Womb to Tomb

Isaiah 46. Hear now God's perfect word. Bell bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols were on the beast and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavy loaded. A burden to the weary beast. They stoop. They bow down together. They could not deliver the burden. but have themselves gone into captivity.

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by me from birth, who have been carried from the womb. Even to your old age I am He. Even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made And I will bear, even I will carry, and will deliver you. To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we should be alike?

They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They prostrate themselves. Yes, they worship. They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it. and set it in its place, and it stands. From its place it shall not move.

Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and show yourselves, men. Recall to mind, O you transgressors, Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a far country.

Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. Listen to me. you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness. I bring my righteousness near. It shall not be far off. My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion. For Israel, my glory."

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time to spend in Your Word. to think about who you are and what you have done for us. Lord, we pray that tonight your Holy Spirit would be working in our hearts, that Father you would open our eyes to see you, that you would let the cares and the distractions of the world fade into the background, and that you might focus our eyes on you. In Jesus's name, amen. As I was wrestling in my heart with what I was supposed to preach, I told Olivia a few weeks ago that, well, I had my sermon outlined for this, and then earlier, late last week, I was reading in my devotions and this passage came to mind, and I told Olivia on Monday, I said, well, I'm preaching a new sermon.

Sermon

Because sometimes you come to a text, and what God does is he grips your soul. And he says, look at me. I'm telling you who I am. I'm telling you who you are. And this is what the church is called to do. At the heart of what we do is to behold God's glory. Because guess what we're going to do for all eternity? When we go to heaven, we're going to bask in the glory of our maker. We're going to worship the Lamb. And so tonight, that's what I'd like for you to do. As we work through this passage today, I'd like for you to see who God is in light of who we are.

And so first in verses 1 through 2, we find out that there's an ineffectiveness of false gods. And in verses 1 and 2 it talks about how there are these idols that they would load onto their animals' backs. And you can imagine putting a load onto a horse's back or onto a donkey's back and as you keep loading on they get weaker and weaker and weaker and eventually the animals can't move at all. Because the reality is that these are just heavy objects. But they're ineffectual. It says in verses 1 and 2, Bell bows down, nebo stoops, their idols were on the beast and on the cattle, your carriages were heavy loaded, a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together, they could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity. Even the animals that they once used to carry in the foreign gods with, Guess what the Babylonians and the Assyrians did with even those animals? Not just the idols destroyed, but even the animals carried away. It's totally ineffective.

Compare that to what God says about Himself in verses 3 and 4. No, God's enduring care. Listen to me. This is a Shema. And the same way in which Deuteronomy 6-4 would say, Shema Yisrael, and listen Israel. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. The same word is used here. Hear me, O Israel. Now he's speaking directly to his people.

And he says, and all that remnant of the house of Israel who have been upheld, notice this, who have been upheld by me from birth. who have been carried from the womb. Though they, from their youngest of age, were tempted by the high places, distracted by the idolatry, torn away by the world, God was the one caring for them from their very birth. This is why Jesus says, don't hinder the little ones to come unto me. Because from the womb to the tomb, God cares for his people. This is exactly what verse four says. Even to your old age, I am He. Even to your gray hairs, I will carry you.

Just on Tuesday night, last night, we had Bible study. We were talking about sanctification. And we were talking about how in this life, we're always being worked on by the Holy Spirit. And I asked the older members in the Bible study, I said, raise your hand if you can't wait for glorification.

And every single one of them raised their hands, right? Every single person knows that God is going to finish the work that he's begun in them. He's gonna bring it about into completion. Because for his people, from the day they were born, through when you have gray and white hair, you might not have always been faithful, but he has. Even to your gray hairs, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver you." It's a beautiful picture. Can you carry yourself when you're a child? Can you walk? Can you care for yourself? Can you feed yourself?

No, you need someone else to love you. You need someone else to nurture. You need someone else to raise you up and to provide everything for you. And God says, I'm the one who did that. And then as you get older, and you lose capability, your joints grow weak, your memory fades, your body fails. And once again, you can't provide for yourself. relying on others, needing others. The Lord says, I'm the one, even in your old age, who cares for you. Some of you have been Christians for six, seven, eight decades. Every breath you have taken, God has cared for you. He is an enduring, loving God, and He is an incomparable God. Look with me at verses 5 and 7. 5 through 7.

To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me that we should be alike? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They prostrate themselves, yes they worship, they bear it on the shoulders, they carry it, and set it in its place and on its stand, and it stands from its place, it shall not move, though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble." And God says, who are you going to compare me to?

Are you going to compare me to these idols that you went out and you mined some gold and you went and you gathered some silver and you made yourself a little idol and you had to nail it in place so it wouldn't move? And even though you might bow down to it, even though you might cry out to it, guess what? It's never going to answer you. And we might think, well this doesn't really... we live in... Modern America, right? This stuff doesn't really happen anymore. Well, I remember just talking to someone recently.

They live here in Southeast Iowa, and they went to another state to go visit some family member, and they had Buddhist family members. And sure enough, at this funeral for a Buddhist family member, there they were burning incense to idols. And I remember walking in Kuala Lumpur and seeing in Malaysia the different Hindu temples with all their different idols, all along the roof, thousands and thousands of statues of idols that people would burn incense to. And I remember walking through the streets of Hong Kong, and in between the little shops, they had these things right on the floor, incense, urns, cisterns, these little things where they would bow down before Buddha, and make prayers to their ancestors.

Brothers and sisters, this is still going on today. People are still making incense today. But we need to be careful. We might think that's the world's problem out there, but it's our heart's problem here. Ephesians 5.5, says that our covetousness is idolatry. Oh, if there's any sin of the American people, materialism and covetousness seem to mark us always wanting more, always wanting better. Every time we've wanted another person's farm, every time we've seen another person's truck, every time we wished our kids were just as good as that other family's kids, every time we wished we had a nicer house, every time we wish we had fancier clothes. Brothers and sisters, we show we're more in love with the world. than we ever could have imagined. And guess what? We're surrounded by it in our own society. We know it in our own homes.

How many people do we know who refuse to come and worship the triune living God because they're too worried about getting on their boats and going fishing? How many people are too worried about making sure their house has a perfectly manicured lawn and that they have enough retirement money and they're too busy to concern their souls with the reality that they need deliverance. The problem is not just out there, the problem is in our own hearts. So what's the remedy for this?

We need to remember our God. Look with me at verses 9 through 11. Remember this and show yourselves, men. Recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. declaring the end from the beginning.

And from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, and I will also do it."

The Lord says, I am God, and there is no other. There's none other. It's just Him. It's not like God sits around in heaven and it's the Greek pantheon where God sits in the sitter's seat and all the other gods file around Him. No! No, there's only one throne in heaven. There's only one crown upon the King's brow. It's just God and there's no one like Him. He alone is God. He is, notice in verse 10 and 11, He is the omniscient One, and He is the sovereign One. He is the One who declares all things from the beginning.

God doesn't learn things. We don't believe in open theism, that somehow the Lord needs to find out what we're going to do or what's going to happen. No, the Lord knows what's going to happen and He declares it from the beginning. Because if God could learn, then He somehow is improving.

And if He's improving, then He's not perfect. But He is perfect. From ancient things, He knows that are not yet done. He even calls, I love this in the Old Testament, when he starts in the prophets, calling kings by name hundreds of years before they're ever born. Why? Because the future is no mystery to our God. He knows all these things. He determines all these things. His counsel stands. He does as He pleases.

I love the other day, Ellie and I were having a theological conversation. Have you ever tried to have a theological conversation with a four-year-old? You never know where it's going to go. And as I was talking to Ellie, she said, God can do anything. And I said, really? God can do anything? She said, uh-huh. I said, can God sin? I said, well, but he's God, he wouldn't sin. I said, so can he do anything? He says, well, no, because he's not going to sin.

I said, that's right, God can do all things according to his holy will. God does everything perfectly according to what he decrees, according to his perfect moral nature. God's counsel stands because He does what pleases Him, and what pleases Him is righteousness and love for His people. This is the wisdom of God, that He is both omniscient and omnipotent.

J. I. Packer talks about the wisdom of God being His all-knowing combined with His all-powerful.

See, if our God was just an all-knowing God, but he didn't have all power, he'd be impotent. What's the point? You can know everything you want, but if you can't actually do it, what good are you? But the other side is if God was all powerful, but he didn't have all knowledge, he'd be a tyrant. He'd be a despot. But in our God, brothers and sisters, what verses 10 and 11 tell us is that it is the Lord who does everything that he desires. Because he knows all, And He's powerful enough to bring it to pass.

So remember who your God is. But verse 12 gives us something we don't like. We need to be honest about who we are. Look with me at verse 12. Listen to me, you stubborn hearted. Why are you so far from righteousness? For us, if we're honest with ourselves, we know this, don't we? Husbands, you know it every time you have to ask your wife forgiveness because you've sinned against her and hurt her feelings yet again. We know it because we know God's law, we know it brings some glory, and yet we transgress again. We know that the bar of righteousness is here and he tells us to walk by his spirit and yet we find ourselves once again doing the things that we don't want to do.

It's like the sinews in our neck are made out of iron cords. Sometimes it feels like our hearts are bent on plowing the furrows of death. Stubborn hearted. Stiff necked. God, who will save me? The Christian heart is one that breaks over this. Lord, I don't want to do those things and find myself doing them. And I want to do these good things that you've commanded me, but yet I can't find myself to do them. Who will save me? The final words should tell us to rejoice. Verse 13, I bring my righteousness near. It shall not be far off. My salvation shall not linger, and I will place my salvation in Zion. For Israel, my glory." Do you see?

We were once dead in our transgressions and sins. For all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We don't have a righteousness to bring. So God brings us His. He brings us Jesus Christ. He brings salvation near. Because see, the reality is that we're always those who are going astray. And so He brings salvation to Zion. To His holy city, He brings the sacrifice. And He brings the one who redeems our souls.

Closing Prayer

So brothers and sisters, be in awe of who your God is. Be honest about what your heart is like. And rejoice in your omnipotent, omniscient, gracious, righteous, ever-loving God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that from the first breaths of our life. You knew us, Lord, you knew us before that, you knew us when you knit us together in our mother's womb. And Lord, we thank you that even though we might grow old and gray, your loving kindness never fails. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit might let us rejoice, stand in awe and with thankfulness of who you are and what you have done for your people. In Jesus's name, amen.