Only One God; Only One Salvation

you look at particularly at a verse verse 21 of psalm of isaiah chapter 45 and really the latter part but i shall read verse 21 of all of it tell ye and bring them near ye 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 a just God and a saviour there is none beside me the context of this verse really is it's the whole of the scripture the whole of the scripture the testimony of God the one God the only true God and the gospel of sovereign grace which is the message of hope the only message of hope to sinners and it speaks here in this chapter of the reality of the uniqueness of the Christian faith compared to all the religions and versions of christianity and i trust you know what i mean by that it's quite interesting in verse 20 we have the lord speaking to men throughout time excuse me of false worship false worship false religion and surely we would agree that anything false is surely indeed false it's a lie something which is not the truth and it mentions those who set up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a god that cannot save it's interesting in chapter 40 verses 16 and 17 I'll go back actually to I'll read from verse 18. To whom then will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

We can see the reality of the, I use the word patheticness, and I mean it in a sad way, that men have these ideas of God, and yet they are nothing but vanity, emptiness. They have an appearance, but there's nothing that is behind them. Men praying to God that cannot save.

We see the examples of this through many cultures, historically. But we have men making images with their hands, but we do the same things because these things come from our minds, from our hearts, the sinful man. These things are part of the old man, the natural man. they are empty and hence we've got the culture that we see round about us today and it is so old really we go back to Genesis 6 every man did what was right in his own eyes he judged for himself what was right and what was wrong and consequently because he was a sinner he got it constantly wrong gods that cannot save they offer no hope or gods that can only go so far and they wait for a mankind to do the rest as it were that is not a sovereign god that is not the god of whom we read of in the scriptures But as we come, try to look more into verse 21.

We see the Lord saying, tell ye and bring them near. Bring who near? I take it as those who make wooden groves, make wooden idols. Yea, let them take counsel together. Reminds me, I think it is at Psalm 2. The kings of the earth take counsel together against the Lord.

Who hath told it from that time? When? The ancient times. What is the Lord saying? He's saying that He, and He alone, is the Saviour of sinful men, that He is the only God. What are the ancient times that He's spoken of? Well, I believe if we look at Genesis chapter 3, we see the Lord speaking to the serpent. I always thought He was speaking to Adam and Eve, but He's not.

He's speaking to the serpent or satan himself concerning the promised one who should come the anointed one the saviour yes it's all in sort of dark speeches it's not as clear as we will see it in the new testament but nonetheless it is there verse 13 sorry verse 14 and verse 15 and the lord god said unto the serpent because thou hast done this that has led the the woman to disobey god's only instruction because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life and i will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head speaking of christ and thou shalt bruise his heel speaks of upon the cross in verse 21 we see a little bit more concerning he who should come it's a picture of what christ would be verse 21 unto adam also and to his wife did the lord god make coats of skins and clothes them i believe that those skins were indicative of the covering of the nakedness of man by the lord to covering his sinfulness and remember that if there were skins involved some animal had to die and there's a picture then of the temple worship that should come of lambs and bulls and goats being offered for sin the blood being shed for sin to pay the penalty of our sin the ransom but we also see Abraham in Genesis chapter 18 but I'll go to Acts chapter 3 verse 25 because it says a little bit more too but I'll read verse 25 first of chapter 3 ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which god made with our fathers saying unto abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed and that seed was christ and the whole earth all the kindreds nations of the earth shall be blessed not that everybody should be saved but people from every nation not just israel not just the jews but from all nations every tongue every language and in verse 24 previously it says yea and all the prophets from samuel

and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days what days the days of christ the days of the gospel the days of hope the days when the mystery is spoken of in Colossians 1 verse Colossians 1 26 speaks of when the mystery will be revealed it's been hidden down through the ages but in these last days it's spoken unto us by the sun paraphrasing what it says in Hebrews but in Colossians 1 verse 26 even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest or shown in many ways to his saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory that's the gospel it's not just Christ but it's Christ in you dwelling in us by his spirit this is so different from any religion of the world it's the uniqueness of the gospel of grace it's also a point to note that after isaiah's time there are still prophecies to come of of christ and of god and it's interesting when we look at some of those prophecies and i believe they are prophecies that they are spoken by first of all Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3 after the Lord delivered his three saints Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Nebuchadnezzar's statement towards the end is there is no other god that can deliver after this sort now we don't see these things today but they happened in times past and the purpose was to show the truth of God to testify to the truth that there is one God and only one God and there is no other God that delivers as King says after this sort.

But in the next chapter we see even a more profound statement but I shall read from verse 34 and at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar this is after his being thrust out from his kingship. At the end of the day, as I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever. whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou that's a heathen key i'm sort of convinced in my own mind that nebuchadnezzar was blessed by the Lord that's I mean he truly was we can see that but I believe that maybe he was spiritually better I don't know I can't answer for that and in the end that's in the Lord's hand but these words do we all hear the words from our kings and queens like this? we sometimes misunderstand how powerful Nebuchadnezzar was in his day and verse 37 now I nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the king of heaven all whose works are truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abate what a statement what a statement what doest thou none can say what doest thou That's going to be a bit of an education for several people, isn't it?

Let's be honest about it.

The Lord is the only God. And it speaks here also that he's not only the only God, but is the saviour of men. We'll come to that later. And we can see coming back to the reality of the gospel of isaiah it see it at the truth of the gospel i should add that right from well from chapter seven you probably know these verses how the information is given bit by bit that we can put it together it's quite incredible people say well why don't we have a like a systematic theology in the bible well we haven't the lord has chosen to put it in this way that's according to his will and to his good purpose but here we have it spoken of the Lord himself shall give you a sign chapter 7 verse 14 behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son shall call his name Emmanuel that is incredible they weren't thick in those days they knew it took a man and a woman to produce a child but of course it couldn't be a man and a woman it had to be the God the Holy Spirit resting on this woman in this special way that she might conceive a child I must be careful with my language conceive a child see why in a moment and he called his name Immanuel God with us and this is the evidence that he is God is that he didn't have a father a man as his father he had God the father because if a man had been his father he would have been a sinner so that was taken out of the equation the father was his father father from eternity a son from eternity and that's why i said be careful with my language because in chapter 9 it says unto us a child is born unto us a son is given note the language people say you could be pedantic being pedantic means we get to the root of the word i mean i don't understand this pedantry but we understand a child is born but a son is given he's the eternal son of god and he was given to us through mary incarnated as a child But nonetheless, a son is given.

It's the mystery of godliness. Don't ask me to explain it. It's a mystery. This is the mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh. I could testify to the reality of it, but that doesn't mean I understand all the nuts and bolts.

But we can take God at his word because he's a true God, a faithful God.

And he speaks of his son. dwellings amongst us in the form of sinful flesh and yet without sin you see more something of his purpose and his life in isaiah chapter 53 i just mentioned some of the verses despised and rejected of men that certainly happened a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief our grief and we hid it as it were our faces from him and we all would have done that if we'd have lived at that time you I we would have all hid our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not surely it says surely he hath borne our griefs carried our sorrows we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgression it was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed take it that's the church speaking the church of Christ he's wounded for our transgressions our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed and all we like sheep have gone astray we've turned every way at once to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all it goes on Isaiah chapter 61 Spirit of the Lord is upon me these are the words of Christ Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy, for mourning the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the lord that he might be glorified god might be glorified christ might be glorified glorified in our salvation this is the hope this is the hope of the saints we can therefore unequivocally state the revelation of God and his word states salvation only in him, in the truth not a Christ we make of our own imagination and that's been done often enough but only in the Christ speaks of in the scriptures that even Cyrus who came two hundred years later incredible that cyrus should be named in chapter 45 verse 1 anointed cyrus anointed whose right hand i hold the lord's going to take him by the hand to do god's will what for for jacob my servant's sake verse 4 and israel mine elect for their sake i have called thee by thy name i have surnamed thee though thou has not known me i think of another king the egyptian pharaoh in exodus chapter 9 who mentioned something of the lord i may bring that up later but how these heathen people the lord uses for his glory it's all in god's purpose i'm reminded that even if these things through the old testament even for the old testament saints all these things work together for good to the called to them that love god the called according to his purpose and that we need to understand the reality that there is just one god and He is the only God.

It's said six times in this chapter, verse 5, verse 14, verse 18, twice in verse 21 and also in verse 22.

I am God and there is none else. There's a specific virtue about our God as well and that is He's a just God. There is no God else beside me, a just God and a Saviour. There is none beside me. And that word just is very important concerning our salvation.

The word just carries the meaning of lawful and righteous. Holy is another one. In both the Old and New Testaments has the same meaning from the Greek and from the Hebrew words. there must be an objective and fixed standard by which righteousness can be judged and that standard is set by God and that standard is God as well Himself as the creator of all things Psalm 97 verse one and two the lord reigneth let the earth rejoice let the multitude of isles be glad thereof clouds and darkness around about him righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne zephaniah three verse five the just lord is in the midst thereof of his church he would not do iniquity every morning does he bring his judgment to light he faileth not but the unjust knoweth no shame if we think about this it's quite logical that he is a righteous god and that is his character the lord is not subject to his creation He's not subject to gravity, he's not subject to time, he's outside of all these things. But righteousness is his characteristic. One might say this is a name of God. He is righteous by his very nature. And he is subject indeed to that righteousness.

Obviously, otherwise he wouldn't be a righteous God. even Pharaoh I mentioned in chapter 9 of Exodus acknowledges quite astonishing sometimes the words we get from people like Pharaoh and others in the scripture 9 verse 27 and Moses said this is after he refused to let the people of Israel go And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have sinned this time. It wasn't a very deep sensation of sin, let's get it straight. But he says, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked.

What do we sometimes say out of the mouths of babes and sucklings comes forth wisdom? Well, out of the mouth of this heathen Pharaoh came forth the wisdom of God that he's a sinner and that the Lord is righteous and the Lord is righteous and indeed we should be able to acknowledging that he is righteous by looking at his law his law is a testimony to what is right or what is good i've never known anybody seriously who's considered the law of god who said it's not right it's the people who say who do say oh it's you hate it um it's because they've got an agenda that is they want to sin they want to do what is right in their own eyes but anybody who looks at the law of God ok let's just forget the first four commandments which are good in themselves we must acknowledge that the worship of God in spirit and in truth that's essentially it love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul strength and mind and all the the latter six commandments are to do with loving your neighbour as yourself Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

They're all good. So he's a just God and a righteous God who does and will judge the unrighteous. Who warned Adam in the day that he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would surely die. Exodus chapter 2 verse 17. and as we see from Romans he did surely die not drop to the ground as some people say well why didn't Adam drop to the ground dead there and then it wasn't the Lord's purpose but we see what truly happened that he wasn't supposed to die in any shape or form if he kept the law of God but he didn't he couldn't and he sinned and what happened death came upon all mankind death upon him the sentence of death of the soul upon him and upon all men wherefore as by one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned and verse 18 therefore as by the offense of one that is disobedience to god judgment came upon all men to condemnation. It goes on then to speak of the righteousness of what? That is the free gift of God, the righteousness of Christ to sinners, to justification.

God therefore is a just God and is also a God of mercy. We can see that in the fact that he is a saviour. The just God and a saviour and we can despite ourselves have a real confidence in this declaration that he is a just god and a saviour to all those who've called upon the name of the lord that they shall be saved it's not an invitation it's a statement of fact as i said last time i was here we can have confidence that our salvation is sure as king david said I think it's 2 Samuel 23, correct me if I'm wrong. His confidence was that the Lord had made with him a covenant which was ordered in all things and sure. Not just ordered in all things, which it was, but sure. That's the promise. That's the promise to sinners.

Don't you get up in the morning sometimes or go to bed at night and think, I've had a lousy day, I've had a lousy night, and look at my life. unless you say that and i believe that each one of you can say that too because we see our sin and as we get older it's true as we get older the more we see our own sinfulness but here you know we we look at this we do see justice and judgment but we do see mercy a just god and a savior whosoever again i say whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved into eternity not just for today, not for tomorrow I condemn those who say you can lose your salvation if they say that, I do because it's calling God a liar and those that say I've lost my salvation well the question I would have is well were you safe to start with because the Lord's word is sure it's pure, it is sure because he's a God of righteousness because it's rooted in Christ and God's promise it's not rooted in me it's rooted in God's holy word and that's why it says it's sure in Christ but there's a condition attached to it which is obvious if we say the salvation is in Christ in Christ alone that there is no other name than the name of Jesus Christ whereby man can be saved I'm paraphrasing it but it's true there is no other name under heaven whereby man can be saved and shall be saved because it's God's work so we look to Christ Jesus alone, Emmanuel, God with us the only saviour of men who is indeed the glory of God as it speaks of it speaks of Christ to the praise and his salvation is to the praise of the glory of his grace God's grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved that is in Christ and in this verse is so much so much of what is expressed throughout the scriptures the goodness of God It's veiled in the Old Testament but it is revealed clearly by the Spirit in the hearts of His people.

Ye must be born again. You will never understand the mercy of God in the Gospel of God unless you are born again. It's the Spirit's work. There must be repentance, it's the Spirit's work. There must be faith, it's the Spirit's work. What can you do? What's your soul saying? Acknowledging that you're a sinner. Is it saying, God have mercy on me, a sinner? That's the call. That is the call. It's acknowledging, seeing yourself in the sight of God as a sinner against Him.

Christ then revealed in the New Testament and only in him and he sees us in him therefore as righteous if we're seen as righteous that means sin has to be dealt with and it is dealt with this is the nature of the righteous God that he's done all things according to his own law I mentioned that earlier His sin is dealt with by the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father.

Romans 8, verses 1 to 4. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh going back to Isaiah 53 that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us this is imputation who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit This is the justness of God.

The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Christ dying in our place, he being condemned for our sin, and his righteousness, his life, his spotless life, his sinless life, is imputed to us as a gift. This is the glory of God. He is righteous. It's the justness or the righteousness of God in our salvation. Sin is not overlooked, it's dealt with. It's all well and good saying our sins are hidden from view.

They are, but they're dealt with in a righteous way, a lawful way. We all like to have the law on our side, don't we? A bit of a sad state these days, isn't it, sometimes, I believe. That's my own personal view. whether you share it or whether you don't but when we come to things like this do we not want to know that our salvation is sure? do we not want to know that Our lives are safe in Christ and in his promises when we look at the character of God, the nature of God, and what he has done in salvation. And we see that our salvation is sure.

David's words are not sort of words he's plucked from thin air, hoping for the best. Not an insurance policy. A covenant ordered in all things and sure. The just for the unjust. Christ who stood in our place, in our room and in our stead, as it says. The just for the unjust. A substitutionary death, a proof that God does not deal with sin in an arbitrary fashion.

Our sins are dealt with according to the law of God, which is the highest law. It is the highest law. We talk about the law of gravity, well that seems to be pretty immutable but God's law is most definitely immutable you disobey it and you pay the consequences thereof but we can submit to the Lord by his grace and we must ask for submission and he will forgive us our sins if we call upon him call upon the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved God is therefore righteous according to his own standard not ours he makes us righteous so that neither the law nor satan can bring an accusation against us that's why we know that we are safe in Christ so when we see Christ Jesus we should see his life as a life lived as one born under the law and one who kept the law Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 but when the fullness of the time was come at the right time God sent forth his son sent his son, son is given flows together doesn't it he sent his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons we couldn't be adopted as sons unless we've been redeemed God cannot deal with that which is filthy, unholy. It's his work to purify us, to cleanse us, to make us righteous. And again, this is the blessing of the covenant of grace. It's all of God. Righteousness, his obedience imputed to us. I do say it again and again, but it's important for us to understand.

We shall not see the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as a martyr. We shouldn't see him merely as an example, because in Christ we see the justice of God in action, in punishing sin. The execution of the sentence of death upon a sin-bearing victim, thereby dealing with the wrath of God towards sinners and their sin. those who are elect unto salvation and to reconcile us to God. That's so important, to be reconciled to God. We are in enmity with God, brought into fellowship with God through Christ Jesus and through the ministry and work of the Holy Ghost. and we can see as it says in Romans 4 verse 25 which does need a bit of understanding we can see by the resurrection of Christ that we are justified in the sight of God now it says in Romans 4 25 who was delivered for our offenses which he was and was raised again for our justification we are not justified by Christ being raised I understand, I've had to look into this and I trust I've got it right because our justification is the imputed righteousness or obedience of Christ but what the resurrection does show is that we are justified because Christ is justified what does that mean? it shows that he took our sin took it to the cross, nailed it to the cross as it were that our sins were forgiven that the law that was the penalty of the law was upon him has now been dealt with the wrath of God appeased and by his resurrection it shows the law no longer had any dominion over him that there was nothing left for him to deal with in our justification all our sins were placed upon him as it says in isaiah 53 and all our sins were dealt with and by being raised again it shows that our sins were dealt with covered through his blood into eternity this is again The righteousness of God.

We can see it in the scriptures. Christ being raised from the dead. We can see the righteousness of God in the resurrection. And it's there in the scripture. This is Christ. God's Word. Word was made flesh. The Word was made flesh. The Bible is a revelation of Jesus Christ. It's Christ telling us, I rose again for your justification.

You now see that you are now free from sin, in God's eyes, covered with the righteousness of Christ. It goes on in 1 John to say, if we say we have no sin, we make him a liar. We do sin, we still sin, but in the terms of God's justice, in the terms of salvation, we are seen as sinless because the robe of Christ is upon us. and Christ's obedience has accepted.

This is a great consolation. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I take the pastor's point when we're talking about Romans 5 if you read it it says therefore being justified by faith comma we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ but I have to take on board what the pastor says that actually is somewhat contradictory we are justified by Christ by his righteousness being imputed to us and by faith we have peace with God now not everybody will agree with that probably but I do see the point of it verse 19 one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous or justified we are justified by the righteousness and the obedience or the obedience of Christ Why they put that comma there, I do not know. Maybe I'm wrong, I've got to hold my hand up. But by faith, we are saved through faith. By grace are you saved through faith. By God's grace are we saved through faith. I trust we might see what the point I'm getting at in this. The Lord grant us wisdom when we come across things like that.

But to conclude, it's still a great consolation to know that we're justified by a righteous God, through faith in the blood of Christ, and by his works, his perfect work upon the cross. It all accords then, with the decree of God in eternity, that we should be in Christ, holy and plain, before him. And that that was settled before the foundation of the world. Justification from eternity is the aspect of doctrine of which that refers to.

So to conclude, there is no God beside God, beside me, a just God and a saviour there is none beside him, there is none above him, none at the side of him and none below him he is the only God and that our salvation is in Christ alone in Christ alone by grace alone, through faith alone. What a great blessing and all to the glory of God as it should be. Amen.

Only One God; Only One Salvation

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Only One God; Only One Salvation

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