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Look to God and Be Saved

January 18, 1998 Grace Baptist Church,
Evansville, Indiana

"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. {23} I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. {24} Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. {25} In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."
(Isa 45:22-25 KJV)

At times when I consider the state of our society, when I reflect upon the responses of the world to arguments for morality, when I recall the contempt with which those arguments are met, I find myself sad. It is in those times, when my ungodly companions in this society vex me with criticism over my desire to see them live God honoring lives, that I also look at the Church and wonder about the world’s apathy toward God. I ask myself, is the church today responsible for the lost state of the world? Has the church lost its effectiveness in reaching the souls of God’s children still wandering in vanity’s fair?

I see around me a society built on the premise that man is his own God and that in man will man find salvation. It strikes me as ironic that, for the most part, the sin of Abraham’s contemporaries was not that they relied upon themselves, but that they relied upon inanimate objects, and called them gods. To worship a wooden statue or a golden calf, our society would say is foolishness. Yet, are we not even more foolish because we worship ourselves? Is it not even more imbecilic to believe that we have the power to save ourselves than to believe that a certain star in the sky could save us? At least there is room for faith in that star. Yet, despite how we disappoint ourselves, we still feel justified in trusting in ourselves for salvation from our own disparity. This is the state of our world; we are our own gods. And I must believe that the church has in some way encouraged this if not allowed it to be. Has the body of Christ become so shallow in it’s understanding of the applicable nature of God’s word to meet life’s sorrow, that it can no longer effectively move the souls around it to trust in God? It would seem so. It would seem that the church has forgotten that God himself addressed the foolishness of man’s trust in other gods when he said in Isaiah, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. {23} I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. {24} Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. {25} In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Isa 45:22-25 KJV)

Theologian Emery Bancroft wrote, "Some years ago a Parliament of Religion was held in Chicago, in connection with the World's Fair. At that Parliament the great ethnic faiths of the world were represented. One by one, the leading men arose and spoke for Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Mohammedanism. Then Dr. Joseph Cook of Boston, who had been chosen to represent Christianity, rose to speak. "Here is Lady Macbeth's hand," he said, "stained with the foul murder of Duncan. See her as she perambulates through the halls and corridors of her palatial home, stopping to cry, `Out (cursed) spot! Out I say! Will these hands ne'er be clean?'" Then turning to those seated on the platform, he said, `Can any of you who are so anxious to propagate your religious systems offer any cleansing efficacy for the sin and guilt of Lady Macbeth's crime?' An oppressive silence was maintained by them all ... Only the blood of Christ can purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

And yet the world does not know this And I must assume that they do not, either because we do not wish for them to know it or we do not know it ourselves. Martin Luther once said, "whatever your heart clings to and confides in that is really your God." Friends, it is my desire to encourage you today to make your heart cling to God Himself. I want you to know God, and to know Him more abundantly, for by knowing Him abundantly perhaps the world might come to know Him through you.

Prior to making the statement we just read from Isaiah, God challenged all the people of the world to assemble together and present their case before God concerning why their God was worthy of worship. He said of them, "They have no knowledge-- those who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save." (Isa 45:20 NRSV) He challenged them to prove that it was their god and not He that prophesied long ago concerning the deliverance of Israel from Babylonian captivity. He challenged them to prove that their God actually existed. And in the end He said to them, "There is no other god besides me,. . ." I’m the only one. Your gods don’t exist. Not only do they not posses, the ability to save you from your trouble, but they do not dwell in any realm known.

My dear friends I challenge you likewise. Who has said that he will save you? Who has said that he will deliver you from the hopelessness of you present life? Who has said that he will never leave you nor forsake you, that he will come and live with you and also in you? You who trust in yourselves for peace know that you trust in vain. You have disappointed yourselves far too many times not to realize this, and yet will you persist in trusting in yourselves when God invites you to trust in Him who is trustworthy?.

Two things God has communicated to me from His proclamation in Isaiah, and these two things I will share with you today. One: A Logical Reason Exists to Look to God for Salvation, and Two: There Exists an Inevitable Response to God which all must make.

The argument here in Isaiah is that if one is in search of a Savior He need look no further than the Holy One of God, who Peter declared was Christ Jesus, whom God raised from the dead to save His people from their sins. Now, God has given several reasons which would justify our faith in looking to Christ for salvation. I wish to discuss two of them with you at this point.

In preparation for a meeting in a large city, famed evangelist Billy Sunday wrote a letter to the mayor in which he asked for the name of individuals he knew who had a spiritual problem and needed help and prayer.

How surprised the evangelist was when he received from the mayor a city directory.

People, I can not over emphasize the importance of you giving a good ear to what God would say to you through His word here. There are undoubtedly some in this room who do not know Christ. You are lost and hurting and you feel as if you are a captive in a world of pain and pointlessness. Others carry in them a religion, not a savior. Your god is your creed, and that creed is now proving itself useless as life’s questions and troubles push in upon you. To all of you God said, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." What we must first realize is that God would have us remember that He does not change. It has been His custom and His nature to always remember that covenant which He made with Abraham and Issac. God promised Abraham that through His seed would come a deliver for his people, and Sarah gave birth to Issac. Then God promised Issac that His offspring would be a blessing to the world. From that lineage of Abraham and Issac did come our Lord and Savior and through Him we are truly blessed.

Now you will remember that God throughout ages past has remembered that covenant. We are told in Numbers that after the Israelites’ encounter with the Canaanites at Mount Hor they began to grumble. They spoke out against God and Moses. They said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." And because of their ungratefulness, God sent serpents among them and the serpents bit them and many Israelites died. They then cried out to Moses confessing their sins against God and asking him to pray for their deliverance. And God, in gracious mercy, heard the cry of His chosen people and said to Moses". . . Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." {9} So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live." (Num 21:8-9 NRSV) In this way, God demonstrated to them and to us the principle of looking toward that which God has instituted for our salvation, rather than toward man made schemes of deliverance. God has instituted for us the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And all that would turn to Him for salvation and accept him as their savior would be saved, and that salvation would be secure, for we cannot forget the covenant which God has made with us, just as He Himself will never forget it. And so the first logical reason God gives us for turning to him for salvation is that the salvation which He can and will give to us is not a hollow temporary thing. No it is permanent, secured by the Holy Spirit who is a sign of the covenant which exists between God and His people.

The Psalmist reflecting on God’s steadfastness wrote concerning His dealings with the rebellious people of Israel that, "Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes, and were brought low through their iniquity. {44} Nevertheless he regarded their distress when he heard their cry. {45} For their sake he remembered his covenant, and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love." (Psa 106:43-45 NRSV) My friends, God’s love is abundant, so much so that nothing can separate you from it. It is beyond any power in this world or any other to separate you from the Love of God, and that which He has purchased at so great a price He will never let go. When you are in distress, either because you are without God, or because God seems distant, (both because of sin), know that when you cry out to Him, He will have "compassion on you according to the abundance of his steadfast "love."

Zechariah, in a prophesy concerning his son John the Baptist, illustrates the security which one will find in Christ if He would look to Him. He says, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. {69} He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, {70} as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, {71} that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. {72} Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, {73} the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us {74} that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, {75} in holiness and righteousness before him all our days." (Luke 1:68-75 NRSV) Note, that we are free to serve God without fear. Those who have been rescued by the Holy One of God, shall never need to fear being a captive again to death. The law of sin and death holds no sway over the child of God. And so who would you look to for salvation if it were not God the creator of all things, good and holy? He is the one who secures in His grace those who would trust Him.

Not only is it true that the one who looks to God is made Secure in Christ, but it is also the case that he who Looks to God to be saved will be made righteous by God. God declared, "Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come." It is to God that men who wish to be righteous, who wish to possess the strength to live life in holiness, will come. J. Vernon McGee tells the story of a little boy in the south years ago, who wanted to join a church. So the deacons were examining him. They asked, "How did you get saved?" His answer was, "God did His part, and I did my part." They thought there was something wrong with his doctrine, so they questioned further, "What was God's part, and what was your part?" His explanation was a good one. He said, "God's part was the saving, and my part was the sinning. I done run from Him as fast as my sinful heart and rebellious legs could take me. He done took out after me till He run me down."

After many failed attempts to redeem oneself, I would think it would become abundantly clear that we are foolish in thinking that we can make ourselves righteous. Our righteousness is as dirty rags when compared with the righteousness of Christ. In fact our attempts to be righteous on our own terms is equal to running away God. And that is why, for the one who seeks reconciliation with God, it is only logical to turn to Christ and be saved. Paul wrote, "For our sake he (God) made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (Christ) we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:21 NRSV) Now what more could be understood from that statement then that we are made perfect through Jesus Christ? If God’s righteousness is not without blemish then there is no righteous by which we can be saved. And yet, we know that God is Holy and that means His righteousness is perfect. The whole of humanity’s quest for peace can be found in that righteousness, for in that righteousness is found the peace that passes all understanding.

And to think we try to manufacture righteousness by strict laws and restrictions, thus making ourselves a curse to the lost world to which we were sent to be a blessing. Paul also says in Romans, ". . . just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. {19} For just as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." (Rom 5:18-19 NRSV)

My friend, you be made righteous by the obedience of Christ, not by the merits of your life; for it is by the merits of your life that you stand condemned before God today. When God comes before you and says, "Look to me and be saved" would it not be foolish to say, no thanks I’ll get there on my own? And yet that is what we do when we prescribe for ourselves a cure for that which we do not like about ourselves. We say, I will deny myself television and that will cure my sinfulness. I’ll not go to the tavern and then I’ll be good enough to go to church. I’ll not read filthy books and magazines, then I can teach a Sunday School class. Stop making an idol of yourself by allowing pride to keep you from looking to God for that which you so desperately need and that which He has freely given. Your conviction to remain abstinate from unholy things is admirable only in the eyes the Pharisees. That conviction will do you no good when you come before God, and there, must present a case to prove your righteousness. Only the righteousness of God can save you on that terrible day, and that righteousness can only be had through submission to Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Now, it should be abundantly clear that the only logical response to God, when He says Look to me and be saved, would be obedience. The only thing that makes sense is such a response as that. Yet some hear such a logical discourse and reject it as foolishness. They say, I’ll never submit to God. Even to my dying day, God will always be my foe and I’ll never recognize Him as the all powerful creator and ruler of everything.

My dear unbelieving friend, that is not true. Your resolve to deny God His right to be recognized as the Lord of all is one taken in vain. For God has said, "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Now you must know that God can swear by nothing higher than Himself, and when He does swear by Himself, what He swears He will do will be done.

The Holy Spirit reveals in Hebrews that, "When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, {14} saying, "I will surely bless you and multiply you." {15} And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. {16} Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute. {17} In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, {18} so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us." (Heb 6:13-18 NRSV)

What is also unchangeable in God is that He will have every individual bow down before Him and swear that He is Lord.

For those who make such a declaration, "willing, by prayer to seek, and by faith to receive", will find security and hope in the refuge of their God. However, those who swear God as Lord "by constraint or necessity, to be judged by Him at the last day" will as Isaiah says "be ashamed, for they were incensed against Him."

Jonathen Edwards in His "Treatise Concerning Religious Affections" said concerning those who hear the call to Look to God and be Saved, "they should profess to give up themselves entirely to Christ, and to God through him; as the children of Israel, when they publicly recognized their covenant with God: Deut. 26:17, ‘Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice.’ They ought to profess a willingness of heart to embrace religion with all its difficulties, and to walk in a way of obedience to God universally and perseveringly, . . ." Dear people, God wants you to look to Him because, in Him and only in Him, will you find salvation. Embrace Him today, and in that embrace feel the security of God’s righteousness.