Let's turn again tonight to the
28th chapter of the book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 28 I Hope Never to attempt to preach
to you Anything God hasn't already preached to me But sometimes
The Lord gives me a message that I think more than for anyone
else, specifically for me. And this one, I needed to hear
him speak. My text will be verses 23 through
29 of Isaiah 28, but I want us to back up to verse one again
and look at this chapter as a whole. In the first 13 verses, God's
prophet spoke of God's judgment upon Ephraim. Judgment God brought
upon that nation because they would not hear They would not hear his word
They would not hear his prophet. They would not obey his voice
They would not believe on the Son of God What a warning he
gave Eternity bound sinners who will not hear when God speaks,
by their willful rebellion and unbelief, by their deliberate
choice not to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, heap upon themselves
the everlasting wrath and judgment of God. That's what's portrayed
here in this passage of Scripture. Woe to the crown of pride, to
the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower,
which are on the head of the valets of them that are overcome
with wine. He's not just talking about physical
drunkenness. They were drunk with the wine
of Babylon's fornication, the wine of the idols they worshiped. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty
and strong one, the king who's coming to judgment to destroy
the nation, the king of Assyria raised up by God specifically
to be an instrument in his hand to destroy Ephraim. Behold, the
Lord hath a mighty one, a mighty and strong one which is a tempest
of hail, and a destroying storm as a flood of mighty waters overflowing
shall cast down to the earth with the hand The crown of pride,
the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet, and the
glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall
be a fading flower, and the hasty fruit before the summer, which
when he that looketh upon it seeth it, and while it is yet
in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall the Lord of
hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto
the residue of the people, until God's elect render among them.
In that day of judgment, Christ will be a crown of glory and
a diadem of beauty, and for the spirit of judgment to him that
sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the
battle to the gates. Oh, blessed be his name. God
always has an elect remnant. In wrath, he remembers mercy. Even amongst the most reprobate
peoples of the world, there is a remnant chosen of God to whom
Christ has made a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. Rejoice,
you who believe, for God hath not appointed us to wrath. but
to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. What a statement,
what a statement. God hath not appointed us to
wrath, he did many, but he's appointed us to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse seven, but they also have
heard through wine, through strong drink, they're out of the way
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They're swallowed up of wine.
They're out of the way through strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. For
the tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there
is no place clean. The Lord God describes for us
this condition in which he finds even his elect remnant. We're
no different from anybody else. You and I are no different from
any other sinner on the face of God's earth. No difference
in us by nature. no difference in our hearts,
no difference in our minds, no difference in our behavior, we
too were engulfed in the ungodliness that's described here. But the
Lord God is gracious still to his chosen. We were talking back in the office
a little bit ago Rex said that he saw somewhere one in ten babies
born at the hospital here in Danville. He's addicted to heroin. Shub and I had a breakdown a
year or so ago, and in the middle of the night, a police officer
stopped to help us returning from duty in Danville, and we
chatted a little bit while we were waiting on some help. He told us that two out of every
three calls they get, two out of every three calls in this
whole town are drug-related. And as we talk about those things
for a little bit, my heart is screaming, thank
you, my God. Thank you, my God, for intervening
grace. Grace by which he snatches sinners
like us as brands from the burning gives us life and faith in Christ
Verses 9 10 God promises to teach sinners made teachable by his
grace Giving all who trust Christ the blessed rest of his salvation
This is the refreshing Whom shall he teach knowledge? Who will
God teach? And whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? Then that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breast. Who will God teach? Thank thee,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thou hast hid these things and
wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. God takes proud
rebel sinners like you and me and causes us to bow before him
as ignorant babes receiving his word gladly because of his work
of grace in us. For precept must be upon precept. Precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. For with stammering
lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. to whom
he said, this is the rest, wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest,
and this is the refreshment. What a promise, what mercy, what
wonderful undeserved grace. Still in spite of God's promise,
the promise made here to chosen sinners, Isaiah says of the reprobate
the incorrigible rebel Yet they would not hear Yet they would not hear But the
word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept Precept
upon precept line upon line line upon line here a little there
a little that they might go and fall backward and be broken and
snared and taken. The very word by which God is
pleased to reveal his son in you, the very word by which God
was pleased to grant you life and faith in his son, God has
ordained to the reprobate, the incorrigible rebel that that
word calls him to go and fall backward. and be broken and snared
and taken. Stopping their ears, stiffening
their necks, hardening their hearts, they would not hear. Instead, they made lies their
refuge and hid themselves under falsehood. And their refuge of
lies, God exposed and swore himself to destroy. Wherefore hear the
word of the Lord, verse 14, ye scornful men, that rule this
people which is in Jerusalem. Because you have said, you prophets
and priests, you who rule the people, you've taught them and
you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are
we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, For we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
When God comes in judgment for me, everything will be all right.
I've taken refuge. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation,
Christ Jesus the rock. He that believeth shall not make
haste. He shall not be moved. He shall
not be confounded. He shall not be confused. He
who believes on the Son of God stands fast built on this sure
foundation. God says, judgment also will
I lay to the lion, righteousness to the plummet. Both those who
have a false refuge and those who built on this sure foundation.
God says, I'm going to lay justice to the line. I'm going to lay
righteousness to the plumage. If your foundation meets the
measurement, your foundation is good. If not, I'll sweep it
away. And the only foundation is Christ
Jesus, the Lord laid by God in Zion. and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the
hiding place, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth,
it shall take you. For morning by morning shall
it pass over, By day and by night, and it shall be a vexation only
to understand the reports. Oh, what a vexation it will be
to eternally ruin sinners in the everlasting fires of hell
to be made to understand the report they refuse to believe. For the bed is shorter than that
a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower
than that he can wrap himself in it. For the Lord shall rise
up in Mount Perism, and he shall be wroth in the valley of Gibeon,
that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass
his act, his strange act, judgment, wrath. pouring out of the terror
of his wrath, God's strange work, God's strange act, everlasting
hell, God's strange work, God's strange act. He who delights
in mercy, it is a strange thing that he should forever damn the
ungodly, but damn them he will, because he is just, he's righteous
and true. He says the soul that sinneth
it shall die. Now therefore, be ye not mockers,
lest your bans be made strong. For I have heard from the Lord
of host, of consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. Now, let's look at verses 23
through 29. Here God's faithful prophet declares
regarding both God's judgment upon the reprobate and his matchless
free saving grace toward chosen sinners in Christ Jesus. that
our all-wise, ever-gracious God is wonderful in counsel and excellent
in working. In wrath and in mercy, He is
wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. That's my subject.
That's what God the Holy Ghost inspired Isaiah to tell us about
both God's execution of justice and his exercise of grace. Verse
23. Give ye ear and hear my voice. Hearken and hear my speech. Doth
the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the quads
of his ground? when he hath made plain the face
thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the
cummin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley,
and the rye in their place? How does he do that? For his
God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches
are not threshed with a threshing instrument, Neither is a cart
wheel turned upon the coming, but the fitches are beaten out
with a staff, and the coming with the rod. Bread corn is bruised,
because he will not be ever threshing it, nor break it with the wheel
of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh
forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in working. Isaiah seems to have watched
the farmer at work and admired the man. Admired his patience,
his wisdom, his skill. Shelby's dad was a farmer. He
had a very small farm on which dad shot a living, 70 or 80 acres
down in Floyd County, Virginia. And I watched him with admiration
in the days I knew him. He was a brilliant man. able
to scratch out a living for his family on that farm. God taught
him how. So it is with all. Isaiah says
the farmer, he's wise, he knows when to plow. He knows how to
rightly break up his ground. He knows what's best to sow in
this field and what's best to sow in that. He knows how to
gently beat the grain from the husk when gentleness is needed,
and how to roughly beat the grain from the husk when roughness
is needed. His God teaches him. And then
Isaiah draws a conclusion. He says, if this man taught of
God is wise, how wise God the teacher must be. If this man
taught of God has skill, what skill God his teacher must have. Upon the surface, that's exactly
what the text teaches. All the arts and skills and abilities
men and women in this world possess are gifts of God freely bestowed
upon whom he will by his sovereign pleasure. so that men like Bezalel
and Aholam are prepared by God from their youth up with wisdom
and skill to perform a specific work for the performing of God's
goodness and grace in establishing his tabernacle. But that's not
all. The philosophical mind of Newton,
the inventive skills of Edison, the mathematical brain of Einstein,
the artistic abilities of Michelangelo, these are all gifts of God. Those men excelled in fields
where other men were useless because God gave them special
abilities and special opportunities. Other men may have been given
equal talents and equal abilities, but they were kept from the forefront
by God's providence because he had other work for them to do.
But all the wisdom, all the skill of the wisest, noblest, most
able man, most able woman in the world can be traced to just
one source. God gave it. God gave it. Even with regard to natural things,
who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou'st not received it? Men think themselves
something, and their heads swell because one is smarter than another,
one is stronger than another, one has abilities another doesn't
have, and they're very proud. God Almighty, God alone makes
men to differ. Isaiah saw the hand of God everywhere. He saw the hand of God in everything. Oh, God, teach me to see your
hand everywhere, to see your hand in everything, to observe
your wisdom and your skill. And when the prophet beheld the
skills of the creature, he was made to see the greatness of
God's wisdom. This also, he says, cometh from
the Lord of hosts. which is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in working. I want this evening to show you
just one thing as I wrap this message up. The Lord our God
is indeed wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. I'll
call your attention to first the Lord God in his counsel and
in his work, and then draw some lessons from this which is revealed
to us in the text, as God will let me. The more I know of God,
the more I admire him. The more I know of God, the greater
reason I have to trust him and obey him. Oh, God, teach us this. Teach you and teach me to know
Him. Teach us to admire Him. Teach us to obey Him. First,
understand this. As I read these 29 verses of
Isaiah 28, I understand that God Almighty has a purpose, an
eternal, unalterable purpose by which He rules the universe. Anyone who attempts to do anything
worth doing has a plan, a purpose by which he works. You start
to build a house, you draw the plans. You have something in
mind. Most of the time, folks put it
on paper, and they go by the plans, they go by the design.
Things that are done haphazardly usually look haphazard, and they're
not usually worth the time it took to do them. We all look
upon men with a purpose, with admiration. We look upon them
as men worthy of respect. And yet when we declare that
which is obvious, it's obvious by creation. It's obvious by
the universe in which we live. It's obvious by your own mind
and conscience. It's certainly obvious in the
word of God. When we declare that the God
of glory is a God of purpose, absolute, unalterable, eternal
purpose. Men and women are enraged. They're
enraged. I won't worship a God like that.
He's not my God. I recognize you don't worship
him, but I'm here to tell you he is your God, whether you worship
him now or not. He is a God of purpose. He rules
all things everywhere, all the time. Nothing is left to chance. Nothing is accidental. God has
determined the end from the beginning. He has not left so much as a
single screw loose in the machinery of providence. Everything that
is done in this world is done according to God's sovereign
eternal purpose. That enrages the rebel, the unbeliever,
the idolater, It gives me comfort, satisfaction,
peace, and refreshing like words can't begin to describe. Our
God rules. Our Heavenly Father has his way
everywhere all the time. Let's look at a couple of passages
of scripture. Turn back a few pages to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. The Apostle Paul says, all things
are of God. Of him, through him, and to him
are all things. Here in Isaiah 14, the Lord of
hosts speaks. Verse 24, the Lord of hosts has
sworn saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass. And as I have purposed, so shall
it stand. And then he describes for us
Lucifer's raging, look at verse 26. This is the purpose that
is purposed upon the whole earth. And this is the hand that is
stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? His hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back? Look in chapter 47, Isaiah 47. Verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there's
none like me. He said, I'm the only God there
is and there's no God made by men that's even like me. How
is that God? Declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times and things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. Why, when I take a notion to
do so, that's poor language. God doesn't take notions. He
purposed it from eternity. He'll take a raven, and cause him to feed his prophet.
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, The man that executed
my counsel from a far country, yea, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. When John was called up in the
spirit to heaven, he saw a door open and he was called up to
heaven and he saw a throne, God on his throne. A throne encircled
by a bow, the bow of God's covenant. He saw a lamb as it had been
slain, the Lord Jesus. He who sits on the throne, the
lamb of God rising up out of the midst of the throne, and
he saw a book. A book in the hand of that man
who is the lamb in the midst of the throne. The book of God's
purpose. The book of God's decree. The
book of divine predestination. And it gets to chapter 10, he
sees the lamb with one foot on the earth and one on the sea
and he opens the book. He turns the pages of the book
and thus fulfills God's purpose. He who has his way in the whirlwind
controls the will of man. He who rules the raging sea,
as Rex read about just a little bit ago, rules the hearts of
men. He who directs the lightning
bolts directs the affairs of men. So I believe that man is
free. Man can do whatever he wants
to. Well, man is free to do whatever he wills. And in as much as he
has the ability, all men always do exactly what they want to
do. But man doesn't have much ability. And every man is responsible
for what he does and wants to do. Yet the great eternal God
sovereignly works out his purpose and accomplishes his will as
perfectly as though men were programmed machines to carry
out his designs. Well, you make man a robot. Well,
he's not much better than that and a lot worse. Men only carry
out God's design. Judas Iscariot was not a mistake.
God Almighty ordained Judas, the son of perdition, for the
accomplishment of redemption through Judas' betrayal. Pilate
was not a mistake. God Almighty raised up that barbaric
man to sit in judgment over the Son of God in order to accomplish
redemption by the sacrifice of his son. God has a purpose. A purpose by which he always
works for the praise of his own glory. Here's the second thing. God is excellent in working. Excellent in the execution of
his purpose. As his counsel is wonderful,
his works, which are but the execution of his counsel, the
fulfillment of his counsel, are excellent. his work of creation. The wise man Solomon tells us
in Proverbs 16, 4, the Lord hath made all things for himself,
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. All God's works
of providence, all his works of providence are wonderful works. God who works all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. God's general providence is wonderful. I don't pretend to understand
it. I don't pretend to understand how God has all the nuts and
bolts working together. I don't need to. All I need to
understand is that God has purposed it and God is working it. That makes it good. God's special
providence is for his elect. All the general providence of
God working in a special way for the saving of his elect,
for our eternal good. and you and I who believe, we
who have been born and taught of God, oh, how we ought to look
back over the history of our lives, and at least in our memory,
if not on paper, write down a biography of experience. Oh, what wondrous
things God has done for me. How wonderfully God has worked
in my life. Having experienced nothing but
good from his hand, I have no reason to expect anything but
good all the days of my life. God's works of redemption. Oh,
how wonderful they are. Before the world was, he made
an everlasting covenant with his son. A covenant established
with His Son who stood forth as our surety. And all the saving
of His people, all the grace He would give us, all the redemption
He would accomplish for us was accomplished before the world
began in Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
In time, the Son of God assumed our nature, came into this world,
walked on this earth in perfect obedience in our stead, and we
obeyed God in the surety, in the representative. And then,
in due time, when the fullness of time was come, God saw it,
was nailed to the cursed tree. and made sin for us, and bore
all the terror of God's holy wrath, all the fury of God's
angry justice, and bore it in his body, in his heart, and in
his soul, until at last the Lamb of God was slaughtered in our
stead to the full satisfaction of justice. And three days later,
he rose from the dead, was proclaimed to be the Son of God with power
by his resurrection from the dead, by which God said, justified! All the people for whom Christ
has died are justified. See him yonder, risen and seated
in heaven? He is justified, who was made
to be sin for us, and judgment shall never fall upon us. At
the appointed time, God brings his gospel to the chosen sinner,
using men of stammering lips to proclaim the greatest mystery
of the universe, redemption by his son. And oh, what grace he
works in us and for us, prevenient grace. that grace that goes before
grace and prepares the way for grace. Read about it in the 107th
Psalm. God prepares the object of mercy
to receive his mercy at the appointed time of mercy and brings it to
pass according to his purpose, effectually, irresistibly. He sends his Spirit, the Spirit
of his Son, into our hearts, making us new creatures in Christ,
sanctifying us by his grace. And yet he leaves us in this
body of flesh with great wisdom, with great skill. Oh, how excellent
in counsel. How wonderful in working he is.
The Lord God could just as easily Are you with me? He could just
as easily cause Don Fortner to live right here in this world
with a whole race of ungodly, reprobate men around me, with
no one else around me who knew God, and cause me to live in
absolute perfection, with no evil nature, with no corruption,
with no sin, with no fall. He could do that just as easily
as he said to the sun, let there be light, and there was light.
That's no problem with God. He could have saved us and taken
us to glory just like that. Nothing else is to be done but
in wisdom. He left us here to struggle in
warfare with our flesh. With that which is born of the
devil and that which is born of God fighting constantly. Warring constantly. teaching
us over and over and over again the wonder of his grace in preserving
and keeping us. Oh, but Preacher, what about
our falls? He is a loving father who wisely
and gracelessly chastens his children. Never in anger, only
in love, only to preserve. And he does, with every temptation,
make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. And that
way of escape is Christ the Lord. Here's the third thing. All God's
counsels shall be perfectly fulfilled. All his purpose shall be perfectly
accomplished. by the excellent works of his
hands. There is a day coming when time
shall be no more and in that great day all that God purposed
to do shall be done perfectly and completely. Nothing lacking,
nothing done except what God purposed to be done from eternity.
Nothing undone, which God purposed from eternity. This is our God,
wonderful in counsel, excellent in working. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Now let me see if I can give
some practical lessons to what you've heard. The Lord our God is God worthy
of confident faith. Oh, if he would cause unbelieving
sinners to hear my voice. He is worthy of confident faith. No other imaginary God is worthy
of faith. He who is excellent in working,
excellent in counsel and wonderful in working, he and he alone is
worthy of confident faith. My brothers and my sisters, preacher,
preacher, preacher, hear yourself. The Lord our God is worthy of
implicit, confident faith all the time. There's no need for
us to be in a hurry in the service of our God, whom we trust. Rather, let us serve Him, waiting
on Him, seeking His will. Oh, do everything you have opportunity
to do, but wait on Him, seek His will. God opens the way for
His church. He opens the way for his kingdom.
When it's time for Israel to leave Egypt, God opens up the
Red Sea. When it's time for Israel to
possess Canaan, God opens up the Jordan. He opens the way
by his own hand. And God provides everything we
need as we serve him. He provided manna in the wilderness
for 40 years. He provided water out of the
rock for 40 years. He provided Israel with shoes
and with clothes that didn't wear out for 40 years. Our Lord Jesus, on one occasion,
dealing with doubting disciples like you and me, and Peter said,
we've left all and followed you, what shall we have? And the Lord
Jesus, after telling him that everything God has for his own
is hundredfold, you've lost nothing. And he looked at his disciples
and said to them, lacked ye anything? Lacked ye anything? And Peter said, nothing, Lord.
Nothing, Lord. I've had the blessed privilege
of serving God for many years. And we've had the blessed privilege
of serving him together these many years. And as your pastor,
and myself as an individual, a man, a preacher, a husband,
a father, I have often looked at things and thought, there's
no way we can do that. We can't do that. How on earth,
us? And I've never once seen the
way clear to engage in anything as long as I looked at you and
at me and our abilities. Now let me tell you what I've
seen. You can bear me witness, my wife
will bear me witness. I have never yet, not once, Seeing
God open a door that looked impossible, when I stepped in, He didn't
provide everything. Not once. Not once. It didn't matter whether it was
something material or something spiritual. It doesn't matter
whether it's some special understanding, some direction that only God
could give, or whether it's some needed great gift, financial,
it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I have never yet attempted
to do anything for God. He didn't supply the need. Not
once, not once. Liked ye anything? Did you? Did you? Have we as a congregation? Not once. You and I need only one thing. We don't need more people, more
money, or more ability. We need to believe God. Believe
in God, we will find him wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. And God will give success. God will give success. Oh, maybe not like men measure
success, but man's measurement of things is less than insignificant. Maybe not the kind of things
men will applaud, but the things men applaud are less than meaningful. God says, your labor shall not
be vain in the Lord. He will cause you, my brother,
and you, my sister, your pastor and this congregation to succeed
in everything he has put us here to accomplish. That's a pretty
good way to live. That's a pretty good way to die.
That's a pretty good way for everything in between. Amen. Let's turn to number 36, and
I'll ask you to stand together