Revelation chapter 4 verse 11
says, For thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and
power. For thou hast created all things,
and for thy good pleasure they were created. Pray the Lord will give us the
grace to worship him in the spirit and give to him all glory and
praise and honor this morning. If you have a copy of your bulletin,
let's stand together. Tom's going to come lead us in
the hymn on the back of your bulletin. We bless the prophet of the Lord
who comes with truth and grace. Jesus, thy spirit and thy word
shall lead us in thy way. We worship our high priest above,
who offered up his blood, and lives in proof of his great love,
exalted with our God. We honor our exalted King, how
sweet are His commands. He guards our souls from death
and sin by His almighty hands. Hosanna to His glorious name,
who saves us by His grace. His mercy has a sovereign claim
to our eternal praise. Please be seated. Genesis 3. Genesis 3 and verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? And a woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, "'You shall not surely die, "'for God doth know that
in a day you eat thereof, "'then your eyes shall be opened, "'and
you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' "'And when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food "'and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, "'and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
"'she took of the fruit thereof and did eat. and gave to her
husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed
fig leaves together and made themselves aprons." The first Adam sinned and died. The second Adam died for sin. When Eve took the fruit of the
tree, God had already provided Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. He was already slain before the
foundation of the world. Before Satan ever spoke to Eve,
our warfare was accomplished for the children of God. Father, we thank You that even,
Father, at the worst times, that You had made Christ to be sin
for us, Father, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in You. Father, as Adam stood there with
all of mankind dead around him, Father, that You walked by and
You looked at Your children, and our navel was not cut, Father,
and we were not supple, and You said unto us, Live. Thank you,
Father, for giving Christ that we might live. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 44 from your hymns of grace. 44. Precious Savior, friend of sinners,
we as such to thee draw near. Let thy spirit dwell within us
with that love that casts out fear. Matchless Savior, let us
know Thee as the Lord, our righteousness. Cause our hearts to cleave unto
Thee, come and with Thy presence bless. Open now thy precious
treasure, let thy word here freely flow. Give to us a gracious measure,
tis thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as thy portion. Let us all find rest in thee. Leave us not to empty notions. We would find our hope in thee. Please be seated. Bri Weishi
is going to bring some special music now. I need Thee every hour, most
gracious Lord No tender voice like Thine can peace afford I
need Thee, oh, I need Thee Every hour I need thee, O bless me
now, my Savior, I come to thee. I need thee every hour, stay
thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when thou art nigh. I need thee, oh, I need thee
every hour. Oh bless me now my savior I come
to thee I need thee every hour Enjoy
your pain Come quickly and abide Or life is vain Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to thee. I need thee every hour. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son I need Thee, O I need Thee Every hour I need Thee O
bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee Thank you, Brie. Will you open
your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 41, please? Isaiah chapter
41. I think most everybody here knows
that we attempt, whenever possible, to turn off our cell phones. When I can hear it, it's a distraction. preach through God's Word verse
by verse. And so we've been in the book
of Isaiah and in the book of 1 Corinthians. And in the Lord's
providence, he has given us this morning a passage that we've
already looked at in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that so complements
this passage of scripture that we are now at in Isaiah chapter
41. I confess to you that Isaiah
chapter 41, the latter part of this chapter, is a passage of
scripture that I would have been tempted to pass over had I not
committed to deal with God's Word verse by verse. It is a scathing declaration
of God's rebuke against all forms of idolatry. But I would also
remind you that God's word is written to God's people. I would like to preface this
message by saying that I am thankful that we live in a religiously
pluralistic society. And I would argue and even fight
vigorously for everyone to have the right to believe whatever
they want to believe. We have no interest in trying
to repeat the errors of the Crusades or of the Salem witch hunts. We're not here to do an inquisition
against unbelievers. We're here to bring the Word
of God to God's people, and in so doing, it will expose idolatrous
religion for what it is. We're not interested in offending
men for the purpose of being offensive. We don't have a martyr
mentality. I have met people in the past
who seem to glory in having people hate them. I hate people hating
me. I like to be liked. I like to
get along with folks. I'm not here to stir up trouble.
But God's Word is God's Word. And whatever it says, we must
in no wise compromise it. And so I would repeat what Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 10, I speak as unto wise men, judge ye what
I say. We're not interested in being
politically correct. I understand that the one thing
that is intolerable in our culture is to be intolerant. And most folks would consider the
things that we're going to say this morning as being narrow,
unloving, intolerant, and it would stir up some offense on
the part of the world. I'm not interested in being politically
correct, I'm interested in being biblically accurate. And the
scriptures say what they say, and they say them to us. Exposing the error of false religion
is not for the purpose of shaming the world. It is for the purpose
of instructing and admonishing and encouraging God's people. When Moses went to Egypt and
the Lord, through the rod of this man, afflicted the Egyptians
with plagues, those plagues were not for the purpose of humbling
the Egyptians. It didn't humble them. It hardened
Pharaoh's heart. And Romans chapter nine, verse
17 says, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same
purpose, have I raised thee up that I might show my power in
thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. The purpose of those plagues
were for the church. They were for Israel to show
the power of Jehovah over the power of the Egyptian idols. The Nile River was worshipped
by the Egyptians. Flies were worshipped. There
was a God. Lice, hail, all the things that
God brought against Egypt in those ten plagues were to identify
the gods of Egypt for what they were, powerless against the God
of Israel. But it was for the purpose of
the Israelites to see the power of their God. that his name might
be declared throughout all the earth. When Elijah went up on
Mount Carmel and had that contentious encounter with the prophets of
Baal and mocked those prophets, Remember they built their temple
and he said, the God that answers by fire, he will be the God. And the prophets of Baal all
agreed. And so they built their altar and put their sacrifice
on it and began dancing and crying and praying for their God and
Elijah mocked them. He said, call, cry a little louder.
At one point Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, maybe your
God has gone to the bathroom. You just need to, you know, you
just need to holler a little bit louder to get his attention.
He was mocking them. For the purpose of offending
those prophets? No. Israel had fallen into idolatry. They were in a three-year drought. God was about to break that drought.
But before he broke the drought, he had to break their idolatry.
He had to show the idols for what they were. And so that whole
encounter was not for the purpose of Jezebel or Ahab or the prophets
of Baal who were all killed. It was for Israel. I know that there are people
that will be offended at the things that I'm about to say
regarding this passage of Scripture. But I'm also greatly heartened
in knowing that God's people are going to be encouraged to
flee idolatry. And they're going to be encouraged
to see the power of their God. Now we just read in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10 that all idols are in fact devils. That's all they
are. They're just devils. Verse 21, the prophet is speaking
to the idolaters and he's saying to them, produce your cause,
saith the Lord, God speaking, produce your cause. Bring forth
your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring
them forth and show us what shall happen. Let them show the former
things, what they be, that we may consider them and know the
latter end of them, or declare us things to come. Tell us about
your God. Bring your arguments. Tell us
what you believe and why. Let us consider your reason.
That's what he's saying. Tell us the end result of your
gospel. Tell us the origin of your gospel. When did it begin? Where did
it get its start? Who accomplished your gospel. If you can tell us about a better
gospel that's more complete, a gospel that is more free. If
you can tell us about a better savior who is more successful
and more powerful, we'll consider him. But you can't. I've titled this message, Let
Us Compare Our Gods. Let Us Compare Our Gods. Look at the next verse. Show
the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are
gods. Yea, do good or do evil. Do something. Show yourself that we may be
dismayed. that we may be afraid of your
God. We're not afraid of your God. We blaspheme your God. We say
what God says about your God. He is the devil. We're not interested in being
politically correct. We must expose your God for who
he is in order for our God to be glorified, in order for him
to be exalted. Behold, you are worse than nothing. That's the literal translation
there. You are worse than nothing and your works are worse than
not. An abomination is he that chooses
you. You see, this is offensive language. I know it is. But it's God speaking
about the false gods of this world. For the sake of turning
the hearts of his children toward him. That's our purpose. We're not
interested in being offensive for the sake of being
offensive. We're speaking to God's people. I have raised up
one from the north. Here's my God. Compare your God
to my God. I raised him up from the north.
And he shall come, and from the rising of the sun shall he call
upon my name, and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar,
and as the potter treadeth the clay. My God, he's sovereign. Let us compare our gods. Let's
see now. You worship a God who wants everybody
to be saved. He wants everybody to submit
to Him. He wants everybody to believe
on Him. Now I'm not building a straw
man here. I'm telling you the truth about
the God of false religion. And this God that I'm describing
is not just the God of false Christianity, He's the God of
Islam. He's the God of Buddhism. He's
the God of, you pick whatever religion of the world and they
will say that their God wants all men to adhere to Him. Bow to Him. Willingly submit
your will to Him. He is sovereign and He is omnipotent. He is the Creator. But He has
made His will subject to the creature. He gave man a will that trumps
His will. He abdicated His throne to sinful
men. This is exactly what the prophets
say. Tell us about your gods. I'm
telling you about their God. This is who He is. His omnipotence
is made impotent when it comes up against man's free will. Man gets the final vote. I was
reading some stuff about Islam this week and Allah and he wants
everybody to submit to him. But you've got to do your part. He's not going to control your
will. He can't control your will. He's unable. And the false prophet says, well,
when you put it like that, let me tell you about a God who's
truly sovereign, who's truly omnipotent, who always gets his
way. who is able to make willing the
hearts of his people and cause them to come unto him and to
submit unto him. And he does. He does just that. He has elected before the foundation
of the world a particular people that he has purposed to show
mercy to. He himself took on the likeness
of sinful flesh, came into this world, and bore their sins in
his body upon Calvary's cross to suffer the wrath of God's
justice in order to make them acceptable in the sight of God. He has ascended back into glory
and presented himself for their righteousness before God. And
he's not going to lose one of his children. No one can separate
them from him or pluck them out of his hand. He's God. When we call our God, God, we're
calling him God with a capital G. Bring your God before us. Let
us reason. Let us see now, you worship a
God that loves everybody. At least he loves those who are
willing to submit to him. Most of the people he loves,
you say, will refuse to love him back. He's a spurned lover. He wants man to have a relationship
with him. He will have to make a choice. Those that refuse to love him
back, you say, will be tormented in a devil's hell for all eternity.
Will God change his love for them? Or will his love be exercised
in wrath? What is it? What is it? You see, the God of man-made
religion doesn't even make sense. Let me tell you about a God for whom there's never been a
time, even in eternity, before time ever began, that He didn't
love His people. He loved them with an everlasting
love. He placed them in Christ. He put His perfect love on them. And He said, herein is love. Not that you love God, but that
He loved us and gave His Son a propitiation for our sins. Perfect love, perfect love casteth
out fear. We flee to our God, not in fear. Not in fear of His wrath. We've
got Christ as our propitiation. The wrath of God has all been
spent. We flee to Him in love, because
His perfect love has casteth out our fear. We do love Him, but only because
He first loved us. Our God doesn't have to worry
about changing. He doesn't have to worry about,
now He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said,
I am the Lord and I change not. We have an immutable God. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. The hope of my salvation is based
on the fact that God has never, ever not loved me. Your God requires you to show
evidence of your salvation in order for you to have assurance
of salvation. Some of you will measure your
salvation in terms of whether or not you even merit salvation
by your works. That's true of most of the religions
of the world. I'm speaking of Islam and Catholicism
in particular. The merit of salvation is based
on works. Others will say, oh no, we're
not under works, we're under grace. We're not under the law.
We're saved by grace, for by grace are you saved. Through
faith and that not of yourself. And yet, you will make your works
necessary for evidence of your salvation. And you will monitor yourself
by the law and compare yourself to yourself and compare yourself
to one another and compare yourself to the law and use the law as
a means of motivation in order that we might all fool ourselves
in thinking that we're saved. Let me tell you about a God who
is himself the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Let me tell you about myself,
one who is unable to satisfy one jot or tittle of God's law. I would say with John, I'm not
worthy to unlatch his sandals, and he would say, Suffer to be
so, John, for it is necessary that we might fulfill all righteousness."
The baptism of Christ, His baptism by fire, His baptism by water,
His baptism by the Spirit, all that, that's the hope of my salvation. It's not my water baptism. It's
not any evidence that I'm looking to in my life to get assurance
of my salvation. The assurance of my salvation
is looking unto Jesus who is himself the author and the finisher
of my faith. He that sanctifyeth, and they
that are sanctified, He that is holy and they that are made
holy are all as one, whereby he's not ashamed to call them
his brethren. We're not looking to some evidence
of sanctification in our lives to get assurance of our salvation.
We're looking to Christ. Let me tell you about my God. First Peter chapter 3 verse 15,
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Now in short that means
look to Christ, set your affections on things above, where Christ
is seated at the right hand of God. Put all the hope of your
salvation in his glorious person and in his accomplished work.
Sanctify, set apart the Lord Jesus Christ in thine heart. And be ready always to give an
answer to everyone that asks you for the hope that's within
you and do it with meekness and with fear. So if you ask me,
what is your hope? I'll tell you my hope is that
I will be, that I am sinless before God. That's my hope. There's no salvation. There is
absolutely no salvation apart from being completely sinless
before God. Now if I'm going to be sinless
before God, God's going to have to take the initiative in that
relationship. He's gonna have to come to me,
because prior to him making me sinless, I'm nothing but sin,
and I'll not seek after him. I'll not seek after him. You
remember the story of the Good Samaritan? A certain lawyer,
the scripture says, came to the Lord Jesus Christ and said to
him, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? The Lord responded by saying
you what does the law say? what does the law say and And
the lawyer said the law says love the Lord your God with all
of your heart all your mind and all your soul that's the first
four commandments of the law and thy neighbor as thyself and The Lord looked at this certain
lawyer and said go and do and thou shalt live and You you think you can keep the
law go ahead and give it a shot And if you can you'll live and
the scripture says and the lawyer Justifying himself said who is
my neighbor and The Lord told the story about
a man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves
and And the priest came, left him, the thieves stole everything
he had, stripped him naked, left him for dead. And the priest
came down the same road and walked on the other side of the road.
He couldn't help him. And the Levite came and saw the man dying
and walked on the other side of the road and couldn't help
him. And then the Samaritan came. And he bound his wounds and he
took him to the end. This is the end. Christ is that
Samaritan. You know, the world loves the
story of the good Samaritan because it inspires them to be a good
Samaritan. I hope you're a good Samaritan.
I want to be a good Samaritan. But this story is about Christ.
We're the one that fell among the thieves. The priest couldn't
help us. The Levi couldn't help us. The
Samaritan came to us. And he bound up our wounds and
he brought us to the end. And that's what he does. He brings
his children to the church, doesn't he? And he provides everything necessary
for them. And he says, whatever you lack,
I'll supply. You see, No one else can help
it. In order for me to be sinless
before God, in order for me to have a hope that I can tell to
these false worshippers, these idolaters, these devil worshippers,
that's what God calls them. I've got to have the hope of
knowing that I'm sinless before God. To be sinless, God's got
to come to me. That Ethiopian eunuch had traveled
all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem because he heard about
Jehovah. He had acquired a copy of the scriptures. That wasn't
no simple feat. He had worshipped during the
high worship days in Jerusalem and left empty. He knew no more about God when
he left Jerusalem than he did when he left home. And the Lord
sent Philip. Down to Gaza. Understandest what
thou readest? How can I unless a man should
guide me? Come up here and tell me. This
one I'm reading about here in Isaiah 53. Is the prophet speaking
of himself or is he talking about another? And beginning right
there, he preached unto him Jesus. God's got to bring the gospel
to me. I'm not going to come to him. In order for me to have a sure
hope, not a half-hearted, not a hope in a God who's inconsistent,
fickled, a God who says one thing and does something else. In order
for me to have a sure hope, I've got to know that I'm sinless
before God. And if I'm going to be sinless
before God, I'm going to have to have Christ stand in my stead
before God as my surety. I'm going to have to have it.
Now surety under the Old Testament, if you struck hands with someone
and committed yourself to be a surety, we might call it a
cosigner today, but unlike being a cosigner, the surety took on
the full responsibility of the person that they stood in their
stead for. So they paid the whole debt.
They paid the whole debt. How are you going to pay for
one of your sins? You can't. I need a surety. Christ, Hebrews chapter 7 verse
22, became a surety of a better covenant. The old covenant based
on laws I could not keep. The New Testament, the new covenant,
is a covenant of grace. A covenant that has been kept
for me by my surety. Christ became a surety of a better
covenant. Christ stood before God as the
promise of our debt and our duty. Does Christ stand in your stead
before God, covering your debt and your duty before God? All that Christ did is put on the account of His people. Isaiah chapter 45 verse 24 and
25 says, one shall say in the Lord I have righteousness and
strength. To him shall I come and all that
are assensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified and in the Lord shall all the
seed of Israel glory. Glory. He gets all the glory. If I'm going to have a sure hope
of salvation, I'm going to have to be sinless before God. God's
going to have to do it all. He's going to have to do it all.
He's going to have to, according to His own will and purpose,
elect me. He's going to have to choose
me. The Lord said, you did not choose me, I chose you. He's
going to have to redeem me. He's going to have to pay the
price for my sins. He's going to have to be my righteousness
before God. He's going to have to regenerate
me. He's going to have to send His Spirit and take out the heart
of stone and put in a heart of flesh. He's going to have to
cause me to believe. He's going to have to give me
faith. If I'm going to have a sure hope, if I'm going to be holy
and sinless before God, He's going to have to do it all. And
He's going to have to work in me, causing me to will and to
do of His good pleasure, keeping me looking to Christ all the
time. And He's going to have to take
me successfully to glory and present me faultless before the
throne of God with great joy. He's going to have to do it all. I need one to keep God's law
for me. Paul said in Romans chapter 10,
my heart's desire for Israel is that they all be saved. And
I bear them record. They have a zeal for God. They're
very zealous. They're very, very committed
to their religion, but their zeal is without knowledge. For
they go about trying to establish their own righteousness, being
ignorant of God's righteousness. What is God's righteousness?
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. They don't know Christ. They
don't know Christ. I need one whose works go before
him, and whose reward is with him. Now, the Lord gave me some
understanding of that verse this week that I never had before.
His works went before him. I always, I mean, I hope the
Lord will teach me better what that means. Christ presented
his righteousness before God to merit God's favor and obligate
God to save him. But the scripture says his works
went before him and his reward went with him. What was his reward? He's talking about the reward
that God gave to him. What was his reward? You're his reward. The church
is his reward. And His reward went with Him.
So that all the blessings of God are in the heavenlies in
Christ right now. We're in the Lord Jesus Christ
right now before God. Holy, acceptable, perfect in
His sight. The Church, the Bride of Christ
is His reward. His reward went with Him. My
word will accomplish the purpose for which I send it. It will
not return unto me void. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
word of God. He accomplished the purpose for
which God sent him. What was that purpose? To save
his people. He didn't offer salvation, he
accomplished salvation. And he returned as the word of
God, not with an empty hand. He returned with the names of
those for whom He lived and died, successfully having accomplished
everything necessary for their salvation. Why would we add to
that? Why would we try to add anything
to that? Come! Tell me about your God. That's what the prophet's saying.
Tell me about your God. If you can tell me about a better
God than the one that I've trusted, I'll consider you a God. That's
what he's saying. But you can't. And man never
has. How can you improve on a gospel
that's free and complete? like the one we have in the Lord
Jesus Christ. You still have your Bibles open,
Isaiah 41, verse 25, I have raised up one from the north and he
shall come. From the rising of the sun shall
he call upon my name. It's the Lord Jesus Christ trusting
the Father in a way that you and I have never been able to
trust God. And he shall come upon princes
as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth the clay. I'm the potter,
you're the clay. I make from the same vessels,
some vessels of honor, some of dishonor. Clay can say to the
potter, why hast thou made me thus? He's got the right. Who hath declared from the beginning that we may know and before time
that we may say he is righteous? Yea, there is none that showeth.
Yea, there is none that declareth. Yea, there is none that heareth
your words. We're not listening to you. Why? Because your gospel doesn't tell
us about before time. Your gospel doesn't give us any
hope or assurance of our righteousness before God. The first shall say to Zion,
Behold them. And I will bring to Jerusalem
one that bringeth good tidings." There's the gospel. This is good
news. You know what the good news is? It's finished. It's accomplished. It's all done. And he gets all
the glory. For I beheld, and there was no
man, even among them, and there was no counselor, that when I
asked them could answer a word, Their God cannot answer to our
God. Behold, they are all vanity. Their works are nothing. Their molten images are wind
and confusion. One of the glorious things about
the gospel is it's not confusing. It's not confusing. Religion is so convoluted. It's
so confusing. It's so complicated. Everybody's
got their own opinion, don't they? The gospel is such a simple
message. It's so clear. It's so complete. Come, let us compare our gods. Which God do you worship? Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word, and we pray, Lord, that you would bless the hearts
of your people with faith in Christ. For it's in his name
we ask it. Amen. We're going to observe
the Lord's table. I ask the men if they'll come,
please, and distribute the bread and the wine. Just remain seated and we'll
sing hymn number 17 that's in your Hymns of Grace hymnal. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is His body,
Crushed beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
Of our Savior's precious blood. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us ne'er forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us ? Home to glory, praise his name ? With this hope and expectation
? We rejoice to keep this feast ? Celebrating our redemption
? Till we lean on Jesus' breast celebrating our redemption. That's
what this is, a celebration. What a fitting way to close a
service. This unleavened bread, very simply, a picture of the
sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He offered up as our righteousness, Burying
our sins. Robert, I like what you said
earlier. The first Adam died because of sin. The second Adam
died for sin. And when we take this bread,
we're acknowledging that he is the hope of our righteousness
and our acceptance before God. In the day in which you sin,
you shall surely die. Life is in the blood. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. Your blood won't do. My blood
won't do. It's defiled. God required sinless
blood, perfect blood, a lamb without spot, without blemish.
That blood. successfully covered all the
sins of all of God's people. God says, when I see his blood,
I'll pass by you. All God's people said, Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Norm Wells, so good to have you with us this morning. Norm will
be preaching for us this Wednesday night. So I hope you'll be here
and I hope that you'll pray for him. Norm, would you close us
with prayer please? Thank you.