The God who saves and deserves our worship

Intro: A marshal in Napoleon's army -- a man who was devotedly and enthusiastically attached to him -- was mortally wounded in battle. As the last struggle drew near and he lay dying in his tent, he sent for his chief. Napoleon came. The poor man thought his emperor could do anything. Perhaps he even sought to put him in the place of God. So he earnestly pleaded with his leader to save his life. The emperor sadly shook his head and turned away. But as the dying man felt the cold, merciless hand of death drawing him irresistibly behind the curtain of the unseen world, he was still heard to shriek out, "Save me, Napoleon! Save me!" In the hour of death, that soldier discovered that even the powerful Napoleon could not save him.

CPS: All mankind needs a Savior and there is only one, Jesus the God who saves and is worthy of worship.

I. The God Who Saves (22)

The Bible tells us that we have a just God who is our Savior. Who is this just Savior? Vs. 21 The LORD (YHWH). Titus 3:6 Jesus Christ our Savior,”

A. The grace of Jesus our Savior

1. The Just

Vs. 22 “A just God. Just means righteous or in the Right. In this world justice is often not carried out. Bt with God it is always caried out!

ILL: Supreme Court Justice Horace Gray once informed a man who had appeared before him in a lower court and had escaped conviction on a technicality, “I know that you are guilty and you know it, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and that there you will be dealt with according to justice and not according to law.”

God always deals with sin justly! The penalty for sin is death! If the Lord tarries we must all die physically but we don't have to die spiritually and this by no means undermines God’s justice!

2. The Justifer

Romans 3:26 calls Him the Just and Justifier! Jesus rescues us from the justice we deserve and paying the price for our sin Himself. We call Justification.

ILL: There was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, “I’m having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?” The Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday. as you can imagine the fellow was wondering, “How much is this going to cost me?” So when he got back to England, he wrote the Rolls-Royce a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: “Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce.”

JUST AS ROLLS-ROYCE PAID THE EXTREME COST TO FIX ONE OF THEIR CARS… JESUS PAID THE EXTREME COST FOR HIS CHILDREN!

At Calvary the Grace of God shined bright as the penalty of sin passed from the sinner onto the Savior and God casts your sin into His sea of forgetfulness and remembers it no more. By grace through faith He no longer sees the sinner only the blood of the Savior and there is no record of sin.

B. The responsiblity of man

People must look to Jesus for their Salvation! Look unto Me and be ye saved!

ILL: It was Jan. 6 1850, Young Charles Hadden Spurgeon said he was “in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity” seeking rest and finding none. He stepped within the house of God and sat there afraid to look up lest he be utterly cutoff and face the fierce wrath of God. The minister rose in his pulpit, and as I have done this morning read this text, “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is none other.” In that moment the grace of God shined upon Him and through faith he was instantly saved!

Look (pnh)(v), to turn. It is turning from an object in rejection and turning to an object for help. In context Isaiah is crying out "turn away from dead false gods and turn to The One True God Of Salvation.

Don’t look to me the Pastor to save you. Don’t look at yourself to save you. Repent and look to Jesus in faith! Its that simple! Who? all the nations of the earth, He is the God of Jew and Gentile, all people. However you must respond personally becasue He personally is your one true God who desires to save you!

II. The God worthy of worshipped (23)

Jesus is worthy of worship because he is the One true God.

A. The One True God

In each person regardless if they confess it or not is the desire to know God. Many in ignorance and depravity worship a god that is not true. It may be yourself, your money, your hobbies, or like many a god who does not exist. Pagan worship is rampant today (Buddhism, Islam etc) and it was rampant during Isaiah's day. Is. 45:16 “they worshiped gods made by the hands of man. Is. 45:20c “they pray to a god that cannot save.” Isaiah goes to great length to drive home the fact that Our God, the God of Israel (YHWH) (Present Tense presence in His fullness {Trinity}) is the only God. Is. 45:5, 6, 18b, 21b, 22b. There is no other God

B. Creator

The Only Creator

While the pagan’s worshiped gods that were created we are called to worship the God who creates! Gen. 1:1, Is. 45:18, Is. 45:8-12

2. The Only Predictor of the future

As Creator He is sovereign over the future. He rules and over rules from the throne in heaven! Many people have tried to predict the future all have failed except God!

a. Babylon

Is. 39:5 (Nearly 140 yrs before)

Hab. 1:6 (Nearly 70 yrs)

b. Cyrus (539 BC sacks Babylon without much of a fight)

Is. 44:28, Is. 45:1 (200 years before) CALLS HIM BY NAME!

C. Sustainer

Is. 45:5 Girded (Equipped) He provides.

D. Savior

His Salvation is Everlasting

His Salvation is certain!

a. His Oath (23a)

God is faithful to save! He keeps His promises and swears an unalterable oath based on His own integrity. If He fails to save those who trust in Him then He is not God but since He is God it is totally impossible for his plans to fail! Hebrews 6:13 “For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,” Genesis 22:16 “and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,”

b. His eternal Word (23b)

Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

E. Sovereign

We are to worship the Lord because He is worthy. We must worship the Lord because He is sovereign, one day all of the creation will bend their knee to Jesus and admit He is Lord! This doesn't mean everyone will be saved.

Romans 14:11–12 “For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

What will you say of yourself? Lord I worshiped you on earth … you will worship Him with joy forever more in His very presence. Lord I rejected you on earth… you will worship me in torment and pain in the absence of my presence in the pit of hell.

Con: Have you looked to Jesus, are you worshiping Jesus? Jesus is calling you to be saved and to worship Him now on earth. Will you respond before its too late.

A boy from the country was going into the city to get a job. Before he got ready to leave his mother said to him, I want you to promise me that you will go to church on Sunday. So he promised his mother he would go to church. He went on into the city. He worked the first week and became acquainted with some of the fellows there, made some new friends. So, on in the week and some of his new friends invited him to go horse back riding with them on Sunday. He remembered his promise to his mother and he said, I’m sorry, fellas, I can’t do it. But they continued to invite him and pressure him; after awhile he relented and consented to go. Sunday morning came, they began their horseback ride. Around 11:00, they had come down town and as they were passing by the church, the church bells announcing the services began to ring. When they started ringing, he could see his mother and daddy walking into the little home church in the country. He remembered his promise to his mother. But he just kept on riding. As he rode the bells grew fainter and fainter. When they got on the edge of the city, the boy stopped and said, fellows, I come from a Christian family. My mother asked me to promise her to be in church today. He said, fellows, I have noticed as we have been riding that the bells have: been getting fainter and fainter. If we ride anymore, I won’t be able to hear the bells fellas, I’m going back while I can still hear the bells. Dear friend, the bells of invitation have been ringing in your ears for a long time. When you were just a young child, those bells rang clearly at a vacation Bible School or maybe at a revival then you became a young man and those bells kept ringing. God’s spirit kept dealing with your heart and you knew you needed Jesus as your Savior. Maybe today you can still faintly hear those bells. One of these days, the bells may stop ringing. Come to Jesus this morning while you can still hear the bells.