Only God Can Rescue

I’m going to ask you an uncomfortable question at first—but I promise that my goal is to apply the gospel and healing. The uncomfortable question is this, “What is that one thing that either you are doing or you have done which if it was displayed up on these screens you’d be absolutely devastated?”

I’m asking that question because it’s important for our redemption. You’ve likely got something…maybe a bunch of somethings…that you could answer that question with. But you aren’t alone in that. This story is as old as the first chapters of Genesis. And I asked that question because when I read this little snippet from Genesis 3 I want you to put your “answer to my question” into the text here.

In Genesis 3:6-8 we read this

Genesis 3:6–8 ESV

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

You sin. Guilt. Shame. Conviction. Feeling exposed. Just an overwhelming yuckiness comes upon you. And so what do you do in that moment…?

In the New Testament in Romans 7, the apostle Paul is talking about his battle with sin. He doesn’t do what he wants to do and the thing he wants to do he can’t seem to muster up to do it at times. Then he concludes with this pressing question…really the same question that is over Adam and Eve. “Who will deliver me from this body of death...”

Adam and Eve figured that maybe their deliverance would come from these new fig leaf undies that they’ve sown. Then when God shows up they realize, oh man, these aren’t going to cut it. So they hide in the trees. If my creation can’t cover me maybe I can use God’s creation, these trees, to cover me. But that’s a misuse of God’s creation and so it’ll fall flat too.

The same thing is present in our text here this morning. I’m only going to read a little snippet from chapters 45-47 this morning but it’s a sum of everything happening in this passage. Isaiah 46:8-13. God is the only one to provide salvation therefore don’t trust in idols or anything else. God alone can rescue.

Isaiah 46:8–13 ESV

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”

Sermon Introduction:

God alone can rescue. Now to say that there are a couple of things which we are assuming, right. If I say “God alone can rescue” there is an assumption in there that we are in need of rescue. You and I need rescue. We are broken and rebellious. We are broken because of rebellion—both our own rebellion and the rebellion that has happened to us). If you don’t feel your need for rescue then I’m not really sure that anything I say from this point on is going to have much meaning. But if you feel your need for rescue then follow along.

But what does rescue even look like?

I like to look to Revelation 21:1-4

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This picture here is beautiful. When I was younger I thought heaven sounded incredibly boring. No baseball. Harps. Togas. Floating on clouds seemed pretty cool but how can you do that for all of eternity. But then I realized what is happening in this beautiful picture here....it’s far more reaching. It’s a restoration of Eden. I was captivated by this summary by Christopher J.H. Wright:

The best I think I can do as I struggle to understand this part of our biblical faith is to believe that the redemptive and restoring power of God is so great that everything that has made our lives worthwhile, blessed, and fulfilled in the present will be gloriously real and part of what we will be then; and that nothing that has spoiled, shortened, robbed, or broken our lives here will affect what we will enjoy then.

That’s captivating! So it’s not only that every tear is wiped away. This is what my heart is longing for. So what does rescue look like? It looks like taken a broken, battered, rebellious, sin-filled, joy-stealing, creature and getting us from THAT to this. That’s what God is doing with you.

And that’s what he was doing in the time of Isaiah. And we can learn from Isaiah three things about our rescue.

Because God alone can rescue he gets to call the shots on HOW that happens.

1. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.

2. Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill He treasures up His bright designs And works His sov’reign will.

3. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.

4. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

5. His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flow’r.

6. Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.

There is a story that goes with this hymn. William Cowper was a man that battled terrible depression.

One night he de­cid­ed to com­mit su­i­cide by drown­ing him­self. He called a cab and told the driv­er to take him to the Thames Riv­er. How­ev­er, thick fog came down and pre­vent­ed them from find­ing the riv­er (ano­ther ver­sion of the story has the driv­er get­ting lost de­liber­ate­ly). After driv­ing around lost for a while, the cab­by fin­al­ly stopped and let Cow­per out. To Cowper’s sur­prise, he found him­self on his own door­step: God had sent the fog to keep him from kill­ing him­self. Even in our black­est mo­ments, God watch­es over us.

Great story. The only problem is that it’s not likely true. Those who tell this story have the hymn being written in 1774. That’s impossible given his mental state. In 1774 Cowper was completely mad.

The real story behind the poem isn’t as neat.

The year was 1773. Cowper had enjoyed almost a decade of respite from his earlier depression and suicidal tendencies. Then something most unwelcome happened on January 1st of 1773. A few hours after attending morning worship (where he would have heard John Newton preach), the poet was visited with what can only be termed a “terrible premonition” that he was about to return to his previous state. Before the madness set in, he put to verse a proclamation of his faith. That is what we have today entitled God Moves in Mysterious Ways.

Cowper did not recover from this fit of madness for half a decade. Some would even say that he never really recovered. This hymn was the last one of the 68 hymns that he would write with John Newton.

The words of the hymn are true. God does move in mysterious ways. God is his own interpreter and eventually He will make it plain. But there is no sure promise that he will “make it plain” this side of redemption. For some, like Cowper, the “sweetness of the flower” is never enjoyed in this life. For him life under the sun was marked by the “bitterness of the bud”.

We don’t like this story. We don’t like that heavens response to this poem was five years (and later more) madness. We want a story where God watched out for Cowper, kept him from suicide by using fog, and then rescued him from the darkness of despair. Though Cowper never committed suicide he did live a majority of his life in darkness and deep anguish. He seldom saw the smile of God.

Redemption is often messy and unpredictable and God uses people and providences that we probably wouldn’t pick for ourselves. That is certainly true here in Isaiah 44 and 45 when we see that God uses Cyrus the Great.

When you put together a profile of the man God uses Cyrus probably doesn’t fit that mold. When they were crying out for rescue I bet Cyrus isn’t what they had in mind.

But God says…he’s the one that I’m using. We’re doing a quick jaunt through these passages so we can’t go to in depth but look at Isaiah 45. Notice some of the words used even in 44:28. “Shepherd. Fulfill my purpose. Anointed one (that’s Messiah talk), right hand i have grasped.”

Look at verse 4, “I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.” That is God saying, “Cyrus you haven’t a clue who I am…but I know you…I’m calling you by name…I’m using you.” And you can see this in books like Esther (how God uses unlikely heroes) and you can see it in Daniel. We don’t know this for certain—and I’m certainly not convinced that this is the case but there is a somewhat reasonable argument that Cyrus and Darius are the same person. Again, I’m not convinced of that. But it would certainly fit that God intended to show himself to Cyrus. But maybe that’s just us trying to have a neater redemption story than what we’ve actually gotten.

We could talk much more about Cyrus and show how God fulfilled this. But it’s enough for our time today to say that even though these words were spoken over a century before they were fulfilled. God did use Cyrus how he said he was going to use him. And it was shocking.

But for our time lets look at verses 9-10. This is saying that God gets to redeem how he sees fit. We don’t get to question him on this or call the shots or think that we could do it better. He is redeeming you. Do I trust him?

Newton. We should let the Lord decide...

If we’re not careful we could be like the Pharisees who waited for the Messiah…Jesus comes...”my son in whom I delight…this is the way I’m provided rescue…and they didn’t like it so they had him killed.” Am I going to trust God with the keys for my redemption. Am I going to trust that He is good and doing good…even if he is “creating calamity” as it says in verse 7?

God alone can rescue—so that means He knows best—he calls the shots he gets to decide HOW rescue happens. But also...

2. Because God alone can rescue every other “rescuer” is going to burden us instead of rescue.

Isaiah isn’t done dogging on all the idols and idol worship. And it makes sense that he’d do this. The human heart is a perpetual idol factory. And so it doesn’t matter what you call the idol that’s what is going to happen. But I just love this picture here. Look at Isaiah 46:1-2. Notice what he is saying here.

If you want to travel you have to carry your idols with you. These things would be heavy. And you know this in your life too, don’t you. Your idols are costly. They might start out cheap at first but eventually they cost you. Sin always aims at the utmost. It’s never satisfied. It aims to destroy you and dethrone God. And so these idols have become a burden. But they keep lugging them around because they don’t know another way.

Do you know what this is saying. If you go about trying to find rescue somewhere else it isn’t going to happen. And not only is it that you just aren’t going to be rescued…you’re actually going to get worse. It’s like the story of the bleeding woman in the gospels. She went to tons and tons of doctors and rather than making her better they actually made her worse.

That’s the picture I want you to see this morning. Every single one of us is on a quest to get back to Eden. To cover our shame…to fix what we’ve screwed up…to once again arrive at home. To make Revelation 21 happen. To get rest, rule, and relationship. But we end up messing everything up and it gets heavier and heavier and heavier.

Imagine that you’ve got this backpack…you’re taking everything you need to go on this journey and reach the promised land. What do I need to get me there?

Stuff in rules. Being a good person. Gotta be super organized. Get control. Social causes. Politics. Bible knowledge. Theology. Psychology. Knowledge. Spiritual experiences. Pleasure.

I think of Solomon in Ecclessiastes. Dude tried everything. And here’s the thing when you stuff something in that pack it’s like mom’s purse…it tends to get lost in there and it doesn’t all come out. It’s not like for Solomon he could just try partying and being with tons of ladies and then all of a sudden decide that doesn’t work and make a clean break and have no consequences. No we carry these burdens with us…they get heavy…they exhaust us…they train us to be better idolaters…they shape us…and they ultimately just leave us dry and thirsty and weary and tired and worn out and broken and shipwrecked.

But listen to what the Lord says…Isaiah 46:3-4. I CARRY YOU!!

Oh, how the Lord Jesus fulfilled these words…come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He is our burden bearer!!!

3. Because God alone can rescue every other path leads to destruction.

What you see in Isaiah 47 is a picture of the destruction of Babylon. Particularly look at 47:10-11. They were prideful. We’ll figure this out. We’ll provide our own way of rescue. We’ll do things our way…Frank Sinatra, they were. But God says, “disaster is coming and you can’t escape.” There is only one way of rescue and all the others lead to death. That’s the point here.

We’re the Babylonians in this story. In C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia we read of a little girl named Jill who is very thirsty and she is searching for water:

The birds had ceased singing and there was perfect silence except for one small, persistent sound, which seemed to come from a good distance away. She listened carefully, and felt almost sure it was the sound of running water.

Jill got up and looked round her very carefully. There was no sign of the lion; but there were so many trees about that it might easily be quite close without her seeing it. . . . But her thirst was very bad now, and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water. . . .

The wood was so still that it was not difficult to decide where the sound was coming from. It grew clearer every moment and, sooner than she expected, she came to an open glade and saw the stream, bright as glass, running across the turf a stone's throw away from her. But although the sight of water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didn't rush forward to drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned to stone, with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason: Just on this side of the stream lay the Lion. . . .

How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.

"If you're thirsty, you may drink." . . .

For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again,

"If you are thirsty, come and drink." . . .

It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. . . .

"Are you thirsty?" said the Lion.

"I'm dying of thirst," said Jill.

"Then drink," said the Lion.

"May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. . . . The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. . . .

"Do you eat girls?" she asked fearfully.

"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.

There is no other stream…every other path leads to destruction. This might not be the stream that you would pick, it might not be your plan, you might not even like the way that God does things…but there is no other stream. Every other path will leave you burdened and ultimately you’ll die of thirst. There is no other stream. Nothing else will satisfy.

I want to close by looking at Isaiah 45:22.

Quite a few years ago there was a snow storm that pelted London England and a 15 year old boy was trying to make his way to church. He to use his own words was, “unhappy, desponding, despairing” he says he “dreamed of hell. And his life was full of sorrow and wretchedness believing he was lost with no hope of being rescued.” So I guess you could say that he was thirsty but had just about given up hope of getting any relief…

The snow kept him from going to his normal church service—he was a faithful attender to church by the way…he read the Bible and prayed daily…but still felt himself lost. He awoke on this Sunday morning with a pressing need for deliverance. But with his own church unable to be attended he ducked down a side street and there at the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Artillery St. was a man who wasn’t supposed to be in the pulpit that morning…he was just a lay preacher…a substitute…not trained one lick to preach the gospel. But for some reason he chose Isaiah 45:22 for his text and as this young man would later go on to say...

“He had not much to say, thank God, for that compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed—by me, at any rate except his text. Then, stopping, he pointed to where I was sitting under the gallery, and he said, ‘That young man there looks very miserable’ . . . and he shouted, as I think only a Primitive Methodist can, ‘Look! Look, young man! Look now!’ . . . Then I had this vision—not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a Savior Christ was. . . . Now I can never tell you how it was, but I no sooner saw whom I was to believe than I also understood what it was to believe, and I did believe in one moment.

“And as the snow fell on my road home from the little house of prayer I thought every snowflake talked with me and told of the pardon I had found, for I was white as the driven snow through the grace of God.”

That young man, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, would go on to be known as the Prince of Preachers. But that simple message is still true today…look to Jesus and live!

It is only in Christ that we have our redemption. This is the way God has chosen…there is no other name in heaven by which men may be saved....every other path leads to burdens and ultimately dying of thirst—there is no other stream. Turn to him today.