Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Seeing the Future, Today”*

Isaiah 46:8-11

 

Big Idea:  We examine fulfilled prophecy in Scripture as evidence that God is the author of the Bible and to give us confidence that He will fulfill in time all His prophecies and keep all His promises.

I.

Introduction

A.            Two perspectives of the Rose Parade

1.             On the street – caught up in the moment

2.             From the blimp – able to see everything at a glance, gain a better appreciation

3.             Can see what it takes from a person to put on the Rose Parade

a.              Needs to have the ability and authority to get things done

b.              Needs to be able to see it through to completion

c.              Needs to have incredible vision: able to see the entire parade in his~/her head, everything from the big picture of the route taken to the small details of  where the concession stands and the policemen are placed, before planning and directing.

d.

Because of their position, parade directors, in a sense, know what is going to happen before it actually does.

B.            We would all like to know what is going to happen before it actually does.

1.

To know how a test or a job interview is going to turn out.

2.             To know who’s going to win the big game.

3.             To know if the repairs I made on my car will hold up as I drive my family to Colorado.

4.             To know what’s going to happen to my kids and what kind of people they are going to be.

To know the mistakes they will make and the dangers they will encounter ahead of time.

C.            No one us have that ability, but there is Someone who does.

1.

All throughout the pages of Scripture, we read about prophets and their prophecies.

a.              Prophets had one function – to proclaim the Word of God.

b.

This function was exercised in two ways:

i.

The first was to let people know that God was not pleased with how they were treating His laws and covenants and that they should repent and change their ways.

ii.

The second was to let people know what would happen in the future, not simply as natural consequences to the choices they were making, but rather as specific events that would happen with specific people in specific places at specific times.

c.

This second was basically to prove to people that it truly was God who was speaking to them and that they had better pay close attention.

2.             Sometimes these prophecies would be fulfilled within a matter of hours, days or weeks.

3.

However, sometimes they wouldn’t be fulfilled for hundreds of years.

D.            There is one passage that I want to spend a little bit of time on so that we can see why this topic of fulfilled prophecy, the ability to know the future, is important for us today.

E.             Please turn to Isaiah 46.

II.

Transition

A.            Two weeks ago we began a new series called “From God to Us”

B.            The purpose of this series is to explain why we believe that God wrote the Bible,

1.             Which is why we preach and teach from this Book

2.             Why we believe that each one of us should live our lives based on what it says

3.             Why we believe that it has answers for all the issues we face.

a.              Pre-marital counseling example

4.             Most importantly, why I can have confidence in believing that a man raised from the dead, and promised to forgive my sins as I come to Him in faith.

C.

Last week we looked at the archaeological record as an evidence that God authored this book.

1.

Even though there were 40 different writers, writing 66 different books over a span of 1500 years

2.             With different languages, cultures, political environments

3.             Kings, doctors and priests to ranchers, fishermen and gardeners.

4.             Yet with all this diversity and potential for contradiction and error, archaeology has confirmed thousands of details and facts found in the Bible, and just as importantly, has not found a single piece of evidence that would contradict what the Bible says.

D.            Today, I want to look at fulfilled prophecy as another evidence that God authored the Bible.

III.

Exposition

A.            Isaiah 46

1.             Context of Isaiah passage

a.

Although Judah had been told several times by the prophet Isaiah that they would be taken into exile by Babylon because they had disobeyed God’s law,

b.              God tells them that He would raise up a person, Cyrus, who would defeat Babylon and allow the people to return to the Promised Land.

2.             Exposition of Isaiah 46:8-11 (*read*)

a.              Several things we learn about God

b.              God is faithful (8-9a)

i.               Faithful in how He has provided and protected in the past

a.)

The exodus event

b.)           Providing manna and quail in the wilderness

c.)           Bringing them into the Promised Land

d.)          Giving them a righteous Law to live by

e.)           Forgiving their sins through the atonement of blood sacrifices

ii.

He has never left them or forsaken them.

He has never broken His covenant commitment to the people of Israel.

c.              God is holy (9b)

i.

He is completely set apart from anything and everything else.

ii.

Not only is there no other god or idol that can compare to Him, there is no other thought or ideal that can compare.

d.             God is sovereign (10-11a)

i.

He alone has the ability to declare in advance the events which will soon take place.

a.)           From before the beginning of time, He has decreed His purpose not just for the end of days, but for every day that is to happen in between.

ii.

Specifically, He has willed Cyrus from Persia in the east to come and defeat Babylon and release the Jewish people from exile.

a.)

Although this reference is cryptic, it is built upon several other verses in chapters 41, 44, 45.

e.              God is omnipotent (11b)

i.

Only an all-powerful God would be able to say these to verses.

ii.

As we all know, it is one thing to say we will purpose something, it is quite a different thing make sure it is done.

f.

In this short passage we learn several things about God, but notice that they are in the context of fulfilled prophecy.

3.             Application

a.

When we see fulfilled prophecy, we can be sure of two things:

b.

First, we can be sure that God is who He says He is: faithful, holy, sovereign and omnipotent.

c.

Second, we can be sure that the words we have written in the Bible are from God.

i.

When we have a record of God saying “I will do this”, and then doing it, we have evidence that He actually said it and wrote it down for us.