Good evening. I'd like your attention to the
46th chapter of the Plot of Isaiah. It is always such a pleasure
to be here with you folks. I suppose the best friends are
old friends and I've got old friends here. And the older I get, the more
I appreciate friends and the more I appreciate you. Delighted what the Lord has been
pleased to do with your pastor and his restoration. and delighted
that he's let us come this night to worship his son and hopefully
to hear a message from him. Isaiah is going to speak concerning
Babylon. The two chief gods of the Babylonians
were Bel and Nebo. We find their names in Belshazzar
and Nebuchadnezzar. They were the protectors of Babylon. Bel corresponded to Baal in the
land of Palestine. He was the sun god and the chief
of the gods of Babylon. Nebo was his prophet. But the prophet now speaks of
a time when Cyrus would lead the Medo-Persians in to besiege
Babylon. They would dam the river that
ran through Babylon and thereby divert the water And they were
able to come through the city on a night of an impious feast.
And they conquered the city and carted the gods of Babylon away
and put the gods of the Medo-Persians in their place. Isaiah describes
it in these words, Baal boweth down. Nebo stoopeth, meaning that the
gods had been made prostrate. Their idols, for that's all they
truly were, were upon the beasts. They'd put them on carts to cart
them away. And upon the cattle, the cattle
were pulling the carts. Your carriages were heavy loading
because the idols were big. They are a burden to the weary
beast. They stoop. They bow down together. They could not deliver the burden,
but themselves are gone into captivity. What a sad situation
when the people's gods have gone into captivity. But then again,
they never were free to begin with, were they? But how sad
to watch a people as they see their gods carted off behind
some moccasin, going off into captivity. Now Jehovah has spoken
these words, and here he will continue. Hearken unto me, O
house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel. He still
has a remnant, which are born by me. You don't bear him, he
bears you. Which are born by me from the
belly, which are carried from the womb. And even to your old
age, I am he. That phrase means I am still
the same, even when you're old. Even to hoar hairs, when your
head is gray, will I carry you? I have made you. You didn't make
me. I will bear you. You will not
bear me. Even I will carry and will deliver
you." That is such good news that in my old age, he'll carry
me. Spoke today with a somewhat young
man who has known the vigor of strength in life and recently
was brought low. couldn't walk. When he has fallen, he cannot
get up. He doesn't need me to tell him
it's going to get worse. He's going to get older, and
more feebler, and weaker. And it's going to be harder to
keep up. One day the Lord will be leading his flock and look
around, and darn, there you'll be, lagging behind. The Lord
comes back and says, well, Don, what's going on? Well, Lord,
you know that I desire nothing better in this world than to
follow you, but I'm old and I'm weak and I'm feeble and I don't
keep up like I used to. And the sweet shepherd will say,
well, Don, I remember when you were a little lamb And I know
you now when you're an old ram, but I'm still the same. And when
you were a little lamb, I picked you up and carried you. And I'm
still the same. I'll pick you up and carry you
now. And even to gray hairs, even in our feebleness and weakness,
this good shepherd reaches down and picks up his sheep and carries
them. And he never waits for them to
carry him. He does the carrying. To whom
will you liken me? Now that I've spoken of Bell
and Nebo. And to whom will you make me
equal and compare me that we may be like they, idolaters,
lavish gold out of the bag and weigh silver in the balance and
they hire a goldsmith and he maketh it a god. They fall down,
yea, they worship. They bear him up on the shoulder,
because he cannot bear himself. They carry him, because he cannot
carry himself. And they set him in his place,
and he standeth. From his place shall he not remove. Why do the heathens say, where
is their God? You want to know why? Because
the heathen always knows where his God is. Where is his God? wherever he left him last. That's
where he is. Where is your God? He's in heaven. He does whatsoever he pleases. But from his place he shall not
remove. Yea, one shall cry unto him,
yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble? He has
ears, but cannot hear. The idol has a mouth that cannot
speak, and feet that cannot move, and a hand that cannot save.
He cannot even mutter in his throat. Remember this, and show
yourselves men. Bring it again to mind, oh ye
transgressors. Remember the former things of
God, for I am God. or remember the form of things
of old, for I am God. It's his name, El, the strong
one, the mighty one. And there is none else. I am
God. And there is none like me. Declaring
the end from the beginning. There's your predestination.
Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird, he speaks
of Cyrus, king of the Medo-Persians. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, and the man that executeth my counsel from a far country.
God uses whatever means he pleases. Yea, I have spoken, and I will
bring it to pass. I have purposed. I will also
do it. My text is verse five. To whom
will you liken me and make me equal? My subject is, who is
like Jehovah? Who is like him? Jehovah himself asked the question. In the first place, he's the
only God that ever asked that question. No other God ever spoke,
much less asked this question. Jehovah says, who's like me?
No other God ever said that. No other God ever answered that
question. He does. He does. I'll tell you
who I am. I am he and still the same. We have seen him throughout history. proving his superiority and the
worthlessness and the futility of heathen gods on many occasions.
In Egypt, he executed judgment on the gods of Egypt. Remember
the 10 plagues? Every plague was an insult on
an Egyptian god. The Nile turns to blood. They
worshiped that river. That was their god. It brought
down the silt and the soil of the land and fertilized the land
and made the crops grow. They worshipped the river. So
God insults their God by turning it into blood. He causes the sun to turn to
darkness. They worshipped that sun. God
insulted their God and their God could do nothing about it.
He killed their cattle. They worshipped those cattle.
God showed his superiority. He sent frogs into the land. They worshipped those frogs.
God plagued them with their own gods till they were sick and
tired of their own gods. Oh, who is a god like him? He did so much the same in Philistia
The children of Israel go to battle. It's not going well for
them. So they bring out the Ark of
the Covenant. They're going to treat it like a good luck charm
or a talisman. And the Ark of the Covenant is
brought into the camp and the Philistines overrun the camp
and take the Ark of the Covenant back to their city, Ashdod, and
put it into the temple of their god, Dagon. Dagon, the god of
the Philistines, had the head of a man and the body of a fish. And he is made to stand erect
in his own temple, and they put the Ark of the Covenant there
before him as though the Ark would be prostrated right before
their god. They walk out thinking what a
good thing they've done. They've shown the superiority
of Dagon over the god of Israel. Walk in the next morning, and
Dagon has fallen, and he now lies prostrate before the Ark
of the Covenant. So they take Dagon and put him
back up. Maybe the wind blew. Maybe something
happened. It's a freak. Nothing like this
ever happens with Dagon. So they walk out. Next morning,
come in. Dagon has fallen again, except
this time his head has been severed from his body. Who is a god like
Jehovah? Surely not Dagon. Babylon, you
see right here. How about on Matt Carmel in 1
Kings chapter 18? We're going to see who God is.
And so the prophet of God calls for all the prophets of Baal. And he says to them, build your
altar and call upon your God and we'll see who comes to save.
And they build their altar. And they put their sacrifice
upon it. And they cry out, beginning in the morning, Baal, save us! Baal, save us! They dance upon
the altar. They're probably doing a lot
of things to try to get some fire to come out from that altar.
Middle of the day, he still has not come. And the man of God
chides with them. He says, maybe your God's asleep.
Cry a little louder and awaken him. Maybe he's talking. He cannot hear you. Maybe he's
on a trip. He's gone on a journey. Cry louder. So they do. They cut themselves
doing everything they can to bring their God and he won't
show up. At the time of the evening sacrifice. The man of God takes
12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel. Lays the sacrifice
upon it. It is a time of drought and water
isn't a premium. But he says, bring me four barrels.
They bring four barrels and they poured on the altar and upon
the sacrifice. Bring four more. They bring four
more. They pour them upon the altar
and upon the sacrifice and saturate the altar and the sacrifice and
the ground around it. Bring four more. That's 12, a
number of completion. And they pour their 12 barrels
of water now upon the altar and upon the sacrifice. And now it
floods the trench that the prophet of God had built around the altar.
And then the prophet prays, Oh, Lord, God of Israel, hear your
servant and now come and deliver. And the Lord speaks from heaven
and sends a fire down, and it consumes that drenched sacrifice. It burns the wood, and then it
goes into the trench and licks up all the water therein. Now,
who's like Jehovah? What God ever did such a thing
as this? Who is like Jehovah? Therefore, you are great, O Lord
God, For there is none like you, nor is there any God beside you
according to all that we have heard with our ears. Let me show
you 11 things, and I'll be brief with these, but 11 things. Because
I rather became intrigued with this statement, who is like Jehovah? And so I began to look at that
expression as it is found in scripture. And it is found quite
a few times, but I found about 11 different things that are
emphasized in these times. First, if you will, observe that
Jehovah is incomparable in existence. He is the only God capable of
hearing this question. He is the only God capable of
answering this question. Man-made gods have ears and mouths,
but they themselves are incapable of either hearing or speaking.
We know that Nile is nothing in the world. There are many
of them. But for us, one God, the Father,
of whom are all things, He is in comparable in existence because
he's the only God that truly lives and has existence except
in the minds of false men. That's where their gods exist.
This God truly exists. There is one God who is like
him, the only true God in existence. Second, Jehovah is incomparable
in being and actions. Locate, if you will, Exodus 15. We're going to take a little
walk through scriptures tonight. We're going to look up some references,
but if you will, locate first the 15th chapter of the book
of Exodus. We're going to find this question
asked again. Exodus chapter 15. This is the
song of Moses when the Lord of Israel, the Lord God of Israel
had deliver this people. And the people sing in verse
11 of Exodus 15. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee? Notice three
things. Glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises and doing wonders. What is holiness? This is not
merely ethical holiness. doing what is right. This is
actually majestic holiness. This is the holiness of the majesty
on high. There is no God full of majesty
like Jehovah. He is holy in his majesty. He is fearful in praises. He is worthy of being praised.
And we fear Him with a holy reference as we sing this song of Moses
in praise to Him. He is doing wonders. The only
God who does wonders. What kind of wonders? Well, just
look back at the Red Sea. What had He done? The children
of Israel being chased, pursued by an enemy. They have now come
to the place where they can go no further. The mountains are
on this side and the sea is on this side and the army of Egypt
behind them. They're caught in the wedge,
nowhere to go. And the Lord says, now you just stand still and
see the salvation of your God. He blows with his wind. He parts
the sea with his wind. He blows with his wind and dries
the ground in the bottom of the sea. His people march across
on dry ground. And then the Egyptians say to
come after them. The Lord lets them come into
the midst of the sea, and then he lets the sea come back in
on itself and drowns them, doing wonders. Jehovah is incomparable
in his being and actions. You stretched out your right
hand, the earth swallowed them, the hosts of Pharaoh, you and
your mercy. have led forth the people whom
you have redeemed. He redeemed them out of Egypt
and led them in that kind of glory in the fiery pillar of
cloud, led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea and into
the promised land where they were to find His holy habitation.
You guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. Who
is like that? Who is a God able to do that? majestic in his holiness, fearful
in his praises, and ever doing wonders. Third, Jehovah is incomparable
in reliability. Locate 1 Samuel chapter 2. 1
Samuel chapter 2. This is the hymn of Hannah when
the Lord had answered her prayer because her womb was barren.
She prayed for a son and promised to give him to the Lord and the
Lord answered the prayer. And she praised these words in
verse two, there is none holy as Jehovah. For there is none
beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. No rock like him. What kind of
rock is he? He's the rock of salvation. He's
the rock of whom we sing when we sing, rock of ages, cleft
for me, let me hide myself in thee. Why do we sing that? Moses
is our desire to see your glory. Oh, Moses, you can't see my glory
and live. Tell you what I'll do. I'll put
you in a rock. That rock is Christ. I'm going
to put you in the cleft of the rock. The cleft of the rock with
the wounds made by Christ or made in Christ. And God puts
him there and hides him. He says, now you can behold my
glory and you can live. And in that rock of salvation,
none shall ever be removed. It is a secure rock. None shall
move it. We are built upon the rock. We
live on the rock. We rest on the rock. There is
none like Jehovah. Another writer says there is
no rock like our rock. Our enemies themselves being
judges. Let them judge. Is there any
rock like Jehovah? No, not one. No, not one. Fourth,
Jehovah is incomparable in keeping promises. Locate First Kings
chapter eight. 1 Kings chapter 8. This is the dedication of the
temple which Solomon built. Parallel account in 2 Chronicles
6.14. But here we're going to look
in 1 Kings chapter 8 and observe verse number 23. Solomon, standing
before God's altar, he said, Lord God of Israel, there is
no God like Thee in heaven above or on earth beneath. In what
way? Who keepest covenant and mercy
with Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart. Drop down to the next verse,
verse 24. Thou speakest also with thy mouth,
and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. There
is no God like Jehovah in keeping promises. He made a covenant
with his Son, a covenant of mercy, in old eternity, before the foundation
of the world. He purposed to save a people
and promised them salvation, and not a single solitary one
of them shall ever be lost. When He says He will do something,
He will do it. When He makes a covenant, it
must be fulfilled. Because He always fulfills His
word. He keeps His promises. There
is not a God in heaven above or on earth below like Him who
can do so. When He speaks with His mouth,
He fulfills it with His hand, and every promise He makes is
fulfilled. No other God ever had to fulfill
a promise because no other God ever made one. This one has made
multitudes of promises and will fulfill every single solitary
one of them. Who is a God like him? Who is
a God like you? Keeping covenant and fulfilling
your word. Fifth, Jehovah is incomparable
in deliverances. Locate Psalm 35, the 35th Psalm. The 35th Psalm. Verse 10. All my bones shall say, Lord,
Who is like unto thee which delivers the poor from him that is too
strong for him? Yea, the poor and the needy from
him that spoileth him. He is incomparable in deliverances. He delivers the poor from the
plunderer. There I was in the snare of the devil, having
been taken captive by him to do his will. I was in bondage
to Satan and he was plundering me for everything that I was
and that I had. And none could come to save me
out of Satan's snare and out of his grip. One day I heard
a banging on the door and the door was broken down and one
stepped in. He says, my name is Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, son of God. And the spirit of Jehovah is
upon me, for he has sent me to deliver the captives and to announce
the year of freedom to the Lord's people. You, Moose Parks, you're
one of mine. You ready to go? Lord, I have
been plundered enough in this place. I have been here, none
can deliver. You say the word and I'm coming.
But I must tell you, Satan will not let me go easily. And the
Lord says, yes, he will. I've already tied him up too.
I've tied him up, and now I have come to rob the strong man of
his goods. He has come and overpowered my
keeper, my jailer, my prison keeper. He has overpowered him,
and now he comes to deliver. I have come to deliver the captive
out of his prison. Oh, there is none like him. No
other God ever delivered me, and none could. They cannot deliver
themselves, much less how can they deliver me. Jehovah is incomparable
in the deliverances, delivering the poor from him who is too
strong for him, and yes, the poor and the needy from him who
plunders him. Sixth, Jehovah is incomparable in righteousness. Locate the 71st Psalm, Psalm
number 71. He is incomparable in righteousness. In verse number 19, we read,
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who has done great
things. Oh God, who is like unto thee? There is that question again.
Who is like Jehovah? In what way? His righteousness
is high. What is his righteousness? Jesus
Christ. And what is higher and more exalted
than he? Thy righteousness is very high. Furthermore, he's righteous in
everything that he does. It's an interesting thing that
When the heathens speak of their gods, they don't talk too much
about the salvation of the soul. The salvation of which they usually
speak is of temperable earthly things. But then again, they
cannot speak of any other kind of salvation because their god
has no righteousness with which to do it. I mean, righteousness. He who justifies the ungodly
and condemns the innocent is an abomination to the Lord. How
can a God of a heathen take an ungodly man and declare him to
be righteous and still be righteous? How can he do that? Jehovah is the only God who can
be just and yet the justifier of sinners like you and me. How
does he do it? Through Christ his righteousness.
Taking my place, my sin laid upon Christ, who is Jehovah my
righteousness, and his righteousness imputed to me, so that now God
can be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus,
who is a God like that in righteousness. Even the God of the Armenian
and the Pelagian cannot come close to this. They say, well,
God in righteousness has let his son be the propitiation and
the mediator and the sin bearer of all the human race. Oh, how
righteous that was, they say. Tell me this. If you don't trust
in that God, what happens? Oh, he'll punish you for your
sins. I thought they already were punished. God will punish
sins twice. Folks, that is an unrighteous
God and an unrighteous God is not truly God. This God is great
in righteousness. He and he alone can find wretched
sinners like you and make them righteous and still be righteous. Now, who is a God like you? Great
in righteousness. Seventh, Jehovah is incomparable
in works. Locate the 86th Psalm. Psalm number 86. Jehovah is incomparable in works. Verse 8. Among the gods, there
is none like unto thee, O Lord. Neither are there any works like
unto thy works. Verse 10, for thou art great
and doest wondrous things. Thou art God alone. All his works,
all the works of God may be classified under three sorts, creation,
providence, salvation, creation. Consider it, folks. He created
everything. out of things which did not appear,
spoke them into existence, and got it perfectly right the first
time and never had to repeat anything. What an awesome work is that
providence, providence, providing and preserving His creation.
This earth has been here for a few thousand years. In all
those years, Winter was never followed by
fall. Never. In all those years, thousands
of years, these millennia, the Lord has seen to it that spring
was followed by summer, followed by fall, and followed by winter,
and it never reversed nor changed in any way. The shoreline and
the winds. The Lord says, hitherto shalt
thou come and no further. He controls the weather. Salvation. We'll talk about that in a moment.
But in all of these works, what God ever did such a thing as
that, causing the sun and the moon to come up at times that
are so precise, we can know a hundred years in advance when the sun's
going to come up on this day, a hundred years from now. We
can figure it out, because this God is wondrous in his works.
Eighth, Jehovah is incomparable in strength. The 89th Psalm. Psalm number 89. Verse eight. Oh, Lord, God of hosts, who is
a strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round
about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the
sea. When the waves thereof arise,
thou stillest them. Did not our Lord do that one
night on the Sea of Galilee? Said to the wind, you quit blowing. And he said to the sea, you be
still. And it was. Thou hast broken
Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. Rahab is not the woman
of Jericho. Rather, Rahab here is a Hebrew
word meaning pride. God breaks pride. It is his enemy. He breaks it and scatters it
with his strong arm. The heavens are thine, the earth
also is thine. As for the world and the fullness
thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south thou
hast created them. Tabor and Hermod shall rejoice
in thy name. Watch this. Thou hast a mighty
arm, and strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. Notice,
a mighty arm and a strong hand. And the right hand is lifted
up. Who lifts his right hand? The winner always does. The winner always does. When
two teams have played a basketball game or a football game and you
want to know which team won without looking at the scoreboard, look
at the ones that have their hands in the air. They won. They won. With a high hand and an outstretched
arm, he delivered Israel. And that same arm delivers me.
because he's incomparable in strength. His arm will move and
it will save. Ninth, Jehovah is incomparable
in condescension to the needy. Psalm 113, the 113th Psalm. The
113th Psalm. Verse five. Who is like unto the Lord, our
God, who dwelleth on high? But what's this now? Who ombleth
himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the
earth! Exclamation point. Here's a God
who ombles himself to behold things in the earth. And what
does he do? He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifteth
the needy out of the dunghill. that he may set him with princes
even with the princes of his people. A God who condescends? A God who humbles himself? Where'd
you find that among the gods? The gods of the heathen are said
to be trying to teach us how to get up to them. Jehovah comes
down to those who cannot come up to him. He humbled himself
in Jesus Christ. The Son of God humbled himself
and came to earth. And why did he do that? He went
over to the dung pile where I was and pulled me out. Out of the
dust heap where I was and pulled me out. Washed me off from all
my filth. And set me on a throne to be
a prince. He humbled himself to do that.
He humbled himself to come to me when I could not go to him. Who is a God like this, who humbles
himself to save the poor and the needy, and condescends to
those in need? He grants the barren woman a
home, like a joyful mother of children, praise Jehovah. Tenth,
he is incomparable in wisdom, according to Jeremiah chapter
10. Jeremiah chapter 10. Verse 6, for as much as there is none
like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great, and thy name is great
in might. Who would not fear the old king
of nations? For to thee doth it appertain.
Why? For as much as among all the
wise men of the nations, and note that the word men is an
italics, include their gods as well, among all the wise of the
nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto thee.
No god has wisdom like Jehovah. What is his wisdom? Jesus Christ
is made unto us wisdom from God. makes us wise unto salvation. Among the gods, there is none
like him in all his wisdom. And then last, locate the prophecy
of Micah, chapter 7. One more thing. Now, we've been
looking at these somewhat chronologically through the scriptures. We have
now reached an appropriate place who is like him in salvation. Micah chapter 7. Verse 16. The nation shall see and be confounded
at all their might. They shall lay their hand upon
their mouth and their ears shall be deaf because their gods could
not deliver them. They shall lick the dust like
a serpent. They shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth. They should be afraid of the
Lord our God and shall fear because of thee. Now watch. Who is a
God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? What does that mean? He takes your iniquity off of
you, puts it on his son, and his son bears it away. into a
world in this world never be seen again. And God says, you're
pardoned. You're pardoned. All your iniquities. Watch this. Verse 18 again. He is passing over transgression. He does not charge me with my
sin. He has not imputed iniquity unto
me. What God ever did that was able
to pass over my transgression. He does not retain his anger
forever. Why? Because he delights in mercy. He delights in mercy. He delights
in giving to me what I do not deserve. Where is a God like
that? He will again have compassion on us. Why? His compassions fail
not. They're new every morning. He
will subdue our iniquities. The phrase means he considers
our iniquities his enemy and he subdues and plunders them.
He'll cast all our sins into the midst of the sea. Scriptures
say he takes our sins and throws them behind his back. As far
as the east is from the west, which is an immeasurable distance. You can measure north or south.
You cannot measure east or west. They go so far that the distance
cannot be measured. They land in the sea. They sink
to the bottom of the sea. No one can find them. And then
the Lord says, and I forget them. I forgot them. And you'll give
truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham. What is his truth? Jesus Christ. I am the truth. What is his mercy? He has fulfilled the mercy promised
to our fathers in giving unto us Jesus Christ. Larry Brown,
you brought that to my attention when Hawker's Dictionary was
published. And you said, look up the word mercy, and there
it was. Christ is the mercy. Now, who is a God like this?
Great God of wonders, all thy ways are matchless, perfect, and divine.
And who is a pardoning God like thee? Or who has grace so rich
and free? None like Him. No, not one. Oh God, our Father, help us to be rid of all our
idols and to trust in You alone, for
You alone are worthy. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.