Northern Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert.

In Isaiah chapter 45, beginning in verse five, we read these words, 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 may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there's none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things." Now that is what I've entitled this message, I the Lord do all these things.

Now Isaiah chapter 45 is a prophecy regarding Cyrus, king of Persia. Now Cyrus was raised up by God during the 5th century BC to tell the children of Israel that were in Babylon to go back to their homeland and rebuild the temple and rebuild the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

Now what had taken place is the children of Israel through their disobedience, and Jeremiah said this would happen in Jeremiah 25, through their disobedience, God allowed a man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar that he had raised up to come in and sack Jerusalem.

The walls of Jerusalem were torn down. The temple was torn down, the place was left in rubbles, nothing more. And the children of Israel were carried away to the land of Babylon, and they were there for 70 long years. Now, after this 70 years period was ended, as Jeremiah said it would, Cyrus, is the man who defeated Nebuchadnezzar and ruled that city with the Medes and the Persians.

He came in and the children of Israel were under his rule. And the scripture says the Lord stirred his heart to call the children of Israel to go back He said, the God of heaven has revealed himself to me. And he would have you go back to Jerusalem and rebuild his temple. And he told them to do that.

And this is a prophecy concerning this man, Cyrus, 200 years before he was born in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 45. Now let's look in verse 28 of chapter 44. If you have a Bible and you can read along, God is speaking. He's the one that saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure.

Even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built and the temple, thy foundation shall be laid. Now remember Nebuchadnezzar had leveled Jerusalem. He burned the temple. He'd knocked down the walls. And what does Cyrus say? You're going back to build back up Jerusalem. Now, verse 1 of chapter 45, this is this prophecy with regard to Cyrus. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, and like I said, this was written 200 years before he was born, whose right hand I have holden.

His right hand signifies his power, and the Lord is saying, I gave him this power. He became the most powerful man in the world. He ruled over the entire world at this time, and there was one reason he did. The Lord gave him this power. Power belongeth to the Lord. You know, I think it's so interesting when people talk about, interesting's not the right word. I don't know what word to use when people talk, he's a powerful man, he's a powerful woman. No, they're not. Only the Lord is powerful.

And whatever position of authority they might have, the Lord put them there. And the reason Cyrus has the power he has is because the Lord gave him this power. He said, I'm holding who's right hand I beholden, to subdue nations before him, I'll loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut."

Now this is a reference to how Cyrus defeated Babylon. This is in secular history inexplicably. The doors of the city were left open. They weren't closed. And Cyrus came in through those doors and destroyed the city. And God said, the reason this is going to happen is I am going to leave them open.

You know, the Lord's in control of everything. I love that. He is in control of everything. He's the first cause of everything. This is a demonstration of that. This doesn't prove this. We believe what the Bible says, not because of what some man says, but I think it's interesting Stephen Hawking, the English physicist who In his book on a brief history of time, he made this statement.

He went back and forth over whether or not he believed in God. But he said, if there is a God, which there is. He was wrong there. But he said, if there is a God, there's no such thing as free will. God controls everything. God's God. That's the only thing that makes sense. He is the first cause and the controller of every event. He has complete sovereignty over the free and uncoerced actions of men. Men do what they want to do. Whether evil or good, men are doing what they want to do. But God is in control of all of it.

He's the first cause of all things. He says in verse 2, I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron. All of his success is because of me. I will go before him.

Power belongeth to the Lord. He sets up one, he puts down another. He set up Nebuchadnezzar, he put him down. He set up Cyrus, he put him down. All the political leaders that are alive today are there according to his purpose, fulfilling his decree. They may not know it, but that's true nonetheless. Cyrus was God's puppet, doing God's will, performing God's bidding.

You know, I can say the same thing of the devil. The devil's God's devil, and he can't do anything except that God allows him to do it and purposes for him to do it. He's under the complete sovereign control of God. There's not a battle between God and Satan. God's God, Satan is a creature doing God's will for his ultimate glory. He may not know it. but he is under God's thumb doing God's will for God's glory that God's decrees might come to pass. God really is God. He really is in control as this passage of scripture speaks so eloquently.

He says to Cyrus, I'll 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." I'm giving you your success. I'm giving you your riches. And you're gonna know that all you are is because of me, the God of Israel. I am in absolute control. And here is why you're performing my will. Verse four, for Jacob, my servant's sake. And Israel, mine elect, I call thee by thy name.

I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me." Now remember, he's saying this 200 years before it takes place. So ours wasn't yet born. He says, I've named you. Well, didn't Cyrus's mom and dad name him? No, God did. The reason you have your name is because that's what God named you. Yes, your parents gave you that name, but it's because he purposed for them to do that because he is in control of everything.

And he does what he does for the elect. Now election is just as prominent in the old Testament as it is in the new Testament. Here, he says, you're doing this for Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect. Election is God choosing who would be saved before the time began. Ephesians 1, 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. God's elect. That's who God acts in behalf of. And he says to Cyrus, you're doing all that you're doing for Jacob, my servant, say Israel, my elect.

I've called thee by thy name. I've surnamed thee though thou has not known me. Verse five. I love this verse. I am the Lord. Now the word is Jehovah. The King James Version translators translated it Lord because they felt like it was a word too holy to even mention. And I like the attitude. I don't want to take his name in vain, but his name is Jehovah.

That's his own personal name that he has given himself. I am Jehovah and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, he says to Cyrus, though thou has not known me. Now let's consider His name. I am Jehovah and there is none else. Now the word Jehovah, the name Jehovah, is taken out of the name He gave to Moses. When Moses said, when I go back to the children of Israel to tell them you're going to deliver them and they're going to ask me what's His name, what am I going to say? And God replied, I am that I am. Tell them I am hath sent thee.

Not I was, not I will be, not I could be, not I should be, not I want to be. I am that I am. Jehovah comes from that I am the self-existent one. I have no needs outside of myself. I am the utterly and only independent being. I am that I am. He doesn't need something to take place before his will can be done. He has no needs outside of himself. All of his attributes come from his self-existence. Because he's self-existent, he already knows everything. There's nothing outside of him that he doesn't already know. He's all wise. His sovereignty comes from his self-existence.

There's nothing that needs to take place outside of his will for his will to be done. Creation's an example of this. He created the universe from nothing. He needed nothing to work with. He created the universe ex nihilo. He brought something from nothing. Only he can do that.

He is all-powerful because He's self-existent. His will is not dependent upon contingencies taking place. He is the self-existent One. All of His attributes, His holiness, His justice, His righteousness, His power, His wisdom, His immutability come out of this. He is self-existent. You and I are such dependent beings. The next breath you take is dependent upon Him. We're dependent upon Him for all things, but He is utterly and absolutely independent.

That's what Jehovah means. He is the only true sovereign. You know, people talk about sovereign nations. There's only one sovereign. He is sovereign over all. Jehovah. I am Jehovah and there is none else. There is no God beside me. If my God is not the self-existent one, my God is a non-existent God. It's a false God. It's a God I've made up. It's the God of my imagination, but it's not the true and living God. He said, there's none beside me. He said, I go to thee, though thou has not known me. Verse 6, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there's none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else.

And then he gives this glorious statement. regarding his character. And before I read this, I want to say, this is the only God. A God that is not this is not God at all. It's a false God, an idol. Here is the living God. This is the one we worship. This is the one we trust.

Now listen to these words from God himself. He says, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Now this is God. This is God being God. And any representation of a God that is not this God, is a non-existent God, made up in a foolish man's brain. Look in this same chapter, or chapter 46, God says in verse nine, something very similar. He says, remember the former things of old, for I am God. And there's none else. I am God and there's none like me.

Declaring the end from the beginning. What the end is, He's already declared it to be from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things that are not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. calling a ravenous bird from the east, a man that executes my counsel from a far country. I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it. This is the God of the Bible. We read in Isaiah chapter 45 verse 20, assemble yourselves and come near, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations.

They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven emerage and pray unto a God that cannot save." Now let me ask you a question. Is your God a God that can't save unless you do something? Is He dependent upon something you first need to do before He can save you? That is a false God. That God's not independent. That is a false God.

He says in verse 21, Tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? There is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. He's first a just God. No sin will go unpunished. He's a just God and a Savior. He says, look unto me and be ye saved. Don't look to your works. Don't look to men. Don't look to religion. Don't look to churches. Look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else.

God speaks of himself. I form the light. and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Now, men have struggled with this verse of scripture. What does it mean when God says, I create evil? How can that be? And that kind of leads to a question men have asked for years. for centuries, for decades, since the beginning.

If God is all-powerful and God is good, why is there so much evil in the world? And you think of the suffering and the evil that's in this world, it's heart-wrenching. I think of things, crimes against children that people do, the sexual perversions, the wars, there's so much heartbreaking sin and evil in this world.

Now, if God is good, why does he let it happen? If God is good, why does he let there be hurricanes and tsunamis and earthquakes that kill people? How can he let diseases just spread? If God's good and he can prevent these things, and every one of us have thought that, if God's good and he could prevent these things, why does he let them happen? It's called the problem of evil. This is problematic. If God's good, how come there's evil?

Now, let me make a comment about that. Everyone who thinks that, including me, is saying, I am better than God. I am more moral than God. If I was God, I would not let these things take place. And when a man makes that statement, he's being a pure hypocrite, because there's many things he could prevent from taking place that he doesn't.

And now, all of a sudden, he's on his moral high ground, sitting in judgment on God. Whatever God does is right. God's too wise to err, He's too kind to be cruel, and God is in control of these things, and God brings good out of evil. Now, I don't understand how all that is going to be, but I trust His character. God's good. God is good all the time.

Well, why is there evil? Well, let me ask another question. How can a good God not send me to hell and get me out of his universe? How can a good God not send you to hell and get you out of his universe? God is good all the time, and he is in control of evil, and he always brings good out of evil. And let me give you the great proof of that.

It's the cross. What is the most evil thing to ever take place? when men nailed the Son of God to a cross in bitter enmity, wanting to kill Him, wanting to get Him out of the earth. There's no more wicked thing that's ever taken place. He who's good, He who's altogether lovely and glorious, the Son of God, when men were allowed to do what they wanted to do, they nailed Him to a cross. What's the most, what's the What's the most good? What's the best, what's the most glorious thing God's ever done? The cross. Through the cross, men are saved and God is glorified. Yes, the cross is the most evil thing in the world and yes, the cross is how God can save sinners. It's the most glorious thing in the world. God brings good out of evil.

Let me remind you what, Joseph said to his brethren, they had maliciously sold him, put him in a pit, waited for some merchants to come, sold him to be a slave. They took his coat, stripped him of it that his dad made, covered it with blood, brought it back to the dad, says, is this your coat? Made their father Jacob think that he had been eaten by a beast and maliciously and coldly sold him as a slave in Egypt. Joseph remembers it.

Years later, 17 years later, he's made the head man of Egypt. And he says, you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. You see, he went into Egypt as a slave, and he ended up being the most powerful man in Egypt. You can read about it in the last part of Genesis. And God used him to save his brethren from that famine that was coming. You can count that this is true with regard to everything. What men do is evil. You meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. And one of these days that will all be seen. God says, I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.

I love Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth. Verse 2 says, And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep. Now, does that mean when God created the heavens and the earth that He created them without form, and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep?

Well, if that's what it means, I believe that. But some have thought that there's something that took place between Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2. Maybe it was something catastrophic. Maybe the fall of Satan because he was cast out of heaven and who knows what all was involved in that.

But in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and some have said this means, and the earth became without form and void. And darkness covered the face of the deep, and the spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, let there be light.

And there was light. Now, I think it's interesting that the sun and the moon were not created until the fourth day. I think this is speaking of the Lord Jesus, the light. I form the light. I am the light. God is light and Him is no darkness at all. He said, I form the light and I create darkness. What is darkness? The absence of light. The absence of light. What takes away darkness? Light.

When light comes, darkness flees. He said, I make peace and I create evil. I make peace. He's the God of peace. Christ is called the Prince of Peace. He made peace. Colossians 1.20 said, having made peace by the blood of his cross, Christ made it to where God is at complete peace and satisfaction with everybody that Jesus Christ died for. They have no sin. He made that peace. He's the God of peace.

And he said, I create evil. Now, this is where men stumble. You're saying God created evil? I'm saying the only reason there is evil is because of the purpose and will of God. Now, somebody says, I can't swallow that. Well, what do you believe? The alternative is something's in control other than God. Now, God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He didn't say if you eat. He said when you do.

The fall was a part of God's purpose. Everything is a part of God's purpose. I love the scripture in Revelation 13, 8 where Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And God created the universe. for the Lamb to be slain in time. He was slain before time, and He had to come in time to be slain. Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior.

God is going to bring good out of everything. He is God. Somebody says, well, He permitted evil. Now, wait a minute. If all He did was permit evil, that means it was there all along with Him. No, there was a time when all there was was God. And everything there is, He created.

Now, do I understand this? No. Do I believe this? Yes. And I bow to this God. This is the God I worship. This is the God of the Bible. Any God that is not this God is not God at all. This is the God we worship. This is the God we trust. I trust His character. I might not understand everything He's doing. I don't. But He does. And I trust Him. This One who said, I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. The only thing to do before this God is bow. We would never know his character had he not created evil. Every bad thing that happens, he's in control of. How would we know God is gracious? How would we know God is just? How would we know God is merciful? How would we know God is love? Without this, God makes his character known through this. Thank God for who he is. I, the Lord, do all these things.