Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Isaiah chapter 46 contrasts the gods of the day with Jehovah God, bringing out a clear picture of the sovereignty and power of our God.
He's the one we can confidently and safely commit ourselves to. His character evokes awe and worship. Let's listen in to this message from Isaiah 46. This is part three of a message from the Isaiah series titled Behold Your God. It was first preached on May 12, 2013 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear the entire message, check out www.delightingrace.com.
It's right there. There's no before and after. That is his perspective, spread out right in front of him, simultaneously. That is the view of an infinite God who is not bound by space and time. There is an example, there are many, many examples of this in scripture and this is exactly the very thing that God is pointing out, which is why he is comforting his people saying, listen, it's not like, okay, I'm drawing up plans here and this is what I see coming down the future.
I'm drawing up plans and so be encouraged because I'm working on these plans. No, no, no, no. He says, listen, let me tell you what is going to happen and you know why it's going to happen? Because I said it's going to happen. This is the way it is.
I'm already there. So be encouraged by that. Very, very clear example of this in the New Testament is Romans 8, verses 29 and 30. This grants us God's perspective. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. Whom he justified, these he also glorified.
Do you know what he's saying right there? From some point in eternity, if you are in Christ, God has known you as such and therefore his purpose and his plan that he also knows you as that point where you are seated with Christ at the right hand of the majesty on high. And if you are in Christ here today, God sees you that way.
That's got to be encouraging. And God has known you that way forever. That's omniscience. That is an infinite perspective. On the flip side of that, John chapter 6, verse 64 says that Jesus knew who would not believe.
Isn't that interesting? That's why he approached teaching certain people in certain ways. That exactly is why he taught in parables. He says to his disciples who would entrust themselves to him, he says to you it has been granted to know, but to them it has not.
Why? Because he knew who would not believe. So you might be saying, okay, Rich, in all of that that's laid right out in front of God, right before him there, you know, how do I have any choice in any of this?
Why should I even bother to pray? And those are good questions. And those are questions that theologians have been mulling over for, oh, I don't know, millennia. Okay, but look at it this way. Okay, from some time in eternity, God spread it out, boom, there it is. It's my counsel, my purpose, my pleasure, God says. Now understand this, you created in God's image were created as a volitional being. He created you and me with the capacity to choose, and God respects that choice. Because the highest function you and I can engage in is loving God, and love must necessarily be by choice, otherwise it's not love.
Hence the Garden of Eden and the tree in the center of the garden. There was a choice necessary. But see, when God went like this, all of that was known to him, all at one time. And included in all that perfect, complete, innate, spontaneous, simultaneous knowledge were all the choices that you would make, good and bad.
All the choices that everyone would ever make, good and bad. And as he went like this, and he knew all that, he knew how he would employ those choices to take us to his end. That's the omniscience of God.
What is the worst act in history that can be imagined? When a perfect man, the Son of God, was nailed to a cross, and yet God used that evil, wicked deed by men, and purposed it for his glory, and for his purpose. That's how the omniscience of God works. And so you might be saying, well Rich, why then should I pray if everything is planned out, God knows everything right there, why should I even bother to pray? Because when God went like this, included in that was every prayer thought that you would ever make, and included in this was God's response to your prayer.
Whether you made it, or if you didn't make it, that's when James would come in and says, you have not because you don't ask. That's the omniscience of God. Thiessen says, the free actions do not take place because they are foreseen, they are foreseen because they will take place. And predicted moral evil does not remove human responsibility. God is not the author of evil.
Evil in terms of wickedness, evil in terms of a thought or a motive in a human's heart and mind that is contrary to the character and purpose of God. Because God cannot act contrary to his character, otherwise he wouldn't be a holy God. Man has responsibility in that, but all of that was known to God right there, just like that. There's a portion in Romans that speaks to this, it's Romans chapter 11 verses 33 to 36. And the Apostle Paul, in common fashion, after expounding the depths and the profundity of the character and the purposes of God, just breaks out in doxology. And this is Romans 11, 36, 33 to 36. Let's read this together, all right?
All together. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become his counselor? Or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him? For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever.
Amen. Three prepositions. Of him, through him and to him. Because of the omniscience of God. Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurs to God? It's right there. Every bit of it.
Every bit of it. And therefore, we are taken to understand from this the wisdom of God. And what is the wisdom of God?
Here's a good definition of it by Thiessen. The wisdom of God is the intelligence of God displayed in the choice of the highest ends and the fittest means for the accomplishment of those ends. The Lord says, my counsel will stand, I will accomplish my purpose. Verse 10.
And what is that end? What is the end that he has for us? Our happiness and satisfaction and his holiness are him glorified. Like John Piper says, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
My pursuit of God is the thing that glorifies him the most. That's what we heard in Grace's testimony this morning. She's going to glorify God. What was her testimony?
She's been reconciled to God and she is pursuing him. Doesn't that glorify God? Absolutely. David Osborne from Denver Seminary said, too often we try to use God to change our circumstances while he is using our circumstances to change us. And amen to that. An omniscient God can do that and does do that. So what does this mean for us?
It means many things. Very practically speaking, because of the omniscience of God, as he is pointing out in Isaiah chapter 46, because of his omniscience, we can believe because of history. We can believe because of history. I like what John Oswald says. Listen to this. He says, what is the antidote to unbelief?
Memory. God is not to be known in the endlessly recurring cycles of nature, mind numbing in their glorious repetitions, but in his stark, unrepeatable intrusions into history. Remember those moments, say Moses and all the prophets, for as you do, you will see reality.
You will see God as he really is and know that you can entrust yourself to him. We can believe based on history and God's intrusion into history. Not only can we believe, but we can also confidently and safely commit ourselves to him and his will for us.
Why? Because he loves us and has our best in view. And lastly, we can delight in him. We can contemplate his majesty that evokes our worship and our delight. And that is so true when we know God for who he is.
He is not a burden to us. He is our delight and we delightfully entrust ourselves to him because he is the one who is carrying us. 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.
