Thank you, brother. All right, we're going to be
in Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, and I just want to look at verses
9 through 11 with you this evening. Now, this chapter, we've been
seeing that it's been talking about a pagan king, a king of
Persia, a man named Cyrus, whom the Lord named 200 years before
his birth and brought it to pass that he came into being and was
given authority and power as a king there. And he gave the
kingdom of Media and Persia victory over Babylon so that he was used
of the Lord to go and free the people of the Lord. We see that
here in the scripture and we rejoice in that and the glory
and power of our God who rules over the hearts of all men, including
the king. All are subject to the king of
kings and Lord of lords. But our Lord's eye for us is
to behold his son, Jesus Christ, our righteousness and our salvation. And that's because Christ came
to set spiritual Israel, his Israel, free from their bondage
and their dominion and their sin which troubled them and which
we were bound by the law of sin and death until our Lord set
us free so that its pronouncements and its curse no longer has any
authority over us. We are raised in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So this passage actually has
an eye toward the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which Israel,
according to the flesh, that those Pharisees and those religious
leaders, when he came, they took exception to his coming. They weren't pleased with this
Jesus of Nazareth, and they were angry with him because He didn't
go and speak with the religious leaders. He didn't join himself
up to them and have secret meetings with them, the Pharisees and
the religious leaders of the day, and conspire with them to
put away and to condemn the sinners of Israel and those people, those
publicans and prostitutes and people who collected taxes and
all those people who betrayed national Israel, right? He didn't
conspire with the Pharisees. And so they weren't pleased with
that. And in fact, when he came, He
exposed their vain, dead religion. He exposed their hypocrisies. We've seen that recently in John
chapter two, when he drove the money changers out of the synagogue. And he drove those out that sold
cattle and doves, all right, there in the synagogue. And so
he was showing that the religion of Judaism was desolate, it was
empty. dead, cold, it had all the outward
form. And they seemed to be doing the
outward form of it pretty good. They even had a temple, right?
And they sacrificed animals and they had all the outward workings
of their religion and their purifications. But Christ showed they had no
spirit. There was no spirit of God there.
And so they didn't like that. They didn't like their sins being
brought out into the light because their deeds were evil. So they
didn't want a light shining on them. And in fact, this one,
this Jesus of Nazareth received sinners. He received the poor. He received the lowly. He receives,
even to this day, he receives them that are the outcast and
the off scouring of religion and the off scouring of the world.
Our savior is a great savior who's mighty to save even the
the grossest and meanest and worst of sinners. He's able to
turn our hearts unto the living God. And so we see him doing
this, and they also wanted somebody who would confront Rome, that
would join with them and help them overthrow Rome, who had
conquered their land, including all the lands around that area.
They wanted to overthrow Rome. They wanted him to exert his
energies in overthrowing the Roman government and not exert
his energies on exposing their sin, right? And so they really
weren't happy and they were fighting against the revealed will of
God in his Christ. And they were striving against
God, right? When they were angry with Christ,
they were angry with God. When they took exception with
what Christ said and did, they took exception with what God
said and did. because they were rebelling against
the one who sent the Son. And so, Peter, he's wise to say
this, and we do well to hear it. He said in 1 Peter 4, 17-18,
For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us,
what shall the end of them be that obey not the gospel? And
if the righteous scarcely be saved, What shall the ungodly
and the sinner appear? Where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? And so they didn't receive his
chastening and his rebuke, but we need to, right? It's a word
for us even in our day, because a lot of what is the professing
church are basically modern day Pharisees today, right? It's
just an outward form of religion, cold, dead, and lifeless or full
of idolatry and worshiping the God of their own imagination,
not even the God who reveals himself in the scripture. So
judgment begins in the house of God. We've got to hear what
our Savior says to us first. All right, so they're arguing
with God who is their creator, basically. All right, so tonight's
passage It begins with a view of fallen man who's here described
as a broken piece of clay. And it's like the thing formed
is speaking back to the thing, the one who formed it. And so
they're speaking with great audacity, right? They have their bold,
unwarranted boldness, right? Temerity to speak against God,
that they should think that they have And he's standing to argue
and find fault with God and His providence, right? How God unfolds
things. And I think as we go through
it, I think as we're made honest or made tender before the Lord,
we see that it's hard. The things of providence, the
things that God unfolds can be hard even on us who love the
Lord and who profess Him and believe Him and hope in Him,
It can be hard, and we too might strive against the Lord. But
he says, don't strive with me. Just come and ask me. I'll tell
you things that concern you, that concern my sons. And so it's absurd that creatures
would argue with God, but we do it. We do. Our heart is one that can fall
into rebellion. What we see here in this passage
is our Lord, he endures with the rebellion of wicked men,
and it's for the sake of his sons and daughters, all right?
Even those who are not yet his sons and daughters. He's enduring
with the rebellion and the hatred of men who strive against their
God and their creator for the sake and the benefit of his children,
the work of his hands. And he tells us it's because
he's long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any of us should
perish, but that all should come to repentance, that all his people
come to repentance and we'll all be trophies of his grace. We'll all glorify the Lord in
our salvation by his workmanship. His grace and power will reveal
his glory and his grace, and we'll see it too. The providence
may be hard, it may be tough at times, but we're made to see,
and we'll be brought to see, and we ought to ask the Lord,
help me to see your will in all this. Help me to rejoice in what
you're doing for your people, that I may be at peace and satisfied
with your works and what you're doing, all right? You know, while
this grace abounds, for a man strives with his maker, but our
Lord says, wisdom is justified of her children, right? Though the wicked don't see what
the Lord is doing, and though they will find fault with God
in the unfolding of his providence, wisdom is justified of her children,
right? As God reveals it to the hearts
of his children, and they bow before God in his revealed will,
we're made thankful and rejoice in God our Savior, and so he's
justified in what he's doing, all right? And so it's because,
and I'll just read verse 11 of our text, thus saith the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel and his maker, all right, the Holy One
of Israel, this is speaking of spiritual Israel, his maker,
ask me, he says, of things to come concerning my sons and concerning
the work of my hands, command ye me. In other words, I'll show
you, I'll reveal to you why these things are the way they are.
Because I'm working salvation in the hearts of my people. I'm
leading them through paths, through fires, over rivers, through high
waters, over mountains, over desolate areas, through wildernesses. Throughout all this trouble,
I'm leading my people And I'm revealing my salvation in their
hearts for their good, for their eternal salvation. And that's
what he's revealing. So while carnal man, you know,
fights against the providence of God, yet the sons of God,
they're brought to ask the Lord to seek. And he says, I'll show
you, I'll show you what I'm doing. I'll reveal my grace in you. And you'll be satisfied with
my, with my salvation, with my savior, whom I've provided for
you. All right. I've titled this, Ask Me, Ask
Me, all right? So, we open here in verses nine
and 10, seeing these idolatrous men, they're arguing and striving
against the revelation of the true and living God, who saves
according to his sovereign will and purpose. All right, verse
nine and 10. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker, he says, let the pochards strive with the pochards of the
earth. If you're going to argue with someone, argue with your
fellow man, who's your peers. Argue with them, but don't argue
with me. He says, "...shall the clay say to him that fashioneth
it, what makest thou, or thy work he hath no hands? Woe unto
him that saith unto his father, what begettest thou? Or to the
woman, what hast thou brought forth?" Again, this disputation,
this striving that they're having is in regards to the unfolding
of God's providence before them. And they don't like what, man
doesn't like what he's seen. And, you know, the world, they're
always going to have a problem with the Lord. They're never
going to see the wisdom of God in his salvation. They don't
understand spiritual things. They're foolishness unto man. Unto them that are perishing,
the gospel in God's salvation is foolishness. But unto us which
are saved, it's the power of God. And so, under the provision
of God, he pours out his blessings on his people. We receive his
blessings, but understand or we understand that to the flesh,
it can be hard on the flesh, right? We have frustrations and
disappointments, right? We're disappointed in ourselves.
We get disappointed with one another. We offend others. Others offend us. And we have
difficulties, right? Our possessions get destroyed
or wear out and are ruined. And, you know, we're living in
this flesh, in this world, where it's just not perfect. Things fall apart, and a lot
of things fall apart by our own foolishness and our own doing,
right? And so it's difficulty. But our
Lord said, back in verse seven, Isaiah 45, seven, he says, I
form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. And so, It can be hard for man
to comprehend that God is in this. God has done this. All
this destruction that I see here and all this difficulty and trouble,
God has brought this to pass. He may not have done it specifically,
but he's the first cause of all things. Nothing can happen except
God permit it and allow it to happen. And there are wicked
people who who have wicked thoughts and ideas and he allows certain
things to come to pass in order to bring to pass his will for
the good of his people and their salvation. Right? And so it can
be hard, even for believers, to understand and to reconcile
some things. But we're familiar, right, with
Romans 8, 28, where it's describing the understanding that's given
to believers, right? That spiritual understanding
that our Lord gives to his children that we might be comforted even
in the unfolding of providences which are contrary to our flesh. It says, and we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are thee called according to his purpose. And so the purpose
of God, our purpose doesn't always align with God's purpose, but
his purpose is unfolding and being done. And he gives us that
understanding. When we come to him and our hearts
are burdened and we're troubled about a thing and we lay it before
the Lord and we confess our weakness and we ask him for mercy and
to help us to be reconciled to his purpose, he may not reveal
why he's done a thing. We may not understand it or know
it, but he gives peace to his children. He gives peace and
comfort in the thought that our God, it's according to his purpose. He's done everything according
to his will, and therefore, he helps us, he gives us that in
our understanding, our spiritual understanding to accept and receive
what he's done. And so, you know, we see this,
you know, where it's important for us to see this is, you know,
well, historically, the Jews, right? The Jews struggled with
the coming of Christ. He didn't come in the manner
in which they thought he should come, and they didn't like what
what they saw and so they rejected him. They were bitter towards
him. They fought against him and they
argued against him and stirred up the people against him as
best as they were able to do. And it's just because he didn't
fit their carnal expectation. It didn't align with what they
thought must come to pass. We're God's people. Surely this
is how it's going to unfold. So why isn't it happening like
that? And they stumbled over him, and they fell, right? They
fell in unbelief, and they choked on the branch, the righteous
branch of the Lord, all right? And it's because he came as one
who is lowly, one who is a servant, one who came and was a servant
of God. and laid down His life, right?
One who came in weakness, even unto death, even the death of
the cross. And so they despised Him for
that. They hated Him for it. But we know, the understanding
we've been given is that our Savior, He accomplished our very
salvation in going to the cross. Had He not gone to the cross,
we would yet be in our sins. We would have no fellowship.
We wouldn't be reconciled to God. We would yet be in our sins
and in hatred to the light. And so our Lord, though again,
we see that though it's contrary to what we would think, He accomplished
our righteousness. He accomplished our salvation.
He accomplished everything we have, all the blessings that
we have and the riches of God, is through that one who came
contrary to what we thought should be according to our flesh. And
so the Jews, they despised and they opposed the gospel of grace. And they thought that the law
was their righteousness. They thought this was how the
Lord is going to save me. And they didn't need a savior.
They didn't understand that they needed a savior. We see all of
his works. was to expose and tear down the
refuge of man in which he hides himself and in his religion,
in his works, in his will, in his way, right? Man hides himself
in these things. And Christ was tearing that down.
He was doing much good. And they stumbled over that. And so what they're saying is,
we don't need your salvation of grace. And they were saying
what the text says, your work, you have no hands, right? How do they word it? Thy work,
he hath no hands, right? And they're saying of God, your
salvation of grace, your gospel of grace, that can't save me.
Surely that can't deliver me from the holiness of God. Surely I've got to have a part
in this. Surely my works under the law
count for my righteousness, and this is my standing, and this
is my hope, right, and this is my trust. That was their confidence,
was in what they were bringing, and they were basically saying
to the potter, you don't, you don't, what are you bringing
forth? What are you talking about this grace? Why are you saying
that we shouldn't live under the law of Moses? And so they
were They were contradicting God and claiming he had no hands
and that he couldn't save that way, that that wasn't how the
Lord would save his people. And so they didn't think they
needed a savior. They had an understanding of
certain things of who he was. And I'm sure under the apostles
teaching, they heard what they were saying, but they didn't
agree with it. And so they refused it. All right, Paul would say
in Romans 10, two and three, he said, I bear them record.
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
All right, it was according to man's knowledge, but not according
to the knowledge that the spirit gives to his people. For they
being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. And so they're striving, the
potsherds, the pieces of clay are striving with their maker,
with God their creator, and they're arguing and fighting against
him, all right? And so, regarding the potter
and his creation, Paul asks in Romans 9, 22 through 24, Romans
9, he says, what if God, willing to show his wrath and to make
his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction, all right? What the Lord's showing
us is that the reason why he even allows sinners to do this
is he's enduring with them. He's putting up with them with
the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, but it's for the
sake of you, his elect. And some of us even strove against
the Lord in our ways, and in our own thoughts and ideas, we
strove against the Lord as well, and he was patient with us. And
it says, and that he might make known the riches of his glory
on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. He's speaking of his adoption
of you that believe today. He chose you. He adopted you
in eternity past. He chose you for this salvation. Even us whom he hath called were
called because it's the result of what our Savior accomplished
in his redemption when he laid down his life for us on the cross,
to bearing our sins, to put them away, that we might be delivered
from the condemnation and the wrath of God against the inhabitants
of the earth for their sin, right? We're delivered from that. And
he poured out his blessing upon us by the gift of the Holy Ghost,
whereby we hear his voice and we rejoice in his word, his gospel
word. We hear it as good news. It's
a saver of life unto us. And we hear him and we follow
him. We believe him because he brings forth by his spirit those
fruits of righteousness from the new man, which he's created
in us all according to the gift of our Savior. All right, it's
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. All right, now
watch what he says here to his vessels of mercy in verse 11.
Back in our text, Isaiah 45, 11. Thus saith the Lord, the
Holy One of Israel and His Maker, ask me of things to come concerning
my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. And so while idolatrous man,
while the flesh doesn't understand the things of God and he's striving
against God and he's arguing for his belief and he's arguing
for salvation as he wants it to play out. Our God says, when
you're confused, when you're troubled by providence, when
you're troubled by the things that are unfolding and things
are difficult for you, and you don't understand, he says, don't
strive with me, but ask me. Ask me the things concerning
my sons. Meaning, concerning those whom
I've adopted. You whom I've chosen. whom I've
been pleased to preach and declare this gospel to you, and give
you an ear of faith to hear that gospel, and to believe, who I've
drawn to myself with cords of love and mercy and grace, and
now you're going through these troublesome times, ask me, and
I'll make it known to you in your heart why these things are,
because in what he's showing us is he's not saved us for this
world. This world is not our inheritance. He saved us for himself. He saved us to make for himself
a people who are not like all the people of this world, but
we are a peculiar people, a people zealous for our God, a people
who are kings and priests by the mercy and the blood and the
righteousness of Jesus Christ so that we are made to call upon
him and to be in fellowship with him, to ask him of these things,
to know these things, and to have a spiritual understanding
of what the Lord is doing. So when things unfold, we don't
have to be shaken and terrified with the world, but we can go
to God with these things and say, Lord, what are you doing?
What are you doing here? I don't understand. And he says,
I'll show you. I'll reveal to you what I'm doing.
Paul wrote to the Galatians 4 6 & 7 1 verse 5 he said that ye might receive
the adoption of sons and because ye are sons verse 6 God hath
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba
Father Right it these things are meant to bring us to cry
out to God to cry out Daddy Abba Father Save me have mercy on
me. Keep me Lord Show me what I have
need of learning. If judgment must begin at the
house of God, Lord, what are you teaching me? What do you
show me here in this providence? Lord, help me. Settle me in Christ. Help me to rest in him. Wherefore,
he says, thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then
an heir of God through Christ. He's revealing that relationship
to us, and that drawing us there in that hour of need, and that
difficulty of providence, He's drawing you that we might have
fellowship with Him, and know the blessings that are ours in
the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? Now, because we're
received in His sum, we can hear words like this, John 14, 13
and 14. It says, And whatsoever ye shall
ask in my name, that will I do. that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it. And again, he says in John 16,
24, hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name, ask and ye shall
receive that your joy may be full. So go to the Lord and pray
to him, seek him. He welcomes that importunate
prayer, right? That incessant prayer. When you
wake up, when you go to bed, if something's troubling you,
lay before the Lord, and keep bringing it before Him, and He'll
answer. It may not come in the way that
you expected it to come. The answer may not come as you
expected it in your flesh, but He'll reveal it to you. what
he shows it to you is in the understanding that we are the
adopted sons and daughters of our God. We have been redeemed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, who bought us with his own precious
blood, that we might know and have fellowship with God, be
reconciled to holy God, and have that relationship with him in
love, in peace, in joy, all because of our Savior. And he's given
us the gift of the Holy Spirit, whereby we understand spiritual
things and are willing, made willing to hear him. And so he
does that for you, brethren. So ask him. Come to go to him
in the name of Christ and ask him. And he is pleased to hear
you because you hear his son in whom he's well pleased. All
right. And he tells us, therefore, Hebrews 4, 16, Come boldly unto
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. For Christ was delivered, this
is Romans 4.25, Christ was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. So ask him when the times are
tough and you don't understand the unfolding of his providences,
ask him. Concerning my sons he says and
he'll he'll give it to you in your heart and in your understanding
to know Lord This is your will and and I'm your child Thanks
to to your salvation and your son that you've provided and
so you know when when this world rises up and and gives you a
hard time when they cast fiery darts at you and and and would
would hurt you and harm you or do anything contrary to you,
he says, ask of me. You don't need to be troubled
and wonder and think that you're cut off. Look to me and I'll
reveal to you what's going on and you'll understand. And so
I pray that our Lord bless that word to your hearts, that you'd
be comforted in what he's revealed to us in his son, in his gospel. Because it's a good place. It
puts everything in perspective. It really does. When we don't
understand what's going on or we get angry with things or frustrated
with things, when we ask Him and we see His salvation, what
He's working in His people, through the church and in the hearts
and minds of His people, it puts everything in perspective then.
And so trust Him. He'll do that for you. All right,
let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy. We thank you for your grace and
the riches of your blessings in Christ. Lord, in this flesh,
we don't understand and we would strive, but Lord, we thank you
that you tell us to come to you and to ask you the things concerning
your sons and daughters and what you've accomplished for them
in your glorious, precious son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us not
to strive and fight against you in your providences, but help
us, Lord, to rest in your salvation. Help us to stand faithfully in
Christ and that you would indeed help us each day to put on the
armor of God. and that we would continue always
in prayer, laying everything before you, and that you would
indeed bless us with that fellowship in revealing to us the heart
and the mind of our God and his son, Jesus Christ. It's in the
name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray this,
amen.