Now this evening I want to direct
your attention back to the book of Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah
chapter 28. Now you might wonder what Ephesians
chapter 1 has to do in connection with Isaiah 28. And I'm going
to show you that this evening. I've entitled tonight's message,
God's Counsel and Workings. And I'll show you where I got
that title in just a minute, but the prophet Isaiah has been
speaking very graphically, very seriously concerning God's judgment
of the wicked. And he's made it clear that Israel's
hope, and when I say Israel, I'm using the term in a spiritual
sense. But Israel's hope, spiritual
Israel, God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
is in the Lord of glory. It's in the God of salvation
by grace. That God, if anyone's going to
escape the wrath of God, the judgment of God against sin,
then that person, that sinner, must turn to the God who has
promised in Isaiah's day and long before, to send a Savior,
a Savior from himself, a Savior of his choice, a Savior who is
willing and able to save sinners from their sins. He prophesies
of that Savior in verse 16 of chapter 28, probably the most
familiar verse out of this chapter to most of us. He says, therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. And that, of course, is a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his redemptive work on the cross
of Calvary to save his people, to redeem us from our sins, to
redeem us from bondage. Both the Apostle Paul and the
Apostle Peter quoted this verse out of Isaiah 28 in their epistles
to show that those who trust in Christ for all of salvation,
for all righteousness, for all eternal life, shall not be ashamed,
shall not make haste. That make haste means to be confounded,
to be confused, to be ashamed. And the reason that all who trust
in Christ will never be ashamed is we don't have any reason to
ever be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we have every reason
to be ashamed of ourselves in many ways, don't we? In just
about every area of life, we still fall short of the glory
of God, but we will never have any reason to be ashamed of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why the Scriptures
say that we can have boldness at the judgment. It's because
Christ is our our hope and our refuge. Isaiah has spoken to
the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem who were leading the people in
a way of scorn, scorning and scoffing at and devaluing the
Word of God and the Word of God's promise, and who had made lies
their refuge. And he says in verse 17, as he
speaks of God's judgment here, God's judgment of men as they
relate to Christ, as they relate to God's promise of grace in
Christ, he says in verse 17, judgment also I will lay to the
line and righteousness to the plummet. Anything that doesn't
line up with Christ and Him crucified, anything that doesn't line up
with the perfect work of redemption that Christ would accomplish
at Calvary, everything that doesn't line up with His righteousness,
shall be swept away." It says, the hail shall sweep away the
refuge of lies. Hail being an emblem or a symbol
of God's wrath against sin. And the water shall overflow
the hiding place. In other words, they'll be drowned
in the wrath of God. When I think about things like
that, I think about Romans chapter 5 when it speaks of where sin
abounded. That's what we are by nature. We're drowning in a sea of sin. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. There's nothing that Christ,
our hope and refuge, cannot take care of as to our sins. He says
in verse 18 here, he says, and your covenant, your agreement
with death shall be disannulled. That is those who are in this
refuge of lies now. This is the unbeliever. Those
who reject God's promise of grace in the promised Messiah, and
who have their refuge of lives, their religion, their own righteousness,
their experiences, whatever that refuge is. Remember I said Wednesday
night, anything that you hope in, or have confidence in, or
security of salvation, but the Lord Jesus Christ himself and
what he accomplished in his redemptive work, anything other than that
is a refuge of lives. Now understand that. That's why
we have hope in him. And so he says, that's going
to be disannulled. That's going to be swept away
and your agreement with hell shall not stand. He says, when
the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall
be trodden down by it. From that time that it goeth
forth, verse 19, it shall take you for morning by morning, it
shall pass over by day and by night. It won't stop. There won't
be a rest from this punishment, that's what he's saying, by day
and by night. And it shall be a vexation, a trouble, only to
understand the report. Can you imagine the mental agony,
the emotional agony of a person who sits under the preaching
of the gospel A person who sits under the testimony of God. Not
a lie now. Now see, Isaiah and the prophets,
they didn't lie to Israel. There were plenty of liars there.
But Israel had so many privileges from God. They had the tabernacle
or the temple. They had the priesthood. They
had the sacrifices, the ceremonies. All great, beautiful pictures
of God's grace in salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
existed as a nation for over 1,500 years under that revelation,
and yet the majority of them rejected it. Now, can you imagine
such a person perishing under the wrath of God, knowing that
the way of salvation was preached to them and taught to them every
day of their life? What mental, emotional agony
that would be. But it's the same thing for us
today. Now listen. Think about you and me sitting
under the preaching of the gospel and not coming to faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ and perishing in our sins while we had such
that awesome privilege to sit under it. What mental agony it
would be. It would be a trouble just to
hear that report, to understand it, to know that I had that message
of peace and mercy and grace and truth. in my very ears that
it was not effectual to my own salvation." What a trouble it
would be. Well, look at verse 20. He says,
for the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on
it, and the covering narrow than that he can wrap himself in it.
You know, a bed is a place of rest, isn't it? It should be.
A person lays down in the bed at night and covers themselves
up on a cold night, and they're warm and they're peaceful, and
they rest and they sleep. It's a refuge, isn't it? It's
a refuge from the day's troubles, the busyness of the day. Well,
here, the bed that they've made and they're laying in will give
them no rest. It's too short. They can't stretch
out on it. I don't know if you've ever tried to lay down in a bed
with your feet hanging over the end or not, but it's not very
comfortable, is it? The cover's too narrow to cover
you, to warm you. And that's a picture of man without
Christ. That's what that is. It's a picture
of man who has no resting place. We sing that song, My Faith Hath
Found a Resting Place. Not in device nor creed, I trust
the ever-living One. His wounds for me, I plead. You see, we rest in Christ, and
I'll tell you what, That bed of rest that Christ gives is
big enough and comfortable enough for a sinner to lay down in peace. And that covering, that robe
of His righteousness is wide enough to cover us to the point
that we're accepted totally, completely, and eternally by
a holy God accepted in the Beloved. He's a covering for sinners,
isn't He? But He not only covers our sins
as the picture of the atonement in the Old Testament, He wipes
them away completely. He redeemed us from sins. He
took them away. He bore them away. And therefore,
it won't be like this for those who rest in Him and who hope
in Him. Look at verse 21. He says, For
the Lord shall rise up as in Pharisee. He shall be wroth or
angry as in the valley of Gibeon. that he may do his work." Now,
what work is he talking about? His work of judgment against
sin. It says, his strange work, and
bring to pass his act, his strange act. What is that talking about? Well, in the past, he's talking
about history here. He's referring them back to two
times in history that they would be very familiar with. It'd be
like if I come up behind the pulpit and I said 9-11 to every
one of you, every one of you in here would know exactly what
I'm talking about, wouldn't you? And that's the way it was with
them. When he mentioned Perizim, when he mentioned the Valley
of Gibeon, these Israelites, they would know exactly what
he's talking about. That day, when God's wrath came through
in the past, and what he did in those two places, in Perizim
and in Gibeon, God struck down an infamous enemy of Israel known
as the Philistines. Remember the Philistines in the
history of Israel, they plagued Israel almost through their whole
existence. And they were well-known, infamous enemies. Well, what
God did at Perizim and at Gibeon, He struck down the Philistines
in order to do one thing, and that is to preserve the throne
of David. And so what the picture is going
to here is this, is that God is the one by his power and because
of his mercy towards his people who strikes down their enemies
to preserve the throne of David. Now what is the throne of David?
The throne of David is a picture of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. who sits
on the spiritual eternal throne as the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords. Remember he said the scepter
shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come? Well, our King is
Shiloh. He's the King of Peace. He's
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. So this work of judgment
is God's alien and strange work. What that means is it's awesome.
That's really what it means. But some say this, and I think
this has some merit. When it says that it's God's
strange work, or God's strange act, the meaning is this, it's
not really God's preferred work. Now, when we say it's not God's
preferred work, what we mean is in comparison with God's work
of mercy and grace. For example, now hear me out
on this, God must punish the wicked. Because he's God. He must punish sin. Where sin
is charged, God must act in justice and judgment against sin. If
he failed to do so, he wouldn't be God. He must punish sin. He must be true to himself. But
his preferred work is his work of mercy and grace towards sinners
in Christ. And you want to know why? Because
that's where God is glorified in the maximum way. That's the
fullness of the glory of God. God is glorified in every attribute
of his character when he shows mercy and grace towards a sinner
in Christ. Now, he's glorified in judgment
against sin, his justice, his holiness. But when he shows mercy
and grace, he's glorified in all of his attributes. That's
what we would call the Shekinah glory of God. You see, in Christ
dwelleth all the what? The fullness of the Godhead bodily. In judgment against sin, there
are just some of his attributes that are displayed. But in the
salvation of a sinner by the Lord Jesus Christ, all of his
attributes are displayed. That's the Shekinah glory. And
that's his preferred word. So all of this is leading up
to show these people that it is the glory of God and even
the preference of God to save a sinner by his grace. But now
he must punish sin. Look at verse 22. He says, Now
therefore be ye not mockers. Now, don't mock. Don't scoff
here. Lest your bands be made strong,
for I have heard from the Lord of hosts a consumption." That
means destruction. That's what that means. He's
going to consume these people. He said, "...even determined
upon the whole earth." That says, even determined. Now, who determined
that? Well, God did. So while the prophet
speaks, the message of God through him continues to be mocked. And
he has to stop and say, now don't mock. Don't scoff what pride,
what wretchedness, what depravity that men would mock the truth
of the living God. Especially when it's a word of
mercy and grace, and that's what this is. They should stop or
their punishment would be greater. That's what that consumption
means. Consumption means a complete end to all things. It means complete
destruction. Consumption has to do not with
a chastisement, not with just a mere punishment that lasts
for a while, that's given to teach a lesson. But it's a total
destruction. And those who mock God, those
who reject His way, will be consumed. And the Lord had told Isaiah
what was coming, and it was determined It was a settled decision upon
the whole earth. I think about the Lord in the
Great Commission when he sent the disciples forth and he said,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
The good news, the good news. But you must understand that
when it says, he that believeth in his baptized shall be saved,
that to the praise and the glory of God's grace, he that believeth
not shall be damned. And that's a determination that
God has made from the very beginning, and it's upon the whole earth.
The whole earth. Now, what does all that lead
up to? Now, look at verse 23. Let me
read the whole last of this passage and see if we can get some help
here. Now, he says in verse 23, He
says, give you ear and hear my voice, hearken and hear my speech,
hear me well, listen to what I'm going to tell you, what I
have told you and what I'm going to tell you. Don't let this go
in one ear and out the other. Don't let it fly back to the
back pew. I hope you fellas on the back
pew get it. But don't, everybody in front and in between. And
he says in verse 24, and it reads almost like a parable. He says,
doth the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break
the clods of his ground? Now what he's saying here, now
listen, he says, now when the plowman plows, when the farmer
goes out and he's going to plow his field, is that all he ever
does is plow? Plows Monday, plows Tuesday,
plows Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, plows all winter, I mean all
spring? Does he do nothing else but plow?
No. Sometimes he's got to stop and
break some clods up, take some stones out. He's got to prepare
the ground. He does plow, but there's a time
for plowing, and there's a time that plowing's done. It's over. And then he says in verse 25,
when he had made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad
the fitches, and scatter the cumin, and cast in the principal
weed, and the pointed barley? and the rye in their place. He's
talking about different crops here. Some of them have to do
with herbs that are tender and delicate. Some of them are like
wheat that's pretty strong. Holds up under the harshest conditions. Some of it he has to go out and
he has to scatter. He has to spread it out. Some
of it he has to dig down and plant it right down in the ground.
What he's saying here is the farmer doesn't do one thing all
day and he doesn't do one thing to all types of seed. all types
of crops. He has to deal with each thing
in its own way to get it to grow. And so when he deals with the
tender herbs, he might have to scatter them abroad gently. When
he deals with the corn of wheat, he's got to dig down in the ground
and plant that corn of wheat into the ground. And it's appointed
in their place. And he says in verse 26, he says,
for his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach
him. Now, who taught the farmer that?
Farmer's Almanac? Pretty good book. But that's
not who started this, you see. It wasn't Cain. He was the first one we know
that farmed, I guess. Well, I guess Adam must have
been. Because, you know, when God pronounced the curse in Genesis
chapter 5, He said, when you till the ground, So maybe Adam
was the first, but who taught Adam? God did. Now this is all set up by God. This is all planned, all ordered,
organized. The time of it, the way of it,
the goal of it, all by God. In other words, he's saying the
farmer is using the wisdom of God, the way of God, to farm,
to plow, to plant, to prepare the ground. He goes on in verse
27, he says, for the fitches are not threshed with a threshing
instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cumen,
but the fitches are beaten out with a staff and the cumen with
a rod. He says in verse 28, bread corn
or seed is bruised. Somebody had been talking to
him, he said, I can't wait till you get to verse 28 and you're
going to talk about corn bread. Well, I love cornbread, but that's
not what he's talking about here, even though that would be wheat.
But he said, bread corn is bruised because he will not ever be threshing
it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with
his horseman. Now, what he's talking about
here is the harvest. When you go out and you're going
to harvest the crop, these tender herbs, you don't go out and just
thresh them like they do the wheat. You see, they have to
go out and have to pick them. We love our tomatoes. You grow those tomatoes on a
vine. Now, if you have tomatoes on
the vine here and wheat over here, you're going to come out
here and you're going to thresh that wheat with one of those mowing sides
or the big machine. But you don't do the tomatoes
that way, or you're going to have tomato sauce on the ground.
You've got to go out and pick the tomato off the vine. And
so there's an appointed way even to harvest it. And then when
you're going to prepare the herbs for your food, there's a certain
way you do that. You've got to be gentle with
it. You've got to deal with it gently. But now the wheat, you've
got to cut it up and you've got to beat it. It's got to be ground,
stone ground, you see, to make the bread. So you've got different
ways. Now look at verse 29. And he
says, This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts. Now,
remember that term, Lord of hosts, what does that mean? That means
the Lord of a great army. It means God's invincible. The
invincible God who cannot be defeated. And he says, this also
comes forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in
counsel. In other words, God knows exactly
what he's doing. There might be times that we're
in our ignorance and in our little place or our little place in
society or in this world, we might say, what in the world
is going on? Well, now, God knows exactly
what in the world is going on because he's wonderful in counsel.
So he knows the score. And then it says he's excellent
in working. That means God knows what he's
doing. He never made a mistake. He doesn't have to have a contingency
plan. It's all set to a plan. That's what he's talking about.
So go back now. Now, here's what he's saying.
He's using an illustration here to teach us a lesson that we
need to learn every day of our lives. And that lesson is what
I entitled the minute, God's counsel and God's workings. When
the farmer plows the ground, he does it according to a plan
that he's been taught from somebody far greater than him. And he's
using this to show about how God works in judgment, how God
works in salvation. For example, God's not going
to keep plowing in judgment all the time. He's going to turn
to some planting. He's going to plant some. And
his judgments are not just so that he can judge his people
like a farmer. He has a purpose beyond that.
When the farmer goes out there to prepare that ground, his goal
is not just to dig holes. His goal is to plant and to have
a crop. And likewise, just as different
grains and seeds are harvested with different techniques and
different ways, so again the Lord knows what He's done, a
heavy-handed grinding would destroy certain seeds, so He won't do
those seeds that way, He'll do them another way. And then when
judgment comes upon the wicked, And when God ultimately destroyed
this world, God's people, now listen, here's what he said.
God's people do not have to doubt. We do not have to despair. We
do not have to walk around in confusion at what God is doing
in this judgment or in our life. God is an expert farmer. He's working on us. He's working
in us with all wisdom and all counsel. All things truly do
work for good to them that love God, who are the called according
to his purpose." God is wonderful in counsel. That word wonderful
there and the word counselor is the same Hebrew words that
Isaiah used back in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 when he was speaking
of Christ. His name is wonderful. He is the mighty counselor. And I like that because that
shows us that God works in all wisdom to save his people in
Christ, whose name is Wonderful, who is the mighty Counselor.
God will accomplish his purpose to save his people no matter
what else is going on, whether we see God plowing in judgment,
Whether we see God dealing with one person this way and another
person that way, you might say, well, why does God deal with
me this way and God deal with him in another way? I'll tell
you why. Because God's wonderful in counsel
and in His workings. He knows exactly what He's doing.
He knows what you need. He knows what I need. It may
be I need a little grinding today. It may be I need to be dealt
with gently. I don't know. But God does. You hear this phrase all the
time, God has a wonderful plan for your life. Now, let me tell
you something. That can only be said of those
who run to Christ and plead to Him and rest in Him. Did you
know that? Now, perishing in sins is not
such a wonderful plan. But God has a purpose beyond
that. He has a purpose in His judgments.
He has a purpose, and it's not just to snuff out the human race.
God has purpose to save His people from their sins. And the human
race, not every individual without exception, but the human race
will be saved through God's people. They will be spared in Christ. And just as a good result comes
from all the plowing and threshing that a farmer does, these illustrations
hint at the kind of wonderful results coming. He's going to
talk about it in chapter 29. But what we see in all this is
all of God's works, all of God's works. God is wonderful in all
of his counsel, everything that he determined in eternity past. That wonderful plan of salvation.
Look with me at Isaiah chapter 46. And all of God's workings, everything
that He's doing, is leading up to that glorious finish when
Christ will gather His people together and the new heavens
and the new earth will be occupied by those who are created and
kept in righteousness. In the book of Isaiah chapter
46, look at verse 9. I've read this passage here several
times as we've gone through many of the passages in the Old Testament. Because God says here in verse
9 to the prophet Isaiah, remember the former things of old. And
you remember back here in Isaiah 28, he mentioned God's dealings
with the Philistines in Parazim and in Gibeon as the former thing
of old. Now, in dealing with the Philistines
according to their sins in judgment, what did God do for his people?
He delivered them out of the hands of the Philistines. He
delivered them out of the hands of the enemy. Remember the former
things of old. You see, we see the greatness
of that in salvation by our Lord at the cross. To us, that's a
former thing of old. Yet it's new to us every day,
isn't it? But you see, what did God hope
to accomplish? What did God accomplish when
He poured out His judgment upon His dear Son for the sins of
His people? It wasn't just to snuff Him out
in judgment. It was to deliver us from the
hands of the enemy. It was to deliver us from our
sins. It was to deliver us from Satan. It was to deliver us from
wrath. And that's exactly what he did
at Calvary. He didn't try to save you. He didn't try to save
me. He saved his people from their sin. Now, remember that.
Now, there's God's wonderful plan for our lives, you see,
in Christ. But look on verse 9. He says,
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, there is none
else. I am God, there is none like me. We could apply that
to Isaiah 28. Wonderful in counsel and workings.
None like God. Verse 10. declaring the end from
the beginning." Now, that's an amazing statement there. You
can't do that, and I can't do that. We can't declare the end
from the beginning. I don't know what's going to
happen one second from now, let alone thousands of years from
now, other than what God tells me. And the reason He knows is
because He declares it. He determines it. You see, that's
what Isaiah said in the farmer illustration. This is determined. This is determined. And he said,
and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel, his wonderful counsel shall stand. Nobody's going to
stop what God purposes to do. You know, we get so upset when
we read the newspaper or watch the daily news, and there's probably
a lot of reason we should, but understand this, child of God,
none None shall stop him. None shall stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou? He said, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. Everything God wants to do, he
does. I hear these preachers talking about, God wants to do
this, but you won't let him. Well, now, according to this,
that is not the God of the Bible, is it? He said, I will do all
my pleasure. And I'll tell you who the children
of God are. They're the ones whom he makes
pleased with that. I'll do all my pleasure. Verse
11, he says, calling a ravenous bird from the east. You know
what a ravenous bird is? A ravenous bird is a bird that
is hungry and eats up the prey. It's a predator. And he says,
the man that executes my counsel from a far country. Now, many
people, and I agree with this, believe that he's specifically
talking about a heathen king named Cyrus, who later on comes
and delivers the children of Israel out of the Babylonian
captivity here. And what he's saying is, God
is even in control of the empires and the kings of this world who
don't even know him. They're wicked and evil in themselves,
but God overrules all that, and he uses them as his instruments
to execute his counsel. We think of counsel, we think
about a bunch of people getting together and trying to have a
think tank. That's not the way it is with God. His counsel is
himself, it originates with him. And he says, yea, I have spoken
it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also
do it. Now, that's a sovereign God who's
in control, knows what He's doing. Everything's right in its place
according to Him. But now look at the ultimate
goal of it. Go on and read verse 12 and 13. Now, here's what He
says. Now, in light of that, hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted.
What is it to be stout-hearted? It's to be proud. It's to be
self-willed. It's to see yourself as independent. It's an unbeliever. It's a self-righteous
sinner. That's what we are by nature.
This is a message to those who need salvation. And he says,
"...hearken unto me, ye that are stout-hearted, that are far
from righteousness." You're trying to make yourself righteous. You're
trying to attain righteousness, but you're far from it. And your
attempts get you farther away. Your attempts to save yourselves
by your works don't get you any closer to God. or any closer
to being saved, they don't get you any closer to being righteous.
Now, naturally speaking, and I always go back to the – and
I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating – I always
go back to John 3 and John 4, because I think those are two
classic passages of Scripture right together that teach one
of the greatest lessons of the whole Bible. Now here, Christ
in John chapter 3 speaks to one of the most religious men of
his day, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin, one
who appeared outwardly righteous unto men. He was religious. In
every way, the world would look at him and say, he is saved. But he's not. How do you know? Because he didn't know Christ.
He's not trusting in Christ. He's not trusting in what Christ
would accomplish in redemption on the cross. Christ said, you must be born
again, Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus, he said,
here's what proves that sinners are condemned. Light is coming
to the world. Men love darkness and hate the light because their
deeds were evil. Their attempts to be holy, their
attempts to save themselves, their attempts to keep the law
are evil. And they are. when they're aimed
at the ground of salvation, because they deny Christ. So he deals
with Nicodemus. And then he says, then he goes
in John chapter 4, and he goes through Samaria of all places. Just the dregs of society to
the Jews. Gentiles, half-breed Gentiles,
traitors. You ought to read something of
the history between how the Samaritans got started and why they, it's
awful. Samaria was the capital city
of the Northern Kingdom, the Ten Tribes. Every king of that
nation was evil and wicked. And he goes to a woman of Samaria
who's not even outwardly religious. She's an adulteress, had five
husbands. The man she was living with at
that time wasn't even her husband. She had to come and draw from
Jacob's well at a time when nobody else was there because she couldn't
be seen with such holy people. And yet what does the Lord tell
her? She needs salvation by grace. Basically the same message he
told Nicodemus. He put Nicodemus and the woman
at the well on the same level as far as their salvation, as
far as righteousness. Nicodemus is religion. His pharisaism,
his dedication, his sincerity did not get him any closer to
God than the woman at the well. In fact, he was like this, stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness. But look at verse 13 now. Here's
God's plan for his people. He says, I bring near my righteousness,
not yours, mine, God's righteousness. Now, what is God's righteousness
in the Bible when it's speaking in Messianic terms? It's Christ
and Him crucified. where the gospel, the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness of God.
I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. The
picture there is it's not something that you are to grasp at. In
other words, religion teaches you to strive to make yourself
righteous. God says it won't be far off.
It'll be right there. You'll be righteous in Christ.
He says, it shall not tarry. Religion teaches us that righteousness
is something you have to wait for. Maybe I'll make it. Maybe I'll make it. Had a good
day today. I'm closer. Oh, I had a bad day. Take one step forward and two
steps back. No, he said, it shall not tarry.
And listen to it. He says, and I will place salvation
in Zion for Israel, my glory. That's Christ. counsel and the workings of God
for his people. All of God's works are aimed
toward that goal, his work of creation. You know, the reason
that God created this world was to glorify himself in the salvation
of sinners through Jesus Christ. That's the reason this ball was
created. That's why it was populated. That's why he put Adam and then
the fall of man. Oh, somebody said, well, what
went wrong? Well, man went wrong, but God didn't. That's right. Man went wrong,
but God didn't. Listen, the reason man fell is
because God purposed to save a people. A people of His choice in Christ,
in redemption, in providence. Did you know That if you're resting
in Christ tonight, that you were an object of God's love from
everlasting, that when He, and you know, we speak in terms of
when, and people argue about timing, I don't know how to,
I don't know how else to put this, but when He covenanted
with His Son, He had you on His heart and on His mind. That's
what the scripture says. And then when you were born into
this world, he loved you with an everlasting love, and he had
his hand of providence over you, even when you were a gomer."
You who've read Hosea know exactly what I'm talking about, don't
you? Even when you were a wife or a bride of whoredoms who didn't
know God, an enemy of God, he provided for you, kept you, protected
you, had you on his leash the whole time. That's right. And
then when Christ came into this world to die for your sins, we
weren't even born yet. But God, he had us on his shoulder,
on that amulet that had the names of the tribes of Israel, and
on his breastplate, on his heart. And then in redemption, the product
of an everlasting covenant of grace, which provided for, as
I said, the creation of the world, the fall of man, the preparation
of covenants, the coming of Christ and his work on the cross, his
resurrection, his ascension unto glory, and the gospel going out
into the world to every creature, and ultimately in his second
coming when he comes again to gather his people unto himself
and destroy this world. Every bit of it. His grace in
our lives, as God does keep us and preserve us before we're
born again, there's a time when God sovereignly sends His Spirit
to interject and to intercept us on our road of sin and depravity,
and he brings us under the preaching of the gospel, he gives us spiritual
life, literally resurrects us from the dead spiritually, he
gives us knowledge of God in Christ, he gives us faith to
come to Christ and rest in him, brings us to repentance and sheds
abroad the love of Christ in our hearts, and then, it doesn't
stop there, he continues to preserve us, he chastens us, he knows
how to deal with us, He chastises us when we need it with meat
just about every day, and He causes us to grow in grace and
in knowledge, and ultimately He'll glorify us with Him. We'll
be perfect. Have a new body that won't pain
and sorrow. God's wisdom, purpose, and plan
is always in effect. Now, turn with me to Ephesians
1, and I want to close the message with this. How will God bring that good
result to pass? through His wonderful counsel
and His workings. God's working right now, and
He's not going to stop. And I tell you, it's for His
glory and our good. And I tell you, it's whether I'm sick or
I'm healthy. And my friend, when I lay down
my head on the pillar for the last time and give up the last
breath, God doesn't stop there. He's still working it. He's got
a wonderful plan for my life. He said, how do you know that?
Because I'm resting in Christ, the glory of God. He's my hope. This is what he's talking about.
Look at verse 5. He's talking about that we're
blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. God chose
us. He predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. Verse 6. to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
Beloved." That's our hope right there. I'm accepted of God. I'm not acceptable. I'm accepted
of God in Christ. "...in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence." God's wonderful counsel, God's wonderful workings,
all wisdom and prudence. Verse 9, "...having made known
unto us the mystery of his will." What is that mystery of his will?
That's his purpose to save sinners through Jesus Christ. And he
says, "...according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself." What that means is that this is not a response
from God to anything that we do or have done or will do. It's
totally within himself. Verse 10, that in the dispensation,
or the segment of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him he must have the preeminence.
Verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose, now listen to it, according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. That's our God. God's telling
us what he's like. And he says in verse 12, he says
that we, sinners, saved by the grace of God, kept by the grace
of God, soon to be glorified by the grace of God, that we
should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. How will God bring all this good
result to pass? Well, he said it back over in
Isaiah 28, didn't he? He said, I'm going to send for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a sure foundation, a cornerstone. And
he that believeth in him shall not make haste, shall not be
confounded. He's going to fulfill it all in the person and work
and the glory of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you look
to him and run to him. All right. Let's sing hymn number
318 as our closing hymn. This is real appropriate for
this. I need thee every hour. Every second of every hour, am
I right? Hymn number 318.