Isaiah 45, in verse 16, the Lord says they
shall be ashamed and confused, confounded, all of them, all
of them. He's not talking about the church
here, he's not talking about believers. He's not speaking
of true Israel. He's speaking of those who worship
false gods. He said they're the makers of
idols. They made their own god out of
their imaginations. And when these gods which they
have invented, these false gods which they have served and preached
to others, when these gods could not help them and could not deliver
them John wrote in Revelation, they fled to the dens and the
rocks and the mountains and cried to be covered from the face of
God. Let me read it to you. And the
kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the
chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman, every
free man hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains.
And they cried to the mountains and rocks, fall on us. That's
confusion, that's shame. Fall on us, hide us. Hide us
from the face of him that sits on the throne. Hide us from the
face of God and from the Lamb, from the wrath of the Lamb. It's
not the love of the Lamb, it's not the grace of the Lamb, it's
not the blood of the Lamb, hide us from the wrath of the Lamb.
For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able
to stand? I know who. Not these who make
idols. He said they're going to be ashamed,
they're going to be confounded and confused, all of them who
worship false gods. Verse 17. But Israel shall be saved, delivered. Now the word Israel is used in
the Bible over 2,500 times. Israel. And most of the time
in the Old Testament and in the New, I guess, it refers to the
nation Israel. But not here. He's not talking
about all of the natural descendants of Abraham shall be saved. Let's see about the origin of
that name, when that name first occurs in God's Word. In Genesis
chapter 32. And this is what it means spiritually
all the way through the Bible. In Genesis 32 verse 27. You remember Jacob wrestled with
the Lord, the angel of the Lord. to the break of day. And verse
26, he said, let me go. The day breaketh. And he said, Jacob said, I'll
not let thee go except thou bless me. Angels don't bless people. God blesses people. Except you bless me. And he said,
what's your name? And Jacob replied, Jacob. You
know what Jacob means. Chief, swindler, supplanter. And he said, The Lord God changed
his name, and he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob,
but Israel. Israel. What does Israel mean?
Well, look in your margin. A prince of God. A prince, a
son of God. For a prince, as a prince, has
to have power with God and with men, and has to prevail. So that's
what the word means right here. See, lots of people have worn
the name Israel who are not of Israel. That's what Scripture
says. Let me read you in Romans what
Paul said about that in Romans chapter 2. He said in Romans
2 verse 28, he's not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is circumcision that
which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly.
He's an Israelite who's one inwardly. a prince of God, a son of God,
circumcised in the heart of the Spirit, not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. And then Romans chapter
9, look at this, Romans 9, verse 7 and 8. Romans 9, 7 and 8 says,
neither, verse 6 says, not as though the word of God had taken
none effect, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.
Neither because they are seed of Abraham are they children.
But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.
God's not the father of all men, or even all Jews, or all the
nation of Israel. But the children of promise accounted
for the seed. So, back to my text. These makers
of idols and worshippers of false gods shall be ashamed, confused,
confounded, but Israel shall be saved in the Lord, in Christ,
in his obedience, in his righteousness, in his death, in his blood. Of
God are you in Christ, Prince of God, Son of God, Child of
God, in Christ. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. You see, in Adam
I'm a sinner. By one man sin entered this world
and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. For in Adam we
died, in Adam we sinned, in Christ we're made alive. So all Israel
will be saved, will be delivered, will be forgiven. in the Lord,
nowhere else now, but in Christ. And that was an everlasting salvation. Eternal both ways. Eternal love,
eternal purpose. Not with an everlasting salvation
just that way, but an everlasting salvation back before the foundation
of the world. When by his mercy and love he
put us in Christ. That's how long we've been in
Christ. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
God has from the beginning chosen you in Christ. Loved you in Christ. Put you in Christ. You know I
hear people, turn to Psalm 136. I hear people read this Psalm
and everybody reads it this way almost, except a few. But in
Psalm 136 it talks about God's mercy forever, God's everlasting
mercy, everlasting salvation. And the translators have put
the word endureth in here, and I know they put it in italics,
and I know that means it doesn't belong in there especially. But look at Psalm 136, O give
thanks unto the Lord, he's good for his mercy. It doesn't just
last, it's not something you find on the earth and then it
lasts, it's forever. You follow me? And all the way
through this it keeps saying that, give thanks unto the God
of gods, his mercy, for his mercy forever, for his mercy forever,
for his mercy forever. Listen, if God's mercy started
when he saved me, and I sat with him, then he changed. Isn't that right? God changed.
He was angry with me, now he saved me. He didn't know me,
now he knows me. He didn't love me, now he loves me. No, that's
not the God of the Bible. His mercy is forever. And that's
what this is saying. Israel shall be saved in Christ,
in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation. That's what David
Dobb believed. Although it be not so with my
house, God has made with me, what kind of covenant? A new
one? everlasting, everlasting covenant. And our Lord, that great shepherd
of the sheep, is the shepherd of the everlasting covenant. God declares the things that
are not as though they already were. And they shall be saved
with an everlasting salvation, and verse 17 says, and you shall
not be ashamed, you shall not be confounded, were without end. And you can write in there eons
of eternity. When we've been there ten trillion
years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
God's praise than when we first begun. And God preserves us,
God keeps us through faith, God gives us persevering grace. The
soul that owned Jesus hath leaned for repose. I will not, I will
not desert to its foes, and that soul won't desert me. He said
in Jeremiah, I'll never leave them and they'll never leave
me. My beloved is mine and I'm his. They'll be saved with an
everlasting salvation. They'll not be ashamed, not be
confounded. A world without end. Now who said that? Thus saith
the Lord. What did he say? He said, True
Israel, Prince of God, Son of God, Daughter of God, shall be
saved in Christ. And that with an everlasting
salvation. And they'll never be ashamed
and never be confounded. Well, who is this Lord that said
that? Well, listen. He's the one who created the
heavens. The heaven of heavens can't contain him. He created
the heavens. The heavens are not in him. He's
not in the heavens. The heavens are in him. He created the heavens. God himself
we're talking about. God himself that formed the earth. He formed the earth. He made
it. That's what we read a while ago. He made it. The earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and day that dwell
therein. He made it. And he's the Lord that established
it. He established it for his purpose, for his glory, to accomplish
his will. to John in Revelation chapter
4 verse 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things. My friend, you cannot believe
in God. You can't believe God and believe evolution. It's the
impossibility. It cannot be. God would preach
is the God who created the heavens and made all things. God has
created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
You can be religious and you can read the Bible and you can
claim faith, but you do not believe God if you believe in evolution. He created all things by the
word of his power. For his pleasure and for his
glory they were created and he established this earth. He established
it. Now look at the next line. And
he didn't create it in vain. He didn't create it in vain.
He formed it to be inhabited. Not this one here, but the new
earth, because this one is a preparation for the new earth. God created
the heavens and God created the earth. And God will create a
new heaven and a new earth when his work on this earth is done.
Turn to 2 Peter and listen to the apostle over here. God didn't
create all these things in vain. This is not something God did
and failed in doing. Before God made the world, he
had the Savior. Christ is the Lamb slain for
the foundation of the world. Before God created the man who
would become a sinner, he had a Savior. That everlasting covenant,
that covenant God made with Christ in giving him a people, in designating
him as those people's surety and Savior and representative
and the man, Christ Jesus, who would obey the law and die on
the cross and rise again and intercede and reign, that kingdom,
that covenant, God designed and purposed before he made this
world. And on this world, it's being
accomplished. Now listen in 2 Peter 3, verse
12, "...looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of
God, when the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we
according to his promise," an eternal promise, according to
his purpose, an eternal purpose, According to his covenant, an
eternal covenant, we look for a new heaven and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. And we're going to inhabit this
new heaven and new earth. That's what he says. He says
over here, let me read you this in Revelation chapter 21. Listen to this. And Revelation
21 verse 3 through 5. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and
God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God is
going to wipe away all tears from their eyes. No more death,
because there is no more sin. No more sorrow, because there
is no more rebellion. No more crying, no more sickness,
neither shall there be any more pain. All the former things are
passed away, and he that sat on the throne shall make all
things new. That's what he's saying in this
verse here. Thus saith the Lord, the one Lord, he that created
the heavens, God that formed the earth, who made it and established
it, and he created it not in vain. But he formed it to be inhabited.
And I'm going to tell you something. When God made that earth, when
he said, created the heavens and the earth, the earth was
without form and void and whatever took place between those two
verses. But God said, let there be light, and there was light,
and let the dry land appear, and he made all things, and he
made man, and made him a helpmeet, and he said, now multiply and
replenish the earth. And God said of all that, it's
good. It's good. It must have been or he wouldn't
have said it's good. It's good. It's God good. But there's a problem lurking
out here. There's a Satan. There's a devil.
There's a fallen angel named Lucifer who led a third of the
heavenly host in rebellion. He said, I'll be like God. I'll
assault my throne above the stars of God. All that's out there.
And then he tempted this woman. She was deceived. And Adam wasn't
deceived. He went into this thing with
his eyes open. He knew what he was doing. The woman was deceived, but the
man wasn't. And the man fell on sin. And darkness fell on
this earth, and sin, and death, and thorns, and thistles, and
briars. And God said, Adam, you're going
to earn your living by the sweat of your brow. You're going to
plow your garden and it'll come up thorns and thistles. And you're
going to get diseased and die. Dust you are, the dust you shall
return. God created it and made it. Oh no. Has it all in His
purpose. Could God have prevented that?
Why certainly. Why didn't He? I can't answer
that. I just know in part. But the part I know is good.
And I know that that earth, God's going to make a new earth. He's
going to put on that earth new men and new women who've been
made new in Christ, who can't sin because they're like Christ,
who will not sin, who can't sin. He's going to put Satan and his
angels and demons and all who do not believe him, who do not
love him, who couldn't be happy there. They're not happy in church.
I couldn't be happy in heaven. So he's going to put them where
they can do no more harm, annihilate them. And there's going to be
a new heaven and a new earth where he dwelleth in righteousness.
And we're going to have flesh and bones, glorified flesh. Adam was created in the likeness
of God, a genius. God brought him all the animals
and said, name them. He named every one of them. Why is a robin
a robin? Adam called him a robin. Adam called him a squirrel. I
might have called him a rat, but Adam called him a squirrel.
He was a genius. He walked with God. He talked
with God. He fit company for God. Not after
he fell, though. But after God gives you a new
heart and a new nature, you fit company for God. And he said,
I'll be your God, and you'll be my people, and I'm going to
dwell with you. I'm going to dwell with you. On a new heaven,
a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. He didn't make it in vain. He
farmed it to be inhabited. He inhabited with a people. just
like your son, every one of them perfectly conformed to Christ. I'm looking forward to it. I've not spoken this in secret.
I didn't whisper this in a dark place, verse 19. It's not some
secret society, all these little cells meeting around saying we're
the only ones. It's just 144,000. It's just us ten. You know, bless
me and my wife and my son John and his wife and us four and
no more." No, God said, I didn't. I didn't speak this in a den
or a cave. I didn't say this in a dark place.
This is not a secret society. That's right. He said, I didn't
say to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. Who are the seed
of Jacob? That's those sons of Jacob, princes of God. Their name is Israel too. And
we're like Jacob. Did you know in the Bible we're
called sons of Jacob? Numbers of times. Sons of Jacob.
Matthew 3, 6, God said, I'm the Lord, I change not, therefore
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. I'm a son of Jacob. I'm an Israelite.
Prince of God. Just like Jacob, he elected me.
Romans chapter 8. That the purpose of God might,
according to election, might stand. It was said to Rebekah,
the elder, she'll serve the younger. He elected me. He loved me. Jacob
had a love. He saw I had a hate. He met me
when I was rebelling and running and stopped me and revealed to
me the way to heaven. Old Jacob lying out there under
the stars and went to sleep and he saw on that ladder from heaven
to earth and from earth to heaven and the angels of God ascending
and descending right to the throne of God. And he awoke and he said,
this is the house of God. This is the way to glory. God
revealed Christ to him. He did me and you. And then in
his wanderings, he changed his name. He said, you're Jacob. You're not Jacob anymore, you're
Israel. I'll give you a new name. A new name, the name of Christ.
And then in my wanderings, he always brings us back to Bethel.
I watched some of the young people here, they came to this church
when they were little, heard the gospel, and then they wandered
away. I don't know where they went
or what they did or what they listened to, but I've noticed some of you
coming back. Jacob always comes back to Bethel. That's right. If they're here, they'll be back. Only the dog returns to his vomit. Only the pig to the water. The
sheep always come back to the shepherd. And I have perfect
confidence that every one of them that belongs to him You
can't stand the errors of this world. They'll be back to hear
the gospel. Sons of Jacob. Back to Bethel,
Jacob. Back to Bethel. Back where you
met God. Back where you heard the truth.
Back where God promised to bless you and keep you and be your
God, lead you. Now verse 20, the Lord says, Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together ye that have escaped to the nations. Who's
he talking to here? Well, the Amplified Bible says
survivors. That's good. He's speaking to
the survivors of the nations. That's us. Survivors of false
religion. You know when Peter finished
his message on Pentecost, what he said to those people? Deliver
yourselves from this generation. Get out. Get out of this religious
generation. Get out of this false worship.
Get out of this evil form of religion that does not know God.
Come out from among them and be your separate. What fellowship
does darkness have with light and Satan with God? Come out!
And we're survivors. Christ-led captivity, captive.
I'm a captive of Christ now. I was a captive of false religion.
I know what I'm talking about. I pastored three years and didn't
know the gospel. Went to a religious school, graduated
there, didn't know the gospel. And God brought me out, and he
brought you out from all different places. Bondage. Get these people
together who've survived. Get these people together who
have escaped. Get these people together who
have escaped to the nations and tell them this. They have no
knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and pray
to a God that can't save. A man, people have no understanding
who pray to a God who can't save. People have no understanding
who call on a God who cannot do his will. People who preach and worship
a God that has no power to give life to whom he will, the Son
quickeneth whom he will. If he can't do that, he's not
God. I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, God says. If
he can't do that, he's not God. God wants to save you, but you
won't let him. That's not God, that's an impotent
God. A man has no knowledge, he has
no understanding, who calls on an impotent God. A God who's
dependent on the creature to accomplish his will, his work,
his purpose? To bring together a bride for
his son? Did God pick his bride or do you? I chose mine, you chose yours. But you're going to depend on
somebody else to choose their bride? God chooses his bride.
A man has no understanding, none at all. who prays to a God who
loves everybody without exception universally, but some of them
still go to hell. A man's foolishness calls on
a God who wills the salvation of all men but can't save them. A God who died on the cross to
put away everybody's sin by his blood to no avail, because many
for whom he died perish eternally. They have no knowledge who set
up a false god or prayed to a god who cannot save, who cannot save,
who cannot give life, who cannot redeem, who's frustrated and
defeated in his purposes. That's not knowledge. Now tell ye, and bring them together,
get them all together, get these folks together that worship false
gods, and let them get their heads together, them and their
leaders and their gods and their followers, and get their heads
together in a council, let them take council together, and answer
two questions for me. Here's the first one. Who hath
declared all this from ancient times? Ask your God that wills and can,
who loves and is frustrated, who died but can't accomplish
his purpose. Ask him why he's so defeated. Does he not know what's going
to happen? The Lord knoweth them that are his. God declares the
end from the beginning. He said, who hath declared this
from ancient times? Who declares the end from the
beginning? Can your God? Well, evidently not. Someone got upset with me because
I quoted a preacher last Sunday who said, when you accept Jesus
as your personal Savior, God's penman then writes your name
in the book of life. That, my friends, is a terrible,
terrible statement. God never changes. What God decreed
today, He decreed in all eternity. And He knows. I declare the end. Who had declared it from ancient
times? Who hath told it? Who hath told
what shall come to pass, and who shall come, and how he shall
be rejected? Take the life of Christ. Born
of the seed of Abraham and Isaac, of the
house of David, in Bethlehem at a certain and
ran into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod, and then grew
up in Nazareth in a carpenter's shop, and was hated and despised
of all men, and when he was thirty-three and a half years of age, was
betrayed by one of his disciples that David wrote about in Psalms,
for thirty pieces of silver, which David wrote about in Psalms,
and was spat upon and lacerated with a whip They pierced my hands
and my feet. The Old Testament told all that.
They walked around the cross and the Old Testament told what
they were going to say. He trusted God, they said God will have
him. And he died as the sun refused to shine and was buried and three
days later arose, appeared to his disciples and ascended. All
that is written from Genesis 3.15 in direct, complete, total
detail. God declared that. And I want
to tell you this, your life story was written too. I'm so thankful he didn't leave
that to me. He didn't leave me to my will.
There's one thing you don't want, and that's to have your will.
Because he said, you will not come to me that you might have
life. You will not. All right, look at this. He said,
that's my question, have not I the Lord? Verse 21, and there's
no God else beside me. There's no God else beside me.
No other God. Christ is one God, Father and
Spirit and Son. Christ is one Savior, none else.
See, that's the theme of this whole chapter. About five or
six times he says there's none else. There's no God beside me. And look, he's a just God and
a Savior. God is holy. That's his chief
attribute. God's righteous, God's truth.
But my friends, God is a Savior. He's a just God. He has to be.
God can't change his character to save you and me. I've got
to be saved, delivered, forgiven, accepted according to his character,
his righteousness, truth and righteousness. And thank God,
Adam's cast out of the garden by a just God. Adam fell and
God said, you're going to die, and he did, and he put him out.
But thank God he went out with the promise of a Savior. The
seed of woman will bruise the serpent's heel. If there's a
flood, a just God destroyed this world, he's going to destroy
it again. But a Savior, there's an argument. Floating on that
water, I'm a just God. I will punish sin, but I'll forgive
sin, and I'll redeem a people, and I'll ransom a people, and
I'll deliver a son. I'm a Savior. From Mount Sinai
came the law, the law of condemnation, the law of judgment, the law
live by it or die. We couldn't do it. Israel turned
and ran. They ran. They said, don't let
God speak to us anymore. But thank God from Sinai came
a tabernacle and a mercy seat and a sacrifice for atonement. I'm a Savior, just God, a Savior. On Calvary's cross there hangs
a man. bearing the sins of his people.
A just God turns his back. A just God drives the sword into
the heart of the shepherd. A just God punishes him with the cup of his indignation and
wrath. But thank God there's a Savior
hanging on that cross. Because God, who spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all, hasheleot, with him,
because of him, in him, giveth us all things. I'm a just God,
and I'm a Savior. And when I stand after death
at the judgment, I'm going to meet just one God. He's a just God. And I'll be judged. But thank
God that His right hand is a Savior. a mediator, an advocate, who
by his wounds and blood plead my case. And in him there's no
condemnation. Do you have a mediator? I'm not
talking about his mother. I'm talking about him who died. Except you have a mediator, you're
perished. So here it is. Verse 22, so look
to me. I'm a just God and a Savior.
Look to me. Who I am, what I did, where I am. Look to me and be
you're saved. Because I'm God. Christ is the
whole of life, the whole of acceptance with God, the whole of hope and
the whole of heaven. And let me warn you, he says
you look to me. Don't look to your faith. It's
not faith that atones, it's Christ. Don't look to your experience
or your meditations. Look to me, he said. Don't look
to the name you wear. These names that we're all wearing
today just didn't exist. They're all inventions of men
to declare something. Look to Christ. Don't look to
your strength or your weakness. Don't look to your deeds, good
or bad. Don't look to your brethren,
the best or the worst. Look to me, he said it. Don't
even look to my spirit. Preachers probably mean well,
but the Holy Spirit does not empower us to preach him. He
empowers us to preach Christ. He'll not speak of himself. The
Holy Spirit doesn't magnify himself and his gifts and his baptism. He magnifies his Lord. Our Lord,
our Savior. Look to me. I wish I could look
to Him in His incarnation, look to Him in His obedience, look
to Him in His death, look to Him in His resurrection, look
to Him in His exaltation, look to Him in His intercession, look
for His glorious return. Just keep on looking to Christ. Because He said, I've sworn by
myself, I can swear by no greater. the words gone out of my mouth,
in righteousness. I like that. That's necessary. It's got to be truth and righteousness.
God's not going to compromise anything of His holiness and
righteousness. The fight God has gone out in
righteousness, and it will not return, that under me, every
knee, in heaven, earth, and under the earth, and every tongue,
in heaven, earth, and under the earth, is going to bow and confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. And so surely this is my conclusion,
shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness, in him and I
have strength. I shall overcome. Even to him
shall men come, and all that were at one time incensed against
him. That's Saul of Tarsus. He hated Christ, but he came.
He was a proud Pharisee, but he came down. God brought him
down. He put his nose in the dust, humbled him, stripped him,
blinded him. incensed against him, but he's
ashamed. He said, I was a blasphemer,
I was injurious, I was a wicked, but I obtained mercy. I wish
we could learn that language, don't you? I was a blasphemer,
but I obtained mercy. I'm ashamed of what I was, because
in the Lord shall the seed of Israel all up be justified. and glorify all Israel, princes
of God shall be saved by his grace.