Sermon # 138          Series: Isaiah

 

Title:  Predestination – The Work of God

 

Text:  Isaiah 46:1-13

 

Subject:  Predestination

 

Date:  Sunday Evening – November 15, 1992

 

Introduction:

 

Isaiah 46 is a prophetic word in which God declares the salvation of Israel from their Babylonian captivity by a specific man, Cyrus.  This prophecy was made two to three hundred years before Cyrus was born and long before the Jews were carried away into Babylon.

 

God laid his name, his honor, his reputation as God on the line.  Not only did he make the prophecy of deliverance, he named the deliverer and gave details of how deliverance would be accomplished.  Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius and the many other false gods of the world never did such a thing.  Had there ever been a prophetic word from a false god it would have been apparent to all that it was false gods.  No one can foretell the future but God.  No one knows the future but God.  However, this too needs to be understood:  God’s knowledge of the future is not to be traced merely to his omniscience, but to his absolute predestination.  In verses 9 and 10, God shows us that this word of prophecy is based upon his eternal, unalterable purpose of predestination.

 

My subject is Predestination – The Work Of God.  I want to show you that…

 

Proposition:  Predestination is the work that distinguishes God from all false gods.

 

Unlike the preachers of our day, the prophet Isaiah never hesitated to expose the false gods and false religions that held his generation in bondage and darkness.  He spoke God’s Word, and spake it plainly.  He repeatedly challenged the gods of the ancient world to foretell what would come to pass in time (Isa. 41:21-23; 45:20-21).  They could not even speak, much less prophecy!  Here, in chapter 46, The Lord God says, “I can tell you what must and shall come to pass, because it and I will bring it to pass!”

 

As we look at this chapter, I want us to keep in mind that, while it specifically refers to the deliverance of Israel out of Babylonian captivity.  That deliverance is a picture of the salvation of God’s elect by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that salvation is according to God’s eternal purpose of grace in predestination.

 

I.  Any god that needs the help of man is no God at all (vv. 1-2).

 

Bel and Nebo were the “great gods” of Babylon.  But when the Persians came against Babylon tried to save their gods!  Bel and Nebo and all the Babylonians who worshipped them were taken into captivity.

 

A.  A god who needs my help is no god.

B.  A god who cannot save me is not god.

C.  A god who does not control all things, even his enemies, is no god.

D.  The god of twentieth century “christianity” is no god at all.

 

Men call him by the names of God.  They ascribe to him the works of God.  Yet, we are told that…

 

 

II.  The One True and Living God, The God of the Bible is an Absolute Savior (vv. 3-4).

 

A.  He is the God of Jacob, the God of an Elect Remnant.

B.  He watches over and protects his elect all the days of their lives- Prevenient Grace!

      Illus:  The Prodigal!

                  Onesimus!

C.  I am talking about God who made you!

D.  He who made you will bear you and carry you to the end (Phil. 1:6).

E.  He “will deliver you!”

      He will save his elect.  Not one of all the chosen shall perish.

F.  The assurance of this is God’s Immutability!  “I am he!

      “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed”- (Mal. 3:6).  God      never changes…

·         In His Attributes!

 

III.  In verses 5-8 the Lord God warns us against the foolishness of idolatry:

 

Though all men, like the ancient Babylonians, like to have gods that they can see, lavish gods of silver and gold.  We must never attempt to make any images of our God.

 

A.  The second commandment prohibits all icons and images (Ex. 20:4).

       “To whom will ye liken me?” (v. 5).  (Deut. 4:8).

B.  Idolatry is a horrible sin that is both blasphemous and demeaning to man (v. 8).

      Note:  Those who worship God worship him in Spirit and in truth, beholding him with the eye of faith, not in images, but in his Word!

 

IV.  In verses 9-11, The Lord God gives us three Indisputable Proofs of His Godhead.

 

Jehovah declares that he alone is God and demonstrates his Godhead by these three things:

 

A.  Sacred History!

      “Remember the former things of old!”

 

       Remember what God did for his people in the past.  Could anyone other than God have done what he did for Israel?  (Ex. 15:11).

 

  1. The Passover!
  2. The Red Sea!
  3. Water from the Rock!
  4. Manna from Heaven!
  5. The Conquest of Canaan!

 

B.   Sacred Prophecy!

 

He is God alone who “declares the end from the beginning. (v. 10).  The Lord God declared, by the mouth of his prophets, from the beginning of time what he would do in the end of time.

 

  1. The First Gospel Message (Gen. 3:15).
  2. The Second Coming of Christ (Jude 14-15).
  3. The Destruction of Israel (Deut. 32:20-29).

 

C.  Absolute Predestination!

 

1.  God says, “My Counsel shall stand!” (vv. 10; Eph. 1:11).

 

All the powers of hell and earth cannot alter his counsel, disannul his counsel, or hinder him from performing his counsel- (Ps. 33:11; Pro. 18:21; 21:30; Acts 5:39).

 

2.  Nothing is more comforting to the believing heart than the knowledge of God’s absolute predestination.

 

If we can come to the place that whatever pleases God pleases us, nothing can rob us of peace, because we are assured that God will do all his pleasure (Ps. 135:6).

 

3.  Even those who do not know God are made to accomplish his predestined purpose with precise punctuality (v. 11).

 

“Calling a ravenous gird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country “Cyrus!  (Pro. 21:1; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28).

 

“Instead of shrinking back in honor from the doctrine of predestination, the believer, whom he sees this blessed truth as it is unfolded in the word, discovers a ground for gratitude and thanksgiving such as nothing else affords, save the unspeakable gift of the Redeemer himself.”  (A. W. Pink).

 

4.  God’s great work of predestination is absolute- “I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”

 

Part of God’s perfection as God is the fact that he has a plan and purpose.  As you cannot think of the sun without heat and light, so we cannot think of God without a plan and purpose.  God does not act whimsically or sporadically.  He always acts according to his eternal purpose of grace in predestination- (Is. 14:26-27).  Our Great God sovereignly presides over the earth and its history, directing all the events of time and tide according to his purpose.

 

A.  What God has purposed he will do, because he never changes his mind.

 

B.  What he has purposed he will bring to pass, because none can stay his hand.

 

5.  When you think about predestination, always think about it the way the Bible presents it.

 

A.  Predestination is God’s eternal purpose to save a great multitude of chosen sinners by his grace (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:3-7).

 

B.  Predestination provided Christ as the sinner’s Substitute and delivered him up to die upon the cursed tree in the place of his people (Acts 2:23).

 

C.  Predestination comprehends all things (Eph. 1:11).

 

D.   Predestination assures us of God’s goodness in providence (Rom. 8:28).

 

E.  The ultimate end of God in predestination is the glory of the Triune God in Christ (Col. 1:16; Rom. 11:36).

 

 

V.  Nothing shall hinder God or keep him from Accomplishing His Everlasting Purpose of Grace in Predestination (vv. 12- 13).

 

Man’s rebellion and unbelief will not make the purpose of God of none effect (Rom. 3:3-4).

 

A.  God will bring righteousness to his people.

 

B.  His salvation shall not tarry- Grace does not wait!  At the appointed time of love salvation comes to God’s elect (Eph. 16:6-8).

Note:  Verse 13 is a prophecy of the coming of Christ, who is God’s Salvation!

 

C.  The salvation of Israel, of God’s elect, according to God’s work of predestination, is for God’s glory!

 

Application:

 

How can I know that I have been predestinated unto eternal life in Christ, that my name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the world began? – Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:13).

 

Why are we so insistent upon this blessed doctrine of predestination?

 

1.       It is Bible Doctrine.

2.       It honors God and distinguishes him as God.

3.       It encourages faith.