God's Evangelistic Heart
Notes
Transcript
All rise for the reading of God’s Word.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
Background
Be Comforted 3. God Is Greater than Our Enemies (Isa. 45:1–48:22)
Note the emphasis on salvation. The idols cannot save Babylon (v. 20), but God is the Savior of Israel (vv. 15, 17). He is “a just God and a Savior” (v. 21), and He offers salvation to the whole world (v. 22).
The Futility of Idols.
Part of the background of this passage is God’s declaration that your idols cannot save.
You start with a clean slate, with no agenda.. no desire for prosperity, material wealth.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
Challenge: present your case, let us reason together, are you entangled by the glitter of this world?
Vaccines: We have to be inoculated from the world.
Can we even compare the LORD with other Gods?
Loving call from God.
2. The Exclusivity of Salvation.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
The way of the world..
The way of salvation — It is universal - although we come from different cultures and ethnic origins.. Nigerians don’t worship your own god, Filipinos don’t worship their native deity.. and bring our gods to this place.. it is like a buffet!
We worship together, in spite of our different backgrounds, cultures and history — there may be differences in our expression of worship — but there is only one language that we share and that is the language of God’s love!
There is one God — turn to Me all the ends of the earth!
There is no other way to be saved.
“For I am God, and there is no other.”
3. The Finality of God’s Word.
3.a. God will fulfill His promise.
“from my mouth has gone out in righteousness...” (v. 23a)
When we read these words from Isaiah, we are looking back and we see that every promise He made has been fulfilled (elaborate).
Now we are looking forward to the promise of the coming Kingdom.
3.b. God’s word will work in mighty power.
“A word shall not return” (v. 23b)
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
even now.. we do not rely on our own abilities and skills..
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
3.c. God’s Word will take final authority.
“To me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear allegiance.” (v23c)
Philippians 2:10 - where Paul got this — pointed to the Living Word - Jesus
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The time, when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance is when Jesus Christ will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords..
He shall rule with a rod of iron.
Action items:
1. Turn from worthless idols - wholly dedicate your life to Jesus.
Be inoculated from the world!
Action items:
2. Proclaim the Gospel message that there is only one way to be saved.
God said turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth.
Let us proclaim: Turn to Jesus, the way the truth and the life..
Look to the cross of Calvary..
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Action items:
3. Usher in the coming Kingdom.
Not only a promise of a good life here. We are more than anything, children of the coming Kingdom.
Be prepared!
44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Look up for your salvation draws near!
We herald the coming of the King - the rapture is at hand.
It doesn’t take much to proclaim God’s word..
Story of Charles Spurgeon’s conversion - Isaiah 45
In our midst today, maybe the next Spurgeon..
But God is doing a new thing.. the time of the super evangelist is over..
God will raise ordinary people..
The weak will say I am strong, I am a warrior!