All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn back, we're in Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, I know I preached
from Isaiah 45 Sunday, and I preached toward the end of the chapter,
now I'm going backwards. I'm gonna start at the beginning
of the chapter. I needed this, and I'm sure that
you as well should benefit from this message. entitled The Purpose of Providence.
God's purpose in providence. And that's my purpose for this
message is to show you this according to the scripture, the purpose
of God in every providence. The purpose of God in every providence
is this, the salvation of Israel. The salvation of his elect people
is God's purpose in every providence, whether good or evil, whether
we consider it bad or well. God is doing all things, all
things after the counsel of his own will for the salvation of
his people. Now in this chapter, the beginning
of this chapter, The Lord calls out and declares His sovereign
will concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and its deliverance. Look at this in verse 1, He said,
Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I
have holden, to subdue nations before him. I will loose the
loins of kings and open before him two leaf gates, and the gates
shall not be shut. God here purposes that this man
Cyrus is His anointed man. That He would use this man to
deliver Israel from captivity. I want you to understand that
we read that and say, well, okay. You have to understand this is
200 years before it happened. 200 years before this man Cyrus was
born and actually delivered Jerusalem, this was prophesied and determined. declares this, that he will open
up the treasures of the earth, that he will loose the loins
of kings. And he's talking about the Babylonian
kingdom. You remember that vision of Nebuchadnezzar
that the Babylonian kingdom was the greatest, the highest kingdom
that ever was or ever should be, shall be. And God says, I'm
going to give it to him. I'm going to give it to him.
And he's going to give it to him in a very specific way. Two
leaved gates. Two leaved gates. Consider this,
the walls of Babylon were so high you could not assail them. They were too thick to break.
But you remember that night that Belshazzar had his drunken party
and God wrote upon the wall with a hand and wrote of his doom. That night, two leaved gates
were left open. The only way into the city was
by these two gates, and God determined 200 years before, these two gates
will not be shut. And this is how the Medes and
Persians took the city, by two leaved gates. But what was the
purpose of God's raising up Cyrus Why were all these kingdoms to
fall before Him? God declares to us the whole
purpose of this. Look at verse 4. He tells us
why. Why should He raise up Cyrus?
Why should He go through these leave gates? Why should He give
him the treasures of Babylon? For Jacob, My servant's sake. Israel and Israel Mine elect. I have called thee by thy name,
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. Behold,
God uses a man who does not know Him, a man who does not worship
Him, and yet He raises him to power, sets him on the throne,
and for the express purpose, uses him. I want you to see,
this man had one purpose in his life. And God used it for my elect's sake. This is exactly what he did to
Pharaoh before too, wasn't it? And you read that in Romans chapter
9 and verse 17, he said, And for this purpose I have raised
thee up, that I might show my power. To who? To Israel. That's who, so that I might show
my power to Israel, my people. Even so it is with Cyrus that
the name of the Lord should be declared throughout the earth,
that the heathen should witness his power, but more specifically,
God did it that Israel might know. Know this, verse 5, I am
the Lord and there is none else There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known me, that they. You got that? God said, I'm gonna
use you so that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and
there is none else. God did all that He did in this
providence for the salvation of Israel, that they might know
He is God alone. You that are God's chosen people,
you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the elect
of God. You know that national Israel
only is a representation of you. They're a picture of you. We
are loved of God, you who are the servants of God by the grace
and power. You who are formed by God the
Holy Spirit and given a new nature of which faith in Christ is the
evidence. You who are never forsaken of
God. We know this, that he has blotted
out our transgressions as a thick cloud by the blood of his son,
and seeing that we are redeemed by the one offering of Christ
forever, and he has robed us in his righteousness. Let this
example of God's providence over the affairs of men comfort your
heart. For the God that loved us, chose
us, redeemed us, and called us, listen, He alone is God and there
is none else. Doesn't that give your heart
comfort? You that are the elect of Israel, know this, that every
providence of God is intended for your salvation. God, right now, is using all
the things and events of wicked and evil men for the purpose
of saving Israel. And by this let us be comforted
to know that our God is God and there is no God beside Him. Listen
to His word in verse 7. He said this, you that are His
people, listen to His words, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. In this we may know for sure,
we may know for sure that all things, light and darkness, peace
and evil, all things, All things are in the sovereign, are moving
according to the sovereign will of our God. All things. We know this, that God is not
the author of sin. We know Satan is the father of
lies. He is the originator of sin. But no sin has entered into the
world except God had not decreed it. Had God not purposed it according
to His own sovereign will. You see in Isaiah chapter 43
and verse 13. He said, Yea, before the day was,
I am, and there is none that can deliver out of My hand. I
will work, and who will let it? There is nothing that happens
in this world except God decree it. I will work. Whatever is happening is according
to my work, my will. Over in chapter 46, he reiterates
this same point. In verse 9 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, when? From the beginning. From ancient
times of things that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall
stand and I will do what? What is he going to do? What
is God going to do? Whatever he wills. I'm going to do all my pleasure. What's happening? Right now,
what is happening in our world? Right now, what is happening?
More specifically, if you want to deal with this in your own
little personal world, this affects you directly. I am doing all
my pleasure. Well, that hurts. It's his pleasure. It's his pleasure. I will do all my pleasure. And
then he's talking about Cyrus again calling a ravenous bird
from the east. I'm going to do that. I'm going to call a man
who don't even know me and I'm going to use him. And when I'm
done with him, I'll judge him. I'll do all my pleasure. Behold, Satan was created of
God as well for this purpose to accomplish his sovereign will. that he should manifest his grace
and power in saving his elect, so then all things are under
the hand of God. Both good of men and evil of
men are decreed or restrained for the fulfillment
of God's purpose. Psalm 76, 10, Surely the wrath
of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt
restrain. but see His purpose in using
the evil, the wrath of man, using Satan and evil men, are for the
glory of His name and the salvation of His people. Now, again, these two illustrations
of Cyrus and Pharaoh are the ones that God is using now and
has used before. I'll give you another one. What
about Judas? Judas was another evil man used of God. He was
ordained of God. He was called the son of perdition,
the son of ruin, the damnable son. Now when was he called the
son of perdition? He was called the son of perdition
hundreds of years before he ever came into the world. Jesus said
that in John 17, and I have kept all of them but the son of perdition,
that the scripture might be fulfilled. You can read of that in Psalm
109, if you want to, verse 6 through 8 later. But this man Judas was
chosen among the 12, but not for his salvation. He was chose
to fulfill the will of God in betraying the Lord Jesus Christ. But what was God's purpose in
this dark providence of using this evil man? In ordaining this
man and allowing him to betray Christ. This man, Judas, in hatred for
Christ, in love of his own self-righteousness, willingly betrayed Christ. He did exactly what he wanted
to do. But in doing so, he fulfilled
the eternal, changeless, sovereign will of God, so that Jesus should
be crucified. Don't you see that this is a
dark providence, isn't it? I mean, consider what the apostles
felt when Judas had betrayed the Lord. He was going to prison
and then he was going to death. It was a dark providence. They
didn't understand it. Remember on the road to Emmaus
how they were sad? And Jesus walking alongside them
said, why are you so sad? They said, haven't you heard? We thought that he was the one
that would restore Israel and he's dead. It's a dark providence
and we don't understand. But we know this now that it
was a dark providence for what? The salvation of God's people. Peter tells us this in Acts chapter
2. In Acts chapter 2, and verse 20, well, I'll get
there in a second. Verse 22, you men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves know. Listen, Him being delivered by what? By the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. What means did He use? He used Judas. He used a wicked
man, a lost man, a hater of God. But truly, Judas was doing according
to the determinate counsel of God. Being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken him by wicked
hands, crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden by it. Now behold, the purpose of his
betrayal and death was not for evil, but the good of God's people. It was for the salvation of Israel. Why? Because there was no other
way by which we could be saved. There was no other way by which
He could save His elect but by the offering of His Son. Therefore,
the Lord Jesus Christ was made to suffer in the darkness and
vengeance of God's wrath, made the object of dark providence
so that the goodness of Israel should be fulfilled. Look at
verse 8. Go back to your text. Now look
at verse 8. He said, I form light and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. You can see this in the crucifixion
of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He was light. But that day that He was crucified,
God demanded, commanded that the light should not shine. He
created darkness and judgment. He condemned the Lord of glory,
bearing our sins. Now look at this. Here's the
gospel message in verse 8 of our text. Drop down, you heavens,
from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let
the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation. and let
righteousness spring up together. I the Lord have created it. Now herein is the gospel commanded
and ordained and purposed of God. Drop down you heavens from
above and let the skies pour down the righteous one. That's a better translation.
The righteous one. Herein is God's providence, God's
purpose in all providence. all the providence that led up
to the deliverance of Israel to the time of Christ. Listen,
all of that was purposed of God that Jesus Christ should come
down from heaven. He being the God of heaven, the
Son of God, one with the Father in spirit, one in deity and all
attributes, God here decrees that He must come down. He must come down. He must come down for this purpose,
to save us. If Christ should not come down,
there would be no hope for Israel. But God said, drop down. Come down, you righteous one. Come down, you righteous one.
Hosea says the same thing. In Hosea chapter 6 and verse
3, he likens the coming of Christ, just like here, to rain. He says,
Then shall you know, if you follow on, to know the Lord. His going
forth is prepared as the morning. And He shall come to us as the
rain, as the latter and former rain. Now listen, I like this. Did you expect the morning to
come when you went to bed last night, if God gave you breath?
Now, if God didn't even give you breath, you knew it was still
going to be here. It was determined. The morning
is determined, isn't it? As a set time for morning. We
set our clocks by the sunrise, don't we? You could also, this latter and
former rains, you could set your clock to them. So what he's saying
is here, Christ is coming like the morning. Christ is coming
like the former and latter rain, you can count on it. He's coming. He's coming. This righteous one shall come
down and fulfill all righteousness. That's what His purpose was.
And Jesus, when His body was conceived by the Holy Ghost in
the lower parts of the earth, in the virgin's womb, this is
where He came down to. He came down to the lowest parts
of the earth. And God, by the angel, declared
His coming and said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus for... Why are you going to call Him
Jesus? You know what Jesus means? Jehovah saves. Now why are you
going to call Him that? For He shall save His people
from their sins. That's why you're going to call
Him Jesus. This is what Jesus Himself declared that He would
do when He came into the world. In Matthew chapter 5, He declares
this Plainly in verse 17, think not I'm come to destroy the law
or the prophets, I'm come not to destroy but to fulfill. What
we're reading in Isaiah 45, Jesus Christ came down from heaven
into the lower parts of the earth, into the virgin's womb to save
his people to fulfill that scripture. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever shall break
one of the least of these commandments and teach men to do so shall
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall
do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom
of heaven. For I say unto you that except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. So what did Christ come to do?
He came to fulfill the law. He came to honor the law, to
magnify the law. And he who came from heaven to
fulfill all righteousness So He came and when the earth opened
up, when the womb opened up, it brought forth a Savior. And so He as a man, as a representative
man, as a high priest of His people, He had fulfilled the
law both in righteous obedience By his death he satisfied the
just demands of the law for our sin. I want you to see the goodness
of God. The goodness of God in his providence
to secure the salvation of Israel by Christ. Behold, the grace of God towards
us in that all his sovereign will and providence was that
Christ should come. This was his will from the beginning
that Christ should come, that Christ should be our savior. It was his will that he should
set up his that he that all the setting up of kingdoms and the
putting down of kingdoms In using wicked men and their wicked deeds,
he did it for the good of his people. Therefore rejoice, you
elect of God, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation." Consider what God has given for
your salvation. Consider that he has moved men
and kingdoms in order to preserve Abraham's seed. There's that man, Abraham, one
man. Where's one man? He don't even have any children.
He's old. He's past the point and so is
his wife. Consider what God did. God gave
him a son, one son, Isaac. In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Then Isaac, he had sons, but yet not both of them. One of
them was chosen, Jacob, and from Jacob, and you can trace it through
David, and from David and how his kingdom rose to the top and
then dropped off to nothing. When Christ came into the world,
David's line was at the bottom. It was a root out of dry ground. And yet here it is, God preserving
that line all through history so that Christ should come into
this world and save you. It was decreed of God from the
beginning that Christ alone should perform the will of God, which
was to save his people. Lo, I come, said Christ. I come. It's not a question.
That's a statement. I come. Listen, in case you missed
it, in the volume of the book it is written to me. To do what? Thy will, O God. And then what
does the apostle say? By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. See, we were made holy by the
will of God through this means, the offering of the Jesus Christ
once. Once for all. Notice back in your text, notice
this. Go back there. Let's look at this again. Drop
down, O you heavens, as is Christ coming down. Pour down the righteous
one. Let the earth open up and let
them bring forth salvation. Let the righteous spring up together. Now, what's the hope of this?
That's the prophecy, but what's the hope of its fulfillment? I, the Lord, have created it. I made it. I have created it. I chose it, I made it, I purposed
it, and I accomplished it. It's as though it was already
done. That's salvation and righteousness. Christ had not yet come. Christ
had not yet fulfilled those things. And God says, it's as though
I created it, it's already done. It's already been accomplished. Look now and see the truth, this
truth. You that are saved, you that
are the elect, we know this. Salvation, salvation is of the
Lord. You know it. I know it. We that have been saved know
it. And so behold how He uses Cyrus, Pharaoh, Judas, Pilate,
the Jews, all wicked men. He raises them up to fulfill
this purpose, which is to save His people. But to save His people,
spiritual Israel, He raised them up not to save them, He didn't
do anything for them. Where's Cyrus? Tonight, where's
Cyrus? In hell. Where's Pharaoh? In hell. Where's Judas? In hell. And yet God used them. Were we any better than them? By nature, we were the same. Yet in grace, God used them so
that Christ should be crucified for us. Christ should come. So by our text, as well as all
the scriptures, it declares the whole purpose of God in providence
in time is to do what He purposed and decreed from eternity to
save His people by the work of Jesus Christ alone. You got that? His purpose Again, you look back
at verse 4, He tells you why He's going to use this wicked
man. This sums up the whole purpose of God and everything He does.
For Jacob, for Israel My servant, for mine elect. Everything God
does is for the salvation of His people. Now the question is, does this
offend you? Now this message, believe it or not, it doesn't
offend me at all. I'm just so thankful for it.
I'm glad. I'm so happy. But this message,
it does offend a multitude of people. It offends those who believe
God wants to save all men but just can't do it. It offends
people like that. They believe Christ died for
all men up to determinate will of man to save them. The gospel of salvation of God's
election is offensive to them. There are many who believe that
the will of man determines the will of God. There are many who
believe that man's will can change the will of God. or that somehow
he can merit God, God to save him. So the gospel of salvation
of Israel or God's elect is offensive. Yet the scriptures are clear
for Jacob, have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Question then,
is there unrighteousness with God to do that? God forbid, Paul
said. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. So then, here's the conclusion
of it all. It is not of him that willeth or him that runneth,
but God that showeth mercy. So if God has chosen and will show mercy only on the
elect, if Jesus Christ came only to save the elect, The question of man is, why does
God find fault? Follow that in Romans chapter
9. He tells them, he said, God chose Israel for this purpose,
that it's spiritual Israel. The nation of Israel pictured
spiritual Israel. And he said, he used those two
children in the womb, Jacob and Esau, for Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated, before they were born, not yet having
done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Then they said, well, is God unrighteous? He
said, God forbid, He just told you. I'm going to have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy and compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
So then the conclusion is not of him that will his salvation.
It doesn't come by the will of man. It doesn't come by the running
of man or the works of man, but by the mercy of God. And then
the other question is, why does he find fault? If God's chosen
only the elect and going to save only the elect, then why does
he find fault? You know what Paul does? He refers us to our
text. He refers us to our text. Look
back at your text. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. You don't like this? Who are you really fighting against
if you don't like this? Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay he say unto him
that fashion it, why makest thou? What makest thou? Or thy work
he hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith to his
father, What begettest thou? To the woman, what hast thou
brought forth? Let men strive with men, but
woe to them when they strive with God. Listen to me, if you
strive with this, you're striving with God. All the providence
of God is for the salvation of His people. What God is doing is moving all
things for the salvation of His elect. I don't like that. You're
not striving with me. You're striving with God. Woe to him that strives with
the one who made him. How he will use men and providence
and time to bring past the salvation of his people. How Christ must
come in from heaven and fulfill all righteousness. How he should
be born of a woman made under the law to fulfill the law for
the salvation of the elect. Why then will you resist this?
Why will you rebel? Do you long to know your condition?
Do you long to know if Christ came and died for you? Listen,
thatís what I would want to know. That really bothered me for so
long. If God came to save only the elect, I wasnít mad at it. I just need to know this, am
I one of them? Am I one of these chosen? Has
Christ come to save me? Look at verse 11. Thus saith
the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and His Maker. Listen. Ask of
me. You want to know? Don't ask a preacher. I don't
know. I have a good hope for many of
you. But truly, I don't know. So what do you say? Ask of me. Ask of me what? Ask of me things
to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands.
Command ye me. Ask. Ask him of the work of his
hands. Ask him things concerning his
sons. Behold, the Lord Jesus Christ
gives us the things concerning his sons. chosen sons, eternal
sons, adopted sons, His people, and the things that show forth
His work unto them. Verse 12, I made the earth, I
created man upon it, I, even My hands have stretched out the
heavens, and all their hosts I have commanded. I have raised
Him up in righteousness, and I will direct all His ways. He
shall build My city, He shall let my captive, he shall let
go my captives, not for price nor reward. These are the things,
listen, this is the things concerning his sons and his work. Listen.
God who created man upright, man fail. Man fail. He said, I created all things.
I stretched out the heavens. I made them. I made man and he
failed. And so how does he picture his
creatures? In captivity. They're captives. We by nature
are captives. We died spiritually to spiritual
things and had no ability either to come to Christ or obey the
law. None. We were born captives to sin. dead in our nature, unwilling
and unable to come to God. We were sold under sin and could
by no means save ourselves. So then ask of Christ, what will
he do for his sons? Look at what he says. He said,
I raised him up in righteousness and I will direct all his ways
to Christ. I will direct all his ways to
do what? He will build my city. He will build my church. And
notice this. He shall let go my captives. When Christ came into the world,
He came to build the church, to save His people from their
sins, to let go the captives. This was done when He fulfilled
the promise at Calvary, when he paid the redemption price
in full and blotted out our sins. Have you considered when your
sins were blotted out? Your sins were blotted out at
Calvary 2,000 years ago. This was always God's purpose.
And in Providence, he's brought it to pass. And when Jesus died,
he fulfilled it. But it was not until he came
to us in our chains and set us free that we experienced it.
Consider all the providence of God to bring you to himself. We were captives to sin. We had
no hope of ever freeing ourselves. We had no desire to free ourselves. We loved our chains. But in the providence of God,
He made you to feel your need, show you your change, show you
your captivity. And then in power and grace,
He preached this gospel of grace and mercy in Christ and freed
you. That was always His purpose. You suppose you would have ever
missed it? You would have been freed. Was there ever a chance
you were going to miss freedom? No. Why? God purposed it. And all the providence in your
life led you to the point of hearing his word. And in that day the spirit came
in power and gave you life. What's the evidence of this life?
How do I know I have spiritual life? You are now free to believe. Faith is not an act of will.
It's evidence of life. Faith doesn't create life. It's
evidence of it. When God gives you liberty, When you experience it, you know
what Jesus said. He said, if the sun shall set
you free. You shall be free. Free from what? Free from sin. From the guilt of sin. Will you ever bear the guilt
of your sin? You feel the guilt of your sin. I didn't say nothing
about feelings. You feel the guilt of your sin. Will you actually
bear this guilt of your sin? No. Christ bore the guilt of
our sin. You're free from the power of
sin. Sin kept us, restrained us from
looking and believing and trusting in Christ. We're free from that.
We are now capable of believing. What was that? Psalm 110, Thy
people shall be willing, when? In the day of Thy power. In the
day of Thy power we were surely willing. In the day of His power
we fled to Christ, we came to Christ, we believed on Christ.
You believe on Christ? You cast all your hope upon Him? This cannot be done except the
Father which sent Christ truly. That's what Christ said, isn't
it? No man can come to Me. Can you come to Him tonight,
now? Do you come to Him? Do you believe
on Him now? Jesus said, No man can come to
Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him. How did He
draw you? By what means did He draw you? Was it fear? Anger? Fear of hell. He drew us, not by exalting us,
but by abasing us. I was listening to some people
talk about how they enjoy their little group sessions at churches
and they had so much enjoyment. They go in there, they go in
there so down and they go around and they just try to cheer each
other up. When God drew you, He embraced
you, didn't He? What He did was simply show you
the truth about yourself. But then, in an act of love,
lifted you up. Brought you to himself. In an act of mercy, instead of
wrath, he showed kindness. Instead of justice, he showed
mercy. And then we saw the value of Christ's person and work.
We saw the true value of it. We saw the love of God in His
providence concerning Christ. That in Christ is freedom, mercy,
and pardon. That God's whole purpose in time
and eternity was to present us faultless before His throne. To present you, listen, you,
without spot or wrinkle or stain, to cleanse you of all your unrighteousness. And in love, we are moved to
come to Him, to flee to Him in the day of His power. And notice
this. Look back one more time at your
text. I won't be able to get to finish this, but look at this.
Verse 13, not for price, no reward. Not for price. Is your salvation,
your righteousness, your freedom based on merit? Your merit? No. When God frees His captives,
He does it without price. Without their help. Do you suppose you could help
God do anything? No. we come to Christ, we confess
that our freedom is all the work of Christ and that we are saved
by His grace. And therefore, we are His witnesses. We're His witnesses. What are
we witnesses of? That all the providence of God,
all that God is doing in providence is for the salvation of Israel. We see it all through the scriptures
as it comes to Christ, how he moved all those kingdoms and
people so that Christ should come. And when Christ came, he
moved all of those people so that Christ should suffer, that
Christ should die, that Christ should be buried. Oh, it just
so happened that Joseph Amortheus had a tomb. What a coincidence.
a tomb that no man ever laid in. What a coincidence! No, God
determined it. God raised Him from the dead,
ascended Him to the throne, and right now He is still ruling
over all providence for the salvation of Israel. That's it. So if you're confused about what's
going on, you know what's going on. You may not have the particulars,
but you know what's going on. That all things are moving according
to the sovereign will of Jesus Christ for this purpose. As thou
has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him. That's what he's doing. And I know this. He is always successful. I can't say that about me. But I don't trust in me. I trust in Christ. That's my
hope of eternal life. is that he who promised is able
to perform what he promised, to save me. I pray that God would
comfort you with this, that all providence is for Israel, for
the salvation of his people. And God will save them. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.