I want you, if you will, to just
hold your Bibles open on your laps at Isaiah 45, verses 20
through 25. And I want to tell you how things
are going to be when God gets done. Here in these verses of
Scripture, the Lord God Himself speaks to sinners and tells us
who He is, what He has determined to do, what the end result of
all things shall be, and how we may be saved by His grace. First, in verse 20, we have God's
description of all lost religious men. Now, I'm giving you God's
description of things tonight, not mine, not those of the Baptist
Church, or not those of this group or that group. The creeds
are meaningless except in light of Holy Scripture. Historic precedent
is meaningless except in light of Holy Scripture. We bow our
reason and all the creeds and confessions of men to what the
Scripture says. Now here is God's description
of all lost religious men. He says in verse 20 that those
who worship at the altar of a God who cannot save have no knowledge. Look at it for yourself. God
says, assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together ye that
are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge, underscore
those two words, no knowledge that set up the wood of their
graven image and pray unto a God that cannot save. Now they don't
think they're praying to a God who cannot save, otherwise they
wouldn't pray to him. They imagine in their hearts
that their God's just as powerful as anybody else's, or more so.
But God says they pray to a God that cannot save, and those who
do have absolutely no knowledge. Now all men and women by nature,
by God's creative act, are religious. Everyone has some kind of religion,
some concept of God, and some form of religious faith and hope,
even those who claim to be atheists. The fact is, most people are
very religious. I don't suggest for a moment
that they're spiritual. I don't suggest or think for
a second that they are saved. But most people are very religious. Your family and mine, your friends
and mine, folks you work with, folks you meet on the streets,
folks you go to school with, they are people who are very,
very religious. The vast majority of those we
meet, even those who don't darken a church door more than maybe
on Easter Sunday the day before or after Christmas, maybe a New
Year's Eve service or sunrise service. Even they are very,
very religious people. Our Lord speaks plainly and tells
us that most people in this world have entered in at the wide gate
and walk in the broad way that leads to destruction. We're told
twice in the book of Proverbs that they have entered into and
walk in a way that seemeth right unto a man. But the ends thereof
are the ways of death. Now the wise man by divine inspiration
speaks of a way that seems right, and an end, the specific end. And it says concerning those
things that the way and the end thereof are the ways, plural,
of death. Now, he didn't make a grammatical
error. He was using his words precisely and by inspiration. Because all the ways of the religious
world, whether you talk about the Baptist way, the Protestant
way, the Papist way, the Buddhist way, it doesn't matter. All the
ways of men in this world are the ways of death, and they're
all the same way. They're all the way of man. They
are the way of free will. They are the way of works. They
are the way that seems right unto a man. Now, in this 20th
verse, God tells us three things about all lost, unregenerate
religious people. First, he says they have no knowledge. He doesn't say they have a little
knowledge, but are just slightly misguided. He doesn't say they
have some knowledge, but not perfect knowledge. He says they
have no knowledge. Lost, unregenerate religious
people have absolutely no spiritual knowledge. And they display their
ignorance blatantly almost every time they open their mouths.
Just listen to folks. When they talk about spiritual
things, you think, where on earth did you get that nutty idea?
But what makes you think like that? But all men say about the
same thing. They have absolutely no spiritual
knowledge, no understanding whatsoever. You see, in order for a person
to know anything spiritual, in order for a person to have any
spiritual perception, any spiritual, I didn't say doctrinal, I said
spiritual, in order for a person to have any spiritual understanding,
he must be born again. Our Lord had Nicodemus come to
him by night. Now, Nicodemus was not a peanut. Nicodemus, he wasn't an uneducated,
illiterate fellow who didn't know what was going on. Nicodemus
was a brilliant man. He was a theologian and a teacher
of theologians. Nicodemus, he was up there in
the highest echelon of respectability in the Jewish church and kingdom.
And this man Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus and he thought
he'd be very complimentary. He said, he said, good master,
we know thou art a teacher come from God for no man could do
these miracles thou doest except God be with him. What he didn't
understand is he wasn't a teacher come from God. He was God come
to teach. Nicodemus didn't know anything. And our Lord's first
word to him was Nicodemus, you don't know anything. That was
his very first word. He said, now Nicodemus, you've
come to me, and you've come presuming that you are a teacher in Israel,
and I want you to understand first thing out of the chute
that you have absolutely no knowledge at all. He said, except a man
be born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. Can't see it. Can't see it. And he's not talking
about physical sight because the kingdom of God is not a physical
thing. He's talking about spiritual perception. You take a blind
man out on a brilliant, brilliant day and turn his face toward
the sun and tell him now, open your eyes. And he opens his eyes. And you say, can't you see? He
said, no, man, I'm blind. I can't say it. Now he may have
lots of notions and ideas about what the sun is. He may have
lots of notions and ideas, even be well trained scientifically
and have some perception of all the gases that make up the sun.
But he's never seen it and he can't see it because he's blind. Now you understand what I'm saying?
No? It doesn't matter what I'm saying. Understand what God says
here in his book. They have no knowledge. Hold your hands here and turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse
14. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. You wonder why you talk to folks
about election, predestination, God's sovereignty, effectual
atonement. You tell them about how Christ
put away sin and you're just excited about it and they look
at you like, huh, what's so great about that? How come? The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for there foolishness to it.
Neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.
Verse 15, but he that is spiritual judge it. The word Rex is discerning. He that is spiritual discerns
all things, yet he himself is discerned of no man. Nobody understands
him. He's judged of no man. For who
hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct to him?
But we have the mind of Christ. Now it doesn't matter how religious
people are. It doesn't matter how long they
studied the Bible or studied what men say about the Bible.
It doesn't matter how much experience they have or how phenomenal their
experience is. The natural unregenerate man
has no knowledge of himself. None. He has no idea what he
is. He has no idea what he's capable
of. He has no idea of the corruption
that's in him. He has no understanding of sin.
He understands sin by checklist. You know, he reads the commandments
and he says, now, breaking these is sin. Breaking those is the
fruit of sin. I wish we could learn that. It
is sin, sure enough, but the problem is not in the deed. The problem is in what we are.
Sin is what's in us. Sin is not what we say. Sin is
not what we do. Sin is what we are. And the reason
we do the vile things we do and say the vile things we say is
because that's what we are. The natural man has no understanding
of righteousness. He has no comprehension. of what
righteousness is, particularly the righteousness of God. He
has absolutely no understanding of salvation. He doesn't understand
how God saves sinners. This is the reason the Lord said
to his disciples and to us, he says, when he, the spirit of
truth has come, whenever he comes, when the spirit of truth comes
to a sinner like Sammy Walls, sitting right back there, or
like Larry Criss, or like Don Ford, When the spirit of truth
comes, now you get religion without this. You can get all kinds of
religion without this. But when God the Holy Spirit
comes into your heart, he's going to convince you of sin. Yours. What you are. What you are. And you'll quit talking about,
you know, who I used to be and I used to do. You'll understand
what you are. God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's the prayer of one convinced
of his sin. If we confess our sin, open up our hearts before
God and acknowledge what we are, He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And He will
convince you of righteousness. Not yours, but His. He'll convince
you of righteousness accomplished. The righteousness of God in Jesus
Christ the Lord. The righteousness of God is that
which was accomplished for sinners by the substitutionary sacrifice
of God's Son. And He'll convince you of judgment.
And that judgment is judgment accomplished. It's not a matter
He's going to convince you of judgment to come. Now, certainly
that's so. But Mark, you were born with
that. You're born with that. Every man's born with a sense
of judgment to come. Read Romans chapter 2. God stamped
it on your conscience. That's the reason folks are willing
to sacrifice their babies in barbarian lands and worship in
pagan gods because they know there's judgment to come. But
the believer, the man who's taught of God, he's convinced of his
sin, of God's righteousness in Christ, and God's final, complete
judgment of sin in his son, the Lord Jesus at Calvary. so that
God has put away my sin. And that's the thing that gives
us peace. We are sin. He is righteousness. He has put away our sin and brought
in righteousness for us. Then our Lord tells us here,
they set up the wood of their graven image. They worship a
God that they have whittled out of the dark forest of their own
depraved minds. Now, Turn to Romans chapter 1.
Romans chapter 1. I want you to see this. Romans
1 verse 21. Paul's talking about the result
of reprobation as well as the cause. He says in verse 21, because
that when they knew God, that is when they had a perception
of God stamped on their minds and consciences, seeing the power
of God in creation and seeing the righteousness of God in some
measure stamped because of the law written on their hearts.
When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Neither were
thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish
heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise. They became
fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image made like unto corruptible man. Now, if ever there were
words that describe the age in which we live, that's it. That's
it. I know that the refined, civilized,
educated people to whom I preach around the country and across
the world Don't worship images carved out of tree stumps. I
have yet to meet anyone personally who worships a stone. They don't
worship images chiseled out of granite. Do any of your neighbors
have images of some kind of an imaginary God chiseled out of
granite, polished up, sitting in their living room? I don't
know anybody who does. They don't worship images that
are molded even from gold and silver. And yet most people in
Baptist churches, as well as all others without exception,
in this country and around the world, worship a little peanut
God, which they have whittled from the dark forest of their
depraved imaginations, a God who no more resembles the God
of the Bible than a gnat, a worthless God. He's a God who cannot save. Read the next line. They worship,
serve, and pray unto a God that cannot save. Now, that's the
problem. That's the problem with this
religious generation. They pray unto a God that cannot
save. Now, let me show you what I'm
talking about. You're familiar with that passage in 1 Timothy 3, or 2
Timothy 3, verse 5. when Paul describes these perilous
times in which we now live, and he tells us in verse 5 concerning
this religious age, this rebellious, chaotic religious age, this religious
age that has no sense of responsibility, no sense of commitment. You can't
trust anything anybody says. And he's not talking now about
the fellows out in the road. He's talking, Paul, about religious
people. And he says this in verse 5. They have a form of godliness. They go to church, read the Bible,
some of them wear robes, some of them wear collars, some of
them wear crosses, some of them don't. Some of them have stained glass
windows, some of them don't. Some of them have altars, some of
them don't. Some of them have laws and ceremonies and rituals,
some of them don't. But they go to their various
places of worship. They have a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof. They deny the very essence of
it, for they deny the power of God. This is what our Lord said
to the Jewish leaders of His day. He said, you do err not
knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. Now that's the
problem with this age. This is what I say concerning
this religious world in which we live. Arminian, free will,
works religion does not know God nor the power of God. Not
the word of God nor his power. When we talk about the power
of God here, it's not talking about omnipotence. Oh, no, no,
no, no, no. It's talking about the gospel
of God, which is the power of God to salvation. The Apostle
Paul tells us that the religious age in which we live, those who
preach up another gospel are preaching another God, another
Jesus, another spirit, and another salvation. People tell me all
the time, but they preach from the Bible. Do you reckon really,
now just stop and think about it. Do you reckon that if Satan
really wanted to deceive you, I mean if he was really out to
get you, he'd get a book here and put on its skull and crossbones,
and he'd stand up here with a long red tail and a pitchfork and
say, I'm here to deceive you. Oh no, no, no, no. No, his ministers
become an angel of light and preachers of righteousness. Only
thing is they preach your righteousness, not God's. and they preach your
life, not Christ. You understand what I'm saying?
They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power of it.
Now, this is what that means. A form of godliness says God
wants to save everybody. Denying the power of it says
he can't save anybody unless you let him. A form of godliness
says God has a wonderful plan for your life. Denying the power
of it says you have to let him have his way with you. A form
of godliness says Christ died on the cross to put away your
sins, but it's all in vain unless you do something. That denies
the power of it. A form of godliness says the
Holy Spirit knocks at the heart's door of every sinner wanting
to come in and bring salvation. Denying the power of it says
you have to open the door. All of these silly, idolatrous
religious pictures, supposed to be pictures of Jesus, you
know, they all make him look like something, you know, limp-wristed
and sissified, almost homosexual-looking thing, long-haired, pretty-faced
thing, and they've got him with all kinds of pictures. But the
most silly, absurd one I've seen yet is that one supposed to be
Christ standing at the heart's door. You ever observe it? There
he stands. Somebody told me one time, said,
now you have to look closer at the picture. Here he is. He's supposed to be the light
of the world and he's holding a lantern. That's nuts to begin with. Then
I said, you notice there's no knob on the outside because you
have to open the door from the inside. He's God who creates
the heart. He can't get in. Oh no, when
the Son of God comes in, He knocks the door down, bolt and bar,
and he brings his welcome with him. First time you know he's
there, you're crying out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.
But he's already inside when that happens. You throw the door
open. Yes, indeed. But it's because
he threw it open. He brought himself in. But what
are we to do with such people? The apostle says, from such turn
away. A God that cannot save is no
God at all. And if you worship such a God,
you're not saved. If your mama worships such a
God, she's not saved. If your sons and daughters worship
such a God, they're not saved. Anybody who worships a God who
cannot save is not saved. Now that's just plain as it can
be. Now look at Isaiah 45 and verse 21. Here we see God's description
of God. Well, who is God? He who is God
indeed. is sovereign, just, and saving. Tell ye, bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me, a just
God and a Savior? There is none beside me. Now what does the Lord tell us
here? This is how God declares who God is. Whoever and whatever
God is, He has an absolute purpose. A purpose. A purpose which cannot
be turned down. a purpose which cannot be stopped,
a purpose which cannot be hindered, a purpose that sure can't be
defeated, a purpose that can't be changed. It's an absolute
purpose. He who is God indeed tells us
in the opening of this 21st verse that he challenges me and to
bring all their peanut gods, bring them all together, let
them all take counsel together. Let me put it in language you
can't possibly misunderstand. I was preaching Matter of fact,
I was preaching pretty much the same message that I prepared
to preach to you tonight last Thursday night in San Jose and
as a fellow sitting right down here on front row and he got
to hooping and hollering acting kind of funny and But he acted
like he was just tickled death everything I said and preach
it brother preach it brother After service is over. He came
out made great comments. I sit and had listening good
waiting and Everything I said there just it either flew right
over his head or right through his ears and didn't stop on the
way Didn't slow down. He didn't hear a thing. I said
last word. He said to me. So I'm a Pentecostal preacher
teacher Well, let me be so clear, even
Pentecostal get it. This is what I'm saying. You
gather all the gods of men in Danville, Kentucky together.
I don't care whether they're Russellite or whether they're
Romanist. I don't care whether they're Baptist or whether they're
Methodist. I don't care whether they're Pentecostal or whether
they're Presbyterian. Gather them all together, every one of them.
Find me one. in the whole bunch who has declared
absolutely, unequivocably, unchangeably, from eternity what's going to
happen in time. Find me one. Find that one, Larry. You found God. You found God. This is what he says in Isaiah
14. Satan said, I'll be as the most
high God. I'm going to lift myself up and
boy, you're going to watch out for me. This was God's response
to Satan. The Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. As
I have purposed, so shall it stand. The Lord of hosts has
purposed. Who shall disavow it? And his
hand is stretched out. Who can turn it back? Turn over
one page to Isaiah 46. Look at what it says. Verse 10,
God says, I'm God, there's none like me. In verse 10, he says,
here he is. This is what I mean when I say
I'm God. I declare the end from the beginning. And from ancient
times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall
stand, I will do all my pleasure. That ought to put an end to saying
God wants to do what he can't do. I will do all my pleasure.
My counsel will stand. What I purposed, I'll bring to
pass. He says in verse 11, calling a ravenous bird from the east,
a man that executed my counsel from a far country. Yeah, I've
spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I purposed it. I will also do it. All right,
look at this. He who truly is God has got an
absolute purpose and he's the boss. He's Lord. He says, I am the Lord. Everywhere, over everybody, forever. I'm the Lord. I'm the Lord. Look
in Isaiah 45 verse 12. Just look at this one. He says,
I made the earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands,
have stretched out the heavens. All their host have I commanded. Whatever yonder in the heavens,
I commanded it. Look in verse 5, I am the Lord,
there's none else. He says in verse 6, it's concerning
Cyrus, he said, I girded you. Now he said, I did it for this,
that they may know so that everybody topside of the earth may know
from the rising of the sun and from the west, there is none
beside me. I'm the Lord and there is none
else. Here's the Lord God, I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace. And I create evil. Behold, I,
the Lord, do all these things. He who is God is absolutely in
control of everybody and everything. Absolutely. And he who is God
is the solitary God of the universe. He's God alone. He said, He said,
I am God. And beside me, there is none
else. There's none else. There's no
one up here with me. I'm God all by myself. Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Now most people these days are
really pantheist or polytheist. They really believe that God
is in everything and everybody. They believe that just about
every man's notion of God really is God. Be it Buddhist, Mohammedan,
Jewish, Papist, Mormon, Islam, it doesn't matter. Barbarians,
whatever. Whatever notion you have of God's all right, God
will accept that. In this educated society of ours, we have these
folks who worship Mother Earth. Everybody worships Mother Earth.
Commercials on television talk about Mother Earth. Because everybody's
convinced everything came from Mother Earth. Let me tell you
something, Mother Earth came from God Almighty, and He's in
control of Mother Earth. She's not the mother of anything.
This Earth is not God, but the creature of God, His creation. And when He gets done with it,
He's gonna burn it up. He who is God is a just God. Look at it. Much could and should
be said about God's justice, but I'll just say these two things.
He says, I am a just God. That means I'm a God who must
and shall punish sin, because I have said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. And that means I am a God who
cannot save sinners apart from the satisfaction of justice,
for by mercy and by truth, iniquity is purged, but not in any other
way. I will pardon iniquity, transgression,
and sin only, however, in a way that is consistent with justice,
and that is through the substitutionary sacrifice of God's own Son. And he who is God, why, he's
the Savior. Look at it. He says, I am a just
God and a Savior. Blessed be his name. Now, look
at God's description of salvation. I listen to preaching. I try
my best to listen without a critical ear, but so much of the time
people You know, they make simple things so complicated by confusing
things with noise. They make things so... Just plain, those on your face
seem to be such deep, deep abysses of mysteries you can't possibly
understand them. And such it is with faith. Most of the things
I read about faith could be said a whole lot better in this one
sentence in Isaiah 45, 22. The only way a sinner can ever
be saved is by looking to this great and glorious God who reveals
himself in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, look unto
me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and
there is none else. Salvation is in Christ. He alone is the Savior of men.
And the only way you can get God's salvation is looking to
him. Well, what does it mean to look?
That's a mighty dumb question. I mean, it's dumb. Who doesn't
know what it means to look? You know how a baby looks to
its mama? Mama's holding that infant child
on her breast. And just as soon as that baby
opens its mouth and the breast is exposed, that baby looks to
mama for everything and takes what she has. Looks to her. You
know how a wife looks to her husband? You know how a family
looks to a father? You just look to them. You look
to them, you trust them. Daddy'll take care of it. Daddy
knows what's going on. Daddy'll provide for us. Daddy'll
protect us. A family just looks to daddy
for everything. Look to Christ just like that. That's what it
is. Israel was bidden, look to the serpent held up on the pole.
Moses was commanded of God to make a serpent of brass and stick
it up on a pole. That's just exactly what preachers
are, just poles. And they're useful for only one
thing, holding up Christ crucified. And when they get involved in
anything else, they're out of line. They're in the wrong place and
in the wrong business. What do we do? Hold him up, say, look.
And every sinner in Israel who had been bitten of the fiery
serpents, no matter how far off he was, No matter how dim his
vision, no matter how little he saw, no matter how little
he understood, no matter how much he understood, no matter
how clearly he saw, as soon as he looked, immediately. And I'm telling you that every
sinner in the world who looks to this God revealed in Christ,
immediately he's saved by God's free grace. That's what it is
to believe on him. Look to Christ now. Look to Christ
always. Look to Christ forever. Look
to Christ for everything. God help you to look for Christ's
sake. Amen.