Take your Bibles and open with me this morning to Isaiah chapter 46. Jumping back into our series, God is my salvation. We're in Isaiah chapter 46. This is our 57th message through the book of Isaiah. And it seems as though Isaiah tends to agree with Martin Luther when Martin Luther says that he's got to repeat the gospel of salvation and justification by grace alone weekly, because weekly the people of God forget it. Isaiah has a theme that he continues to drive home in this vision. especially here in this section. Over and over, He continues to tell us in chapter by chapter that He is God, there is no other. He is the Lord, there is none like Him. He is God, the only Savior. That God is unique, He is alone. whether it's a comparison to the idols, or whether it's even the pursuits of His own sinful people, as He is telling them that He directs, decrees, and dictates what is going to happen in history, while He promises salvation to those who are His, while He shows things that are going to happen in the future hundreds and even thousands of years before they ever happen, The people still continue to run after idols and live in fear and in doubt. They continue to doubt what God is going to do. They continue to be fearful of His purposes. They simply don't trust Him as God. what we see this morning in Isaiah 46.1, and what we'll see through the course of this chapter, it's repeated a couple of times for us, I am God, there is no other. Now, we confess that, I hope. We believe that, I hope, that there is no other God. But what we find out is, usually within our lives, there is another God competing with attention for worship. It is the God of self. It is what we want. It is my will. It is my desire. You see, really, the largest idol that most of us do worship is the idol of what I want. You know how you spell pride, don't you? Evangelist Del Phazenfeld said it this way. Here's how you spell pride. It's really simple. P-R-I-D-E. Have you noticed you spell sin the same way? I is right in the middle of it. S-I-N, there it is. And when we talk about iniquity, there's a bunch of I's in there. It starts with a big capital I. I, I, I. Well, God comes to us and He says, in fact, in one of the verses we're going to get to in the text this morning, five times He says, I, speaking of Himself. To reiterate the point, I am God, there is no other. He starts here in chapter 46 and he says, "...Bell bows down, Nebo stoops. Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast. They stooped, they bowed down together. They could not deliver the burden, but they have themselves gone into captivity." In the first two verses, we see that the gods and the religious system of the Babylonians, which represents the false system of religion throughout the world, is crumbling, it's collapsing, it's falling apart. False religion can never be sustained. It will always fail, it will always falter, because there is only one true God. And he mentions specifically by name the two chief gods of the Babylonians. Bel, which is another word for Baal, the Canaanite god, also known as Marduk. This is the chief false god in the pantheons of gods for the Babylonians. And Nebo, who is Bel's son, who is the god of writing and wisdom. I think it's interesting to see that Marduk, who is the god who they, by the way, would sacrifice their children to in the fire, the false god that was the chief god that demanded the highest sacrifice from you, and his son Nebo, who is the god of writing and wisdom, he is the god of announcements, he is the god who communicates the will of Marduk to the people. To me, do you see the counterfeit there? God the Father is God, and the highest sacrifice, of course, to Him is to sacrifice self, to give for yourself a living sacrifice to Him, which is your reasonable service. And then His Son, who is who? The Living Word, who has come to reveal to us the Father. We see a counterfeit within the Babylonian system. But as we talk about these gods and we see the significance of these gods, Baal, Sun, Nabu, or Nebo, who is also known as Nabu, again the god of writing and wisdom, these names are ingrained even in the people and the royalty within the Babylonian Empire. Nebo or Nabu, think about the greatest Babylonian king that led in the assault of the world, Nebu-Kadnezer. His first name is the name of the God. One of the sons there, Nabopolassar and Nabonidus. In fact, we even have a whole book of the Bible written by a man who was named Bel-Tashazzar. Who was that? Daniel. The name that he was given in captivity began with the name of the chief god of the Babylonians, who he now supposedly was supposed to live in service to. So that his given name was Bel-Tashazzar. These gods, as they exerted their influence through those who made them and who worshipped them, of course it was seen because Babylon conquered so much of the world, and this was still coming in immediate history here coming. As it happened, people thought that the gods of the Babylonians must be something else because the people were conquering the known world. That kind of thinking that if my nation beats your nation, it's because my god is greater than your god. See, it works like this in the neighborhood. My dad can beat up your dad. My God is greater than your God, and when we beat you, you'll know My God is greater." But the pronouncement that is beginning here in chapter 46 is that Bell bows down. That is, he has stumbled. And Nebo stoops, and the word stoops there is meaning he's been hooked with a fishhook and he's being dragged down. Now that's significant because the Babylonians were going to conquer the Assyrians. The Assyrians led captives away by hooking them with fishhooks and dragging them across the desert. But God says these false gods that supposedly are going to lead the Babylonians into victory, before the victory is even won, they're already stumbling and they're already hooked and falling. The phrase literally indicates that they are collapsing. They're falling to pieces side by side. These Babylonian false gods are bowed and stooped down, dragged off, falling over, falling apart. And it says there, "...your carriages were heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast." Their idols were on beasts and on cattle. God continues to make the point, poking at the idols, saying, if you're going to go anywhere, you have to be carried. God doesn't have to go anywhere because He is everywhere. He inhabits eternity. But these gods have to be carried. And where they once were carried in grandeur, where they were paraded in victory, where there were great parades, where they were set up and the people worshipped and sacrificed to them, now the indication is they're going to be carried off by tired animals, carted away in disgrace and in defeat. This was going to happen in 703 when Sennacherib did fight the Babylonians, and there actually was a decree to remove several of the idols, and Bel and Nebo were put on the backs of carts of cattle and dragged out of town. So God says, your idols have to be carried where they are, they have to be lifted up and exalted in grandeur, and by the time it's all said and done, they're going to be carted off in defeat. They're going to be a burden. In fact, the reason for this is not because of the Assyrians, it's not because of the Babylonians, it's not because of the Persians who are going to come later. The defeat of false religion comes at the hands of the one true and living God. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar proclaims that this is going to happen. In Nebuchadnezzar, as he has had a dream and had a vision, and as Daniel interprets it, As Daniel predicts what's going to happen and Nebuchadnezzar goes mad, he loses his mind and is humbled because of his pride. When he comes back to his senses, in Daniel 4 Nebuchadnezzar proclaims, At the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, What have You done? Nebuchadnezzar came out of his experience with God believing in sovereignty. God, the dominion is Yours. You're going to do what you want to do. Nobody can restrain your hand, and nobody can even question you and say, what have you done? At the same time, he says, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor, and my splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me. I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways justice. All those who walk in pride He is able to put down. Those who follow false idols, who walk in the pride of their own creation, of an idol, of a god made in their own image, they're going to be shamed, Isaiah has told us over and over again. And Nebuchadnezzar repeats this truth. As a pagan king, he has enough sense here now to come to his senses because of the working of God and declare that God is sovereign. and that those who walk in their pride will be put down, they will be defeated by the one true and living God. In Nebuchadnezzar's first vision we see every nation that is a nation, that will be a nation in the history of the world, will be subdued by that rock that is Christ, that is the kingdom of God. His kingdom alone, the kingdom of God, is forever and ever. These false gods can't deliver, they can't save. In verse 2, they stoop, they bow down together, they could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity. They couldn't even save themselves, much less the people who worshipped them. Now wasn't that a question, by the way, that was asked Christ on the cross? Well, you said you could save others. Can you save yourself? And He didn't. And he didn't specifically because if he saved himself, he couldn't save others. It was in giving himself that he saved others. But did he lose in the end? No. He laid down his life so that he could take it up again and he was resurrected. Once these false gods are gone, they're gone because they don't exist. They're imaginary. They are non-existent. And when the idols, when the images, when they're destroyed, when they're torn down, when they're carted off, they can't save themselves. They can't relieve anybody from any of these burdens. They themselves have gone into captivity. They can't deliver. They can't save. They can't even save themselves. In verses 3 and 4, God says, Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb. Even to your old age I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you. Whereas the idols had to be carried, God says to His people, You don't carry Me. I carry you. I've created you. Speaking to Jacob, speaking to Judah here, and the remnant of Israel, he says, you've been upheld by me from your birth. I had a purpose in bringing you to be. If I had not brought you to be, you wouldn't even be a people. We are a special people, a unique people, an elect people. You've been upheld by me. You've been carried from the womb. Even to your old age I am He." And when he goes on and says, even to gray hairs I will carry you, he's saying literally, I've been with you since I brought you into being. I've carried you from the beginning and I will continue to uphold you to the very end. Now, they were going to go into captivity. The very Babylonians who were here predicted to fall and to fall in defeat, their religion being defeated. Even then, God says, I'm still upholding you. You understand, if God had sent them into captivity and had not continued to uphold them, they would have gone, they would have gone, they would have disappeared into the history of the earth. But God preserved His people. He preserved the line. He preserved that lineage so that when the people came back under Nehemiah and Ezra, under the decree of Cyrus, as they returned, the line was held so that Christ could be born, so that salvation could come to Israel, and from Israel to the nations. You've been carried, and I'm going to hold you even to the very end. I will carry you. I have made, I will bear, I will carry, I will deliver." God continues to point to Himself. I created, I carry, I sustain. He says here, I am He. I will carry, I have made, I will bear, I will carry and deliver. And do you know how much help God needs in doing this? Do you know how much assistance God needs in accomplishing His purposes? Do you know how much counsel God needs to know which way to go and how to do it best? Now what's amazing is God needs absolutely no help, counsel, or advice from us, and yet we're always trying to give it to Him, aren't we? Well, God, if you would only. Well, God, if you had only. God does not need our counsel or advice to uphold His purposes, to uphold His people, to carry out His plans, to fulfill His decree. The truth that we see here in these first four verses is that when a man carries his God, the end is destruction. But when God carries man, the end is salvation. God carries and sustains us. He holds us. Jesus even tells us that His burden is easy and His yoke is light. Let's still understand there's a burden. Still understand there's a yoke, but who's carrying it with us and for us? Who did the brunt of the work? Who did all of the work? Christ did the work, and He imputes that to us, He gives that to us, He assigns that to us, so that now we are declared right with God. And now the struggle for us is that struggle of sanctification, obedience, daily death to self, yielding, surrender, getting rid of that idol of I, Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done, to do what He has called us and commanded us to do, and to realize, hear the promises to His people, hear His promise specifically to Judah, I am He, I will carry you, I have made you, I will bear you. This is not just a promise, this is a personal promise. God says it five times, I. have done and will do this for you." Now, can we say by any stretch of the imagination that God exaggerates? We know that to say something three times is like the highest emphasis you can give it. Well, God just said it now five times. So that as they're there, as they're suffering, as they're in captivity, as they're being disciplined and judged for their sins, what is their hope? It's that God is still God and He will still uphold them. This had to have given Daniel and his friend strength to know that God was still God. And this was their confession. Nebuchadnezzar, you can throw us into the fiery furnace. And even if we burn to death, we're still not going to worship your gods because we know what our God has said. He'll be with us. And even if not, even if the outcome is not what we would want, even if the outcome is we are burned to death, we still will not bow down. Why? Because our God is God. He tells us in His Word, I am He. I have carried you. I will bear you up. I will bring you home. And even in these promises, the amazing thing about these promises, there were those who went into captivity who died in captivity and never came home, weren't there? Daniel was one of them. Daniel was able to figure out from the writing of Jeremiah when the people were going to be released. but somewhere in his 80s, early 80s, he passed away before that time. He did not see that fulfillment. He had lived his whole life from being a young teenager to being in his 80s, in that captivity, high up in the government, directing the men that he did, bearing the name of the false god that he did, faithful always though to walk with God, Faithful always to uphold the Word of God, to do what he knew was right, even in that case, and Daniel died in captivity. We say then, well, God didn't keep His promise. Oh, but He certainly did. Because you understand, deliverance here is not just deliverance from the hands of your captors. It's deliverance from that most dreaded captor. It's deliverance from sin and death. God says, I've brought you to life, not just into existence as a nation, but I've given you life. and I sustain your life. I have made you, I will carry you, I will bear you up, and I will deliver you." The word deliverance, there's the word salvation. Not just freedom. I said it this morning in Sunday school, freedom is a dangerous thing. Freedom lets people do whatever they want. And let's face it, people usually don't want to do what they should want to do. When we're given freedom too often, with that freedom comes apathy, and complacency, and selfishness, and greed, and covetousness. He goes into captivity with so many others. And Daniel is not delivered from the captive, but he knows that the people will be brought back to the land. He knows that the Messiah has been promised. He knows that God will carry out His purposes. And so, ultimately, Daniel has achieved the greatest deliverance of all. He dies in the midst of captivity, welcomed into the kingdom of God, the kingdom that is forever and ever. There can be no greater thing for the believer, can there? To be suffering, to be paying a price, to be living in captivity, to have been taken away from your home, to have your life drastically altered in the name of false gods. To remain faithful, but to die in that captivity, only to awaken truly free in the kingdom of God. Truly then aware. Can you imagine the Old Testament saints waking up and seeing Jesus? who hadn't even died for them yet? Well, how could they have woken up in His presence? Because He was crucified from before the foundation of the world, and His work, before it was even accomplished in time, was applied by faith. And those Old Testament saints that believed, those who received the promise, they were in Christ just as much as we are. This is the only way of salvation. He came in time, He saved, He committed Himself to that work, He yielded Himself so that even in captivity, we find true freedom. The question then in verse 5, To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me that we should be alike? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They prostrate themselves. Yes, they worship. They bear it on the shoulder, and carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands. From its place it shall not move, though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble. To whom will you liken me and make me equal? God asked the question, who are you going to compare me to? Are you going to compare me to these false gods? Are you going to make me like one of them? Are you going to think there's any equality at all? And it's the point, there's not even equality here between God and the false gods. There's no likeness at all. There's no comparison to be made. They're non-existent. They're imaginary. They're deaf and dumb. They're fake. God is the only true and living God. When we look at the question, to whom will you liken me? What likeness will you use to try to represent me? Think back to Exodus. Think back to the commandments. Where did God begin with His people? On Sinai, he gave it to Moses. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself to carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. He says, don't make a likeness to try to represent me. And understand, this isn't even an image of a false god, it's a false image of God. Don't try to make an image of me. Now, while God was giving that commandment to Moses, what was Aaron doing at the bottom of the mountain? Fashioning a bull to represent God. A false image. Why can't we create an image of Him? Why can't we create a likeness of Him? Well, He tells us in Deuteronomy. It's really simple. You don't know what I look like because if you saw me, you would just die, literally. You wouldn't be able to stand in my presence. When Moses saw the glory, when he saw the wake of where God had been, he didn't see God, he didn't see his back, he didn't see his shoulder. He just saw the place that God had been a moment before. And his face glowed for weeks and weeks and weeks. That was the glory. In Deuteronomy 4, starting with verse 15, take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carb of dividend in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. and take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the hosts of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples unto the whole heaven as a heritage." Don't make an image. Don't make an image of me. Don't make a figure. Don't make a form. Not male, not female, not animal, not creature, not created thing, not sun, not moon, not stars. Why? Because you don't know what I look like, and any image therefore you create is out of your own imagination, and is by very definition a false image, because it's not me. Don't make an image of me. You don't know what I look like. How significant then that when Christ appears, the terminology that Paul uses is that Christ is the icon of God. He bears the stamp of the image of God in himself. In him dwells the fullness bodily. Even then, do we know what Jesus looks like? No, but here's the good news. One day we're going to see Him face to face. I promise you He's not that hippie guy in a robe that you see pictures of. And I promise you when you see Him, you'll fall on your face. To know that He is worthy, He alone is worthy, that one day we will see Him. To whom will you liken me? To whom will you make me equal? To whom will you compare me that we should be alike? God is saying in contrast to the idols, I'm it. There is no other God. There is no other Savior. It's funny then, because he's really almost sarcastic with idol worshipers. He says, "...they lavish gold out of the bag and weigh silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They prostrate themselves. Yes, they worship. They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands. From its place it shall not move, though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble." This is the expense and the folly of idol worship. When we look at what he says here, Somebody has to provide the material to make the idol. Somebody has to provide the gold or the silver. So you've got to go and you've got to mine it out of the earth. You've got to purify it. You've got to run it through that process so that then it can be moldable. And then you've got to give it to the metalsmith so that he can then craft the idol. And then you're going to set him up and you have to carry it wherever it goes. You have to set it up and stabilize it so it doesn't tip over. and then you fall down and worship it. Then you tip over in front of it and you worship it. And God says, look at the irony here. Somebody has to provide the material. Somebody has to fashion the image. Somebody worships it. They bows down to what has just been created at their own expense. I bought you. I paid somebody to form you. I nailed you down so you wouldn't fall over. Now I'm going to fall down in front of you because I've spent all this money to make you my God. Now save me. And the idol says, I can't hear you. The idol is nothing, non-existent, imaginary, dumb and deaf, so you call, and you cry, and it cannot answer. This is the ultimate, the supreme folly. Idols must be created, crafted, imagined, moved, and secured, and even then when you fall down in front of it, it can do nothing for you, because it can't even hear you, because it doesn't even exist. Significant there, though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble. And what does God tell us about himself in Romans 10.13? For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The idol cannot do this. The idol is the creation of the imagination of men, created at the expense of men, by the mental craft of a man, so that now you can nail it down so it doesn't fall over, so that you can fall over and worship it, even though it is nothing. In verses 8-11 then, God goes on, He says, Remember this, and show yourselves men. Really what He says is, Remember this and be rational. Recall to mind, O you transgressors." He's poking at his people now because he says, I want you to remember this. I want you to be reasonable because you, my people, you, Jacob and the remnant of Israel, you've worshipped these idols. These very same, Baal and Nebo, you've set them up. You've set them up on the high places with the Asherah poles. You've set them up and offered your children to Molech. You've set up Baal and worshipped him even in the midst of the area of the temple. You've worshipped these gods. Remember this and show yourselves, men. Recall to mind, O 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." He tells them, I want you to remember, I want you to recall, I want you to admit it, you've worshipped these idols, and then I want you to look at your history. Just look for a moment at your own history, where He tells them, I've brought you to be, I carry you, I deliver you. God's been there for them from the beginning. He's been there before they even were. He brought them into being, and He sustains them, and He maintains them. He rescued them from Egypt and brought them into the promised land. He delivered the land to them in the face of these horrible enemies that attacked them. and who they attacked. God gave the victory. God continued to sustain them. He blessed them under David and Solomon. And even as the kingdom began to slip away, He still promised to preserve a remnant, to hold His people, to keep His people, to work His purposes in the midst of His people, because they were His people. And anybody who came against them, even being brought against them as an act of judgment under the hand of God, even then, because they were coming against His people, there was a price to pay. God is jealous for His people, and He reminds them, remember not only who you are, because who you are is significant, but remember you're significant because of who I am. I am your God. You are my people. You remember in Hosea, one of the children that was born, the name was a curse. You are not my people. How would you like to have that name as a child? Not my people. But by the end of the prophecy, what does God say? I will take you who are not my people and I will make you once again my people. God is working out His purposes among His people, to preserve His people, to call them to Himself, to prepare them for Himself, to keep them for Himself, for the purpose of bringing the Savior, for the purpose of bringing salvation. He says that, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God. Remember your history. I am God. Look at what I've done. Look at what happened to Abraham. Look at what happened to Isaac. Look at what happened to Jacob. Look at what happened to the people coming out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the promised land. Look, look at the plagues, look at the promises. The phrase, I am God, and there is no other, literally the phrase, it better be translated, I am God, there is not. He doesn't even dignify the false gods by defining them as gods. I'm God, other than me, there's not. That's really a play on His name, isn't it? I am Yahweh, the Existent One. What are false gods? They're not. Not what? Not gods? Yep, they're not gods. Not alive? Yep, not alive. Not worshipable? Not real? Non-existent. I am God and there is not another. I am God, there is none like Me." Meaning God alone possesses true divinity. There is not another creature, because He's not a creature, there is not another being that exists that can be compared to Him. He is, He alone. Outside of Him, there is not. Isaiah 40 verse 18, "...to whom then will you liken God?" What likeness will you compare to Him? Isaiah 40.25, To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy One. Isaiah 41.10, Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41.20, That they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. Isaiah 43.7, Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, I have formed him. Yes, I have made Him. He alone is God. Why then are we so tempted to worship another God? To bow down and serve an idol? Whether it's a created thing, whether it's a circumstance, whether it's an imagination, whether it's doing our will instead of His. Why are we so tempted to place our worship somewhere else? Seems to be built into our fallen nature, doesn't it? the hymn prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. This is the battle that takes place daily for our affections. You see, the question is not, have you made Jesus Lord? The question is, are you obeying Him as Lord? Are you yielding and surrendering to Him? He tells His people, you are who you are because I am who I am. Remember your own history. Remember what I've done to call you, to keep you, to preserve you, to carry you, to save you, to deliver you. I am God and there is none like Me." He defines that then. He says, "...declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all My pleasure." What I declare, what I announce, what I decree is going to happen. And I declare the end from the beginning. Meaning, I'm going to tell you what happened, and He does, in the beginning, here's what He did. And I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. And understand, this is not predictive prophecy. This is not, I'm going to tell you what happens because I know. This is, I'm going to tell you what happens because it's my plan. Not just prophesying, not just predicting, but declaring, decreeing, this is what will be. My counsel, He says, will stand. Indeed, he says, I've spoken it. I've spoken it. I will do all my pleasure, my counsel, my purpose. It will endure, it will come to pass, it will be fulfilled on my terms. And when God says there the phrase, I will do all my pleasure, here's the best way to understand that. God says, I will do as I please. How can He say that? Well, because He told us, I'm God. Other than me, there is not. So he does as he pleases. His will is going to be accomplished. What He wants to do, He is going to do. He goes back now and ties this into the previous two chapters and He applies it to Cyrus. He said, "...calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it." They're calling a bird of prey. This is actually a reference to the noise that a hawker and eagle makes. You know that noise, you hear that noise off in the distance, and you know, oh, that's a hawker, that's an eagle. I'm not going to attempt to make that noise. I'm not a hawker or an eagle. But you know that noise, that screeching noise, you know there's a bird of prey on the hunt. Well, God says, there's a bird of prey coming. He's coming in conquest. There is a man who executes my counsel from a far country. And remember the problem that Israel had at this point, that Judah had at this point, was he said, I'm going to raise up Cyrus. He named him by name. He's going to come, he's going to conquer, he's going to deliver, he's going to send you back. And Judah didn't go, yay! They went, aww. Another conqueror, another ruler, another Gentile. No, God, you can't do it that way. You say, Judah, you can't tell God not to do something that way, but we do that every day, don't we? Oh, God, you can't do that. Oh, God, you shouldn't do that. Oh, Lord, don't, no, anything but. Jesus, here's how we pray this. Jesus, would you just please come back today? Please just take me out. Just rapture me, rescue me. Please, Lord, call me home, Maranatha. Don't do it that way, anything but that. But God says, this is proof that I am God. that I'm going to do this and I'm going to use this man, that I'm going to accomplish my purposes, that I'm going to get the glory, that my people are going to be freed and delivered, that they're going to be sent back home to rebuild the wall, to rebuild the city, to rebuild the temple, to prepare for the coming of the Promised One. This is his purpose. And he said, you don't understand my using Cyrus, but really the appeal is here, but you know me. Trust me. to dictate the purposes of history. We worry a lot about the future. If you don't believe me, I can just say a number. I can just give you a number and there are people in the world that would shudder when I say this number. 2020. 2020. If you really want to see people lose their minds, say this, Trump 2020. Everybody's concerned about the immediate future. Everybody's concerned about the outcome of elections. Everyone's concerned about the direction of our country. Everybody's concerned about the direction of the economy. You know what we ought to be concerned about? The direction of our hearts, our lips, and our minds. Our eyes turned upon Jesus. Because this world is going to fall apart. That's what it was created to do. And yet God's purposes are still being carried out in the midst of all of that. His purposes are still going to be accomplished. I promise you, I guarantee you, on the authority of the Word of God, the United States of America could cease to exist as a nation later today. And the cause of the church of Jesus Christ would not be hurt one iota. Because God's purposes are going to be carried out. How do we know this? Because his purposes are carried out in places where it's a lot more dangerous to be a Christian than here. In fact, the church flourishes under pressure. God tells us here. I've spoken. I'm going to bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I will do it. And you may think the world is falling apart, and you may wonder how God's plan is being unfolded on all that we see. Understand, people being concerned about whoever is elected to whatever position next. Understand, there's a right to be concerned. As long as sinful men are in charge, we should be scared. But here's the truth. Behind it all, God's purposes are being worked out. God's will is going to be done. He makes the promise to Judah, He makes the promise to His children here, and He says, I'm going to restore you, deliver you, bring you back, I'm going to sustain you, I'm going to maintain you, I'm going to hold you, I'm going to preserve you, because He dictates the purposes of history. He says there, I indeed, indeed I have spoken. In fact, the word indeed or surely appears three times in a row. Surely I have spoken, surely I will bring it to pass, surely I have purposed and will do it. Indeed, I have spoken. You remember in the old Ten Commandments movie, the old MGM, great grand epic movie with Charlton Heston, who unlike Moses actually could speak really well? Remember what Pharaoh used to say? So let it be written, so let it be done. Well, you know what? God said it, Isaiah wrote it down, and it's going to be done. Upon what authority? Upon what assurance? Upon the fact that God says, surely I have spoken. That's enough reason right there to know God's purposes are going to happen. They're going to be carried out. They're going to be fulfilled because He spoke it. Indeed, I have spoken. Indeed, I will bring it to pass. Again, not a prediction, but the cause. And indeed, I have purposed and will do it. The result is then we need to have a realistic faith in the face of harsh reality. We need to trust God because of who He is and what He's promised, because of His character, so that whatever goes wrong in this world, we know that it's really not that wrong, because God can bring good out of it. God can accomplish His purposes in it. God can sustain His people. He shows us. He does it with Israel. He promises to do it with the church. He says, I've done it for them. I'll do it for you. I'll never leave you or forsake you. I can maintain. I can keep. I can sanctify. I can accomplish my purposes. Romans 4, not being weak in the faith, Abraham did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. Abraham and Sarah, the beginning of this nation, what he brought in to be through Abraham, through Sarah, through Isaac, the promised one. When God made the promise and when God said He was going to fulfill the promise, this was impossible. Abraham and Sarah both were too old. Abraham, 100 years old. Sarah's womb, more than likely dead. It was absolutely impossible. But look at this. They did not waver at the promise of God. Why? Because it's God who made the promise. You can look at a circumstance. You can say, that looks impossible. You can look at something and there's no way anything good is ever going to come out of this. Well, shame on you for doubting who God is and what He's promised. Because He's promised. They didn't waver because they had the promise of God. And they were strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. This is the promise then. This is the purpose for the coming of Cyrus. This is the promise even in the midst of captivity, the unfolding of all that's going to happen among the nations of the world. Verse 12 and 13, Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted who are far from righteousness. I will bring my righteousness near, it shall not be far off, my salvation shall not linger, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. Here is the promise, he says, listen to me, listen. And he addresses it to his people, he says, listen you stubborn hearted, you hard hearted people who won't believe me, listen. I appreciate that as we read the text this morning in Mark and we read the parable, Jesus said, listen, and then at the end he said, those who have ears to hear will hear. God commands us to listen, but not all of us can hear. Well, He commands, listen to me, you stubborn-hearted. Here's the problem. Here's the problem. The problem is not the coming captivity. The problem is not dealing with the Babylonians. The problem is not another conqueror coming. The problem is, He says, you are far from righteousness. How many of them are righteous? How many? None. How many of us are righteous? None. Why are we far from righteousness? Romans 3.10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. You see, when we say that God alone is God and there is none like Him, you understand He alone is righteous, and on our own we are not righteous. We cannot be righteous. There is none good, no, not one. And the problem with the people here is not the captivity, it's not even truly the sin. The real issue here is you are far from righteousness. But this is what God is telling them, I am unfolding my purposes in history for you as my people, because I'm about to bring you salvation. You are far from righteousness and salvation, and since you're far from it, I'm coming to you. I'm not waiting for you to come to me. What does He say over and over in Scriptures in the Old Testament? Come to me, return to me, come back to me, return to me, come to me, return back to me. He finally says, you're far off and you can't get here, so guess what? I'm coming to you. That's good news, isn't it? You're far off, so I will bring My righteousness near, and it shall not be far off. You are far from it, there is none righteous, no, not one, so I will bring it to you. Romans 3 again in verse 21, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness. Because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." I'm bringing righteousness to you, God says. In reality, if God does not act, Israel cannot be saved. In Romans 5 we read, Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. And 2 Corinthians 5.21, For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Not only is he bringing righteousness to us, He's making us righteous. What a great step. In other words, God didn't just come and say, okay, here's righteousness, if you want it, take it. No, He said, I'm bringing righteousness to you and I'm making you righteous. I'm changing. who you are. You're a new creation. Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted who are far from righteousness. I will bring my righteousness near, it shall not be far off. My salvation shall not linger, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." Again, if God does not act, then Israel cannot be saved. God has created us and He created Israel to be made in His image. They weren't to make images of Him, they were to be made in His image. They were to reflect His glory. It was Israel, this was the glory of God. Not just that Shekinah glory over the tabernacle and the temple, but a people set apart, living holy lives, empowered by the Spirit of God to walk in righteousness. The idol maker, he makes the idol in his own image, but God has taken Israel and he said, your true destiny is to be made in the image of the Lord. This is your glory to reflect me among the nations. To stand out, to be different. When we ask the question, in fact, I am the Lord, to whom will you liken me? You know there is an answer to that. It's not just a rhetorical question. No, there aren't any other false gods we can compare to Him. Who should we compare to God? His people. Because we should look like Him. Now is there any real true comparison? Oh no, we are so fall short. We've fallen short of the glory of God. But what has He restored to us? He's restored to us His image. We look at history, we see what He's done for His people, we see the promises He makes to us now as the Messiah has come, has fulfilled these prophecies. Cyrus, a type of Christ, and Christ coming in the image of God. And now we're being made into Christ's image, to look like Him. The reality is we can't compare ourselves to God, there's absolutely no way. But we can see more and more of Him in us. We can see where each other in our lives, where we look like Him, where we reflect His glory, where we bear His fruit. And the motivation there then is as we do that, we're motivated not to say, oh, look at how much like Jesus I look. You understand that as soon as you win a humble button, the first time you wear it, they take it away. This is not, look at what I've done for God. This is, look at this amazing grace. that out of sinful, stubborn people, God is one for Himself, a people who He has made anew, who He will sustain and carry, and He will conform us into His image. That by the time He's done with us, we will look like Jesus. The glory then doesn't fall to us, it falls to the one whom we resemble, because we've been made to be like Him. This was Israel's hope in the midst of facing catastrophe, that God was going to sustain them in the midst of it. Carry them through, bring them out the other end, so that salvation could begin in Zion. So that the promised Christ could be born. And now the hope to us, as we've been grafted in, we've been made aware of these things. We who were also afar off, now have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We who stood outside of His people looking in. He's announced the good news to the world. The promise to Abraham, in you I'm going to bless all the nations of the world. We're the fruit of that blessing that the gospel has been preached and will continue to be preached to the corners of the world until Jesus comes back. All of this ultimately points to Christ. He is God and there is not another. He is God, and there is none like Him. But by His grace, He is taking His chosen people, and He is conforming us to His image. And that's all grace. Nothing that we do, nothing that we add. It's all His grace. You learned it last week. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, not of works, lest any man should boast. Look at the effects and the results. Look at the implications of the grace of God in your life. Look at where you are today as opposed to where you could have been had it not been for the grace of God. And then you look at how much we try to mess it up. And he says that's okay because where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. We cannot exhaust the grace of God. It's been given to us in the greatest gift ever in His Son, Jesus Christ. And now as we're conformed to His image, to His praise, to His glory, this is what it is to glorify Him, to resemble Him in the world, to reflect Him, to be like Him. This is our challenge. Are you up for the challenge this week, to be like Jesus? People ask, what would Jesus do? What did Jesus do? And it's because of what He did do now that you can go and you can walk in righteousness. You can walk in truth. You can walk in love. You can walk in the light. You can be salt. You can do all of these things now that before you didn't even want to do. You can do it now because He's enabled you by grace, by His Spirit. So hear it, digest it, and do it this week. Go be the image of God in this world. There is none like Him, there is nothing that can compare to Him, and the world needs to see Him. Let's be salt and light this week. Father, we do thank You for Your Word this morning, for Your promises, for the fact that this is not only a prediction of the future, but a description, because You have declared what will be. Just as You held and preserved Your people for the bringing of the Messiah, for the fulfilling of the covenants and promises, Now too, you have welcomed us in to call us sons and daughters, to make us a new creation, new creatures in Christ, to set us free by this truth. We thank you for preserving your people, for walking with us daily, equipping us by your Spirit to be salt and to be light. And Father, we pray that in this week to come we would indeed manifest your glory, reflect your image, show people who you are, as we walk in the Spirit. We thank you for the strength and the power that you've given us, the courage, the boldness, the desire. Father, it's not enough to want it. I pray that you would also walk with us in obedience, that we would deny ourself, that we would take up our cross daily, that we would follow after you, that as we live, as we walk, as we speak, that we would look like Jesus. Use us, we pray, to be salt and light, to reflect that glory. For your praise alone we ask in Jesus' name, amen.