Chad Driscoll: Good morning, brothers and sisters.
Chad Driscoll: It's a blessing to be with you this morning.
Chad Driscoll: We'll be in Isaiah, chapter 45, verses 14 through 25.
Chad Driscoll: Before we begin, let's go to the Lord again in prayer.
Chad Driscoll: Heavenly Father, thank you that you are good and you love us.
Chad Driscoll: Thank you for being here with us this morning, that your spirit is with us.
Chad Driscoll: Please open our eyes to see your truth, open our ears to hear your word.
Chad Driscoll: Please give me the words to speak that your children would be edified and be challenged and become more like Christ.
Chad Driscoll: Thank you that your word will not return to you void but will accomplish all that you desire.
Chad Driscoll: Now we can.
Chad Driscoll: We can trust and believe that we pray these things in Jesus name, amen.
Chad Driscoll: Five years ago, as I was beginning to make plans to go overseas, I began to.
Chad Driscoll: I went to an orientation with a company and they they told me that instead of going overseas, I should receive some training before I went.
Chad Driscoll: This was a change in plans and I didn't really wasn't the biggest fan of it.
Chad Driscoll: I wanted to go, I had a desire to go, but the training that I did receive was good and beneficial and I saw God's work in that end of of preparing me to better understand God's word and better be able to communicate who he is, and probably the best benefit was that I met a lovely young lady there named Emily, who has made me a better man.
Chad Driscoll: But in our lives we see our plans are changed and directed and the Lord is in control of all of those.
Chad Driscoll: Last week we learned about Cyrus, a pagan king, who God would use to establish his people, to bring them back from captivity and to rebuild the temple.
Chad Driscoll: And today we continue in that and the Lord moves from Cyrus to his plans for the whole world and we begin to see all that God will do.
Chad Driscoll: And God's plan for the whole world is that all will know that the Lord is God.
Chad Driscoll: We will see that there is no other God, that he alone is God.
Chad Driscoll: We will see that there is no other hope, that God alone brings salvation, that there is no other end, that God's plan will come about.
Chad Driscoll: Our passage begins in verse 14.
Chad Driscoll: This is what the Lord says the products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and the Sabians, men of statue, will come over to you and will be yours.
Chad Driscoll: They will follow you.
Chad Driscoll: They will come over to you in chains and bow.
Chad Driscoll: They will follow you.
Chad Driscoll: They will come over to you in chains and bow down to you.
Chad Driscoll: They will confess to you.
Chad Driscoll: God indeed is with you and there is no other.
Chad Driscoll: There is no other God.
Chad Driscoll: Our first point today is there is no other God.
Chad Driscoll: The Lord alone is God.
Chad Driscoll: Just a quick note when I say the Lord in this passage, when it comes up, it's referring to the name of Yahweh, the personal name of God, the God of the Bible, whom we know and who has revealed himself.
Chad Driscoll: So keep that in mind as we as we speak.
Chad Driscoll: But the Lord is God, there is no other God.
Chad Driscoll: First, 14 begins with the Lord for claiming that the products of Egypt, the merchandise of Cush and the Sabaeans, men of stature, these were pagan people, people who did not know the Lord, who did not worship him, who instead bowed down to idols, who worship idols.
Chad Driscoll: But the Lord says their wealth, their goods, their precious things and the people of renown would come and bow before the people of God and declare that God indeed is with them and there is no other God, that the people of the nations would come to a place and come to a realization that the Lord alone is God.
Chad Driscoll: And we see this continue on in the passages from verse 18.
Chad Driscoll: We have a court-like proceeding, that the Lord is calling the nations and telling them to present their case.
Chad Driscoll: For who is God?
Chad Driscoll: And we know the Lord will be seen to be God in verse 18 through 21.
Chad Driscoll: For this is what the Lord says the creator of the heavens and the God who formed the earth and made it, the one who established it.
Chad Driscoll: He did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited.
Chad Driscoll: He says I am the Lord and there is no other.
Chad Driscoll: I have not spoken in secret somewhere in a land of darkness.
Chad Driscoll: I did not say to the descendants of Jacob seek me in a wasteland.
Chad Driscoll: I am the Lord, who speaks righteously, who declares what is right.
Chad Driscoll: Come, gather together and approach you.
Chad Driscoll: Fugitives of the nations, those who carry their wooden idols and pray to a God who cannot save, have no knowledge, speak up, present your case.
Chad Driscoll: Yes, let them consult each other.
Chad Driscoll: Who predicted this long ago?
Chad Driscoll: Who announced it from ancient times?
Chad Driscoll: Was it not I, the Lord?
Chad Driscoll: There is no other God but me, a righteous Savior and God.
Chad Driscoll: There is no other except me.
Chad Driscoll: Now, in this court proceeding, the nations are called to come and present their case, but they have nothing they can say, there is nothing that they can present that would show that they are in the right, because the Lord alone is God.
Chad Driscoll: He is the one who has created the world and he created it to be inhabited, giving blessings to the people.
Chad Driscoll: We see this courtroom proceeding, mirrored in Revelation, chapter 20.
Chad Driscoll: Revelation, chapter 20, verse 11 and 12.
Chad Driscoll: Then I saw a great white throne and the one seated on it.
Chad Driscoll: Earth and heaven fled from his presence and no place was found for them.
Chad Driscoll: I saw also the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and the books were opened, and another book was open, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to the books that in this judgment, great and small come before them.
Chad Driscoll: Every single person is brought before the throne.
Chad Driscoll: A great white throne showing that God is above all and he is giving a pure judgment.
Chad Driscoll: He alone judges rightly.
Chad Driscoll: And what can the people say?
Chad Driscoll: What can we bring?
Chad Driscoll: Verses 16 and 17,.
Chad Driscoll: We skipped over, uh, but we'll go back to now.
Chad Driscoll: It speaks of the, of the idolaters and what awaits them.
Chad Driscoll: Verse 16 all of them are put to shame, even humiliated, the makers of idols.
Chad Driscoll: They go into humiliation together.
Chad Driscoll: Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation.
Chad Driscoll: You will not be put to shame or humiliated for all eternity.
Chad Driscoll: And we must take pause here, because each and every one of us were the ones who belonged to the category of the idolaters.
Chad Driscoll: We were without God that we deserve this judgment that awaits before the great white throne.
Chad Driscoll: Every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance to God, and some will do it unwillingly.
Chad Driscoll: Many will do it unwillingly, coming to a place where they are revealed to be those who have not followed God.
Chad Driscoll: And we too were like them.
Chad Driscoll: We too were against God.
Chad Driscoll: We rebelled against a good God who provided the world, who created the world for it to be inhabited.
Chad Driscoll: And even in ourselves we still fight against this rebellion, this idolatry that we seek after money instead of seeking the Lord, desiring to accumulate wealth, or whether we are valuing family above following God, or whether work or pleasure is taking place before God.
Chad Driscoll: We have we struggle with these things that we all belong to the category of people who were sinners.
Chad Driscoll: We are all sinners before the Lord.
Chad Driscoll: God that there is nothing we can bring, there is no good deed we can bring before the Lord.
Chad Driscoll: That he would say you are justified by it.
Chad Driscoll: We can only come humbly before him.
Chad Driscoll: And thankfully, here is where we find hope.
Chad Driscoll: Here is where we find that the Lord is God and we have no other hope but him, no other salvation.
Chad Driscoll: Verse 22 says turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.
Chad Driscoll: That God calls the people, even in this judgment that he is proclaiming that there will be a judgment to come.
Chad Driscoll: He says come back to me, turn from your wicked ways, come back.
Chad Driscoll: And he roots it in his character turn and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other God.
Chad Driscoll: Root the salvation that God promises is rooted in his character, in who he is.
Chad Driscoll: All throughout scripture this comes true that God is a loving and gracious and merciful God.
Chad Driscoll: So here's a couple passages from Exodus and Nehemiah and Psalm who.
Chad Driscoll: The Lord declares who he is.
Chad Driscoll: He says God will have mercy.
Chad Driscoll: On whom he will have mercy?
Chad Driscoll: And the Lord, the Lord Yahweh, yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love For the Lord, your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding instead, fast love.
Chad Driscoll: This is the Lord God, the one who is above all things, that in the same breath that he says there is a judgment to come, he also says turn and come back to me.
Chad Driscoll: Turn from your sin.
Chad Driscoll: He knows they will not satisfy.
Chad Driscoll: He knows that what awaits those who are in sin, those who bow down to idols, who do not follow after God, is humiliation, is the recognition, when all is laid bare, that they will be seen to have no hope.
Chad Driscoll: But then he extends hope and says come, turn back to me.
Chad Driscoll: That the Lord God can provide this, that the Father can provide reconciliation because through the Son, jesus Christ, the Messiah, who lived on earth and lived a perfect life, taking on our humiliation, shame and guilt upon the cross, so that we could come back to the Lord.
Chad Driscoll: This is the hope that we have, not of anything that we have done or anything we can provide or give, but because of what God has done, because of what Jesus has done, we can have salvation.
Chad Driscoll: That when that courtroom proceeding comes, then when we stand before the great white throne and the books are opened, that is not of anything we have done that we will say when the Lord says, present your case, we can say, not I, but what Jesus has done.
Chad Driscoll: It is not anything I can bring that says I should be saved for this and this and this reason, but simply because of what Jesus has done for us his life, his death, his resurrection and to rest upon that In the day to day.
Chad Driscoll: It is easy to forget this.
Chad Driscoll: It is easy to strive and to act and to train To accomplish good deeds by our own tasks, but to remind ourselves when that day comes, it is only by what God has done.
Chad Driscoll: He is our righteousness and strength.
Chad Driscoll: Our passage ends with verse 25.
Chad Driscoll: And it says all the descendants of Israel will be justified and boast in the Lord, and this has been extended to us.
Chad Driscoll: We are the people of God through Jesus, the true descendant of Israel, the offspring of Abraham.
Chad Driscoll: In him we are justified.
Chad Driscoll: He has allowed us a way to come back to him and we will be justified In the eyes of the judge.
Chad Driscoll: We will be declared without wrong that God will look at us and he will see Jesus' perfect record and we will be declared just.
Chad Driscoll: He will see Jesus' perfect record and we will be declared just, and in this we can boast in the Lord, knowing it is not us, but it is him.
Chad Driscoll: He is the one who has done it.
Chad Driscoll: Now, which leads us to our third point, that there is no other end, and we'll spend some time on this point.
Chad Driscoll: Throughout our passage, there comes up again and again future tense the people will come, they will follow, they will bow down.
Chad Driscoll: We hear this talk of eternity.
Chad Driscoll: They will come before you.
Chad Driscoll: Every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance that all the descendants of Israel will be justified 12 different times.
Chad Driscoll: There is this future tense that comes up, that this, these things have not yet come about.
Chad Driscoll: We still await the fulfillment.
Chad Driscoll: Um, as we've been overseas learning language, uh, the language that we've learning has two different future tenses um, which can lead things to be complicated, but I found a beauty in it.
Chad Driscoll: Um, one of the future tenses which can lead things to be complicated, but I found a beauty in it.
Chad Driscoll: One of the future tenses is a maybe something that will come up, that will probably come about, and use it when making plans and things that you aren't sure will happen.
Chad Driscoll: And the other future tense is a definite 100%.
Chad Driscoll: This will happen.
Chad Driscoll: And when we speak of that tense, we don't actually know what will come tomorrow.
Chad Driscoll: We don't actually know.
Chad Driscoll: Even if we strive with all our power, we don't know what will come about.
Chad Driscoll: But when the Lord says this will come about, he is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the one who knows all that will happen, the one who has planned it from the very beginning, before time.
Chad Driscoll: He knows the end, he brings it about.
Chad Driscoll: So when we see these promises, the things that will come about, it's not a maybe, it's a for sure, it's a definite.
Chad Driscoll: And we live in that.
Chad Driscoll: We live in the unknown, we don't live.
Chad Driscoll: We don't live in the unknown, we live in the not.
Chad Driscoll: Yet we live in a world in which those who do what is wrong, they have not faced all of their punishment yet it seems like those who are doing what is wrong, who steal, who cheat, who hurt others to get their own way, who seek to put themselves up and trick others.
Chad Driscoll: They are not doing what is wrong, they still succeed, they still have things that go well in life.
Chad Driscoll: And it seems like those who do what is right don't have things go well for them.
Chad Driscoll: It seems like those who are, who seek to do what is right and seek to trust in the Lord don't have aren't justified.
Chad Driscoll: They instead are punished or don't know how things go well for us.
Chad Driscoll: Romans 8 puts it beautifully that as we wait in this, this, not yet Romans 8, 22 through 24, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now, not only that, but we ourselves, who have the spirit as first fruits, also grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Chad Driscoll: Now, in this hope we were saved.
Chad Driscoll: But hope that is seen is not hope, because hope who hopes for what he has seen?
Chad Driscoll: Now, if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it, with patience, that we have hope for what will come about, that this judgment and when all will be made right, which all will know that the Lord is God and there is no other.
Chad Driscoll: But we wait, not, not yet.
Chad Driscoll: My wife, right now, is pregnant with our second son and she's due in another month.
Chad Driscoll: But a day doesn't go by, much less a couple hours, in which she doesn't mention that she longs for the baby to be born, that she feels the pains and the difficulties of having a child, and she waits.
Chad Driscoll: And what a picture that is.
Chad Driscoll: That groaning that desire that we know things are not yet right, that groaning that desire that we know things are not yet right.
Chad Driscoll: We know that there are not right but we can wait in that, with confidence, knowing that it will come about, that people will come and seek the Lord.
Chad Driscoll: They will come and bow down when, right now, it seems like all they care about is propping themselves up.
Chad Driscoll: They don't come to listen to God's word.
Chad Driscoll: They want to listen to the latest podcast about making money or becoming popular or listening to the latest music.
Chad Driscoll: But a time will come, and we know this is purposeful.
Chad Driscoll: The Lord could reveal himself, but verse 15 says yes, you are a God who hides.
Chad Driscoll: God of Israel, savior, that God has hidden himself.
Chad Driscoll: God has chosen to not reveal all things in immediately, at this time that his true nature is veiled yes, in creation he has displayed himself and that his nature and his great power is clearly seen.
Chad Driscoll: But he has allowed for people's sin to blind them to that God has not spoken in secret, but has clearly revealed his truth to his people from Israel and now his church.
Chad Driscoll: That God has declared his truth and yet he has blinded the world for a time, and this is purposeful, for God has chosen to work through his people, through his church.
Chad Driscoll: In this passage in verse 14 and 15, 17, 19, and 25, this thread comes out that God is working through Israel, through his people.
Chad Driscoll: And we know now that God is continuing to work through his church, that Isaiah tells us that Israel was meant to be a light to the nations, a light to the Gentiles, and Jesus continues that and tells his disciples that they are the light of the world, that they are displaying the truth of God to the people, that God's glory is displayed through his people, that they are to tell of his truth and to be a light to the nations.
Chad Driscoll: And we can have confidence and purpose in this truth, in this end, we will know it will come about.
Chad Driscoll: God roots that.
Chad Driscoll: It will come about in himself.
Chad Driscoll: Verse 23,.
Chad Driscoll: By myself, I have sworn.
Chad Driscoll: Truth has gone out from my mouth a word that will not be revoked.
Chad Driscoll: Every knee will bow to me, every tongue will swear allegiance that the spread of the gospel and the and the truth that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that the Lord is God is rooted in his character.
Chad Driscoll: He has sworn by himself.
Chad Driscoll: God, the one who does not change, has sworn, and we can take confidence in that this will come about.
Chad Driscoll: God is spreading his gospel to the ends of the world, and we also find our purpose in this.
Chad Driscoll: Each and every one of us looks for purpose in our life, and if you are here today wondering what God's plan is for your life, I have an encouragement for you.
Chad Driscoll: One thing that we can we can hang our hat on that we know is true is God's plan for his people to spread his gospel to those who do not know, to tell others, to show the world his love so that all the nations will know.
Chad Driscoll: Every single one of us is given this task.
Chad Driscoll: It is not for some or for others.
Chad Driscoll: It's not for some and not for others.
Chad Driscoll: It is for each and every one of the people of God to take part in this task, and it can be easy to not realize the opportunities that we have.
Chad Driscoll: Two years ago, when I was doing an internship, life was busy.
Chad Driscoll: I'm sure it is for many of you.
Chad Driscoll: There are many things to do and many, many activities or studies, and I'm thankful for all of those things, but in that, in that busyness, it was easy for me to to make excuses or to think I don't have the opportunities to share Um, and there are good opportunities like like um I'm sorry I'm creating the name Um the the day in new Hyde park where everyone comes out um, street fair, street fair or VBS.
Chad Driscoll: Everyone comes out Street fair, street fair or VBS.
Chad Driscoll: There are many other good opportunities that we should take, but moving overseas helped show me a shrewdness that we need to have with regard to sharing the gospel.
Chad Driscoll: When we moved overseas, we started with zero language.
Chad Driscoll: We could say hello, which gets you about two seconds into a conversation and then you can't do anything else, and so we had to begin to try and make friends with very little language and start to build these relationships and to realize you have to get shrewd about it To think, okay, how can I see the same people over and over again so that they recognize me and I can begin to talk with them and progress a little bit further, whether it be going to the same bakery week after week, learning the people's names, asking them about their lives and oftentimes making a fool of myself Going to the same grocery stores trying to find the same cashier and talking to them, even if it's just a short interaction.
Chad Driscoll: But week by week they stack up and people begin to recognize you, whether it means going to parks and talking to the other moms that are there, being intentional about the ways that the Lord has provided with our time and our ways.
Chad Driscoll: We have to interact with people and but to see those not as as just daily life things but as opportunities to build relationships, to share the gospel, and coming back to realize that when we, when you have language, talking to the cashier, talking to the waiter when you're getting your food, is much, much easier and you can build those relationships a lot, lot faster.
Chad Driscoll: And to and just the to realize that we have those opportunities to be shrewd with our time, not for ourselves and say how good at I am in sharing the gospel, but for the sake of the kingdom of God, knowing that God is spreading his good news to the world, that people will confess, people will come to know him, they will bow down before him, and to take opportunities to spread that gospel.
Chad Driscoll: And I am always encouraged coming back to hear of the different people who are sharing with their family members, who, week after week, month after month, year after year are praying for their family members and sharing with them, and sharing with their coworkers and their friends.
Chad Driscoll: Continue on in that task.
Chad Driscoll: Continue to see who you can share with, whom the Lord has given you a relationship with, and seek to build new relationships to share with them.
Chad Driscoll: It's not about the results.
Chad Driscoll: The Lord never promises that every task we do will bring about a result or that every person we share with will come to know the Lord.
Chad Driscoll: Praise God, it's not about results.
Chad Driscoll: Praise God that.
Chad Driscoll: It's about what he will do, that he is the one in control.
Chad Driscoll: He is the one that turns people's hearts to him, that opens their eyes to see, and he has given us a place in that work and he gives us an opportunity to be willing to say yes, lord, I'm willing to take this time, I'm willing to take the time out of my schedule, I'm willing to be a little bit more awkward to talk to someone.
Chad Driscoll: I'm willing to be willing to be made a fool for the sake of people coming to know you, because the Lord can and does use it.
Chad Driscoll: We may not see all that he does and we might be discouraged because it seems like the work is not coming about, but he is planting seeds, he is watering those seeds and he will bring about fruit in his time and we can trust and rest upon it, because he alone is Lord.
Chad Driscoll: He alone promises that, and it is not just about what the Lord is doing around us here, but our passage speaks of God's word going out to all the nations and the same willingness we should have to consider how the Lord might be using us.
Chad Driscoll: Maybe there is an opportunity for you to make a transfer, to move internationally with your work If you work at a larger company, to consider how you might serve overseas in that way, to live in a place where there are churches but be an encouragement to the believers there.
Chad Driscoll: Maybe you're, as you're approaching retirement, the Lord is providing you an opportunity to step into service full time, instead of taking time as you, as you step back from work, instead of taking that time to do things that you find enjoyable, to jump into ministry full time and to seek to find how you might serve, or maybe to to take even to go, as Christ did, to give all, to move to a foreign land and to learn their language and to share the gospel with those who have not yet heard, to be a light to the nations, and it does not depend on us.
Chad Driscoll: In this passage, we don't see anything about the people of God or what they should do.
Chad Driscoll: All in this passage it's the Lord, god.
Chad Driscoll: This is what he says, this is what will come about.
Chad Driscoll: He swears upon himself.
Chad Driscoll: He is the one who saves, he is the one who justifies, he is the one who brings about this work, and we take confidence in that that.
Chad Driscoll: It does not depend on how capable or willing we are.
Chad Driscoll: He uses those things, but also God, oftentimes throughout scripture, uses the weak to shame the strong, who uses the unwise to shame the wise, that we should not discount the power of God to use each and every one of us to accomplish his path, accomplish his work.
Chad Driscoll: That we can take confidence.
Chad Driscoll: God has freely given us so much.
Chad Driscoll: God has freely given us Jesus, his own son, that we might be saved.
Chad Driscoll: He's given us new life in him, son, that we might be saved.
Chad Driscoll: He's given us new life in him.
Chad Driscoll: He's given us opportunities to talk with other people.
Chad Driscoll: He's given us an abundance of wealth to share with those, to help send out those Freely.
Chad Driscoll: We have been given much.
Chad Driscoll: Let us, then, freely give of ourselves, of our time of our prayers.
Chad Driscoll: Let us fall on our knees, praying for those praying for the word of God to go out, that those who have not yet heard would hear the gospel.
Chad Driscoll: Let us freely give of ourselves, not because our own power will bring it about, but because the Lord is God, is God.
Chad Driscoll: Let us store up treasures in heaven, giving of our life, giving of our time, of our money, of our prayers to see the gospel go to the ends of the earth, because there is no other God.
Chad Driscoll: The nations, many of the nations, the people do not know the Lord.
Chad Driscoll: They do not know the truth of the Bible.
Chad Driscoll: They have never heard that God alone is the truth of the Bible.
Chad Driscoll: They have never heard that God alone is the God of the world and that they are sinners and need to be saved by his grace.
Chad Driscoll: Let us be a part of that word going out so that some may know that some who had never had the opportunity to hear, that those who had not heard will believe in those who had not.
Chad Driscoll: I'm I'm blanking, I'm sorry.
Chad Driscoll: Everyone blank on the passage, but they need to hear the truth.
Chad Driscoll: Let us be a part of sending and giving towards that end.
Chad Driscoll: Praise God, it does not depend on us, that he alone is Lord and that we can rest upon his salvation.
Chad Driscoll: He does that work.
Chad Driscoll: He is good and he will bring it to the end, and we can take confidence and purpose in that truth.
Chad Driscoll: Let's thank the Lord, heavenly Father.
Chad Driscoll: Thank you for your truth.
Chad Driscoll: Thank you that you alone are good, that you alone are mighty, that you alone are the creator of the world.
Chad Driscoll: We know the final judgment will come and in that day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess.
Chad Driscoll: And, lord, we know that many will do so unwillingly, that they will be at a place of rebellion and will not.
Chad Driscoll: They will do so unwillingly and go to eternal judgment, lord, but we also know that you are at work and will bring about your will to save for yourself a people from every tribe, tongue and nation.
Chad Driscoll: That many in that day will bow before you willingly, with joy, singing your praises, and we want to work towards that end.
Chad Driscoll: Help us to know how we can do that, to work with shrewdness.
Chad Driscoll: Thank you for those here in this room who are doing that on a daily basis, who are giving regularly, who are praying regularly for the saints both here and overseas.
Chad Driscoll: Lord, encourage them, remind them that you are at work, even when they can't see it.
Chad Driscoll: Thank you, lord, for your goodness that you have brought us here.
Chad Driscoll: Help us to remember your word as we go out this week.
Chad Driscoll: Teach us to be a light to the world.
Chad Driscoll: Pray us in Jesus' name, amen.