Behold Your God, Isaiah 45, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. If the message of Scripture is true, if there is one God and Savior, the sovereign and benevolent Creator, then there's but one response—complete surrender and worship. Isaiah 45 portrays this great God who's working out His grand purposes in all the happenings around us.

And His purposes are for the good of His people. Let's listen in on this message in the Isaiah series titled, Behold Your God. This is the third part of the sermon, first preached on May 5, 2013 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

To hear the whole message, you can visit us at www.delightingrace.com. Coincidences, someone has said, are God's way of remaining anonymous. God is the one fulfilling His purpose, even though we might not see the big picture from our perspective. Now, here's another point on this that becomes very clear from Isaiah 45, what He says in verse 9. Woe to Him who strives with His Maker! Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to Him who forms it, What are you making?

What is His point here? Remember, we are the created. He is the Creator. We are contingent beings. We are dependent beings. We are not self-existent. We did not create ourselves. We depend on something outside of us for our existence. All that goes to say this, creation is in no position to dictate the terms and conditions of its development.

And that includes you and me. Creation is in no position to dictate the terms and conditions of its development. It is not human reason that has kept humanity safe over the years. And creation is in no position to dictate its terms and conditions any more than I had any say in my birth. What He says in verse 10, Woe to Him who says to His Father, What are you beginning?

Or to the woman, What have you brought forth? Just the imagery there is profound, isn't it? I remember the day that Ben was born. I thought he'd never come. He's been late ever since.

But I remember, it's just like, wow, this is amazing! And you know what? When Ben popped his head out, he didn't look at me and said, Dad, what are you doing? That's how much sense it makes to question the terms and conditions that God sets for our lives. Where is He leading us? What is our destiny? Where is God taking us in this thing called human history?

What is man's destiny? Look with me at verse 22. Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.

I like what John Piper says in A Sweet and Bitter Providence, published by Crossway Books. He says, Life is a winding and troubled road, switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones, not just in our heads, that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ. Where is God leading us? What is the destiny of man? It is the justice and the grace of God.

You say, Rich, what does that mean? Look at verse 23. I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. That to me, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall... Another translation says, swear allegiance. Do you get what that's saying? It's repeated in the New Testament, isn't it?

You remember that? Philippians chapter 2? Every tongue will confess, every knee will bow. Do you get what that's saying? That, folks, is universal.

What is he saying? What is the destiny of man? Know this, one day you will stand correction. One day you will bow before your Creator.

Now, there's going to be two different ways of doing that. One group is going to bow before the Creator in the pleasure of worship and absolute adoration. The other group is going to bow before the Creator in defeat and shame. You don't want to be a part of that group.

But those are your choices. Every knee will bow and he says, look to me and be saved. That word saved means to be rescued.

Understand this. This is what I mean by the grace of God. We are rescued from the justice of God in God himself. That is human destiny. We are bound for the justice of God and those who bow before him in the pleasure of worship and adoration.

They are the ones who have been rescued from the justice of God in God himself. It's like God is saying, this is where I'm taking you. You will bow before me.

If that's not what you want, then ultimately it's like he's saying, fine, have it your way. Go to an eternity without me where you have nothing to live for but yourself. There is a phrase in this prophecy that is so profound and so meaningful and so necessary that we find it replete. The New Testament is replete with this phrase. In the Lord. In the Lord. Verse 24, he shall say, surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To him, men shall come and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him. In the Lord, all the descendants of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. In the Lord.

What does that mean? Those that have surrendered to him and his revelation, namely Jesus Christ. They are the ones who have righteousness and strength.

They are the ones who are justified. And we find that clearly portrayed for us in Romans chapter 3 verses 21 and 22. But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.

Loved ones, what we have here in the prophecy of Isaiah written 700 years before Christ the Messiah stepped foot on the earth is the gospel. This is the gospel. That in the Lord is righteousness and strength. That you can only be rescued from the justice of God in God himself. That's the gospel. And your rescue and restoration is God's doing, your life is God's doing.

Again, as the writer of Proverbs says, a man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps. Bill McCartney was the head coach of University of Colorado football. You may also recognize him as named as the founder of Promise Keepers.

The year that the McCartney family watched the father of their grandson die slowly of cancer that he was a quarterback of the University of Colorado. Bill McCartney wrote this, Jesus Christ has certainly had his hand upon the McCartneys. He has withheld no good thing from us. He has lavished so much upon our family. And then Bill quotes his favorite verse, Isaiah 26 12, Lord, you establish peace for us and all that we have accomplished you have done for us. We've worked hard and we tend to see ourselves as self-made men. But Isaiah 26 12 says that all we've accomplished God has done for us.

It's been by his grace. We could be in a far different place. So we each ought to have a tender, humble heart and a spirit of gratitude. May God grant that to us this morning.

Why? Because what you have here in Isaiah's prophecy is a very clear presentation of the gospel of grace. Your destiny, listen to this, your destiny is to bow before your creator.

Will you there find justice or will you there find grace? There is one God and one savior. This is the message of scripture. If this message is true, then there is one response and that is surrender and worship. Behold your God. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m. We'll be right back.