David Green's sermon, 'The Sovereignty of God,' focuses on Isaiah 46:9-11 to explore the concept of God's ultimate authority and control over the world. Green draws parallels between God's actions and an artist crafting a masterpiece, where every brushstroke is purposeful. He emphasizes God's omnipotence, as illustrated by the prophecy concerning Cyrus, a Persian king named by God 150 years before his birth, showcasing God's control over history. The sermon ties these ideas to Romans 8:28, highlighting that all things work together for good under God's sovereign plan. Green urges believers to trust in God's control over their lives, reminding them of the importance of recalling past divine interventions and prophecies. He challenges listeners to live by faith in God's sovereignty, regardless of current trials, and to find assurance in God's eternal, unchanging nature.

Imagine an artist crafting a masterpiece. Each brush stroke, no matter how chaotic or unexpected, is purposeful in its final image. Our text before us, Isaiah 46 verses 9 through 11, reminds us that God is the ultimate artist of our lives and this world. Just as we've sung in the song, this is my father's world. God is sovereignly guiding us through each and every chapter.

Even when we can't see the beauty that's being formed, we can rest assured that God's hand is at work, intricately weaving our experiences into a beautiful work of art that reflects His glory. As we continue in this series on the existence and attributes of God, my sermon today is on the subject of the sovereignty of God. Isaiah chapter 46 verses 9 through 11 is my text. So if you're there in your copy of God's word, you can follow along as I read this text. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, there is no one like me.

Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying my council will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my council from a far country, truly I've spoken, truly I will bring it to pass, I have formed it, surely I will do it." This is the infallible, the inherent, the all-sufficient word of the living God. And this will be our text today as we cover this important subject, the sovereignty of God. Many years ago I preached on this subject. I did a series on the existence and attributes of God, but in those days I just used the text as a springboard and I took everybody through a whole bunch of Bible verses and just kind of hardly ever stopped anywhere just went across the whole of the Old Testament and the New Testament as well.

Today I'm not going to do that. I plan to expound upon the subject. There's lots of text that can be used for this subject. But this is the one that I wanted to use this morning. In this series, The Existence and Attributes of God, I want to explore who God is.

And in this installment of the series certainly thinking of the sovereignty of God and looking at Isaiah chapter 46 This gets to the heart of that question, who is God? Before we get too far into this, we must ask what does sovereignty mean? We use the term sovereign quite frequently here. Our church is Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. So we ought to know something about the name and what it means.

A.W. Pink, in his book, The Sovereignty of God, probably one of the best that was ever written, he wrote, by sovereignty we mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the godhood of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so that none can defeat his counsels, thwart his purpose, or resist his will. The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, Infinite.

God says as he pleases, only as he pleases, always as he pleases, whatever takes place in time is but the outworking of that which he decreed in eternity." End quote. To sum it all up in one sentence you can take home with you today, God's sovereignty means that he possesses absolute unstoppable power and supreme authority over everything, ensuring that every event in history unfolds exactly to His eternal will. That's every event that happened in the past and that's every event that happens now. Thus when we say Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, we're pointing not to ourselves but rather to God. The term combines the two divine attributes, God's total and absolute control over all things, past, present, and future, paired with his unmerited favor toward those who have not earned it.

We are the recipients of that sovereign grace. All glory and praise goes to our sovereign God. As we get into this text, I want us to notice that God sovereignly accomplishes everything he purposes, and that changes how we live. You may hear this, and there's some who may tune in on the internet and say, well, I'm not sure about this. I don't know.

I don't believe it. Maybe folks were raised on the idea that God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. Like my grandfather always said, God said it and that settles it whether you believe it or not. And so while there are people out there who doubt the sovereignty of God and even those who will argue against it. It doesn't change the fact that he is sovereign.

We're gonna look at three things that God says about himself in our text in Isaiah 46. Number one, God's incomparable identity. Number two, God's sovereign purpose. And number three, God's sovereign power proven. We'll expound those points as we go along.

As we dig into a text like this and a subject, let's go back to that text, Isaiah 46, Verse 9, that first part there. Remember the former things long past. Sometimes people kind of scratch their heads and think, well, this is an Old Testament passage. How does this apply to me? Certainly it does and it is applicable to me, especially as we have in our hands or in our laps the entire canon of God's Word.

And I'd like to bring you over to the pages of the New Testament, to Romans chapter 8. So we think about the sovereignty of God and consider the fact that this is applicable to us. Whether we pick up a text about God's sovereignty in the Old Testament or the New Testament, this is the God who changes not. And in Romans chapter 8 and verse 28, no doubt a very familiar passage of scripture, the Bible tells us, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. And so right there in Romans 8, 28, we have a great reminder how the God is working in our lives.

All things may not be good, but they work together for good. How is that? Because he is sovereign over all. How can we believe that? How can we trust him?

Because he is sovereign over all. How can we consider this? Because we remember the former things long past. Indeed, we're here in a room, we're a small group, but in this room there are folks who are carrying heavy loads. You may have something heavy today, maybe a diagnosis or a prodigal child or a marriage that's got trouble in it, A job that's disappeared, a loved one who is in the hospital, a prayer that's gone unanswered for years, financial issues, and on and on we go.

You know the loads. And even if you don't have one right now just wait a little while you'll have one. And in those times Romans 8 28 can sound like nothing more than just a bumper sticker saying. But what good is it? I'm in this dark valley, Lord, I'm having these problems, this load is so terrible.

But when we think about the sovereignty of God and we bring it to where the rubber meets the road, to our own lives, and we kind of look at the full picture of the Scriptures. We don't need to go from page to page to page in the Bible in a sermon like I used to do. But we can take this example from Romans 8.28, tie it back to our text in Isaiah 46, and we realize that what Isaiah 46 does for Romans 8 28 is it shows us the God who's making that promise. This isn't some bumper sticker saying, this isn't some feel good saying that you can put on the back of your car that you can have as a good luck charm. It's not Vague cosmic optimism.

This is the God. This is the God. Watch this and we'll get there here in a minute. Who looked 150 years into the future. 150 years into the future, called a single Pagan King by name, and was not wrong by a syllable.

When you get into Isaiah, and we'll look at this here in just a moment, but I wanna kinda tie this together up front so we can look at this more... Realize that this specific sovereign never surprised God is the one who says all things are working together for your good and mine and for all those who love him. The same God who was working in the Old Testament is still working today. This is the sovereign God that we serve. Like the illustration I gave earlier, you may not see the brushstroke you're in right now, But the artist has already seen the finished canvas.

And so in our text in Isaiah 46, The readers called upon to remember the former things long past. This was good for the original readers and this is good for us today. Recall how that past history has gone, how the prophecies have been fulfilled. It's not history all lowercase, it's His story. Capital H-I-S with emphasis on his story.

This is God's story as it's unfolded throughout the centuries. Remember, recall, he says, the former things long past. The former things long past. Remember, what are we remembering? We're remembering the things from history.

Bring to your mind the miraculous deliverances such as Noah in the ark, the children of Israel from Egypt. Remember, don't forget these things. Remember the great blessings that have come down from God above. It's good for us to remember. Not only the Old Testament stories, the Old Testament accounts that are given, not just the things that happened in the Bible, but also God's sovereign workings in our lives and the lives of our parents and our grandparents and those who have come before us.

There in verse 9 he says, Remember the former things long past, for I am God and there is none other. I am God, there is no one like me." God opens with a double declaration of uniqueness. The point isn't just that he exists, that there is no category that contains him. He stands alone. When something is happening or has happened, something is being said or thought.

And God responds like he does in verse 9 with, I am God. The point is you're acting as if you don't know what it means for me to be God. And that's what was happening here in Isaiah chapter 46. So he tells them and of course us by extension what it means to be the one and true God. He tells them what is at the heart of his godness.

That's what point one is all about, establishing who God is, but the text continues. In the point two, in verse 10, God's sovereign purpose, where he says here, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying my counsel will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure." Now a casual reader might think that this is all about the foreknowledge of God and certainly that's here. But there's more to it than that. You see, God is not to be thought of as some glorified fortune teller. He's not someone who looks through the pages of the future and says, well, this is going to happen and that's going to happen, so I need to do this or that.

That's not the way it is. He purposes it and performs it. Nothing takes God by surprise. He's sovereign over everything. His predictions come through because they are His intentions, and he is powerful enough to carry them through without exception.

He says my council will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. It's easy to read this and think to yourself, yeah, well, so what? This all sounds good on paper, but the question we need to ask ourselves is, do we really believe it? And if we really believe it, do we live like it? Do we live as if God is sovereign?

We read the pages here, We say we believe the Bible is true, but do we live it? God and only God, the God that we serve, the sovereign God of the Bible, the creator of the universe, the God who is the redeemer of man. God is sovereign overall and He declares how things turn out long before they ever happen. Not just natural events, but human events. Things that are not yet done.

I can't emphasize this enough. It's one thing to see the sovereignty of God in history, way back younger. But I want you to realize that the mighty hand of God is in your life and mine. That He is still working in this world. Whether good or bad, He is sovereign over all of our lives.

This book, God's Word, is proof of it. Time and time again, prophecies are given long before they ever took place, and when they did take place, they took place exactly how they were prophesied. How they were prophesied. There's some, I don't know what the term is, hooligans, false prophets out there. They'll get out there and they'll say, well, I'm a prophet from God and I'm telling you.

We remember some of the prophecies that we've seen over the last few years. One of them said COVID would be over in a week or two or something like that. Another one said that Trump was going to win the 2020 election. Sometimes they predict the coming of our Lord. Those predictions come and go.

But God, God is never wrong in his prophecies. Why? Well, because In his sovereignty, he can prophesy these things and he can carry them out because his hand is all through it. All through it from beginning to ending. It's here in this text, God says, the reasons my predictions come true is because they are my purposes and because I myself perform them.

That's God. That's God. When we say God is sovereign, we speak of the sovereignty of God. We mean He has authority, the freedom, the power to bring about everything that He intends to happen, to carry it all the way through. When he says, I will accomplish all my good pleasure, he means that nothing, nothing will happen except what he purposes.

Again, God is not like anyone else. Talk about the uniqueness of God a while ago. Talk about the false prophecies that men have brought out, those prophets that were not of God. God is not like anyone else, but let's bring it down to us. He's not like us.

You and I may have the best of intentions to carry out something. How many times have you or I set out to do something and along the way something else happened. Oh, I didn't mean for it to happen that way. We had a plan, maybe it was a good plan, maybe it seemed like a foolproof plan, but it didn't work out the way we intended. The project had to be scrapped.

We had to take a detour, whatever the case may mean. Our appointment got canceled, you know, those sorts of things, They happen all the time. But not with God. Never. Never does it happen with God that way.

He is sovereign over everything, and we've seen what it means here in verse 10. But then in verse 11 we see God's sovereign power proven as he brings this up to the children of Israel. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country, truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have formed it, surely I will do it." Now you and I, when we read this, we might glaze right over it, not think a thing about it, maybe even think, well, God is sovereign over the birds of prey, and that would be true. God is sovereign over the birds of prey.

He's sovereign over the eagle, the osprey, and even the turkey vulture. He's sovereign over that dirty old turkey vulture that's always out there. Nasty old bird. But he's sovereign over all those things. But that's not what's being talked about here.

This is very exciting because here the doctrine of God's sovereignty becomes very concrete in the minds of the Old Testament saints and it should become concrete in our minds today. Because here he has reference to none other than Cyrus, the Persian king by whom Babylon would be taken and by whom the Jews would be restored to their own land. The bird of prey imagery is of a warlike king. He was, as our text says, the man of my council from a far country. God would eventually summons this man to conquer Babylon and return a remnant of Israel to end their 70-year captivity.

But here's where it gets really interesting when we talk about the sovereignty of God. This doesn't happen for another hundred and fifty years after Isaiah wrote this, after God gave the word here. That's right, this is a prophecy that was not yet fulfilled at the time of Isaiah, But this is not just speculation on my part. You might say, well, that's a far-fetched thing. Sometimes preachers do have far-fetched ideas and they read into the Bible and they start talking about images and all that sort of thing.

But notice with me, if you will, go back to chapter 44 and we're going to look at chapter 45 as well. So in Isaiah chapter 44 verse 28, It is I who says of Cyrus, Isaiah 44 and verse 28, It is I who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and all my good pleasure he will complete. And saying of Jerusalem, she will be built, and of the temple your foundation will be laid. Chapter 45, verse one, thus says Yahweh to Cyrus, his anointed, whom I have taken hold of by his right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings, to open doors before him, so that gates will not be shut." You see, Isaiah is writing the words of Yahweh God down in this prophecy in this book. Not only is the imagery of the bird of prey as we see in Isaiah chapter 46 talking about the sovereignty of God, but in chapters 44 and 45, we see that he names King Cyrus by name.

Again, 150 years Cyrus was even born. A century and a half later, over in Ezra. Ezra. Ezra. Chapter 1 verses 1 through 4.

Now in the First year of Cyrus, King of Persia. Understand, Persia, Persians, Persian Empire was right around where Iran is today. Maybe you've heard some Jews talking about Trump, comparing him to Cyrus and all those sorts of things. Look, I don't think any of that sort of thing is true, But guess what? God can use pagan kings, pagan leaders from other places to do his will.

And so as we watch things unfold in the world, I don't know that now is the time that that Israel's land is going to fully be restored and all those sorts of things, and I don't know that Trump is the one that's going to be used for it and all of that, and I don't know that that they should be comparing Trump to Cyrus. But there are people who are excited about this as they think about and consider the sovereignty of God in the affairs of the world. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing to consider. Because in Ezra chapter 1 and verse 1, again about 150 years after Isaiah had written his prophecy from God, This is what it says, now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to complete the word of Yahweh from the mouth of Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he had a proclamation pass throughout all his kingdom.

And also put it in writing saying, Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, Yahweh, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem, so every one who remains at whatever place he may sojourn, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a free will offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

This was the fulfillment of that prophecy that's recorded in Isaiah. Again, concrete evidence of the workings of God in the lives of the people in the history of the world. We go We go back into our text here. Imagine if someone were to help hand you a sealed envelope and tells you don't open it for 150 years. And when it's finally opened, it included the full name, nationality and military strategy of a specific world leader.

Written before that person's grandparents were even born. No one would call that a lucky guess. They'd call it impossible. But that's exactly what we have here in this text. In Isaiah 46 and going back to Isaiah 44 and 45, God didn't hedge, he didn't budge, He didn't guess and get lucky about it.

He didn't say a king from the east and leave it at that. He said, Cyrus. Cyrus is my man. He's going to be the one by name. Century and a half earlier.

No one can do that. That's not someone looking into a crystal ball and taking a guess. That's not a palm reader. That's not a fortune teller. This is God.

Only God can do that. Look how things go in our country. They do polls, and they run surveys and all that, and they can't even always guess who's gonna win an election with all of our technology, all the things that's going on. They can't even always guess an election the day before it happens, and sometimes, sometimes they don't even get it right until surprise, oh look, the outsider won a bunch of states that they didn't see happening. You see, who is man?

But look at God. And I guarantee you that though we don't have a book that gives us the names of all the presidents, that gives us the names of all the governors, our God is not surprised. Who's in the White House? He's not surprised at who's in Atlanta. He's not surprised at who's in London or Jerusalem or any other place in the world today.

This is God. The Cyrus prophecy, naming a man 150 years before his birth is God's exhibit A, if you will, as he declares his sovereignty here in our text. He doesn't just claim sovereignty in the abstract. He stakes his credibility on a specific verifiable prediction before it ever even came to be. This is his sovereignty proven.

This is his sovereignty proven. And even as there have been manuscripts and manuscripts that have been written and all of those things, going all the way back, Nowhere is there a manuscript where Cyrus' name is missing from Isaiah's prophecy. And there's some very old manuscripts of Isaiah. So it's not like someone went back and changed something, put it in there. It was there.

And we praise God for His sovereignty. Three things that God says Three things that God says about himself in our passage. He is incomparable. He is purposeful and he is proven. They all land in the same place.

There is no one like Him. No one like our God. Nothing is outside of His hand. There's no event that's happened in history. There's no event that happens in your life or mine.

That's outside of his sovereign plan and purpose. The same God who whispered Cyrus's name to Isaiah some 150 years before Cyrus drew his first breath that God is sovereignly, purposely, unstoppable at work in your life right now. Your situation, my situation, this church's situation is not a surprise to him. Your pain is not a problem to God that he is scrambling to fix. Truly, Truly, this is my Father's world.

He formed it. He will do it. These ain't just my words, they're His. All through his book. We have a foundation to stand on.

The sovereignty of God isn't just a doctrine to be admired. We don't sit down and study it like you might study mathematics or science or spelling. It's not a doctrine to read of in a in a textbook and then move on, it's a foundation to stand on when everything in your life seems like it's unraveling. When your life feels like it's falling apart, You can plant your feet on this. That God, my God, your God, our God, has never once been caught off guard.

He's never once been surprised. And he's not starting today. We're getting this late hour of world history. He's not getting old and forgetful, tired and weary. And forgetful, tired and weary.

The God of the universe is the same God now as what he was in the Old Testament times. We can rejoice on that. And as we think about that, if we think about this doctrine, it's not just words on a page, but The question is, do you know him today? And if you know him, live like it. Stop acting like everything in the world is out of control.

Leave that to the world. That's the way the world acts. Leave that to CNN and Fox News and people all over social media. Ground yourself in God's word, His sovereignty. The God who named Cyrus before he was born is not surprised by what's happening today.

He's not surprised that the gas prices are up. He's not surprised at whatever weight is heavy in your life, whatever trouble or problem you're going through, he's not surprised by it. We can go to him for help in our time of need. We can rejoice knowing the truthfulness of Romans 8.28, that it's that God, that God, who says that all things work together for good to those who love him, the called according to his purpose. But if you don't know him, today is the day.

Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ. There's no better place to be than safe and secure in the hands of our mighty God. And so, before we close this out, anybody have any questions for me today? All right, let's have another song.