TITLE: God is Great.

TEXT: Isaiah 45THEME: God’s is all powerful which allows Him to do anything consistent with His nature.

Three significant things happened this week

• The bombing at the Boston Marathon

Three significant things happened this week

• The bombing at the Boston Marathon• The explosion at a fertilizer plant in Waco.

Three significant things happened this week

• The bombing at the Boston Marathon• The explosion at a fertilizer plant in Waco.• The funeral many of us shared together

yesterday.

Yet some people might carry it further and use these crises as

reasons to deny the existence of God.

Rabbi Kushner, “When Bad Things Happen to God People

It was his conclusion that God meant well but that He is powerless to do anything- in other words, while God is powerful and good He is not omnipotent.

How can evil exist in the light of Gods omnipotence?

IsaiahHe is writing to a discouraged and defeated people who were wondering where was God in this crisis. In response it tells us God has a bigger picture of history than we do. At a time of tragic uncertainty for the nation of Israel and Judah, God’s elect people and land, Isaiah is able to rise above it all and see the unfolding events in light of a bigger perspective in which God is manipulating history to His greater end.

I. God controls the events of history. (1-7)

Isaiah 45:1-7“This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold ofto subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor,to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:2 I will go before you and will level the mountains;I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.; I, the Lord, do all these things. and cut through bars of iron.

Isaiah 45:1-7

3 I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places,so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen,I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.

Isaiah 45:1-7

5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,6 so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting

Isaiah 45:1-7

people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

I. God controls the events of history. (1-7)

A. The future Assyrian king Cyrus is given a mission.

Isaiah 44:28

28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please;he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

I. God controls the events of history. (1-7)

A. The future Assyrian king Cyrus is given a mission.B. God even uses pagans to accomplish His ends

I. God controls the events of history. (1-7)

A. The future Assyrian king Cyrus is given a mission.B. God even uses pagans to accomplish His endsC. The mission is to return Israel to Jerusalem.

Omnipotence

The omnipotence of God means that he can do everything that is meaningful, everything that is possible, and everything that makes sense and is consistent with His nature.

What it does not mean

• Omnipotence does not mean God must or should do anything just because He can.

What it does not mean

• Omnipotence does not mean God must or should do anything just because He can.

• Omnipotence does not mean God can or should go against His nature. God cannot build a rock so big He cannot lift it, He cannot create a contradiction. He cannot make mistakes.

What it does not mean

• Omnipotence does not mean God must or should do anything just because He can.

• Omnipotence does not mean God can or should go against His nature. God cannot build a rock so big He cannot lift it, He cannot create a contradiction. He cannot make mistakes.

• Omnipotence does not mean that God should or will violate our free will.

II. God commands even the heavens and the earth. (8)

Isaiah 45:8

8 “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down.Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up,let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it.

II. God commands even the heavens and the earth. (8)

A. To bring forth righteousness and salvation

II. God commands even the heavens and the earth. (8)

A. To bring forth righteousness and salvationB. He is creator not just of Israel but of the whole earth

III. God has the divine right to control history as he sees fit. (9-13)

A. Like the potter who forms the clay

Isaiah 45:9

9 “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground.Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?

III. God has the divine right to control history as he sees fit. (9-13)

A. Like the potter who forms the clayB. Like the father/mother bearing a newborn.

Isaiah 45:10

10 Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What have you begotten?’or to a mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’

III. God has the divine right to control history as he sees fit. (9-13)

A. Like the potter who forms the clayB. Like the father/mother bearing a newborn.C. God defends his sovereign right and is angered that people should reject it.

Isaiah 45:11-13

11 “This is what the Lord says— the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?12 It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it.

Isaiah 45:11-13

My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.13 I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight.He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free,but not for a price or reward, says the Lord Almighty.”

It is intellectual arrogance to suggest that a finite human can

be sure that infinite wisdom would not tolerate certain short-range evils in order for longer-range goods that we could not

foresee.

IV. To reject the one true God is to be left hopeless. 14-25

A. To Jerusalem- You will return and someday rule the earth.

Isaiah 45:14-17

‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.’”15 Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel.16 All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced; they will go off into disgrace together.

Isaiah 45:14-17

17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation;you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.

IV. To reject the one true God is to be left hopeless. 14-25

A. To Jerusalem- You will return and someday rule the earth.

B. To the World- Everyone has sufficient evidence to turn to him.

Isaiah 45:21-24

And there is no God apart from me,a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:21-24

Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.24 They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’”All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.

APPLICATION

• As Spider Man tells us, “With Great Power comes great responsibility.” God has great power but he uses it guardedly to accomplish His ends.

APPLICATION

• As Spider Man tells us, “With Great Power comes great responsibility.” God has great power but he uses it guardedly to accomplish His ends.

• God does not use his power to undo the evil that man’s free will generates.

APPLICATION

• As Spider Man tells us, “With Great Power comes great responsibility.” God has great power but he uses it guardedly to accomplish His ends.

• God does not use his power to undo the evil that man’s free will generates.

• God gives us free will so that we can love him authentically and sincerely. We were not created as Stepford Wives to perform as robots.