Well, it's been a blessing for
me to be here to be with you folks, see old friends, new friends. It's a wonderful thing we have as children of the living God,
a thing that the world can never understand, never grasp. Outside
these walls, there are people living their lives and doing
the best they can. doing what they can do and they'll
never know what it is to sit in a congregation and hear the
declaration of the Word of God and in a world that seems to
be going to hell in a handbasket find joy, peace, comfort, friendship,
fellowship. There's nothing like it. Be thankful. Be thankful. This is a wondrous
thing. I appreciate Drew and Melinda. They always treat me
like their favorite son. Melinda fixes me a lot of bacon
for breakfast. That in itself is worth coming
up here for. Isaiah chapter 46 verses 9 through
11. A familiar portion of scripture. The title of my message is, In
His Own Hand, or God's Biography. Beginning with verse 9, he says,
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure calling a ravenous bird from
the east the man that executed my counsel from a far country
I have spoken it I will also bring it to pass I have purposed
it I will also do it here God declares who he is we think of
god we usually that terminology we use think of god the father
that's usually what we think but we need to remember when
you see the word god in scripture no matter how he's set forth
whether it's Elohim or Jehovah or whatever he's talking about
Jesus Christ because he is the father he is the son and he is
the spirit scripture declares it we know the The Bible speaks
of the Trinity and we rejoice in that Godhead. And the Bible
sets forth the Trinity at the Lord's baptism with the presence
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In 1 John, John
writes that there's three that bear witness in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 1 it speaks of
Jesus Christ as the Word who was God and was with God and
He was the one who created all things. and then it says the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld him as
the only begotten of the father so you have the father and the
son and our lord jesus christ in john fourteen when he promised
to send a comforter the spirit god the spirit to comfort his
people because he was leaving this world and going to the next
to sit at the right hand of the father having accomplished salvation
he said i'm gonna send you another comforter And then he said, I
will not leave you, I will come to you. Same thing, he's the
spirit, he's father, son, and spirit. As declared in Colossians
chapter two and verse nine, in him dwelleth the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. We believe in a trinity. We believe
that trinity is manifest in the single person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. that's how he's manifest he is the one who came in John
17 said I came to declare the father well the father was always
there it was him but he said I come to declare the father
that's the that's the manner in which I will operate among
my people so when we see the word God here when he says I
am God he's talking about himself these words are not a biography
of God pinned by some ersatz doctor of theology, nor are they
the music of some preacher trying to wax eloquent on the subject
of deity. This is the autobiography of God. This is God speaking
about Himself. God writing about Himself. Declaring and asserting who He
is and what He does and what He's going to do. And the sure
fact that everything He plans, everything He purposes, everything
He desires shall come to pass. since he is not a man that he
should lie this is the accurate and true account of God I know
men talk about God in all ways in a lot of ways the man upstairs
you know a supreme being he said I am God and there is none else
there is none beside me and also this book that you hold in your
laps is the only revelation of him you'll not know anything
about him apart from this book he is known and he is not known
and cannot be known except in the account of the record of
this tome the book that he set forth honorable men are held
in high esteem and are beneficial in the study of countless commentaries
I have many in my library and I'm thankful for them but their
words must be viewed their words must be assessed their words
must be weighed in light of this book you know the story of old mose
who was matthew henry's servant matthew henry almost completed
the book that uh... next position of galatians he
handed it to his servant mose and said read this and see what
you think after a while mose come back and said what do you
think mosey said well the bible has shed a whole lot of light
on that book and that's the truth you enjoy your commentaries they're
fine but the men who wrote them are just men The one who wrote
this is God Himself. God Himself. This particular
time, the words spoken are in opposition to false gods. If
you read the prophet Isaiah or Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea,
Joel, Amos, all of them except for the few who are dealing with
the rebuilding of the temple have to do with idolatry. They
all have to do with idolatry. The Jewish people were idolaters.
they carried their stone gods into their temple of the Lord
they carried, according to Jeremiah, they had them erected on every
street corner no matter where you went you could see a false
god and so Isaiah was dealing with false gods just as Jeremiah
and Ezekiel was so this is what's going on when our Lord says this,
I am God He's saying it in opposition to all these idols that have
been raised up in the streets of that nation the false gods
that men raise up and support and worship that's what he says
in verses five through seven he says to whom will you liken
me and make me equal and compare me that we may be alike they
lavish gold out of a bag and weigh silver in the balance and
hire a goldsmith and he maketh it a god they fall down and they
worship they hear him they bear him on their shoulders they carry
him and set him in places and he standeth from this place shall
be not removed, they say, yet one shall cry unto him, yet cannot
be answered, nor save him out of his trouble." You'll cry to
him, he can't answer you, he can't save you, and yet you worship
him. So that's who God is dealing
with when he says, in light of that, I'm God. And these things
are not. The gods that men make in their
corrupt imaginations are, in fact, no gods at all. The gods
they worship are probably described as made. They're made. They're invented. They're fabricated. The language that men use to
describe their experience of salvation at this day in false
religions say the same kind of language. The children of God
declare, it is the Lord that has made us and not we ourselves. The worshipers of false gods
say, make Jesus your Lord. make him your lord that makes
that jesus whoever he is an idol a false god make jesus your lord
make jesus your savior the language betrays their idolatry they made
their god according to their will and their design their god
could neither be lord nor savior unless they made him to be so
that's no god at all they thus become become his hands and his
feet the only Hands God has are your hands, they say. The only
feet he has are that crippled, desperate, is no value to anyone. Stoned appendages seriously lack
mobility, so they have to move him around and place him here
and there. And since that, God has made
according to the pallet, being palatable, enticing to
the flesh, there's a multiplicity of damned deities, a veritable
pantheon occupying the landscape of carnal depravity. Who is the
maker? That's a good question. Who is
the maker? Who's the creator? Who's the
deity in that scenario where you have to make him a god? You're the god. You're the maker.
You're the creator. People who hate the doctrine
of sovereignty always say, well why pray if God is sovereign?
I say to them, well, why don't you pray to men if they're sovereign?
Why don't you say, yet men stand in the pulpit and they say, you
can't be saved unless God lets you, and then they say, let's
pray God will save you. Why pray to God if it's up to you? Start
praying to the people, because they're the ones that do the
business. It is in the light of this brazen idolatry that
the Lord describes himself in this passage, and what an autobiography
it is. calls on men to recall his people,
to recall his past acts and the deliverance of his people. Could
their fabricated idol bring the greatest nation known to man
to its knees? Open up the ocean and drown the
enemy's army? Could their feckless deity lead
and feed and slake the thirst of his people for forty years
in the wilderness? Shading their fevered brows from
the sun with a cloud that followed them by day and lighting their
darkness with a pillar by fire. Now can that stone god do that?
No, their feckless manufactured desolate deity could do nothing.
They said it themselves. They have to pick him up. They
have to take him. They have to make him. all those
acts were performed by the one who has his way with the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? The truth of the
matter is that Egypt was set up to be destroyed centuries
before, to be the nation that God would destroy to glorify
himself in the salvation of his people. He told Abraham, you're
going to go in captivity for 400 years. then I'm going to
save you. I'm going to bring you out and
I'm going to destroy all them that hold you captive. Truth
be told, this world, this universe is the same kind of pawn in the
hands of a sovereign and it will be destroyed in the final deliverance
of his elect. The final act of God will be
salvation. It's always been that which glorifies
him and when he destroys this world in the end and look around
is going on everything you see us included are going to be be
off the map when he does that what will it be saving his people
from their sin and wiping sin out all together forever the
first chapter in this autobiography is the revelation of god he says
i am god there is none else i am god there is none like me that's
in verse nine There is no other God and the paltry inventions
of men are not like me, he says. They are like the people who
manufactured them. That's what David said when the pagans said,
where's your God, David? Where's your God? Don't you see
our God? How beautiful He is with His
golden hands and His silver head and how beautiful He is. We take
Him where we want to take Him. And David said, well, yeah, no,
He's got hands, but He don't. handle anything and he's got
eyes but he don't see anything he's got ears but he don't hear
anything he's got a tongue but he can't speak and he can't move
and he says you know you're like him you're like your God our
God is in the heavens he had done whatsoever he hath pleased
whatsoever he is pleased is there any doubt about this do they
not say God and it's false religion not to say God wants this for
you. God wants you to have this. God needs prayer warriors. Let go and let God. Upon whom
does the implementation of their God's wants and needs depend?
They depend on you. Poor God. Poor thing. Feckless. I believe I could take
him in three falls. I really do. I am God, he said,
and these abominations constructed by men are from their depraved
imagination. They're not God and they're in
no way like me. And that's the truth. The second
chapter in this autobiography is the proof of the first. He
said, I declare the end from the beginning. That means he
declared how it was going to end before he started it. He
wrote the whole book and put the end on and then he started
the beginning. He set the end before he even
began it. The second chapter declaring
the end for the beginning and things and ancient things, ancient
times, the things that are not yet done. He describes himself
as a great predestinator. The great predestinator. He wrote
the history of the world before the world was. He declared how
it would end before it began. and then by the word of his mouth
he set recorded history in motion. That's what we're living today.
It's already been written. Fret not. Read the end of the
story. You've got the book in your hand. Read how it ends.
Everything will be alright if you understand how it ends. He
said he did that. What men call chaos is but the
work of his hands bringing all things to their appointed end.
There are people who study that. They're called chaoticians. they
study chaos and chaotic events and they wonder why and what
they begin to see as they study these chaotic things they find
that there's generally a pattern in them and they wonder why isn't
that something all this chaos is not really chaos there's a
pattern in it of course there is it's not chaos it's God's
predestination it's God's power in predestination what men call
chaos is a work of his hands all Shakespeare said it you know
people I've had people say you shouldn't quote Shakespeare but
Shakespeare said it this way all the world is a stage and all men and women are players
they have their exits and they have their entrances that's true
we are being employed by God in the display of his sovereign
plan which he calls for us history which is a parenthetical expression
in eternity a little space called time where all this is working. What was time invented for? Time
was invented in order for God to display his glory in the salvation
of his people that's why it's here and so when he finally saves
them all and brings them all home time will be no more some
who've made them a god will spout off well that makes us a puppet
i've been told that over many times while simultaneously toting
and moving and manipulating their sacred stump here and there the
mindless mutant marionette of their making i'll tell you i'm
utterly content utterly content to be a puppet if god the god
of all grace is pulling the strings. I have no difficulty whatsoever
with that. Knowing every word that is upon
my tongue, for scripture says he does. Working all things together
for my good and for his glory. Declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are yet done. That's what
God has done. The third chapter in his autobiography
is the power of his words. Saying, he said, saying people
say that i remember bumper stickers that said god said it and i believe
it that makes it so god said it and that makes it so whether
you believe it or not but god has not been silent if
you study the six times that predestination is used in the
new testament with the word pro arizo which is always has to
do with salvation If you study those, you'll find that God did
some things. First of all, the first use of
the word predestination was in the crucifixion itself. He gathered
men together, Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Jews and Gentiles
to do whatsoever He had ordained, predestinated, to be done. That's
the first use. Then you have the second use
in Corinthians, or in Romans. uh... uh... Romans 8, 28 he uses
it there and 29 and 30 and that's to tell what he's going to do
how what what he's going to do these people whom he's foreknown
he's going to glorify he's going to justify he's going to do all
those things that's the promise then you have God could have
done that you see and I say using poor human language and left
it had he left it there it could still been done but he didn't leave it there
told Paul in Corinthians he said this gospel that we preach was
ordained for our glory he predestinated that he would actually inform
us of what he's done in this book and that's what he's done
and not only that to prove that he did that In love He predestinated us to
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself and to the praise
of the glory of His grace wherein He is accepted in the beloved.
He's proven that we are His children. He said He's predestinated us
to have an inheritance. An inheritance. This is the Word
of God. This is how God operates. the
world fades into obscurity as powers rise and fall, as every
nation we cherish teeters on the brink of destruction, as
everyone that dwells on earth will never again see another
year that has the word teen in it. Did you know that? Everybody
who's living today will never see another year that has the
word teen in it. They're done. The word of God,
however, endureth forever. endureth forever his word is
truth and is the instrument employed in the salvation of his people
my counsel shall stand he said and I will do all my pleasure
his counsel his purpose will be done will come to pass as
he's ordained it he said that in Isaiah 24 or rather Isaiah
14 verse 24 he said I will do all my purpose my purpose is
going to stand he is done and will do what he pleases That's
the God of Heaven. What He pleases. What does God
want? Read the newspaper tomorrow. What does God predestinate and
purpose? Read the newspaper tomorrow. What's God doing? You can only
see what He's done. You can't see what He's doing.
He has done and will do what He pleases, what He wants, He
always gets, and what He desires, He has. does his will according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth he does he hath done whatsoever he is pleased
god does what he wants to wherever whenever with whomever he's doing
it with you Well, I got a mind of my own. Yeah, and it's controlled
by God. Man thinks he knows something,
but it's God that directs his steps. You say, well, I have
a free will. No, you don't. No such thing
in the world as a free will. The will is always subject to
the character, to the nature, to the desire, to the affinity,
to the inclination. It's always subject to that.
God doesn't have a free will in that sense. God does as He
pleases. And what He pleases is who He
is, from who He is. He's not going to do what He
don't want to do. He's never going to do that.
He'll never be under duress. Now you and I might make a choice
under duress where we'll do what we don't want to do. My daughter had leukemia. The
worst kind. She had to have a bone marrow
transplant. a year of terror for parents. A year of terror. She had leukemia. She didn't
want to go through chemotherapy. She was not willing to do that.
But she did. Because she was willing to live.
And she saw the other end of that might be her recovery. So
we might do something under duress in order for a good outcome.
But your will is not free. But there is a way that the will
is free where men make the mistake. They believe the will has power
to perform. That doesn't exist in us. Oh,
we might make it on something. We never do anything perfectly,
but you know, just one brother was saying, I was driving down
here and my tire went flat. Did you will that tire to blow
itself up again? No, of course you didn't. Did
you will to have a flat tire? No, you didn't. You willed to
come here, but you were altered in your destination because we
don't have power to perform, but God does. That's the difference. Man doesn't have power to perform.
Paul said that in Romans 7, that what I would do, I don't do,
and what I don't do, what I don't want to do, that's what I end
up doing. Satan said, I will be like the most high, I will
ascend to the throne of God. God said you'll go to hell. God's will, He has the power
to perform His will. What He pleases is what He does. That's the God of Scripture.
That's how He describes Himself. The fourth chapter in this autobiography
is proof of what He's just spoken in verse 10. He says, Calling
a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel
from a far country. I have spoken it, I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth
my counsel from a far country." Who's he talking about? Well
the word ravenous means fast or speedy with a sinister hunger
and the bird referred to is a man called Cyrus who came speedily
from a far country to deliver the Lord's people from the captivity
of Babylon. He is described in chapter forty-five. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before
him, who will loose the loins of kings to open for him the
two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go
before thee, and make the crooked place straight. I will breaking
the pieces of the gates of brass, and cut asunder the bars of iron.
I will give thee treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of
secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the Lord, which
called thee by thy name, the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's
sake, and for Israel mine elect, I have called thee by thy name,
and I have surnamed thee that thou wast mine." Cyrus, a pagan
king, was used of the Lord to deliver the people from Babylon. Cyrus was a pagan and history
records that he died as a pagan, yet God called him anointed,
called him the one, the ravenous bird that he called from the
east to deliver his people. But when he died, he was surrounded
on his deathbed by seers and soothsayers and necromancers
and diviners of his religion. Well, can it be that the sovereign
God is so sovereign, which is probably oxymoron, so sovereign,
he's so sovereign that he uses vile men to accomplish his purpose? Does he move and manipulate men
and women who despise him to perform his will? Indeed he does. Pharaoh was raised up by God
according to Romans chapter 9, I have raised thee up to cast
you down and he was used to torment his people to the place they
actually got tired of being rich in Goshen and called out on God
for him. He was used. Did Nebuchadnezzar
serve God's purpose? Absolutely! Does Satan serve
God's purpose? Is he not an angel? Are they
not all, according to Hebrews 1.13, ministers for those who
shall be heirs of salvation? Satan is used, yeah! Satan is
used of God in the salvation of your soul as a means to an
end. Satan has desired you that he
might sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you and Satan sifted
him. Oh, and did it help Peter when
he got sifted? Did it turn him to Christ when he got sifted?
Indeed it did. The final chapter in God's autobiography
is absolute assurance of his will. He said, I have spoken
it I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Though He is the God that employs
means to accomplish His will, He controls the means, having
appointed their end, and He will do it. Faithful is He who called
you, who will also do it, saith the Scripture. What has He spoken? His Word. And what He has spoken,
He has purposed, He will do. If He has put His hand to it,
whatever it might be, none can turn it back. None can stay his
hand. Let men say what they will, let
them balk and reject. They are doing as they are ordained
to do. I find great comfort in that,
though I kind of figure I'll never fully understand it. Sovereignty
is a little out of my pay grade. God does as he pleases. This
is God's autobiography. This is what he says about himself.
Remember this and show yourselves men. Remember the former things
of old. For I am God and there is none
else. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from
the beginning, from ancient times, the things that are not done,
yea, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Calling
a ravenous bird from the east. the man that executed my counsel
from a far country I have spoken it I will also bring it to pass
I have purposed it and I will also do it and the Lord said
of these words our Savior said of these words search the scriptures
for in them you think you find eternal life but they are they
which testify of me this is Jesus Christ telling us who he is God
bless you brother