Well, if you'll take your Bibles
and turn back to Isaiah 45, I'll do the best I can. I hope these messages have been an encouragement to
you. That was my expectation in coming here. That was my desire.
I'd like to encourage this church and your pastor. And my prayer is that He'll raise
our hearts up in worship to Him this morning. I preached a message from this
chapter here in Isaiah several weeks ago over in Wichita Falls,
and it was a blessing to me and my study, and it was a blessing
to me when I brought the message over there, and it's my hope
that it will be a blessing to you this morning. My text is
found in verse 22 of Isaiah 45, where the Lord says through His
faithful prophet, Look unto Me and be ye saved. That's what we need, isn't it?
That's what we need. All the ends of the earth I think
I can fit in there. For I am God, and there is none
else. Look unto me. Look unto me. I titled my message this morning,
The God of Salvation. Only God can save. He didn't say, look toward me. He didn't say, look in my direction. He said, look unto me. Look unto
me. Now leading up to the text, as
Larry read to us a few moments ago, God tells us some things
about these nations out of which we have escaped. Those who have
looked to him have escaped from these nations. Spiritual Israel,
that's who he's talking to here in this text. Escaped from the
nations and he tells us three things about those nations. First he says in verse 20, he
says they have no knowledge. No knowledge. Now, the prophet
is not here talking about a general knowledge of God. Most people
believe that there is a God of some kind. And I personally am
convinced that there is no such thing as an atheist. I believe
God put in man a conscience. Paul said he did. And that that conscience bears
witness of his guilt before a holy God. And I don't believe he's talking
here about a general knowledge of God. He tells us in Romans
1 that the heathen know God by creation and conscience. In verse 19 of Romans 1, he says
this, ìThat which may be known of God is manifest in them.î
This is what God said. ìI have manifested it in them,
for God hath showed it unto them.î Every man has a conscience and
that conscience bears witness of his guilt. It cries out of
his guilt. And then in verse 20 he tells
us that the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and godly. I believe that. I believe creation
necessitates a creator. If you stand outside on a given
day and just look around, it necessitates, it cries out of
a creator. It stands in all of its splendor. It stands as a cathedral. in which men could stand and
worship God. Witnesses of a sovereign creator,
maintainer, and designer. I don't believe that anyone could consider creation just what we know about it. And it's very little what we
know. Man thinks he knows a lot. He knows very little. But nothing
that exists could find such an intricate order. Think about
it. Whole civilizations have based
their lifestyle on the order of creation. What an order. Everything. Down in Mexico where Walter is
at, those Mayans, their whole civilization is based on those
stars. They planted Mayans. They harvested
by. He said in Genesis chapter 1,
he said, I mark the seasons by them. I divide the day from the
night by these things. There is such an intricate order
about creation. Think of the timely orbits The
distances, exact distances. Now we live in an age of technology
and we can measure these distances and they don't vary. They don't
vary. Think of the sizes. Think of
the revolutions. And the sheer size and scope
of creation declared in eternal God and a wisdom way beyond our
imagination. If you just stand outside and
look. Go out tonight. Look up at the
stars, look at the moon, and tell me there is no God. You're
a liar. You know there's a God. That's
not what the prophet's talking about. The knowledge of which
the prophet speaks in this chapter is a redemptive knowledge. That's
what the nations don't have. A knowledge of God's eternal
purpose of grace in Christ Jesus. Or as Paul told the Corinthians,
the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's what they don't have. They have religion. They have
a conscience. They have a general sense of
God. But they don't know who God is.
They don't know the particulars about God and therefore they
don't know the particulars about themselves. They lack this redemptive
knowledge of God. God Himself is Spirit. He's called
in the Scripture the Invisible God. I hear folks talk on TV a lot
about seeing God. One of them About 25 years ago,
I remember he got up on his broadcast and said he saw the Lord in a
dream. Saw God, and God told him to
build a big statue. And he said, he told me to tell
you that two million of you are going to send me a dollar apiece
and we're going to build this statue. How convenient. But the Bible says no man has
seen God at any time. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
How come? Because He's the invisible God.
He's the invisible God. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. True saving faith is not about
believing in a God or some God or some concept of God, but of
believing God as He's revealed in that perpetuatory sacrifice
of His Son, in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's
how we come to know who God is. And this world has no knowledge,
no saving knowledge of God. And then he says this back in
verse 20, he says they had no knowledge and then he says this,
they bowed to images. Actually here he talks about
wooden images and all through the 40's here in Isaiah, he talks
about those images that man conjures up and wiggles out and then when
he gets real proud of it, he overlays it in gold and he builds
it a little hut, they call them shrines and sticks them back
there on the shelf bows down before him and pays homage to
him. But I believe he's talking here
about images both graven and imagined. They're not much different. Not much different. Actually, the Lord said this.
He was talking about covetousness, and he said covetousness, which
is idolatry. You can make a god out of a new
car. And I'll tell you this. I live
in a little town, population 665, I think is what's said on
the sign. We always threatened to go down
with a piece of chalk and add But you can walk up and down
that street there in Taylor all day long, that street on which
I live, and you can just cry out, Hey, Frank! Frank! Where you at, Frank? I ain't
going to come out. Because I don't know who you're
talking to. I'm not going to respond because
you haven't called my name. You see what God's saying here
in this chapter? God doesn't respond to this world and to
the nations and to their graven images and to the imagination
of foolish men. He doesn't respond because you're
not calling on His name. You're calling on another Jesus. And you're bound down before
another God. And the God of glory is not responding. He said they set up the wood
of their graven image. And then watch this. He said
they pray to a God they cannot save. Oh, bless your heart. The thing that distinguishes
the living God from the God of this world is that the living
God saves. He doesn't want to save. He doesn't
hope to save. He saves. He saves. He said, I've declared it from
the beginning. Over there where he said, I have
declared the end from the beginning, this is what he's declaring. I've declared it from the beginning
and from ancient times as a thing finished, certain, fixed. Declaring all who believe, all
who believe him, that his counsel would stand and his pleasure
would be done. And so when he came to pass,
I was thinking about this the other night as Chris was preaching.
They'd remember. Isn't that what he told them
to do? Remember the former things of
old. For I am God and there is none
else. And when they come to pass, and
they will, when my son steps foot into this
world, laying in that manger and the heavenly host sings his
name, you remember what I told you. You remember. I'm God. I created this world
and I'm going to see it inhabited. I set a goal for Israel and they're
going to have it. I know where they're at. I know
they're scattered. I know they're out there in idolatry. I know
where they're at. I'm going to call them out. I'm going to call
them out. When it comes to pass, you will
remember the former things of old, and you'll say, surely this
God is God alone. God alone is the Savior, and
salvation is His greatest work. In salvation, listen to me, in
salvation God reveals Himself completely. He doesn't hold anything
back. He opens up His heart. Moses said, I know something
about Your majesty. I know something about Your greatness.
Show me Your glory. He said, You hide right here.
I'm going to pass by and I'm going to show you who I am. That's
what salvation is. That's what it is. I talked a
half a day with some fellas the other day, and this was the question
they just wore me out with. How much, how much does a person
have to know to be saved? How much? Where's that plateau? Where's it at? Where's that degree? How much percentage? Give me
a solid, straight answer. Quit ducking the question. How
much does a man have to know to be saved? And to make a long
story short, when we got done, I told them it's not so much
how much, it's who you know. But who you know can only be
revealed by what you know. Is that true? So how much do you have to know
to be saved? Here's what I told him. You have
to know enough about His wisdom to quit looking at yours. You have to know enough about
His glory to quit trying to look for yours. You have to know enough
about His righteousness to consider yours to be filthy rats. You
have to know enough about His sacrifice to quit offering yours. You have to know enough about
His humanity to see yours as vanity and altogether corrupt.
You have to know enough about His deity to fear Him and bow
down before Him. How much do you have to know
to be saved? I don't really know. But I know
this, you're not going to know anything apart from Him. I don't care how much you think
you know. You don't know anything outside of Christ. He prays in John 17, thinking
upon that cross and thinking upon that agony, thinking about
himself, taking upon himself our sins. praying in that garden
until his sweat become as great drops of blood. And he prays
to the Father in thinking on these things. And he said, Father,
glorify me with your own self that I might glorify thee. What
in the world is he talking about? What in the world is he talking
about? Glorify me in my suffering. and in my death, and in my righteous
obedience, and in my willing submission of my soul into thy
hands I commit my spirit. He prays for the Father to bless
and glorify his death and his burial and his resurrection to
the end that chosen sinners might see that glory and call on the
God who saves. That's what he prayed for when
John said he did. And when he got done saying that, he said,
and this is eternal life, that they might know him and Jesus
Christ whom he has sent. The God of this idolatrous world
is a God who cannot save. He wants to save, but men won't
let him. He desires to save, but he has
no power. He plans to save, but nobody
will accept the plan. He promises to save, died to
make it possible, but after all of that, some will fall away
and be lost forever. Only the living God can save
to the uttermost all who come unto him by Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. Listen
to this scripture. I just love it. I quote this.
Our folks can quote it. That's how many times I've quoted
it. God hath from the beginning. Who did it? God. Hath from the
beginning chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. where unto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,
my soul. The salvation of God demands
an intervention of God. It demands it. Demands it. His salvation necessitates a
violation of your will. This whole generation stands
up and barks at the gospel. Oh, you can't do that. You'll
violate man's free will. Well, you could if it was free.
But it's not free. It's not free. Salvation necessitates a violation
of the will. The salvation of God's elect
demands a stronger than the one who occupies the house to come
in and take him down and spoil his goods and rule the house. Demands it. Has to be. Has to
be. And to be saved I must be taught
of God. Drawn of God. convicted of God,
of His own will, begotten through His Word, of His own will. The
God of this world is a God who cannot save and a God who cannot
save is no God. Ain't that what He's saying?
He's no God. We have but one hope and that
is that in the purpose and power of God, I'm enabled to look unto
Him. Isn't that what He's saying?
Look unto Me. Look unto Me. There's nowhere
else to look. Isn't that what He's saying in
Isaiah 45? What are you looking over there
for? I'm not over there. I'm over here. Look unto Me. Look unto Me. Look unto Me and be ye saved. He didn't say, and get saved,
did he? Huh? We've had two or three people
come visit the church, and I'd be talking to them about where
they go to church or so. Well, I got saved. No, you didn't.
You can't get saved. You can be saved, but you can't
get saved. You get religion, what you get. You can come down an aisle. You
can go all up and down the street here. I've seen every kind of
church there is. Whatever appeals to you, just
go down there and sign up. Just like joining the Y or something.
You just go in there and sign up. They'll have you teaching
Sunday school class next week. You can be pastor in a year.
Sign up. What do you like to do? You like
to clap your hands? You like to do that? You'll find
it. It's right down there. Right
down there. Whatever appeals to you, like
quiet and stained glass and candlelight, sign up. Sign up. But to be saved, oh, that's a
different story. The only way you can be saved,
he said, is to look unto me. Look unto me. And there's nowhere
else to look. Be careful where you look. Be careful where you look. Here in Isaiah chapter 45, the
Lord gives us five things about Himself that He reveals in the
redemptive work of Christ. He gives us five things. He declares
first, that he manifests in this work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his person and work, an unalterable,
absolute and sure purpose by which everything in this world
finds its place. Those Jews got down there and
they despised those Gentiles and despised those Romans. They
couldn't stand either one of them, but they put their arms
around them and said, You know, we've been wanting to make friends
with you. And they come over there and
they got talking with them and they all got together. And the Romans,
they didn't like the Jews. They didn't like these other
heathens. They were the shining light of the generations, if
you read anything about the Romans. And the Gentiles, they didn't
like the Jews and they didn't like the Romans. But they all
three got together. And all did exactly what they
wanted to do in the death of Christ. And when all the doing
was done, he said, all you did was what God determined before
to be done. That's what it says on the book
of Acts. Sounds like purpose to me. Unalterable,
irresistible purpose of God. In our studies in Genesis, I
pointed out back When we were talking about the Garden of Eden,
there was a river. It says there was a river that
flowed into the garden. One big river. And when it come
out the other side, there were four rivers. I looked at that
thing for the longest time. You know, them old commentators
didn't have one thing to say about them rivers. Nothing. They
talk about the historic rivers and the names of them and what
countries and all that that they went into, but they didn't have
anything to say about those rivers. And I kept looking at it and
dodging it and waiting and waiting. And finally one day God opened
that up to me. That's His purpose. That's the
unalterable purpose of God. And it flows into that garden
through that sacrifice and promise seed. And it comes out the other
side and goes out into all the world. And everything else in
creation drinks out of that water of that purpose of God. That's
what he shows in the death of Christ. Absolute purpose. God does things I'll never forget. Henry said he was just a young
pastor sitting there probably about where you are on that front
bench and old Barnard just blew the back door off the hinges
and screamed, Purpose! God does things on purpose. He killed his son on purpose. And he raised him from the dead
on purpose. And he set him at his own right
hand on purpose. And he orders all things and
all power, he said, given unto me. Now you go preach on purpose. I'll tell you this, some of these
young preachers, they're talking to me about the worms eating
them up. I remember what Henry told me years ago. He said, God's
preachers don't have ulcers, they give them. They give them. Why? Because they know God does
things on purpose. You go to that hospital this
afternoon and go there on purpose. God has a purpose in these things.
Oh. And then secondly, I know this.
The God of the Bible declares His Lordship and manifests His
deity in the salvation of chosen sinners to reach a fixed end. You know, we read that word predestination. This whole generation is scared
to death of that word predestination. God ain't a bit afraid of it.
His prophets aren't afraid of it. They say, God has predestinated
us. He fixed the end. Here it is,
right out there. They're going to be perfectly
conformed to the image of my Son. There's the end. How's He
going to reach it? How's God going to reach that? Huh? Because He's going to fix
everything between the beginning and the end. That's how He's
going to He's going to work all things after the counsel of His
own will. He's going to reach that end. Oh, I cannot imagine a sovereignty
greater than one which worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Listen to this over in Romans
chapter 9. He knew what they were going to say. He knew what
they were going to say, but what about responsibility? That's
not fair and all that kind of stuff. He said, who art thou,
old vain man? That's what we are, that replies
against God. If thou the thing formed, say
unto him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Had not
the potter power over the clay to make one vessel unto honor,
another unto dishonor? Set a trophy of his grace upon
the mantle, or put a lowly pot down there to stick a flower
in. He's the potter. We're just the clay. And you
know what he does? He does them both out of the
same lump. Isn't that amazing? That's deity. That's what that
is. That's deity. Listen to the prophet
in Isaiah 45, 23. He said, I've sworn by myself The word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness and shall not return. But unto me every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall swear. What's he talking about?
Shall swear alone. Willingly own up to my authority
and my right to save and be Lord of salvation. Deity. And then thirdly, he declares
in the plainest language that can be used. He said, I am God
alone. alone. It's not me and God. What's that song? Me and Jesus
got a good thing. It's just God. It's just God. Everything that occupies time
and space is of God. He's before all things. By Him
all things consist. By Him were all things created,
John said, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him we live and move and have our being. Paul stood on Mars
Hill and told those philosophers that raised up monuments to every
kind of God that man could imagine. He found one there that said
to the unknown God, he said, let me tell you about Him. I
don't know the rest of these, but I know something about this
one. Let me tell you about Him. He gave it to all life and breath
and all things. He made of all nations of men
out of one blood, for to dwell on all the faces of the earth
and determine the times before appointed and set the bounds
of their habitation. He's God. He's God alone. He's the firstborn of every creature.
He's the first begotten from the dead that in all things He
might have the preeminence. He's God alone. And salvation
is of the Lord, and He gets all the glory. He gets all the glory. I just love this old one. You
know, folks like to get down to verse 25 and spit and argue
about it and kick sand on them like a baseball player disagrees
with the umpire. You know, I'd sit there and kick
dirt on them. That's what they like to do over those controversial
verses. If you just back up and read
a few verses before that, you wouldn't be so quick to kick
the dirt. He said, "...and all things are
of God." He said God was in Christ. in
the world unto himself. You got all that figured out? I'm still trying to figure that
out. I'm still sitting in all that. God was in Christ reconciling,
moving, gathering His elect, fulfilling His purpose. You got a handle on that? Until
you do, I wouldn't go down there and start bickering over these
other verses. I'd just stay right up here, try to get that figured
out. God was in Christ. God alone. I don't know why we
think we can figure anything out. And my generation's got God in
everything. He's in everybody. They have
God in schools. Prayers, I remember when I was
just a kid growing up, all of a sudden churches got all upset.
I said, told Dad, I said, what's going on? Why all the banners,
man? They're going out and parade
up and down the street. I said, what's all this about? Well, they took
prayer out of the school. You can't take prayer out of
school. Took God out, run God out of school. You can't run
God out of anything. Could be wasn't in school to
start with. They've got Him in everything. He's in everybody.
I don't care what kind of religion you got. Don't say nothing about
them. Don't say nothing about them. Let me tell you something about God.
When we talk about God alone, God alone, over and over and
over, all through these forties here in Isaiah, He keeps saying,
I am God alone. Beside me there is none other.
You know what he's talking about? He's talking about this God of
salvation. God's in Christ. That's what
he's talking about. God's in Christ. He's in Christ. Wow, listen. Oh, here's a guy.
I went back and started reading this stuff. Listen to this. He said God dwells between the
cherubim. between the cherubim. David said,
God dwells between the cherubim. And when they both prayed, they
said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubim,
thou art God, even thou alone. Between the cherubim. He's talking
about Christ. He's talking about Christ. And then fourthly, God
tells us through his prophet, that the God we must look to
to be saved is a just God. He's just. He must and will punish
sin. He must and has demonstrated
in the work of Christ this great fundamental principle of glory.
The soul that sinneth shall surely die. And I tell you this, I don't
know what kind of a God you worship. But he can't save any man apart
from a just satisfaction for sin. He declares it over and
over and over. It demands payment, an eternal,
infinite payment. Only divine satisfaction can
satisfy divine justice and wrath. And from start to finish, God
has set forth his Son, as the brother read to us a while ago
in Romans chapter 3, he set him forth as a propitiation. He set
him forth in the Garden of Eden when he reconciled our father
and our mother back in that garden as a propitiation. And Adam and Eve taught their
two sons and they went out and Cain said, well, that's all well
and good, but I'm not a sheep herder. I'm a farmer and I'm
going to bring my vegetables. I ain't bringing no sheep. And
God didn't have any... He come up and spit on his carrots
is what he did. He said, I won't have him. I
won't have him. He just came up and kicked him
aside. But he had respect under this one, because that one testified
of his son. In Proverbs 17, verse 15, he
said, He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth
the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord. And so we go through this chapter
and I see that God manifests Himself in the redemptive character
and work of His Son by an absolute irreversible purpose that's going
to stand no matter what. And He was truly God manifests
His deity in His salvation of sinners. He declares Himself
to be God, God alone. And he that says, Look unto me,
and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, is a just God and
a Savior. And then lastly, he says this,
This God unto which all men are commanded to look is the God
of revelation. Now, I want you to hear something.
It is the purpose of God in Christ to reveal Himself. Huh? That's why it's here. The revelation
of Christ is salvation. It is salvation. And he's here
to reveal. He said, I didn't come to condemn. You condemned already. I come
to give life. Life. I'm here for revelation. The Son of God has come, John
said, and given us an understanding. He said this, he said, my purpose
in writing this epistle, that we might believe in the name
of the Son of God. He said, that's why I'm writing
it. That's why I'm writing it. And that's why I'm preaching
it. In John chapter 6 verse 40, listen
to this. This is the will of God. We're
always hunting for the will of God. Here it is. Here it is.
This is the will of God, which hath sent me, that every one
which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. Look unto me, who alone can save,
who alone has the right to save, who alone is just to save, who
alone is in the position to save. He's sitting at the right hand
of God. Father, that's one of mine. All
right, we'll get it. He's in a position to say. I'll
tell you, you get in trouble with the law, it sure is nice
if you got somebody in the courthouse, isn't it? You can go talk to
them a little bit. I saw. Our Savior sits at the
right hand of God. And what he asks, he gets. He's
in the position to say. Look unto Me, who alone reveals
the living God, and in that revelation He saves our soul. Look unto
Me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved. For I am God, and there is none
else. God help us to understand that. Believe Me. Fall down before
Him and look.