Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. God is the greatest and most important reality. It's only in submitting ourselves to His authority that we'll find our own freedom. And we can find our story, our own purpose clearly brought to life in light of His character and plan. Isaiah 43 gives us another look at our great creator-redeemer as we continue our series through Isaiah titled, Behold Your God. Eternal Father and imminent God, thank you that you have made yourself known to us in such a way that we can know you and walk with you and delight in you. Thank you Father for the reference point that you are to us, that we can see that behind all the things that are going on there is purpose.
This life is not meaningless, but you are moving history in the direction according to your purpose. Father, we are reminded of the fallenness of our creation and the frailty of our humanity in light of the news events this week. Father, for the families that are suffering in Boston, for the families that are suffering in Texas, West Texas, Father, I pray that in these events and through these events that you will draw them to yourself, that you will manifest yourself to them. May your people among them rise up to glorify you and be boldly compassionate, Father. Bring glory to yourself through these events, for we recognize, Father, that creation is desperately in need of redemption. Thank you for your word, Father, that we have the privilege of coming together to fellowship with each other as your people communing with you and engaging your word. Father, open our hearts and our minds and teach us by your spirit. Reveal yourself to us, Father, that we may know you in the way that you truly are to be known. Rescue us, Father, from creating you in our image or thinking of you as small or weak or unkind.
Thank you for who you are, for what you have done, and for what you will do. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated. In this 43rd chapter of Isaiah, God grants us an opportunity to look behind the curtains, to look behind the scene where much is going on. And as we get the glimpse behind the curtains, behind the curtain, we find that there is a purpose to all that is going on.
While we might think that things are getting out of control, we can know that there is a purpose. And in this chapter, God manifests himself to us as the Creator Redeemer. This is my favorite title for God. The Creator Redeemer.
It is important. Both words are equally important because he is Creator and that gives us the sense and the understanding that God is all powerful. He is so powerful that he speaks and it is there.
It is done. He is Creator and he is all powerful. He is Redeemer and he is all good.
I need to advance the slide there with just one button. There you go. He is Redeemer and he is all good. Though we have wandered from him, we have rebelled from him.
We have rebelled against him. God in his goodness because he created us for himself. He has done the work necessary to redeem us to himself. He is a good God. He is an all powerful God, but he is an all good. And these are questions, even objections that many raise today. Either God is all powerful, but he's not all good or he's all good, but he's not powerful enough to do something about what's going on.
Neither of those is true. God is the Creator Redeemer. He is all powerful and he is all good.
And you can look behind the scenes in Chapter 43 gives us the glimpse behind the scenes. And there we can see that there is a purpose behind everything that is going on. That is the God we worship and serve. He is moving history in the direction of his purpose. Now we are reminded this week that creation needs redemption.
Particularly people need redemption. Because you can take a young man who looks like he's the typical all American youth, has it all together. He's got so much promise ahead of him. He's going to school. He dresses in a flashy.
He has nice dress. He just looks so innocent. But you can take that man and according to what's going on inside that man, he is willing to detonate a bomb in public. Creation needs redemption. People need redemption. You're listening to news items this week and talk radio and people were celebrating. They're talking about the Boston Marathon. And you know, the Boston Marathon is a celebration and a demonstration of human power and beauty and resolve. And they feel that that was attacked.
And it was. Because there are those who hate it. There are those who want a different good. So how do we know what is good? How do we know what is right? How do we know what is truth? Who determines what is good?
Who determines what is truth? The 43rd chapter of Isaiah reveals to us that truth and good have a name. Look with me at verse eight. Bring out the blind people who have eyes, the deaf who have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together. Let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring out their witness that they may be justified or let them hear and say it is truth. You are my witnesses, says the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen. Truth has a name. And the creator, redeemer, Jehovah, the God of Israel is the one who informs us that there is purpose, his purpose behind all that is going on.
It is his doing. So we need to make sure that we remember that. Let us not be distracted or sidetracked by focusing on the temporal, the here and now, because all of that is but a symptom of what is truly happening in the hearts and minds of men and in the purpose of God. And so God reveals himself to us in the 43rd chapter.
And there are two main senses that I want us to notice from this revelation today in Isaiah chapter 43. And we must know God in both of these ways. The first way is that he is a transcendent being. He is transcendent in that he is infinite. He is not bound by space and time. And in his infinitude, he is absolutely powerful and that is manifested in statements like I created you, I formed you, you are mine. He is one who takes possession. I am the Lord your God.
Listen to this one. I gave Egypt for your ransom. In his sovereignty, in his transcendence, he can take a people and give them as a ransom. Only a sovereign God can do that. He says before the day was I am he before time and there is none who can deliver out of my hand.
He is absolutely free. He is the creator of Israel. And there are other statements that you can pull from this chapter, but they describe most of these are in the first several verses of the chapter, but these describe who God is. God is like what he has done. Look at the creation. Look at his work in history. But not only is God transcendent, but we also must know him as person. He's not just an infinite force. He is person, meaning he is imminent. Imminent means he is near and he is relational.
And that's manifested in these phrases. I have called you by your name. You are precious in my sight. You have been honored. I have loved you. I am with you.
Bring my sons and my daughters. I have redeemed you. Not only am I the creator of Israel, but I am your king. And there is that relationship between sovereign and subject. That designed relationship. He's not just creator.
He didn't just set it in motion and then let it go. No, he is king. He is the ruler over all. And so we must know God in these two ways.
It's like two opposite sides of the coin. We must know God according to his transcendence, but we also must know God in his personhood that he is near. He is relational. And we were created for him because he knows that he is our highest good. He is our source and he is our satisfaction. And we cannot find a greater satisfaction than himself. That then brings us to what God's purpose is. What is God's purpose in all of this? Look with me beginning at verse six. The purpose of God is the reconciliation of man. The apostle Paul says to the church at Corinth, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. 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.
