exceedingly, have caused our life to decrease. In the midst of them what else should we do but recall our faults to mind, and give thanks to Almighty God? For we …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

God's True Treasure in Man
'The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.'--DEUT, xxxii.9. 'Jesus Christ (Who) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.'--TITUS ii. 14. I choose these two texts because they together present us with the other side of the thought to that which I have elsewhere considered, that man's true treasure is in God. That great axiom of the religious consciousness, which pervades the whole of Scripture, is rapturously …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Works of Providence
Rom. xi. 36.--"For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever, Amen."--Psal. ciii. 19.--"The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all."--Matt. x. 29.--"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." There is nothing more commonly confessed in words, than that the providence of God reaches to all the creatures and their actions, but I believe there is no point of religion …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How they are to be Admonished who Lament Sins of Deed, and those who Lament Only Sins of Thought.
(Admonition 30.) Differently to be admonished are those who deplore sins of deed, and those who deplore sins of thought. For those who deplore sins of deed are to be admonished that perfected lamentations should wash out consummated evils, lest they be bound by a greater debt of perpetrated deed than they pay in tears of satisfaction for it. For it is written, He hath given us drink in tears by measure (Ps. lxxix. 6): which means that each person's soul should in its penitence drink the tears …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Fifth Day. Holiness and Redemption.
Sanctify unto me all the first-born.'--Ex. xiii. 2. 'All the first-born are mine; for on the day I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified unto me all the first-born in Israel: mine they shall be: I am the Lord.'--Num. iii. 13, viii. 17. 'For I am the Lord your God that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.'--Lev. xi. 45. 'I have redeemed thee; thou art mine.'--Isa. xliii. 1. At Horeb we saw how the …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ