Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Good morning to each and every one of you. This morning I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me in your copy of the Old Testament Scripture once again to Isaiah 46. It's been a couple weeks as I was out of the state for a Bible conference two weeks ago speaking, and then last week we had our missionaries, Dan and Angie Hufstetler, with us for the day. But this morning we return to Isaiah chapter 46. It was late in the 19th century that philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud proclaimed the death of God. And they predicted that Western civilization would allow scientific discovery and modernism to promote the rise of atheists, atheism, over these last 100 years as it in fact came to be. It was on April 8th, 1966, Time Magazine, which at the time was a major publication, featured a black cover without any picture. Some of you may remember this. It simply asked the question, is God dead? And that cover is now considered one of the most iconic covers of a print magazine in history. In 2006, British professor Richard Dawkins published a book titled, The God Delusion, in which he argued that belief in God is a delusion. A supernatural creator God, he argued, does not exist. And then most recently, Stephen Hawking, the greatest scientist since Albert Einstein, wrote in his final book before his death in 2018, he wrote, there is no God. Atheists refuse to believe in God. And without rude intent, I would reference Psalm 14, verse number one, which says, there is no God. But while atheists believe that there is no God, polytheists believe in many gods. Polytheism, or the belief in many gods. The ancient Egyptians had many gods. The ancient Greeks had 12 major Olympian gods and goddesses in their pantheon, countless lesser gods. The Romans had many deities. Today, the Hindus have millions of deities or gods. And so while atheism is Rather recent and rare, polytheism has been the norm for every civilization in all of human history. And I think of the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill in Acts 17. The people there were religious. They were worshiping many, many gods. In fact, they even erected an altar to the unknown God. recognizing that there was perhaps a deity that they had not yet known. And so Paul said this to them in Acts 17. Paul said, your unknown God, him I proclaim to you, God who made the world and everything in it, the creator God, Paul says, he is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. This morning as we come to Isaiah 46, in fact I would ask you to look at Isaiah 46 verse number nine, God speaks to the prophet Isaiah and he says this to us. Isaiah 46 verse number nine, there in the middle of the verse, for I am God and there is no other. I am God, there is none like me. From Isaiah 46, I've prepared a message titled, The Case for the Only True God. Let's pause for prayer and then we'll look at the scripture. God in heaven above, we humbly bow our heads and our hearts before you, acknowledging, recognizing, declaring that you are God alone. You are our creator, you are our sustainer, you are our redeemer. You uphold everything with the word of your power, words you have spoken, the world's into existence by your word, and you have rendered judgment on this wicked world by your word. God, this morning I recognize that I stand before an audience of God-fearing theists, those that believe in you as revealed in the Holy Scripture. But Lord, I pray that you would help us again to recognize that you are the only true living God of heaven and earth as we read through and study Isaiah 46. We commit our study to you now. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. At the risk of beginning with philosophy and then becoming too philosophical this morning, if you'll indulge me a moment, I'd like to introduce you to the matter of epistemology. Epistemology is the study of the theory of knowledge. How do we know what we know? That's the question that is answered by epistemology. It was men like Scottish philosopher David Hume who was an empiricist, he argued that our knowledge of the world comes through our senses. If we can feel it, if we can see it, if we can hear it, then we can know it to be. empiricism and in the philosophy of David Hume, men like French philosopher Rene Descartes, a rationalist, argue that knowledge comes through reason, that is, deduction and induction and logic. You may know that Descartes is famous for his dictum, I think, therefore I am. Now these philosophies, whether it is empiricism or rationalism, these philosophies can collide with faith. For faith is the evidence of things not seen. If I can't identify God through my senses, what evidence do I have for me to reason that there is a God or that I should trust and obey what he says? And so some would argue that faith is a blind leap in the dark, they say. But no, Isaiah 46 appeals to our senses and our reason. This is what I've written there at the top of your notes. In Isaiah 46, there is an appeal to our senses, what we can touch and see and hear about God, an appeal to our senses, also our reason in putting this information together and making the case that there is only one true God of heaven and earth. And I think this can be helpful for us this morning. It begins with, number one, a contrast to be felt. A contrast to be felt, our sense of feeling. Look at Isaiah 46 verse number 1 with me. Bell bows down, Nebo stoops. Stop there. Bel and Nebo were two of the chief gods in Babylon. Bel was the sun god, also named Marduk in Jeremiah 50 verse two, and you can hear the inclusion of the name Bel in names like Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon in Daniel chapter five. Belshazzar means Bel, save the king, or Bel, or God, protect the king. And then there's Nebo there in verse number one. Nebo was the god of learning and wisdom in Babylon. You can hear the inclusion of the name Nebo in Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar means Nebo protect the crown or God save the king. And during holiday celebrations in Babylon, the heavy images of these gods, Bel and Nebo, were carried about and paraded through the streets. They were venerated and they were held high as they were pulled by cattle in procession. Isaiah 46, verse number one. 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 beasts. They stoop, they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity. When Cyrus the Great of the Medo-Persian Empire would invade and defeat Babylon 150 years after the prophetic ministry of Isaiah, these gods, who had been venerated and held high, would now stoop and bow down, laid low in defeat, carried away captive in defeat. And this really highlights the pathetic nature of false gods. False gods must be carried. They're carried in procession, either in a victory parade, or they are carried in defeat as they are led away captive. They are a burden, and they create a burden. I would offer you, number one, the false gods create burdens. And I want us to think about this for a moment in our contemporary context. The idols that we erect in our lives become a heavy burden to us. For example, think with me, the idol of promotion. If your idol is promotion, that is achievement or success in some area of life, the pursuit of that promotion becomes a heavy burden to carry. It's a weight you carry. It's never enough. You are always burdened by your aspiration for promotion. And if you don't achieve that promotion, you are burdened by the failure or the defeat. The idol of promotion is a weight that you carry. How about the idol of possessions? Perhaps your idol is possessions, your house or your car or your clothes and you maintain those things and you preserve those things from damage or loss and the ownership of your possessions can become a burden. When I first bought my boat off of Craigslist some years ago, someone told me that the best two days in a boat owner's life is the day you buy it and the day you How do you know that, right? We know that. And I bought a cheap boat off of Craigslist, and I have now spent all of these years putting the rest of my money into that boat. It has cost me an arm and a leg, and the boat is a burden to me. If your idol is possessions, you are burdened with the maintenance of those possessions. How about if your idol is your own person? your own image or your reputation. You have to maintain that image. You have to maintain that reputation even if it crushes you. And you carry with you the burden of always looking good and sounding good and acting good and you are insecure and paranoid about what others think about you. because of the idol of your own person. And we can feel the weight of idols in our lives. If only I could escape the burdens of these expectations and obligations in my life. If only I didn't have to manage and maintain these things that I have erected in my life. Now, I want you to contrast the feeling, the sensory perception, the feeling of heavy weight with verses three and four now. 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. Even to gray hairs, I will carry you. I have made and will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you." Letter B, the true God carries burdens. The false gods must be carried. That's letter A. The true God is the one who carries. And God is telling Israel that while people must carry their idols, He has carried them as people from the beginning since their birth. Deuteronomy 1.31 tells us that God carries His children. Psalm 28 verse number 9 tells us that God is like a shepherd carrying a little lamb. Exodus 19, Deuteronomy 32 tell us that God is like an eagle carrying its young. This imagery is all through the scripture of God carrying his own. But there is an insight here in verse number 4. Look at verse number 4. God doesn't only carry us and our burdens when we are young. He carries us even to the point of our old age and our gray hairs. Folks, this is so good, no matter what age or stage of life you are at this morning. You may be a young mother. You may be a grieving widow. It doesn't matter what age or stage of life you are at this morning. You may be a young boy. You may be an old man. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms to carry you at every stage or age of life. I appreciate what Pastor Doug McLaughlin used to always say. He used to say, we may fall into the everlasting arms of God, but we will never fall through them, for he carries us. the true God carries burdens. One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life, there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. And this really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about it. Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I've noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, There's only one set of footprints in the sand. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me." The Lord replied, my son, my precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints in the sand, it was then that I carried you. Folks, feel the safety and the security of being held by the almighty hand of God. John chapter 10 verse 28 tells us that we are held in the hollow, the palm, the grip of his hand and he will not let go. The contrast to be felt, the very real sense for us to be felt this morning is that false gods create burdens. The true God carries burdens. But not only is there a contrast to be felt, that's maybe our first sense. Number two, There is a comparison to be seen. There's a comparison to be seen. And this morning we're engaging our senses and our reason. Look at verse number five, Isaiah 46 verse five, for to whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we should be alike, God asks. Beyond the subjective feelings, verse number one, there is the objective seeing, I'm sorry, Roman numeral number one, there's the objective seeing now in Roman numeral number two, a comparison to be seen. So if you'll participate with me this morning in a small little exercise, let's imagine for a moment that this room is a classroom. I am the teacher, you are the students, our textbook is the Bible, and our subject class, our subject for the hour is God, the only true God of heaven and earth. Welcome to Theology 101, we might call this class. In your assignment class, your assignment is to describe the one true God of heaven and earth as revealed in the Bible by using the figure of speech that we call simile. Now simile is the comparison of one thing to another thing of a different kind, most often using the words like and as. And so not only is this theology class, this is grammar class or English class as well. So class, using simile, I want you to write an essay describing God, all right? Now, the Bible says that God is like a consuming fire, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 29, okay? But how about this? Try to complete these phrases as part of your essay this morning. God is as strong as. Okay, write it down. God is as strong as, this is your essay. Okay, next part of your essay, class. God is as wise as. Next part of your essay. God is as infinite as. You see, we have nothing to write because there's no comparison that can be made. God is as strong as He's omnipotent. God is as wise as He's omniscient. God is as infinite as what? There is nothing that we can name to compare to God. There is no simile that is sufficient to compare to God to anyone or anything else. Psalm 86, among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, nor are there any works like your works. All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things. You alone are God. The one true creator God of heaven and earth who is revealed in the Bible is incomparable. He's incomparable for he is the only uncaused and uncreated self-existing eternal being in the universe. And so since this is theology class, I'll give you the theological term for this. It's the aseity of God. A-S-E-I-T-Y. The aseity of God. He is uncaused. He is uncreated. He is self-existing. And this is in fact what Paul was trying to tell those in Athens in Acts 17. The God whom you worship without knowing? is the one true living God of heaven and earth. He is self-existing. He is uncreated. He is eternal. And to demonstrate that God is incomparable or incomparable in verse number five, we need to keep reading about the other gods, verse number six. They lavish gold out of the bag. They pour 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. This is the fourth time now that Isaiah has described the making of idols, which is their letter A, the making of idols. Isaiah 40 verse 19, 41 verse 7, 44 verse 9, and now again here in chapter 46 verse number 6, the making of these other false gods. How do you make a false god? Well, you give up your gold, you give up your silver, you hire an idol maker to fashion an image, and then you worship what is made. This is exactly what the children of Israel did at Mount Sinai in the wilderness in Exodus 32. They brought their gold and silver to Aaron, who fashioned an image, we call it the golden calf, and they worshiped it. In the modern vernacular, it would go something like this. Give all the money you have to buy something manufactured, a machine, a device, a property, and then give all of your attention and your affection to that thing. It sounds absurd. It sounds quite ridiculous, but we do it all the time. We fashion or we make idols in the name of our aspirations and our acquisitions. Verse number seven, they bear it on the shoulder, they carry it. Once again, the false gods must be carried, verse 7 again, and they set it in its place, and it stands from its place. It shall not move. This is the mobility of false gods. You can erect a false god in any place that you choose, but that's it. Set it on the shelf, and there it will sit. It doesn't serve you. You serve it. In fact, you have to move it to dust around it. The end of verse number seven. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his troubles. This is the muteness of false gods, letter C. The muteness of false gods. The psalmist tells us they have mouths, but they cannot speak. Verse number eight. Remember this and show yourselves men. Recall to mind, O 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. I would title this, The Memory of the True God. There's the making, the mobility, the muteness of false gods, the memory of the true God. And this is now where we're not only engaging our senses of touching and seeing, but we are also now engaging our intellect, our minds, and we're reasoning. Remember the true God and the comparison between the false gods and the true gods can be seen in the works of God throughout history. Remember what God has done. Turn with me to Psalm 78 this morning. Go in your Bibles with me to Psalm 78 and allow me to read a brief portion of a favorite Psalm of mine, Psalm 78, the memory of the true God. Psalm 78, beginning in verse number one, give ear, O my people, to my law, incline your ears to the words of my mouth, Psalm 78, verse two. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children, telling, It's how my new King James reads. The old King James is showing, it's creating a picture to be seen in the mind. Telling or showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done in the past. We need to remember what God has done. a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set their heart aright and whose spirit was not faithful to God. The children of Ephraim, Israel, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They were cowards. They did not keep the covenant of God. They refused to walk in His law and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them." Verse 11. They forgot, they failed to remember his works and the wonders that God had shown them, something that they could see with their eyes so that they could see who God was and what God could do. Turn back to Isaiah 46 now. The works of God need to be seen, seen by those who remember what God had done. and who can declare that God is incomparable. Isaiah 46, verse number nine, remember the former things of old Israel. Remember the former things of old people of God. Remember what God had done in history past. And take a look at those things. But beyond the works of God, are the words of God, and this is number three, a communication to be heard. A communication to be heard. Now, remember, borrowing from categories of philosophy, we are knowing God by the things that we feel, the things that we see, the things that we hear. We are reasoning together, logically putting this together, and we now have a communication to be heard. If you look at Isaiah 46 verse number 10, my English Bible says declaring. Also in verse 10, saying. Verse 11, calling. Also there in the middle of verse 11, I have spoken it. Verse 12, listen. Folks, God is speaking here. There is a communication to be heard. Let me read verses 10 and 11, declaring the end from the beginning. from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east. This is the man, Cyrus the Great, of the Medo-Persian Empire, 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." Letter A, God's prophetic sovereignty. 150 years before God called Cyrus the Great from the east to conquer Babylon and repopulate the captive exiled Jews back to Jerusalem at the end of the 70 year Babylonian captivity, God declared it through the prophet Isaiah. And we looked at that just in the previous weeks, Isaiah 41 verse number two, God has spoken it. There's a communication to be heard and it reveals the sovereignty of God. One of the greatest evidences in the case for God is the fulfillment of what he has said in ancient times. Some have calculated that 27% of the Bible is predictive. That means one quarter of the Bible was prophetic when it was written. By one man's count, there are 1,817 prophecies. Over half of them have already been fulfilled, precisely as God has said. The balance of those prophecies are yet to be fulfilled in the future. None have been wrong. Verse number 12, listen to me. You stubborn hearted who are far from righteousness. I think God is addressing both Judah and Babylon as those who perhaps were far from righteousness. Verse 13, I will bring my righteousness near, it shall not be a far off. My salvation shall not linger and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. God here is promising that salvation will be found in Zion. What is Zion? Zion is the city of Jerusalem. Most directly, this is a reference to Israel's deliverance from Babylonian captivity. But ultimately, this is a reference to the eternal deliverance offered to all because Jesus' work on the cross in Jerusalem. And so I would give you this, letter B, God's promise of salvation. Listen. Listen to what God is saying. Listen to His sovereignty over the affairs of man throughout human history as He prophesies things to come. Listen to His promise of salvation coming from the city of Jerusalem. And know this, as you feel Him carrying your burdens, as you see Him in comparison to false gods, and as you hear what He promises, know that God is God alone. Know that He is greater than any other God. He is the only true God of heaven and earth. He has spoken and He has promised eternal salvation to those who fear Him, trust Him, and obey Him. Folks, the case for the only true God. is not a blind leap of faith into the dark without sensory perception and without the engagement of our intellect, our mind, or our reason. God, through the prophet Isaiah, is revealing himself to his people in ancient times so that they might declare how great is our God, that they might worship him for who he truly is, how great is the Lord. I think we're compelled even today as moderns, as post-moderns living in this day and age to worship him for the same. Let's pray. Oh God in heaven, we praise you for who you are and we declare you to be the eternal God of heaven and earth, the creator God. Lord, I pray that you would help us to discern how great you are. through the general revelation of creation around us, through the special revelation of your written word and the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, may we not be atheists, may we certainly not be polytheists, may we be theists, believers and worshipers of the true God. For I pray this in Jesus' name.