GOD IS IN CHARGE!

GOD’S SOVEREIGN THOUGHTS AND PURPOSES
Isaiah 14: 24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
We see three very important aspects of God in these verse:
1 – His sovereignty 2 – His Thoughts 3 – His Purposes of life
1 – His sovereignty
In Isaiah 14:24-32 Isaiah reveals to Judah God’s Sovereign control over the future of two of their great enemies.

First: The Fate of the Assyrian Empire 25-27
25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
-God allows evil empires of this world to exist.
-God sends missionaries into their midst to give them a chance to receive truth and deliverance and to build their nation on Christ.
-Sadly however most nations have rejected God’s messengers.

a- The Assyrian Empire began around 2000 BC. It grew and became a great power and a grievous foe of Israel between 800 and 612 B.C.
b-The Empire was a ruthless and godless empire.
c- When they invaded a nation, they tortured, mutilated and killed men and children and ravished the women.
d-The Assyria became a rod that God used to humble the proud hearts of His own people, Israel, in the days of Isaiah.
e- This prophecy was still future as God reveals Assyria’s downfall.
Within just five or ten years Israel was merciless defeated in 722 B.C. and many were killed and many were taken into captivity.

Assyria would then turn their vicious jaws upon Judah. Curses, accusations and threats were thrown at the people and great fear filled the hearts of all in Judah.
-The threats of death and desolation seemed to becoming a reality as the mighty and vicious Assyrian army surrounded the city of Jerusalem.
-The people watched as 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who did not know defeat, sharpened their swords and prepared their bows.
-When the frightening news came to King Hezekiah, king of Judah, he called for the people to fall upon their face in prayer and fasting.
-The people responded and that night while the Assyrians slept God sent His angel into their camp.
-The next morning when the sun arose 185,000 Assyrians soldiers laid dead upon the battle field in Israel, defeated by the power of prayer.
-They never rose to a national power again.
-This people are concentrated today mainly in the country of Armenia.
-They became a Christian nation in the third century.
First: The Fate of the Assyrians Empire
Second: The Future of the Philistines Empire 29-32

28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
 Palestina was the Philistines nation.
- Philistines moved into the promise land area sometime during Israel’s Egyptian captivity.
-They were always a thorn in the side of Israel. And they still are today.
-They were rejoicing over Israel’s defeat.
-The prophecy in verse 29 is that the serpent (deadly asp) that would critically wound the Philistines would be the Assyrians.
-And then 120 years later the cockatrice (Babylon) would come on the scene and destroy them as a nation.
-Then, out of Babylon came Satan’s masterful society- Babylon.
-Today his work is to unite all nations against Israel and annihilate them.
-The Philistines are the modern days Palestinians, yea a people with no nation but still a thorn in the side of Israel.

Now recall verse 24: 24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
(I – God’s Sovereign)

II - GOD’S THOUGHTS:
Turn to Psalms 139: 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
God is watching you 24-7. He watches you 3600 seconds an hour and 86,400 seconds a day 31,536,000 seconds a year. Why?
-He cares for and loves you as a mother her first precious baby.
-He provides for you and He protects you as a father his child.
-He offers to you His very best in life and so woo’s you to Himself.
Now turn to Isaiah 55. Look at a 3-point outline:
1 –Respect Me -- 6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
God cried to Israel through His prophets to seek Him.
Today, He cries to mankind through His Holy Spirit to seek Him.
He says seek me while I may be found, for one day you won’t find me.

--Don’t wait too long. When you are young, often your heart is tender.
Any time He calls run to Him.
--The further you wonder from Him the fainter His voice is in your heart.
--It is He who has given you life and liberty and love.
To ignore God or to put God off is very disrespectful.
It is like Jesus knocking on your front door. You open it and see who it is and then slam the door in His face.
In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me.”
The Christians has already opened his heart up to Jesus. Thank the Lord. But understand that this verse (Isaiah 55:6 is for God’s children.)

We are to seek Him, yea those things which are above.
What if we don’t preacher?
Then one day you will awake, like Israel to find yourself lost in the wilderness having drifted so far from God, you will have no idea which way to go for your eyes will be blind and your ears deaf.
- It is not God who is lost but you and sadly, to the demise and doom of your soul and family.

2 –Repent, turn around -- 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Remember Isaiah is writing to Judah. God not only wants the lost to repent, He calls for His own to repent, yea to return to the purpose for which God made man.
He will then have mercy for He is more than willing to pardon.

3 – Respond to Me
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
-Man’s thoughts compared to God’s thoughts are very foolish.
-Man’s ways compared to God’s ways are quite opposite.
To reason within ourselves and among ourselves about how life should be will only bring about folly and futility.
One example was when man attempted to figure out how the world began without God’s text book the Bible. What did man come up with?
Evolution: Man decided there was nothing, and then there was something. That something was spinning, spinning, spinning and then it exploded. That was called the big bang. And out of this explosion –waa-laa – we have this extremely complicated Universe that just happened from an eruption of energy.
How foolish can one become to believe such a thing?
Another example is Salvation. Man has invented hundreds of ways to go to heaven but God says there is only ONE WAY.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life and no man cometh to the father but by me.”

III – GOD’S PURPOSE
In eternity pass before the Holy Trinity laid the foundation of the earth, yea before one cherub ever flutter his wings around the throne of Glory, God knew He would create man.
-Yea God knew He would create the angelic host.
-And He knew that Lucifer would sin and He knew that man would sin.
-God knew that He would have to wrap himself in human flesh and the Creator would die at the hands of His creation a cruel and inhumane death.
-Yet God in His love for man created man anyway. Why?
There are three parts to “Why?” and that tells you God’s purpose in your life.

1 - We find the first purpose of your life in the Garden:
-God has always had a plan and purpose for your life before the foundations of the world.
-We live in the most advanced time in human history with technology that boggles the human mind.
-Man has the capability to go farther into outer space than ever before as well in the depths of the sea.
-Yet 95% of the people on planet earth don’t know why they are here or their purpose in life.
Would you like to know?
God made you for the same reason he made Adam and Abraham, Judas and Herod, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, Ronald Reagan, George Washington and Ernest Hemingway and Edgar A. Poe.

We find that answer in Genesis and in First John 1: 3.
Turn to I John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
What did God make you for? He made you for FELLOWSHIP!
He made you to so you would daily take time to talk with Him and allow Him to talk to you.
Illustration: In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, he walked with them in the cool of the day every day.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
--On this day when God came to the garden something was different. Adam and Eve weren’t where they should have been. They were hiding. Why were they hiding? They had sinned. Sin separates.
--The song writer wrote, “He was there all the time.”
And God is. It isn’t God who hides; it is man who hides from God.
--Sin will keep you from sweet daily fellowship.
One preacher said, “The Bible will keep you from sin and sin will keep you from the Bible.”
-Adam’s great sin was disobedience.
-The sin of disobedience threw the whole human race into sin.
Now God as them a question:
Genesis 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
God knows everything so why would He ask Adam and Eve, “Where art thou?
He asks you the same question today. Where are you?
--Are you saved by Grace and in daily fellowship with the Lord?
Let me ask you four questions about Salvation:
A – Do you remember the day you first tasted of God’s love. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God loves you. Jesus loves you and He died for you. When I first met my future wife, I like her. I enjoyed being around her. And I liked her so much I ask her to marry me. After we got married our like to turned to love. And today we love each other more than we ever have.
Salvation is a love relationship, not a fear relationship.
B – Do you remember when you realized you were lost?
Romans 3:10 “As it is written there is none righteous, no not one.”
Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
You realized hell would be your lot for eternity and fear filled your soul
Now that is scary. A man is going to hell because he is a sinner. Satan tripped Grandpa Adam and Grandma Eve and since that day every child born of man has been doomed to hell.
C – Do you remember when you realized there was hope?
Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God knew man would sin. God loved man. Sin cursed man.
Nobody could pardon man’s sin.
Then Jesus came and took man’s place by dying on a cross and going to hell for man.
Had you or I died and gone to hell we would still be there.
Jesus being who He was went to hell, took the keys of hell and death from Satan, set those in paradise free and ascended on high.

The way to Heaven is ONE WAY and that is through Jesus Christ.
But there is one more step to God’s Salvation…
D – Do you remember the day you humbled your heart and invited Jesus to be your Savior?
Turn to Romans 10:
Romans 2:4 the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Look at Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
God isn’t talking about inviting Jesus into your soul or your mind alone, but your heart.
Your heart represents you entire world that you live in. Your heart is all of you. It is your mind, will, emotions, body, soul, spirit.

Was there a day when you so believed that you call out to Jesus to come into your HEART?
--Did you do so because you loved Him and wanted to live for Him the rest of your life?
--How many of you remember that day when Christ turned a light on in your soul and the whole world looked different?
-Whether your prayer was verbal or in your heart, you must have had that day when you heard His knock, his convicting power.
-Then you understood how great things God has done, and you lovingly and willingly invited Jesus to be your very own Savior to walk with and talk with.
You say, well preacher, I didn’t do it that way. That is the only way.

2 - We find the second part of God’s purpose for our lives at the Cross:
There is not only Salvation at the cross but Love.
At the cross you fall in love with God.
I John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
As you understand God’s love so will you love.
That love makes you want to know more about Jesus Christ.
At the cross you discover Romans 12:28-29. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
God wants you to be conformed (that means to act like) His Son.
The second aspect of your purpose in life is to mature into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
That is what Sunday school and Sunday night and Wednesday night and personal study is all about.
The more we know about Christ the more we resemble Him.
3 – The third aspect of God’s purpose for your life is seen in a Book.
Second Timothy 2; 2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
God wants all of His children to become teachers of His word. He wants his word to dwell in our hearts so we will act and react because Christ lives in us. He wants us to become duplicates of Him in this dark world.
Remember God ask Adam and Eve, ”Where art thou?” Where are you spiritually?
Are you saved? Are you maturing? Are you drawing nearer?

Illustration:
In Oak Park, Illinois lived a devoted Christian, faithful to his church and a friend of evangelist D.L. Moody.
This man’s parents were evangelical missionaries. He had a son that he raised in Church and taught the Bible to. His name was Ernest.
Ernest Hemingway was a literary genius.
--Hemingway lived his life in a way that would be the envy of most lost people.
-Hemingway was known for his tough-guy image.
-He traveled to exotic places around the world whenever he chose.
-He was a big-game hunter, a bull-fighter, a man who could drink others under the table.
-He was married four times and lived his life seemingly without moral restraint or conscience.

It the latter years of his life Ernest wrote, “I live in a vacuum that is as lonely as a radio tube when the batteries are dead, and there is no current to plug into.” What a startling statement.
-On one sunny Sunday morning in Idaho, Hemingway put a shotgun to his head and blew his brains out.
What happened?
He was a third generation child in a Christian family.
His youthful enthusiasm for Christianity soured as he had to make his decision about Christ in life.
He chose to seek to his fullness the world’s pleasure and he eventually rejected the faith in Christ that he once had tasted of.
Though raised in a Christian home, he never found the purpose for which he was given the gift of life.
Christian, live for the purpose God made you or live in vain.
Unsaved friend, come to Christ today and find God’s wonderful Salvation.