This evening we're looking at
Isaiah chapter 25, and we'll just look at a few verses here.
Verses 1-4 mostly. But let's read. I'm taking the
title for the message, Christ has done wonderful things from
what is said in verse 1. Oh Lord, that is Jehovah. the everlasting, eternal God,
O Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee, for he's worthy
of it. I will praise thy name, God giving
him a name above every name, for thou hast done wonderful
things. Salvation is all the Lord's doing,
isn't it? This is the Lord's doing, and
it's marvelous in our eyes. You remember Psalm 118. Thou
hast done, and He yet still is doing, wonderful things. Thy
counsels, thy counsels, all the counsel of God, all the counsels,
all the decrees of God of old, old eternity, old eternity. The old timers used to call that
the counsel halls of eternity, wherever that is. The council
halls of old, all his decrees are faithfulness, all his decrees
are truth. It's impossible for God to lie. Everything he speaks, every promise
he gives is true. He is the truth and the way and
the life. Christ has done wonderful things
for us. Therefore, in the heart of the
believer and in the life of the believer, our desire is to exalt
and praise him. That's our desire. He gives us that desire when
he makes us new creatures in Christ. He gives that desire
to us in our heart in regenerating grace, in saving mercy, We desire
to exalt and praise Him now and forever. We will forever, but
it starts right now. It starts here. We start praising
Him here and it will never end. I like what that one old Scottish
woman said to the preacher, the Lord done saved me and you'll
never hear the end of it. The Lord done saved me, you'll
never hear the end of it. Now and forever. That is believer
delight to give the Lord Jesus Christ all the honor and glory
for the salvationist of the Lord. Don't we in our heart before
God? We say with the Apostle Paul,
God forbid that we should glory. save in the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that Christ, Christ in Him crucified. He is all the
counsel of God. All the counsel of God is Christ
in Him crucified. All the counsel of God, the counsels
of old, what does that include? You remember Revelation 13 verse
8, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world? The counsel of
all is all the counsel of God which is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. So we give all the honor and glory to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. He alone is worthy of such exaltation,
praise, worship for the salvation that is of the Lord. I like what
it says down here in verse 9, Isaiah 25 verse 9, and it shall
be said in that day, Remember, that's a repeated phrase. In
that day, look at Isaiah 26 verse 1. In that day shall this song
be sung in the land of Judah, we have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint. And in that day, Isaiah 25 verse
9, it shall be said, Lo, this is our God. This is our God. Who is God? As he says repeatedly
in Isaiah, I am God, beside me there is none other. Lo, this
is our God, we've waited for Him. Boy, isn't He worth waiting
for? And He will save us. God determined
to save His people from all eternity. He chose them unto salvation.
You reckon they're not going to be saved? He said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And those that come to
me, I'll never cast them out. He will save us. Well, who else
could? He's mighty. It says over in
Isaiah 63, he is mighty to save. He's the one who's mighty to
save. He will save us. This is the Lord. We've waited
for him. We've waited for him. We will
be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord. Do you remember over here in
Isaiah, turn back to Isaiah 12. I was looking at this a moment
ago. Isaiah 12, turn back there. Look at verse two. Behold, God is my salvation. Isn't that what Simeon said?
Lord, I'm ready to die. My eyes have seen thy salvation. Oh, God is my salvation. I will
trust and be not afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength,
my song. He has also become my salvation.
Therefore, with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of
salvation. And in that day shall you say,
praise the Lord. Call upon his name. Declare his
doings. Make mention. among the people,
make mention his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath
done excellent things, wonderful things, this is known in all
the earth. He hath done wonderful things. He hath done wonderful
things. It is both right, good, true,
that we should worship the Lord, worship Him always in all things. Worship the Lord. When Paul writes
to the Philippians, he said, we are the true Israel of God,
which worship God in the spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. We are instructed many,
many times in the Scripture to praise ye the Lord. Now, that's not this religious
nonsense that goes on in our day. Praise the Lord is being
silent before God in your heart. Be still and know that I am God. Look back at Psalm 47 for just
a moment. Psalm 47, look at verse 5. God has gone up with a shout.
Psalm 47. The Lord with the sound of the
trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto
our King. Sing praises. For God is the
King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen.
God sitteth upon the throne. the throne of His holiness. So
it is good, right, and proper, isn't it? It is for His people
to praise the Lord. And I mean by that to worship
the Lord. To praise the Lord is to worship
Him. And it's not an outward thing. It's not something physical. It's something spiritual in the
heart before God. God looks on the heart. Worship
and praise is a privilege and honor that God gives us to come
to Him by saving faith. It is a sacrifice we offer to
God purely for the glory of His wonderful name. Now I use that
word sacrifices because it says in Hebrews 13, 5, but let Him By him, rather, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks unto his name. Giving thanks unto
his name. Not speaking something that's
not in our heart, but speaking from the heart. Speaking from
the heart, let us praise his name. The exercise of faith continually
praises God. He is our strength. He is our
hope. He is our salvation. As David
said in another psalm, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all
that is within me. Bless his holy name, who forgiveth
all thy diseases, who has put away our sin. The more fully
we are blessed to believe God, and trust Him, the more fully
we want to praise the Lord, the more fully we want to worship
the Lord. For who He is, Almighty God,
O Lord, Thou art my God, for who he is, for what he's done.
This is not an occasional attitude of the believer. Worship is just
not for Sunday morning, Sunday night, or Wednesday night. Worship
to the believer is something that's every day. Every day I
will praise the Lord. In the morning, in the evening,
in the afternoon, every day is a day to praise the Lord for
all that he is, all that he has done, This is the continual attitude
of a believer. It's our heart, our life, and
our being before God. You can turn with me to another
psalm. I wrote this one down, Psalm
145. We see this a lot in the book
of Psalms. Psalm 145, look at verse 1. I will extol thee, my God, O
King, I'll bless thy name forever and ever. Psalm 145. Did I tell
you 145? 145. Every day will I bless thee.
Every day will I bless thee. I'll praise thy name forever
and ever. Great is the Lord. and greatly to be praised and
his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy
works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak
of the glorious honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works."
Wonderful things that he had done. Now, a couple things here
from verses 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. Our text begins with a declaration
of faith in verse 1. O Lord, thou art my God. That's the declaration of faith.
O Lord, thou art my God. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only our Savior, But he's called in scripture, we've seen this
many times in the book of Isaiah and in the epistles as well,
he's God our Savior. He's God our Savior. The Lord
Jesus Christ is God our Savior. That is the declaration of faith. The Lord is all our salvation. It's his doing. This is the Lord's
doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. He's the only just God
and Savior. Therefore, he says in Isaiah
45, look to me and be saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there's none else. This was the confession of Mary.
You remember? The virgin. We studied that in
Isaiah 7, 14. Conceived a child by the Holy
Spirit. Never happened before. Never
happened again. miraculous conception. And Mary
said, my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my savior. This was a confession of the
Apostle Thomas when the other brother, Peter and John and the
others, James, came and said, the Lord has risen. He said,
oh, you guys, you guys are just taken up with emotion. No, the
Lord has risen. I won't believe till I've seen.
He put my finger in his finger, in his hand, my hand in his eye.
When the Lord appeared to Thomas, and the Lord knew what he had
said, the all-knowing Lord, remember what Thomas said, my Lord and
my God. That's our confession. That's
the confession of faith. The Lord Jesus Christ is my Lord,
and He is my God. Jehovah is God our Savior. No man praises or worships God
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. I can make good on that. Our
Lord said, I'm the way, the truth, the life. No man come to the
Father, but by and through me." The glory of God shined in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you know God in saving
mercy? Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Would you know God in pardoning mercy? Pardoning mercy is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah is God our Savior. No
man worships or praises God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. No
man praises or worships God who does not believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. True faith rests in Christ alone
for all of salvation. This is the confession of faith.
Thou art my God. You remember what Peter and John
said to that council? Neither is there salvation in
any other but the Lord Jesus Christ. No other name under heaven,
given among men, whereby we must be saved. The faith that is God
given, the faith of God's elect, openly, publicly acknowledges
that all of our salvation is His doing. That's confession
of faith. Oh Lord, thou art my God. He's my God and he's my salvation. It's God who saved us and called
us. You remember what in prison Paul
said to young Timothy as he writes back, waiting, he's on death
row waiting to die. And he writes back to Timothy,
remember who saved us? It's God who saved us and called
us. He saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose of grace. Purpose
of grace. He saved us, and then He called
us. He didn't call us and then save
us. He saved us, then He called us. When did he save us? When
he chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world,
when Christ died for our sin, according to the scripture. You
see, salvation, as I've said to you these many years, but
it bears repeating, salvation is just not a mere doctrine.
Now, we need doctrine, right teaching, we need that. But salvation
is not in a mere doctrine. You can learn all the points
of grace, T-U-L-I-P, total depravity, unconditional election, limited
atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the sake. You
can learn all the doctrines and have it all correct, but learning
doctrine is not salvation. Salvation is not mere doctrine.
Salvation is not, not, we, people used to have this
saying, well he got, he used to be a rounder but now he got
religion. Salvation is not getting religion. People can get religion and lose
it. They get it one day and then they lose it the next. Salvation
is not a mere doctrine. Salvation is not just getting
religious. He's a religious man now. He's
a religious lost man is what he is. Never been saved. Salvation is not a doctrine or
getting religion. Salvation is not a theory. We
don't have a theory of salvation. We don't have a theory of atonement.
Sometimes people ask me, well, preacher, what's your theory
on the atonement? I don't have a theory. I have
an atonement that really atones for the sin of God's people.
is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son
hath life. It's looking to Him. It's not
being in the right church. It's not making a right profession.
It's not being baptized by the right people in the right pool.
A lot of people say, if we don't administer baptism, you're not
really, you have an alien immersion, they call it. My friend, salvation's
not in baptism, water baptism I'm talking about. Salvation's
in a person. Our Lord said, he that's seen
me has seen God, God our Savior. Christ alone is all and the only,
the only salvation. You remember our Lord said, this
is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God,
Jesus Christ, oh, it's the one sin of God. The one sin of God. He's the way, the truth, the
life. Simeon picked up that baby, 40 days old or so, and said,
Lord, I'm ready to die. And they brought the baby in,
the Christ child to be circumcised according to the law. He said, I've seen thy salvation.
I'm ready to die. God said, you won't die until
you see the Savior. And he said, Lord, I've seen
him. I'm ready to die. That's when
a man's ready to die. When he's seen the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ alone is an all-sufficient
Savior. The all-sufficient Savior, there's
no defect in His salvation, is there? There's no insufficiency
in His salvation. He's a complete, full Savior. Someone says, well, do you preach
the full gospel? Absolutely. All the fullness
of God dwells in Christ. Christ alone is all and the only
effectual Savior. He is the Savior who really saves
His people from their sin. He is the Redeemer that really
redeems. He's the one who's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by Him. Christ alone is
a successful Savior. He's a successful Savior. Take
your Bible there and mark this in your book, Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42 verse 4. I quote this all the time, but
here you can see it and mark it. He shall not fail. Our Lord doesn't know anything
of the agony of defeat. He's a victorious Savior. Now He knows a lot about agony,
but not agony of defeat. He knows the agony of victory.
He shall not fail. nor be discouraged, defeated,
till he has set judgment in the earth, establishing justice in
the earth. And the isle shall wait for his
word." We're waiting on the Lord. Wait on the Lord, and again I
say, wait upon the Lord. Christ alone is our only Savior,
the only Savior that God will accept. the only one that he has provided.
A lot of people in religion have this saying also, well, accept
Jesus as your personal savior. It doesn't say that in the Bible
anywhere. But here's the important issue.
God the Father has accepted everything the Lord Jesus Christ has done
in his mediatorial office as prophet, priest, and king to
execute and fulfill all of our salvation. God the Father is
satisfied with the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. People say, well, are you satisfied
with Christ? That's not the issue. The issue
is, is God satisfied? Now, his people are, but the
issue, you see, the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ did
not offer demand. So let's stay with me now. His atonement is not offered
to men. That's why we are so messed up
in our theology. They think that the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ made salvation a possibility. The
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ is not offered to men, it's offered
unto God. This is His lamb. This is His sacrifice. Whose law has been offended?
Whose justice needs to be satisfied? Not mine. God's law and justice
need to be satisfied. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us. Christ alone is the only Savior
that God will accept because He's the only Savior that God
has provided. You remember what Abraham said
to Isaac? when Isaac knew you couldn't
approach God without a blood sacrifice, Genesis 22. And they were walking up the
mountain, and God told Abraham to sacrifice his son upon Mount
Moriah. Three days, they traveled to
that mountain, and they got there, and Abraham told the men, you
stay here, I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come
back again. Well, Isaac knew you had to have
a blood sacrifice, He said, Abraham, we've got the fire. Father, we
have the fire and the knife, and we're going to make an altar.
Where's the lamb? What did Abraham say? My son,
God will provide himself a lamb for sacrifice. You see, this
is God's sacrificial lamb. It's God's law and justice that
has been offended. It's God's law and justice that
the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. You see, this is a confession
of faith. Lord, thou art my God. Thou art my God. I've spent too
much time on that first point, so I've got to shorten it up
a little bit. Here's the second thing, the determination of faith. Also found in verse 1. The determination
of faith, in other words, this is what faith does, I will exalt
thee. I will praise thy name. This is the determination of
faith. God highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name. At that name, every knee
will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Flesh,
this sinful rotten flesh that we have, exalts itself for it's
in love with itself. Religious flesh or lost flesh
is just nothing but sinful flesh. That's all it ever will be. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. And lost religious sinful
flesh love to exalt itself. Itself. It's all about self. My will, my way, my worth, my
works. They call that free will works
religion. Where did freewill works religion
begin? You know where it began? Satan is the daddy of it. It
says right over here in Isaiah 14. Turn there a minute. Isaiah
14, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? We're going
to see this in our lesson in Revelation chapter 9. Sunday,
Howard, verse 12, Isaiah 14, Howard thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning, Howard thou cut down to the ground
which did weaken the nation, for thou hast said in thy heart,
I will ascend Into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God. I will set among also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most
high. Uh-oh. Yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell to the sides of the pit. Free will works religion
has its beginning with Satan saying, I will, I will, I will. God said, no, you won't. No,
you won't. Religious lost flesh will exalt itself. It's will,
it's worth, it's worth. Our Lord said to those religious
Pharisees, He had the kindest words for those Struggling, lost,
sinful people, isn't he? He had the harshest, sharp rebukes
for those Pharisees. He said, I know you, that which,
you are those that justify yourselves before men, but I know your hearts. That which is highly esteemed
among men, the Lord says, that's an abomination in my sight. You see, the determination of
faith, is not exalting the flesh, the determination of faith is
looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation. True saving
faith exalts and magnifies and honors and praises and worships
God alone as He's revealed in the Scripture. This is the desire and determination
of every believing heart. You know, the only place, my
pastor said this many, many times over the years, and still is
on Sermon Audio, the only place a sinner will really worship
is before the throne of an absolute sovereign God. The only place
a sinner will really worship is before the throne of the absolute
God. God's not in our hands, we're
in His hands. And He can save us or He can
damn us according to His own purpose. True saving faith exalts
worship, magnifies the Lord as He's revealed in His book as God the absolute Lord of heaven
and earth. How do we exalt and praise Him?
How do we exalt and praise Him? By ascribing the whole of our
salvation to the Lord alone. The whole of the work whereby
dead dog sinners are lifted from the pit to the throne of God's
glory is of the Lord and of the Lord only. by ascribing all of
our salvation to Him. For, you've heard this before,
salvation's of the Lord. You can't get away from that.
Salvation's of the Lord and His planning. The councils of old
are wonderful. It's purchase, it's performance,
it's preservation, it's perfection. I will praise thy name and exalt
thee. To praise the name of the Lord
is to celebrate His perfections, His attributes, to rejoice in
His doings, trust His goodness, declare His greatness, give thanks
unto Him for all things. For this is the will of the Lord.
In everything give thanks. When Isaiah says, I will praise
thy name, he is saying, this is what I ought to do, this is
what I want to do, and this is what I'm determined to do by
God's grace. Lord, give me grace to praise
thy name, to praise thy name continually. This is the determination
of faith. I will exalt thee, I will praise
thee. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power. Now, here's the third thing.
Isaiah declared to us the reason why we are to exalt and praise
him. For or because, you see that
word verse 1? For or because thou hast done
wonderful things. You remember his name Isaiah
9 verse 6 says, Under us, a child is born, a son is given. His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah declares unto
us the reason why we should exalt and praise him, for thou hast
done wonderful things. Everything the Lord does is wonderful.
His name is wonderful. He can't do anything but that
which is wonderful. All that Christ is and all that
He's done for us is wonderful. He's the only one who can do
wondrous things. Now notice there's a marginal
reference right there. You see it? Psalm 72, 18. And here's what
Psalm 72, 18 said, blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who only doeth wondrous things. He's the only one that does wondrous
things. Now we use that, I try to be
careful how I use that word wonderful. Because that's his name. That's
his name. He is The wonderful one. Now, thou hast done wonderful
things, and then he says, thy counsels of old are faithfulness
and truth. His counsels of old. His counsels
are his immutable, unchanging decrees. Remember he said, I
am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The counsels of old, that is all of his decrees from eternity,
are faithfulness and they're truth. They have to be faithful
and true because they're the promises of God. The counsels
of old are faithfulness and truth. All the counsels or purpose of
God, which is the eternal purpose, his decrees, He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. All that God does in time,
He decreed from old eternity. You notice, thy counsels of old.
Talking about old eternity. You remember in Acts 15, known
unto God are all His works from the beginning. How does God know
all things that's going to come to pass? His foreknowledge of
things, how does He know Where does his foreknowledge
come from? A lot of people have this idea about God's foreknowledge. They say, well, God looked down
through the telescope of time to see what men do, and that's
how he knows, that's where his foreknowledge comes from. Well,
that would make his foreknowledge based upon the creature's doing
rather than his decree. The foreknowledge of God, the
reason he knows all things that come to pass is because he decreed
all things from eternity. You see, his knowledge is based
upon his decrees, which are immutable, and everlasting, and unchanging. Thou hast done wonderful things,
thy counsels decreed. God, in choosing a people unto
salvation, we call that the Bible doctrine of election. Isn't that
wonderful? Isn't it wonderful that God chose a people unto
salvation? Had He not chosen a people unto
salvation, no one would be saved. And Adam all died. It's only
in Christ that we're made alive. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of another,
shall many be made righteous. Isn't his wonderful, isn't his
electing love, his electing grace wonderful to you? Faithful and
true? In sending the Lord Jesus Christ
to be our surety, our savior? Isn't that wonderful? Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken Him by wicked
hands and crucified and slain the Lord of glory. That He redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Isn't
that wonderful? His sacrificial love for us?
In calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Can't
we say that that's faithful and true? Faithful and true to that
covenant. That covenant of grace. When
God chose a people and gave them to Christ, and the Lord Jesus
Christ agreed to be the surety. He said, all that you've given
me, I'll bring them home. I'll not lose one of them. Isn't
that wonderful? Isn't that faithful and true? God's truth is our assurance
that he will do all that he planned, purposed, and promised to do.
I'm persuaded You know, a lot of people say, well, what persuasion
are you? Well, every believer is persuaded
just like Abraham. You remember Abraham's persuasion?
Abraham was persuaded that all that God had promised, he's able
to do. All that God has promised, he's
able to do. We are persuaded that nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, I'm going to quit with
verse 1 right there. But there's a lot in that verse
right there, isn't it? O Lord, Thou art my God, I will
exalt Thee, I will praise Thee, I'll praise Thy name, for Thou
hast done. Salvation is not something you
do. It's D-O-N-E. Done. It's finished. Wonderful things. You remember our Lord prayed,
Father, I've finished the work You gave me to do. And they're
faithful, his counsels are faithful in truth.