Isaiah 45. We were just here
for our Bible study. And it was on the danger of looking
for salvation where it can't be found. Putting our hope and
putting our trust in things that cannot save. Cannot save. Look at verse 16. They shall be ashamed and also
confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. That's every man and woman on
this earth by nature. Every man and woman. We will
look to anything and everything but the finished work of Christ
for our hope of salvation. And anything other than the finished
work of Christ is an idol. If it's not Christ, it's an idol. Verse 16, they shall be ashamed
and also confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. Verse 17 says, but Israel, but
God. But Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed
nor confounded, world without end. 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. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Verse 21 says, tell ye. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them this. Point this great
error of false religion out to them. Expose it. Tell them. Tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? Aren't you
just repeating my word? Aren't you just telling men what
I have said about this. Have not I the Lord and there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a savior? There is none
beside me. Look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. or
I am God and there is none else. Charles Spurgeon told the story
of his own conversion, his own conversion, or the beginnings
of his conversion. He grew up in religion. He was a religious young man. You hear these stories about
these, you know, old gospel preachers and Puritans and things like
that. A lot of them are just heathens, just horrible people,
horrible, horrible. But Spurgeon, still a sinner,
still a heathen, but he was a religious young man. I hear the rain thinking, Lord,
let there be showers of blessing. If it thunders, if the lightning
comes and it thunders, remember that that's our God saying, I
have glorified it, and I'll glorify it again. Glorify thy name. I have glorified it. I'll glorify
it again. Everybody standing around said,
it thundered. So if it happens, I kind of hope it does. All right,
it's Charles Spurgeon. He was a religious young man.
One Sunday morning, he was young when this happened. He was a
young man. And one Sunday morning, he was walking to the church
that he attended, but it was very snowy and very cold. It was a lot of snow and very
cold. And it was a good distance to
his church, the church that he, you know, grew up going to. So
when he came up onto this other church that he'd passed by time
and time again, and don't we all pass church after church
after church coming to the place where we worship, they're everywhere. But he came up on this one building
and he decided to just get out of the cold and I'll just stop
into that church today. All right, that church will be
as good as any other church. We'll just go to this one today. And he said it was a small church,
it was a very small congregation, especially that morning, not
many people were out with the weather. And the pastor was not
there that particular day. One of the men who filled in
for the pastor, he was preaching. And his text was Isaiah 45 verse
22. Look unto me and be ye saved. Look unto me. Look unto me. Spurgeon said this
man kept saying that over and over again. Look unto me." Spurgeon said he was not a well-educated
man. He said he wasn't even a well-spoken
man. I like that. I like that detail.
But he said he just kept repeating that over and over again, look
unto me, look unto me. And Spurgeon said, even though
this man wasn't the eloquence that he was used to, he said
he felt like he was speaking from God directly to his heart. You ever experienced that? It's
like you're speaking directly to me. Lord, do that for me today. Do that for somebody today. Look
unto me. Look unto me. And Spurgeon said,
as this man kept emphasizing the object of our faith to be
Christ himself, he just kept saying it over and over again,
it's Christ himself. It's the person, it's the man. Look unto me. He said, as he
declared that truth and emphasized that truth concerning Christ
himself. He said, God enabled me by his
spirit to truly, for the first time, look to Christ. Not religion, but Christ. And he said, in Christ, I saw
the way of life opened to me. And he said, in Christ, I saw
the way of redemption opened to me. The commandment was, look to
me. And he said, I did. By God given faith, by God given
grace, I did. Now, if our Lord would be willing
to cause us to and to allow us to, my desire is that we might
look to him this morning. That's my desire. So many people in this world
who are religious, they have no idea that they're
not looking to Christ for their salvation. So many people, they
have no idea that they're not looking to Christ for their salvation.
So many people in this world are not looking to Christ. Many people are looking to their
baptism. Many people are looking to their
baptism. I feel good about being saved
because I was baptized. I don't feel good about being
saved yet because I haven't been baptized. Okay, I was baptized.
Now I feel good about being saved because now I've been baptized.
That's looking to the wrong place. That's looking to the wrong place.
I'm going to make a statement here that's so true. There is no salvation
in baptism. None. The person who is looking to
his or her baptism will not be saved. I don't care how religious. Many people are looking to their
morality. You have moral people and immoral
people. And the moral people look at
the immoral people and think, Glad I'm not like you. I feel
pretty good about being safe because I'm a very moral person. All right, listen to this. That's
looking to the wrong place. This is the absolute truth. There
is no salvation in morality. I would prefer that all of you
be moral rather than immoral. There are physical consequences
that come from immorality, things we ought to be warned of. But
there is no salvation in morality. The person who is looking to
his or her morality is not going to be saved, period. They're not going to be saved.
You know, all these things have I kept from my youth up. You
still lack. You're not going to make it. Many people, and this is probably
the majority of people on this earth anymore. It used to not
be this way, but I would say this is it now. Many people,
many, many people are not looking to anything. They're not looking
to anything. They don't really know much about
religion. They go to church every now and then just in case. But they just really turn a blind
eye to salvation and eternity thinking, I'm sure it's going
to be fine. I'm sure whatever's out there,
whatever's after, is going to be fine. I'll just kind of take
a don't ask, don't tell approach. And the reason is because religion
makes it sound like everybody's going to be saved anyway, right? You go to be, I mean, religion
says everybody's going to be saved anyway. So according to God's word, there
is no salvation in assuming that none whatsoever. The person who
chooses to turn a blind eye is not going to be saved. You saying I'm gonna go to hell?
Yes. Our Lord said, look unto me and
be ye saved. That's what he said. Look unto
me and be ye saved. Now I have two questions for
us this morning. Number one, what is it to look
to him? Or I could tell everybody, look
to Christ. How do you do that? What does that mean? The only
thing that you would know to do is look to this made up imagination
image that you have of him in your mind. What does that mean? What is
it to look to Christ? And then the second question
is, if we look to him, what will we see? If we really do look
to Christ, what will we see? Let's start with the second question.
If we look to him, what will we see? Verse 21 says, tell ye and bring
them near, yea, let them take counsel together who have declared
this from ancient time, who have told it from that time. Have
not I the Lord and there is no God else beside me, a just God
and a savior. There is none beside me. If we truly look to Christ, this
is what we will see. Number one, there is no God beside
him. He is a just God and a savior. To look to him, number one, is
to look to his throne. It's to look to his throne. He's
a just God. What is it to look to Christ,
all right? Here's the command of God. Look unto me. Who's talking? Jesus Christ. Look unto me. I am the Lord. Beside me, there's
none else. Look to me. What is it to look
to him? Number one, it's to look to his
throne. He is a just God. He's not a wimp. He's not just a man. He's a just God. What does that mean? That means
he's a God that demands justice. justice for sin against him with
this God, who is the only God that there is. Justice will be served on all
sin against him. Well, there's forgiveness. Oh,
I'm sorry. Okay, nevermind. No, that's not
Jesus Christ. Justice will be served. You have
no idea how much sin you've committed against him. You have no idea. And you have no idea how much
punishment he has reserved for your sin. And neither do I. In the flesh,
we're in the same boat. We're in the same boat together.
People have it in their minds. I'm telling you, people have
it in their minds that God is not a God of justice. They think God doesn't really
punish sin. And they think that because they're
not looking to him. That's why they think it. It's
because they're not looking to him. If they were looking to
him, they would see the justice of his holy throne. Turn with
me over to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32, verse 39. And this is the Lord our God
speaking. Verse 39, he said, see now that
I, even I am he, and there is no God with me. I kill. Boy, that's a, those are, that's
a shocking two words, isn't it? If people have never seen that,
if people have never looked to him and seen that, I kill, I make alive, I wound. Who does the wounding? It is
the Lord. And I heal. Who does the healing?
If any healing is done, who does the healing? Oh, it's the Lord.
But it was that medicine. Yeah, God gave a man a mind to learn some chemistry. Put all
that together, it's the Lord. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand." Verse 40, he said, "'For I lift up
my hand to heaven and say, I live forever. If I wet my glittering
sword.'" With what? Blood. "'If I wet my glittering
sword and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance
to my enemies and will reward them that hate me.'" I will make
mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh,
and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives from
the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. You say, well, that's the Old
Testament. That's the Old Testament. He's not like that anymore. Yes,
he is. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians
1. Second Thessalonians 1 verse
6. Seeing it is a righteous thing
with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and
to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified
in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe because
our testimony among you was believed in that day. Our vain religion
cannot satisfy God's justice on our sin. It cannot do it.
It takes blood and death to do that. God is a just God against
sin, and there's no greater proof of that than Calvary. God is a just God against sin. And there's no greater proof
of that than the cross of Calvary. You want to see the justice of
God? Look to the cross of Calvary. God killed his own son. Isn't that amazing? God killed his own son. In justice,
he required the blood and the death of his own son. Why would
God do that? Wasn't the son of God spotless?
Wasn't he holy and spotless? Yes, he was. But he gave his holy spotlessness
away. You know that? He gave it away. He gave his holy spotless righteousness
away. He gave it to his people. And in its place, he took the
vile, wretched sin of his people to himself. And God's justice judged Him in that sin. That's how our just God was made
to be our Savior, by way of the cross, by way of His cross. To look to Him is to look to
His cross. That's what it is, is to look
to His cross. The justice of God demanded the
sacrifice of the cross. Why? Sin. Death has to come. The mercy of God hung Christ
on that cross in the place of his people. Turn over to Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 10, as it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. Hey, why do you keep reading
all the bad verses about people? That's all that there is. That's
all there are. The only thing good is God. The only thing good is Christ.
The only hope of goodness is in Christ. You mean to tell me that this
just says that everybody's bad, everybody's a sinner, and there's
no hope for anybody? Yes. Verse 10, as it is written, there's
none righteous. You're saying none? No, not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way,
they are together become unprofitable, there's none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open grave,
an open sepulcher. With their tongues they've used
lies. That's what comes out of man,
lies, deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. The way of peace have they not
known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Who's he talking about? Everybody. Every soul on this earth, all
have sinned. Verse 19, now we know that what
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. That's what this world is, guilty
before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin." Why don't you just obey the Bible
and everything will be fine? You can't. Verse 21, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there's no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. What
does that mean? That means the only hope we had
was if he hung on that cross in our place, is if he shed his
blood so ours wouldn't have to be, if he died so we wouldn't
have to, if justice was poured out on him so it wouldn't be
poured out on us, Verse 25, whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation, a bloody victim, a sacrifice, a covering
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. Verse 26 says, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness
that he might be just and the justifier. of him which
believeth in Jesus. Just and justifier. You ever
heard that term? Just and justifier. That's what we see when we look
to Christ. Every soul that Christ was judged
for, every one of them is now justified before God through
him. That was Christ's accomplishment
of the cross. And to look to him is to look
to his accomplishment. It's to look to his throne, it's
to look to his cross, it's to look to his accomplishment. In
Christ, mercy and truth met together. Righteousness and peace kissed
each other. And God's people were saved. Justice was poured out. The law's
demands were fulfilled, you've sinned, die. God's people were saved. Turn
over to Acts 13. I've never really, I don't know
if I've ever really paid much attention to this, but this is
so good, Acts 13. Acts 13 verse 38. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe Faith
is not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. But if he gives
it to us by him, all that believe are justified from all things
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. What God's justice demanded,
God's own sacrifice provided. And all of God's people were
saved. That's what it is to look to Him. It's to look to the accomplished
judgment of the cross and to rest in it. Rest in it. Christ is our way of life. Christ is our redemption back
to God. Christ is the just one who justified
us and saved us from our sins. So look unto him. Look unto him
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for he is God and
there's none else. Amen.