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Behold Your God, Isaiah 47, Part 2

Delight in Grace / Grace Bible Church / Rich Powell
The Truth Network Radio
September 25, 2024 10:00 am

Behold Your God, Isaiah 47, Part 2

Delight in Grace / Grace Bible Church / Rich Powell

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September 25, 2024 10:00 am

Isaiah 47:8 God speaks to Babylon, saying, Hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no other besides me.” Throughout the chapter, God has severe warnings for Babylon, a nation often symbolic in Scripture of organized rebellion against God through self-exaltation. Humanity is greatly drawn to self-preeminence, but it is God who rules in the kingdom of man. Without Him, we are lost. Every other object of trust, including a trust in ourselves, will leave us utterly unsatisfied.

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Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Isaiah 47 eight, God speaks to Babylon saying, Hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, I am and there is no other besides me. Throughout the chapter, God has severe warnings for Babylon, a nation often symbolic in scripture of organized rebellion against God through self exultation. Humanity is greatly drawn to self preeminence, but it is God who rules in the kingdom of man.

Without him, we're lost. Every other object of trust, including a trust in our own selves, will leave us utterly unsatisfied. This is part two of a message from the Isaiah series titled Behold Your God.

It was first preached on May 19th, 2013 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. But she was also self exalting. Verse 10, For you have trusted in your wickedness.

You have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have worked you and you have said in your heart, I am and there was no one else beside me. Babylon had the disposition of a sense of limitless potential.

We're forever good. And throughout the centuries of humanity, the view of a limitless human potential has been, limitless human potential apart from God, has been expressed by key thinkers. Let me just give you a few examples. You have 19th century Germany, Karl Marx. Man is free only if he owes his existence to himself.

19th century England, Herbert Spencer. Progress is not an accident, but a necessity. Surely must evil and immorality disappear. Surely must men become perfect. The utopian dream that has been attempted by how many regimes? The Russian-American author, Ayn Rand, in the 20th century, man's destiny is to be a self-made soul.

Students in high school are required to read Ayn Rand. Even in this century, still alive, biologist E.O. Wilson, humanity will be positioned God-like to take control of its own ultimate. It's very natural for a natural man to think this way. And when you look at historic Babylon, it's no doubt from a human point of view that there was much that was admirable in the achievements of the Babylonians. They probably thought in their current state they had it made. They had a relatively high state of civilization. They had grand buildings and architecture, a seemingly impregnable city, no threat from the outside. They were advanced in mathematics, astronomy and literature, and they thought they were it.

I am and there is no one else beside me. As far as they knew, they would rule the world for as long as time could see. There's self-preeminence there, isn't there? I am the point to my existence, they began to think. And that is the place that only belongs to God.

God is bringing that to their attention right here and he's revealing it specifically to his people, Israel, in teaching them. In 1875, British poet William Henley published the poem called Invictus. You might recognize the name from a recent movie. But the poem Invictus, not very long, but it ended with a famous line, I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. This was a poem that greatly motivated Nelson Mandela, South African president who spent long years in prison. Unfortunately, this was also a poem that was a great influence on Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. And the words of Invictus, which means unconquered, were his last words before his execution.

Sixteen years after Henley published Invictus, Charles Spurgeon, in the closing words of his final sermon, said this. Every person must serve somebody. We have no choice as to that fact. Those who have no master are slaves to themselves.

If you could see our captain, you would go down on your knees and beg him to let you enter the ranks of those who follow him. That is something that Babylon failed to recognize, even with the opportunities that they had. Babylon's mistake was misinterpreting her state. If you look at verse six carefully, I was angry with my people. I have profaned my inheritance.

I gave them into your hand. Babylon's state of privilege was for God's purpose. Yes, they were a powerful ancient empire.

And yes, they had a high civilization and great architecture and were excelled in literature. But they lived for their purpose and they failed to recognize that they were but instruments in the purpose of a sovereign creator. And their state of privilege was for God's purpose.

We should recognize that. God said, what was God's purpose in this? God says, I have my people and my people have become proud. And I need to correct my people and I am going to correct my people by giving them. I'm going to humble them and I'm going to humble them by giving them into your hand.

And that's exactly what he did. And Israel, Judah, was humbled. That's why he says in 45 and 46, chapters 45 and 46, he says, I, the Lord, do all these things.

I will do all my pleasure. You see, the great empire Babylon was but an instrument in the hands and purpose of a sovereign God. And they didn't recognize that. And so the question comes back to this. Whose purpose are you pursuing? Whose purpose are you living?

Do you think it's your own? You are deluded. The second question is this. Who are you trusting?

Who are you trusting? And he he gives a challenge to the Babylonian people in this. When he asked them, he mentions the things that the objects of their trust. First of all, look at verse nine, for example, these two things shall come to you in a moment.

In one day, the loss of children and widowhood, they shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries and the great abundance of your enchantments. Babylon considered itself spiritual. This great empire, they considered themselves spiritual and they trusted in their spirituality.

And the intellectual and the magical were intertwined in the Babylonian culture and way of thinking. But here's what we need to learn from this. Everything that calls itself spiritual is not necessarily from God, let alone good or helpful. And this is what we learn and this is what the Lord is telling them. Just because you're spiritual, doesn't mean it's from me. We must learn from that today.

There are many things. Spirituality is a growing trend in Western cultures today. We need to be careful with what calls itself spiritual. The 1996 bestseller, Conversations with God, sold over two and a half million copies. It was authored by Neil Donald Walsh. Walsh says that one day he simply started writing down his direct conversations with God. What he does is he presents a God who satisfies the spiritual yearnings of our culture. Now, here is a conversation between Walsh and God, and this is how it goes.

It represents the core beliefs of his spirituality. Listen carefully to this. This is a conversation.

I will preface each line with the speaker. God, I cannot tell you my truth until you stop telling me yours. Walsh, but my truth about God comes from you. God, who said so? Walsh, others? God, what others? Walsh, leaders, ministers, rabbis, priests, books, the Bible for heaven's sake.

God, those are not authoritative sources. Walsh, they aren't? God, no. Walsh, then what is? God says, listen to your feelings.

He watched too much TV, obviously. Listen to your highest thoughts. Listen to your experience.

Whenever any one of these differ from what you've been told by your teachers or read in your books, forget the words. But isn't that a good title, Conversations with God? That requires a lot of discernment on our part today. Just because something is spiritual doesn't necessarily mean it's from God, let alone good for you. A lot of spiritual terms going around today.

I was just at a pastors conference the beginning of this last week. You know, walking down, I just got out of session walking toward lunch. So I was in a hurry.

No, no, I really wasn't. But right in front of me was this guy. A lot of these guys come on bikes. Gary, look at that leather jacket.

See, they wear things like some of them do and they've got the colors all over them and stuff. And this one guy. Now, please excuse me if you have this on your stuff. But on the back of his shoulders, it said, God is my co-pilot. Now, stop and think for a minute. If God is my co-pilot, what does that make me? Listen, I have news for you. You and I are at best flight attendants on his aircraft.

Okay? Because the only purpose of the co-pilot is to fill in if the pilot can no longer function. God is not my co-pilot.

I would like to believe he's flying the aircraft. Spirituality. Just because something is spiritual doesn't mean it's from God.

This is what he points out in chapter 47. What are you trusting? Are you trusting your spirituality? Are you trusting, number two, are you trusting your ability?

Your ability. Look at verse 10. For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you.

And you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else beside me. They've trusted in their manipulations. They've trusted in their calculations. They've affirmed themselves thinking, I am so savvy. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-09-25 12:21:09 / 2024-09-25 12:25:44 / 5

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