May I please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in His Word. Let us turn to the
prophecy of Isaiah chapter 46, and we'll read verses 9, 10,
and 11. The prophecy of Isaiah chapter
46, and reading verses 9, 10, and 11. Remember, the former things of old, for
I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. calling a ravenous bird from
the east. The man executeth my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. How good it is that the Lord has
graciously blessed us with such very clear words in his word
to speak of the greatness of himself. What a mercy for us
tonight if we also realise and know what a great God we have. And in these verses we read,
where the Lord says, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. Now we may think, well, that's
a pretty obvious statement, especially those of us who have been brought
up in religious things, but yet the mercy is, when the Holy Spirit
applies to our hearts a word like this, so that we do remember
and we do know that the God who we come to in prayer is the Almighty
God, and to realize that there is none else, no one is like
our God, no one at all, because the God who we worship, who we
are worshipping tonight, is that God who is eternal. What a mercy then for us tonight
to have that faith to believe that we are before the almighty
God, we are in his presence, and none of us can escape the
presence of God. Wherever we may go, wherever
we may try and hide, we can never escape from the presence of Almighty
God. Now, Isaiah brings these words
to us when he says, remember the former things of old. And it is always a good thing
to remember what God has done. And it's a good thing to ponder
in our lives what God has done. And I hope tonight, as you may
remember the former things of old, remember something that
God has done for you. Done for you perhaps in the things
of time, and more importantly, has done for you with regard
to the condition of your never-dying soul. The Lord does encourage
us often, and it's a mercy when we're young, the Lord has encouraged
us by giving us answers to our prayers in the things in our
natural life, perhaps in our school days, perhaps in our college
days, perhaps in our university days, perhaps when we first started
out to work, to have the evidence that God heard our prayers, and
the Lord helped us. Perhaps there were difficult
questions, perhaps there were difficult scenes, And really,
we didn't know what to do, how to answer. But what a blessing
if God gave us prayer to himself, this one who is the I am God,
the true God. And we've been able, we were
able to pray to this God. And this God very graciously
heard our prayers and helped us gave us the needed wisdom
we require. And now to look back and to remember
such things. And then also perhaps then moving
on to our spiritual things. So I think there may be in that
time when the Lord graciously showed to us that we were a sinner,
You know, people today ridicule people who call themselves a
sinner. For the most part, people don't
like to recognise that they're a sinner. But what a mercy if
the Lord has brought us into a situation where we have stood
before God as the judge. and we have been guilty before
that holy, holy God. Now that's a blessing. And that's
a wonderful thing to bring to our remembrance, to remember
the former things of old in our life. Well, we have those things
then in respect to ourselves, but also we should remember the
things that the Lord has done for his people, which are recorded
in the word of God. Remember the things of old. What a wonderful record we have
in the Bible of the Lord's blessing to his ancient people. Yes, God
has been very good and very kind. And when Moses wrote the book
of the Deuteronomy, you'll probably remember, that he wrote these
words just shortly before he was taken from this earth, and
it was his great concern that the Israelites should not forget
what the Lord had done for them. And he tells us in the eighth
chapter, in the second verse, he says, and thou shalt remember,
shalt remember, And we won't want to forget if it's something
God has done. Thou shalt remember all the way,
all the way, which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in
the wilderness. And Moses goes on to bring to
their remembrance the effect of what God had done for them.
and it was to humble them and to prove them and to know what
was in their heart and whether they would keep the Lord's commandments
or no. Well that'll be a great blessing
for you and me if we can remember all the way that the Lord has
very graciously done these things for us. And it is because they
emanate from this great God for I am God. And there's none else. No one else can do these things
for us. What a blessing if the Lord has done these things for
us. And therefore we are able to
remember. And it is always good to look
back in our lives and to think of what God has done. Remember
all the way. which the Lord thy God led thee
these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove
thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest
keep his commandments or no. Now, the Lord works in his people
in different ways, but my friends, he brings us all to realise these
things, so that before a holy God, we are as nothing. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul said,
and it's worth remembering, less than the least of all saints.
And the Apostle had good reason to remember all the way that
the Lord had led him. And we'd been with him in those
days when he was against the Christian religion, when he was
against the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord was with him. He didn't realise it. He didn't
realise the Lord's hand was upon him. And then that wonderful
time in the Damascus road, when the Lord appeared to him and
called him, as he tells us, in one of the epistles, he called
him by his grace. Thou shalt remember how the Lord
called us out of the darkness of nature in which we were born
into the glorious light of the everlasting gospel. And of course
that glorious light shines forth from the blessed Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, remember the former things
of old. And again, Moses in a later verse
in this same book, in the 32nd chapter, He comes right near to the end
of the writing this book, and indeed the end of the Pentateuch,
the five books that he wrote, he says, chapter 32 and verse
seven, remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show
thee thy elders, and they will tell thee. And that will be A
good thing today, in the day and age in which we live, if
there are many occasions like this, when you young people perhaps
wonder what the situation is, remember the days of old, consider
the years of many generations, ask thy father, ask your father,
and ask your mother about the way that the Lord has led them, the
way the Lord has blessed them. And he will show thee, and thy
elders, those who are elders in the church, past and the deacons,
you know, it's good to ask questions. And it's good if questions are
asked in a right way. And when I say that, I mean this.
I mean, you want to know because you want to hear about the way
that God leads his people to prepare them for their eternal
home. And so, this is a good verse
really, Deuteronomy 32 verse 7. Remember the days of old,
consider the years of many generations, and that may be just to ponder
the position. And ask thy father, and he will
show thee thy elders, and they will tell thee. Don't be afraid
to ask your parents. And you parents, don't turn away
from such questions, don't make excuses. And if you're not sure
how to answer, well, tell your children, well, you will answer
in time. And seek unto the Lord for wisdom,
to give a good account and a good answer. Well, remember the former
days of old then, for I am God and there is none else. I am
God and there is none like me. And then we come to these beautiful
words really, declaring the end from the beginning. You see,
God is the only one who knows the end. You and I don't. We
know how we've travelled thus far through this life. We've
come to the present moment of time. We've known the beginning. We don't know the end. Bless
God, he knows the end. He knows his purpose. He knows his counsel toward us. This is the great God that we
deal with. This is the wonderful God declaring
the end from the beginning. We read together in that book,
in the book of Psalms, the 33rd Psalm, because it has really
a very nice reference to this, which gives us some clear view
of the position. And in the 33rd Psalm, we come
down to the, perhaps we could say, The eighth verse, let's
read from there. The eighth verse in the 33rd
Psalm, he says, let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants
of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake and it was
done. He commanded and it stood fast. And of course we have so many
evidences of that from the creation. When God spoke and it was done,
Many times in the history of Israel, when the Lord spoke and
directed Israel, and it was done, when he spoke and it was done,
he commanded and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to nought. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. But, verse 11, the counsel of
the Lord standeth forever. thoughts of his heart to all
generations, declaring the end from the beginning, the counsel
of the Lord. And the wonder of this is the
Lord does lead his people in that right way, in that way which
is for their souls good and for his honour and glory. And the
twelfth verse in this psalm tells us, Blessed is the nation whose
God is the Lord and the people whom he has chosen for his own
inheritance. Well, I hope we all want to know
that we are one of the Lord's and we are his inheritance. And it is because of what the
blessed Lord Jesus Christ has done. And what he's done, he's
given his life in order to ensure that we enjoy that inheritance,
which is incorruptible, and which is undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, and that which is reserved in heaven for us, for the mercy
to look forward to such a time as that. Now the counsel of the
Lord then standeth forever, and the thoughts of his heart to
all generations, declaring the end from the beginning. You see, there is an end, because
the Lord has said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
myself, that where I am there will ye be also. So 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. Yes, everything will work out
in accordance with the Lord's purposes, in accordance with
his pleasure. You see, the Lord has made all
things for his glory and for his pleasure. What a mercy, therefore,
today, if we can be truly thankful for these blessings and realize
that we have this great God, this great God who speaks so
clearly, 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. You see, we will
not change the mind of Almighty God. Yes, the Lord is the same
yesterday and today and forever. And just moving on to the 11th
verse. where we read, calling a ravenous
bird from the east, the man executes my counsel from a far country. Now this may well have been referenced
to perhaps one of the kings who came, of course, from the east
and was very greedy. But notwithstanding that, we
can carry on because the Lord then says, yea, I have spoken
it. I will also bring it to pass. I purposed it. I will also do
it. Now then, there may be those
situations in our lives, when the Lord perhaps has spoken to
us, and we may think, well, was that from God? Or was it my own
imagination? Well, if it was from God, rest
assured that it will come to pass. Rest assured that it will
be like this. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. That's a very strong statement,
isn't it? I will also bring it to pass. The Lord has spoken. It will
come to pass. The devil won't want it to. He'll
hope it doesn't. But he'll prove it does come
to pass. Because what the Lord says, what
the Lord promises, it does come to pass. We may have to wait. We may have to be patient. But
the Lord waits to be gracious. We perhaps sometimes become impatient. Well, the Lord says, your time
is always, but my time is not yet. And the blessing is, the
Lord has a perfect time. And that perfect time is when
he has fulfilled his purposes toward us. Remember, as we read,
regard to Israel, he led them forth by the right way. It wasn't the way that they would
have expected in the least, but the Lord did lead them in the
right way, all the way across the wilderness. And of course,
they'd come out of Egypt and probably thought it was gonna
be a nice, easy run to Canaan, but it proved to be very, very
different. But what happened in that journey? What happened in that journey?
They had to learn. Israel had to learn. They were
sinful people. But it didn't stop there. The
blessing was the Lord graciously granted to them the wonderful
tabernacle that was built. and all that it contained, the
wonder of it, and of course the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy
of Holies, where on that great day of atonement, the High Priest
entered in, not without blood. Oh, what a picture it was. Now,
there's a picture of redemption, and perhaps you and I are having
to wait What a blessing it is when the Lord then comes and
fulfills His promise. And He fulfills His promise when
He brings it to pass. He's purposed it. He's purposed
to reveal Christ to your souls, to show you that you are a sinner
base, a sinner vile, a sinner who needs mercy, who needs the
grace of God, and then to be directed to the Saviour, and
to view his sin atoning blood on your behalf, and to have then
the wonderful evidence, the wonderful evidence that it is well with
your soul. This is the vital thing, isn't
it? To know that Christ has died
for us, and that it is well with our soul, and if so, you see,
you will then prove, yes, the Lord's spoken it, and he has
now brought it to pass. He's purposed it, and that which
he promised, he's done. I also will do it. God will not leave us. What God
has said will come to pass. And maybe therefore have a humble
confidence in that to realize the Lord appears. The Lord does
that, which he said he will do. And it's this thing that he says,
declaring the end from the beginning. Yes, the end from the beginning. You may remember early on in
Genesis, there was a man called Enoch. And if we turn to Jude,
the second to the last book in the Bible, in the first chapter,
there's only one chapter of course, and verses 14 to 16, we read
about Enoch. And this is what we're told.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold, the Lord cometh, with 10,000 of his saints." Now then,
this means declaring the end from the beginning, yes? And
this is the end, which Enoch, so many, many years ago, was
able, by the grace of God and prophesy, to execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them,
of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed,
and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken
against them. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaking great
sweating words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage." It's a very solemn statement, it's a very true statement,
and of course we see it largely being brought about in a day
and age in which we live, declaring the end from the beginning. Enoch
was able to prophesy of those things which would come upon
the world. And we should be very mindful
of such a statement as that. He says, I have purposed it,
I would also do it. So may we be so concerned ourselves
to know that you and I are in Christ, and that we're not being
deceived, and we're not being passed by, and that we're not
being left to ourselves, but to be able to bless God, that
one who does declare the end from the beginning. the ancient
times. Enoch was from ancient times.
The Lord was gracious to him and granted to him the blessing. Now just finally, just to encourage
us, sometimes we may feel a downcast, Because things don't seem to
be going very well. Well, Psalm 66 verse 12, this
is what we're told. Thou hast caused men to ride
over our heads. We went through fire and through
water. What does that mean? It means
it's a time of testing. It means it's a time of refining. but also it's a time of blessing
because, the verse goes on, but, thou broadest us out into a wealthy
place. And if through these trials and
temptations the Lord brings you to see the glory of Christ and
the wonder of his sinatonian death on your behalf, you will
join with a psalmist and know that the Lord has brought you
into a wealthy place. Well, may God be gracious to
us and bless us indeed. And as we commence our sermon
this evening with these words, remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me. Bless God. Amen.