to be here today. Open your Bibles
if you would to Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah chapter 45. The book of Isaiah is often being
referred to as the gospel in the Old Testament. We know though
that the gospel is proclaimed, the types and shadows all point
to Christ, but the book of Isaiah has some very clear pictures. Today in Sunday School we looked
at what is your hope? What is your hope? And for the
believer, our hope is Christ, and Christ alone. And today we'll
look at a verse where it says, look and live. Look and live. And it's a command from He who
is our hope for us to look and live. Isaiah chapter 45. Let's start in verse 1. We'll read a considerable portion
here, but let's start in verse 1. Thus saith the Lord to his
anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue
nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open
before him the two levied gates, and the gates shall not be shut.
Now notice the sovereignty of God declared here, whose right
hand I have holden to subdue nations before him. I will go
before thee and make the crooked places straight. Well, that's
a direct reference to our Savior who has made the crooked places
straight for his people. We were dead in trespasses and
sins and now we're made alive in Christ. I will break in pieces
the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And
all the bars of iron, the bars of our sin that had us trapped
and bound up have been cut asunder, beloved. They're gone, we're
free in Christ. And I will give thee the treasure
of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest
know that I, the Lord, which called thee by thy name, am the
God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake,
and Israel, mine elect, I have called thee by thy name. I have
surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. And beloved, we
were his people far before we knew him. far before we knew
him. We were his people. We were his
elect, his chosen. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. Now there's a declaration right
there. There's no other God. He's the one true God. Beside,
there's no other God beside me. I girded thee without us not
knowing me. He watched over us and cared
for us before we even knew him, beloved. They may know from the
rising of the sun, from the West, that there is none beside me.
I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down, ye 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. Who is our righteousness? The
Lord. The Lord is our righteousness.
And it's dropped down. It's dropped down from heaven,
hasn't it? He came down from heaven. He came down from heaven,
beloved. And righteousness sprung up together
in him. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the pot change. strive with
the parts of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioneth, what makest thou, or thy work, he hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith unto
his father, what begettest thou? Or to the woman, what hast thou
brought forth? Thus saith 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 ye me. I have made the earth and created
man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. Only
God has created all that we see, beloved. Only him. This is all
his creative work. I have raised him up in righteousness,
and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city. He shall
let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of
hosts. And the next portion here deals with the Lord, our only
Savior, the only Savior. Thus saith the Lord, the labor
of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Serbians,
men of stature shall come over unto thee. And they shall be
thine. They shall come after thee in chains. They shall come
over, and they shall fall down unto thee. They shall make supplication
unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee, and there is none
else. There is no God. Verily thou art a God that hidest
thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. So God is our Savior. The God of Israel is our Savior. Who's the Savior of spiritual
Israel? Remember, Israel's a picture
of the church. Who's the Savior? Who's the Savior of spiritual
Israel? Christ. Who's God incarnated in the flesh?
They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all them. They shall
go to confusion together that are makers of idols. But Israel
shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Now
there's a wonderful little portion right there, beloved. Our salvation
is an everlasting salvation. It'll never fade. It'll never
be taken away. We can't lose it because it's
in Christ who is our everlasting salvation. It's in Him. He's obtained eternal salvation
for us, eternal life for us. Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded,
world without end. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens. Again, he tells us he's the creator. 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. So those who pray to idols,
they're praying to the works of their own hands. They're praying
to a little g, a God that cannot save. But beloved, we who are
his blood-bought people, we pray to he who can save. He was the
Savior of Israel. Tell ye and bring them near,
yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
times? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me, a just
God and the Savior? There is none beside me. And here's our text. Look unto
me and be ye saved. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. 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 one
shall say in the Lord, have I righteousness and strength. And we do, don't
we? In Christ, who is our hope. He's our only hope. He's our
righteousness. 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 and shall glory. And beloved, we are justified. We who are his blood-bought,
born-again people are justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we give him all the glory,
don't we? We give him all the glory. So our text will be found
in verse 22 here. It says, look unto me and be
ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is none else. Now during our day, we look at
all different things, don't we? We look at all different things.
You ever think of that? How many things you look at during
the day? We look at all different things. When we're driving, we
look ahead. Well, hopefully we do, right?
We look ahead. See what's coming our way. To
be aware of the situation that's around us. When we talk to one
another, we look at one another. We talk to one another. We be
attentive to what people are saying. When we go to a restaurant,
we sit down, we look at a menu, don't we? We look at a menu,
see what we want to eat from that place. So our text here
brings forth an action that every one of us is familiar with. There's
not one person in this room who's not familiar with looking. There's
not one person on this earth who's not familiar with looking. And this action spoken of in
the scripture is for us to look to God for salvation, to look
unto Christ alone for salvation. It's only by Him that a sinner
can be saved. And again, this text brings forth
an action that saved and unsaved are familiar with. Look. Look. And note, there's no works involved.
You ever notice that? There's no work in looking, is
there? You just look. There's no work in that. No works,
it's merely look into him in our verse here. Look into him
because salvation's of the Lord, not of works. Look unto me. And what's the
result of looking to Christ? And be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. For
I am God and there is none else. And there's no works involved.
Again, this is because salvation's of the Lord. It's not of works,
lest any man should boast. Because if it was of works, we'd
boast. And we all know that, especially
we who are His redeemed people, we know that. We are not in the
boast in ourselves, we boast in our Savior. We boast in the
one who's our hope. We're always ready to give an
answer for the hope that lies within us. We're always ready
to proclaim Christ in Him alone. And the word here in the Hebrew
is a verb which means to turn. The word look here is a verb
which means to turn, to turn in a direction, to turn away.
And we turn away from our sins, don't we? We who are as born-again,
blood-washed people, we turn away from our sins and we look
to Christ. We look to Him alone. We turn from our sins and we
turn from our self-righteousness and we turn to the only one who
can save us, the Lord Jesus Christ. We look to Him. We've been taught
that there's salvation in no other. Turn, if you would, to Numbers,
chapter 21. Now, looking to Christ for salvation is spoken of both
in the Old Testament and in the New. Numbers 21, and then put
your finger in John, chapter 3. Numbers 21 in John, chapter
3. Numbers 21, verses 4 to 9. And then we're turned to John
chapter 3, and we see that the look into Christ for salvation
is spoken of both in the Old Testament and in the New. Numbers
21, verses 4 to 9. And they journeyed from Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to encompass the land of Edom.
And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the
way. And the people spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore
have ye bought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For
there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul
loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of
Israel died. Now therefore the people came
to Moses, who is the one mediator between the God and them, And
said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord
and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses,
make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole. And it shall
come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon
it, shall what? Shall live. shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass
and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent
had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."
Now turn, if you would, to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Now people love to pull John
3.16 out of context and say, well, look, God died for everyone.
Well, even in that picture in Numbers, there were some who
perished, some who didn't look to that serpent, wasn't there?
But all who looked to that serpent on the pole lived, didn't they?
Well, you always have to read the context, the verses. You
always have to. Look at John chapter 3, starting
in verse 10 and going to verse 21. And here we see in the New
Testament, reference made to what we just read in Numbers.
Jesus answered and said unto him, and remember, he's talking
to Nicodemus still. All through this section here,
he's talking to Nicodemus. And he says unto him, art thou
a master of Israel? And knowest not these things?
And the Lord had just talked to him about being born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And he says to Nicodemus, you're
a master of Israel. You study the scriptures. He's
blind. He's blind. Jesus answered and
said unto him, art thou a master of Israel? And knowest not these
things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak what we know,
what we do know. Gospel preachers, beloved, get
up and we speak what we know. And I know Christ to be my Savior. I can't proclaim Christ as Savior
to you unless I've experienced that. And why do some churches
not preach Christ? Because the preacher don't know
who Christ is. That's what the scripture's basically
saying, isn't it? We speak that we do know. And testify that we have seen,
and ye receive not our witness. People don't want to hear that.
They want to hear, oh, tell me what I've got to do. I'll just
tell you about Christ. I have one message, and that's
Christ crucified. That's the message I have. We'll
look at that from different portions of scripture. But really, the
preacher has one message. Christ. Christ. Christ crucified. If I have told you earthly things,
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that come down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven. He's speaking of himself coming
down from glory. Now here's the reference. And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now we
know the world, not everyone's saved. But all of God's elect
are saved and they're scattered all through the world. And remember,
the Jews thought anyone outside of Israel was the world. That's
what they considered. Gentile dogs we were considered
as. Strangers to the commonwealth
of Israel. But God sent his son into the
world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. So even as those who were bit
by the serpent, and they looked to Christ, they were saved, weren't
they? They looked to that serpent on the pole, they were bit by
those snakes, and then they looked to the serpent on the pole, and
they were saved. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might
be saved. We were already under condemnation. We're dead in trespasses
and sins when we come into this world. And this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world and Christ is the light
of the world. And what does men prefer? And men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. You get it wrong on the fall,
you get it wrong on it all. We fell in Adam, beloved, and
we are dead in trespasses and sins with no hope, with no hope
outside of Christ. And we love evil. We love darkness. What happens when you turn the
red light on and you know the room's full of cockroaches? What
happens when you flip that light on? Man, they scatter, don't
they? What happens when the light of
the gospel gets flipped on? Oh, men hate Christ. They despise
Him. But if the Holy Spirit's working
upon a man or a woman and drawing them to Christ, oh, we see ourselves. We loathe our sin, don't we? And we look to He who is the
only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on him, look
at verse 18, is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. And every one of us who are his
blood-bought people remember a time in our life when we hated
the light. But God made us to differ, didn't
he? God made us to differ. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. God wrought salvation in us,
didn't he? We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We look
to Christ because of the work that he's done within us. It's
wonderful. Salvations of the Lord. Now let's
think on this command. Let's go back to our text. This
command is given to a people who are incapable of looking
on their own, right? They're incapable of looking
on their own, but this command is given. Look unto me, and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is none else. This command goes out. It's a
general call. Out it goes. We proclaim the
gospel to all. Look unto Christ. Look unto him
and be ye saved. So this command is given to a
people who are incapable of looking on their own. Look unto me and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God and there
is none else. This command is given to those
who are spiritually blind and cannot see him. And those who
are spiritually deaf and cannot hear him. and those who have
no ability to save themselves. Nevertheless, the text tells
us to look. Look. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. One who is deaf can still listen, and one who cannot feel can still
touch, And one who cannot smell can still sniff. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
None else. So those who are incapable of
seeing, look. And think upon this. No one first
saw until he looked. Look unto me. and be saved. So those before us in our text
are commanded to look. And they are promised that when
they look, they'll see and they'll live. Who is the object we are to look
to? Well, we know that Jehovah is speaking here and we know
that the Son of God, the Word of God became flesh. Emmanuel,
God with us. So the object of who we are to
look to is the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. The Lord Jesus
Christ was God manifest in the flesh. Fully God, and yet fully
man. And it is He who is the Savior
of His people. It is He who is the Savior of
God's elect. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save His
people from their sins. So we must look to Christ alone.
Turn, if you would, to Psalm 115. Psalm 115. Were it not to
look to idols, because they're workless. They're worthless. Look at Psalm 115. And unless we think, oh, surely
there's not people who look to idols nowadays. There's a multitude
of people who look to Mary. There's a multitude of people
who look to Buddha. People still worship idols even
today. People in Eastern religions bow down to pictures of hundreds
of different gods that they have. People still worship idols. Nothing
new under the sun, Solomon said. Nothing new under the sun. Look
at Psalm 115. We're not to look to idols because
they're worthless. Look at verses 4 to 8. Their idols are silver
and gold, the work of man's hands. So they take silver or gold or
wood even, we know that, and they manufacture. an idol, a
god of their imagination. And we know from scripture in
other parts of Isaiah that even with the wood that they have
left over, if they made it from wood, they burn the wood, and
they cook with the wood, and they use it around their home,
but they have this one piece of wood. Same wood, though. Same
wood as they're burning, same wood as they're cooking with,
but they're blind, and they bow down to this work of man's hands. And there's folks that pay people
to make these things, isn't there? It's so sad. It's so sad. So sad. They have mouths, but
they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not. Neither speak they, through their
throat. So even when someone puts an
idol, say, over here, that idol can't move. They have to take
it. And if they want to move it,
then they've got to put it over here. It's a worthless idol. It's a piece of stone, or it's
a piece of wood. It's worthless. It's worthless. And look at this, they that make
them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them.
Now, to my shame, I was locked into Catholicism before the Lord
saved me, so I know what this is about. And I was thinking
about that, putting the message together and thinking about how
millions of people bow before Mary, statues of Mary, worthless,
and they pray to them. And they even cry out in their
death to that idol. Now Mary, Mary was blessed above
all women, wasn't she? She was. But Mary trusted Christ
just like you and I who trust Christ. She did. And she would not want to be
worshipped. Not at all. None of us want to be worshipped.
We worship the one who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All
these idols are just worthless. And we're not to look to religious
leaders, because many of them are the blind leading the blind,
leading their followers into the ditch of eternal damnation.
Scripture says this, let them alone, they be blind leaders
of the blind. And if the dead lead the blind,
both shall fall into the ditch. Now, there's even a danger within
Sovereign Grace Movement to vault up certain preachers. We ought
not to fall. I'll tell you what, every grace
preacher will tell you, don't vault me up. And don't pit me
against another preacher. We don't want that. We are all
in the furtherance of the gospel. That's our goal, is to preach
Christ and Him crucified. But unfortunately, sometimes
folks gather around certain preachers and vault that preacher so high
up that they can't seem to do no wrong. And what they say is
golden. Well, that ought not to be so.
What sayeth the scriptures? What sayeth the scriptures? If
you look to me, I'm going to let you down. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Look to the one
who I preach and proclaim. Look to the one who's my hope.
It's only Christ. Don't look to the man. It's not
the man. One grace preacher told me a
long time ago, it's not the man. It's the message. That's what's
key. That's what we're here for, to
preach and proclaim Christ and to send out the gospel. And it's
wonderful, it's wonderful, it's absolutely wonderful. And we're
not to look to the law of Moses. There's whole groups of people
out there who look to the law of Moses and think, well, I'm
following the law. But we know that no one's justified
by the law, not one person. No, but that no man shall be
justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident,
for the just shall live by faith. And who's our faith in? Who's
the object of our hope? Who is our hope? Christ, and
Christ alone. We look to him. We look to him. We're not to look to our supposed
even Sabbath-keeping. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. We're not to look to our Sabbath-keeping,
because the keeping of the Sabbath was but a shadow, not the substance
of things to come. The Sabbath pointed to Christ,
who is our rest. Right? But there's whole people
out there that make one day the most important day. Now, granted,
we gather together, right? And we worship Christ on Sunday.
We do. But if we were in a land where
we couldn't meet on Sundays and we had to meet on Tuesday, we'd
still be meeting in the name of the Lord, wouldn't we? Because
Christ is our Sabbath. He's our Sabbath, beloved. And people make idols out of
everything. They do, it's natural for us.
People, days, the law, why? Christ is the one we look to. Look at Colossians chapter 2.
I love this portion. I love that study we did when
we went through Colossians. It was just magnificent, because
it just showed us the preeminence of Christ and Him alone. Colossians
chapter 2, verses 16 to 23. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat or in drink, or in respect of the holy day, or of the moon,
or of the Sabbath days. So don't let people yoke you
about certain days. which are a shadow of things
to come. All those types and shadows, those days and things
pointed to Christ, right? Who's our Sabbath again? Christ.
Christ is our, the Sabbath was a time of rest. Who's our rest,
beloved? Christ. Christ is our rest. And he's not just our rest on
Sundays, is he? He's our rest on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday too. He's always our rest, beloved. He's our only hope. which are
a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no
man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping
of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen,
vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind, and not holding the head
from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment,
ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of
God. Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject
to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle
not. So they tell you, don't do this, don't do that, don't
do that. You can't be a Christian if you do all them things. Well,
God's Spirit teaches us what we can and can't do, don't they?
Yes. That's what Paul's saying, that
these folks get so tied up in doing things. touch not, taste
not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using." Oh
my. And remember, this is authored
by the Holy Spirit of God. After the commandments and doctrines
of men, that's what they are. That's what those things are.
Which things indeed have a show of wisdom in world worship. Oh,
they look good. We looked at Sunday school. Surely
if that man's, that man must, if anyone saved it must be that
man there. But we looked at how the Pharisee's
self-righteousness is like a spider web. And what happens to a spider
web? You get a broom and you just
brush it right aside, don't you? It's gone. It's gone. Which things
indeed have a show of wisdom and will worship and humility
and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. Oh Lord, we look to Christ. We
look to Christ who is our Sabbath beloved. We look to him. We're
not to look to our baptism because think of this, it was insufficient
to save Judas Iscariot. He was baptized. Didn't save
him, baptism doesn't save you. But there's whole movements out
there that believe baptism saves you. That's a lie from the pit
of hell. We're not to look even to church
membership, are we? Because there's some scattered
amongst the church who are lost. We're not to look to our own
remorse for our sins which we've committed because of the soil
of the world that produces death. For godly soil worketh repentance
to salvation, not to be repented of, but the soil of the world
worketh death. We're not to look to our own
self-righteousness because we know that God condemns it. And
that our self-righteousness is like filthy rags in His eyes.
Turn, if you would, to Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64. And then, I'm
going to read you a portion in Matthew before we read that.
It says this, by our Master. For I say unto you, that except
your righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye can in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
So these men were supposedly the best of the best. And the
Lord says to them, except your righteousness is to exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Look at Isaiah 64.6.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness,
that's self-righteousness, are as filthy rags. And we all do
faith as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
That's our state, beloved, before the Lord saves us. And we're not to look to the
mighty deeds which we have supposedly done in Jesus' name, right? Cuz
there's many who don't do so and they hear these words. Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. Have we not prophesied
in thy name? Have we not done all these wonderful
works for you? Do you notice, turn there if
you would, Matthew chapter seven, turn there. Let's look there
quick. Matthew seven, verses 21 and 23. 21 to 23, look at
this. A lot of people look at what
they supposedly do for Jesus. I heard many through the years
tell me, oh, I've done this for the Lord. Do you know that God's
people, we don't brag about what we do. We just serve the Lord.
That's something that I've definitely noticed a difference in grace
and with grace people. We don't brag on what we do.
We just serve the Lord. We love Him. And we do what we
do because we love Him, because He's redeemed us with His blood. We don't do things to get a pat
on the back or for somebody to notice us, because if we do,
then we're in trouble. We serve the Lord in everything
we do, whether it be at home, whether it be at work, whether
it be at church. We serve the Lord. We do what
we do unto Him for His glory, for His glory. Look at this in
Matthew 7, verse 21 to 23. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many shall
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works. What
are they doing? They're telling the Lord of glory,
we've done all these wonderful things. And we did those for
you, Lord. Do you see the opposite? God's
people, we do what we do for the glory of God. We don't seek
to be, again, patted on the back. Not at all. We do what we do
for the glory of God. But these folks, they're telling
the Lord, we did all these things. Oh Lord, we prophesied in thy
name. We cast out devils in thy name.
Sounds like the charismatic movement, doesn't it? We've done all these wonderful
works. People have been healed and all this stuff happened.
Really? And then will I profess unto
them? And look, it says many too. I never knew you. I never knew you. Those are chilling words. Depart
from me ye that work iniquity. They didn't do it for the Lord.
They did it for themselves. They did it for themselves. So
we're never to look at what we do for the Lord to give us salvation or any merit
before God. No, we look away from all these
things. And when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. We look to him. We look
to Christ and Christ alone. Let's go back to our text again. It says, look unto me. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. We look to Christ completely,
beloved. We look to Christ completely.
We're not to look at him just as an example. We're not to look
at him as merely a man. We're not to look at him as merely
a teacher. No, we look to him as the God. Our Savior, our Redeemer,
our Lord. He is God incarnate in the flesh. The scriptures plainly declare,
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. All things were made by him.
And without him was not anything made that was made. Before that
it says the same was in the beginning with God. In him was life, and
life was the light of man. Now remember, remember men hate
the light, don't they? They hate the light. And then
in verse 14 of John 1, it says this, and the word was made flesh,
God himself. Wonder of wonders. God himself
was made flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory. Those who
are writing, John who's writing, he saw the Lord. He laid his
head on the breast of Christ. As the glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh, we must look to
Christ completely, beloved, completely. We look to Him as the Lamb of
God. Turn, if you would, to John 1. John 1, verse 29. We look to Him as the Lamb of
God. He's the only Lamb that God will accept. All those Old
Testament sacrifices were pointing right to Christ as the only Lamb
that God will accept. The only Lamb without spot and
blemish. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God. John 1.29, the next day, John
see it, Jesus come unto him and say, behold the Lamb of God.
Remember in Isaiah, look unto me, behold the Lamb of God. There's
only salvation in one person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's salvation in no other, no other. And that person is
God incarnate in the flesh. The next day, John see it, Jesus
come unto him and say, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. Praise God, the Lamb of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ has taken my sin away. He's my trust, He's
my hope, He's my life. Have you looked to Him? If you don't look to Him, you're
perishing your sins. Oh, He's the only one. And He
came to save His people from their sins. And we must look
to Him, and Him alone is Lord and Savior. Turn, if you would,
to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43, 11. We look to Him
completely. Why? Because there's no other
Savior. There's no other Savior but Christ. And He's the one mediator between
God and man. And we look to Him in all His
offices, don't we? We look to Him as our prophet.
We look to Him as our priest. We look to Him as our king. Look at Isaiah 43, 11, I, even
I am the Lord. And beside me, there is no savior. So what does that tell us right
there? That tells us that there's no salvation in ourselves. There's
no salvation in any other religion. There's only salvation in Christ.
And folks say, well, that's so narrow. Well, God himself said
that. We're just proclaiming what God
said. And we who are His blood-bought people believe what He says,
because He made us willing in the day of His power. He gave
us a new heart. We're born again. There was a
time when we didn't believe that. Now we completely believe Him,
don't we? We trust in Him and Him alone. What a Savior. What
a Redeemer. He's given us eyes to look to
Him. To look to Him. Oh, for I am God and there is
none else. Let's go back to our text in Isaiah 45, verse 22. Look unto me and be ye saved.
The promise to those who obey the action here required. Look
unto me and be ye saved. What a promise. Look to Christ
and be saved. We read in the book of Acts,
it says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. And these two texts are not contradictory,
rather they teach us that the saving look is one joined with
faith. One joined with faith. The Lord
Jesus Christ declares this, and this is the will of him that
sent me that everyone would seeth the sun and believeth on him.
Do you believe? Do you believe? And this is the
will of him that sent me that everyone would seeth the sun,
remember, look unto me. and believeth, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. No one who looks to Christ in
wholehearted faith will be damned. Remember what we looked at in
John 3, verses 14 and 15, and as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Look and live. Look and live. Now we know it's God who gives
us the grace to look, don't we? We who believe, we know that.
And our prayer is that if you would not look to Christ, that
God would make you well. Oh, that he grant you faith and
repentance, that you'd be born again in the Holy Spirit of God.
Because if you're born again, you look. You look. That's the only way we can look.
Can't do it naturally, can we? And the Lord Jesus Christ will
not lose one of his sheep for whom he died for. He will not
lose one. Not one. There will not be one missing
out of the flock of God when it's all finished. Not one. Every
single one of his sheep whom he died for, every single one
of his sheep whom he shed his blood for, will be saved. Every one. Now let's go back to our text
and we'll look at the persons of whom this action is required.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For
I am God, and there is none else." Here's good news for those who
are furthest from God geographically. And in order that this good news
of salvation, by looking to Christ, may be heard everywhere, Christ
sends his ministers into all the world, into every creature.
And think of this. The gospel leaves this place
every week. Every message that's proclaimed
goes out onto the internet. In countries from all over the
world, people are downloading the messages. And it's not just
this work. Think of that. It's all the grace
works. And where God's gospel is being preached and proclaimed.
Out it goes, beloved. It's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. And the good news of salvation
by looking through Christ is proclaimed. And he said unto
them, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Now God's preachers don't know who the elect are, therefore
we preach to all. God does the same. God does the
same. Salvation's of the Lord. And
the Lord Jesus Christ again sends his ministers to the end of the
earth. In Acts it says this. and ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the
uttermost parts of the world parts of the earth and all who
look to Christ turn if you would to Ephesians chapter 2 all who
look to Christ for salvation are assured that ye who once
were far off have been bought nigh by the blood of Christ Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2. ye once were far off and be nigh
by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself a twain one new man, so make in peace. Verse 16, in
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you, which were far off, and to them that were nigh. This is the good news for sinners.
And he will therefore be eternally praised by people out of every
tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Turn if you would to Revelation
chapter 9. Revelation chapter 9. Oh what good news for those who
are furthest from God spiritually. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. To save sinners. Even the chief
of them, Paul wrote. And he felt like he was the chief,
and every believer says, no, I'm the chief. We all feel that
way, don't we? Look at Revelation chapter 5
verse 9, and they sang a new song. Who's this singing a new
song? This is the redeemed of the Lord.
This is those who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb at Calvary's
cross. This is those for whom Christ
died for on Calvary's cross and satisfied the law of God And
the justice of God, this is those for whom he gave his life for.
And they sang a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed
us. Oh, he was slain to redeem us,
beloved. To God by thy blood, out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Mine. All purchased by the blood
of the Lamb. All redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, by whom
I am chief. And every believer says that
along with Paul, don't we? The worst of the worst. The vilest
of the vile. No sinner is too great for Christ
to save. As all we who are the redeemed
of the Lord can testify. Can't we? We can testify of that. That we were great sinners to
our shame. But what a great Savior we have.
John Newton, who penned Amazing Grace, once heard of a renowned
sinner in the town that he grew, or that he was living in, who
the Lord had saved by his grace. And someone came running into
the place where he was working and said, Brother Newton, I have
to tell you, I can't believe it. God saved such and such a
man. And it's said that Newton said,
it doesn't surprise me, because God saved me. And if God saved
me, he can save anyone. Again, anyone he chooses, eh?
Anyone he chooses to have compassion on. Come now, let us reason together,
saying, Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, Oh, what a verse. Every one of us, we know this
was our state. Our sins were scarlet, double-dye
red. Did you ever come to the point
where you thought no one could save you? Oh, Lord, I'm such a great sinner.
But God gives his people faith to believe upon him. Come now
and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Think about, think about, especially
here in Michigan, After a snowfall, and it's that beautiful white
snow, where no one's even walked upon, it's just beautiful. It
even sparkles sometimes, doesn't it? From the light. It's so beautiful. Whiter than that. And you know
how we're whiter than that? Because we're clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. Because we're clothed in the
righteousness of another. The Lord Jesus Christ. Look to
Him in faith and see. the Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God and
there is none else. May God grant you faith to look
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and to live. And we who are the redeemed,
we've looked and we keep looking. We keep looking, don't we? We
keep looking to Christ. One day, not far off, not far
off, because our life is like a vapor. One day we shall see
Him face to face and we shall sing with the blood-bought saints,
worthy is the land that was slain. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
for Your goodness and mercy and grace. We who are Your blood-bought
people, we who are born again by Thy Spirit, we thank You then
We had no ability to look to Thee, but yet You made us willing.
We're born again by Thy Holy Spirit. We were granted faith
and repentance to look to Thee, O Lord. We pray that if there's
one who does not know You here, one of Your lost sheep, or one
who will hear this message, O Lord, we pray. that you would grant
them faith to believe, that you would give them eyes to see and
ears to hear the wonderful truths proclaimed in thy gospel. And
we know from that verse the promise we have, look unto me and be
ye saved. Oh Lord, thank you for saving
our souls. We who are your people. Thank
you for giving us spiritual eyes to look to Thee. And we can rest
and trust in Thee, that we are Your saved, redeemed, blood-bought
people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.