Verse 18, we'll just look at
two verses tonight. Isaiah 45, 18. For thus saith
the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth
and made it. He hath established it. He created
it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. Let's pray together. Lord, teach us tonight. Open
your word up to us and open our hearts to your word. Cause us
to see our Lord Jesus Christ and to believe on him more than
we ever have, Lord. Increase our faith. Cause us
to just be glad, Lord, tonight and
thank you and praise your name for being our God. Saving us and telling us about
it In our Savior's name we pray
amen For thus saith the Lord God now
the Lord has just declared in verse 17 the previous verse That
Israel shall be saved We talked about this that this morning.
He shall be saved. I Salvation is a definite purpose
and accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of his elect
shall be saved. Now this is what our Lord declared
in John 6, 37. Listen, he said, all that the
Father giveth me shall. Thousands of years before that,
Isaiah prophesied, all Israel shall be saved. What does that look like? It
looks like coming to Christ. That's salvation. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. They shall
be saved. All Israel, all the spiritual
elect of God. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
that will is expressed in our text. All Israel shall be saved.
I the Lord. He said, I'm the one that created
the heavens. And I'm saying my people are going to be saved.
And the Lord Jesus came to do that, the will of His Father,
saving all Israel. And this is the Father's will,
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing. If they're going to be saved,
Christ has got to undertake for them. He's got to accomplish
salvation for them. And that's what He said. I'm
going to make sure not one of them's lost. He said, I go to
prepare a place for you And I'm going to come again. If I go
and when I go and I've prepared a place for you, I'm going to
come again. Receive you unto myself. Raise it up again at
the last day. Salvation is not up in the air.
It's not a... There's nothing questionable
about it. It's sure. Paul said it is by faith that
it may be by grace so that the promise will be sure to all the
seed. promise is sure unto all the
seed of Abraham. It's not contingent upon the
whims of man. Salvation is an accomplishment
of God. That's the way we have to think
about it. Salvation is an accomplishment of God, ordained from eternity,
promised in the scriptures, successfully secured by the Son of God in
time. Christ is the Savior of His people.
His name is Jesus, for He shall save them. And they all shall
be saved, as Isaiah prophesied, simply because He is their Savior,
as he declared in John 6. So now in our text tonight, the
Lord expands upon that. For, our verse begins with for,
in verse 18. For, thus saith the Lord, Israel
shall be saved for This is all certain they shall
Because God has spoken because I'm the one that said they shall
because thus saith the Lord he fixed it He purposed it he's
spoken it he said I've spoken it shall I not do it He's not
like us. I'm thankful for that when he
says something is done. It's done. I And he's the one that made heaven
and earth. He said I'm the one that made heaven and the earth
and I'm the one who says it. He didn't need any help doing
that and he doesn't need any help in the new creation either.
If he wants to save somebody he'll save them. He said my hand
is not shortened that it cannot save. And he didn't notice he didn't
just make the earth he established it. The Lord didn't just wind up
the watch and then let it go. He made it and he actively upholds
it. He has established the earth. That means he fixed it. He arranged
it. He constituted it. He upholds
it. Hebrews 1.3, who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding
all things by the word of his power. When he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. And I want you to notice something in these scriptures
we're going to read, including that one. All Israel shall be
saved. When he had by himself purged
our sins, that's our salvation. And then he says, I'm the one
that made heaven and earth. And I'm saying Israel shall be
saved. So there in Hebrews 1.3, we have
those same things. His creative power in the beginning,
the first creation, and his saving power in the second creation.
When he upholds all things by the word of his power, and he
purged our sins by himself. He saved Israel. The one who
made heaven and established it, and earth, and established it,
purged our sins. Those two things are gonna go
together. In our text in Hebrews 1 there and then I want you to
turn with me to Colossians 1, please Colossians chapter 1 That's what salvation is it is
a creative work of God That's the way we need to see it now
the God who made heaven and earth made a new me too. I You see
that in these verses? Look at Colossians 1, 16. For
by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things.
And by him all things consist. That's very thorough and very
clear, isn't it? He made everything, he runs everything, he established
everything in the earth, thrones and principalities, powers, all
created by him and for him and he is preeminent in all of it.
He created thrones as a picture of him on his throne. He's the king of who? Kings. We know what a king is, don't
we? Well, kings have a king too. The Son of God. You see that?
He's preeminent in all of it. And now, in what context are
we talking about Him being the Creator and Establisher of the
heavens and earth? Israel shall be saved. Alright,
so read on. Look at verse 18. And He is the
head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence,
for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
And having made peace through the blood. You see, his creative
power and his power in saving is the same. God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, shined in my heart. We are a
new creation in Christ Jesus. It's the same power. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were at one time alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unapprovable in his sight." It's not just
a random coincidence that he speaks of creating the heavens
and the earth and the redemption that's in his precious blood
all in the same passage. To what end did the Lord create
and establish the earth? our verse said he didn't do it
in vain he did it to populate it he did it to inhabit it he
has an earth because he has a people to what end does he yet cause
the sun to rise and set upon this earth and his reign to fall
upon it all israel shall be saved the second peter chapter two where
that Why does the sun rise this morning? Why didn't he just shut
it down already? Because he's not willing that
a single one of his elect perish. He's going to bring them all
in. He has a sun and an earth and a sky and everything because
he has a people. And when he's done saving them,
then he'll wrap it up. Look back at the text again.
He created it not in vain. He created it not in vain. In
other words, he created it for a purpose. And that purpose shall be fulfilled.
He created it not in vain. He created it to accomplish something
and he's going to accomplish it. Otherwise it would be vain.
And that's what we've been reading about. Why did he create it? All Israel shall be saved. He
shall save his people, they shall come to him, all that the Father
giveth. His word shall not return unto
him void, he said, like the rain that falls down. It's not going
back up till it's done what I sent it to do. So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. And then look
at the next phrase in our text. He formed it to be inhabited. He formed it to be inhabited. God has a universe because he
has a people. Now the earth is going to be
changed and so are we. We're going to be changed. Right
now he's populated this earth and he sent his son into this
earth as it is now. But all of his people are going
to be changed in the earth itself. He's going to make a new heaven
and a new earth and a new us. But God is always going to have
an earth populated with a people. Always. He established it. It's for his glory, it's for
the preeminence of his son in all of it. To show forth the
glory of his son, to make a marriage for his son. And those people
for whom he made the earth, happy people. He made the earth
for us. I thought about that this morning.
Before he ever created his first children, he made paradise for
them. When Vicki, when we had our first
child, and we had all of them, but before she was born, we created
a little place for her. And we decorated it and fixed
it all up and it was pretty and cute and comfortable and safe. Our Lord did that for us. Before
he gave us life, before his children were born into this world, he
made a safe place for us. A paradise. Beautiful. Filled with everything that we
would ever need. The Lord's still taking care
of his sheep. This place ain't paradise now.
But I tell you this, we carry paradise with us now if we're
walking in Christ. He's still taking care of his
children now just because this world has fallen apart because
of our sin. He created it not in vain. He
formed it to be inhabited. He made a place for us to live
and grow in Him and worship Him. He could have just saved everybody
and took us to heaven all at once. He could have just created
us all at the same time. Scooped up the ones that were
his, taking them to glory, throwing the rest in hell, and got on
with eternity. I kind of like the way he did
it though, don't you? I kind of do. He formed this earth to be inhabited.
He made it for his people. And I walk through this earth
with that in my mind and heart and that comforts me. And it
humbles me. This thing is for us. It's for
His sheep. It's for His glory and His preeminence. And you know we walk through
it happy. We're eternally and infinitely blessed. Sometimes
we don't know it. Can you be happy and not know
it? I believe I can. Bless. Think about this. Did
you know that right now you're infinitely blessed? There is no limit. There is no
accounting for how blessed you are if you're His. Infinite. Think about that. Right now you're
infinitely The blessing of God upon you
right now in Christ is incalculable. It can't be measured. It's supernatural. It's beyond. There's nothing
to compare it to. It can't be measured because
it has no measure. Right now. And in this new heaven and new
earth, he said, only righteousness dwell there wherein dwelleth
righteousness. We'll look at first Peter chapter
3 in a minute but think about this now there's no sin no potential
for sin because we're more than conquerors in Christ we're not
just going to have a personal righteousness again that can
be lost we have the righteousness of Christ which cannot be lost
it cannot fall it cannot fail and so Adam and Eve they had a personal
holiness, but we have God's holiness in Christ and that don't change
That never changes immutable turn with me to 2nd Peter chapter
3. This is beautiful scripture 2nd Peter chapter 3 Verse 8 Beloved, be not ignorant of this
one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand years is as a day. To the Lord it ain't been but
what, six or seven days since he made the earth? It hasn't been long. Seems like
it to us, but it hasn't been that long. Some say, you know, 7,000 years,
seven being the number of perfection, whatever that calculates out
to, in 7,000 years to the day, you know, that's, I don't know.
If we say that, then that's probably not it, because he said nobody
knows. Nobody knows. But look at it. A thousand years
is a day, but every day, every day is like a thousand years.
The days go by, the scripture says like a weaver's shuttle.
Have you ever seen somebody weaving something and the shuttle is
just moving like that? That's how the days go by for
us. But every day is like a thousand years to God. Every detail of
it. Every move that's made. Every thought that sparks in
somebody's mind. He's involved in that. And here's what else you need
to know. Don't be ignorant of these things. The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again. We talked about in the Sunday
school this morning about scoffers. You know, they say, where is
the promise of his coming? They make fun of it. But the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness. But he's long-suffering
to usward. He's long-suffering to his elect,
not willing that not a single one of them perish. He's not
going to fold this world up until he's saved his last sheep. And
that all should come to repentance. But I wouldn't want him to end
the world today, would you? There's a few people I'd like
to see come to know him first, wouldn't you? You ever thought
of it that way? Now I wish he'd save them today
and then come. That'd be great, wouldn't it? But whatever he
does will be right. Whatever he does will be right.
But the day of the Lord will come. It will come. As a thief
in the night, unexpectedly, secretly, quietly, in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise. He's gonna come quietly,
but there's gonna be some noise when he does. and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt. with fervent
heat. You see how he made the earth,
wow, to be inhabited and when he saves everybody he's going
to set, he's going to burn it up, make a new one. We're going
to dwell there, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Fervent heat,
nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Again he repeats
at the end of verse 18 in Isaiah 45 That all this is done by him
and it can't be undone. I'm the Lord. There's nobody
else. I do what I want to do. Here's
what I'm going to do. Here's what I have done. Here's
what I'm doing. Here's what I'm going to do and
nobody can stop me. Nobody can change it. And I'm
so glad verse 19. I have not spoken in secret. I've revealed, he's revealed
all that we've talked about. Why he created the heavens and
earth, because there's a second creation. To create sinners again
in Christ Jesus. To make peace for them by the
blood of his cross. By that same creative power. And then he said, I didn't say
it in secret. In a dark place of the earth.
I said not under the seat of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I
said it for a reason. I said it to accomplish a result.
I didn't say it in vain. I'm not just talking. I'm not
just whistling Dixie. God don't whistle Dixie. He speaks
and He does. I the Lord speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. You may not like what He says,
but it's right. Whether we do or not. Now God
has spoken openly, didn't do it in secret, and no sinner has
any excuse to not acknowledge Him, bow to Him, and glorify
Him as God. We saw that again this morning
now. There's a light that lighteth every man that cometh into this
world. And I'm convinced after looking into this again this
time, That's what that is. Now God has openly declared his
truth to everybody and they're without excuse. That's the light
now that lights every man that comes into the world. He's just
spoken now of creating things. I'm the one that made heaven
and earth and established them and in the same context talking
about all Israel being saved and that's why he made it. Now
let's look at that again in Romans chapter one. Look at it with
me in Romans chapter 1. He spoke of creating things and
that's why people are without excuse. Because he made the heaven
and the earth. Romans 1.18 Romans 1.18 For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth. in unrighteousness. There's that
light now. Christ is the light that lighteth
every man that his truth goes forth into all this world. Because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God
hath showed it unto them. He's talking about the reprobate
here. God hath openly declared. He said there in Isaiah, I haven't
done this in secret. I haven't spoken in secret. This
thing wasn't done in a corner. that which may be known of God
is manifest in them for God hath showed it unto them for the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen
you see how all of these things tie together back in our text
creation salvation of all Israel and how that it's not done in
a corner it's not done secretly even his very creation declares
the glory the heavens declare the glory of God even the first
heavens Declare his glory And in the
invisible things of God are clearly seen being understood by the
things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so
that they are without excuse His light lights everybody now
that doesn't mean you have an eye to see it you got to give
you that And he don't give it to everybody But everybody's
without excuse because that when they knew God. How many times have we said the
problem is not that people don't understand the gospel. The problem
is they don't like it. When they knew God, they glorified
him not as God. When they heard the gospel and
knew exactly what I was saying, they said, God's not getting
that much glory. I can give him, you know, so much, but I'm gonna
have to get some of it. You're a reprobate if that's
your thought process. They glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and
their foolish heart was darkened. So the Lord, he's not hidden
his truth. He's not hidden the light of
his eternal power in Godhead. And the scriptures bear out that
when a sinner will walk in the light that God has given him,
God will give you more light. You're not going to understand
the gospel of redemption through the precious blood of Son just
by looking at trees and mountains. But I tell you this, you can
bow to God looking at it. And God decides who gets more
light and who don't. His gospel is not hidden in the
sense that it's whispered in secret only to certain people. It's declared throughout all
the world. He told us to go into all the world and preach to every
creature. You remember what Paul said to
Agrippa? Acts 26, 26, the king knoweth of these things before
whom also I speak freely. I hold anything back. He said
to the Ephesians, I've held nothing back. No part of God's word. For I am persuaded that none
of these things are hidden from him. For this thing was not done
in a quarter. King Agrippa, believest thou
the prophets? I know that thou believest. I know you do. You know God in the sense of
Romans 1. But Agrippa never glorified,
as far as we know, would not glorify him as God. How many
people do you know that hate your gospel? that you know personally
now. We know that most of the world,
99.999% of the world, hate your God. How many do you know that
hate your Gospel, that hate your Savior, and you see that there's
no excuse for it? There's no reason for it. They
know better. They know better. Remember again that we're talking
about the salvation of all of God's people And this is how
it happens by an open clear Declaration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ All the world every creature that's how God's gonna save his
sheep One of the things that God has spoken openly about You
see that next phrase in the text? One of the things that he has
spoken openly, back in verse 19, I said not under the seat
of Jacob seek ye me in vain. But he did say seek ye me, didn't
he? He's saying I didn't do that in vain. And I didn't say seek
me in vain. But he does say seek me, and
we're reminded of that by this text. What did he say? He didn't say, seek ye me in
vain. So what does he say under the seed of Jacob? Look at Isaiah
55, just a few pages over. Isaiah 55, six. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he
will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And I wanted
to read on because we just quoted this a while ago, and this is
the context of it. For as the rain cometh down, verse 10, and
the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that
goeth forth. He sent his word, his living
word, the Lord Jesus Christ, why? To give seed to the sower,
spiritually. We sow the word of God, because
Christ came. We preach him. And bread to the eater. He said,
I'm the bread of life. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I send it. You see how all of this ties
back to our text. He didn't say, seek me in vain.
He said, seek me. I, the Lord, have spoken it,
and my word doesn't return void. It accomplishes what I sent it
for. Jeremiah 29, 13, and you shall seek me and find me when
you shall search for me with all your heart. When God gives
you a new heart that hungers and thirsts after him, he said,
I'll fill you. I'll give you something to eat. He doesn't say seek in vain.
He says seek and find. There's nothing vain about that.
Seek and you'll find. There's nothing vain about that. Think of it in two different
ways. He does not say it in vain. When he says, seek ye me, he
doesn't say it in vain. His word shall accomplish what
he sent it to accomplish. That's what we just read. And
he doesn't say to us, seek ye me in vain. Not to his people
now. If you search for him with all
your heart, you will find him. That's a promise you can rely
upon. It's a promise from the one that made heaven and earth
and you. The problem is not that God won't
let some people come to Him. That's not it. The problem is
no man can come. That's the problem. You're the
problem. The problem is not that God prohibits some from seeking
Him. He doesn't say seek me in vain.
He doesn't say that. He doesn't prohibit any from
seeking Him. Here's the problem, Psalm 53.1. The fool hath said
in his heart, No God. Corrupt are they, and have done
abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if
there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one
of them has gone back. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. So it's not
that God doesn't say seek me in vain. That's not the problem.
The problem is nobody's seeking him. Nobody's seeking him. And when
he makes a promise, and he has, the good news is now God's going
to save his people anyway, in spite of the fact that none of
them are looking for him. He came and found them. And then
you'll seek him once he finds you. The good news is God is going
to save His people even though there's none that do it. There's
none that understands. There's none that seeks Him by
nature. He's going to save some anyway. Here's what He says in
Isaiah 65. Even though you don't seek Him by nature, He finds
you. Then you'll seek Him. I am found of them that sought
me not. And listen to this. I should
have had you look at this, but listen. See this on the page
before you. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me
unto a nation that was not called by my name. Now I didn't repeat
that. That wasn't me. It says it twice
in the text. He said, behold me, behold me. to a bunch of people that weren't
looking for him. They were running the other way.
And he said, look at me, look at me. That's what happened to
me, and I looked. He turned me, and I was turned. And when God speaks, it always
accomplishes his good purpose. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
2. Remember what he said, let me
read it to you again while you're turning over there, verse 19.
I said unto the seed of Jacob, I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. He said, seek and you'll find.
That's what he said. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. And when he does, His will is
done now. That's how he does it. Please
God by the foolishness of preaching to save All Israel shall be saved. How's he gonna do that by the
foolishness of preaching by declaring his word through the voice of
a preacher? 2nd Corinthians 2 14 now. Thanks be unto God Which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ? and maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. He's talking
about we go out, we preach the gospel in these different cities.
He got stoned probably to death in one place and the Lord raised
him up. They left him for dead. They
thought he was dead. The Lord raised him up. He was run out
of town on a rail more than one time, beaten with stripes. But in some places he was received
with gladness. In some places both. Many gnashed
their teeth and some rejoiced. But he said, it's always a triumph. He always causes us to triumph.
How can you call it that, Paul? Because God is making manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. He causes
us to triumph in Christ. In Christ. Verse 15, for we are
unto God a sweet savor of Christ. When his gospel goes forth now,
think about this. Paul is saying mission accomplished.
When his gospel goes forth. He's saying we're a sweet savor
in the nostrils of God. Just the gospel going forth.
But wait a minute Chris, what if everybody there goes to hell?
Nobody hears it. That's what God sent it to do.
Is that what he said? That's not a failure. That's
God doing what he sent his word to do. He always causes us to triumph. We're a sweet saver of Christ
unto God. Now to others, to sinners, to
some we're a saver of life, to some we're a saver of death,
but unto God we're a saver of Christ. Christ. To the one in them that are saved and in
them that perish. Whether everybody's saved, whether
everybody perishes, or some mixture thereof, God is pleased. It's a win. It's what God sent
the Word to do. You see that? To the one we're
the saver of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of
life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? That's a heavy burden now. For we are not as many which
corrupt the Word of God, But as of sincerity, I wanted to
read this verse here because it's not done in the court. God
said, I haven't spoken in secret. My spokesmen, they don't hold
anything back. And Paul said, we don't corrupt
the word of God. We speak in sincerity. We just
tell you what God said. But as of God, in the sight of
God, speak we in Christ. Write things. providing things honest in the
sight of all men, Paul said in another place. And then consider
just for a moment that last phrase, I the Lord speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. You know, I've found that everything
that men say and speak and write, especially write, I've heard
many a gospel sermon and every word of it was the truth and
you know that the Lord does that. That's not man. But when men,
when they write these systematic theologies and these confessions
of faith and things like that, do you know of a perfect one?
There's something wrong with every one of them in there. I say we just stick with what
God's wrote. Is that alright with y'all? Oh
boy. How many times have people talking
about what we believe and preach here, and they can't get past
the doctrinal thing. They're listening for some kind
of doctrinal statement. If you just say we preach Christ,
that doesn't mean anything to them. Doesn't mean anything to
them. Well, maybe listen a while. Maybe it will mean something
to you. Maybe it will. I the Lord speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. I can depend only on the word
of God. There's nothing to debate or
argue about. What God said is right. Let God
be true and every man a liar. To the law and to the testimony
If they speak not according to this word, it's because there's
no light in them. God speaks things that are right. And by his grace, he raises up
men. They said of John the Baptist, everything that this man has
spoken concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is right. I pray that that can be said
of me. I don't ever want to speak about him or for him and say
anything wrong. So the Lord says to his people,
seek and you shall find. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth.
And to him that knocketh, It shall be opened. All that the
Father giveth me shall, and him that cometh to me, him that knocketh,
him that asketh, him that seeketh, I will in no wise cast out. What a glorious gospel we have
to preach and in which we find all of our hope in Christ. Let's
pray together.