All right, you may be seated. Go back to Isaiah 45 with me,
Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, read verse 22 with
me. Look unto me, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God, and there is none else. What a verse. I hope this is
the best news you've ever heard. We need saving, and we can't
save ourselves. from anything. We need saving
from sin. We need saving from the adversary. We need saving from ourselves.
We need saving from this world. We need saving from principalities
and powers and spiritual wickedness and high places, from all the
traps and the snares and the pits and all the temptations
that are all around us. We need saving. And we can't
save ourselves. And our God says, look, just
look to me and be saved. Just look. He delights to show
mercy. We need saving, and God delights
to do it. And He's the only one that can.
He says, look. Shall we close our Bibles and
go home? All around us. We need saving. We cannot save
ourselves in any way. We cannot keep ourselves from
falling. We are liable to fall at any
moment. We are never exempt from falling. We are never out of danger of
falling, no matter how old we get, no matter what. Because the day we die, we are
always in danger of falling. God says, look. Look underneath. The Almighty God, Creator of
the universe, who upholds all things by the Word of His power,
who controls everything. We read that He said, I control
all good and all evil. I'm the One. The One who manipulates,
regulates, and directs all things says, look to Me. Look unto Me. Now, the God I'm talking about,
is Jesus Christ. Because Christ said, No man knows
the Father, but the Son. Neither knoweth any man the Son,
but the Father, and he to whom the Father will reveal him. And
God says, You deal with the Son. This is my Son. You're Him. And
God was in Christ reconciling the world, the ends of the earth
unto Himself. God became a man. And he said,
the same God, right here, stood one day and said, come unto me. All we eat a bit later. Or have
you later? Is any man thirsty? He said,
come unto me. Let him drink. Look unto me.
That's who we're talking about. The Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto
me. Now, all through the Scriptures
from Genesis to Revelation, our Lord and our God proves Himself
to us. He proves that He is God from
the creation of the world, through the providence in all our lives,
and through the salvation of our souls and saving us from
every trouble and trial and temptation and sin that we get into. He
proves Himself to be God. And here in Isaiah, He says it
over and over and over and over and over again. I am God. There is none else. There's no
place else to turn. You need not look to anyone or
anything else. Look to me. There's nowhere else
to turn. I am God, the only Savior. Look to me and be safe. Look
to me. I am God. And what I hope we'll
do tonight is look. I hope every one of us will look
and see that He is God and He tells us to look and be safe. I want to be saved. They say,
aren't you saved, preacher? You're preaching to us and you
aren't saved. Well, I'm being saved. Paul said, we have been
delivered, we are being delivered, and we'll yet be delivered. Paul
said, I haven't arrived yet. It's not as though I've arrived.
But I press. And what do we do? Well, I think Paul wrote Hebrews. He said, Looking unto Jesus. Author and finisher of our faith.
Now, look down at verse 20. He says, Assemble yourselves
and come. And God's people do. He says, Draw near. Together. That's what sheep do. That's their nature. They love
to gather together. And that's what the shepherd
does. He's the one that gathers us. That's how we pray, didn't
we? We wouldn't come here if the Lord didn't bring us. We
just wouldn't do it. And God must overrule our flesh. He must overrule all of the circumstances
that would hinder us from coming here. And there are many. There
are too many to name. And we would not come if He didn't
bring us. And yet God's people want to
come. That's a sign that you are one of His sheep. You want
to come and sit and hear His Word and worship Him. You want
to gather together with the saints at the well or at the river.
That's what sheep want to do. That's how you know they're sheep. So He says, assemble yourself.
Don't forsake the assembly of yourself as a matter of some
end. I was writing, emailing a man,
and I was trying to tell him something for his own good. And
this is not the first time. This may happen many times. This
is a man who's just listening to sermon audio and not attending
the church anywhere, not hearing the gospel in person with God's
people. And I said, find a place somewhere
that someone's preaching the gospel where the sheep of God
are meeting. And go there. Do whatever you
have to do to go there as often as you can. You need it. But
he didn't like that. And that's not the first time
someone has said, well, I don't have to go to church. If you're
a sheep, you do. If you're a member of the body
of Christ, you can't be separated from it. I was trying to tell
him that for his own good. The Lord says, assemble yourself.
This is a good thing here. This is for our good. We do ourselves
a world of hurt, a world of hurt when we don't assemble ourselves.
like Thomas was not there. And he was full of doubt for
eight days while the disciples were full of joy and peace and
hope and confidence. He didn't believe at all. He was full of doubt. Assemble
yourself, he said. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. Escaped. That's what we are,
a bunch of escapees, prisoners. We're escaped prisoners. The
Lord has led captivity captive. He's delivered us prisoners of
war. He has. He came down here. We're captives of Satan and sin,
and He's delivered His people. He's delivered us from wrath,
the wrath to come. We've escaped. We've escaped
condemnation. No condemnation to them that
are in Jesus Christ. You that are escaped the wrath
of God. Everyone is not going to escape
the wrath of God. Some people are under the wrath
of God. Oh my, you that are escaped, get together and thank Him. Corruption. We've escaped the corruption
that's in the world through lust by precious promise. We've escaped this world, this present evil
world. That's why we come here, to escape.
Many people use many things to try to escape. This is our escape. Come ye that escaped of the nations.
They have no knowledge, he says, verse 20, they don't have any
knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and pray
unto a God that cannot save. How many people? Most people. And most of you. who were in
religion before the Lord called you. They pray unto a God that
cannot say, so tell them, verse 21. I believe this is the context. Tell ye, bring them near. Bring
them here. That's what they need. Bring
them near. We talk to people about the gospel. We witness to people one on one. How often has it ever done any
good? Has it ever done any good, you
talking to somebody one-on-one? The only good it can ever seem
to accomplish is that an interest will be sparked to bring them
to hear the gospel. Because God is pleased by the
foolishness of preaching. There's got to be some effort.
There's got to be a seeking. And that's what people do when
they come, for whatever reason. Anyway, he says, tell ye and
bring them near. Let them take counsel together.
and see who hath declared this from ancient time. That is, declared
everything, predestined all things. Who has predestined all things? Read on. He says, and who hath
told it from that time. We see when we look at God's
Word how God has said things and written things long before
they come to pass. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. Things that are not yet done,
saying my counsel shall stand. I have purposed it. I'll do it.
I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass. And we
marvel at that, don't we? That God's Word is true from
the beginning. And bring them to hear this.
Bring them. And verse 21, he says, There
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is no God else beside me.
Now, fools say there is no God. Most people in the world say
there is no God. They're just utter fools, and
there's no sense in arguing with fools. There really isn't. That's
casting pearls before swine. But religious fools are worse
fools who have a God that wants to save, doesn't want anyone to follow. He doesn't want anything bad.
I heard a message by you back in the 60's, just yesterday,
that he was saying this. These preachers say that God
wants everyone to be saved. Yeah, that's what they say. God
doesn't want anything bad to happen to anybody. That's what
they say. They say He's Almighty, don't they? That's what they
say. Then why doesn't He do what He wants to do? Because their
God can't. He's a God that cannot say. But
our God is God. Not just a figurehead. Not in
name only. He's God. There is none else. There is no God beside me. It says this over and over and
over, doesn't it? Look at verse 5. I am the Lord. There is none else. There is
no God beside me. The name God means absolute ruler
and controller and sovereign over everything and everyone. If there's anything or anyone
outside of God's control, he's not God. But if he is dependent
upon anyone, if he can't do anything, he's not God. But he goes on
and on and on to say this for our comfort, because he's telling
us to look to him. He's commanding us. He's not
inviting us. He's commanding. He said, do
this and be saved, because I am God. I do what I will. Look to me. He said, I'm God.
There is no God else. No need in looking beside me. He said, I girded you all those
years. I clothed you, though you didn't know me. But you're
going to know, and everyone's going to know, from the rising
of the sun from the west, there's none beside me. I'm the Lord.
There is none else. I form the light. Anyone has
any light? Has any understanding? And God, who made the light to
shine out of darkness, the sun to rule by day, the moon by night,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in Christ. And I create darkness. By withholding
the light, I make peace. He says, look unto me. I make
peace, and I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Oh, my. Verse 12. You see, we've
got to start with the Creator. You've got to start with the
Creator. And this is what man is trying
to disprove, isn't it? That it's impossible. The heavens
declare. is glory, clearly saying, I've
made the earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands have
stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded.
It's not just ignorance or whatever that people believe, evolution
or some kind of creationistic evolution. It's rebellion. It's unbelief. It's blatant unbelief. God says right there, I made
this earth with my hand. And he said, I made you. And
that's why he said, why would you strive with your maker? Why would a pot sherd strive
with the potter? How could you be so foolish?
And we were, but God. I have stretched out the heavens,
all their hoes. He's a God that hides Himself,
verse 15. Though things are clearly seen,
though people ought to see, yet He's blinded their minds. He's
set strong delusions. He's a God that hides Himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior. And they're all going to be ashamed
and confounded that make idols, buts. Israel shall be saved. He's elect. He's people. He's
chosen. They'll be saved with an everlasting salvation. Who's
Israel? A bunch of sinners. Sons of Jacob. But he calls them there Israel,
princes. Oh, my. And he said, I like this
verse, verse 19. He said, I've not spoken in secret.
Thank God he wrote a book. And this thing wasn't done in
a corner. God wrote the book, and great was the company that
published it. He said, I haven't spoken in secret in a dark place
of the earth. I said not under the seed of
Jacob. Seek ye me in vain. No, if you seek him, you'll find
him. Our brother read from Psalm 27
tonight. When thou seest, seek my faith.
I said, and not until then. That's what I said. I said, Seek
ye me in vain. And we found him, like Philip.
We found him. Later on, he was found of us
that sought him not. He sought us. That's the reason
we started seeking. He said, I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Oh, God's Word. God's Word is
right. Oh, my. The more I read what
men say today and listen to what they're saying today, it's all
wrong. Judgment is way backward. Isaiah
59. Way backward. The truth is falling
in the street and cannot enter. They don't want to hear it. Turn
away their ears from the truth. And I turn my ears from that. I stop my ears to what men are
saying. It angers me. And it's such foolishness.
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? But oh,
when I read God's Word, God says things that are right. And men
do things expressly opposite of what God says to do, and suffer
the exact consequences of what He says, yet they still don't
read and still don't see that what God says is right. That
there's a way that seems right unto man, and whatever it may
be is wrong. And the end is description. Fool! food, and such were some of us,
but God. But God. I declare things that
are right. So he says, assemble yourself.
The assembly of the saints. David said, O my, how amiable are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. That's where I want to be. That's
who I want to be with. That's where I need to be. Draw
near together with the saints. My feet will be among the assembly,
he said. That's where I need saving. And
there's no place else to turn. And he says here in verse 21,
I'm a just God. I have a Savior. A just God. Holy, righteous,
just. God, he said of Himself. And
this is the God we must know and believe. is revealed in Scripture. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. Now listen to him, because his
justice both strikes fear in us and gives us great hope and
peace. His justice will give us great
hope and peace, because if his justice has been satisfied then
he will not punish. You hear me? I'm a just God.
He said, I will by no means clear the guilty. God said every sin
shall receive a just recompense of a war. Every wrong will be
righted. Every sin will be paid for. And I'm glad for that. You know,
the thing that really disturbs us, one of the many things that
disturbs us in this day is that there doesn't seem to be any
justice. Anywhere. Anywhere. The guilty
go off scot-free. If they've got a slick enough
lawyer and enough money, they go off scot-free. While the innocents
are the victims. That's what it seems to be, doesn't
it? That's not the way it is. That
is not what's happening. God reigns and rules. He's the
judge of all the earth. Payday, someday. And that's a
good thing. That's a good thing. He's a just
judge. He's a judge of the universe.
And he doesn't judge by the sight of his eyes. He doesn't judge
like men. He judges with perfect understanding.
And what this ought to do, and it will do, if he makes us to
understand it. It will create fear. The fear
of the Lord, the holy and righteous and just Judge, the God in whose
hands our breath is, the God against whom we have sinned and
done all the evil in His sight, will create fear. And the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Able to make a man
wise unto salvation. And what does fear do? Realizing
you're guilty and God is holy, and by no means clear of the
guilty, you start He started calling for mercy to the judge. And he said, there's
no place else to turn. There is nowhere else to turn.
It's the highest court in the land. It is truly the supreme
court. I am God. I am the judge. And he says, look to me. And
then he said, well, how can God be just? He says here in verse
21, I am a just God, and a Savior. This is the question. It's asked
in the book of Job twice and in the book of Romans. You know
these verses. You know how few people know
these verses? You know how few people even care? You know how
few people know that God is holy and just and don't care that
He is? Ain't going to face that holy and just God? I preached a message one time
on the question nobody's asking. How can God be just and justify? It's the gospel question. How
can God be just who will by no means clear the guilty and be
a Savior? Do you know? You better know. You better know. I'll read it
for you, OK? In Romans 3, he says, Now the
righteousness of God You must have one. You must be
perfect. Without the law, without you
keeping the law, it is manifested, revealed, witnessed by the law
and by the prophets. The righteousness of God, which
is by faith of, not even faith in, but faith of Jesus Christ
unto all. And upon all that, what? Let me read that again. God's just, who by no means fear
the guilty, and all have sinned and come short, and we're all
guilty. What the law says, it says to them under the law, that
every mouth must be stopped and all the world become guilty.
But now, the Scripture says, God says, that the righteousness
of God by the faith of Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all
them that believe. It's no different. It's huge
in doubt, isn't it? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, but being justified freely. You don't pay
for it. You don't work for it. You just
ask for it. Freely by His grace. and the gifts of God are without
repentance. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, a sacrifice, a bloody lamb on
a cross, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness,
Christ's righteousness, for the remission of sins that are past
and present, through the forbearance of God, putting up with us to
declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness, Christ's righteousness, that He might be just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Believe. Just believe. Look under that. I'm a just God
and a Savior. There's nowhere else to turn.
Just look. That's what he said in verse
22. Look unto me and be saved. Just look. What is it to look?
What is it to look to the Lord? Well, first of all, it's to see
Him as God. He's been telling us, I am God. There is none else. Just, holy. You won't look to Him. If you
don't see Him as holy and just, will you? You won't care. If
men say God loves everybody, then what have you got to worry
about? That's what most people think.
But if you see Him as holy and just, you're going to look to
Him. You're going to behold Him. And the only place to behold
Him is right here in His Word. To look to Him. It's to worship
Him like that woman who was called the dog, she came and worshipped
Him. Before she got anything from Him, she worshipped Him.
The leper, before he was healed, came down and worshipped Him
before he received anything. Right? It's to worship Him, see
Him as God and reverence Him. Not out of curiosity, but out
of fear and reverence. Isaiah 40 says, Behold your God. All flesh is grass. That's what
it means to look to Him. Behold your God. Fear Him. To look to Him means
to turn. Turn and look to Him. Not run from Him. Everybody's
running from God. They don't know it, but they
are. Some know it. But they're running
from God. And it's to turn to Him. not
run from Him. And the only way we will turn
is if we turn from someone to turn to Him and look to Him. I'm looking over here. I've got
my eyes set on Lauren there, and I'm thinking about her. To
turn and look to Bonnie is to turn from her and look to Bonnie. To look to God, to look to Christ,
is to turn your eyes away from anything and everyone else and
turn to Him. Look to Him. Don't look to the
right hand or the left. Look straight on. Look under
me. Look at me. Look at me. Turn to me. Turn from the world. Turn from sin. Turn from self. Turn from family. Look. Look. Come under me. Come under
me. To look to Him is to believe
Him. To look to. To look to. When you look to our Lord, you
look to God, it means you're looking to Him for whatever you
need. You believe Him. You believe
He's the only one that can give you what you need. You look to
Him. Like sailors on a ship. They
look to their captain. for wisdom, for all things. We look to Him. We look to Him
for wisdom. I don't have any. After all these
years, you'd think I'd have some wisdom. I often act like a fool,
like a child again, like a disciple. He said, look to me. I'm your
wisdom. Look to me. Righteousness. We
need righteousness. He said, look to me. Look to
me. Sanctification. To set us apart. To separate
us. Oh, my. He says, look to me.
Redemption. We don't have any redeeming quality.
He says, look to me. I buy worthless sinners. Look to me. For provisions. We
need everything. We can't provide anything. Our
world is so frail, isn't it? Our jobs, our homes, our health. Everything is so frail. Life
is just a vapor. Just a vapor. Just a breath away. We worry. We fear. We need provisions. The least little thing could
go wrong. Look to me. Look to me. For safety. For salvation. Look to me. The look to the Lord
is to call upon Him. Hershey, I love your husband. Every time Brother Stan prays,
have you ever noticed, I know you men have, that he says, let's
look to the Lord. Let's look to the Lord. To look to the Lord is to call
on Him. To call on Him, like a child. He called it on his
parent. Help me. I need help. Like a
dog. It's master. Like a sheep. It's
shepherd. He says, look unto me and be
ye saved. Saved from the law. You know why I read part of chapter
44, don't you? If anything, it's for verse 22.
I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgression. as a
cloud by sins. The previous 40-some chapters
he was rebuking and correcting and telling Israel how guilty
they are. But he said, but I am your God. I chose you and I will not give
thee up. Would you read that with me?
He said, I will not forget thee. I will not. And I have blotted
out. Who has? The Lord has. He blotted out. The handwriting
of ordinances, they were against us. The law is a curse. The law
is against us. What a fool he or she is that
tries to keep the law for a righteousness. God says, look to me and be saved. Saved from the law. If you don't
want to approach me through the law, look to me. Look to me. Be saved from that. You don't
have to keep it locked. And I don't care what anybody
thinks about that, because that's what Scripture said. Look to
me, he says, and be you saved from sin. It ravages the power
of it. And boy, many of us were under
the absolute power of it, literally in the gutter. Our Lord said, sin will not have
dominion over you. Why? Look to me. And Satan, the God of this world,
hath desired his people, all of God's people, desires them,
but like Job, God put a hedge around them. His hedge know about
it. What are you going to be saying?
Look to me. If you say from yourself, that's
the worst enemy of all of ourselves. If that old man could ruin us,
he will. But Christ says, look to Me.
Look to Me. And temptations, temptations,
we can't resist one temptation. Someone said, when we wake up
in the morning, we ought to be filled with fear. that this could be the day that
I fall into the worst temptation and the worst sin of my life.
It's possible. It happened to David one day,
and it never got over. We ought to start calling the
minute we wake up. Lord, He says, look to me. You'll
be safe if you don't look to me. You might fall in a ditch. Look to me and be safe. I don't want to fall in a ditch.
Wake up. Lord, don't let me fall. We'll be saved. Troubles of our
own making. There are many, aren't there?
Look to me. I'll get you out of them. I hope this is the best
news you've ever heard. Like old Jacob, we're getting
ready to study the life of Jacob. Oh, happy is he that the God
of Jacob for his help. We're going to see how Jacob
gets himself in one mess after another. Look to me. God got him out of all of them.
All of them. Be saved. Saved from whatever. So many things. Luke can be saved.
He doesn't say, work. He says, look. He doesn't say,
do. He says, look. You know, I've got to use that
illustration. Searching on the pole. How could
you quote this or deal with this without using that? All the people
were bitten by the serpent. They were all dying. Some of
them did die. And the Lord told Moses to make
a serpent like the one that bit them out of brass in the likeness
of the serpent, but without the poison. That serpent represents
Christ and Him crucified. It was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh, but without sin. And God said, put that serpent
of brass on a pole and lift it high as you can lift it. And whoever is bitten and dying,
that was everybody. What for? Why did God send serpents? Murmuring and complaining. So Moses held up that pole. And our Lord said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever..." What? Believe it. Looks. Just looks. "...shall be saved,
shall not perish, shall not die, but live forever." Don't look to Moses. Look to
Christ. Don't look at the pole. That's
me. Look to Christ. Look unto me. And be ye saved. God cannot lie. He will not lie. Men do. They
promise things that they never intended to fulfill. Right? God never. Whatever He says. And by the
way, He's commanding us. He's not inviting us. He says,
look. And what? Be ye Save. You need saving? I need
saving. Well, let's look. We say, God's promised. Be ye
saved. All the ends of the earth. All
the ends of the earth. I'm God. There's no end. All
the ends of the earth. From Africa to Appalachia. From
Connecticut to Corn Valley. Henry of Swords from Corn Valley.
From France to Franklin County. From Greece to Grundy. Yeah, all the ends of the earth. It makes no difference who they
are, whoever it is. Look. Look. For Christ is God and you have
His Word on it. And oh my, he said, I've sworn.
The Word has gone out of my mouth in Rochester. His oath, His covenant,
His blood. I've sworn. Christ died. And if you look and you believe
and trust Christ who died for your sin, God's justice will
not, can not punish you. That's why I said His justice
both strikes fear in us and gives us great peace. And surely, surely
after hearing all that, shall one say, Anybody here? Is there one in here? Shall one
say, in the Lord Jesus Christ, I have righteousness? And you
have God's Word on it, you shall be saved. Alright, stand with
me. Our God and our Father, in the
name of Christ, we thank You for the blessed promises that
are sure, yea and amen, in Christ Jesus. It's sure to all the elect,
to all the seed, in Christ. All that look. All that believe.
Not work, but believe. O Lord, thank You. These are
the sure mercies of David. The everlasting covenant You've
made with Christ concerning all those You gave to Christ and
come to Christ. You'll never cast them out by
no means. By no means. Forsake them or
cast them out. I will thank You. Lord, cause
us to look now, tonight, in the morning, wake us in the morning,
and cause us to look to You for our salvation daily, hourly. It's in Christ's name we ask
these things. We're met together tonight. Amen.