Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. We make a grave mistake when we put our hope and trust in anything other than our sovereign Creator. In this message from Isaiah 41, Pastor Rich points to a God who is the Lord of history, and yet deeply and intimately involved. May our hearts be drawn to Him as we look into His character today. You're listening to the third part of a sermon that was first preached on March 24, 2013.
To hear the entire message, go to www.delightingrace.com. I have a question for you. Can you know what has not yet happened? What is it doing? It's sitting there like a dumb piece of wood. This system cannot know anything, let alone what has not yet happened.
Second question, can you explain why everything is here and where it came from? No, it can't. It is but a system. And then God asks, can you do anything? Do something? And then God says this, you are nothing.
What is He saying? Not only are your systems that you put your trust in false gods, they are non-gods. They are not worthy of trust. They are the false object of a false faith system. He says in verse 24, and God doesn't hold any punches here, He's talking to the false objects of trust, the systems, the idols. Verse 24, indeed you are nothing and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination, an idol worshiper.
May the Lord challenge us in our pagan tendencies this morning. Why is that? Because these are but systems, they can know nothing. They can purpose nothing. They orchestrate nothing. There is only one in the universe who can say, I am.
Only one. He is the only non-contingent being of the universe, meaning he depends on nothing for his existence. Jehovah, God of Israel, is the only self-existent one in the universe. He should be our object of trust. These systems that we've been talking about, listen to what John Oswald said, the transcendent, sovereign Lord of history is the one who orchestrates these systems.
He's not just Lord in history, he's Lord of history. John Oswald says this, it is only a God who is totally other than this world that he can never be imaged in any of this world's forms who can explain to us why he created the world and who can be free enough from it to direct and redirect its progress so as to deliver it from itself. That is what the transcendence of God means. Oswald concludes saying this, anything worthy of the term God must be other than the system. That is our transcendent, sovereign creator. He is other than the system. He's not a part of the system, he is over it and orchestrates the system. He is and ought to be our object of trust. As the only one in the universe who can say I am, he says I am the one who designed and operates the system. Verse 20, that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done it, the Holy One of Israel has created it. This is his sovereignty, it just simply means sovereignty means he is free. That's what it means. Whoever crafted this fine piece of furniture here was sovereign over it.
They were free to do with it what they wanted to do, to fashion it and put it together, they were free to do that. And that's who God is. Not only does he say I am the one who designed and operates the system, he says I am the first and the last. Verse 4, listen to verse 4, who has performed and done it, calling the generations from the beginning, I the Lord am the first and with the last I am he. I know it all at once and I bring it to pass.
You see, your system can't do that, whatever system it is that you're trusting. Not only am I the first and the last, but God says nothing can prevent my purpose, pagan gods notwithstanding. And that is the point of verses 26 to 29. When Nebuchadnezzar took Israel captive, he believed it was his gods that was giving him the victory. And God made it very clearly known to him so that it ended up being that Nebuchadnezzar himself, you find this in the book of Daniel, but Nebuchadnezzar himself said the most high rules in the kingdom of men. Cyrus thought it was his gods that gave him the victory over the unshakable Babylonian kingdom.
Victory in one night like that without any fighting. No, no. God says, nope, it's my doing. You don't even know who I am, but you're going to fulfill my purpose. You see, that's what a sovereign God does. You can't trust the system of rulers. You can only trust the one who alone can say, I am.
Nothing prevents my purpose. So not only is he the transcendent creator, but he is the Lord of history who is personally involved. This is another thing that sets Jehovah, God of Israel, sets him apart from every other false god. Even other religions today that might claim that there is but one God and we call him Allah, okay? Yes, but he stands aloof and there's no interaction, there's no relationship. The only thing that we can do about Allah is to just obey him. Servile obedience, that's all there is.
There's no interaction, there's no love. God says, I am the Lord of history and I am personally involved. Let me be your object of trust. If you were to look at verses 8 through 20, look at all the times that it says that the Lord says, I have or I will do that study.
We're not going to do that right now. But count the times when he speaks of his own personal involvement. Three specific ways we're going to look here. I am personally involved, one as your redeemer. I am your redeemer, specifically in verses 11 to 16.
God says, I come down to rescue you. Now there's two prophecies included in this. First of all, he's prophesying right here. He's specifically prophesying Cyrus, who about 160 years from this point is going to bring the people of Judah back into their country.
And God is saying, I'm setting him up to do that. I'm orchestrating that. You haven't even gone into captivity yet and I'm already planning your return back to your land.
I'm doing that. I'm coming down to rescue you. But later on, as we get in further into this prophecy, chapters 52 and 53, what does he call himself in verse 14? I am your redeemer. And we get into chapters 52 and 53, he's going to introduce another redeemer who is the ultimate redeemer. The God who is Lord of history and is personally involved.
Let him be your object of trust. He says, not only am I personally involved as your redeemer, but also I am personally involved as your resource. I am your resource. If you were to look at verses 17 to 20, all the things that God is providing for them. He speaks of the poor, the needy, places that are dry and desolate, the desert, spring to life, fountains of water. What does God do?
As our resource, life arises out of barrenness. Where there is no life, God brings life. And he does that for his people. He does that for those whom he loves. He does that affirming what Moses said and what the Lord Jesus repeated, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
The sovereign, the transcendent sovereign creator who is the Lord of history is personally involved as your resource, bringing life, springing up life. He is also personally involved as your rest. Verses 8 through 10, he is your rest. God speaks of deep affection to his people. He says to them, fear not, do not be dismayed. He says, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you.
Put all that in a nutshell. What is God saying? Trusting me. Trusting me means you will be ruled by peace.
Why? Because I'm not a system that you're putting your confidence in. I am the Lord of history. I am the transcendent sovereign creator. I orchestrate it all.
I am not a system, I am over those systems. And I am personally involved in your life. Trust me. And if you trust me, you will be ruled by my peace. Isn't that what everybody wants? Peace?
But you know what? When we're trusting our systems, we're not going to have it. I can guarantee you that this morning. You're not going to have it. The only way to know the peace that you truly want deep down inside is to trust the transcendent sovereign creator, who is the Lord of history and is personally involved.
Let him be your object of trust. 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 AM.
