I find nothing more comforting,
more satisfying, more delightful, especially in the midst of difficulties
that I can't explain and can't understand. Nothing more stable,
nothing more peaceful than the blessed fact that he who is my
God The God of this universe is a God of absolute purpose,
and he always performs his will. He who is our God is a God of
absolute purpose, sovereign, eternal, unalterable purpose,
and he always performs his will. Let's open our Bibles tonight
to Isaiah chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14. In the 13th and 14th chapters
of Isaiah, the Lord God promised his people Israel that he would
both deliver them from their Babylonian captivity, and thoroughly
destroy their enemies, those enemies who would hold them captive
for 70 long years of bondage. But that promise would not be
accomplished for 200 years. God promised them that he would
deliver them out of Babylon 200 years before they went into Babylon. knowing that they, like us, are
but men of flesh, the Lord obviously recognized that they would begin
to question his faithfulness, his power, doubt his word, and
not believe him. We often are just like them. We don't see with our eyes what
God has promised in his word We tend not to believe God. So in order to strengthen his
people in the meantime, to strengthen their faith in him, to keep his
elect looking to him in confident faith and hope, God promised
his people a somewhat lesser, more immediate deliverance. He
promised them that he would destroy the Assyrian army. causes people
to tread the armies of the Assyrians underfoot and break the yoke
of their oppression. The prophet of God gave his people
absolute assurance of this, that God would do what he had promised. basis of it, that assurance that
he had, that he had given them was the very promise of God regarding
his purpose. Let's read it together. Isaiah
chapter 14 verses 24-27, this was God's promise to Israel. This is still God's promise to
Israel, to you who are His people, the Israel of God. Isaiah 14,
24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, surely as I have fought, so shall it come to pass. And
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. That I will break the
Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall his yoke depart from
off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. 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? And his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back. What the Lord God here declares,
we rejoice to believe and preach. We believe according to Holy
Scripture that our God is a God of purpose, absolute, sovereign,
universal, unalterable purpose. God whose purpose must and shall
be accomplished at all times. Before the world was made, before
time began, God sovereignly purposed, predestinated all things that
come to pass in time. Everything that is, has been,
or shall hereafter be, everything, in heaven, earth, and hell, everything
that is, has been, or shall hereafter be, was purposed, absolutely
purposed by God Almighty before the world began. Everything in
the universe, everything, is moving toward the predestined
end of God's eternal purpose with absolute precision, exactly
according as God purposed it. Nothing is out of order. Everything
is exactly according to God's purpose. Now, this is what I'm
saying. This is the thing I want us to
learn. I want to believe and I want you to believe the thing
in which we ought to rejoice always. Everything that comes
to pass in time was purposed by God, our Father in eternity. My daughter is now 47 years old. I would be very, very disheartened
and disappointed in myself if my daughter were not completely
confident that everything I do in connection with her is for
my intended purpose of good for her. I would be very disappointed
in myself and very disheartened in my relationship with her.
I expect her to trust me with implicit confidence. to trust
my decisions, my purpose, my will, my intent in all things. She can't trust my wisdom, she
can't trust my power, she can't trust my ability, but she can
trust my intention, my purpose, my design in everything is for
her, for her good, for the good of my family, my wife, my grandchildren,
my son-in-law, for the good of those who are dear to my heart. How sad that we who are God's
dear children do not implicitly trust him in his purpose in all
things. Our God is a God of absolute
purpose. The more graciously he teaches
us that, the more we will rely upon him in his goodness. Now
let's look into the word of God and see if what I'm telling you
is so. Throughout the scriptures, we're assured that God has a
purpose of grace, a purpose of grace according to which he rules
the world. God has a purpose of grace. And
it is his purpose of grace by which he rules the world and
all things in it. Now this clearly is Bible doctrine. Turn with me if you will to Acts
chapter 15 for a minute. The 15th chapter of the book
of Acts. Here Luke records the history
of the first Bible conference ever held by the Church of God.
It was held at Jerusalem about 14 years after God had saved
Saul of Tarsus. And in this conference at Jerusalem,
God's servants came together and dealt with three very needy
issues and set forth those issues with clarity by the Spirit of
God. First, they dealt with the matter
of the believer's freedom from the law. Look in verse five,
Acts 15. But there rose up certain of
the sect of the Pharisees which believed. Now that doesn't mean
that they were genuine believers, but they professed to be. They
said they were Christians. They had been raised up Pharisees
and they recognized something valuable about Christianity and
the gospel of Christ. And these Pharisees went out
telling folks that it was needful to circumcise them, to circumcise
the Gentiles, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
And the apostles and elders came together for to consider this
matter. So the very first conference
among God's servants in this world after the resurrection
was a conference dealing with the matter of the believer's
freedom from the law. Look at verse 23. And they wrote
letters by them after this manner. The apostles and elders and brethren
send greeting to the brethren which are of the Gentiles in
Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. For as much as we have heard
that certain which went out from us had troubled you with words,
subverting your souls. That's a pretty strong term,
subverting your souls. They professed to be believers,
but they came with another message, subverting your souls, saying
ye must be circumcised and keep the law. to whom we gave no such
commandment. We never sent them out. We didn't
say that. We never sent them with that
kind of message. Believers are free from the law and we put
no yoke of bondage of any kind on anyone. God's people walk
at liberty. And then the apostles at Jerusalem
dealt with the method of God's saving operations in Christ. Look at verse eight. They tell
us that salvation is by faith alone, through grace alone, in
Christ alone. Acts chapter 15, verse eight.
And God, which knoweth the hearts, bared them witness, giving them
the Holy Ghost, that is the Gentiles, even as he did unto us. and put
no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts
by faith. Now therefore, why tempt ye God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, by grace alone,
God purified their hearts by faith. We believe that through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I love the way this is stated,
we shall be saved even as they. If you or I had been writing
that, we would have said, they shall be saved even as we. But
the apostles give out this letter by the direction of God. We who
are God's elect among the Jews, we who are God's elect who have
been brought up in this tradition of legality, we who have been
brought up under Moses' law, we shall be saved even as they
without obedience to the law by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ the Lord. And then in verse 18, James declares,
known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. The apostles declare our God
to be a God of purpose. If all his works were known to
him, then all were certain to be accomplished. People have
this strange notion about divine foreknowledge, as if God somehow
looks in a crystal ball like one of these palm readers or
a pharaoh dealer or something, and they sorta guess about the
furniture. God sorta knows what's gonna
happen, because he knows all things. If God knows what he's
going to do tomorrow, it's because God purposed what he'll do tomorrow. God's foreknowledge is an attribute
of God, and God's foreknowledge is an act of God. He knows all
things omnisciently. He loved his people from eternity,
and he ordained all things that come to pass. If those things
that God knows are certain to be accomplished, it must be because
He purposed and ordained them. And if He ordained them, then
He ordained them to be so before the world began. Now, this is
not just a logical conclusion. This is not just a matter of
theological speculation or philosophy. This is precisely what God says
in His Word. Brother Mark read the eighth
chapter Romans back there to us in the office a little bit
ago. We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are thee called according to his
purpose. Purpose. Purpose. Not purposes. Purpose. God has one purpose
for all things. And God's one purpose for all
things is the salvation of his elect to the praise of the glory
of his grace. In Romans chapter nine, verse
11, the apostle Paul tells us that God chose Jacob in everlasting
love and rejected Esau in everlasting hatred. And he revealed this
fact to the boy's parents, the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that called it. In Ephesians 1, 11, we're told
that we have obtained the inheritance of God's grace and glory in Christ,
being predestinated by Him who works all things after the counsel
of His own will, according to His purpose. Purpose, purpose. God Almighty is a God of absolute
purpose. This purpose of God, is sovereign,
eternal. It is his work of divine predestination. This purpose, I repeat, is just
one. God's purpose in all things,
God's arrangement of all things, God's performance of all things
in time is for one purpose, and that's the salvation of his people. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful? Everything God has done, is doing,
and shall hereafter do, whether he does it by the hands of a
man, or by the power of an angel, or by the work of the devil himself,
everything is for this purpose, the saving of his elect, for
the glory of his great name. In predestination, Our God acted
in total sovereignty. His work was according to his
own sovereign will, for the praise of the glory of his grace, according
to his own wise eternal counsels. All who are saved and obtain
the inheritance of heavenly glory were predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his old will to the praise of the glory of his grace. When
the Jews were in Babylon in captivity, their plight seemed hopeless.
Deliverance looked impossible, but God promised he would perform
it. Nothing they could look at would
say, now there, there I see God's performing his purpose. until
it was brought to pass. Nothing gave them any inclination
that they could look at this and say it shall be done except
God's word, nothing else. He promised them that he would
deliver them from the hand of their enemies. He promised them
to set them in their own land of promised inheritance and cause
them to rule over their oppressors and spoil them. This God declared. and this God irreversibly decreed. The same thing is true with regard
to God's elect today. There is today, as there always
has been, a remnant according to the election of grace. a remnant
of Adam's fallen race, a remnant chosen of God who must and shall
be saved according to God's purpose. And while it looks like there's just no way that the
gospel is going to go there. There's no way that God's gonna
call anybody out of that mess. There's just, there's not any,
no, there's no indication that God's gonna work over there.
Boy, things sure look bleak over yonder. Man, things look terrible
back there. But God speaks otherwise. He will save a people. chosen
of Him from eternity, redeemed by His Son at Calvary, according
to His purpose of grace, out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue. Turn to Isaiah 43, just a few
pages over, Isaiah 43. This elect remnant, to whom God
promised eternal life before the world began, God will search
out from the four corners of the earth and save by his grace. Other sheep also I have, our
Savior said. Them also I must bring, and there
shall be one foal and one shepherd. Hear how he speaks it in Isaiah
43, five. Fear not, for I am with thee.
I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the
west. I will say to the North, give
up, and to the South, keep not back. Bring my sons from far
and my daughters from the ends of the earth. God commands the
four corners of the earth to give up. Bring my sons from far
and my daughters from the ends of the earth. He commands this
and orders it in all the affairs of the universe in his providence.
even everyone that is called by my name. Everyone I have named
as my own. I have formed them, yea, I have
made them. In due time, he will call them
by his irresistible grace and bring them into a saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this he does by the preaching
of the gospel. He sends his word by one means
or another, and thus saith the Lord God, behold, I, even I,
will search my sheep and seek them out. As the shepherd seeketh
out his flock in the day that he is among the sheep that are
scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them
out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy
and dark day. And I will bring them out from
of the people and gathered them from the countries and will bring
them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel
by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country. Look in Isaiah 65, Isaiah 65,
verse one. I am sought of them that ask
not for me. As Paul quoted it in Romans 15
as we saw this morning, this is particularly talking about
the calling of the Gentiles out of the four corners of the earth.
I am sought of them. that asked not for me. You go
down to New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Brother Lance Heller
down there, where he was raised, preaching, following his father
down there, amongst a bunch of barbaric tribesmen, just barbaric
tribesmen. I mean barbaric tribesmen, worship
everything under the shining sun, including the sun, and had
no interest in God. until God sent someone with the
word of his grace and now there are folks who gathered there
just like we do here out in the middle of those jungles seeking
God. People who asked not for him. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said behold me, behold me to
a nation that was not called by my name. I repeat what I said
to you the other night. I don't have any idea politically
what's going on in the world. I don't know what politicians
are doing anymore than they do. But just imagine, maybe God's
about to open doors. He still raises up nations and
puts down nations for one reason, just one reason, His purpose. for the saving of his elect.
You see, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward his elect, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance
and knowledge of the truth. You say, Pastor, you misquoted
2 Corinthians, or 2 Peter 3.9, or 2.9, or 3.9. I did misquote
it. I stated it exactly right. His
long suffering, not willing that any of his elect should perish,
but that all should come to repentance and knowledge of the truth. And
these elect, chosen, predestinated, redeemed, called ones, he will
keep under everlasting life. Not one of them shall perish. For the salvation of this elect
multitude, God made a full, complete provision in his eternal purpose
of grace. And he bound himself with an
oath of promise. He swore by himself and said,
I will be their God. Imagine, God takes an oath with
God and says, I will be their God. This is their surety, this
is their salvation. If ever one of God's elect should
perish, it must be by their departure from him, or by their being wrested
out of his hand, or by him casting them off. And none of those things
shall happen. For God has sworn and said, I
will give them one heart, and they shall not depart from me.
They're in my hands and no man is able to pluck them out of
my hands. If any man come to me, I will
in no wise cast him out. It is not possible that any of
these chosen redeemed ones should ever, ever, ever perish. God says, I will not abandon
them. This is what God reveals in his
word. Before the world was made, God
from eternity predestined who he would save. We call it an
election. He predestinated the death of
his son at Calvary as their substitute that he might be a just God and
a savior. He predestined the means by which
he would seek out and effectually call his elect. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
he predestinated the precise time and place he would call
them by his grace. There is an appointed time beyond
which no chosen center shall pass. appointed place to which
every chosen sinner must come, not by his choice, not by his
decision. God will bring it to pass so
that at precisely the time he will call the sinner, love from
everlasting and reveal Christ in him. He calls that Ethiopian,
to have, through his lifetime, somehow or another, got connected
with Jews up in Jerusalem, and he'd go up to an annual feast
at Jerusalem, and go through the ceremonies of empty mosaic
religion, and come back as hungry as he was when he left home,
and as he's coming back, there'll be a fellow by the name of Philip. God put him right there, just
at that time. When he is curiously reading,
Isaiah 53 is scratching his head, I wonder what that's all about.
And talking to himself, what he's doing. Lord, is the prophet
talking about himself or some other man? And the eunuch said,
do you understand what you read? He said, how can I, except some
man showed me. And Philip said, scoot over, I'll tell you all
about him. That's why I'm here. God is a God of purpose and he arranges
the lives of his people. No, no, no, no, no, that's not
right. He arranges all the events of
the universe. and every thought of every human
being in the world, and all the affairs of time, and all the
affairs of your life, everything, to put you right there at the
time we call you, nice grace. Don't you find it astounding?
Don't you find it astounding that when you heard God speak,
You heard him speak at a time that you were prepared by God
to hear him speak. Had it been a day before or a
day later, you wouldn't have heard what he said. All that's
necessary to accomplish this glorious purpose, God has ordained. Oh, the wonder of his grace. Of him, through him, and to him
are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. I know folks
say, well, you folks believe in double predestination. You
believe God predestinated folks to go to hell. I'm not interested
in answering the cavils of foolish, godless, reprobate, ignorant
men who rest the scriptures to their destruction. But I want
to be perfectly clear. I assert boldly and emphatically
that God chose a people whom he would save by his grace and
their salvation is a matter of certainty according to God's
purpose. God chose a people whom he would
save in a manner that shows him a just God and a savior. That means God won't save you
without the satisfaction of justice. God won't save you without the
sacrifice of his son. Justice must be satisfied. And God, just as fully, just
as purposefully, just as deliberately, predestined the damnation of
the reprobate in accordance with justice, so that their damnation
is in their own hands, by their own fault, by their own doing. For ordained to this condemnation,
denying the Lord Jesus Christ. For ordained to this judgment,
looking upon Christ as a worthless thing. So that if you go to hell,
if you go to hell, you can scream and holler and pout all you want
to here and say, well, I couldn't help myself, God predestinated.
Before God sends you to hell, You'll say it's right. I deserve
this. It's my own doing. This is according
to God's purpose. Vessels of mercy are by God aforeprepared
to glory. Vessels of wrath are by their
willful rebellion and obstinate unbelief fitted to destruction. so that God is honored in his
righteousness, justice, and truth, in the accomplishment of his
purpose, both in the saving of his elect and in his judgment
upon the ungodly. Now having said that, understand
this. God takes no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. God is pleased, satisfied only
with the death of his son. Understand this too. Any sinner
in all the world who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is God's
elect, predestinated to salvation before the world began, redeemed
by Christ at Calvary, called by the Spirit of God. If you
believe, it's because God chose you. If you refuse to believe,
and you are lost forever in the blackness and darkness of hell,
your eternal damnation will be your own fault. Either way, God's
purpose stands, and God will not rescind his purpose. I try not to say too much about
politics from the pulpit. I know my inclinations kind of
leak out on me. But thus far, I've been very
thankful that God put Mr. Trump in the office and he's
acted presidential. Last week, he gave in, apparently. I may be wrong, but it looks
like he gave in and rescinded his purpose. Put enough pressure
on a man, you can change it. Resist him enough, you can change
him. Not God. God's purpose will never be altered,
thwarted, or rescinded by anything. He's God. Now go back to Isaiah
14. Let's look at these three verses,
and let me show you three things about God's purpose, and I'll
send you home, I hope, rejoicing. First, the purpose of God is
absolutely immutable. Absolutely immutable. We talk about God having plans. That's really not a very good
way to state things. I make plans and my plans get messed up. I
make plans because I wanna do things and I'm not able to fulfill
them. Things get in the way. Things
come up that I can't control. I get sick, I fall down. Lots
of things that happen keep me from fulfilling my plans. God
has purposed everything from eternity and God's purpose is
immutable. It never changes and it cannot
be changed. The Lord of hosts hath sworn
saying, surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass. And
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. What a word, what a
word. I don't pretend to understand
everything this book teaches about God's sovereignty and his
purpose. But I know this, whatever God
purposed, he will do. His purpose can't be changed. It won't be changed. Number two, verse 26, the purpose of God
is all inclusive. It includes everything. This
is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth. And this
is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations. God rules all nations and all
men, righteous and wicked, angels and devils, according to his
purpose. Nothing happens by chance. Nothing in this world is determined
by the will of man. Nothing in this world is determined
by the work and power of Satan. God rules the universe absolutely. Turn over a few pages to Isaiah
45, look at verse seven, Isaiah 45. God says, I form the light. Are you there? Isaiah 45, seven,
I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Well, Brother Dunn, you got to
limit that. You can limit it if you want
to. God said, I form light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Well, that makes God the author
of sin. You can take that up with God if you want to on judgment
day. I don't think you will. Shemai went out and cussed David
because God said to Shemai, cuss David. Read the book, read the
book. Shemite did just exactly what
he wanted to and performed God's purpose. Judas betrayed the Son
of God with a kiss because God ordained his betrayal before
the world was. Without it, we would not have
been redeemed. Don't imagine that something
happened beyond his control. Oh no, but Judas did exactly
what he wanted to do. Number three, look at verse 27,
Isaiah 14. purpose of God is effectual. It must and shall be accomplished. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Oh, Spirit of God, teach this
heart so inclined to fret and worry and unbelief to stand still
before God and watch God save his people. Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Isaiah 14, 27. For the Lord of
hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? His hand is
stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Behold your God,
This is God who is able to perform what he promised and he promised
us eternal life before the world began. You and I are nothing
but withering grass. He who is our God is God indeed
because his purpose is immutable, universal and effectual. His
word is sure. His promises are all yea and
amen. His people are as secure as if
hell didn't exist and they were already in heaven. His covenant
stands fast and will endure. Yea, the Lord hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and what'd he say? Ordered in all things and sure,
this is all my salvation and all my desire. I'm talking to
you about God. God, God, God. You will be wise to bow at his
throne and seek his mercy, trusting his son. Amen.