Alright, let's look at verse
13 again. I talked about this Sunday night, but I'd like to look at it for
a few moments again. The Father speaks to us concerning
the Son, our Lord Jesus, and He says, I have raised Him up.
I've chosen Him. I have appointed Him. He said,
the Lord God sent me. I've sent him to be the Savior
and Redeemer of his people. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a surety
of an everlasting covenant, determined and ordained by the Father. I've
raised him up. And the next word says I've raised
him up in righteousness. That's what he's called the Lord
our righteousness. I've raised him up in righteousness.
The righteous king will bring in a perfect righteousness, and
he will execute judgment and justice for all that are oppressed,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. I've
raised him up in righteousness. I'll direct his ways, and he
will build my city. I've tried to show you that's
not the city of Jerusalem. a new temple. That's but church. Our Lord said that to the disciples
when he asked them, Whom do you say that I am? And Peter said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said,
Blessed art thou, Simon. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you, but my Father. And on this rock I'll build my
church. And that's what he's saying here.
He'll build my city. He'll build Zion. the city of
God, the temple of living stones, and he himself will be the chief
cornerstone on which that city is built. And then he shall let
go my captives. Now even the Lord's people were
captives. Captives of sin, yes we were. Captives of Satan, captives of
the law, and captives of death. And he set us free. He said,
if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. He
came proclaiming liberty to the captives. And then I love this
last statement here. Not for price. We're bought with
a price, but we didn't pay it. He did. Not with price. He said, not with silver and
gold from our vain conversation. received by tradition from our
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. We are justified
freely by his grace. He that spared not his own son,
shall he not with him freely give us all things? So this redemption
is not for price, not for reward, saith the Lord, but by his own
hands. Let me read you a scripture.
Back over here in Isaiah 40, verse 10. Listen to this. Behold,
the Lord God will come. He'll come with a strong hand. His arms shall rule for him.
And his reward is with him. It's his reward. And his work
is before him. It's his work. It's his reward.
He redeemed us. We didn't pay the price, he did. His reward's with him, his work's
before him. Now, I looked at these next verses,
14 through 25, and I thought, now, if I get to teaching those
11 verses, we're not going to be able to to deal with every
word and every statement like we just went through that 13th
verse. But I see four statements the Lord makes here in these
verses. Sometime later we'll come back
over them one verse at a time. But I see four statements that
he made, powerful statements, monumental statements of our Lord, and I want to deal
with these four statements. The first one is found in verse
17. Verse 17, listen, he says, but Israel shall be saved. Israel
shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. That's
a promise. Verse 21, at the latter part
of this verse, he says in verse 21, the latter part, have not
I the Lord? There's no God else beside me. I'm a just God and
a Savior. I'm a just God and a Savior. And Job asks again and again,
how can that be? How can God punish sin and forgive
sin? And then the third statement
is verse 22, So look to me, and be ye saved. Everybody, all the
hymns, you look to me. That's a promise, and be saved.
And then verse 23, he says, I've sworn by myself The word's gone
out of my mouth, the word of promise, the word of purpose,
gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and I won't retract it. It shall
not return void, I promise you. I have four powerful statements
that I want us to look at and understand rejoicing in. All
right, the first one, and I'll go back to verse 16 for just
a moment. He's talking here about those
that worship other gods, Isaiah 45, 16. He's talking about these
people who he calls makers of idols, makers of idols. Now he says the first thing about
them, they're going to be ashamed. They're going to be ashamed at
his coming having no covering for sin. I talked about this
some time ago. Adam, the first thing he said,
first thing he said when God said, where art thou, Adam, after
he fell. I was ashamed. I was naked. I was naked and
I hid myself. And that's what we're talking
about here. Nakedness before God. These people are going to
be ashamed. Ashamed. Our Lord gave that parable of
the wedding feast and said the king came in and spotted a fellow
that was naked. He had not on a wedding He had not on a wedding garment,
and he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here having not
on a wedding garment? And he was speechless. He was
ashamed. What is that wedding garment?
Isaiah 61. Look over here a minute. Isaiah
61. It's covering for our nakedness. It's a robe. Look at it, Isaiah
61.10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, O my soul shall
be joyful in my God. He's clothed me with the garment
of salvation. He's covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bridegroom, decketh himself
with ornaments. As a bride, adorneth herself
with jewels. Covered my nakedness. Ain't going
to be ashamed. Naked in the presence of God.
Bind him hand and foot. Cast him out. He's an offense. These makers of idols are going
to be ashamed. Then look at the next word in verse 16, Isaiah
45, 16. They'll be confounded. The word
confounded means reproached. They'll be reproached. They'll
be blamed for their folly. They'll be blamed for their unbelief.
They'll bear their own reproach, all of them, all of them. And
they shall go to confusion. Here are three things. There
will be shame, there will be reproach and held accountable
for their folly and foolishness and ignorance, and there will
be confused all these makers of idols. And I found a scripture
that defines that confusion. Let me read it to you. Let me just turn over here and
read it to you. In those days when our Lord comes, and the
kings are there. And the great men, and the rich men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Follow us, hide us
from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath
is come, and none of us are able to stand. Confusion abounds. Shame, reproach, and confusion
together that are makers of idols. Now here's that statement, but,
but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
righteousness. Who's Israel here? Well, the
word Israel is used in the scripture over 2,500 times. Israel. 2,500
times. Jews, by that meaning our newspaper
ever born in Israel. And most of the time it does
refer to that notion of Israel, those natural descendants of
Abraham. But not here. That crowd's not
all going to be saved. This Israel, this Israel, all
of this Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
righteousness. And I can show you two or three illustrations and scriptures
that identify this Israel of God. Let's turn to Romans 9. This is the Israel he's talking
about. God says, They shall, without a doubt, without question,
all be saved. In Romans 9, verse 6, Now not
as though the word of God had taken not effect, for they are
not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the
children of Abraham are they children. But in Isaac, shall thy seed
be gone. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, natural descendants of Abraham, are not the children
of God, but the children of the promise. They're counting for
the sea. Romans 9, verse 27, look there. Isaiah also cried concerning
Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sands of the sea, only a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said
before, except the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, had left us
a seed, we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah. What shall we say then? Well, that the Gentiles, which
followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which
followed after the law, of righteousness, hath not attained to the righteousness
of faith. So this true Israel is made up
of Jew and Gentile who believe God, who elect, who are in Christ. So that's the Israel he's talking
about. And chapter 11, Romans, turn there just a moment. Romans
chapter 11. Read verse 25 and 26 and 27. Romans chapter 11. Listen to
this. I would not brethren that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your
own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentile be come in. And so all Israel
shall be saved. As it is written, they shall
come out of Zion, the church, the deliverer, take away the
ungodliness of Jacob. This is my covenant, God says
unto them, and I'll take away their sin. This is my covenant,
made with the seed. And this covenant was made with
Abraham's seed, not seeds as plural, one, Christ the seed. So they that are in Christ, redeemed
by Christ, that's Israel. And they're all going to be saved.
All Israel will be saved, all Israel. Now, watch this. Turn
back to my text. I want to show you something
here that's so important. He said these makers of idols, they're
going to be ashamed, naked, confounded, confused, but Israel shall be
saved in the Lord. That's the only place a man can
be saved, not in the church, not in the sacraments, not in
the law, in the Lord. And Paul points that out in Ephesians
1, he said he chose us in Christ, he predestinated us in Christ
to be conformed to the image of Christ, and he redeemed us
in Christ and he accepted us in Christ. Israel shall be saved
in the Lord. Now watch this word, with an
everlasting salvation. Now that doesn't refer It does,
like we were talking tonight, the scriptures are bifocal. But
that's not talking so much about how long we have been saved and
will be in measures of time, because with God there is no
time. But what he's saying here, Israel is saved in the Lord Jesus
Christ with an everlasting salvation, and it's everlasting because
of the perpetuity of our surety. He's everlasting. Anything we
have through him and in him and because of him has no beginning
or end. It's everlasting. He says, I
am. I am. Perpetual grace. Perpetual love. Perpetual mercy. He said, I have
loved you with an everlasting love. That's the only way he
can love, because he is everlasting. You see what I'm saying? Israel shall be saved in the
Lord with an everlasting, a perpetual salvation. Because I am. And then he says, and they shall
not be ashamed. They shall not be found naked.
Their bodies shall be raised and fashioned like unto his body. While others rise to shame, and
reproach and confusion, we are raised incorruptible. This corruptible
shall put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality,
this flesh shall put on strength and glory and holiness like our
Savior, and then shall be brought to pass the same. Death is swallowed
up in victory. Israel shall be saved, all Israel. And they'll be saved in the Lord.
And because they're in the Lord, it's a perpetual salvation. No
beginning or end. It's an everlasting love, because
with Him there is no time. He says, I am. Not I was, or
not I will be, I am. And who said that? Verse 18 says,
Lord said it, who created the heavens. The Lord said it, who
formed the earth and made it. The Lord said it, who established
it. And he didn't do it in vain, he formed it to be inhabited
and it will be the new heaven and new earth. All right, the
second statement, let's go down to verse 20. Now again he talks
about these makers of idols, verse 20. Let's read this verse
20. Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together, you that are survivors of the nations.
Let me tell you something. Here's some questions. They have
no knowledge to set up the wood of their graven image and pray
to a God that cannot save. Why would a man, a woman, a bunch
of people, set up for themselves a God who can't save? They've been doing it for centuries.
They've been setting up all kinds of gods. But they can't save. Why would they pray to a God
that can't hear? They know he can't hear. But
they still make those gods and pray to them. He can't hear. Why would they worship a god
who has no power? A god who wants to and can't,
who wills to and folks won't let him? Why would you have a
god like that? That's what he's asking. Why?
People have no knowledge, no understanding, no wisdom at all,
God says, who make a graven image that can't hear and can't speak.
and can't think and can't do and pray to a God that certainly
can't save. Verse 21, listen, he asks some
more questions here. He says, You tell them what I
said about their ignorance and folly, these that make impotent
gods. You tell them and bring them
near, gather them together, let them take counsel, let them discuss
these issues. Let them get together, and I
will ask them, who hath declared this from ancient times? Can
any of their gods decree what shall be? That's one definition
of what a prophet is. A prophet is one who says something
and it happens. That's what Scripture says. He
says something and it happens. That's a prophet. He says, can
any of their gods declare the end from the beginning? Can they
declare from ancient times the things that are not yet done? Can they? Well, I can. Listen. Who have told it from
that time? Have not I the Lord? Who have
declared the end from the beginning? Have not I the Lord? Who declared
in the Garden of Eden that the woman is saved? I the Lord. I declared it all. And there's
no God else beside me. And I'm a just God and a Savior. You know, he said back there,
all Israel shall be saved. They'll not be ashamed, not be
confounded, not be confused. They're going to be saved. In the Lord with everlasting
salvation. How is he going to do that and
be a just God? These people are sinning. They've
got to be punished. Sin's got to be punished. But
he says, I'm going to save them, and in doing so, I'll save them
in a way consistent with my character as a just God. All Israel shall be saved with
an everlasting salvation which is consistent with the character
of a just God, and a holy God, and a righteous God, and a God
who will not clear the guilty. How is he going to do it? Job and his friends ask that
question three times in the book of Job. Let's look at them. It will help us to rejoice in
this statement if we look at these again. Job 9, verses 1 and 2. Job answered and said,
I know it is so of a truth, but how can man be just? before God. That word with is before. How
can man be just before God? The scripture says there is not
a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not. How is
he going to come before God and stand there just? And God accept
him and receive him? That's the question. Look at
Job 15, and he extends it a little bit
here. Eliphas does, and he says in
verse 14, Job 15, verse 14, Now what is man that he should be
clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous,
clean and righteous. The holy God puts no trust in
his saints. The heavens are not clean in
God's sight. How can man be clean and just and righteous? And if
the heaven's not clean, think about this, how much more abominable
and filthy is man who drinks iniquity like water? How's he
going to be clean? How's God going to just God and
a Savior? Let's turn to Job 25. We raise
this question again. How? How, how, how? How then? Job 25, verse 4. How then can
a man be justified with God? You know what justified means,
don't you? That means he's not guilty. You know, you pardon
a fellow, that's not justified. Parole him, forgive him. But
to be justified is to be not guilty. How can man be justified
with God, before God? How can he be clean, spotlessly,
immaculately holy, this born of a woman? Look at the moon,
it's shining. It's not the stars, not pure
in God's sight. How much less man that's a worm,
son of man that's a worm. God says, I'm going to save Israel,
every one of them, in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.
And I'm going to do it and be a just God and a Savior. Romans
3. This was answered at the cross. That's where mercy and truth
met together and righteousness and love kissed each other. Let's look at Romans 3, the cross
of Calvary. That's where man, those chosen
in Christ, were justified. Here it is, Romans 3.25. Romans
3.25. Jesus Christ, whom God set forth,
God had set him forth to be a propitiation, a reconciliation, an atonement,
a mercy-seeker through faith in his blood, to declare God's
righteousness, even for the remission of sins of the past. Old Testament
saints, their sins too, through the forbearance of God. He did this to declare, I say,
to answer Job's questions at this time, to declare his righteousness,
his holiness, that he might be just and the justifier of them
that believe in Jesus. Where is boasting then? By what
law of works? No, by the law of faith. Christ
stood in our stand. He's the one that gave us that
robe of righteousness, that clothed us in the wedding garment, that
took away our guilt and our sin, in Him, His righteousness and
His blood. And God can now look on us in mercy and grace because of
Christ. You know, this is the message
throughout the scripture. I go back to the Old Testament,
and I see Adam sinning again, taking sides with Satan against
God. That's serious. Taking sides with Satan against
God. And God cast him out. Just like
you'd flip a fly off of a shelf or something. But, as Adam went
out, he went with a promise. seed of woman, a bruised serpent's
head. He went out, but he went with a promise. I'll be a Savior. I'm a just
God. I'm sending you out, but I'm
going to be a Savior. And then the flood came and destroyed
the world, drowned the whole population, a just God. Every imagination of man's heart
was evil in the sight of God, so he just wiped them out. There's that arch sitting on
top of that water. That arch Christ, that's promise. And from Mount Sinai, God gave
Moses that holy law. There stood that bunch of people
down there waiting for that law and breaking it every step they
took. And God knew it, and Moses knew
it, and Moses threw it down and broke it. God gave that perfect
law. They couldn't keep, wouldn't
keep. But in that law was a promise. Make a mercy seat. And put this
law in the ark under that mercy seat. And let the high priest
come in once a year and put the blood of the lamb on the mercy
seat. And I'll meet you there. That's a promise. So he's just
God. to just God all the way through
this book. But thank God he's a Savior.
So that brings us to that third statement. He says in verse 23,
22, so look to me and be the same. You know, I spoke recently about
the fact there's no end to the argument. whether Jesus Christ
is the only way of salvation. That goes on all the time. Well,
I believe Jesus Christ saves, but won't the Lord accept others? Isn't there some other way? We're
all going to heaven, we're just going different ways. That argument
never ends. Well, I'm saying this. God being
who he is, holy, just, righteous, sovereign, who will punish sin,
God being who he is. And us being who we are, unholy,
foolish, helpless, can't contribute anything with which God would
be pleased. And salvation being what it is, a divine resurrection,
a divine regeneration, a divine and perfect holiness, why would
there be more than one way to accomplish it? Why would that
God in his holiness, knowing us in our imperfection and demanding
that righteousness, try to devise some other way when this way
is the only way that he can be just and justified? Actually,
instead of arguing about whether or not the Lord will accept somebody
another way, we ought to be elated beyond words that there is a
way. There's a way promised, there's
a way pictured, there's a way provided, there's a way purposed,
and God Almighty says that's the only way. Now why in the
world would folks want to devise something else? And besides that,
it's free. And this is what he said, so
look to me. He didn't say work, he said look.
He didn't say wash, he said look. And be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth, every nation, tribe, kindred, because I'm God. I'm God. I'm the God-man. I'm
God and I'm man. I'm the God-man and I'm God's
man, the second man from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. And my
friends, there's none else. There's none else. We're not
being fanatical, we're just being truthful. There is none else. That's the theme of this whole
chapter. I'm the Lord, there's none else.
He says it, how many times did I say that? Six times. I'm the
Lord, there's none else. Here's the last statement, verse
23. The word has gone out of my mouth
in righteousness. You know, I pointed this out
some time ago, I won't do it again. God said, I've sworn,
he swore to Abraham the promise of life through the seed of Isaac. And God said he swore it by himself
because he could swear by no greater. And on these two immutable
things, God's word and God's oath, our salvation is established. God says, I've sworn this, all
Israel will be saved with an everlasting righteousness. I've
sworn this by myself. And the word has gone out of
my mouth, the promise has gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return. And here are the two things he
promises. That unto me every knee shall bow, unto me every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that I'm the Lord. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess. And the second thing he has promised
is this, verse 24. Only in the Lord, surely shall
one say, in the Lord, only in the Lord, have I righteousness
and strength and salvation. Only in the Lord. And here's
the third thing. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall grow. I promise you. The word has gone out of my mouth.
and it'll never return, I'll never attract it. That's a great passage of scripture. I hope it'll be a blessing to
you.