If I backed up another chapter to Isaiah chapter 40, we would discover that there are two main themes in Isaiah chapter 40. And one is the forerunner and then his subject, that is, it begins with John the Baptist, the preacher of the gospel, who preached our savior, and then it goes into the words that Isaiah had to say about our beloved Redeemer.

Would you look back in Isaiah chapter 40, and I'll try to tie all of this together here in just a little bit. Look at Isaiah 40 verse 9. O Zion, O church, O beloved of the Lord, O redeemed by our Savior, O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, O city of peace, O city of God, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid and say unto the cities of Judah, say unto the people of God, wherever they are, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him."

And here we know that Isaiah is speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ because he says in the 11th verse, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. There's hardly a more endearing name given to our Savior than that of shepherd. He's our great shepherd in the covenant of grace, our good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. He's the chief shepherd who's coming again for us. He's the shepherd who picked us up, having sought us and found us, and he's carrying us all the way to glory. He's the shepherd who provides for all of our needs.

And he also tells us here in the 11th verse that this shepherd will gather the lambs, his effectual calling. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. And so a good portion of this passage of scripture, Isaiah chapter 40, is about our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And we have every cause to rejoice and to be encouraged because of the one who our Savior is. He is the everlasting God. He is our shepherd. and we're the sheep of His pasture.

The second theme that is set forth here in Isaiah chapter 40 is that our Lord challenges all hearers and all readers of that day to remind them of the foolishness of idolatry. And He compares Himself, the Lord our God compares Himself with the the foolish idols that men make. Our God is not to be compared with any. And here in this passage of scripture, the Lord, he illustrates his greatness. He refers to creation and the things that he has made. And he even says this in verse 18. And let me just say this before I get into verse 18. The Israelites, were so gullible that they actually embraced some of the idols that the heathen worshiped. And our Lord is here telling them through the pen of Isaiah that those idols are ridiculous, it's foolish to worship them, and they're not to be compared with our God.

Look at verse 18. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him? The workman, verse 19, the workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot. In other words, the rich cover their idols with gold and silver. But there's some who were so poor that they couldn't cover their idols with gold or silver. So he just finds a cunning workman who makes him a god out of wood and out of a graven image that shall not be moved. And now the Lord says again, have you not heard Have you not heard? Have you not known? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth. And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

And again, the Lord asks the same question that he asked back in verse 18. To whom then will you liken me? or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One.

And so the Lord here in the second half of chapter 40, he draws a comparison between the idols that men make, rich men covering their idols with gold or silver, poor men having their idols made out of wood and then fastened to a wall. What are those idols compared to our God who sits upon the circle of the earth? who governs all things, who made everything according to his own will and purpose. And this is our God.

Look at verse 28. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. The idols that men make, they had no understanding, of course. They're just lifeless. And they have no knowledge. But the end of verse 28, there's no searching of the understanding of our Lord. What does he do? He gives power to the faint. And to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord, those that look to the Lord, those who believe the Lord, those who rest in the Lord, those who trust Christ the Savior, shall renew their strength, not physical strength, but spiritual strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

So the 40th chapter, about half of it is filled with gospel truth concerning our Lord Jesus, the shepherd of the sheep. And roughly the other half has to do with the foolishness of worshiping idols, of making idols and worshiping idols, who are not to be compared with our God, not to even be mentioned in the same sentence. Because our Lord is the one who made all things, and he's the one who gives us strength. And he's the one who cares about us.

Then we get to chapter 41. And in chapter 41, in the first verse, it's like the Lord issues a summons, a call. It's a call to those who believe him, But it's also a call to those who worship idols. And it's as though the Lord issues this call to all. Obviously, all wouldn't come before Him physically, but for all to give thought and consideration to the Lord. That includes His people. but it also includes those who foolishly worship a God of their own imagination, because that's what an idol is. An idol is a God that people make out of the vanity of their own minds.

So the Lord says, keep silence before me, O islands, let the people renew their strength. What he's saying is, Let those who oppose me gird up their strength with all of their arguments, with all of their reasoning abilities to come before me and see if their gods compare to me.

He says this, first of all, he says, come near to those who are unbelievers. He says, let them come near, let them. And you notice there's a them, let them, and then he says, let us. So it's two groups of people here. Who are the them? Who are the them? The them are those who worship man-made idols. He says, let them come near to me with their best arguments. Tell me about the strengths of your gods that you worship. Let them speak.

And then he changes. And he says to believers, let us come near. Let me tell you something. There's always the them and the us. The them are those that the Lord leaves to themselves. The them are those that the Lord abandons them to their empty religion. As you look about religion today, there's a lot of thems. And we would be with them were it not for the sovereign free grace of God.

So the Lord says, let them come. I want to hear their arguments. Gird up your strength. I want to hear your most powerful arguments as to why your gods, your idols that men have made for you, why you should worship them and not worship me. That's what God says. Then he says, then Isaiah says, to those who truly believe the Lord, Let us come near to judgment, that is, in righteousness. The only way you can draw near to God is to be righteous, because God is righteous. The holy God, the righteous God, loveth righteousness, he loves holiness. And the only way we can draw near to Him is through the Lord Jesus who is our righteousness. We have a right to come to God. They have no right to come to God because they despise Him and they have instead of worshiping the Lord, they worship a figment of their imagination.

You can only begin to imagine the kinds and shapes of gods that they would make. God's fashioned out of animals, out of trees and rocks and whatever else. Whatever their vain imagination comes up with, they tell the skilled craftsman, this is how I want you to make my God. And then they fastened their gods a good bit of the time with nails to a wall. So their God can't talk, their God can't move, their God has no power, their God cannot save. Oh, that sounds like modern religion right there. That's exactly what that is. But let those of us who have been brought to love Christ and Him crucified, those of us who have been made the righteousness of God in Him, let us come near. Let us come near.

And then the Lord raises this issue. He wants to hear unbelievers. Unbelievers and believers, all of you draw near. The Lord has summoned, as it were, everybody to draw near to him. And here's what he asks. Who raised up the righteous man from the east? You know who he's talking about? Abraham. Who raised up Abraham and called him to his foot, and gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? Who did that? One of your gods? That one over there hanging on the wall that's covered in gold? Did he do that? This one to whom the rest of verse two, he gave them as dust to his sword as Abraham went through conquering. And driven stubble, driven as stubble to his bow, he pursued them. Think of the kings that captured Lot. And Abraham went after them with sword and spear. He pursued them. He went after them. And they were as stubble to his bow. And he ruled over them. Who did this? And verse four, and here's where I'm getting my title from. Who hath wrought and done it? See, that's the question. And I've condensed that down to this. Who did it? Who did it? If you watch a mystery movie, maybe somebody, you know, committed the murder, and you're trying to figure out who did it? Who did it? That's the mystery. Well, this is not who did a bad thing, but who did a gracious thing. Who sought and found a heathen in Ur of the Chaldees? Who pursued him in grace? Who went after a man who was stooped in pagan darkness, worshiping false gods himself? Who did that? Who did it?

Did that Jesus do it who needs your permission before He can save anybody? Did He do it? That God who can't exercise His will unless you give Him permission to work with you, did He do that? That Jesus who died for everybody but saved nobody according to them, did he do it? The Holy Spirit who's trying to save everybody, as they say, did he do it? Who did it? See, that's the question of the ages. Who saves sinners? Who did it?

I mock the God, actually the idols that men worship today. Oh, they don't hire a goldsmith. They don't hire anybody to fashion out an idol of an animal or something like that. But make no mistake about it, They have fashioned out a God that they can get along with. A God who loves everybody and hates nobody. They fashioned out a Jesus who died for everybody hoping that somebody would accept him as their personal savior. They fashioned out a Holy Spirit who needs your permission before he can save you. And he won't give you life in the new birth unless you believe him. Who did it? That's the question. Who did it?

He says in verse four, calling the generations from the beginning. Who called people from the beginning? That is, called him by his grace, called him by his spirit, called him effectually. That is, he got the job done. Who called Abel but did not call Cain? Who called Jacob but did not call Esau? Who did it? Who did it? And he gives the answer in the verse four. I, the Lord, all capital letters, Jehovah Jesus, the first and with the last, I am he. Who did it? The great I Am did it. The great I Am did it.

Right along with Elijah, we mock the Baals of the world, and we mock the false prophets who proclaim the Baals of the world. They preach a God that Can't save anybody without that sinner's permission. They promote a God whose will can and is often resisted and frustrated. The God of modern free will works religion is not God at all. And I don't think this applies to anybody here. I don't know, don't think so. It may not apply to anybody who's watching, but I'll tell you this. Trust in a false god, you'll surely perish. You have to know the true God who reveals himself through the Lord Jesus Christ.

I said, well, you know, not too many people believe what you preach, Jim. The issue is not how many. The issue is who sets forth the truth God does in His Word. That which matters is who did it? Who saved sinners? I the Lord, he says. I the Lord. The God who wills to save everybody but can't save anybody without their permission is a useless God. He's absolutely useless. You'll notice when he says here, I the Lord, the first and with the last, I am He. He saved us from the beginning. Second Timothy chapter one in verse nine says he gave us grace from before the foundation of the world. He says, I'm the beginning. I'm the first. I'm the first. He's the source. That's what that means. He's the source. He's the origin of grace. Grace was found in the heart of God from old eternity. And this election unto salvation, that's from old eternity too. It's from the beginning. He said, I, the Lord, I, Jehovah, Jesus, the first. He's first in everything. He's first in the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And John 1 says that all things were made by him. So he's first in the Bible. And he's last in the Bible. Behold, I come quickly. John said, even so come Lord Jesus. He's first and he's last.

And you'll notice the language here. I, the Lord, the first and with the last. It's the only time this is used. The rest of the time it's I am first, the first and the last. But here he says, I am, I, the Lord, the first and with the last. He's with the last person who will ever be called. He's with us all the way to the end. When time shall be no more, He who first loved us in old eternity and chose us unto salvation and redeemed us by His blood, He will, in the end, at last, He'll still be with us. Though the earth be renovated with fire, There'll be a new heaven and a new earth. I, the Lord, the first and with the last. He's with us to the end.

Who is he? He's the great I am, the great I am. He says in verse five, the isle saw it and feared. That is, the Isles had some idea of the greatness of God. They were afraid and they drew near. They came. But then they ran back to their idols. And that's evident from verse six.

They helped everyone his neighbor. And everyone said to his brother, be of good courage now. I can hear the false preachers back then. Just be happy. Be encouraged. Peace. Be of good courage. Don't worry about this preaching about the God who made everything. Don't be concerned about that God. And so, verse seven, the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith. And he that smootheth with the hammer, hammering out the gold till it's nice and smooth, him that smote the anvil, saying, it's ready for soldering. I've made a God, I think you'll really like this one. And so he fastens it with nails that it should not be moved.

What is the use of an idol that can't be moved? Of our Savior, it says, he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He's moved to compassion. What about a God that can't move at all? No wonder the preachers say things like, God has no hands but your hands, well, because they've nailed him to the wall. Got no feet but your feet, that's because they drove nails through his feet and he's nailed to the two before. Fastened with nails.

Aren't you glad your God can't be fastened with nails? Nobody can hold him back. None can stay his hand. Isn't that what Daniel says about, it's what Nebuchadnezzar said. He rules in the arms of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Our Savior's nails, hands were nailed to a cross. His feet were nailed to a cross. But he's not nailed to a cross now. That's one of the horrible things about the crucifix. That's ungodly. Destroy it if you got one. Nobody can hold our Lord back. He does His will everywhere.

And that's why in verse 8, Isaac gives comfort to the people of God. Remember, see, those who are commissioned or called, I should say, or summoned to appear before the Lord are both unbelievers and believers. And I would say to you, You better make sure you got the right God. Better make sure you're worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and not a figment of somebody's imagination. But thou, Israel, you're my servant. You're Jacob. We're sons of Jacob. He says, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend. Abraham is called the father of the faithful because he believed God and the object to whom he looked was the Lord Jesus Christ. And on the basis of what the Lord Jesus Christ would do, Abraham received the righteousness, which is a faith.

Jacob, whom I have chosen. I don't know about you, but I didn't choose my God. My God chose me. I'm the offspring, the seed of Abraham, my friend. I'm one of the Lord's children. And he says in verse nine, thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and have called thee. How does he call? He calls through the preaching of the gospel. And called thee from the chief men thereof and said unto thee, you're my servant. I have chosen thee. And I have not cast thee away.

And all of us would have to confess this. I deserved to be cast away. I didn't deserve to be gathered. Because I was like the rest of the world, worshiping a figment of my imagination. I called him Jesus. But it wasn't the Lord Jesus Christ. I called him God. But it was God only with a little g. I didn't know God, didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't choose him. But he came to me in sovereign saving grace. And in essence, he said, you're mine. I will have you. And he gave me life, and I beheld the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.

And he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out, or as it says here, and not cast thee away. Say, Jim, I'm such a sinner still. I know you are. All of us are. He didn't cast his children away. He saved us when we were ungodly. He died for us when we were ungodly. He keeps us, though we still, in our nature, are ungodly people. We're his little ones. And he takes care of his little ones.

So that's the question tonight. Who did it? Who did it? You know who did it. You ask Abraham. Abraham, who called you? You were a worshiper of idols down there in the early Chaldees. You were a wealthy man. You had your family there. You had property there. You had materialistic things there. You had it made. and you left, who called you? Who did all this for you? Abraham said, the great I am did it for me. That's who we worship.

Well, I hope that'll help you a little bit. Let's sing closing song.