Okay, Isaiah 45. I'm taking the title or the message
from what is said in the last part of verse 20. I am the Lord,
there is no God else beside me, a just God. Now underscore these
words, a just God and Savior. A just God, that means He's holy
and just. A just God and Savior. There is none beside me. Now
look, look, what a, who doesn't understand what L-O-O-K is? That's simplicity. Look, I'm
looking at you. You're looking at me. We all
understand that concept, don't we? The Lord said, look to me,
look to me. And we do that by faith. So the
title of the message today is, this evening, it's taken from
that verse, A Just God and Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only just God and Savior. At least six times in this chapter,
It said, I am the Lord, Jehovah, God our Savior. There is none,
there is none beside me. Verse 5, verse 6, verse 14, verse
21, verse 22. And then over here, turn one
page to Isaiah 46, verse 9. And I think we'll look at this
chapter next week. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there's
none beside me. You kind of get the idea that
God is saying, I'm it. I'm the only one. If you need
salvation, you better look to me and nowhere else. Now we can
be assured then by the record of God's holy word that there
is only one Savior. There's only one way of salvation
in Christ. There's only one gospel, and
it is the gospel of God concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither
is there salvation in any other, nor the name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Paul writes in Ephesians
4, there's one Lord, one faith, one hope, one gospel, one spirit,
and one baptism. There's one, there's just one
way. There's not many ways. My poor
old stepfather was so confused, so religious, so confused, he
said, we're all going to the same place on top of the mountain,
we just come different ways. We're climbing up that mountain
different ways. There's just one way. Christ
is the way, and we're not climbing, we're resting. We're resting
in Him. Now this chapter, the Lord our
God declares unto us that God is God alone. He's the absolute
sovereign over all things, of Him and through Him and to Him
are all things. He's the sovereign creator of
all things, as He says in verse 12, I have made the earth, created
man upon it, I Even my hands have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. Again
in verse 18, For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens,
God himself that formed the earth and made it, he established it,
he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I
am the Lord. There is none else. So he's God,
sovereign in creation, created all things by the word of his
power. He's a sovereign ruler over all things. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep
places. Look at verse 5 again. I am the Lord, there is none
else. There is no God beside me. Verse 5. Thou girded thee,
though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising
of the sun, from the east, from the west, To the West, if there
is none beside me, I am the Lord, there is none else. I form light. I create darkness by withholding
the light. I make peace. I create evil. How does he do that? By withholding
his goodness. By withholding his goodness,
I the Lord do all these things. And yet all these things work
together for good to them who love God. God raised up this
man named Cyrus to bless his people, and the prophecy was
given 200 years before he was even born. We see that God is
the sovereign creator, God is sovereign in providence, and
He certainly is sovereign in salvation. As He says in verse
17, those who are makers of idols will be ashamed and confused,
but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation. You shall not be ashamed or confounded,
world without end. He's the only just God and Savior. There is none beside me. So He's
sovereign in creation, provident, and in salvation. God is God
in all things. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. There's also a strong warning
given to those who are makers of idols. The same warning was
given to us in Isaiah 44. Look at verse 16. Isaiah 45 verse
16, they shall be ashamed and also confounded all of them that
they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. Verse
20. Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up wood of their graven image, and
they pray unto a God, a God that cannot save. Now, what good would
it do to look to a God who could not save? What good would it
do to pray unto a God that cannot save? Wouldn't do any good at
all, would it? It'd be vain, wouldn't it? To
preach an impotent God and to trust an impotent God is nothing
short of idolatry. To trust a savior that is not
God Almighty and sovereign is also nothing but idolatry. Idolatry
is a useless, vain religion inspired and promoted by Satan and his
ministers who parade as angels of light. who encourage people
to establish a righteousness of their own instead of looking
to Christ alone. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
almighty God and Savior, and eternal life is knowing the true
God and eternal life, who is mighty to save. Turn a few pages
over here to Isaiah 63. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
almighty God and Savior and eternal life. Eternal life is knowing
the true and living God. Isaiah 63 verse 1. Who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength,
I that speak in righteousness, mighty, mighty, mighty to save. He's the almighty Savior. He's
able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him.
God has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given to him. And this is
eternal life, that they might know the only true God, Jesus
Christ, whom God has sent. Salvation is knowing the true
God, the true Savior, whom God has sent. Now, with that introduction,
let's look at verse 21, down through verse 25, and rejoice
and worship around the gospel of Jesus Christ. Tell you, verse
21, and bring them near, bring them near. Let them take counsel together,
who had declared this from ancient time. The gospel is as old as
eternity. Ancient time, ancient time. It's older than ancient time.
Who had told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord, And there
is no God else beside me. That's just God and Savior. There
is none. There is none. There is none.
Don't look anywhere else. Don't go anywhere else. The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the ancient gospel. It is the everlasting
gospel. It has been ordained from the
foundation of the world. We studied in Revelation chapter
6 about the angel that John saw flying through the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach to those upon the earth. The gospel is older than the
fall of Adam, older than creation itself. The Lord Jesus Christ
stood as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. We studied
in Matthew 25, remember, when the Lord talked about When He
comes again with all His holy angels, and He's going to separate
the sheep from the goats, He's going to put the sheep on His
right hand, and He's going to say unto them, Come, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Inherit what Christ has given unto us, and is prepared and
ordained before the foundation of the world. That's good news,
is it not? Now here's the keys of the gospel
of Christ, and it's essential theme of the gospel. The Lord
Jesus Christ is just, holy, and righteous. He's a righteous God,
our Savior. He is a just God. That means God's holy. You remember
Isaiah chapter 6, when Isaiah saw that vision of the Lord.
We're going to look at that, I think, when we get around to
chapter 6. And Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up, and those messengers around that throne, you remember
what they said? Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. It wasn't God loves everybody,
won't you smile. No, holy, holy, holy Lord God
Almighty. God is holy. God is just and
will not compromise His holy character, will not compromise
His holy law to save one sinner. God will not bend the rule of
His holiness and righteousness to set the guilty free. He must
honor His law and justice must be satisfied. The guilty must
pay. There's no get-out-of-jail-free
card here. The guilty, the law says we're
guilty, guilty, guilty. The wages of sin is death. God
is just, and because He's just, the soul that sinneth it must
die. God is just and holy and righteous in all that He does.
But it says here He is a just God and a Savior. A Savior. Think about that. He's
the only Savior of sinners. He's the one that's mighty to
save. Call His name Jesus, He shall save His people from their
sins. Turn back to Isaiah 43, look
at verse 11. Isaiah 43, verse 11. Even I, I, even I, am the Lord. Beside me there is no Savior.
Is that pretty clear, isn't it? There is no other savior. There's
no other salvation but in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why
the Lord Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh to satisfy his own
holy law. And this is the glory and mysteries
of the gospel, how God can be just and holy and justify the
ungodly and not compromise his holy character one little iota. Every jot and tittle of the law
must be satisfied. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. You remember he said to those Pharisees, he said, I didn't
come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came to honor it,
honor it. It says over here in Isaiah 42,
21, that the Lord honored and magnified the law of God for
us. This is why the Lord Jesus Christ
was manifest in the flesh, to pay our sin debt with His own
blood, to satisfy God's law and justice for us, to enable God
to be a just God and Savior, to be holy and merciful at the
same time. Now that's the glory of the Gospel,
how God can save a wiggling maggot, sinful maggot like we are, and
magnify His holy character and His mercy same time. Now this fact is demonstrated
all through the scripture. Let me remind you a few. Adam
sinned against God and was punished, right? God said the day you eat
you're going to die. Adam disobeyed God and sinned
against God. And the Lord, He died spiritually. 930 years later, He died physically. But then Adam all died. Why?
God's holy. God's holy. God is just. But before Adam was put out of
the garden, God gave him the promise of becoming Messiah,
the seed of the woman that would bruise Satan's head. Genesis
3, 15. And then he clothed him with
those animal skins. He killed a substitute and clothed
them, stripped off their fig leaves, killed an animal, took
that skin and covered them. And that's a picture of Christ
our righteousness, Christ our garments of salvation that we
have in Christ. You see, he's a savior of sinners.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The
Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He came to seek and
to save the lost. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. So that's one example. God is
just. He put Adam out, but He also
clothed him. That's mercy. Another example.
The world was flooded in Noah's day, right? Why? God is holy. God is holy and just. God must
punish sin. And he says, when he looked upon
the children of men in that day, he said, every imagination of
the thoughts of their heart were only evil continually. Every
imagination of the thoughts of their heart, only evil continually. That hasn't changed. We're still
sinful, sinful creatures. That hasn't changed. So God is
holy. He hates sin. But listen to this. It says also in Genesis chapter
6 verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So there
we see God is holy. He killed how many millions of
people? I don't know. Those in the ark
were saved because God is merciful. God is merciful. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. All those in that ark were saved.
What is that ark a picture of? Christ. That ark was Christ. Here's another example. The holy
law of God was given. Why? God demands holiness. He's
a just God. But God also in that law provided,
you remember what was in the Holy of Holies? The mercy seat. Upon which atonement was made
every year to cover the sin of the people. Why? God's merciful. He delights to show mercy. You
see, He's a just God and He's the Savior of sinners. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. Judgment and truth, righteousness
and peace, and all that we see at the cross. But the supreme
example and fulfillment of the Old Testament picture that God
is just and the justifier, the ungodly, is at Calvary. At Calvary, there we see the
supreme example, don't we? This is why the Lord Jesus Christ
is dying upon the cross. Because God is holy. When He
finds sin laid upon His Son, the Son must die. God forsook His own Son. As old Martin Luther said, how
can God forsake God? I don't know. You tell me. I don't know. But that's what
happened. Why did God forsake Him? Read Psalm 22. I am a worm
and no man. He was made sin for us. That's
why He was forsaken. God is holy. God is holy. Why
is Christ dying? Because God is just and holy.
Sin demands full payment. But also is the mean to enable
God to be our Savior. Through Christ in Him crucified.
God in His holy justice. You remember Zechariah, was it
13? Awake, O sword, against the man
that is my fellow. Smite the shepherd, sayeth the
Lord. You remember Isaiah 53, 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him in our room and in our stead. God made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. There we see God is just and
holy and punishes our sin and shows us mercy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, he's a just God and
Savior. There's no other sacrifice for sin but Christ crucified. The sacrifice that God has provided
for himself, Christ in him crucified. Remember. when Abraham and Isaac
went to Mount Moriah to worship God, and God told Abraham to
sacrifice his son. Isaac didn't know it at the time,
but when they were going toward that mountain, Mount Moriah,
and he said to Abraham, well, we have the fire, and we have
the wood, and you have the knife, but something's missing. Where's
the lamb? Isaac, you're the lamb. But you
remember what he said? God will provide himself a lamb. And then think about this. He
provided himself as the lamb unto God. The sacrifice was unto
the Lord. Behold the lamb of God that takes
away our sin. He's a just God and Savior. Isn't
it marvelous, the mysteries of the gospel? Verse 22, that being
so, A just God and Savior. There
is none beside me. There's no other. There is no
other. Now, he said, look. Look. Look unto me. Look unto me and
be discouraged. Look unto me and be terrified. Look unto me and be saved. Be
justified. That's what the word means. Be
justified. Who's it for? All the ends of the earth. God
has a people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue under
heaven. He's going to call them out because He's a just God and
a Savior. He's the Savior of sinners. He's
the Savior of sinners. Look to Him, look away from self
and be saved. It doesn't say labor for Him
and serve Him and be saved, but rather look to Him. And that
is what gospel faith does. It looks to Him. Faith is a precious
gift of God. Faith is a precious gift of God.
I'll tell you how you know if you have saving faith. You want
to know? I'll tell you the key. Do I have saving faith? Saving
faith always looks back to the one who gave it. Christ, to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is a precious gift of God.
Without faith it is impossible, impossible to please God. Impossible to please God. Saving
faith looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for all of salvation.
looking unto Jesus. You remember, I quote that verse
all the time. Hebrews 12, 2. Looking unto Jesus, who is the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising his shame, and has
sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. A just God
and Savior. Thank God he is. Now, notice
verse 22 again. He said, look unto me and be
saved. Now, this is the command of God. We're commanded to repent, we're
commanded to believe, we're commanded to confess the Lord in believer's
baptism. Notice several things here about
this command of the gospel to look to Christ. What is the hope
or blessing of truly looking to the Lord Jesus Christ? He
said, look to me and be justified. And this look here, it's looking. It's not a one-time act. Saving faith is not a one-time
act. We have believed, we are believing, and we will yet believe,
like repentance. We have repented, we are repenting,
and by His grace, we will. Saving faith is not an isolated
act or experience. We're continually looking unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're continually coming unto
Him. We look unto Him for all of salvation. Now, who may look? Who may look? Look what it says there. Who
may look? Well, it doesn't say all the elect should look, does
it? It says all the ends of the earth. I don't know who the elect
are. God does. But he tells us to
go preach the gospel to every creature and he'll take care
of the rest. You'll take care of the rest. Look unto me and
be saved, all the ends of the earth. Jew, Gentile, rich, poor. Our Lord said in Isaiah 55, turn
there a few pages over, Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 one, verse one. Isaiah 55 one. Who may come? All the ends of the earth. Isaiah
55 one. Ho, everyone that's thirsty,
come. Come eat to the waters. He hath
no money. Come ye buy and eat. Yea, come
buy wine, milk, without money and without price. It's a free
look. It won't cost you a dime. It
won't cost him everything. It cost Him His life, His blood. He shed His blood to make it
free for us. God who spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall not He with Him also
freely give us all things? All things. Look all the ends
of the earth. Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, every
sinner that's in need, look to Him. Look to Him. You remember
the story in the book of Numbers, chapter 21. I remember that one
of the first sermons I ever heard Pastor Mahan preach on TV was
from Numbers 21. And this is way back in probably
1978-79. And it was a message from Numbers 21. Numbers 21 is a story about the
children of Israel who had sinned against God and transgressed
against the Lord and murmured against the Lord. And he sent
among them those fiery serpents. And much of the people were bitten
and many people died. And the Lord told Moses to make
a serpent of brass and lift it up on a pole. And those who were
bitten with that serpent, you know what they were to do? Look
to that serpent, and they were healed. And the Lord repeats
that story in John chapter 3. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting
life. Life is in a look. Think about
it. Look. Look to Him. Look to Him. That's the simplicity of the
gospel, is it not? Who says that there's salvation in a look?
The Lord God our Savior. He says, look, come unto me and
rest. All you heavy laden, I'll give
you life. When should we look to Him? When
should we look to Him? Right now. Today's the day of
salvation. Look to Him right now. Trust
in Him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
He is salvation. When in the dark, He's our light. He is, He said, I'm the light
of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life. When sick, He's our healing. With His stripes we are healed.
When we're weak, He's our strength. When in sorrow, He's our joy. When in trouble, He's our help. When in sin, He's our advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. When we sin, that's what I meant
to say, when we sin, we have Christ who is our Redeemer. When
we need a justifying righteousness, Christ has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He said, look
unto me, look unto me. None who look to the Lord Jesus
Christ will ever be disappointed but rather Satisfied? Satisfied. I have sworn, look
at verse 23, I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out
of my mouth in righteousness. God speaks in absolute truth.
You remember it's impossible for God to lie. It's impossible
for God to change. I have sworn by myself. You know, he could swear by no
greater, could he? You know, we take an oath when we go to,
When you go to court, I don't know if they still have a Bible
there or not, but you put your hand on that Bible and you swear.
You swear by the greater. There's none greater God's swear
by himself. There's none greater than him.
I have sworn by myself. He takes an oath to himself.
The word gone out of my mouth shall not return to him void.
That unto me every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall swear. Now, you remember that's quoted
in Philippians chapter 2. God has highly exalted Him. He
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. God has
highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name that
at that name every knee should bow, every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians chapter 2, verse 9 and 10, around in there. Every
knee, every person will bow. We will be ready to confess the
Lord Jesus Christ as God our Savior, as a just God and Savior.
Now by His grace we confess Him unto salvation. Or on the day
of judgment, confess Him to be Lord to our or to their eternal
damnation. I'm going to confess Him now.
I'm going to look to Him now. Now look at verse 24. Surely,
here's the believer's confession, surely shall one say in the Lord
have I righteousness. In the Lord I have righteousness.
In the Lord I am justified. He is called the Lord our righteousness. He is that righteous branch.
And He is called the Lord our Righteousness. And the church
is called the Lord our Righteousness. We take His name. Jeremiah 23,
verse 6. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord I have righteousness, in the Lord I have strength, in
the Lord I have salvation. Even to Him shall men come, and
all that are incensed against Him will be ashamed. Remember
we read in verse 16, they shall be ashamed, also confounded all
them, they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols, all that are incensed against them. Now
you can go to war with your government, against your government, and
you go to war against other countries, and go to war here, and go to
war there, and you may win the war. You may win the battle.
You go to war against God, you'll lose. You'll lose. Don't go there. Don't fight. They used to say don't fight
city hall. Remember that saying? You can't fight city hall. Well,
you probably can, but you can't fight against God. Look at verse
25. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and shall glory. All the spiritual sons of Abraham, the
seed of Israel, The offspring of Jacob, Jacob have I loved.
Talking about God's people, His elect, the church. They shall
be justified. Justified freely by His grace.
And what do we do? We glory. We glory in Him, don't
we? He justified us. What could be
better for any sinner? Knowing God is holy, knowing
we are sinners, that we are justified freely by His grace. That's the gospel blessing, is
it not? All Israel shall be saved. None can perish. All that the
Father has given to me, they'll come to me. And those that come
to me, I'll never, no, never will I cast them out. I'll raise everyone up at the
last day.