In the 46th chapter of Isaiah,
the Lord begins by showing the foolishness of worshiping any
God that is so helpless that He has to be carried upon the
shoulders of men. But on the other hand, the Lord
reminds us that He's the one who carries us. I don't want
a God that I have to carry around. I want the God who carries me,
who meets with me and who deals with my needs and my weaknesses. He says, I carried you. He says
to Israel, I carried you from the womb. You know what that
means? From the very beginning. And
I speak to those of you who are God's children, both in this
room and people who are watching. Be thankful and acknowledge the
goodness of God. He's carried you all the days
of your life, even when you came forth from your mother's womb. He has never left any of us to
ourselves. To be left to ourselves is to
be left alone. The Lord says, I carried you
from the womb. The Lord is declaring the helplessness
of man-made gods and the authority and power of himself. And he calls upon Israel to remember
the former things that God had done for them. Things which He
had said, He promised and declared that they would happen. And He even spoke to them about
things that would happen many years in the future. You see,
Isaiah chapter 46 is a wonderful prophecy of something that was
going to happen way off in the future, at least 150 years in
the future. Israel would be taken into captivity
by Babylon. The reason for their captivity
was their failure to worship God. But God did not write them
off as his people. but rather to teach them and
instruct them, he would follow them. In fact, he would lead
them into captivity. And then at the appointed time,
God would raise up somebody who would relieve them of their captivity. He would raise up a deliverer.
But the deliverer would not come from his people who were in captivity
in Babylon. He would raise up a man who was
from a very far away country. And our Lord likens him unto
a ravenous bird, quick to fly, making haste to do the will of
God. And he would execute the purpose
of God and he would do so from a far away country, a country
further away than Babylon and further away than Israel. And God says in verse 11, I have
spoken it. I will bring it to pass." Now,
it wasn't going to come to pass for about 150 years or give or
take a few years. But it would all come to pass
because God said it would. You see, the gods of the heathen
that they worshiped, they never prophesied anything that ever
came to pass. And God calls Israel, put this
in your memory. Remember that I prophesied of
things that have come to pass. It's as though He is saying,
have I ever predicted anything that hasn't happened? And as we study the Word of God,
we see one prophecy after another fulfilled. The Lord said to Abraham,
after the nation of Israel has been in captivity in Egypt for
about 400 years, I will come and I will deliver. And God says,
now I put you in remembrance. Did I come and relieve you of
your captivity? I told you I would. I told Abraham
what I would do. Didn't I do it? What God calls
on Israel was to remember how God, time after time, fulfilled
the things that He had spoken to them of and He had prophesied. Look back in chapter 44. And here's who God was talking
about when he said, calling a ravenous bird from the east and the man
that executed my counsel from a far country. He's talking about
a man by the name of Cyrus. He was a Persian. He didn't know
God. He didn't know the truth. but
he was going to be the means that God used to deliver Israel
from their Babylonian captivity. Go back to Isaiah 44. And it's
kind of hard to know exactly where to start reading here.
Look at verse 21. 44, 21, Isaiah. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art
my servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten
of me. Do you ever feel, even as a child
of God, that sometimes the Lord has forgotten you? He says in another place, I haven't
forgotten you. Your names are engraven upon
the palms of my hands. O Israel, O true Israel, O church
of the living God, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. He says, I have blotted out as
a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me. For I have redeemed
thee, and he speaks to Israel. He redeemed them by the blood
of the Passover lamb. He says, sing, O ye heavens,
for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forest and every tree therein, for the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith
the Lord thy Redeemer. and he that form thee from the
womb. I am the Lord that maketh all
things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth
abroad the earth by myself, that frustrateth the tokens of the
liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward,
and maketh their knowledge foolish, that confirmeth the word of his
servant, and performeth the counsel of his messenger, That saith
to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, ye
shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof. That saith to the deep, be dry,
and I will dry up thy rivers. That saith of Cyrus, now this
is who's being spoken of toward the end of chapter 46. that saith
of Cyrus, he's like a ravenous bird. He will fly quickly to
do the will of God and the work of God, though he doesn't know
God. You see, God uses everybody and
he's gonna use Cyrus in a mighty way and Cyrus in many ways is
a type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord saith of Cyrus, he is
my shepherd. You see there, he's a picture
of the savior. He's the good shepherd. He's
the great shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's
the seeking shepherd. He's the rescuing shepherd. God
is going to use Cyrus as a rescuing shepherd of the sheep of Israel. He says, he is my shepherd and
shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou
shalt be built. And Jerusalem is a picture of
the city of God, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord
Jesus will make sure that Jerusalem shall be built. In Acts chapter
two, the Lord adds to the church daily, such as should be saved.
And he says to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid. And
we know from Ephesians, the second chapter, the temple of God, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ is built on the firm foundation
of the Lord Jesus and his work of redemption. I keep reading
in the chapter 45. Thus said the Lord to his anointed
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden. Cyrus didn't know that
the Lord was leading him. Cyrus didn't know that the Lord
had him by his right hand. Whose right hand I have hold
to subdue nations before him. On whose behalf would he conquer
nations? He would conquer nations being
sent as the servant of God on behalf of God's chosen people,
Israel. He says, and I will loose the
loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates, and
the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, the Lord
says to Cyrus, and make crooked places straight. I will break
in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of
iron. In other words, nothing's gonna
hold God back from fulfilling his purpose to deliver his people
from captivity in Babylon. and nothing's gonna hold him
back or hinder him from delivering his true Israel from the captivity
in which we're held by Satan. He holds all men captive at his
will, but he can't keep the Lord from rescuing us by Christ. Verse three, and I will give
thee the treasures of darkness. and hidden riches of secret places,
that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by
thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake,
and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by name, Mr. Cyrus. I have surnamed thee,
though thou hast not known me. He didn't know the God of Israel.
He is a pagan, but God's gonna use him off in the future to
deliver his people. Look at verse five. I am the
Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, he speaks to Cyrus
through the words of Isaiah, though thou hast not known me.
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." Watch what he says. I form the light and create darkness. And the word form is used for
the Lord is like a potter. And he forms everybody according
to his own will. to make use of everybody according
to his own purpose. He says, I form the light and
create darkness. I make peace and create evil. So the Lord promises Israel and
he speaks concerning Cyrus that this is the man God's going to
raise up from the east. And he would accomplish that
which appeared to be impossible. Who could deliver Israel out
of the bondage of Babylon? The Babylonians held them captive. They could not get free. Many
of them had become comfortable in their Babylonian life. But the Lord is going to deliver
Israel from captivity. Now the Lord purposed this. See,
the thing that our attention is being directed to here is
that all things pertaining to Israel and all things pertaining
to true Israel according to the purpose of God. Did you notice
that verse there in the 45th chapter, verse 7, I form the
light and create darkness. I make peace and I create evil. In other words, God says, I make
peaceful things to happen, but I also cause troubling things
to happen. Things that are contrary to our
will, things that hurt, things like briars that stick
us and wound us. God says, I make them all. I
make them all. I know we say when things are
going fine, the Lord sure has blessed us. But really, When we have those
difficult days, we have trials of life that are
painful, that comes from God too. And shouldn't we thank Him
for those as well? Because you see, both what we
call the good things and the bad things all make up the life
that God has ordained for us to live. He says in Psalm 135, Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, earth, and all deep
places. So learn this then, a couple
of things. God does whatever he wants to
do, whatever he wills to do. He is all powerful. and He has the authority to bring
to pass His will. Know also that God's eternal
purpose, it cannot be altered. It has stood fast since before
the foundation of the world. God is making no new decrees. He's making no new purposes. God doesn't react to what we
do or what's going on in the world. The world is reacting
to what God Himself has determined. This is our God. We don't worship
an idol. You can't carry God around on
your shoulder. God does His will everywhere.
He's fulfilling His purpose for me, for you, and for all of creation. He does whatever He wants to
do. He has the power and the ability
to bring His eternal purpose to pass. And we may buck His will, we
may not like what God brings to pass in our life, and we may
grumble, and many times we do, but shame on us when we do. Is
God sovereign or not? Does he rule over all things
or does he only rule over the pleasant things? A few years ago, somebody came
out with this cute statement. Why do bad things happen to good
people? I'll tell you something else
you could ask. Why do good things happen to bad people? That's
a better question. Why do good things happen to
bad, and we're bad people, because there's none good, no, not one. God brings to pass in your life
and in my life the things that he will. God does what he wills to do,
and nobody can hinder him, nobody can frustrate him. And then another
thing I want to mention is whatever God, according to his purpose,
whatever he does is according to his purpose, which is eternal,
unchangeable, perfectly free, and infinitely wise. You see, when the time came for
Israel to be released, God sent Cyrus, a man from a far country. He didn't know the Lord. But according to God's eternal
determination, Cyrus would conquer one nation,
then another nation, making his way toward Babylon, and then
take that over. And he finds in Babylon a people. And then God moves upon his heart,
learning more about Israel and learning more about the God that
they supposedly worshipped. He said, I'm going to release
you from your captivity. You go back to your homeland.
And God laid it on his heart to tell them this, that you worship
the Lord again. And the first thing they built
was a brazen altar. He said, you go honor God by
sacrifice. And we know all the sacrifices
pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a man who by nature, like
all the rest of us, was ignorant of God. But God used him and
moved him to conquer several nations in order to release the
people of God. I know some people object to
the doctrine of predestination. Let them object. I am not ashamed to say I am
a predestinarian. And if you love the gospel of
God's grace, you're a predestinarian too. What foolishness, what foolishness
to deny that the God of heaven and earth rules over all things. That's just, that's dumb, isn't
it? You see, men in bringing God
down try to lift themselves up. That's why free willism is so
popular. It exalts us. But you can forget
about free willism. The Lord does as he pleases,
when he pleases, where he pleases, and through whom he pleases. And the difficult things that
come to pass, The rough waters that God's people have to sail
sometimes in their journey through life, that's according to the
purpose of God too. You can read it in Job 1. The Lord purposed the Sabaeans
to attack The Lord sent lightning that
burned up a bunch of stuff that Job had. The Lord sent the Chaldeans in
three bands, took Job's camels and took his servants captive. And the Lord sent a wind, a tornado, in all of its destructive fury. God sent the wind. I tell you, the Lord may send
powerful wind to you. I don't know. He can cause the
black cloud, thunderclouds to gather around you and shake you
right to your foundation. There's a verse over here. Would
you turn with me? I won't keep you much longer.
Look at chapter two of Job. Chapter two of Job. You know, his wife said, why
don't you just curse God and die? You believe God brought
all this upon you, Job? I believe that. You mean God brings the stormy
weather upon you just like before He brought the pleasant weather?
He said, I believe that. Honey, that's exactly what I
believe. She said, you ought to curse God and die. That's what she said in verse
9, chapter 2, verse 9. Then said his wife unto him,
Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speaketh. And he asked, What? Shall we
receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? You mean evil comes from God
just like good comes from God? Absolutely. Because that's his purpose. And we know that God in his purpose
works all things together for good for his children to those
who are the called according to his purpose. And I'll give you one other illustration
of evil at work according to the purpose of God. The arrest and the sufferings, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Who did that? Luke 22, 22 says,
the Son of man goeth as it was determined. That means foreordained. But woe unto him that betrayeth
him. Did God ordain that Judas betray
him? Sell him out? Yeah, he did. Because you see, God, he had
ordained that Christ lay down his life as the ransom price
for us. He had to die. There's no way
around that. Peter wanted to put a stop to
it. You can't stop it. That's the purpose of God. The
only reason our sins are forgiven and we're robed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ is because of that which God purposed and
ordained and predestinated before the world began. The substitutionary
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Give you one more reference.
I'll make this the last. Acts chapter four. Acts chapter
four. I'm telling you, God will accomplish
his purpose. And the purpose of God for you
and for me, sometimes it may be quite painful to the flesh. And we know that, don't we? It
can be quite painful to the flesh. But you see, He knows what He's
doing, because He's carried us from the womb, and He'll carry
us all the way to glory. Trust Him. Trust Him. Acts chapter 4, this is after
Peter and John had been had left the prison, went back to their people. The people lifted up their voice
and said, verse 24, Acts 4, Lord, thou art God. Oh, let me remember
that. Lord, thou art God. which hath
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is,
who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings
of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against His Christ. This is quote right
out of Psalm 2. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together,
what, to do what they wanted to do? Well, really, yeah, that's
what they wanted to do. But here, the Lord leads them
to praise Him. They go right to the source of
everything. That's a good place to go, go
right to the source. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined or purposed to be done. I wish I could remember that
and all the things that happened to me. God is fulfilling his purpose.
And he always will. And his purpose will be accomplished. And we may understand or we may
not. What's that song? We'll understand
it better by and by? Maybe. But I'd say by and by
we won't really matter. It won't matter to us how God
and why God did things. but he governs everything. Let's get our