We're going to look at Isaiah
42 for our study this morning. Isaiah 42. The Spirit of God
tells every believer to do something very wonderful right here in
verse 10. Sing. Sing. Whenever the Spirit of God puts
this song in our hearts, He makes us willing and we sing. And he says, to who? To who do we sing? To whom is
it that we sing? The believers sing. Sing unto
the Lord. Sing unto the Lord. What are
we singing? What are we singing? Sing unto
the Lord a new song. Now in verse 12, he tells us
what this new song is. Verse 12. Let them give glory
unto the Lord and declare His praise in the
islands. That's our song. It's glory unto
the Lord. It's praise unto our God. We declare. This is what we're
singing. I'm singing to you now. This
is what I'm singing. I'm singing His glory, His praise. His glory and His praise. Now,
the title of the message this morning is Former Things and
New Things. Former Things and New Things. Look at Isaiah 42, 9. Behold,
the former things are come to pass. Now this is God speaking. This is God speaking. The former
things are come to pass, and new things do I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell
you of them." Now, everything in these scriptures are declaring
to us things which God foretold would come to pass. God brought them to pass. He foretold that they would come
to pass and then He brought these things to pass. And God's telling
us things in this scripture that He shall bring to pass. He's
telling us before He brings them to pass that He shall bring them
to pass. And the confidence the believer
has that he shall is we behold the former things he has brought
to pass. Now, we're looking at the faithfulness
of God. This is what we boast in. This is where we glory in. This
is what we praise, the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God. Now we behold in all things that
come to pass, that have come to pass, we behold the faithfulness
of our God to bring to pass everything that he has promised the believer."
Now, all these things, we're looking at some history today.
And all these things that happened, that God foretold they would
happen before they happened. And He brought them to pass.
And in all these things, in everything that He does here that we're
looking at, He did it for this reason. He did it to glorify,
to bring glory, to bring praise to His name in the salvation
of His people. by his son Christ Jesus. Everything
in the history that this book gives us is telling us one message. This is the context of scripture
from beginning to end. Salvation is of the Lord. And that salvation is accomplished
by the Son of God come in human flesh, Christ Jesus the Lord.
And everything God's done in the history of this world and
recorded for us in His Word is to show us that very message,
to declare to His people that very message. Salvations of the
Lord accomplished by His Son. The former things that we see
that have come to pass, And the new things that he reveals are
the new things of the gospel, of his grace, of his mercy that
he reveals in the hearts of his people. All right, let's consider
four things. All right, in Genesis 17, 4.
Genesis 17, 4. Abraham is called the father of the faithful. And Abraham didn't have a child. He didn't even have one single
child. Not one. And God said this to
him. Genesis 17, verse 4. He said,
As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee. And thou shalt
be a father of many nations. You're going to be a father of
many nations. Now those former things that
God said would come to pass, they came to pass. Abraham had
children, literal, natural sons and daughters that was more than
the sand of the sea. You couldn't even number them.
No man could number them. It came to pass. Now what does
God teach us by these former things? He said to Abraham before
it happened, He said, you're going to be the father of many
nations. And then God brought it to pass.
What does God declare to us by that? Look over at Romans chapter
4. Romans chapter 4. In eternity,
before as yet God had created one man, before he had ever created
one person, one child on this earth. God the Father said to
his son, Christ Jesus, I have made thee a father of many nations. A father of many nations. He
gave to his son a people that he would save out of every tribe
and kindred and tongue and people in this earth. I tell you that
every time I stand in this book pit. Because that's what this
book tells us in every page of this book. He's declaring to
us God's salvation is sovereign and it's on purpose. And it's
all according to what He purposed from the beginning. In Romans
chapter 4, the very context of the Scripture in Isaiah, let
me get to Romans 4 with you. The very context of the Scripture
there In Isaiah 42, the Lord is declaring that there's
going to be seeing people. He's saying from the isles and
from the mountains and from the ends of the earth. And as yet,
he hadn't even revealed himself to the Gentile world. But he's
declaring he had a people. He had a people among Jew and
Gentile. What did he mean when he said
to Abraham, you're going to be a father of many nations? I said
it was because he was likening himself. He was likening what
he did and was foretelling to Abraham who God is. He was likening
how God saves in his Son. Look at Romans 4 verse 17. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed. You know what the word there
is? Like unto him whom Abraham believed. He said, I've made
you a father of many nations, Abraham. Like unto me. Like unto my son. Like unto Christ. Even God, who
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as
though they were." And Abraham believed. He believed God against
hope, against... His wife was past the age of
childbearing. He was an old man. He didn't
even have a son. And he believed God. And God
brought to pass the former things that He said He would bring to
pass. Look at Ephesians chapter 1.
You know the passage here, very familiar with Ephesians 1-3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. That's where He
said to His Son before the world began, You will be a Father of
many nations. You know what He's called in
Isaiah? He's called the everlasting father. He's the last Adam. Now
look. Look down at verse 9. Look at
verse 9. Having made known unto us, he
said, I tell you, before these things come, I tell you, the
Lord said. He tells his people by divine
revelation in the heart. And he says here, having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, This is God purposing
in himself. God the Father said to God the
Son, thou shalt be a father of many nations. And God the Son
said, I'll come forth and redeem them from all iniquity. He purposed
this in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, he might gather together in one all things. Who's that one? In Christ. both
which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, 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. that we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ. You see, that's what
we're seeing here. The former things are come to
pass. And God said, He told us beforehand,
before they come, I tell you they're coming to pass. Look
down at verse 23 of Ephesians 1. Verse 22, He's put all things
under Christ's feet, gave Him to be the head over all things
to the church, and the church is His body, the fullness of
Him, of Christ, who fills all in all. Let me show you something
in Psalm 139. Psalm 139 and verse 16. I love this. This is Christ speaking. You remember Christ said, A body
hast thou prepared me? He made him. He made that literal
body in the womb of the Virgin, conceived of the Holy Ghost,
in which God the Son came forth. And he says, Verse 14, I will
praise thee for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous
are thy works that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was
not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. That is, in the womb. Whenever that... He's the Son
of God, eternal. This is Christ speaking. He was
formed in the womb, that body prepared in the womb. But look
at this. Just as all of our members are known while as yet they're
in the womb, When God said to Abraham, you're going to be a
father of many nations, it's the same thing that God said
to Christ. You're going to be a father of many nations. And
He knew all of His people when as yet they hadn't even been
brought forth, when there wasn't one son made yet, when Adam wasn't
even made yet. Look at this next. My substance
was not hid from thee. Look at verse 16. Thine eyes
did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all
my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them. He said to his son, You're going
to be a father of many nations. Now, here's the next thing. He
says, back in Isaiah 42, he said, Behold, the former things are
come to pass, and new things do I declare. Who else do you want to get the
glory for what God was saying to Abraham? You want God to get
the glory? We want Him to get the glory?
We want His Son to get the glory? Why did He do that to Abraham?
It's so God would get the glory and we would behold something
of His Son in how He sang. Well, over 400 years beforehand,
It was after they came out of Egypt, it was 430 years from
the time God spoke to Abraham until he gave the law of Mount
Sinai. So over 400 years before when he was talking to Abraham,
you know what he told Abraham about his descendants? He said,
they're going to come into bondage in Egypt. He said that beforehand. He told
Abraham that beforehand. I declare this to you, Abraham,
beforehand." You know what happened? God brought it to pass. They
were in bondage in Egypt. What's He declaring by that?
What's He telling us by bringing to pass this thing He said beforehand
and then bringing it to pass? And what's He declaring to us
by the fact that these children were in bondage in Egypt? Adam's
sin. which put all of God's elect
children, all God's true Israel, it put every one of them in bondage
in spiritual death. Every one of them. But that sin
was known by God before the foundation of the world. And Adam sinning
in the garden and bringing the whole human race into bondage
in this Egypt we live in was exactly according to the purpose
of God. Why? To bring glory to God in
the salvation of his elect through the substitutionary death of
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, if there wouldn't have
been that that first representative Adam that plunged us into sin,
that first federal head that plunged all of God's elect into
bondage in Egypt so that we couldn't get out of there. We born, come
forth spiritually dead. That last Adam, who is Christ
Jesus, that first Adam was a picture of him. And God, you want to
talk about a free will? God gave Adam freedom of will. in a perfect environment with
no sin whatsoever and said, do what you will. And Adam did,
and he disobeyed God. And the only other man that ever
walked the face of this earth that was free, completely free
from sin, completely free from the bondage of sin and the bondage
of Egypt, the bondage of Satan, the bondage of sin. The only
man who came forth willing, free is the last Adam, Christ Jesus.
And he came forth holy, spotless, undefiled. And he completely,
totally obeyed God as the last Adam, the federal head of all
those children that he would be the father of. He did it for
them. even to the point of having to undo what Adam did. So that it meant he had, for
his pride, he had to walk right in to the face of sin, being
made sin for his people, and die the cursed death of the tree
that he might glorify God and redeem his people from all iniquity.
And that's exactly what he did. Look at 1 Corinthians 15.22.
1 Corinthians 15.22. And this preacher don't say nothing
but stuff about God and about His glory. That's what he said,
sing. That's what he said, sing. Sing
of His glory. Sing praise to Him. Telling you
how God saved sinners. 1 Corinthians 15, 21. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam,
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." You see that? Everybody died and all that Adam
represented died because of Adam, and all Christ represented are
going to live because of Christ. If by one man's offense death
reign by one, much more they which receive the abundance of
grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. The former things have come to
pass, and new things I declare to you. Before they come, I tell
you of them, the Lord said, to show you, to give you this song
on your lips to praise me for what I've done. Now here's the
third thing. First thing he did, he told Abraham,
you're going to be a father of many nations. Likened to him
whom Abraham believed. Christ the seed, Christ the son,
the last Adam, who's the father of a multitude out of every nation,
Jew and Gentile. Secondly, he told Abraham, he
said, and your children, they're going to all be born in bondage
in Egypt. And he brought it to pass, declaring,
that's what he told Christ beforehand, you're going to be a father of
many nations, but everyone I'm giving you is going to be born
in bondage in Egypt. They're going to be born in bondage
in Egypt. And that's how they were born. Everyone that God saved, they
were born dead. Does that describe you? Does
that describe you? If it does, it might be hope. If it doesn't, this is a description
of how they born dead in trespass and sin, bondage. Here's the
third thing he told him. He said beforehand, he said,
I'm going to redeem your children out of bondage. I'm going to
redeem them out of Egypt by sending a prophet, by raising up a high
priest. and by the blood of a lamb. That's how I'm bringing them
out. You can find it in Exodus 12. He raised up Moses and he
sent Moses. He's the prophet. He's the king. He's the leader. It's a picture
of Christ the prophet and the king. He raised up Aaron the
high priest, a picture of Christ our high priest. And that night
he said, here's what you do. You take a lamb, and he said
a spotless lamb, a lamb without spot or blemish. And he said,
you get all the leaven out of your house. You put your shoes
on your feet. You be ready to go. You kill
that lamb and you eat everything of that lamb. Don't leave any. There's none left over. You eat
everything of that lamb. And you take the blood of that
lamb and you put it on the doorpost outside of your house. And you
get in that house. And when I passed through Egypt,
He said, I'm going to slay all the firstborn in Egypt. I'm going to destroy all the
firstborn in Egypt. And that's exactly what He did.
All who sin must die. The wages of sin is death. All
must die. Even those God's going to save
and redeem from that bondage, they've got to die. And all the
firstborn in Egypt that night died. All the firstborn in the
houses of the Egyptians and all the firstborn in the houses of
Israel. All the firstborn died that night. Here's the difference. All the firstborn in Israel died
when that lamb died. Their justice on them was satisfied
on that innocent lamb who died in their room in their stead.
And when God passed through, he said, and when I see that
blood, I will pass over you. Now, God said he was going to
do that before he ever brought it to pass. And then he brought
it all to pass. What were the new thing? What's
the new things he's declaring to us when he did all that? Paul
said, Even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. John said,
behold, the Lamb of God. This is Christ, the Lamb of God. He's the one who God's declaring
in all of that he did when he brought those former things that
he declared to pass. So he's told his son, he's gonna
be the father of many nations. That's what he told Abraham because
he told his son that before the world began. He told Abraham
they're gonna be in bondage in Egypt. That's what he told his
son. They're gonna die in trespass
and sin. He told Abraham, I'm gonna raise
up, or told the children before I'm raising up, Moses, I'm raising
up Aaron, I'm raising up, I'm gonna save you through the blood
of a lamb. And that's Christ, the high prophet, priest, and
king of his people. And here's the fourth thing he
did. Beforehand, God said, I'm bringing them out. And he said,
I'm delivering them through the wilderness. And he said, I'm
bringing them into the land that I have promised to bring them
into. I'm bringing them into that land
that I've promised to bring them into. And God brought them out. He brought them out of Egypt.
And he carried them through that waste howling wilderness. And
he delivered him into the land of Canaan, just like He promised. He delivered him into the land
of Canaan, just like He promised. He brought it to pass. What's
He declaring by that? Look at John chapter 6. John
chapter 6. Verse 38 or verse 37. This is Christ speaking. All
that the Father give with me shall come to me. And Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at the
last day. God's promised His people. He's
going to bring His people into the land He's promised. He's
going to bring us into free from this bondage, free from this
wilderness, into the total, complete liberty of the glorious liberty
of the sons of God. And He's doing it. He brought
it to pass then, He's going to bring it to pass for us. He said,
new things I declare you, before they come to pass, I'm telling
you. Look at Revelation 21. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. That's what it is. That's what
this book, this entire Bible is. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And this book right here is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not the revelation of a
bunch of junk that people look into it and try to figure out,
it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And he said, I saw a
new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John,
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he
that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. That's what he... Behold, the
former things are come to pass, and new things I declare to you.
Before they come to pass, I tell you, he said, behold, I make
all things new. He said unto me, write, for these
words are true and faithful. This is what we're singing about,
the faithfulness of our God. These words are true and faithful
and said unto me, it is done. It is done. Isaiah, well, we
haven't been delivered into that land yet. Oh, it is done. It is done. God said, I am the
Alpha, that's the beginning, and the Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst for the fountain of the water of life freely. Him that overcomes shall inherit
all things, and I'll be his God, and he will be my son. You see, This is the point. Our confidence, the divine revelation
God gives in the heart, is the faithfulness of God. This is
His Word, the Word, faithful and true, and He declares in
our hearts the faithfulness of God and we can believe Him. We
do, we believe. This is what makes us willing
to forsake everything else and just wholly trust Him. We behold
God's true. There's no darkness in Him. Everything
He said is so. And He doesn't bring these things
to pass. Nothing in providence does He
bring to pass by accident. He brings everything to pass,
all things on purpose. And the reason He does bring
all things to pass on purpose, not just because He's just sovereign
to do it, though He is. He brings all things to pass
on purpose, declaring that he saves on purpose. He saves according to his purpose. He does not save by accident. He didn't just wind this thing
up and let it go and just hope somebody would receive him. He's
doing the work. 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. Look at Isaiah 46, 9. Isaiah
46, 9. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. We think we humanize God too
much when we think of God foreseeing events coming to pass in the
future. And it's total contradiction of who God is if we entertain
the thought that God is reacting to events that happen in the
future. That's not so. Not at all. With
God, all events in time from the first to the last have been
perfectly done. They've been perfectly done in
the divine mind from eternity as perfectly as they're done
in the moment that He brings them to pass in time. Look at Isaiah 46, 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I'm God. And there is none else. I am
God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. Declaring the end from the beginning.
Declaring the former things before they ever come to pass. From
ancient times. From eternity. 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 executes my counsel from a far country
Yeah, I've spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I've purposed it. I will also do it Everybody can
read these scriptures Everybody can read these things. He said
behold the former things everybody can read these scriptures Everybody
can read this book and behold God said I'm gonna bring it to
pass and then he brought it to pass Everybody can read it But
not everybody believes God. Not everybody believes God foretold
these things. Not everybody believes God brought
these things to pass. Not everybody beholds Christ
and the finished salvation of God in these things. History. It really is His story. It really is. Everything God
has ever done is to declare He saves in His Son. Apart from the aid of man, apart
from the will of man, apart from the works of man, He saves by
His sovereign purpose. Not everybody believes that.
Why not? Because that same sovereign God
has to reveal it in the heart. He said, I tell you of these
things. Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to God in human
flesh speaking. Matthew 11, 25. At that time
Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent and has revealed them unto me. You mean God did that on purpose?
Yeah. He did that on purpose. Did that on purpose. You know,
there's folks who say that this Bible was written after the fact
of all these things coming to pass. Folks who stand up say
Isaiah was, he wrote all these things after Israel went into
Babylon. After all those things. After
Cyrus, God raised up Cyrus and delivered him. After he did all
those things, he wrote this so he could write it after the fact.
I believe God. I believe God. I believe God. God says, I tell you the former
things. Before they come to pass, I tell
you. And I believe God brought them to pass. And I believe the
reason he did all these things was to declare the glory of his
salvation in his son. Can you rejoice in that? You
know why I rejoice in it? Because By His grace, He's made
me to receive the testimony of Christ. This is the gospel Christ
declared, and I have set to my seal. God's true. Been sealed
to me. God's true. And that's the case
with all whom God saves. God's true. Look at 1 John 5.10. I want to
show you this real quick. 1 John 5.10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. And he that believeth not God
hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. Where can I find that record?
From Genesis to Revelation. From Genesis to Revelation. And
this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Who did He give
this to? Who is He writing this to? These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. I've written
to you that believe. This is our confidence. This
is our assurance. He's going to bring us to glory
with him because he brought all these things to pass. He said
Christ was coming. He's come. Christ's going to
redeem his people. He's done it. He said Christ's
going to finish my work. He's finished it. He revealed
this word in his people and he's bringing us to glory with him.
I believe him. You believe him? He's faithful.
He's faithful. This will be the song of his
people for the rest of eternity. You know what is so good about
this song? You know what's so good about
this faithfulness of our God? It's the calm to all our fears. It's the assurance to every doubting in the believer. It's
the peace for every contention among brethren. It's the complacent
rest in our father in everything he's promised. It is the thing
that calms us and that gives us assurance even when we behold
this wretched sinfulness that we yet are. He said, your sins
and iniquities I remember no more. Is God declaring these new things
in your heart this morning? Salvation and no other. Forgiveness
is in Christ Jesus alone. There's no better, no more comfortable,
no more carefree place to stand than standing on the promises
of Christ my King. No place. So what I'm trying
to tell you this morning is the promises, the Word, the faithfulness
of our God. If that's the case, let's sing
this. Do we read these songs? Do we
sing these songs? Do we really think of the words
of these songs? Listen to this song. Great is
thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with thee. Thou changest not, thou compassions
they fail not. As thou has been, thou forever
shall be. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath
provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. He said, sing that. Sing it.