All right. Isaiah 46. Verse one. Bell boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. Now these names Bell and Nebo. were false gods of Babylon. The idol Baal from the name of
their king, Baal-Shazar, and this Nebo, I guess a name from
their king, Nebuchadnezzar. And with the invasion of Persia
that we read about in the early chapters of Daniel, These idols have bowed and they're stooped. And the materials of them, the
gold, the silver, and the brass are carried in carriages to Persia. And the carriages, verse one
says, were heavy loaded or loaded heavy. Bell boweth down. Nebo stoopeth. Their idols were upon the beast
and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy laden,
loading. They were a burden to the weary
beast. They stoop. They bow down together. Talking about these idols, they
could not deliver the burden. but themselves are gone into
captivity. They're no gods at all. They're
idols. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and to all the
remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by me from the
belly, which are carried from the womb. Harken unto me that
means listen listen up listen to me. I've carried you You don't
need a God you have to carry And try to make something of
him But I've carried you You were born by me from the belly
and are carried by me from the womb They get weary and get tired
of trying to carry their God. But God said, I've been carrying
you all the while. And it hadn't wearied me the
least bit. Verse four, and even to your
old age, I am he. And even to whore hairs will I carry
you. I have made and I will bear,
even I will carry. and we'll deliver you. I've carried
you all the way and I won't stop now. Now in verse five, the Lord
asked a question. He's talking to, he's talking
to Israel, Judah. To whom will ye liken me? I've told you about these false
gods. I told you who I am. To whom will ye liken me? What do you think of me? And to whom or what do you compare
me that we may be like? Is there any other gods on my
level? And then he said, just look what
these idol worshipers do, what they go through. They lavish
gold out of the bag and weigh silver in the balance. and hire
a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god," with a little g, notice,
he maketh it a god, they fall down, yea, they worship. They worship a god they've hired
somebody to make. How foolish is that? It's at their expense, so they
have to take care of this god. They bear him up on the shoulder.
They carry him. He can't carry them, so they
carry him. And they set him in his place,
and he's standing. From his place shall he not remove. He'll be right there. You go
off, and he won't go with you. When you get back, he'll be right
there where you set him. What a God. Yea, one shall cry unto him,
yet can he not answer nor save him out of his trouble. What
good is he? What good is he? Now in verse
eight, the Lord says, remember, and he says it a lot of times
in this book. When the Lord says remember,
it's time to remember. Remember this, and show yourselves men. What a statement that is. Show
yourselves men. Men don't ride stick horses. As a child, as a boy, I've shot
many an outlaw and a few Indians riding my stick horse. But real men don't ride stick
horses. Real women don't play with dolls. She's heard enough real crying.
and changed enough real diapers and set up with enough real sick
babies so you don't need to play with dolls, and men don't ride
stick horses. Show yourselves men. That's what
he said. There's never been a generation
in history, and I'm telling you, I'm getting up there in years,
I hadn't learned much, but I've seen a lot. There's never been
a generation in history with so few adults as this generation. 50 and 60-year-old boys, 50 and 60-year-old girls that don't
know the meaning of responsibility have children and live like children
themselves. Treat their children like a toy. Toss them over in the corner.
Ignore them like they wasn't even real. God said, show yourselves
men. Bring it again to mind. Think
about it. Oh, you transgressors. What a
fool you've been. How stupid you've been. Now, verse nine. He begins with the same word,
remember. The former things of old look
back as far back as you can look and see who was God. For I am
God. And there is none else. I'm the
only one. I am God and there is none like
me. Now in verse 10, he distinguishes
himself. From all false gods. Here's who I am declaring the
end from the beginning. And from ancient times, The things
that are not yet done. He's the one who declared so
many times in this Bible the things that must come to pass. Not might come to pass. Or could
come to pass. Or he hopes will come to pass.
But our God has declared what things must come to pass. Declaring
the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done. I knew where I was going before
I started. False gods are not going anywhere.
They'll just, they'll just sit where you put them, but I'm going
somewhere. And God says, I knew where I
was going before I started. I thought about this, any artist
or painter that don't know where he's going before he picks up
the brush is not likely to produce a masterpiece. A sculptor that don't know where
he's headed before he ever picks up the hammer and chisel is not
likely to turn out a masterpiece. It might turn out good and it
might not, Kind of plan as you go business. But you see, God's
not making decisions along the way. His purpose is fixed. It's sure. And there's no doubt about his
power to get it done exactly the way he purposed to get it
done. 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. Here's who I am. I have resources you don't know
exist. I can call in forces from a far
country. Look what he says. Calling a
ravenous bird from the East. the man that executed my counsel
from a far country. When I read that calling a ravenous
bird from the east, you ought to go back sometime and read
first Kings 17, where the Lord told his prophet Elijah to go
and hide in a certain place by a brook chair. And the Lord said,
there will I feed thee. Now, if he had went anywhere
other than there, he'd have starved to death. But God said, there
will I feed thee. How did he do it? God called in a raven, ravenous
bird, meat eating bird, selfish bird. And that bird from somewhere
took Elijah meat every morning and every evening. calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will do
it. This is who I am. Now he goes from remember to
listen. He says, hearken. Remember who I am. Now listen
to what I have to say. Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted. Now that's not a very nice thing
to say. Who is he talking to? Hearken
unto me, ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. Who is he talking to? Who is
he not talking to? You stout hearted that are far
from righteousness. Now verse 13 is beautiful. I
bring near my righteousness. So much for yours. All your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. No help for you in your righteousness.
Uh-uh. But, verse 13, I bring near my
righteousness. It shall not be far off. I bring near my righteousness.
How does He do that? By sending His Son into the world. A world of chaos. A world of corruption. A world
cut off. A world condemned by sin. A world
doomed and damned. A world in need of righteousness
but void of righteousness. God said, I will bring near My
righteousness. This great God in mercy says,
since your righteousness is worthless, since your best religious performance
smells like the outhouse, I will bring near my righteousness. I'm telling you this morning,
you'd better not fall out with this God whose sovereign mercy
is the only hope you have. A lot of people do fall out with
him. They run off and say, I don't agree with that preacher. They
worship an imaginary God of their mind who can't do very much without
their signature. But the God of this Bible that
we're reading about here, I'm telling you, was God before we
got here. He was doing everything he wanted
to do before we got here. He'll do everything he wants
to do while we're here. And he'll be doing everything
he wants to do when we're gone. He's God. He's God. Now, if you can listen to this
man-centered heresy, give God a chance. He don't need a chance. You don't need a chance because
you couldn't do anything with a chance if you had it. I worship a God this morning
that can pick you up out of the pit you're in and carry you. That's what he says here he does.
He says, I'll do it. I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. My salvation
shall not tarry. I will place salvation in Zion
for Israel, my glory. Now, literal Old Testament
Zion was Jerusalem. And literal Old Testament Israel
was the nation where God set his glory. That was the type.
But in reality, Zion is the church. all the redeemed of God from
every kindred nation in tongue. He set his glory in true Israel,
his people, whose body consists of every
crippled Jacob. That was Israel's beginning.
It wasn't a nation at first. It was a man at first called
Israel. But before he was called Israel,
his name was Jacob. You remember that story? Genesis
32. And that's who God's Israel is. Every crippled Jacob, every sinner
that he's hemmed up and had an all-night wrestling match with. And he said back there, thy name
shall be no more called Jacob, but Israel. And if God hadn't
hemmed you up and crushed your heart and broken your stubborn
pride, then you don't know anything about God or his people or who
Israel is. You can listen to all this garbage
you want to. God's people are those whom he
conquers. whom he conquers. Spiritual Zion, spiritual Israel
is where he's placed his salvation and his glory. Every sinner that's
conquered by God is no longer called Jacob, a supplanter, a
crook, a deceiver, a conniver, but no, called Israel, a prince
with God. Now back it up in this chapter
to verse 9. and ten. 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. These two verses or our subject
for a few minutes this morning as I talk about the blessings
of a sovereign God. The blessings of a sovereign
God. There is nothing that satisfies
the spiritual appetite of a true child of God like a fresh taste
of our God in his absolute sovereignty. People who are drunk on religion
and know nothing of who God is. I mean, they can stay hyped up
on all sorts of religious junk food. That's what I call it,
religious junk food. We got to get that junk food
out of the house. I'm going to tell you, we've
had candy, fudge, moon pies, all this stuff. I've got to get back on track.
June and I have said every day, this stuff has got to go. Got
to go. But you see, religious people,
drunk on religion, know nothing and care nothing of who our God
is. They can stay hyped up and pumped
up on all sorts of religious junk food. Like a drug addict. Every day,
they just need another shot. Need that needle one more time. Have to have a new trinket, a
new performance, a new program, a new message, some new form
of entertainment. They've never been satisfied
with the old, old story of Jesus and his love, and they never
will be. A mess. A mess. God's child can live and breathe
and feast on nothing less than how great God is. Nothing else
will do. A.W. Pink wrote this. Let me read you this. The sovereignty
of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When
we say that God is sovereign, we affirm his right to govern
the universe, which he has made for his own glory, just as he
pleases. We affirm that his right is the
right of the potter over the clay. that he may mold that clay
into whatsoever form he chooses, fastening out of the same lump
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. We affirm that
he is under no rule or law outside of his own will and nature, that
God is a law unto himself, and he is under no obligation to
give an account of his matters to any. Sovereignty characterizes
the whole being of God. He is sovereign in all His attributes.
He is sovereign in the exercise of His power. His power is exercised
as He wills, when He wills, where He wills. This fact is evidenced
on every page of Scripture. I say amen to every word of that.
R.C. Sproul, one of the great theologians
of our time, he said this, if there was even one maverick molecule,
I like that term, if there was even one maverick molecule in
all the universe, not under God's control, we'd have no reason really to
believe that anything was under God's control. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
after God got his attention, he said it right. God doeth according
to his will. This is Daniel 4, 34. God doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? The old prophet Nahum had it
right. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. God's on top of it all the time,
whatever happens or don't happen. All right, four things quickly,
and we'll move along, I hope. Number one, blessings of God. to embrace the absolute sovereignty
of God gives the believer an entire different concept of God
and His glory than that held by the religious world today.
You'd agree with that, wouldn't you? I know lots of people, very
sincere in their religion, that don't have a clue that God is not struggling to
survive. He's just about out of it. that he wishes a lot of things
were different. But he's the only one who can
make things different. And he's tried just about everything and
nothing's working. No, no, no. Here's who he is. First Chronicles 29, 11. Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the
victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven
and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor
come of thee, and thou reignest over all. And in thine hand it
is to make great and to give strength to all. Aren't you glad he's bigger than
anything or anybody? You don't have to talk to folks
but just a minute to learn how big they think God is. He's big. He's big. What kind of God is it whose
power is constantly being thwarted by the designs of people? and of Satan. What kind of God
is it who is restricted by our so-called free will? One writer wrote, who can worship
such a pitiful deity? A God whose will is resisted,
whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated,
possesses no title to deity. and so far from being a fit object
of worship merits naught but contempt. On the other hand, a God who
truly rules his universe is a God to be joyfully sought after,
worshipped, and obeyed. How true. The matter of his lordship. is
greatly rebelled about or rebelled against in our generation. Rebelled
against, but it cannot be denied. In the secular world, in our
country, I thought about this reading this week, our so-called
democratic form of government. We reject the idea of a monarch
or we're supposed to. in the American War of Independence
in the 1700s, the slogan was, for this new country, the slogan
was, we serve no sovereign here. And what that was, it was rejecting
the old country form of government. Kings and queens, we serve no
sovereign here. And we adopted this statement.
A government of the people, by the people, and for the people. But you know what? It has surfaced
long, long, long ago that this attitude is not just toward other
nations, but it's toward God himself. We serve no sovereign
year. That's the secular world. We'll
not have God tell us what to do. And when I understood you
telling us who God is or anything about it, but you see the church
world is not much better. If any coming to Christ is commonly
called an invitation. He's not in charge. You are.
Won't you please come to Christ? An invitation you can obviously
accept or reject. It's offered very politely with
soft music at the end of the service. Won't you accept Christ?
But listen carefully to me. It's not an invitation. Our God
commands repent or perish. Repent and believe on Christ
or perish. This Bible never says, would
you come to Christ? Would you consider it? Why don't
you try Jesus? Oh, no. Our God gives a sovereign
command to repent of your wickedness and your wretchedness and filthiness
of your own soul. Repent and submit totally to
the authority of his son, Jesus Christ. Acts 1730, God now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. It's not an invitation. It's
repent. And we don't, when you don't
bow to the authority of Jesus Christ and his commands, you're
shaking your fist in God's face. It's not rejecting an invitation.
It's not saying no, thank you. It's disobeying a command and
damning your own soul. It's what it is. You don't find anything in this
Bible about your religion being just a tiny portion of your life,
taking precedence over hardly anything else. Oh no, oh no. You either repent, you're either
brought to the end of yourself and give yourself to God or you
don't. I like what one man said. He
said, I'm a full-time Christian, but I have to work 40 hours to
pay the bills. I'm a full-time Christian, but
I just work 40 hours to pay my bills. He had it right. He had
it right. Most people I know who profess
to be God's children give no evidence whatsoever that God
has ever conquered this rebellious heart. You see, this business is not
about us deciding how much of a God we'll allow God to be. This book tells us He is God. Where you're at in life, What
your attitude is, is the result of what God has or has not done
for you. This is about finding out where
you're at. If everybody in the family has
presence under the tree, but you, wouldn't that get your attention? Does nobody care about me? Well,
this morning, if your heart is cold and hard, And you are living
rebellious in your heart against God. Has it occurred to you that
he might pass you by? He don't have to have anything
to do with such as you. The dear sister songwriter Fanny
Crosby wrote, Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
while on others thou art calling. Do not pass. me by eye. Oh, with a grasp of God's sovereignty,
you'll understand that the ball is not in your court and never
has been. You're at His mercy. So that's
the first thing. What a blessing to bow to Him
who is absolutely sovereign. What a blessing to have had our
hearts crushed many times and to have our world falling apart
many times just for God to get our attention. What a blessing
in the spirit of submission to be able to say with the Lord
Jesus, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. I got three more things. I don't
think we're going to get there. God in his sovereignty is a comfort
in trial, tribulations, suffering, and sorrow. I suppose I really would lose
my mind if I didn't know God has control
of, his hand in, and a definite purpose for every difficulty
and every problem. I ever face. The Apostle Paul, excuse me,
Peter wrote, 1 Peter 1, 6 and 7, wherein, that is in this salvation,
you greatly rejoice. Though now for a season, if need
be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations. Now, I don't know what the health
and wealth outfit does with this. I just don't. You're in heaviness
through manifold temptation, that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than a gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, God's putting you through all this,
and yet he's doing it for a purpose that you might be found unto
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Why has your life not been all
roses and cotton candy? God's in the picture. God's in
the picture. It wasn't luck. You never had any good luck.
You never had any bad luck. Don't believe in luck. I believe
in God who controls everything. And in his wisdom, some things
go smoothly and some things don't. But I wouldn't want to live another
minute if I didn't have the comfort of knowing in my heart that he's
got everything well under control. I don't have much under control.
Really nothing, really. You don't either. But he has
everything under control. What a blessing that is. Third
thing, how blessed is God in his sovereignty to my heart in
the matter of serving him. He's helping me with this, and
I've needed help with this for a long time. This little assembly
this morning, oh, how I thank God for you who come. And this
little crowd, it don't look much in the eyes of the world. It
don't look like much in the eyes of the religious world. But if I couldn't look up to
Him who rules over all, if all I could do was look around, I'd have been finished a long
time ago. But my heart is encouraged this
morning, knowing that we know the truth. and that we're worshiping
the true God and believe in his word. Hoping in this mighty God I'm
talking about who can do anything he pleases. I've been talking
to him about you folks. I've been talking to him seriously
about some of you. I've been talking to him about
this community and about families and about children, I don't care
how well-dressed they are or where they come from, if God
is pleased to let us be a friend and pleased to let us give them
the gospel and tell them that Christ died for sinners. Whether anybody ever believes
it or not, whether the Lord fills these empty pews or not, How thrilled I'll be, how blessed
we'd be just to be able to share how wonderful our God is. And I'm excited about the prospect
of what great things God will do this year. Number four, I
got to hurry. What a blessing it is. to our security and future hope,
knowing that God is absolutely sovereign. If I could see no
more than what these physical eyes see, how hopeless I would
be, because it don't look good in this world. Many of us here this morning
are getting pretty close to not being able to go physically. But I'm glad what we're able
to do or not do does not affect our hope. In Romans 8.28 Paul said, turn
there with me and we'll conclude with this scripture. Romans 8.28
Paul said, and we know he's talking to the believers at Rome And
he's not talking about something that's a maybe, might be, could
be, maybe so, we hope so. He says, and we know, I know,
and you know, we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God. And who are they? Them who are
the call according to his purpose. Now I want you to listen in the
next verses. for the little personal pronoun he. Nine times. This is not about
you and me. This is about he. Paul says, here it is. For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. You either believe that or you
don't. I know a lot of religious people that don't. It's already done in the mind
and purpose of God. Verse 31, what shall we then
say to these things? What do you think about? What
are you going to say about what God just said? What shall we
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? What does it matter? What anybody
says or what the world, the devil can be. If God be for us and
he is. Verse 33, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It won't do him any good. We're
already justified before God. Verse 34, who is he that condemneth? He won't get the first base.
We're already justified. God, who rules over all, has
already had the last word. Verse 35. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Is there anything or anyone anywhere
and anyhow at any time that can ever cancel out or render null
and void Christ's love for his people. Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? Verse 37, nay, in all those things,
these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us. And verse 38, Paul says, for I am persuaded. Are you persuaded
this morning? A lot of people are persuaded
to the wrong thing. A rebellious heart is persuaded,
but deceitfully persuaded. Persuaded that he or she can
ignore God and get by and live in rebellion against Him and
go against what they know in the heart is right and get by. That's not being persuaded. That's
being deceived. But Paul is persuaded of the
truth. Are you persuaded of the truth?
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Actually, he's talking about
everything you could possibly think of here. Nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature. shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So these four things, great blessings
to God's people. One, that he really is God over
all and in all. People can play religion and
how their little God who is powerless without them, our God is everything
with or without us. What a comfort in sorrow is our
sovereign God through trials and tribulations that He's on
top of it. Nobody can do anything. Nobody
can lift a finger against us without Him permitting it. And
number three, what an encouragement that God blesses His work His
way. Whether there's a packed house
or whether there's just one on each pew, That's his business.
It's not my business to bring in a circus and entertain rebels. Oh no, it's our business to preach
God's word, to preach the gospel that Christ died for sinners,
that he's your only hope and my only hope. And then the fourth
thing, what security in a sovereign God concerning our future hope. What a blessing that is. What
if President Trump plays the fool. What if? Would it be any different from
all the rest of them? What if Social Security fails? You think God would send us a
copy of his own obituary if that happened? No. So I don't know what on earth
I'd do. No. You don't know much about nothing,
really, do you? What if gas goes to $9 a gallon? Might have to stay home occasionally,
be the only thing. What if the doctor says it's
just a matter of time? All God's child has to do is
be still, Listen real carefully and you'll
hear Him whisper, I've got this. The sovereign of this universe,
our great Savior, He'll never leave us, never forsake us. Talk to Him about your trouble.
Pour your heart out to Him. Tell Him what a wretch you are.
and then be real still and real quiet. And listen for Him to
whisper to your heart, I've got this. That's what I live for. Amen, let's stand together.