The Lord Is God; There Is No Other

Well, church, would you turn with me to the book of Isaiah, chapter 44.

Isaiah 44 · chapter mention

We're picking up in verse 24.

That's page 567 in the Pew Bible.

And then we're going to look at the rest of chapter 45 this morning.

So, end of 44, beginning of 45, page 567 in the Pew Bible.

Let me pray, and then I'll read the first part of this for us.

Father in heaven, as we come now to your word, we pray that you would give us eyes by your spirit to see Christ in his glory.

We know that all of the prophets testified to him, and it is him that we need to see.

So, come and do that work, we pray, God.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, our Savior.

Amen.

All right, Isaiah 44, verse 24.

Isaiah 44:24

Let me read for us.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb.

I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,

who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners,

who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem, she shall be inhabited,

and of the cities of Judah they shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins.

Who says to the deep, be dry, I will dry up your rivers.

Who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose,

saying of Jerusalem, she shall be built,

and of the temple your foundation shall be laid.

Continuing in chapter 45.

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped,

to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings,

to open doors before him that gates may not be closed.

I will go before you to level the exalted places.

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.

I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes and secret places,

that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by name.

For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name.

I name you, though you do not know me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

Beside me there is no God.

I equip you, though you do not know me,

that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west

that there is none besides me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

I form light and create darkness.

I make well-being and create calamity.

I am the Lord.

Who does all these things?

We will end our reading there and pick up in a little bit.

So there is an old parable that goes something like this.

There is a group of blind men standing around an elephant,

and each one is trying to give a description of what this elephant is like.

One man touches its trunk and says that it is a snake.

Another feels its ear and says, oh, it is like a fan.

A third man holds the tail and finds it rope-like.

And the last man feels the tusk and declares that the elephant is like a spear.

Now, this parable is supposed to illustrate the idea that all religions are equal but limited paths to God.

According to this parable, every religion is sort of like a blind man only feeling one part of the elephant.

And so, according to the parable, no one can say that there is only one true religion.

No one can say that there is only one true God.

Now, on the surface, that parable can seem appealing, right?

After all, isn't it sort of arrogant to say that your God is the only true God?

Isn't it better, we sometimes think, isn't it more humble to say that we're all just blind men grasping our part of the elephant?

And so, when we come up against a text like Isaiah 44 and 45, it can really rub us the wrong way.

Because the big idea of this section in Isaiah, not just the part I read, but the whole chapter that we'll get to a little later,

the big idea here is that the Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the only true God.

If you look with me down at the passage, if you have it open, you'll see this affirmed again and again in our text.

In Isaiah 45, 5, we read,

I am the Lord and there is no other.

Beside me there is no God.

45, 6, I am the Lord and there is no other.

45, 14, the nations say,

Surely God is in you and there is no other God, no God besides Him.

45, 18, I am the Lord and there is no other.

45, 21, and there is no other God beside me, a righteous God and a Savior.

There's none beside me.

45, 22, for I am God and there is no other.

The Lord, the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ, alone is God.

In other words, the Bible makes the exclusive claim to being the one true version of spiritual reality.

The Lord, the God of Israel, alone is God.

There is no other.

But how can we believe something like that in our incredibly pluralistic age?

I mean, after all, aren't we just blind men around the elephant?

How can anyone make an exclusive claim about the one true version of spiritual reality?

But here's the thing.

This parable about how all religions are relative, did you know it's actually doing the exact same thing?

That that parable is making an exclusive claim to be the one true version of spiritual reality?

I mean, think about it.

After all, the narrator of that parable, the one supposedly telling that story,

they aren't one of the blind men, right?

They see the whole thing.

They see the whole elephant.

Telling that story, believing that version of reality is presuming to see the whole thing and to see it truly.

You see, to say that all religions are just blind men feeling an elephant is to assume that you can see the whole reality,

even though other people might not.

It is no more or less exclusive or presumptuous than a religion claiming to be the one true religion.

In fact, you might even say it's a bit more disrespectful, not to mention patronizing,

to people who see things differently than you.

Let me give you a somewhat trite example.

Imagine you're sort of stumbling upon a few friends,

and they're debating whether the Yankees or the Red Sox are the greatest baseball franchise in history.

Now, some of you might not give a rip about baseball.

I don't actually like baseball, but just go with the example, okay?

And you listen to your friends for a while, and eventually, you know, after hearing the sort of debate,

you say to them,

you know, friends, you're just both blind men grasping an elephant.

I mean, how patronizing of a thing to say, right?

To say that all religions are relative, to say that you cannot claim one religion to be the true religion,

is in essence to say that all religions are wrong, and you have finally gotten it right.

It might just be the most arrogant position of all.

Now, I say all that to say that we can't just dismiss out of hand this big idea of Isaiah 45,

that the Lord is God and there is no other.

Are you willing to entertain that that might actually be true?

Everyone makes a stake on what exclusive spiritual reality is like.

Why not consider that one too?

Now, how does Isaiah demonstrate this here,

and then what are the implications of believing something like that?

In other words, well, is that true?

And if so, so what?

Well, there are lots of ways that we could approach the claim

that the God of the Bible is the only true God,

and the Bible comes at that question from a lot of different angles,

but Isaiah's main demonstration here,

his main sort of proof, if you were,

that the Lord, the God of Israel, is the one true God is this.

And we see this again and again in Isaiah 40 through 55.

This people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt.

He said he would liberate them, and he did.

When the people were in exile in Babylon,

he said he would liberate them.

That's what Isaiah 40 through 55 is about, and he did.

And you know, those two great acts of redemption in the Old Testament,

they sort of unfurl like banners across the whole of the Old Testament,

saying, consider this God.

Look at what he's done.

Could any God do something so great?

And this great God says,

yes, it's true.

I am God, and there is no other.

Your Creator and your Redeemer.

And of course, as we go into the New Testament then,

that same pattern continues.

When Jesus arrives on the scene,

proclaiming the arrival of God's kingdom,

He tells the people that He will liberate them.

And He does.

He says, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

And then He says, I'm going to be handed over

to the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees

to be crucified.

But in three days I will rise.

This is what Jesus said to His disciples,

and that's what He did.

He was crucified, and three days later He was raised to life.

And it's this same Jesus who said,

I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through Me.

The unique work of Jesus, laying down His life,

doing what no one else has done,

then paves the way for this claim

that He is the one way to God.

The incarnation of the one true God.

This is the message of the New Testament.

There's only one true God,

and the Lord, Jesus, is His name.

Now, if you're here and you're exploring Christianity,

if you're kind of new to spiritual things

and you're trying to figure out what you believe,

you know, the best way you can do that

is by reading the historical accounts of Jesus for yourself.

Figure out for yourself if this Jesus is who He says He is,

who others say He is.

Read the accounts for yourself

and ask if He's worthy of your trust.

Consider the historical claim.

Did He really rise from the grave?

It might surprise you how plausible

and how life-giving the real Jesus really is.

In fact, every person should figure out for themselves

what to make of Jesus Christ.

You know, don't just go along with the herd

or the popular opinions on social media.

Be authentic.

Where do you stand?

What do you think of Him?

Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

Muslims believe that Jesus didn't actually die

but was sort of taken up to heaven.

Jews and atheists and agnostics for that matter

believe that Jesus died and remain dead.

You know, only one of those can actually be true.

Where do you stand?

Do you have the courage to figure it out for yourself?

Even if you've grown up in the church,

don't simply believe because your parents believe.

Seek Him out for yourself.

But what are the implications then?

What are the implications of believing

that the Lord alone is God?

Well, there are at least two implications here

in Isaiah 44 and 45.

And the first half of our passage that I read for us

shows us this,

that because the Lord alone is God,

we must honor Him for all common grace.

Because the Lord alone is God,

we must honor Him for all common grace.

Let me briefly explain how we see this in our text.

What's going on in the end of Isaiah 44

and the beginning of Isaiah 45

is that the Lord is saying,

in my sovereignty,

I'm going to use Cyrus,

the pagan ruler of Persia,

to come and free my people

from their Babylonian exile

and rebuild Jerusalem.

I'm going to use Cyrus,

a pagan ruler,

to come and free my people

and bring them back home.

Now, that message, of course,

would have been a source of scandal

to some of God's people, right?

How could God use Him?

And it probably would have been

a source of doubt to others,

thinking, you know,

well, look, if Cyrus is the liberator,

perhaps Cyrus' gods are better than our God.

But no, says the Lord.

The good that Cyrus does

is because I, the Lord,

did it through him.

Look at verse 5.

Speaking to Cyrus, God says,

I am the Lord and there is no other.

Besides me, there is no God.

I equip you,

though you did not know me.

The good that Cyrus accomplished,

it wasn't ultimately Cyrus' doing.

It was the Lord's doing.

As the one true creator

and ruler of all,

God was the one

who was equipping Cyrus

to do what he did.

And friends,

that is true across the board.

And the theological term for that

or word for that

is common grace.

That God showers His gifts

on the just and the unjust.

He gives innumerable blessings

to both believers and unbelievers.

And in His sovereignty,

He brings about His good purposes.

We see common grace pretty clearly

in the physical realm, right?

God makes His sun to shine

on the evil and the good.

He makes the rain to fall

on the just and the unjust.

But we see it in the intellectual realm.

God gives gifts of reason

and learning.

He sheds them abroad

to all humans

that we might understand the world

and make something of it.

We see it in the creative realm.

God gives gifts of art and music.

We see it in the moral realm.

God gives a sense of justice

and compassion.

And He does all of this

to believers and unbelievers alike.

Every good and every perfect gift

is from above,

James says in the New Testament,

coming down from the Father of lights.

Or as God says here in Isaiah,

besides me, there is no God.

I equip you,

though you do not know me.

So don't be surprised,

God says to Old Testament Israel,

when Cyrus liberates you.

This is my doing.

It is my common grace,

working through Cyrus for your good.

And for us today,

don't be surprised

if you listen to a piece of music

composed by an unbeliever

and find yourself

in genuine wonder and joy.

Common grace.

Don't be surprised

if you find incredibly kind

and loving people

outside the church.

Common grace.

Don't be surprised

if social good

is at times advanced

by unbelieving people.

There is common grace.

But notice,

what's the point

of seeing this common grace?

Look at verse 6 of our text,

that people may know

from the rising of the sun

and from the west

that there's none beside me.

I am the Lord

and there is no other.

You see,

when Cyrus liberates the Jews

in exile

and sends them home,

who is meant to get the praise?

Cyrus?

Cyrus?

Cyrus is God's?

No.

No.

The Lord.

The sovereign giver

of all good gifts.

When we see

God's common grace,

we must give God

the honor for it.

Now, the doctrine

of common grace

helps us to avoid

two pitfalls

in the Christian life.

On the one hand,

you know,

the Israelites

could have rejected

the good

that Cyrus brought about

because Cyrus

did not worship

the Lord.

They could have viewed

everything he did

as evil, right?

They could have said,

I'm not going to

take any gifts from him.

I'm going to just

stay in Babylon.

You know,

Christians sometimes

fall into this same pitfall.

We must not reject

the good things

that unbelievers do

as totally evil

just because

they're unbelievers.

We can still

acknowledge the good

and give God

the praise for it.

On the other hand,

the other pitfall,

you know,

the Israelites

could have swung

in the opposite direction.

They could have viewed

what God did

through Cyrus

as proof

that all of Cyrus' actions

and even Cyrus' gods

were worthy of praise

and worthy of allegiance.

Now, Christians today,

I think,

have to be even more careful

of this pitfall.

When we see

some genuine good

in an unbeliever,

or in a social movement,

or in a political party,

we must not suddenly

give it

our wholesale allegiance.

We have to be

more discerning than that.

Just because we see

a threat of common grace good

doesn't mean

we should give

our wholesale allegiance

and agree with everything

that particular person

or party

or movement

stands for.

Rather than rejecting

everything

and accepting everything,

we need to honor God

for the good

of common grace

but think and act

with integrity

as God's people.

The Israelites

were meant to go home

but they weren't meant

to start worshiping

the Persian gods.

Now, that's the first

implication of Isaiah 45

because the Lord alone

is God.

We must honor Him

for all the common grace

that we see

and experience.

But at this point,

Isaiah has to make

an important clarification.

God has just said

that He's going to use Cyrus,

a pagan ruler,

to liberate His people.

What does that mean

about Cyrus?

What does that mean

about all those nations,

all those people

who, like Cyrus,

don't worship the Lord?

Well, the second half

of Isaiah 45

tells us this.

Because the Lord alone

is God,

we must turn to Him

for all saving grace.

Because the Lord alone

is God,

we must turn to Him

for all saving grace.

Now, let's skip down

to verse 18

in chapter 45.

We're going to read

a little more

of our text.

Picking up in verse 18

of chapter 45.

For thus says the Lord

who created the heavens,

He is God

who formed the earth

and made it.

He established it.

He did not create it empty.

He formed it to be inhabited.

I am the Lord

and there is no other.

I did not speak in secret

in a land of darkness.

I did not say

to the offspring of Jacob,

seek me in vain.

I, the Lord,

speak the truth.

I declare what is right.

Assemble yourselves

and come.

Draw near together,

you survivors

of the nations.

They have no knowledge

who carry about

their wooden idols

and keep on praying

to a God

that cannot save.

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 beside me,

a righteous God

and a Savior.

There is none beside me.

Turn to me

and be saved.

All the ends

of the earth

for I am God

and there is no other.

By myself,

I have sworn

from my mouth

has gone out

in righteousness

a word

that shall not return,

that is return void,

return empty.

To me,

every knee shall bow.

Now,

every tongue

shall swear allegiance.

Only in the Lord

it shall be said of me,

our righteousness

and strength.

To him shall come

and be ashamed

all who are incensed

against him.

In the Lord,

all the offspring

of Israel

shall be justified

and shall glory.

Now,

the key verse here

is verse 22.

Turn to me

and be saved,

all the ends

of the earth,

for I am God

and there is no other.

Friends,

you see,

common grace,

those gifts

that God sheds abroad,

common grace

is not saving grace.

You can be

highly intelligent,

very creative,

incredibly moral

and all these

are gifts of God.

You didn't earn them,

they were gifts to you.

But even an abundance

of these gifts

of common grace,

they aren't saving.

They don't put you

in a right relationship

with God,

with your Creator.

They don't take away

your guilt.

They don't take away

your shame.

We need saving grace.

And what do we see here?

We see that this one

true God,

who yes,

covenanted with Israel

to bring about

his plans of redemption,

who sent Jesus Christ,

we see that this one God,

what does this God do?

He extends

not just common grace

to the nations,

but he extends

his saving grace as well.

Turn to me

and be saved

all the ends of the earth.

Here is an invitation,

a summons

for everyone.

Every nation,

every culture,

every language,

everyone

is summoned

to receive

God's saving grace.

That was true

in Isaiah's day

and it's true today,

friends.

He is summoning us,

he's summoning you

today

to come

and receive

his saving grace.

But to receive

this saving grace,

what must we do?

We must turn,

Isaiah says,

we must turn

and embrace

the Lord alone

as God.

because ultimately

this is the God,

as verse 23 says

in our text,

to whom

every knee shall bow

and every tongue

shall swear allegiance.

There is coming a day,

God says,

when everyone

will recognize

my unique

and utterly

exclusive

claim

to be the one

true God.

Everyone will

acknowledge it.

God is inviting us,

he's summoning us

to acknowledge it now.

And that phrase,

you know,

every knee shall bow

and every tongue

shall swear allegiance,

I hope that phrase

sounds a little

familiar to you

because earlier

in our service,

Dave actually read

for us from

Philippians chapter 2

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

and in that chapter

from the New Testament,

Paul identifies

none other

than the risen Jesus

as this Lord.

At the name of Jesus,

Paul writes,

every knee should bow

in heaven and earth

and under the earth

and every tongue

confess,

that is,

swear allegiance

that Jesus Christ

is Lord

to the glory

of God the Father.

To turn to the Lord

and be saved

means turning

to the Lord Jesus.

But what do we see

about this Lord Jesus?

This sovereign Lord

who stretched out

the heavens,

who established

the earth,

this one true God

who rules the nations,

what do we see

about this God?

Well, we see

that this is a God

who emptied Himself

for us.

Listen again

to Philippians 2.

Christ Jesus,

though He was in the form

of God,

did not count

equality with God

a thing to be grasped,

but emptied Himself

by taking the form

of a servant.

Being born in the likeness

of men

and being found

in human form,

He humbled Himself

by becoming obedient

to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

I recently ran across

the story

of Praveen Setupati.

He's a genetics professor

at Cornell.

And when he was

a freshman in college,

a classmate asked him

what he believed

and he said

he was a Hindu.

But the question

kind of unsettled him.

Praveen's parents

had immigrated from India.

He had grown up

with Hindu culture,

but he had little knowledge

of Hindu beliefs,

so he started to explore.

He kind of dug into

ancient Hindu texts

and he appreciated

their richness.

But the process

made him aware

of the fact

that other world religions

made different truth claims.

Now, with the mindset

of a budding scientist,

he didn't want to assume

that the religion

he inherited

was right,

so he explored

other beliefs

and read other religious texts.

And in the Gospels,

as he tells his story,

Praveen found something

that surprised him.

He, here,

in the Gospels,

Jesus.

Jesus was the supposed

hero of the story.

But at the climax

of the tale,

this Jesus

was hung naked,

disfigured,

and pathetic

on a cross.

Very different

than the Hindu superhero,

Krishna.

But somehow,

the self-emptying

of this crucified man

attracted Praveen.

And after months

of reading

and questioning

and sifting through

the evidence,

he started following Jesus.

Now, as you might guess,

this was a little more,

was more than a little

disturbing, right,

for Praveen's family.

Living as members

of a racial

and religious minority

in America,

they feared that Praveen

was rejecting

his Indian heritage

and wondered whether

he would change his name

to something

Western-sounding

like Peter or John,

right?

But Praveen reassured them

that following Jesus

did not entail

rejecting the culture

he loved.

He writes,

becoming a Christian

had nothing to do

with rejecting

my Indian heritage

or being called

by a different name.

Rather,

it was about embracing

God's interwoven presence

in the history of mankind,

Christ's love

and sacrifice for us

and our desperate

need for Him.

Now, there were

certainly aspects

of his Hindu heritage

that he would need

to leave to follow Christ.

But Praveen was proud

to be Indian

and proud of the rich culture

which he came from.

And he was planning

to pass it on

to his children.

So, you see,

turning to the one

true God, Jesus,

means turning to the God

who emptied Himself

for us,

something that no

other religion claims.

And turning to Jesus

didn't mean sort of

erasing all the

common grace good

that's found in our culture

or in our heritage,

but rather bringing

all of that,

bringing all of those gifts

in worship of the God

who gave those gifts

in the first place.

How about you, friend?

Have you turned

to this God

to receive His offer

of saving grace?

And if you have,

are you using

all of your gifts

to bring Him praise?

The Lord alone

is God.

Honor Him.

Turn to Him.

Let's pray.

Try and God,

we thank You

for clearly revealing

Yourself to be

the one true God.

And we give You praise

for doing what no other

God claims to do,

taking on flesh for us,

laying down Your life

for us,

rising again

that we might know

new life.

Oh, Lord,

help us now

to turn to You

and help us

to honor You.

Help us not to see

the good gifts

that You've given us

as somehow

things we have earned

or things we have done

or things that might

puff up our own pride,

but help us to see them

as vehicles

for giving You praise

and displaying

Your manifold mercy

and wonder

here in this world

that You've made.

Help us by Your Spirit

to do that, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.