Isaiah chapter 45. Now one of our titles this morning,
I gave one to my wife earlier, she insisted on it, is simply
look and live. Isaiah 45, look and live. Look at verse 22 for example. Look unto me and be you saved. All the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none
else. Now that last phrase, I am God
and there is none else, is repeated six times in this chapter in
one form or another. Alright, let's back up to the
beginning of the chapter and actually take one verse out of
the previous chapter. Yes. You want another one on,
do you? Thank you, Johnny. Boys, the more my brain goes,
the more you're going to have to do to remind me here, because
I don't know what I'm doing. Chapter 44, verse 28. That says of Cyrus, who was some
200 years from this writing, to be the king of Persia, that
says to Cyrus, God says to Cyrus about him, he is my shepherd. He shall perform all my pleasure,
even saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple
your foundation shall be laid. Now remember this. And we're
told that explicitly in these verses that we're about to read. This man did not know God, but
God used him. All of his great victories and
conquerings of nations was God's purpose. As to why this man did
what he did, he could not tell you, because it was against everything
in the fiber of his being. All right, verse 1 of chapter
45, thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right
hand I have held to subdue nations before him, and I'll loose the
loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and
the gates shall not be shut." Now, having spoken of Cyrus the
king, I want you to remember far more than to remember him,
is remember King Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because this book
is all about him, even when it appears to be talking about someone
else. Verse 3, And I'll give you the
treasures of darkness. Now remember, think of Christ
when you hear these things. I'll give you the treasures of
darkness and hidden riches and secret places. that you may know
that I, the Lord which called you by your name, am the God
of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect, I have even called you by your name,
I have surnamed you, though you have not known me." Verse 5,
I am the Lord. There is none else. That's the
first time now in this chapter we have this statement. There
is no God beside me. I girded you, though you have
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west. There is none beside me. I am the Lord. There is none
else. That's number two. I form the
light and create darkness. I make peace. and create evil. I the Lord do all these things."
Now, you read that statement in most assemblies and they'll
be horrified to have heard you say it. I'm going to declare
it just like it's stated. And we can gnaw our teeth on
it for all we wish until we have no more teeth. But this is the
God of the Bible. What he does not directly order,
he permits. Psalm 76.10 says, Even the wrath
of man shall praise thee, and what can't praise him, the remainder
of wrath shall you restrain. Whatever takes place in this
world every day that rolls over, including today, is God's eternal purpose being
unfolded. You can try, like most preachers,
to get God off the hook and not be responsible for the massacre
in Massachusetts, or the tornado that hit the Northeast, or this,
that, or the other. But I'm telling you, whoever's
in charge of that is God. God. Now, if you want to try
to get Him off the hook, you help yourself, but you ain't
talking about the God of the Bible. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.
Drop down you heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together.
I the Lord have created it. Woe unto him that strives with
his maker, let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of
the earth, that's a broken piece of pottery. Shall the clay say
to him that fashioned it, what make you or of your work he has
no hands? Do we have any right to stand
before God and question what he does? No indeed, we do not. We do not. Thus says the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel and His Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning
my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command you me.
I have made the earth and created man upon it. I even my hands
have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts above. All
their hosts have I commanded. I have raised him up. in righteousness, and I'll direct
all his days. He shall build my city, and he
shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, says the
Lord of hosts." That statement certainly having an application
to King Cyrus. Thus says the Lord, the labor
of Egypt, the merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabaeans,
men of stature, shall come over unto you. And they shall be yours,
they shall come after you in chains they shall come over,
and they shall fall down unto you, they shall make supplications
unto you, saying, Surely God is in you, and there is none
else. There is no God, that is, no God else. Verily, amen, you
are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them. They
shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. But
Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor
confounded, world without end. For thus says the Lord that created
the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it,
He has 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 to the seed of Jacob,
seek you me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image,
and pray Listen carefully, unto a God that cannot save. And in today's Christianity,
that's Jesus with a little J, who can't save you unless you
let him. And that's a lie. Their God can be that way, but
not this God. Not this one. He does as He pleases
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of men, and none
can stay His hand. I'm telling you, if God wishes
to save you, He'll save you. And it won't be because of something
you did to get His attention. His attention is always upon
His people. It ever has been, from one eternity
to the next. Praying to a God that can't save? There's all kinds of renditions
of how they word it, but it comes down to what I just told you.
We've got God in handcuffs. He can't do anything unless we
unlock Him. Oh, that is pathetic. That God
is not deserving of worship. But that ain't no God at all.
Tell you and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient
time? Who has told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me?" Listen
carefully. This is in verse 41. Last part.
There is no God else beside me. A just God. and a Savior. A just God and
a Savior. A God who can save and still
honor and magnify as justice. Now that's some God and that's
some salvation. And that's the only kind of salvation
there is. And here's that statement, there's
none beside me. Look unto me and be you saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Number six, I have sworn by myself
the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not
return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men
come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. There won't be any missing. That circle will not be broken,
I promise you that. You're one of God's elect. You'll
be with Christ. when this world is no more. In
the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall
glory. Now, if you want to hang on to
this passage, I'd like to turn a time or two, or if you are
particularly generous this morning, maybe three or four, but we'll
see how the time goes. Alright, here's the introduction. A just God and a Savior. That statement is found at the
conclusion of verse 21. A God that can remain righteous
and still save ungodly, undeserving, hell-deserving sinners. That's
whom God saves. This present religious world
says that God saves good people. The Bible says He saves bad people
because there ain't no good people. And the people who came to Him
professing their goodness went away empty-handed. The Pharisee
in the temple, the rich young ruler, countless others in our
Bibles. This statement of just God and
a Savior is the theme of the whole Bible. It can be found
in every book of Holy Scripture. Adam is cast out of the Garden
of Eden. There's the justice of God. But
he's not cast out without a promise from the woman seed. That's mercy. That, my friend, is indeed Mercy. A Savior. A Savior. The very first sinner, promise
of a Savior. The world is destroyed by a flood. The flood of divine justice. And
yet on the surface of that water is an ark. that declares the
mercy of God to save sinners. Eight people on board that ark. Thirdly, from Mount Sinai comes
the holy law of condemnation. My goodness, it was broken before
Moses could get to the bottom of the mountain with it. But there is, in that tabernacle
and in Solomon's temple at least, a place in those structures called
the mercy seat. And that's where God meets sinners,
the mercy seat. And Christ, let's see, Luke chapter
1 verse 72, I think it is, Christ is the mercy promised, and He
is mercy in person, And God has no mercy except in Christ. So
people who don't know Christ, who don't love Him, who don't
worship Him, cannot be saved by Him because His mercy, God's
mercy is in Christ. People talk about a bigger mercy
than what the Gospel contains, and there ain't no such thing.
No such thing. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
has a double message. God is just and He will punish
sin. And He did so in His blessed
Son, the Lord Jesus. But that cross also declares
God is love. In Christ, He pardons the guilty. How can he do this? How can God
be just and still justify the ungodly? Now that's the question
that our generation, generally speaking, is not interested in.
But if a person ever contemplates this and begins to try to understand
what this statement means, how can God be just and justify the
ungodly? This has been asked in many places
in our Bibles, not the least of which is the book of Job. So this is the question of all
questions that has occupied the thoughts of people in every generation.
So let's see if we can answer this question. Now here's one
of those. If you're still at Isaiah, you're not far away.
I'm just going the other side of Psalms toward Genesis. No, yes, toward Genesis to get
to the book of Job, which is right before the book of Psalms.
So that's where I'm going. I know it is of a truth, but
how should man be just with God? Job understood something about
this question of just God and the Savior. In verse 20 of this
same chapter, if I justify myself, if I say I am perfect, it shall
prove me perverse. If I entertain the notion that
if I'm good enough, God will save me, you don't understand
this statement. You don't understand it at all. This Bible declares in every
chapter of every book of Holy Scripture, salvation is of the
Lord. It's not for those that help
God to save themselves. God Himself must do the saving.
One more reference here in the book of Job. Chapter 25. You
should be real familiar with these. Chapter 25, verses 4 through
6. The amazing thing is that this
statement we're about to read in chapter 25, and there are
only six verses in the whole chapter of the 25th chapter of
Job, is this fellow named Bildad, and it's not Job who is speaking. Alright, verses 4, 5, and 6.
How can God be just and justify the ungodly? How then can man
be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? We're born sinners, you know.
How do we get rid of that sin? Behold, even to the moon, and
it shines not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is a worm
and the Son of Man, which is a worm." Most songbooks, that
hymn, Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed, a statement has been altered
in there where it says, For such a worm as I, and they change
it, some of them change it, For such a sinner as I. But it's
a milder kind of sinner. It's not a real hardcore sinner,
you understand. No, God saves real sinners. Christ died a real death. He
shed real blood. And I don't blame so much the
congregations of these churches, because that same philosophy
flooded this place long before any of us were born. A long time. And now it's taken such root.
That there's just, there's hardly any place that's actually telling
us who God is, who we are, who Christ is, and what salvation
is. It just is missing. It's been missing a long, long
time. Alright, one more scripture in
this part of the world, Psalm 85. This should not be anything new
to you. We have looked at Psalm 85 numerous
times, but it is still one of the most wonderful statements
in our Bibles to help us to understand how it is that God can remain
holy and have anything to do with us who don't have so much
as an nth degree of holiness. Psalm 85. Let me just use verses
10 and 11. Mercy and truth. Psalm 85, 10,
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Now, mercy and truth are attributes
of God. The statement suggests, or maybe
implies, that there's a conflict between mercy and truth. That they're at odds with one
another. so that everything that God does must honor every attribute
of his being. And since he's God, he can do
that. We may not fathom how he can,
but he does. And he calls himself, as we have
seen many times already, a just God and a Savior. Then the next
statement says, truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness
shall look down from heaven. There are two more of the attributes.
Now this apparent difficulty between one attribute of God
and another is only a supposition. It is not real. But it suggests
to us, if God were to save sinners on some other basis, other than
the basis that honors and glorifies not only His mercy, but His truth,
and not only His mercy and His truth, but truth
shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look
down from heaven. So these attributes are glorified
in the saving of sinners. Instead of sullying God's character,
it exalts it, especially into the eyes of those that are born
again, that are saved by this wonderful, wonderful salvation. Now give me one second here and
I'm going to trade pages. Going back to Isaiah 45. This time primarily verse 22. Look unto me, and be you saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. I remember the first time I preached
this text in this pulpit. One of the older men that had
been here a very long time and pretty well ran things, he had
been disappointed in me for some time and he made it known But
he went out that morning and he said, preacher, you finally
preached something I agree with. And I said, well, what's that?
He said, everybody's going to be saved. I said, you weren't
listening. I didn't say that. I don't believe
that. I can't say it. Well, that just
lit the fire a little bit hotter. But that's just how it is. You
can't back down from that. You can't just call God a lie
in order to make a fellow feel good about himself. You just
don't get it. Look unto me, and be saved, all
the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else."
Now our Savior has a people, every kindred, tribe, tongue,
and nation, and they will be saved. The gospel either goes
to them or they, by the grace of God, they cross paths with
the gospel. And with this age of the, you
can have your computers, but it's still nice to be able to
spread messages all over this world without having to go there
necessarily. Not that I'm against people going
there as missionaries, I certainly am not. Alright, here's my question
now in regard to this verse and to the statement that we are
pursuing. To whom are we to look for salvation? Who are we to look to for salvation? It says, look unto Me and be
saved. We are not to look to the law. Romans 10 verse 4 says that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. We
are not to look to our church or our particular brand of religion. These things without Christ are
worthless, and many are deceived by it. They think joining the
church and being baptized is being born again. I don't know
what Bible we get that of, but it ain't in this one. It's just
not there. Some people say we are to look
to our religious works. Matthew 7, 21 through 23 says
the exact opposite. These people came to Christ to
show Him. This is on Judgment Day as He
pictures it in Matthew chapter 7. And they're coming to present
what they've done for Him. We've preached in Your name.
We've cast out devils in Your name. We've done many wonderful
works in Your name. And our Lord says to us that
he will say in that day, depart from me you that work iniquity. I never knew you. People claim to know God, but
that doesn't mean God knows them. Maybe true of me, how about you? Not even to our faith. Are we
to give this honor? It is to God in Christ alone. Hebrews 12 says that Christ is
both the author or the beginner and the finisher of our faith.
Faith is a gift. It's not something that we bring
to a bargain with God. It is something that God gives
graciously in our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. Not only to whom are we to look,
but what is the result of looking to Christ? It is be you saved. This is how sinners are saved. Looking to Christ. You remember
when Moses' children of Israel were pretty steadily complaining
about how God was treating them in the wilderness, and so he
sent these serpents that bit quite a number of them, and Moses
and Aaron ran to the tabernacle door to pray to find out how
to stop this plague. And it was to make a snake, a
serpent, out of brass and put it on a pole and lift it up high
enough for people to be able to see. And if these people who
were bitten looked to that brass serpent on that pole, that's
what it means to look to Christ and be saved. And would you believe
some of them refused to look. But the ones who did were cured
of that snake bite. And that's a wonderful, wonderful
picture of Christ. This result of looking to Christ
is to be you saved. But preacher, your message and
your methods are outdated. What century is this? This is
2013, I know that much. I've not decided which century
it belongs to. Would some of you later inform
me about that? I'll just have to stay outdated.
I ain't a changing. God, for all I know, God is still
the same. A friend of mine told me the other
day about a lady that he knew outside of church.
I was talking to a pastor friend. Anyway, this couple comes to
a service at the church. Neither one possessed a Bible.
I mean, these are people on up in years, you know, like the
50s and 60s or whatever, but they weren't spring chickens.
Never had a Bible. This lady did not know that the
Bible was divided into the Old and New Testament. She thought
the whole Bible was just a book about Jesus. Now, praise the
Lord, that's the truth. She hit it on the head, but she
didn't understand it. She really thought there was
just one book in that Bible, and it started, you know, the
book of Jesus. And I thought, boy, I'd love
to get a few like that that's never even heard of religion. And they won't be so mixed up
and confused and prejudiced as people who are. So I'm anxious to hear how this
comes out. I'll let you know if I can remember. God is the same. Sin is the same. Man is the same. Death is the
same. Judgment is the same. Hell is the same terrible place
it's always been. It's not changed. Eternity cannot change. I know it's a long time, but
I know that in our finite minds we cannot comprehend what that
means. But it's a long, long, long time. Therefore, salvation is just
as necessary now as it was in the days of Isaiah, or the days
of Moses, or Abraham, or whomever, or for Adam and Eve. Luke chapter
19 and verse 10 says, The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, came
to seek and to save whom? Them that are lost. Lost. Acts 16.31, Paul to the Philippian
jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
I'd alter that just a tiny bit and say, if you can believe on
Christ, you're already saved. Last time I looked, you have
to have faith to believe and faith is the gift of God and
it's given in the new birth. Acts 4, verse 12, there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. Matthew 1.21, the angel to Joseph, you shall call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Alright, third point. What is
it to be saved? What does it mean to be saved? It means to be justified before
God in Christ. That Christ has set us free from
our sin death. God has perfectly accepted us
in his Son. 1 Corinthians 1.30, Christ of
God is made unto us. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Everything. Christ is all. He
is indeed everything. To be saved is to have a perfect
righteousness before God that He cannot find any fault in,
because it is the perfect righteousness of our Redeemer. 2 Corinthians
5.21, God has made Christ sin for us, Christ whom ye know sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now this is a little bit different
than just making a bargain with God. That's what people do that
think they're God. Thirdly, what is it to be saved?
It is to be made by God's grace in Christ, to be made a new creature,
a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Behold, old things are passed
away, and all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5.17. Now if you'll turn to the book
of Galatians, we'll leave Isaiah and probably not get back to
that part of the scriptures. Galatians chapter 4. Some people are very familiar
with the subject of adoption. Adoption. One lady told me when our youngest
daughter died in 1992, And she meant well, but she missed
it a mile. She was explaining to me why
she died of suicide. And I do not believe that taking
one's life shuts the door of heaven if it's already opened
in grace. I don't believe that for a second.
But this lady explained to me that she had different genes
from me and Betty, as if our genes were super genes and her
mother's genes were nothing. That betrays ignorance. But she
said God never intended for us to adopt children. Well, I wonder
if they had not had any of their own if that would have stood
right on. But I was flabbergasted. I just didn't know what to say.
I just could not imagine. Have you found Galatians 4? Here's
the fourth thing as to what it means to be saved. It means to
be a child or a son of God. son or daughter of God, if you
please. Let me begin at verse 4. It's easier to understand if
we come at it with this other information. Galatians 4, verse
4, But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
His Son, Made of a woman. Made under the law. Christ is the law giver, and
yet He must be the law keeper. He's made under the law. He honored
God's law from beginning to end. To redeem them, that were under
the law. Well, preacher, just tell me,
who is it that's under the law? Anybody that's not under Christ. I like that hymn, Free from the
Law, O Happy Condition, Jesus has bled, there is remission. And I quoted this to you earlier,
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. So, you know, do what you please
at home. There are some things I hope
you do, and there are some things I hope we do. But I mean, in
this place, we want to give no thought whatsoever that we're
preaching a gospel of legalism, because we are not. We certainly
are not. to redeem them that were under
the law, verse 5 of Galatians 4, that we might receive the
adoption of sons. There is adoption. I kind of
like that word myself, don't you? All of God's children are adopted. And because you are son, Now,
you've got to get that in your head. Now, because you're already
a son or a daughter of God, you may not know it, but you already
are. He knows it, but we don't. Because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, you are no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. An heir of God through Christ. So in closing, how can these
things be? Here's how they can be. For I
am God, and there is none else. There's just one God. Reveals
Himself in three persons. But just one God. Hallelujah. Therefore, I must
not try to justify myself before God, but it is Christ who is
our justifier. And I must not try to justify
myself before men. There is such a thing the scripture
calls casting your pearls before swine. The Lord Jesus put it
this way in Luke chapter 16 and verse 15. These are His words. You are they which justify yourself
before men, but God looks on the heart, and that which is
highly esteemed, valued among men, is an abomination in the
sight of God. What men think is so wonderful
in religion God doesn't hold that same view. Abomination. By the way, those
words are in Luke 16, 15 if I didn't tell you. And in 2 Corinthians
4 and verse 6, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
this is the light of the gospel in Christ. God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give
to us a knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6. A just God and a Savior. I am God and there is none else. There is no God beside me. Look and live. Our closing hymn is number 452.