Sermon
# 134 Series: Isaiah
Title: “A Just God and A Savior”
Text: Isaiah 45:20-25
Subject: How Can God Be Just And
Justify Sinners?
Date: Sunday Evening – October 25, 1992
Introduction:
There are several phrases in this passage of Scripture that carry a powerful, important message to us, if we have ears to hear what God says. Did you catch them, as I read my text?
1. “They have no knowledge that set up the word of their graven image.” All idolatry, all religious imagery, all carnal worship arises from man’s utter ignorance of God!
2.
“And pray unto a god that cannot save.”
All
men and women by nature pray unto a god that cannot save! A god who needs your co-operation, or the
consent of your will to save you is a god who cannot save. Look at verse 21-
3.
“There is no God else beside me!”
There
is but one God. Any who claim divinity,
or who are set up by men as God, if they lack the character of God, the
attributes of God, or cannot perform the works of God, as set forth in this
chapter is not God, but an idol.
4.
Salvation is free to all who look to Christ (v. 22).
5.
This
free salvation is proclaimed and offered to “all the ends of the earth” because
God has a people, his Israel, his elect, scattered to all “the ends of the
earth.”
“Elect of every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one
birth!”
But
there is one statement, which is commonly overlooked. Most people in the religious world do not understand it, so they
just ignore it. And this statement
is essentially the theme of the whole Bible.
Look at it in verse 21- “There is no God beside me; a just God
and a Savior!” That is my subject- “A
Just God and A Savior!”
God
is Just! He is holy and righteous, and
good, because he will not compromise his justice, he must punish sin. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die!”
Yet,
this Just God is a Savior! God is love! God is mercy! God is grace! He will be
gracious! He will show mercy! He will save guilty sinners!
These
two things are revealed throughout the Scriptures- (Ex. 34:5-7- “Show me now thy
glory!”).
1.
When
Adam sinned he was cast out of the Garden because God is just; but he
goes forth with promise of a Redeemer, wearing the garments of an innocent
Substitute, because our God is a Savior!
2.
The world was destroyed by a flood because God is just; but “Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord,” and was saved in an ark God had provided, because God is
a Savior!
3.
God
destroyed Sodom in the fires of his wrath, because he is just; but Lot
was delivered from the city of destruction, because he is a Savior!
4.
The Law was
given from Mt. Sinai, in thunderings, and lightenings, and thick darkness,
bringing with it condemnation, because God is just; but there in the Temple is
the Mercy-Seat, covered with the Blood of Atonement, where God meets with
sinners, because he is a Savior!
5.
This is the message of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold the Christ of God; when he was made to be sin for us, the wrath of God fell upon his Son, because he is just. Yet, by the very act, we are saved, because he is a Savior!
Here
is the age-old question that has occupied the minds of men since the beginning
of time, who really knew God and themselves.
The religious world around us does not even know the question, much less
the answer! But anyone who knows God
and himself must have this question answered.
He will have no peace until he knows, How God Can Be Just and Justify
The Ungodly!
Illus: My Interview in Danville-
“Find any preacher in this town who can answer this question from the word of
God and will do so, and our congregation will unite with his next Sunday- “How
can God be just and yet justify the ungodly?”
1.
The Book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, wrestles with this problem- (9:2; 15:14-16;
25:4).
2.
Paul answers the question for us (Rom. 3:25-26).
This
is the heart of the gospel! This is why
Christ comes into the world and died as the sinners’ Substitute. This is “How that Christ died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures.” (I
Cor. 15:3) He died “that God might be
just and the justifier of all who believe on Jesus Christ!” There is no other way for a holy God to save
sinful men! (Read Rom. 3:19-28).
v. 19- Man’s Guilt!
v. 20- Man’s Inability!
v. 21- God’s Provision!
v. 22- Through the Faithfulness of
Christ!
v. 23- Man’s Universal Corruption!
v. 24- Freely!
v. 25- Christ Set forth
v. 26- To Declare God’s Honor and Justice!
v. 27- “Boasting excluded, pride I abase, I’m only a
sinner, Saved by grace!”
v. 28- Justified by Faith Alone!
Mercy
and Truth are met together!
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other, at Calvary (Ps. 85:10;
“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged” Pro. 16:6; 17:15). It all happened at Calvary! “God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
“O the love that drew
salvation’s plan,
O the grace that brought it
down to man!
O the mighty gulf that God did
span,
At Calvary!”
Upon the basis of his finished work of atonement, upon the grounds of satisfied justice through the blood of Christ, grace is proclaimed to sinners- (vv. 22-25).
Proposition: The cross of Christ makes it possible for God to save sinners and assures us that he will save some sinners.
I.
Here Is A Gracious Invitation- (v. 22).
Call it a command if you want to. Call it an offer if you want to. Call it an invitation if you want to. It is all three! And it arises from the grace of God in Christ- “Look unto me, and be ye saved!”
A.
To Whom Are We To Look? “Look unto me!” Christ, this just God and Savior!
1.
Do Not look to the law.
The law is holy, just and good; but it can never save
you! All I can see in God’s holy law
is…
· My Sin!
“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (Gal. 4:21). It says, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10).
2.
Do not look to your Church or Your Religion- (Isa. 1:11-15).
3.
Do not look to your Works of Charity, Benevolence, and “Righteousness!
Salvation
is “not by works of righteousness that we have done!” But by grace alone (Eph. 2:8-9). Our righteousnesses are filthy rags!” (Isa. 64:6).
4.
Do not look to your faith, your experience, or your heart.
“The heart is deceitful above all things!”
Beware
of “a deceived heart!” (Isa. 44:20).
5.
“Look unto Me!”
Illus: The Brazen Serpent (John
3:14-16).
Eternal life is in an eternal Savior!
“The Lord our Righteousness!”
B.
What is the Result of Looking to Christ?
“And
be ye saved!” “SAVED”- what a blessed,
blessed word! To be saved is to be…
1.
Justified! (I Cor. 1:30).
2.
Forgiven! (I John 1:9).
3.
Made
Righteous! (II Cor. 5:21).
4.
A
New Creature! (II Cor. 5:19).
5.
A
Son of God! (I John 3:1).
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved!” (Acts 16:31).
C.
How Can These Things Be?
“I am God, and there is none else!”
D.
Who may look to Christ and be saved?
“All the ends of the earth!” Anyone who needs to, anyone who wants to. Anybody who will.
II.
Here is Solemn Reality- (v. 23).
Sooner or later, you will look to Christ!
III.
Here is A Sure Promise- (vv. 24-25).
A. Christ will conquer all His Enemies (v. 24).
B.
All
God’s Elect, Every Sinner for whom Christ Died
“I heard the voice of Jesus
say, “Come unto me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay
down, Thy head upon my breast.
I came to Jesus as I was,
weary, and worn and sad,
I found in Him a resting
place, and He has me glad!”