Sermon #74                                                            Series:  Isaiah

 

          Title:       Wonderful   In   Counsel    and    Excellent   In

                         Working

          Text:       Isaiah 28:23-29

          Subject:  God’s  Counsel  and   Work,  The  Basis  Of  Our

                         Faith and Obedience

          Date:      Sunday Evening - April 28, 1991

          Tape #

 

          Introduction:

 

          When Isaiah watched the farmer at work, he admired his patience, wisdom and skill.  He observed his labor, the skill with which he prepared his soil, and the discretion he used, sowing the right seed in the right soil to produce the best harvest.  Then he said, “This man’s wisdom is the gift of God” (v.26).  Then the prophet observed the farmer’s skill in harvesting his crops.  The tender grains were beaten with a staff.  That was all that was needed to separate the grain from its husk.  The harder grain had to be crushed with a cart wheel or under the hooves of horses to divide the grain from its hull.  The experienced farmer, with patience and skill, used the best method possible to achieve his desired end.  Isaiah seemed to admire the farmer, looking upon him as a man of great wisdom, skill and usefulness.  And he traced the farmer’s abilities to God.  He said, “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts.”

 

          Upon its surface, our text teaches us that all the arts, skills and abilities of men and women in this world are gifts of God, freely bestowed by his sovereign pleasure (Ex. 31:2-6; I Cor. 4:7).  The philosophical mind of Newton, the inventive skills of Edison, the mathematical brain of Einstein, and the artistic hand of Michaelangelo were all gifts of God.  These men excelled in fields where other men were useless because God gave them special abilities.  Other men may have been given equal talents and abilities, but were kept from the forefront by God’s providence because he had other work for them to do.  But all the wisdom and skill of the wisest, most skillful, most eminently useful men in the world can be traced to only one source - It is the gift of God.

Note:  Isaiah saw the hand of God everywhere, in everything; and we should too.

 

          And when the prophet of God beheld the skills of the creature, he was made to see the greatest of God’s wisdom.  If the creature is wise, how much wiser the Creator must be!  If God gives men such wisdom and skill that they astonish us, what a great God he must be!  Do you see that in our text?  “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.”

 

          I want to show you this one thing - The Lord our God is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, and then draw some lessons from this fact.

 

I.      Let us, with the eye of faith enlightened by the Word of God, look upon our great God in his counsel chamber and in his workshop.  In both he is a God to be admired, “wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.”

 

          The more I know of God the more I admire him.  The more I know him, the greater reason I have to trust him and obey him.  I want to inspire in you and in myself greater admiration for God, greater faith in him, and fuller obedience to him.  And I can think of no better way to do so than to show you that he is “wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.”  That means three things…

 

A.  God has a plan by which he always works.

 

          All men agree that a person who attempts to do anything without a plan is foolish.  Haphazard work is the work of folly.  We all look upon men without purpose as men unworthy of respect.  Yet, when we insist that God Almighty, in all his works, is fulfilling his own great purpose, men and women get angry.

 

          Be that as it may, let men rebel as they dare against it, the truth still stands.  God always works by a plan.  Nothing in this world is left to chance.  God has determined the end from the beginning.  He has not left a single screw loose in the machinery of providence.  Everything that is done in this world is done according to God’s sovereign, eternal, unalterable purpose (Isa. 14:24, 26, 27; 46:9-11; Rom. 8:28-30; 11:36; II Cor. 5:18; Eph. 1:11).

 

                   Illus:  The Throne, The Book, The Lamb (Rev. 5).

 

·        He who has his way in the whirlwind controls the will of man.

·        He who rules the raging sea rules the hearts of men.

·        He who directs the lightening bolts directs the affairs of men.

 

          Man is free to do whatever he wills.  And in as much as he is able to do so, he always does exactly what he wants to do.  And every man is responsible for whatever he does.  Yet, the great, eternal God sovereignly works out his plan and accomplishes his will as perfectly as though men were machines, programmed to carry out his designs.  God is wonderful in counsel.  He has a plan by which he always works for the praise of his own glory.

 

B. And God is excellent in his working, in the execution of his plan.

 

          As his counsel is wonderful, his works, which are but the execution and fulfillment of his counsel, are excellent.

 

1.   His Works of Creation - (Pro. 16:4).

2.   His Works of Providence - (Rom. 8:28; Ps. 107).

 

·        General Providence.

·        Special Providence.

·        Personal Providence.

 

3.   His Works of Redemption - (Eph. 1:13-14).

 

·        The Fall.

·        Federal Headship.

·        Atonement.

·        The Gospel.

·        The Use of Instrumentality.

4.   His Works of Grace - (Eph. 2:8).

 

·        Prevenient Grace.

·        Effectual Grace.

·        Santifying Grace.

·        Preserving Grace.

·        Chastening Grace.

 

C. All God’s counsels shall be perfectly fulfilled by the excellent works of his hands - (I Cor. 15:25-28).

 

          There is a day coming when time shall be no more.  And in that great day all that God purposed to do shall be done, perfectly and completely.  Nothing shall have been done but what God purposed to be done.  And nothing shall be undone which God purposed to do.  This is our God.  He has done whatsoever he pleased (Ps. 135:6).  “It pleased the Lord”…

 

1.   To make you His people (I Sam. 12:22).

2.   To Bruise His Son in the place of His people (Isa. 53:10).

3.   To put all fullness in His Son (Col. 1:19).

4.   To Save them that believe on His Son (I Cor. 1:21).

5.   To Save Sinners by the Preaching of the Gospel.

 

II.   Now, I want to draw out some practical lessons for us from the things we have seen.

 

          If the Lord our God is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, this fact should have a profound effect upon everyone here.

 

A.  The Lord our God is worthy of faith.

 

·        To the Unbeliever.        }  I John 5:10

·        To the Believer.

 

B. There is no need for us to be in a hurry in the service of our God.

 

 

·        Wait on the Lord.

·        Seek the will of God.

·        Do what you have the opportunity to do.

 

                             Illus:  Bricklayers

 

C. There is no cause for fear.

 

·        God will open the way before us - The Red Sea.

·        God will provide our needs - Manna - Water from the Rock.

·        God will protect us - The Chariots and Horsemen.

·        God will give us success.

 

          You and I need only one thing.  We do not need more people, more money, or more ability.  We need to believe God.  Believing him we will find him “wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.”  Let us not be guided by the dogmas of prudence, but by the dictates of faith in the invincible, almighty God.  Let us not measure our means, but trust God whose means cannot be measured.  Let us not look to our abilities, but trust God with whom all things are possible.