Let us turn to God's Word, and
turning to those familiar words that we read in the 55th chapter
of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and verses 8 and 9, God says,
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. Considering then something of
the thoughts and the ways of God and see how here in the context
God is seeking to give a word of encouragement to those who
would seek after Him, those who would call upon His name, forsaking
their sins and returning to Him. In the previous verses we have
that exhortation, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call
ye upon Him while He is near. that the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly
pardon. He is a God then who would encourage
His people to come to Him again and again. We read those words
in the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, You shall seek Me, says God,
and find Me when you shall search after Me with all your hearts. But what is it to be those who
would be true seekers after God? Well, here in verse 7 we see
something of what is involved. There must be that forsaking
and there must be that returning. Let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy upon him, he says. Let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. The language is
that that really belongs to an attitude of true penitence, of
real repentance. The language there in verse 7
is so strong, it indicates to us something of what is involved,
where there is that real evangelical repentance, that true turning
from sins onto God. There is a forsaking then. There is such a change of mind,
there is such a turn around in a man's life. His life is one
that is being turned inside out and upside down as he comes again
to call upon his God. It's that repentance that's spoken
of in the New Testament. The Apostle writing to the Corinthians
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 tells us that godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow
of the world worketh death. This is that godly sorrow, then,
that the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord. and he will have mercy upon him
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. But how is it that any
can know such godly sorrow as that? How is it that any can
be brought to such a repentance as is being spoken of? Well,
these things spring only from that right view of God. We must understand something
of the character of God if we're going to know such a repentance
as is being spoken of here in verse 7. And so, in the words
of our text, we are reminded of who God is. My thoughts, he
said, are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. To be thankful are we not that
God has revealed to us something of His thoughts and something
of His ways. He reveals Himself, of course,
in His Word. He reveals Himself also in His
works. The psalmist reminds us of that
revelation that is to be witnessed in the works of God, be it creation,
be it providence, how the heavens declare the glory of God, how
the firmament showeth His handiwork, how day unto day uttereth voice,
and night unto night showeth knowledge, and that line has
gone out, says the psalmist, into all the worlds. We're to
understand then something of God, something of the character
of God. And do we not see that in what
God says concerning himself here in our text this morning? Something
of God's character, God's thoughts. and God's wise, the sort of God
that he is. And the first thing I want us
to observe here is that clearly God is one who is holy. We have to recognize something
of the holy character of our God. We read in the text of his
thoughts and also of his ways. And there is a very striking
contrast, is there not, when we compare what he said in these
two verses with the exhortation that we have there at the beginning
of verse 7, where we read of the way of the wicked and the
thoughts of the unrighteous. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Man's way, man's thoughts are
so different to those of God. My thoughts are not your thoughts,
he says. Neither are your ways my ways.
God is so very different to what man is. God created man, yes,
and God created the man in his image, and God made him after
his own likeness, and yet, alas, man is no more in that state
of innocence. He came pristine from the hand
of his Creator God. He stood erect. He was created
in holiness. Man, we know, is a sinful creature. He has fallen from that high
standing. And not long after the record
of the introduction of sin, the fall of man there in Genesis
chapter 3, when we come to that sixth chapter of the book of
Genesis we are told how God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in all the earth and every imagination of the thought of
his heart was evil continually here are man's thoughts every
imagination of the thought of his heart is evil so different
to the way in which he was made when God created him in his own
image but now a fallen creature. And how deceitful man's heart
is, again, in the book of Jeremiah, we are reminded, are we not,
in chapter 17 and verse 9 of the book of Jeremiah, we read
those words concerning man's heart being deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked. That is the heart of man, deceitful,
wicked. And yet God is the one who searches
the hearts of men who tries the thoughts of men. He is that God
who is so different to man. His thoughts, His ways are those
of holiness. The Psalmist declares in the
18th Psalm, as for God, His way is perfect. That is the way of
God. It is the way of perfection,
how God has revealed Himself. God has revealed Himself in His
holy law, that law which is holy, those commandments which are
holy and just and good. Or are they not a declaration
of the character of God? He is the Holy One of Israel
and He is that One, of course, before whom the angels, though
they be elect angels, though they be sinless creatures, yet
in his presence, how they veil their eyes and how they veil
their faces. Remember how we have that description
here in the sixth chapter concerning the behavior of those seraphims,
those burning ones that are there about the throne of God. And
how they are worshipping God day and night there in his temple. When the prophet sees that glorious
vision of God upon his throne, he tells us in verse 2 of chapter
6, above it stood the seraphim, each one had six wings, with
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of His glory. Oh, He is the thrice holy God. So different even to those sinless
angels. Job tells us in chapter 4 and
verse 18, His angels He charged with following. He charges his
angels with folly. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. Such is the holiness of God. And so we have that remarkable
response by the Prophet when he sees that vision that we've
just referred to here in the sixth chapter. What does Isaiah
do? He says, Woe is me. I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Now he's overwhelmed, you see,
at the sight of God. Or another of the prophets, Habakkuk
says, "...out of purer eyes, and to behold evil, and cannot
look upon iniquity." This is something of the character of
God. Or the wicked, They must forsake
their ways, the unrighteous must forsake their thoughts. God says,
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. He is the way of holiness. He is that God who is pure, His
way is perfect. Such is the character then of
the God that we're considering here in the text. But He's not
only that One who is the Holy One, the Thrice Holy One, Holy
Father and Holy Son and Holy Spirit but He is that One who
is also Sovereign He is a Sovereign God and we see it here in verse
9 He says, As the heavens are higher than the earth so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts
Remember what the Psalmist says in the 115th Psalm, Our God is
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. He is the High One as well as
being the Holy One. All the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as nothing and He doeth according to His will
among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say to him, what doest thou? The God with whom we have to
do is that one then who is an absolute sovereign, who fulfills
all his goodwill and pleasure. Remember what he says here in
chapter 46 as he as he rebukes the children of Israel for their
foolish, idolatrous ways. In verse 9 of chapter 46, 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 of things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will
do all my pleasure." As he looks upon the earth, why the inhabitants
there as grasshoppers. He takes up the nations as a
very little thing, as fine dust on a balance or a drop in a bucket,
we're told. Men have their thoughts, men
make their plans, but God is the one who is sovereign. the
language of the wise man there in Proverbs 19.21 he tells us
there are many devices in a man's heart nevertheless the counsel
of the Lord that shall stand all friends this is the God this
is the God that we are to contemplate if we're going to know what it
is to truly be a repentant people, to forsake our own foolish ways,
our own sinful thoughts. As the heavens are higher than
the earth, he says, so are my ways higher than your ways and
my thoughts than your thoughts. The ways of God, the thoughts
of God, they're holy and they're sovereign. But God also is that
one whom we see to be a faithful God. And isn't that indicated
with what God goes on to say through the prophet here in verse
11. He says, So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. God is faithful. He is true to his word. He is
faithful to Himself. What He says, He does. The language
that we have there, back in the book of Numbers, in Numbers chapter
23, at verse 19, God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son
of man that he should repent. Hath he said it, shall he not
do it? Hath he spoken it, shall he not
make it good? For this is the God, you see.
that is speaking to us concerning himself declaring to us something
of his character with regards to his thoughts and his ways
what God says God does because he is that one who is faithful
as he not magnified his word above all his name He's not only
spoken his word, he's not only given his promise, but he has
confirmed that same word by a solemn oath he has sworn by himself.
And so he has staked his own character on the accomplishment
of his word. If his word fails, he fails. That's what it means when it
says that God has magnified His word above all His name. He is
that God then who is faithful. When He threatens, He will execute
His threats. Parents sometimes might warn
their children, even threaten their children with punishment
if they do some misdemeanor. And yet, oftentimes they have
no real inclination to fulfill what they've said in the way
of warning or threats. a reluctance. They don't always
execute the word that they've spoken to their children. Nations
sometimes might act in a belligerent fashion one to another, might
even threaten other nations, but they don't always have the
ability to execute those threats that they're making. But it's
not like that with God. It's not like that at all with
God. He is so different to men. My thoughts are not your thoughts,
he says. Neither are your ways my ways. How terrible that word is really
to the unbeliever. Look at the way in which Asa,
the prophet, speaks of God and speaks of the ways of God. back in Psalm 50. It's all there,
it's a Psalm of Asaph. And look at the language that
we have. Verse 21, Those things hast thou done,
and I kept silent. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such in one as thyself. God is silent, God doesn't always
act. immediately? These things are so done, what
are the things that they have done? Oh, the wicked, verse 6,
what do they say? Unto the wicked God saith, What
hast thou to do to declare my statutes? or that they should
estate my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction,
and castest my word behind them? When thou soughtest a thief,
then thou consentest with him, and hast been partaken with adulterous.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil in thy thoughts, and thy tongue
frameth deceit. Thou chittest and speakest against
thy brother, thou slanderest thine own mother's son. These
things are so done. And we see it all the time, the
wickedness of men. These things are so done, and
I kept silence. God doesn't say anything. In
what conclusion do men come to? They thought us that I was altogether
such and one as thyself. But I will reprove them, and
set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, that
ye forget, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and
there be none to deliver." It's a terrible thought, is it not
then? It's a real terror to the unbeliever that God will yet
act. His thoughts are not man's thoughts.
Men have their thoughts, their ideas. But God in his own time will
act. He will execute his word. He
will fulfill his terrible threatenings. His warnings then are to be heeded. And this is often the language
of the prophet here. We speak of Isaiah rightly as
the evangelical prophet. He has so much to say with regards
to the grace of God. It's full of gospel truth is
this book of the prophet. But there are also these solemn
words of warning, are there not? In chapter 31 and verse 2, He
says that He will arise. I will arise against the house
of the evildoers and against the help of them that work iniquity. God threatens those that do evil,
those who work iniquity. He will in His time execute His
own works. And now, solemn is the word that He speaks
in chapter 45. And there, at the end of that
chapter, chapter 45 and verse 23, it says, I have sworn by
myself, the word is gone out of my mouth, he's faithful you
see, he's true to his own word, I have sworn by myself, the word
is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. There will
be that day of reckoning, that great day of judgment. Man might
conclude that God is just like they are. They say a thing, but
they don't do it. They just go on in their own
ways. No, God's thoughts, God's ways are different. He is that
One who is true, He is sworn by Himself, and He's going to
execute that Word. And of course those words that
we just referred to in chapter 45, they're taken up, are they
not, by the Apostle when he writes there in Philippians chapter
2 concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The One who humbled Himself and
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted Him. and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. Oh, God's faithfulness will be
demonstrated in that day that God Himself has ordained, and
He has committed all that judgment into the hands of His Son, even
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is to return in power and great
glory, and then He will make that final separation. The God
that we deal with is a Holy God. He's the High God, the Sovereign
God. He's the God who is faithful,
who must be true to Himself. who must accomplish all that
he has said in his word though it be a terror to those who are
sunk in sin and on belief and yet at the same time at the same
time God's faithfulness is such a comfort to believers is it
not? What a comfort it is to the child of God to know that
God is true to his own words we read those words in chapter
29 of Jeremiah, that letter that was sent to those who had been
taken out of Jerusalem and removed into exile, taken into captivity
into Babylon. And how they were to settle there
and to seek the peace of the city, they were not to believe
the words of the lying prophets that were still amongst them.
But what does God say? I know the thoughts. that I think
towards you thoughts of peace and not of evil, He says, to
give you unexpected ends. All God's thoughts towards His
people, they are thoughts of peace. He has a blessed and a
gracious end in view, and He will bring them to their expectation. Yes, they have to settle there
in Babylon, but it will only be for those 70 years a lifetime.
man's allotted span, of course, 70 years. The 70 years will have
their accomplishment and God will be true to His Word and
there will be a glorious deliverance. And how Daniel understood it,
there in chapter 9 of the book of Daniel, as he was reading
those words from Jeremiah 29. And so he turns his face to his
God and he begins to pray and to plead with God for that promised
deliverance. There's comfort for the believers,
you see, in the fact that our God is a faithful God. His thoughts, His thoughts towards
His children. We sang it, did we not, in our
opening praise, that lovely hymn of John Kent's, How Precious
Are Thy Thoughts, which all my bosom roll, They swell beyond
my thoughts and captivate my soul, how great they are some,
how high they rise, can ne'er be known beneath the skies."
What are those thoughts? They're thoughts of peace and
not of evil. Sometimes we cannot understand
God's ways. There's a mystery, of course,
in the way in which the Lord deals with His people. but he
has a blessed end in view. Too wise to be mistaken he, too
good to be unkind. As he not purpose a salvation
of his people. When the Apostle writes there
in that great opening chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians
he speaks of all that God has purposed having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved."
Oh, what comfort there is for the believer then, with the right
consideration and contemplation of the character of this God,
this God who is the Holy One, the Holy One of Israel, His thought
so different to those wicked thoughts and those unrighteous
ways of the unbeliever. He is the Holy One, He is the
High One, the Sovereign God, the God who is faithful, who
is true to Himself, who must accomplish all His work, all
that He has said must have its fulfillment. We think then something
of the character of God, but we also have to come to this,
the goodness of God. This God that is speaking and
revealing Himself is a good God, is He not? For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts and your thoughts.
In what sense? That God is a good God. Why the
very name God reminds us, does it not, of His goodness. And David in the 119th psalm and
there at verse 68 says thou art good and doest good what a statement
is that because God is good that's his very character he can only
ever do that that is good God never does anything that is bad
and that's what we see here in the text his thoughts Why their
thoughts of forgiveness, His ways? Why they are ways of pardon? This is the God that has revealed
Himself to us in Scripture. Those tremendous words that we
have at the end of the book of the Prophet Micah, who is a God
like unto the earth. The pardon of iniquity. and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth
not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will
turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities,
and they will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. They will perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which they were sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. who is a pardoning God, like
Thee, or who has grace so rich and free. What do we read here again? Look
at the context. In the word just previous to
our text we are told of God that He will abundantly pardon. let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly
pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your
ways my ways saith the Lord now observe what the margin gives
us an alternative reading it tells us that the Hebrew literally
reads for he will multiply to pardon he will multiply to pardon. All God's promise of forgiveness,
why it is so vast that we cannot really begin to comprehend it. He is ever ready to forgive sinners. Is this God? The Lord Jesus speaks to his
disciples concerning forgiveness. How oft are we to forgive our
brother? This is the question that he's
put to the Lord Jesus there in the Gospel. In Matthew chapter
18 verse 21, it's Peter again, this impulsive
man, so often the one that comes forward as a spokesperson and
he comes to the Lord here in verse 21 of Matthew 18 and says,
Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive
him? Till seven times, well that's a lot of times of forgiveness
and seven of course as you know is a number of perfection because
God, having created all things in six days, rests on the seventh
day and beholds his creation and it's very good and seven
subsequently is clearly a very significant number in scripture. It has the idea of something
that is perfect. If my brother sinned against
me, how frequent should I be forgiving him? Seven times, that's
a lot, that's perfect forgiveness. What does the Lord say? I say
not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Until seventy times seven. All we to be a forgiving people.
Why God Himself is a forgiving God. He multiplies His pardon.
Do we not have reason to be thankful for that? We offend so often.
We sin so easily. or we transgress so readily,
we wander out of that narrow way. We're prone to wander, and
yet God forgives, and God forgives, and God forgives again and again. Remember even in his pattern
prayer the Lord taught his disciples how they were to make that petition,
forgive us our debts, or forgive us our trespasses. Then it goes
on, as we forgive them that trespass against us, or them that are
debtors. It doesn't mean that the basis
upon which we expect the forgiveness of God is because of what we
do. It's not saying that at all.
Scripture is quite clear that the only basis upon which we
can expect any forgiveness with God is that grace that we see
demonstrated in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is there that we find the pardon of sins, because Christ
is that One who was born. The terrible punishment that
was due to the sinner, He has shed His precious blood, He is
the propitiation, says John, for our sins. and we plead Christ
if we desire to know the forgiveness of God but what it means when
we're to pray forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them
the trespass against us is that we're coming in this spirit of
true penitence let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous
man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will
have mercy upon him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon
for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways
my ways saith the Lord This is our way to come. If we're sincere
we'll come because we know that grace of God in our own souls
will be those who are ready to forgive because God himself has
forgiven us for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it's true,
it's not easy. It's far from easy to forgive. And we feel that. We feel that
as sinners. that how different God is how
different God is so different to the way we are look at the
language that we find in the book of the prophet Hosea in
Hosea chapter 11 and verse 9 it says I will not execute the fierceness
of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God
and not man. I am God, he says, and not man. I will not execute the purpose
of my anger. That's God. I will not return
to destroy. He's not going to destroy Ephraim.
He's never ready to forgive. Why? Because he's not man. He's
God. He's the character of God. Again,
as we have it here in In this book of the prophet Isaiah in
chapter 43 and verse 25 he says, I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember
thy sins. Now look at the wording here
at the beginning, you'll observe that the words even and am are
in italics It's simply a repetition of the pronoun that we have there.
He says, I, I. And the emphasis is upon God
himself, who he is, his character. I, I. He that blotteth out thy
transgressions. Why does he do it? Only for his
own sake. It's because of who he is. It's
the character of God. And again, We have it in the
psalm, the psalm that we sang earlier in the metrical version. We sang the opening words, the
opening five verses of Psalm 40. And what do we read? Verse 5,
that last verse that we sang, Many, O LORD my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us, Lord, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto
thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more
than can be numbered. God's thoughts towards His children. Oh, they cannot be reckoned.
He is a God who is ever ready to forgive. How precious also
are thy thoughts unto me. How great is the sum of them? We read again in another Psalm,
in Psalm 139, God's thoughts. They're thoughts of peace. They're
not thoughts of evil. Is a God ready to forgive his
people? Because that's in his character. And how does he forgive
and where does he remove their sins? Why he removes them all
together. we see it so much in the language
of scripture when we think of the great day of atonement in
Leviticus chapter 16 those two goats, remember what's taught
there concerning the scapegoat one goat must serve as a sin
offering, it must be sacrificed, the blood must be shed, but there's
a second goat and the sins of the people are confessed and
that goat is taken at the hands of a strong man and he goes into
the wilderness, into the land of forgetfulness. All those sins
are being removed so far from his people. The Sámi says as
far as the East is from the West. So far has he removed our transgressions
from us. We know that North and South
are fixed points but not East and West. Why that's infinity,
is it not? As far as the east is from the
west. It's a distance that can never be measured. And that's
how far God has removed the sins of his people. All his precious
thoughts sent to his people. He's a good God. He's a good
God. And this is that which should
be an encouragement to the sinner to forsake his way and the unrighteous
man to forsake his thoughts and to return to that God who will
have mercy upon him that God who will abundantly pardon his
sins but then when we think of God's thoughts and God's ways
we're not only to think in terms of his readiness to forgive and
the multitude of his pardons we also have to remember as we
come to a conclusion that God's ways are truly mysterious And
we can never fathom them. Again, look at the language of
the psalmist in Psalm 92 and verse 5. He says, Thy thoughts
are very deep. The thoughts of God, they're
so deep, they're great deep, that we can never begin to plumb.
The psalmist says in Psalm 77, Thy way is in the sea, thy path
in the great waters. Thy footsteps are not... No. Or there are those times when
it seems that God, in His dealings with us, is acting in a strange
way, so contrary to us. You know, the Lord chastens His
children. Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth.
We're told in Scourge, with every son whom He receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. What son
is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But how strange when God
comes and deals with us in the way of reproof or correction
when He takes the rods and lays the rod upon us. And yet it's
all in His goodness, it's all in His mercy, it's all in His
grace, the mystery. the mystery of his ways when
he took the children of Israel out of the land of promise, when
Jerusalem lay in ruins and the temple was razed to the ground
and the people were removed to Babylon and there to languish
for 70 years. Why? It must have seemed to be
the end of all things. And yet it's in that context
that God says concerning his thoughts, that they are thoughts
of peace. I know the thoughts that I think towards you, he
says, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected
end. Or is it not so with us, friends,
with you and with me? We cannot begin to fathom to
understand the ways of our God. We rest in this that He is different
to us. Such is the character of our God. He is the Holy One.
The Holy One of Israel, the One who is always true and faithful
to His own Word. and that God who is sovereign,
who is able to execute all His goodwill and pleasure, but that
God who in all His ways is such a good and such a gracious God. For my thoughts, He says, are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His own truth to us. Amen.