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Clay Curtis

God of Absolute Predestination

Isaiah 46:9-11
Clay Curtis • April, 22 2012 • Audio
3 Articles 2,481 Sermons
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Clay Curtis
Clay Curtis • April, 22 2012
3 articles 2,481 sermons
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What does the Bible say about God's absolute predestination?

The Bible reveals that God's absolute predestination declares that He has unchangeably resolved to bring about His purposes for the glory of His name and the good of His people.

Scripture, particularly Isaiah 46:9-11, teaches that God declares the end from the beginning and nothing can thwart His counsel. God's absolute predestination ensures that all events unfold according to His sovereign will and for the ultimate purpose of glorifying Himself through His Son, Christ. Romans 8:29 highlights that those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, emphasizing that predestination is central to God's plan and grace in salvation.

Isaiah 46:9-11, Romans 8:29

How do we know predestination is true?

Predestination is affirmed throughout Scripture, emphasizing God’s sovereignty and the purpose of salvation for His chosen people.

The doctrine of predestination is richly woven throughout the Bible. For example, Ephesians 1:4-5 states that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, indicating His eternal plan for salvation. This is not an arbitrary choice but is based on God's own will and pleasure. Acts 2:23 and Acts 4:28 reveal that Christ's crucifixion was part of God's predestined plan, showcasing that even the most troubling events serve His glory. Thus, the truth of predestination is firmly rooted in God's unchangeable nature and purpose as shown in the Scriptures.

Ephesians 1:4-5, Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28

Why is God's predestination important for Christians?

God's predestination is crucial because it assures believers of their salvation and the ultimate purpose of their lives in glorifying Him.

The importance of God's predestination for Christians lies in its assurance and comfort. Romans 8:28 reminds us that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. This declaration underlines that our salvation is not based on our efforts but grounded in God's eternal counsel. Furthermore, understanding predestination allows believers to find peace in God's sovereignty throughout trials, knowing that He orchestrates all events for our ultimate good and His glorious purpose. Trusting in this truth leads to deeper worship and reliance on God's grace.

Romans 8:28, Ephesians 1:11

What does predestination teach us about God?

Predestination highlights God's sovereignty, authority, and the ultimate purpose of glorifying Himself through His creation.

Predestination teaches us that God is sovereign over all aspects of salvation and creation. Isaiah 46:10 emphasizes that God declares the end from the beginning and will accomplish all His pleasure. This demonstrates God's authority and control over all events in history. Predestination reveals the depth of His grace, as He chooses to save a multitude of sinners not based on their merit but according to His will. Therefore, it leads us to worship God for His infinite wisdom and purpose in all things, recognizing that He alone is worthy of glory.

Isaiah 46:10, Romans 9:16

How does predestination relate to salvation?

Predestination dictates that salvation is a divine work initiated by God, ensuring that His chosen people will come to faith and receive grace.

Predestination is intrinsically linked to salvation as it underscores God's initiative in the process. According to Ephesians 1:5, He predestinated us for adoption as His children, highlighting that our inclusion in salvation is according to His benevolent choice, not our actions. Romans 8:30 reinforces this by stating that those whom He predestined, He also called, justified, and glorified, illustrating a complete and secure path from God's decision to the fulfillment of His promises. Thus, understanding predestination allows believers to appreciate the grace that undergirds their faith and the assurance that comes with being chosen by God.

Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:30

Sermon Transcript

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Alright, let's turn back now
to Isaiah chapter 46. Actually, turn to Isaiah 45.
When I preach, my goal is to show you the God who is righteous. And to show you His righteousness.
Everything our God does is right. This is what he said in Isaiah
45, 9. He said, I've not spoken in secret. We don't have any secret doctrines. Isaiah 45, 19. I've not spoken
in secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the
seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. God commands one of his
own to seek him. He does it. Effectually, we'll
seek Him. And if you seek Him, you'll be
saved. Why? He said, I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. He's saying this through Isaiah.
If you were there, all you'd have heard was a man say that.
Where'd that man get that? The Lord that speaks righteousness.
The Lord that speaks things that are right. Well, turn over to
our text now. Isaiah 46 verse 9. I was struck by that text that
Brother Jaime read there in that verse where he said, avoid foolish
questions. When righteousness walked this
earth, men kept coming up to Him and saying, but now... and
they'd ask some foolish question. Or they'd come up to him, he
said, avoid genealogies. Or they'd come up and say, we
be the children of Abraham. You see, we were baptized and
sprinkled into a covenant. We've got to be saved. Avoid
that. Or they'd come up to him and
said, well Moses in the law said. He said, avoid it. Avoid that. This is God that speaks righteousness.
This is how God saves. 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. My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. He called Cyrus from the east,
and he executed his counsel from a far country. This was being
said two, three hundred years before that ever happened. Maybe
less, maybe longer, I can't remember, but picture Christ And he says,
yeah, I've spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I've purposed it. I will also do it. I want to
speak this morning on the rejoicing in the God of absolute predestination. To just know the doctrine of
absolute predestination won't help you. But we rejoice in the
God of absolute predestination. The triune God of glory whom
we worship is the God of absolute predestination. He says, I'm
God and there is none else. He said, I'm God and there is
none like me. One of the perfections that separates
God from all man-made gods is that our great God sovereignly
directs all the events of time according to the purpose that
he purposed from the beginning. None of man's imaginary gods,
none, none, not any god that man has come up with and preached
and promoted in this world ever. Only the true and living God
declares the end from the beginning and then brings it to pass. This
is who our God is. My counsel shall stand, he said,
and I will do all my pleasure. I've spoken it, I will also bring
it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. There are five reasons I want
to show you that we rejoice in the God of absolute predestination. All right, here's the first thing.
The first reason we rejoice is because the end purpose of God's
absolute predestination is the glory of the Triune God Himself. He does everything He does to
glorify His holy name. That's what he says here to her.
I'm God and there is none else. There's none like me. That's
what he's telling us. He does what he does in predestination
to bring glory to his name. And note the words there, my
counsel and my pleasure. His counsel from before the world
was made was to glorify the name of the triune God in Christ Jesus. His counsel was to exalt and
glorify His dear Son. That was His counsel from the
beginning. Look at Colossians 1. Colossians 1 18. He said, I will do all my pleasure. That's what His counsel was,
to do all His pleasure. And this is what His pleasure
is. Verse 15 tells us, Colossians 1.15, that Christ is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Look, for
by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.
We're talking about the Lord Jesus. That's this purpose of
his predestination, was that his counsel would stand and he
would do his pleasure. And this was his counsel, this
was his pleasure. Look, that in all things he might have the
preeminence, for it pleased. That's the pleasure of the Lord.
That's His countenance. It pleased the Father that in Him should
all fullness dwell. All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. All fullness dwells in Christ
Jesus. This was the purpose of God in
predestination. For of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. From the beginning,
God declared this. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. And from the beginning, as far
as we know the beginning, from the beginning of the creation
of this world, God declared it right then. He was showing us
then when he created the first man, Adam. He showed us right
there in the pattern of that first man, Adam, that his purpose
was to exalt his son. He showed us in that. You know
how we know that? This is what the scripture says
in Genesis 1.26. God said, let us make man in our image and
after our likeness. You know what scripture says
of God's own son, Christ Jesus, when he came? Look at Hebrews
1. I'm going to show you something
else here in Hebrews. So just go to Hebrews and hold
your place there. This is what it says of Christ. He was in Adam's creation. God
was foreshadowing the incarnation of his own son. He says here,
He says here, he said of Adam, let's make him in our image and
our likeness. Look at what it says here, God
came, his son has come now. And look at verse 3, who being
the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. That's what we just read in Colossians
1. He is the image of the invisible God. God was saying that when
he said, let us make man in our image. He was showing us this
is my counsel. I'm going to bring forth my son
and he's going to be my express image. The scriptures tells us
that the first man Adam was made a living soul, and the last Adam
was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. You see, there's
the first Adam and the last Adam. As is the earthy, such are they
that are earthy. As is the heavenly, such are
they that are heavenly. There are those that have been
born of the earthy, they're just earthy. There's those that's
been born of the last Adam, and they're heavenly. And as we've
born the image of the earthy, We came forth in the image of
Adam. After Adam fell, and he gave
birth to Seth, the scripture says, he bore him after his image. An old, despicable, black-hearted,
dead sinner, is what he was. But we're born of God, and he
says, as we're born in the image of the earthy, we shall also
bear the image of the heavenly. God was showing us from the beginning.
That's his purpose and predestination, to glorify his son. He said,
Romans 8.29 says, Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Why? Why? That His Son might be the firstborn
among many brethren. That His Son might be the firstborn.
Again, back in Genesis, when He made everything, He said,
I declare the end from the beginning. My counsel shall stand. I will
do all my pleasure. What was God's counsel? What
was His pleasure? It was that His all dominion
in heaven and earth be given to His Son. And when he made
Adam, after his image, he said, let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over the earth, and over every creeping thing. And of
Christ we read there in Hebrews, Hebrews 1, it says upholding,
verse 3, it says upholding all things by the word of his power. Look over at Hebrews 2. Look
at Hebrews 2 there. This is an interpretation, a
divinely inspired interpretation of Psalm 8. And Psalm 8 speaks
of the first Adam. He was given that power and dominion,
but it speaks of Christ. That was what God was foreshadowing,
that his purpose in predestination was that he was showing that
his son's gonna have all preeminence. His name's gonna be manifest
in this one who has all power in heaven and earth. Verse 7.
Hebrews 2.7, Thou madest him a little lower than the angels,
Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him
over the works of Thy hands. This is all from Psalm 8, but
this is the apostle telling us here's what this means. Thou
hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he
put it all in subjection under him, he left nothing that's not
put under him. We don't see all things yet put under him, but
we see Jesus. who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, we see him where? Crowned
with glory and honor. You see, God was showing this
from the very beginning. So the first reason that the
believer rejoices in predestination, the God of predestination, is
because everything God's done in his determinate counsel, in
his foreknowledge, in bringing all things to pass as he purposed
from the beginning, is that he would glorify his holy name in
the exultation of his own son. That's what believers want. That's
what believers want. Believers, this is one of the
things God does when he gives you a new heart. He makes you
no longer to want the glory. He makes you want Christ to have
the glory. He makes you so that you no more
want to boast in what you've done and what you've accomplished
and how you think you ought to be accepted. And he makes us
rejoice in what God has done. And that's what we want. We want
Christ to have the preeminence. Great joy comes when we're pleased
with what pleases God. That's when we have real peace.
And this is what pleased God. Here's the second reason that
we rejoice in the God of predestination. Look at Romans 8. Romans 8, because
God's purpose and predestination is to save a multitude of chosen
sinners by His grace. You see, we rejoice in our God and we
rejoice in the fact that salvation is of the Lord. This is how we're
saved. If He didn't do this, nobody
would be saved. We're thankful, very thankful
for this. Look at Romans 8, verse 29. and hold your place in Romans
8. We'll come back here probably
a little later, but he says whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate. You mean when God foreknew. His children, when He foreknew
those that He chose before the world began. You mean He predestinated
them? He predestinated them. He determined their destiny beforehand. Yes, He did. He predestinated
them. To do what? He predestinated
them to be conformed to the image of His Son. There again, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren, that his son might
get all the glory. And 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. Even from the beginning God declared
this, When He made that first man Adam, He declared, He was
showing us His counsel and His pleasure then in that He was
going to create a people, a bride from Christ Jesus the Lord who
would be washed and made perfect and be a spotless virgin, His
bride. And He would be joined and they
too would be one flesh inseparably, never to be separated ever again.
He showed that in the garden. He created Adam and He put Adam
into a deep sleep. Christ went to the cross and
laid down His life. He went to the cross and He died. He gave up the Holy Spirit. He gave up the ghost and He died.
And from Adam's side, God took a rib and He created Eve. and made Adam's bride through
Adam, through that sleep he put Adam into. And he was declaring
right then and there, brethren, that Christ, this was his counsel
and his good pleasure, that his son was going to have a bride,
his elect children whom he foreknew, whom he predestinated to be conformed
to his image, those that he put in Christ. and called and justified
and glorified. He determined beforehand that
those children would be born of this righteous one, Christ
Jesus the Lord. Look at Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1. You see, we rejoice in the God
of predestination because without the God of predestination, We
got no salvation. You and I have, we don't have,
we don't have any hope of being saved if God didn't choose us
and predestinate us to be conformed to his image. A man that wants
to fight against predestination is fighting against his own mercy.
You know that? Look at Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can you say
that? Can you say, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? We don't curse Him for
this. We don't get angry at Him for
this. We say, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because He's blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, before He made anything.
He chose us in Christ. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. I don't even know what all spiritual
blessings are. I can't even comprehend it, but He blessed us with all
of them. We got them all. All of them. And look, that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love. We're going
to fall. He knew that. That didn't surprise God. It
was part of His predestinating counsel and good pleasure. It
didn't surprise Him. So then we're going to have to
be made holy and without blame before Him even after we've fallen
or God will destroy the whole world in justice right then and
there. How's that going to be? Because He put us in Christ.
He put us in Him before the world began. And look what He did in
verse 5, having predestinated us. You see, because He predestinated
us, He's going to make sure that what He predestinated comes to
pass. He predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ Himself. How did He do that? What made
Him do that? Something in us that made him
do that did he look down through time and say well now that one's
gonna believe on me So I'll choose that one. No, he did it according
to the good pleasure of his will He did it for this reason to
the praise of the glory of his grace If he'd based his choice
upon something in us it would have been to the praise of the
glory of us of our work allowing Him to do something and making
it possible for Him to do something. But that's not why He did it.
He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace. That was
our first point. He did all this to the praise
of the glory of His grace. Wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. He made us accepted in Christ.
That's the great thing, brethren. Your accepting God is not the
thing. That's not what I preached to
you. Won't you accept God? The thing is, God's got to accept
you. He's got to accept me. He's got
to accept us. And He's the one that works everything
to make it so He can accept us in holy and just fashion. So
we rejoice in this thing of God's counseling, His doing all His
good pleasure, His absolute predestination. Because first of all, by it,
He glorifies His name in the exaltation of His Son. And we
want Him to have all the glory. And secondly, it's by His eternal
counsel and His purpose of grace that we are chosen and blessed
with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Here's the third thing. We rejoice in the God of predestination
because in predestination He provided Christ as the sinner's
substitute and delivered Him up to the cursed tree to die
in the place of His elect. You know that the predestination
of God did that? That's what did that. Look at
Acts 2 and verse 23. You might say, Clay, you're not
telling us anything new. Thank you. Thank you for that
compliment. Thank you for that compliment.
Acts 2, 23. Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and for knowledge of God. Do you see that? Christ
Jesus was delivered by the determinant counsel, what God determined
in his everlasting counsel. And according in his foreknowledge,
he said, you've taken and by wicked hands, you've crucified
and you've slain him. But look over at Acts 4.28, Acts
4.28. You did that with wicked hands.
You did exactly what you were willing to do. You did exactly
what you wanted to do. You had your will and your way
to do exactly what you wanted to do. How come? How come? How come man had his
will to do exactly what he wanted to do with his wicked hands to
Christ Jesus the Lord? How come? Verse 28, Because God
delivered him into the hands of men to do whatsoever thy hand,
God's hand, and thy counsel determined before to be done. Now that's
an amazing God right there. There's none like Him. There
is no other God that could do that, that could take somebody
who hated Him with utter hatred, who was with both hands as hard
and fast as they could with our Savior. When they were nailing
those nails in His hands and nailing Him to that cross, it
was just like digging a ditch. They were just digging a pit,
digging a grave, digging a grave to throw Him in and get Him out
of their midst. When they took him and they beat
him and they whipped him and they mocked him, they were taking
a big net. They were spreading that net
out like that over him to capture him and bind him and entrap him
and get him out of their presence and out of their sight because
they hated him and they would not have this man rule over them. They would not have this man
rule over him. And in everything they were doing,
It was exactly what God determined beforehand for them to do. And
that very pit they were digging, they were digging it for themselves. And that very net they were throwing,
God was entangling them, catching them in the very net they were
throwing. You see, the wrath of man will
praise God. If it comes to pass, and it's
hatred, and it's evil, and it's wicked, and it's vile, the most
wicked, vile, wretched thing ever done in the world, right
here, crucifying the Lord of Glory, the Prince of Life. If
the wrath comes to pass, you can bank on this and you can
rest right here. It is because it glorifies God
Almighty and the exaltation of His Son and the salvation of
His people. You can rest there. And the remainder,
He stops it and restrains it and don't allow it because it's
not according to His counsel and His good pleasure and He
forbids it. He just forbids it. I can lay down and rest right
there. I mean, that's a good, cool air conditioner on a hot
summer day. I'm telling you, that's a warm
fire on a cold, dreary night, isn't it? You can just rest right
there. You can just, whew, man, that's
comfort. That's comfort. He declared it
from the beginning. He declared this. He said, I'll
put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her
seed. It'll bruise thy head and you'll
bruise his heel. He said that in the garden, the
first message. And then he made those coats of skins from a slain
animal and covered Adam and Eve. And he said, he declared from
the beginning, my counsel shall stand. I'm going to do all my
pleasure. This is my counsel. This is my pleasure. What does
Isaiah 53 10 says? It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It satisfied his divine justice. It put an end to sin for his
people. It made them completely thoroughly
without sin. It totally destroyed in death
their whole body of sin. It totally made them to have
reached their end for which the justice demanded that they would
go into a grave and die and that man won't ever be brought up
again. I've said this to you, when you see Christ go into that
tomb, see all that body of sin that you hate and loathe that
plagues you and causes you discomfort and makes you to think that,
oh, how can I be a child of God? Reckon yourself to be dead indeed. Account it that when Christ went
into that grave, that was you dying. That was you going into
the grave. You're dead. You died 2,000 years
ago. And it's done. This is what every elect child
of God has been called by His grace can rejoice in. I died.
I was crucified with Christ. When He died, I died. And likewise,
when He came out of the grave, I came out of the grave. I've
seated with God at His own right hand. I'm there with Him, complete
and perfect and holy and accepted and beloved of God, never again
to be forsaken, never again to have sin laid to my charge, never
again to be cast out of His presence. That's done. It's done. That's
the hard work. It's done. And that was done
through his death. He said it pleased the Lord to
bruise him. He put him to grief. When thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. When was that God's pleasure? He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. from ancient times to things that are not yet done,
saying, my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. This
was his counsel. This was his pleasure before
the world ever began. This was what he made this world
to teach us, his children. So that's why we rejoice in it.
We rejoice in the God of absolute predestination because He gets
all the glory, because it's how He chose us and blessed us with
all spiritual blessings, because it's how our Savior went to the
cross and laid down His life and how our salvation was accomplished,
because it was all according to His determinate counsel and
foreknowledge. And here's the fourth thing. We rejoice in the
God of absolute predestination because it's absolute. It's absolute. That means it includes all things.
Everything. What He counseled to do, God
will do. For He has the power to work
all things to accomplish it. His predestination includes all
things. Go back there with me to Ephesians
1 in verse 11. You know when Paul said there
in Titus, when he said, don't speak evil of magistrates, this is the magistrate we're
talking about. God says when we reject the powers
he's put in place, we're really rejecting him. It's just evidence
of a heart that says, I will not have God be my ruler. I will not have God be my sovereign,
all predestinating king. That's what men are saying. Don't
speak evil of dignities. This is the dignity right here.
It's Christ our God. It's Him. Ephesians 1.11. It
includes all things. Look. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. You see, he didn't just send
forth this son to do all this, to glorify his holy name. He
sent forth him to reveal this in some children. And this God
who works all things together is the God who calls his children
and gives them this good news and makes them new, and he sends
them forth in the gospel, through the gospel. Can God do it without
using a man? Sure He can. He had to start
that way because there was no man. He gets all the glory forth
sending forth the gospel. He began it. And then through
His messengers, He's spoken it through all of His prophets.
He said, I have declared it. I have declared it. I have declared
it. He declared it through Adam.
He told his sons. He declared it through Noah, he declared it through
Abraham, he declared it through Jacob, and Isaac, and Jacob,
and he declared it through all of his prophets throughout the
ages. Isaiah sat here in the midst of a bunch of people who
hated this message, who hated the God of predestination, and
he's saying, It don't matter if you like it or not. I wasn't
sitting here to please you, I was sitting here to tell you this
is how God saves his people. And because he would have a people
to know it, he would have a people to hear it, and he would work
everything to have that message declared and then brought to
a knowledge of the truth. There's no regeneration without
the truth. Look it up. None. There's no faith without
the truth. None. There's no preservation
of grace without the truth. None. There's no growth in grace
without the truth. None. None. The truth. And for this reason, he sends
forth the strong delusion of them who wouldn't believe the
truth, but rejoiced in a lie. Because the truth is how God
saves. And He's able because we've obtained
an inheritance. We've had this work of grace
wrought in our heart. We who believe Him and know Him.
Because He predestinated us. according to the purpose by which
he works all things after the counsel of his own will. He wouldn't
dare let one that he purposed to come into this good news go
without having it brought to them. And he brings it to each
one. There's never been a man in the
history of the world, never been one sinner that God determined
to save in this book that God did not come to them with the
truth and call them because he predestinated them. And he works
all things after the counsel of his own will to be able to
do it. You see who this guy, he said, I speak that which is
right. That's what he said. Every power
of hell, every power in earth, it can't alter his purpose. It
can't alter his counsel. It can't hinder him or disallow
him. He said there in Colossians, all the powers that be, all the
dominions that be, he said, I made them. I made them to bring about
my purpose. He's controlling the ones that
are good, the ones that are evil. They can't do anything without
Him allowing them, giving them permission to do it, or putting
it in their heart to do it. Can't do it. The counsel of the
Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.
As long as there is a generation in this earth, God has a people
in this earth, and his counsel's gonna stand till that last one's
called out, out of that last generation. That's gonna happen,
because his counsel's standing. I've spoken it, he said, I will
also bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will also do it. You see,
the problem that the carnal heart has with this God of absolute
predestination is, is it makes God so that God says, this is
how I do it. Now you can either submit and
bow and say, Amen, that's how God saved. Or you can fight against
him. But it's in the end, you're going to be brought to bow. We're
going to be brought to bow and say, he was right. This is how
he does it. This is how he does it. There
are many devices in a man's heart. The heart's deceptive. It's deceitful
above all things. It's desperate to hold on to
the glory that belongs to God. Desperate to. It'll fight like
a drowning man and kill and thrash and do everything it can to everybody
in its way to hold on to something to glory in before God. There
are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the
Lord that shall stand. It'll stand. And if it be of
God, you cannot overthrow it, lest happily you be found even
to fight against God. Let me show you here verse, back
in our text, Isaiah 46. Now God says here in verse five,
to whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me
that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag,
weigh silver in the balance. Hire a goldsmith. He maketh it
a god. They fall down. They worship.
They bear him upon the shoulder. They carry him, set him in his
place. He standeth. From his place shall he not remove.
One shall cry unto him, yet he can't answer, nor save him out
of his trouble. Remember this, and show yourselves
men. Quit you like men, Paul said. Stand up and own that this
is the mind of a transgressor. This is the mind of somebody
that is transgressing against a God who's able to save. Can you imagine somebody, you're
in a dire situation. You're dead. You're drowning. I read this story of these two
men that were fishing off the coast of New Orleans and their
boat sank. They floated for, I think, a day or so in the water
and tried to hold on to one another. One of them ended up swimming
to an oil rig and the other fella drowned. Can you imagine being
in a shape like that, in a condition like that? And here comes the
rescue team to get you. And they're coming to get you
and you say, You know, here they are. They know exactly how to
save you. They know everything that needs
to be done to save you and get you to safety. And yet you say,
no, I don't want you saving me that way. Let me have some part
of this. Let me be able to say when I
get back to land that I had some part in it. I did something.
No, you can't save me that way. And they just say, OK, then.
And drive off. Who got hurt in that? Who's the
one that ended up unprofitable in that deal? The one that needed
saving. Well, God says, listen to me. He said, remember this. Show
yourselves to me and bring it again to mind. He said, think
of all the things I've done. Every God that men are carrying
around and that's what, all of this came out of a man's heart.
All these idols came out of a man's heart. That's what's the problem. That's where the idol is. It's
the man's desire to say, I saved myself. It's man's desire to
say, I did, I did. You can fill in the blank, whatever
it is. I did that, I did that, whatever it is. Just some desire
to say that. I did, well at least I did so
and so. That's the idolatry of a man's heart. And He'll create
a God in his imagination. God said they've created these
gods in their imagination. That's what He said through Jeremiah. But He's God. He does everything. Nobody carries Him. He carries
His people. And you see how gracious God
is. Here He is saying this, sent Isaiah to say this to folks He
was bringing out of Babylonian captivity. who at the time that
he's saying this, they're in this same kind of idolatry themselves. And yet, they're the people that
God said, I made you, I born you, I'm carrying you, and I'm
carrying you to your old age. And while they're carrying their
idol gods and trying to make their boast, God's carrying them.
and saying to them, would you come to your senses? Would you
come to your right mind? Oh, you little man, would you
listen? Do I have to thump you on the head? Listen to what I'm
saying to you, little man. We're like that little fellow
on the night in the museum. I don't like to be manhandled.
But we're going to be manhandled by God. He's going to turn the
heart where there's whoever he will and say, listen to me. I'm
carrying you. You're not carrying me. You understand
that? That's grace for God to do that
to sinners that really deserve for Him to just turn His hand
upside down and drop us in hell forever. Here's why we joy. This is the
last thing. We join the God of predestination because God's
predestination assures us of God's goodness and His providence
to us. Back there in Romans 8, 28. It's
a familiar passage. I'll just read it to you. He
says, we know. I'll tell you where you'd be
turned. Turn to Matthew 10. You'd be turned to Matthew 10. He says,
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. God said, my counsel shall stand.
I will do all my pleasure. His pleasure is to bring every
last sinner He chose home to glory with Him because that's
how His Son is going to be glorified. That's how His name is going
to be glorified. That's what he purposed to do. That's why
his son died. That's why he predestinated this
thing from the beginning like this. So he works all things
together for that purpose to bring them to where they are.
I know that they're probably tired of hearing folks say this
to them, but I couldn't help but think about John and Carly.
And I couldn't help but think about Robert talking about those
hairs that they found in that seat after that wreck. And this
is what the Lord said in Matthew 10, 29. And yet, read the context
of this sometimes. He's telling us here to confess
Him and to serve Him. And don't be worried about men
that are ready to kill you and destroy you because of this Gospel.
This is what He says to it. Verse 29, "...are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing." They're not worth anything. A penny,
it ain't worth anything. "...And one of them shall not
fall on the ground without your Father." Not even a sparrow? You mean God takes care of sparrows? The very, look at the next verse,
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore,
you're of more value than many sparrows. Don't fear man who
can kill your body, that's all he can do. That's all he can
do. Man, when he gets up the worst he can do and he's done
everything he can do, all he can do is kill the body. And
then you know what the little spineless elk can't do? He can't
own up to it. When the cops come, he'll say,
oh, I didn't do it. Like God when he came to Cain. Yeah, I
didn't do it. Because he's not strong enough to do anything.
He didn't do anything when he killed you. He can't do it. And
he can't even have the backbone to stand up and say, yeah, I
did it. He said, but fear him that has
the power to kill both body and soul. And hell, God Almighty
is the one to fear, not man. And he said to the very heresy,
you had a number. He's working all things together for the good
of those that love God, to those he's called according to his
purpose. That's why not one of his children will be lost. He
said, remember the former things of old. I get a kick out of looking
at this. You know, he purposed to create
a people in Isaac. He told Abraham, create a people
in your son Isaac. when as yet they didn't even
exist. And he did that. He brought them to pass, he brought
it to pass, just like God chose a people in Christ and in time,
each one of them were born in this world. God called and he
raised up Moses, his messenger, and he sent him down there to
declare the gospel of deliverance by the hand of God while those
children were in bondage in Egypt. Just like Christ, the king of
righteousness, sends forth his princes who rule in judgment
and they declare what he sent them to declare. God provided
the Passover lamb, and a picture of redemption accomplished by
Christ Jesus, by the blood of His shed blood, so that all His
firstborn, all His elect children are justified and reconciled,
made righteous. They are sanctified in Him, redeemed
by Him, all by the blood, so that He passes over His elect
perfectly at peace, accepting them in Christ. And then he brought
them out, and he brought them out of that Egyptian bonnage,
and he brought them out there to the Red Sea, and they were baptized
unto Moses in the sea. And they went across, and on
the other side, they sang praises unto God. A picture of God calling
His child in regeneration, and making him rejoice, and be committed
to Christ, and follow Christ, and be committed to His people,
and follow, and rejoice, and sing in Him. And then God, as
they journeyed through that wilderness of sin, that wilderness of thorns,
the whole way they journeyed through that wilderness, God
fed them bread from heaven. He fed them water out of the
rock. He led them the whole way, protecting them in the front
and in the rear. He didn't let their shoes wear out. He didn't
let their clothes wear out or anything at all. A picture of
Him keeping us now that we've been reconciled to God by the
death of His Son. The hard part's over. We're no
more enemies. We did that when we were enemies.
Now, much more than being now reconciled, being now friends
of God. He'll do everything to save us
by His life. And then, finally, God defeated
all their enemies in front of Him, and He brought them to the
Jordan River. And those priests stood in that Jordan, and He
dried that water up, and they went across that Jordan, right
into that promised land, right where God said He would bring
them. A picture of that final enemy of death being destroyed,
and God bringing us right into Heaven's bliss with Him in that
promised land that He's promised us, just like He said He would.
And God says, now, to whom will you liken me? Who you gonna compare
me to? That's what he said. Oh, that
the greatest comfort that we have is knowing that God's in
absolute control of everything, that everything that's coming
to pass in this earth is coming to pass exactly according to
His counsel and His good pleasure. We're gonna be pleased with God
when we're pleased with what pleases God. And when we're pleased
with what pleases God, nothing can rob us of our peace. Nothing. He says, listen to this now,
look at verse 12. Here's the application. He says,
Now hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. God's just being contentious.
Is He? Is Isaiah just being contentious?
No. He's longing to see some sinners,
some stout-hearted, hard-hearted rebels have their heart melted
by God's grace. And so he says to what God says
to tell them, hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted that are far
from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness.
God's done that. Christ Jesus is righteousness.
Paul said, The words now are thee in thy mouth and in thy
heart, the word of faith which we preach. If you confess with
your mouth the Lord Jesus, you believe in thy heart that God
has raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. For with the
heart may man believe with unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. And the scripture says when a
person's been called by this grace, he won't be ashamed. He
won't be ashamed of Christ and his works. He just won't be.
And he said, My salvation won't tarry. It shall not tarry. When
He brings this grace, He brings it at the appointed time, and
He makes it effectual in the heart. It doesn't, Terry. He's
coming again. He's coming back, and He'll save
us. He said, and I'll place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. Are you pleased with what pleases
God? I'm so pleased with what pleases Him. I'm so thankful
God didn't leave it in man's hand. I'm so thankful. Let's read it one more time.
Let's read one time. Look, I am God and there is none
else. I am God and there's none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
of things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. I have spoken it. I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Amen.
Clay Curtis
About Clay Curtis
Clay Curtis is pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church of Ewing, New Jersey. Their services begin Sunday morning at 10:15 am and 11am at 251 Green Lane, Ewing, NJ, 08638. Clay may be reached by telephone at 615-513-4464 and by email at claycurtis70@gmail.com. For more information, please visit the church website at http://www.FreeGraceMedia.com.
Broadcaster:
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, NJ
Theology:
#Predestination #Election #Soteriology
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Same Scripture

Sermons on Isaiah 46

God knows what he will do Rowland Wheatley · Isaiah 46; John 6:6
Precious Promises for Aged Saints Scripture Meditations · 2 Corinthians 4:16-17; Isaiah 46:3-4
I Am God And There Is None Else Tom Harding · Isaiah 46
Carried all the way home! Various Puritans · Isaiah 46:4; Psalm 71:18
God Will Accomplish His Purpose Jim Byrd · Isaiah 46:9-11

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