Sermon #37 Series: Isaiah

Title: Understanding Divine Providence

Text: Isaiah 10:1-34

Subject: The Providence of God

Date: Sunday Evening - February 25, 1990

Tape #

Introduction:

Here are the four facts revealed in Holy Scripture which I most cherish. Those four, blessed, gospel truths are the pillars of our faith, the joy of our hearts, the comfort of our souls, and the constant themes of our songs in worship and of the message we preach.

1. The God we worship and serve, our Heavenly Father is absolutely sovereign in all things - (Dan. 4:34-37).

2. The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son, our Savior has effectually redeemed his people from all sin - (Gal. 3:13).

3. Salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ - (Eph. 2:8-9).

4. And the Lord our God sovereignly rules, controls, and disposes of all things in providence according to His own wise and holy will - (Isa. 46:9-13; Rom. 8:28; 11:36; II Cor. 5:18).

Tonight I want to talk to you about the providence of God. The title of my message is Understanding Divine Providence. In the tenth chapter of Isaiah we have a clear, instructive example of God’s wise and adorable providence.

Proposition: As God used Assyria to both purge his church and cause his elect remnant in Israel to seek him, so he uses all the events of time for the spiritual and eternal good of his elect.

At the time of Isaiah’s ministry Assyria was the greatest economic and military power in the world. Every nation in that part of the world had been, or in time would be, brought in subjection to the will of the Assyrian empire. In the eyes of the world Assyria was an uncontrollable power that had to be obeyed. No one dared oppose, or stir up the wrath of, Assyria, no one but a solitary, isolated prophet who believed God. Isaiah recognized that Assyria was nothing but a tool in the hands of God, by which the almighty sovereignly accomplished his eternal purpose, which he would destroy when he had no more use of it.

Isaiah did not see himself living in a world in which men and nations run rampant to accomplish their own pleasure, with the powerful triumphing over the weak. Isaiah saw himself living in a world with a Sovereign God at the helm of every nation, controlling the thoughts, words, and deeds of every man universally, making even the wicked to serve his purpose. In this tenth chapter of his prophesy Isaiah, by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, teaches us five lessons about Divine Providence.

I. THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD WHICH FALL UPON INDIVIDUALS AND NATIONS IN PROVIDENCE ARE ALWAYS FULLY DESERVED (vv. 1-4).

The nation of Israel fell to the Assyrians because they had become a nation of evildoers.

Illus: AIDS - The San Francisco Earthquake.

A. The judgments of God in providence are righteous and just.

B. When God sends judgment upon a people, both the believer and the unbeliever is affected.

C. But God’s object in judgment is the punishment of the wicked and the preservation of his elect.

II. GOD WISELY AND GRACIOUSLY USES WICKED MEN, WITHOUT EITHER THEIR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT TO EXECUTE HIS PURPOSE (vv. 5-19).

Assyria was nothing but the rod of God’s anger and the staff of his indignation by which he executed wrath upon the godless nation - (5-6).

A. They thought their cruel, barbaric policies were going to advance their own cause (v. 7).

B. They had met with great success (vv. 8-10).

C. The Assyrians’ wicked success caused their heads to swell with pride (v. 11, 13-15).

D. But when God had accomplished His purpose with Assyria, He told Isaiah how he would abolish Assyria (12, 16-17).

God, who is sovereign over all history, is sovereignly working his will in all the events of history.

Note: We must never judge God’s goodness in the light

of his providence, but judge his providence in the

light of his goodness - (Ps. 92:5-15).

III. THE OBJECT OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE IS THE SPIRITUAL, ETERNAL GOOD OF HIS ELECT - (vv. 20-23).

In every age there is a remnant, according to the election of grace, who must and shall be saved. It was true in Isaiah’s day. And it is true today. And everything God does, directly and indirectly, is for the salvation of that elect remnant.

Why does God send his church through trials, troubles, and difficulties of providential judgments like…

· The Assyrian Invasion of Judah.

· The Persecutions of the Past.

· The Communist Rule of Eastern Europe.

· Civil Strife, Etc.?

A. The purging of His church - They are not all Israel which are of Israel.

B. The spiritual maturity of His saints - To teach us to lean upon our God (Rom. 5:1-5).

C. The salvation of His elect - That he might gather his elect from afar.

Illus: Paul’s Shipwreck (Acts 27-28).

IV. GOD’S SAINTS IN THIS WORLD, EVEN IN THE MOST TROUBLESOME TIMES, HAVE NO CAUSE FOR ALARM OR FEAR (vv. 24-26).

Matt. 10:30

Isa. 41:10; 43:1-7

A. Your troubles will not last long (24-25).

B. The Lord will deliver you, like He did Israel from Egypt (v. 26; I Cor. 10:13; James 1:12).

V. IN THE END GOD WILL DESTROY HIS ENEMIES AND SAVE HIS PEOPLE (27-34; Rev. 19:1-6).

Application: Romans 8:35-39; I Peter 5:6-7; I Thessalonians 5:16-18).