Okay, tonight I'm gonna speak
out of Isaiah to start with. We're gonna cover a few verses
in here. The verses, like Drew said the
other day, verses sometimes they explain themselves. You don't
have to do any more. But these verses are kind of
that way. Subject to my message tonight
is Do we think too little of God? And you've heard this question
probably many times, but that's one that kind of hit me this
week when I was witnessing somebody, and I got to thinking, do you
think too little of God? And sometimes I think believers
do the same thing. We think too little of God. We
don't see him as he truly is. We see him as us. Sometimes people who don't know
him think they're like themselves and they could change his mind,
change things in the world with prayer. They think they can work
their way unto salvation and this sort of thing. But I hope
that when I get done tonight, When we talk about God, we're
going to see him in such an elevated place that it's beyond, we have
an idea, but it's beyond what most people would think. Most
people think that he's like us and that we He's just right there
and we can deal with him. But God is so much higher than
us and we have any idea. And our minds are full of sin
and sometimes it blocks us from seeing things as they are. But
if you're a believer tonight, God has revealed himself to you.
And he's shown you enough or as much as he sees fit for you
to know. And some things we'll never know
until we see him face to face. But when you look into the word,
you realize that, oh my, he is so much more than even what we
think. He is just beyond your imagination. So turn to Isaiah
chapter 55. Isaiah 55. Okay, we're going to start reading
here, talking about who God is. We're going to establish how
above all things that He is. We in ourselves, we have an idea
of who He is, but with our sin and our arrogance and even believers
sometimes, we just, we don't see Him that way. But in our
hearts, we know it to be so. But just in our minds and living
day to day, we don't think about Him as being this way. But it
says in verse eight, when we talk about God, people think
about, well, they know what he does and what he should do and
all, and they think of him as a king, as a king, sometimes,
that has his own country, his own nation, and he rules over
that nation, and he sends people to death, or he may give them
what they want, or more than what they want, but he's the
final voice in that kingdom. But to see the thing of it is,
God placed him there too. God is greater than even a king.
So in chapter 55, verse 8 and 9, it says here, this is talking
about God. He says, for my thoughts are
not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
said the Lord. For as heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts. So my thoughts are not your thoughts. He doesn't think like us. We're
limited in the things that we think about. He knows all. And
when we think about him, we still don't think about him as he truly
is. He says that my thoughts are
not your thoughts. We don't think like Christ does. We don't think like he does.
We know him and we worship him, but We don't know all those things
that he involved with. Neither are his ways, or your
ways, my ways. For the heavens are higher than
the earth. Because when you think about
God in the heavens, it's higher than the earth beyond anything
we have any idea. It's out of our reach mentally. And we're not there as far as
a saved people yet. Heaven is just, it's way beyond
more than we can imagine. But the heavens are higher than
the earth, and so are the ways, my ways, higher than your ways.
And that's why we a lot of times don't understand why, or people
don't understand his plan of salvation, because his ways are
not our ways, and my thoughts are more, and my thoughts than
your thoughts. So do we think too little of
God? Heaven's out of reach. But God spoke to the elements,
and they obeyed and formed time and formed our world. He was a God before the world
ever began. He spoke things into being. His
power is more than we can even imagine, to be able to speak
to the elements, and the elements form things. And His ways are
perfect ways. He is perfect in all ways. His
power is more than we can imagine. You know, like I said, we talk,
think like a king, but being God, he can do as he please for
his good pleasure and glory. And that's one thing that people
have trouble getting around is because we don't really know
exactly how great his pleasure is, how much it is and what his
pleasure is. We know all of that. This has
all been formed for his pleasure. He's beyond us. and for His pleasure
and also for His glory. We can't question the things
that God did because it's for His glory. He did it for Himself. We're here because He did it
for Himself. And that's why we always think
that we're greater than what we truly are. Turn to Romans
9. Romans chapter 9. Just thinking about God greater
than we are greater than we think that he is. That's what's so
amazing. I was witnessing someone this
week and they had no clue. We talked about how he could
rest in God, we could rest in our salvation, we could believe
Him, but all the things in the world were bothering him so bad,
he could not grasp the fact of who God truly is. He didn't seem
as great as He is. But in here, it says in Romans
9, verse 21, We're talking about the potter
and the clay. All these verses you all are familiar with. But
it says, hath not the potter power over the clay of the same
lump to make one vessel under honor and another to, excuse
me, to dishonor? He formed man in his own image
to do with as he pleased. He is the potter, we're the clay. And he does with us as he pleases. He made one to honor and one
to dishonor. Isn't that amazing? What's he
making one for dishonor for? Why wouldn't he have an opportunity
to be honorable? Change his ways, be like God. You can't do it. Do you question
what he says? Well, right here it says we should
not question. He's the potter and we're the
clay. What was God willing to show his wrath and to make his
power known and dirt with much long suffering, the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction and that he might make known the
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had a for
prepared under glory. He before prepared them. Before
time, He prepared the vessels for glory and those for wrath
before the beginning of time. This was not something that came
later, and it was not something that we convinced Him of. There's
so many people cannot grasp this because they feel like they're
losing their own power. But the thing of it is, He's
made salvation secure for us. We couldn't make it that way
in and of ourselves. So we're thankful that God did
this. Believers love the fact that
He chose us and set forth a salvation plan for us before the world
began. That is so wonderful. Because
if you know Him, then what He's done is secure, it's sure. And you know that when He reveals
Himself to you. As he said to Osea, I will call
them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which
were not beloved. So God is already, even though
he set things in order and into motion, he's still in control of all things. Let's see, I lost my place here. We think of God in a manner that
we fit Him in our own limited knowledge of what man is. We're
told to pray and pray or we'll change things. Change the things for things
around us. We have situations that happen
and we pray and we think God will change it. Preachers all
over the place tell you pray and God changes things. God don't
change things and He can't change things. We want things to be
our way. You know, the weather, work situations,
money, you know, give us money and positions. We want it our
way, not his way. And so therefore, we think too
little of God and we think we can change things. But prayer
changes you. It does not change things. It
doesn't change situations. They will have to be the way
they are. We can help with situations,
we think. He'd think we didn't have powers
that he has. We dream out in our mind how
to do or say things to affect situations. That's just us. That's the way we are as people.
We just think we're under control. We think we can talk people into
salvation, even. And you can't do that. But you
see, the thing of it is, let's go here to Let's go here to Genesis, Genesis
chapter 1, verse 1. Let's talk about God, His position,
what He's done, and how He's done it. Again, we think about Him like
us, and we don't put Him in a situation where this God was before the
world began. He spoke things into being. He's
just greater than anything you can know. And if He's here for
you and you're His children, this God that spoke things into
being is the one that's caring for you every day. It says in
verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
He did that at the very beginning. But you see, the thing of it
is, He spoke it all into being, and he spoke, he says in 1, he says, God spake
and light appeared. The verses after this, he talks
about that. He spoke and light appeared.
He spoke the firmament. He created earth and sea. He
created day and night. Creatures, he created creatures.
Made all animals on the earth and created man. All were created,
and then when that was done, God sat down and rested. Can
you imagine? Earth didn't exist. It wasn't
here. We don't know what was out there,
but Earth wasn't here. In this period of time, time
didn't exist until God made it time. All this he did before
the world ever began. God is even more than this. Before
the creation of the world, he set forth a plan for man. This
is something that man does not understand in himself. He predestinated
all things. He set up a world that all these
things would happen in order so that it's all for his children,
so that his children, when it comes time for them to go home,
they go home and they go to heaven. Everything is in order. Your
salvation is sure and and perfect, nothing can interfere with it.
But he did that before he spoke the world into being. Before
time, he did that. The Irish life, where we're at,
what we do, where we go, all these things were set up before
the world began. Turn to Ephesians, chapter one. We always go to Ephesians, but
it's so clear. Well, you're going to get there
before I am. Ephesians chapter one talks about man and how our salvation was
set up before the world began. We sometimes don't think of God
as this much, but before the world ever began, there was no
time. There was no earth. There was
no light. There was nothing. And God chose a people. He elected
a people. That means that he elected each
one of you, and he knows you by name, and you're his child,
and when the fullness of time came for you, he revealed Christ
unto you, and he's keeping you. Everything was planned out for
you. For you. It says here in verse
3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. All this is done in heavenly
places. Accordingly, he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. The world didn't
exist. Sometimes you think about it
while the world was here and that he chose out people. No,
this was before time. This was before This was eternity
past, it was done. He chose a people, each one of
you, and according as He has chosen us to Him before the foundation
world that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, He predestinated us into the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Now, do you have free will? People
think they got a free will. When it comes to this, they think
they got a free will. You know, I can be a good church
goer. I can be a good generous, be
a good neighbor, do all these things and get favor with God. And I can say yes to him if I
want, and I can say no to him if I want. But you see the way
it says here, we don't have that freedom. Man does not have that
free will. I got up this morning and put
on my pants and my shirt and drank me some coffee and all
these decisions I thought I was making. He predestinated all
things. Concerning you in this world.
But it's for you. He said I predestinated that
preplanned us unto the adoption of children according to the
good pleasure his will to the praise of the glory of of His
grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. This
God that spoke the world in being for all believers made us accepted
in the Beloved. Here we are, lost sinners, dead
in our sin. And before the foundation of
the world, God set forth a plan that His Son would come and pay
the price for our sins and overcome death for each one of you. He
did this in the beginning of time. He set everything up so
that nothing can interfere with you and your life. In whom we
have a redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. You see, we don't own
salvation. It's like Drew said the other
day in his message. Salvation, God owns it. That's
his salvation, and he graces you with it. Says, wherein he
bounded, hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. He
hath made known unto you the mystery of his will. Not everybody
sees this. Not everybody believes this.
Not everybody is given faith to know this and to believe this.
I was talking to somebody one day and he said, I don't hear
what you're saying, but he said, I don't know how to do that,
how to have faith, how to believe that. He didn't either. And we didn't either. We didn't
have faith and we couldn't conjure up faith. That is given unto
you by God. And so therefore, we understand,
and we understand this plan of salvation. We understand this
God, but just sometimes we don't think of him as that great, that
big. It says here, salvation was for his pleasure.
Well, he elected a people for his pleasure. And we don't know
why he elected us. And we don't know why he chose
who he did. And we don't know why, even the
names that we have, he knows who we are before the world began. This is something that just blows
my mind because with so many people, and including us many,
many times, we don't think of God as this great, as this high,
as this mighty that he is. We don't think of that. It says,
in the fullness of time, he might gather together and one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in him. And we've obtained an inheritance
being predestinated, say it again, according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
of God's will, not ours. all things after his own will.
It's just something for his pleasure. We believe it, we have faith,
we see him in faith, and yet there's so much we don't see.
He's revealed to himself, he's revealed to us with so many things. He reveals to us what he sees
fit. The fact that we have faith,
it just hit me the other day when I was talking to somebody,
the fact that we even have faith is given to us and before that
we couldn't conjure up faith and we didn't know what it was.
We tried to do it, but we didn't know what faith was. We could
not rest. We didn't understand at all what
faith is until God revealed himself to us. And then we believed and
we believed in him. even though he's spiritual, that
he exists regardless of what anybody says or what we think,
we know who he is, that he exists and that he is our Lord and our
Savior, that he's done all things for us. Let's turn back to Isaiah
again. Isaiah chapter 40. Verse 25, Isaiah 40, verse 25. To whom then will he liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? He says here, lift up your eyes
on high and behold who has created these things that brings out
their hosts by number. He called them all by names by
the greatness of his might for he is strong in power and not
one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, faints not, neither gets weary. He never tires, he faints not. He's looking after you, and he
faints not. Nothing surprises him. He never
gets tired. He's always watching over you. There is no searching of his
understanding. Everything he does is holy and
right, and there's no end to his understanding. Our thoughts
aren't his thoughts. Our ways are not his ways, because
we don't have full understanding. There is no searching of his
understanding. He gives power to the faint,
and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall fall.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not
be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. So when we look at our Lord in
this light, He has created these things that brings out their
hosts by number and calls them by names by the greatness of
His might. Turn to Isaiah chapter 41. But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. whom
I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from
the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant,
I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away." Again, He's our God
in everything that happens. He sets up, He chooses, and He
makes happen. Turn to Isaiah 42.1. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. God who created
this universe created all things. And he says, my servant whom
I uphold, mine elect, in whom I delighteth. In this man that
walks this earth, this human who is depraved, who He has saved
and made it so that that servant, that elect, can stand before
Him in pure righteousness. They can't stand before Him in
there and over themselves, but He created a way that His elect
can. that His children could stand
before Him. He did that through the blood
of Christ, and Christ overcame death so that we could be standing
before Him. The sacrifice that His Son made
for us is absolutely beyond amazing. He says, Mine elect in whom my
soul delighteth. He put His Son through all the
agony that He had to go through, satisfied the law for us, but
he delights in us, that's why he did it. Turn to Isaiah 42,
six and eight. I the Lord have called thee to
righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give
thee for a covenant of thine mind people and for a light of
the Gentiles. Turn to eight. I am the Lord
that is my name and my glory Will I not give to another neither
my praise to graven images? God is a jealous God. He's going
to have his glory. He's going to satisfy himself
with his work. And it's his glory that's going
to be received. And he delighteth in our souls.
Isaiah 43, 1. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. Don't you sometimes doubt when
you pray for something, or you need help, or you pray? Maybe
he won't answer your prayers. Maybe he won't hear. But no, he delights in his elect
and his children. And He does all these things
for us. And He says, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Called you by your name. We name our children, don't we?
We name them the name that God gave us to name. He lets nothing
by chance. This God leaves nothing by chance.
Verse 7. Even everyone that is called
by the name, for I have created him for my glory, I have formed
him, yea, I have made him. He's talking about his children.
And verse 10 to 13 he says here, Ye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen. And ye may know and believe
me, and understand that I am before me. There is no God formed,
neither shall there be one after me. He is the only God. Salvation is only through Him.
He says, I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. You have to know this God that
I'm talking about. There is no savior. I have dedicated
declared and have saved and I have showed when there was no strange
God among you. Therefore you are my witnesses. Sayeth the Lord that I am God. Yay. Before the day was, I am
he, and there is none that deliver out of my hand. I will work and
who shall let it pay. He's got power. He's he's more
than we could ever imagine. And then verse 21 and 25, he
says that this people have a form for myself. They shall show forth
my praise. I in 25, I even, I am he that
blotted out that transgressions for mine own sake and will not
remember that sins. And then 44, six. Thus saith
the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of
hosts. I am the first. I am the last. And beside me,
there is no God. Do we think of God as too little? Do we not think of him as who
he is? Many people do. I think believers
are better at thinking about who God is and knowing who he
is. than unbelievers. He says that you can't come to
me and that you won't come to me as a people, as a lost people,
as sinners. He says you won't do it. But
when it says it here in this word that you will come and that
he will care for his children, he will care for you. He takes
pleasure in you. He made it so that you know him.
And sometimes I think we just forget how great he truly is. One thing we have trouble with
is we need to let go of ourselves. We think we're more than we truly
are. We're not that great in and of ourselves. We have no right to think of
ourselves too great. We have no right to that because
we're sinners. And you can read here where God
is the one that saved us because we have no abilities. We have
the word to show us who God is, but many times it slips out of
our mind or we don't look. God's elect to understand God
to the amount he reveals, but more than natural man. He reveals
a certain amount about who he is to you, but natural man just
has his own imagination. He doesn't know how great God
truly is. Natural man is made blind by
God that he may show his love and grace in his elected children. Thing of it is, can you believe
this? We do. We believe this. If you're here
and lost, or lost someone here that's lost, If we had some talking
to someone on the street, they don't believe this. Not unless
God opens their ears and eyes and reveals himself to it, they
don't believe this and they don't understand. And maybe that's
a good thing. Maybe it's a good thing they
don't understand because they couldn't stand it with the condition
they're in. But the thing of it is, if knowing
this God is who he is, It's different between life and death. It's
different between eternity in heaven or eternity in hell. And
hell is not something that ends. It goes on forever, for man can
never pay for his debt to God. So hell goes on forever. But
eternity with this God is guaranteed. It's sure. You don't have to
worry about losing it. His work goes on forever and
it's for his glory. Think about this. Do we think
too little of God? Reminisce upon these verses if
that's the case. Matt, would you pray for us? I had a push stop but I don't
know if that's right.