Would you turn back to Isaiah,
chapter 45. In verse 19 of Isaiah, chapter 45. God says. I have not spoken in
secret. In a dark place of the earth.
I said not under the seat of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. There is no one, whoever they
may be, who seeks the Lord in vain. If you seek the Lord, you
will find him. And that's his promise. No one
ever seeks him in vain. And somebody says, I sought him
and I've not found him. Well, who do you expect me to
believe, you or God? If God said nobody seeks me in
vain, nobody seeks me in vain. If you sought him and not found
him, you not really sought him. But everybody who seeks him finds
him. The Lord said, ask and you shall
receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
to you. He didn't say, seek ye me in
vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Everything He says is right. Verse 20. Assemble yourselves. You know,
that's what we're doing right now. A called out assembly. The scripture
says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the
manner of some is, but exhort one another daily. You see, the
Lord promised. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name. Isn't that what a public assembly
is? Any number more than one. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them." Now, the
Lord promises He's here. Never underestimate the importance
of the assembling of ourselves together. Christ is here. Every
time? Every time. Every time His gospel
is preached, He's here. And if He's here, you know what?
I want to be here. I want to be wherever he is. Now, he says, assemble yourselves
and come. Draw near together you that are
escaped of the nations. And this is a description of
every believer. He's somebody who's escaped from the world.
The Lord has enabled him to do it. He was in the vice grip of
the world and the Lord caused him to escape. You think when
you go to work tomorrow, How many of the people of the year
around love the Lord Jesus Christ? How many of them know God? Probably
very few, very few. You've escaped from nations.
Didn't David say, save yourself? I mean, Peter say on the day
of Pentecost, save yourselves from this untoward generation. You've escaped from the nations. And look what he says next in
verse 20. They have no knowledge. They have no understanding, none,
that set up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a
God that cannot save. Look back in Isaiah chapter 44,
beginning in verse 9. Now a graven image, an idol,
a statue, or any false idea, any false imagination of God,
anything that's not contrary to the scriptures. Doesn't matter
whether it's a material idol or whether it's a mental conception. Idolatry is idolatry. Now look
what he says about this. Verse 9. They that make a graven
image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall
not profit. And they are their own witnesses, they see not,
nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or a molten,
a graven image, that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his
fellows shall be ashamed, and the workmen thereof men. Let
them all be gathered together, let them stand up, yea, let,
yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. The
smith with the tongs worketh in the coals, and fashioneth
with hammers. He worketh it with the strength of his arms. Yea,
he is hungry, and his strength fails. He drinks no water, and
he is faint. The carpenter stretches out his
rule. He marks it out with a line. He fits it with planes. He marks
it out with a compass, and marks it after the figure of a man,
according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak,
which he strengthened for himself among the trees of the forest.
He planted an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it
be for a man to burn. For he will take thereof, and
warm himself. Yea, he kindleth, and baketh bread. Yea, he makes
a god." You see what he does? He uses this wood to warm himself,
to make himself something to eat, and to make him a god. All
out of the same tree. And worshipeth it. and maketh
a graven image, and falleth down thereto, he burneth part thereof
in the fire, with part thereof he eats flesh, he roasts roast,
and is satisfied, yea, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am
warm, and I have seen the fire, and the residue thereof he makes
a God, even his graven image, and he falleth down to it, and
worships it, and prayeth unto it, and says, Delivered me, for
thou art my God. They've not known nor understood,
for he has shut their eyes that they can't see, and their hearts
that they can't understand. And none considers in his heart,
neither is there any knowledge nor understanding, to say, I
burned part of it in the fire, yea, also I baked bread upon
the coals thereof, I've roasted flesh and eaten it, and shall
I shall make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall
down to the stalk of a tree? He feeds on ashes. A deceived
heart hath turned aside that he can't deliver his soul, nor
say is there not a lie. In my right hand, you see the
folly of idolatry. And back to Isaiah 45. He says
they have no knowledge, verse 20, that set up the wood of their
graven image and pray unto a God that cannot save. Now listen real carefully. A God that can't save me. unless I do something first to
enable him to save me, is a God that cannot save. It's a false
God. It's not the God of the Bible. If I believe in a God who can't
save me unless I do something first that renders him able to
save me, I'm praying unto a God that cannot save. You know, all
you got to do is believe in free will and you believe in a God
that cannot save. A God that can't violate your free will
and can't save you unless you allow him to? That is a God that
cannot save. And a God that cannot save, cannot
save. He can't do you any good whatsoever. And they have no knowledge, absolutely
no knowledge, no true spiritual understanding, no spiritual knowledge
to pray unto a God that cannot say, verse 21, Tell ye and bring
them near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? This has always been the
message. Who hath told it from that time? Had not I, the Lord?
And there's no God else beside me, a just God, the Savior. There's none beside me. Now,
this has always been the message. Look at Isaiah chapter 45, verse
5. He says, I am the Lord. And there's none else. There
is no God beside me, there's nobody even comparing to. Who
are you going to compare God to? Any comparison you make to
God is a wrong comparison. He's altogether above us. Who
are you going to compare me to? He said, I'm the Lord. There's none else. There's no
God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me,
that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west
that there's none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. You know, I love to read that
passage of scripture and just let it alone. What's it mean?
Exactly what it says. He's in absolute control. This
is the God. There's none beside Him. Now, I love the way he calls
himself. There's no God else beside me.
Verse 21, a just God. And the Savior. Now, there's
not a more important statement in all the word of God than right
here. He's a just God. He's a just God. and a Savior. First, a just God, absolutely
righteous, absolutely just. There's no iniquity in Him. There's
no shadow of turning in Him. There's no darkness in Him. He's
absolutely, immutably just. All sin must be punished. You believe that? He would no
longer be just if one single sin was left unpunished. That's
the God of the Bible, a just God. He said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. And did you hear that statement?
Under no circumstances whatsoever, God says, I will by no means
At no time will I clear somebody that's guilty. If you're guilty,
you must be condemned. God is absolutely just and absolutely
righteous, and He will not save a sinner at the expense of his
justice. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. All sin must be punished. And
that's what we're talking about when we're talking about what
the Bible's talking about when it's talking about a just God.
He's absolutely just. You know, the gospel is a message
of how God can be just. And justify somebody who's unjust. That's the very theme and nature
of the gospel of God's grace. It's about how God can be just
and yet justify the ungodly. And, you know, I become more
thrilled and more amazed at this message. How God can be just,
absolutely just, and yet justify somebody like me when I know
in and of myself I'm not just, but God makes me just so that
I am just and that I am righteous before His holiness. Now, I'm
more amazed, I'm more thrilled with this message than I've ever
been. How God can be just and justify the ungodly. Turn to
Romans 3. A just God and a Savior. A lot of people talk about him
being a savior, but they leave out this part of him being a
just God. He's first a just God and then a savior. Romans chapter
three. Verse 19. Now we know. That what things soever the law
saith. It saith to them who are under
the law. That every mouth may be stopped.
And all the world may become guilty before God. Now, that verse clearly sets
forth our state before God. Guilty. No attempt at proving
God's existence. God is. No attempt at proving
there's a heaven or proving there's a hell. Deep down, everybody
knows that innately. It tells our state before God. Guilty. Verse 20, therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Is there
anything we can do to change that state? No. No, not a thing. Well, does that mean there's
no hope? Verse 21, but now. The righteousness of God without
the law, without my personal physical obedience to the law,
is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
This is what the Old Testament Scripture teaches. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith, by the faithfulness, by the obedience
of Jesus Christ, Unto all, and upon all them that believe."
Who's this for? Them that believe. For there's
no difference between men. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified. Declared by God to
be just, freely, without a cause in me, by His grace, through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation. Now, what's that big word mean?
It means when the Lord died on Calvary's tree, he removed God's
reason for anger. He removed the sin, and now God
says there are sins and iniquities. I will remember no more. Do you find that attractive?
That God would look at you and say, what sin? There's nothing
there. Nothing there to remember. That's what propitiation means. He removed the reason for anger. whom God set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness. Not
to declare his mercy, although we see that not to declare his
love, though we see that not to declare his grace, though
we see it, but to declare his righteousness. For the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness. that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." A just God and a Savior. And let's go back to Isaiah chapter
45. God's justice and righteousness
is magnified in the Gospel. Yes, His grace is magnified.
Yes, His love is magnified. Yes, His mercy is magnified.
Aren't you thankful for that? But what is the word the Scripture
uses? That His righteousness is magnified. He's a just God,
and thank God He's a just God, and He is a Savior. Isaiah 45, 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved. Now, this is a command. This
is not an invitation. This is not good advice. This
is a command. You and I are commanded. Look! Do I have a right to look? Yes, you do. You're right, comes
with his command. But this is also a promise. Look unto me and be ye saved. Now, here's a command. You look.
And this is a command regarding the salvation of those who look. If you're saved, it's because
he commanded you to be saved. Look unto me and be ye saved.
That's a command of God. But it's also a promise. You
look. You will be saved. Now, let's consider the person
he commands us to look to. Look unto me. Not look to your church. Not
look to your preacher. Not look to your priest. Not
certainly don't look to yourself. Look unto me. Now, the one thing that qualifies. You and I to look to Christ. Is to have no qualifications.
That's the only thing that qualifies you. If you have something about
you that renders you worthy to look. You have no right to look
your qualifications alive. But if you have absolutely no
qualification in and of yourself. You're the one that's commanded
to look. Look unto Me. Now, your righteousness, your
personal righteousness will keep you from looking to Him. As long
as you have any personal righteousness, you will not look to Him. But if you have no personal righteousness,
Would that be you? Would that describe you? No personal
righteousness. Then you are commanded to look,
to look to hear, hear him cry, it is finished. Look to him. Now, the means of salvation is
look unto me. And be ye Say, men complicate
things. Religion is so complicated. Do
this, do that. And then whatever it is you do,
you don't know if it's enough. You're wondering if you've done
the right thing. It's so complicated. They give you a thousand different
things to do. But there's only one thing I'm called on to do.
And it's so simple. Look, a four letter word, two
of the words are the same. Look, look unto me and be ye
saved. Now, what does it mean to look?
Well, turn to Numbers 21. I could probably try to come
up with all kinds of illustrations, but the Bible gives us an illustration.
We don't have to use a human illustration. This is God's illustration. Number 21, Numbers 21. And they journeyed, verse four,
and they journeyed from Amhor by the way of the Red Sea to
compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much
discouraged. because of the way? And the people
spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore had you brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is
no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth
this light bread. That manna that came down from
heaven is now light bread. It is not substantial. It is not enough. We hate it. Verse 6, And the Lord sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And
much people of Israel died. Now, I suppose they're a lot
like us, afraid of snakes. I can't stand to look at a snake
even now. I mean, they're creepy. And can you imagine having a
bunch of snakes coming in your home, biting people? They were
slithering all over the place. You couldn't escape from them.
And much people died. And there wasn't anything they
could do about it. Can you imagine the horror in the camp of Israel
at this time? Verse 7, Therefore, the people
came to Moses and said, We've sinned, for we've spoken against
the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. You know, when I pray regarding
my sin, Lord, take it away, take away the sin, take away the consequences
of it, take it away, remove it, take these serpents away. And
Moses prayed to the people, verse eight, and the Lord said unto
Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it
shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looks
upon That's all that's said when he
looks upon it. She'll live. And Moses made a
serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that
if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of
brass, he lived. Now, they didn't look at their
wounds. They didn't look at Moses. They looked at the serpent. And
everyone who looked upon the serpent lived. Now, I can't see
Christ physically. I can't look to him physically,
but I'll tell you what I can do. I can look to who he is right
now. He's the God man. And he's able
because of who he is. He's able to save me. He's able to put away my sins.
He's able to make me perfect. I look to who he is. I look to
his life. His law keeping, the one who
fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law perfectly. I look
to his life. That's my righteousness before
God. I look to his death. When he
said it is finished, my sin was put away. That's my sin payment.
I look to His resurrection when He was raised from the dead.
Everybody He represented was justified. I look to Him in His
resurrection. I look to Him right now in His
intercession as representing me. Right now while I'm talking
to you, He is representing me. I'm not looking to myself in
any way. I'm looking wholeheartedly to
Him only. Look unto Me and be ye saved. And who is called upon to look
to Him? Look to me and be ye saved, all
the ends. The ends of the earth. Now, look
that word up. There's a bunch of different
words that are translated end. But here it means the extremities. The bottom. The nothings. The causeless. Someone you can't
find any cause in yourself as to why save you. Sinners. Look unto me. And be ye saved,
all ye ends of the earth. Got any ends? Well, I'm one. So I'm commanded to look to Him
and be saved. Now, only God can do something
for you. Nobody else. This just God and a Savior. Look to me and be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth. Now, turn back to Isaiah 45. Verse 23. Verse 22, look unto me and be
ye saved all the ends of their prime, God, and there's none
else. Now, look what this glorious
God says. He says, I've sworn by myself.
I think of what the writer to the Hebrews said when he could
swear by no greater. He swore by himself. I've sworn
by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth. in righteousness
and shall not return. My word always performs what
I intend for it to perform, and here's what I intend my word
to perform, that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall swear. Now, here's what they'll say. Now, who's he talking about? Well, everybody is going to bow.
Unbelievers, they'll bow. They'll be made to bow. The Lord's
going to make sure everybody bows. Somebody says, I won't
bow. Yeah, you will. You got no choice. You will. But a believer bows willingly. And I think this is what he's
talking about. He's talking about believers here. He's not just
talking about unbelievers like everybody here. He's talking
about believers because look what they go on to say. He said, I swore
him by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall swear, surely shall one say. Now, this is what every
believer says, this is every believer's personal testimony,
and I want you to see how your testimony lines up with this
testimony. He says, surely shall one say. In the Lord. Have I righteousness? And in the Lord. Have I strength? Now, first, let's think about
this phrase in the Lord. In the Lord, have I righteousness? Now, what if I said the only
place you would find righteousness is in this room? Outside of this
room, there's no favor. Well, you would want to be in
this room, wouldn't you? Just like in the Ark, there was
one place of safety. Where? In the Ark. Outside of
the Ark, there was nothing but wrath. When God came through
in judgment, in the Exodus, He said, who is safe? Those people with the blood over
the door in the house. In the Lord. united to him in
him. Now, if I'm in him, that means
all God sees is him. Now, do you find that attractive? That when God looks at you, he
actually sees his son. Now, this is what every believer
is going to say, surely, surely, there's no doubt about this,
surely in the Lord have I righteousness. Now, I'm so sure of this. The only
righteousness I have is that righteousness which is in the
Lord. His perfect obedience. His righteousness is my righteousness
before God. His righteousness. Just as truly as my sin became
his sin. And why did the Lord die? With
the wages of sin is death. My guilt, my sin became his. He became guilty of it. It really
became his. He bore it in his own body on
the tree. That's why the Father killed him. And just as truly
as my sin became his sin, his righteousness is my righteousness. In the Lord have I Righteousness,
is that your confession? Is that what you believe? But
not only does he say the Lord have our righteousness, he says
in the Lord, I have strength and strength is the power you
have to do. Takes strength to do something,
doesn't it? Strength is the power to do now. Let me tell you two
things I'm dead sure of regarding this thing strength. The Lord
said without me, You can do nothing. Now, aren't you sure that? I
can't believe. I can't repent, I can't muster
up one spiritual feeling that would be acceptable to God. Without
me, you can do nothing. Don't you know that so? I know
that so. But I know this equally. I can
do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. I can believe. I'm believing right now. I'm
looking to Christ right now. I can love. I love him right
now. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthens me. You see, I have spiritual life. I can hear the gospel. I can
see the beauty of Christ. I can see how God can be just
and justify me. I can smell the sweet savor of
His grace. I can feel. I know something
of the joy and the peace of believing. I've tasted that the Lord is
gracious. I can do all things. I can deny myself, I can take
up my cross, and I can follow the Lord Jesus Christ through
Christ who strengthens me. Now, this is the confession of
every believer. In the Lord have I righteousness,
and in the Lord have I strength. Verse 24, let's go on reading. Even to Him shall Men come. And because they're strengthened,
here's what they do. They're strengthened to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, our Lord said no man can
come to me. He said that, didn't he? No man
can come to me. He lacks the ability to come
to me, except the Father which has sent me drawing. But the
Lord also said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to
me. Now, where there's life, There's
some kind of motion. There's some kind of movement.
Living things always have some kind of movement. And coming
to Christ is the movement of spiritual life. I'm coming to
Him right now. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, save me by Your grace. I'm coming to Him right now.
Even to Him shall all men come, and all that are incensed against
Him shall be ashamed. All that are angry with Him shall
be ashamed. You know, sovereign grace makes
me angry. The gospel makes me angry. It really does. And you
know why? They say, well, it's not fair. It's not like, well, why
didn't he save everybody? It's not fair. And then they'll
say, well, that would lead to sin. I mean, what you're saying
about grace, how that has absolutely nothing to do with your works.
Well, if I believe that, I'd be encouraged to sin all I want
and not worry about it. That's a natural man's attitude.
Well, don't be put to shame. These groundless excuses, they
will be put to shame. In verse 25, in the Lord, there we go again,
in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. There isn't a word in the Bible,
I think, that I don't like much more than this. A peblican in
the temple, beaten on his breast, He's cried, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. And Christ said regarding this
man, I say to you, this man went down to his house. Justified. We said he was guilty, but the
Lord said he was justified, and I love the way the Lord doesn't
make any comment on it. He doesn't explain what he means.
He just said it. And he uses the rest of the Bible
to show what that means. This man went down to his house
justified. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and in the Lord shall all the seed of
Israel glory. Now, what does it mean to glory
in the Lord? Glory has two ideas with it.
When you glory in something, you boast in it. You're proud
of it. And when you glory in something,
You have confidence in it. Now, the believer boasts in the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have confidence in the cross,
we boast in the cross, we rejoice in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We rejoice in him. We find we we we boast in him. He's my boast. I'm going to glory
in something. I'm going to rejoice in something.
I rejoice in him. And He is my confidence. I have
confidence that He is all I need. Jesus Christ is made to me all
I need. All I need. He alone is all my
plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness
and power, holiness forevermore, my redemption full and sure. He is all I need. I entitled this message, A Salvation
Sermon. Let's pray.