The Trial of the False gods | Isaiah 41-46 | Pastor Dave Hentschel

My name is Dave, one of the pastors here.

If you have a copy of God's inspired, infallible, inerrant word with you, would you take that out and open it up to the book of Isaiah?

We're going to be in chapter 41 today, and I'd love for you to follow along.

And as you're making your way there, allow me to ask you this rather incisive question to start our time.

Who or what is your everything?

Who or what is your everything?

And to get to the answer to that question, allow me to read you some familiar lyrics from Michael Boublet.

The song's called Everything.

You're a falling star.

You're the getaway car.

You're the line in the sand when I go too far.

You're the swimming pool on an August day, and you're the perfect thing to say.

And you play it coy, but it's kind of cute.

And when you smile at me, you know exactly what to do.

Baby, don't pretend that you don't know it's true, because you can see it when I look at you.

And in this crazy life and through these crazy times, it's you, it's you.

You make me sing.

You're every line, your every word, your everything.

So who or what is your everything?

What consumes you?

Now, for most of us, as illustrated in that song, when we're young and in love, it is our beloved.

She means everything to me.

He means everything to me.

Later you marry and you have children, and the kids often become your everything.

The kids are everything to me.

The family is everything to me.

Your consuming focus and love and devotion for those kids is so strong, sometimes even stronger than your spouse.

And then next, maybe it becomes your work or your career that becomes your highest priority.

Or for some people, it's some other hobby or some other sport that they play, or it's their physical appearance, or it's their athletic ability, or it's the thing that consumes them every weekend, or it's their grandkids.

It's a question that goes on and on and on.

It's a moving target throughout our lives.

Who or what is your everything today?

As we look at this text this morning, I want to evaluate what is most important to us.

And I know you're ready to say, Pastor Dave, Jesus is my everything.

And you're right, and that's exactly where we're headed.

But would you just set aside that Sunday school platitude, superficial answer for a few minutes and be brave enough, myself included, would we be brave enough to consider honestly whether or not that's true today?

Is Jesus really everything to you?

To me?

I'll be honest, years ago when I was first candidating for a position to serve as one of the pastors here, I remember lying awake the night before thinking, what if they don't vote me in?

And I told myself, hey, that's just the normal nerves.

But if I'm honest, it was more than that.

I wasn't just hoping for God's will.

I wasn't just hoping you would like me.

I was clinging to an outcome.

My sense of security, my sense of confidence, even my sense of joy started to hang on to this role instead of the God who called me to the role.

So, how about you?

Is there anything like that that competes for your heart's desire?

That's what the prophet Isaiah is talking about here, and he calls it idolatry.

Not bowing down to a statue, but fastening our hearts to something we can't live without.

We're looking this morning at a section of the Bible that's famously called the Trial of the False Gods.

Isaiah 41 to 46.

In this section, God himself is going to put those false gods on trial.

And he's going to ask a question that we all need to answer.

Who really carries whom here?

Do your idols carry you, or do you end up carrying them?

Isaiah 41 sets the scene where God says this, set forth your case, says the Lord.

Bring your proofs, says the king of Jacob.

And later in chapter 45, similarly, God says, declare and present your case.

Let them take counsel together.

You see the imagery here today?

It's a courtroom.

Yahweh Himself is putting the gods of the nations on trial.

Yahweh is putting the gods to the test.

So the judge pounds his gavel.

And then God makes this opening statement, chapter 43, verse 10.

Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior.

What you'll see throughout these five chapters is there's this repetition that the Lord is the one true God.

He's unique and he's unmatched, he's without rival, he's unequaled compared to all of the other gods, small g, and you'll also see repeated the refrain that all these other gods are fabrications, all these other gods are imitations, all these other gods are deceptions.

And so this six this section of scripture is what you might consider to be a masterclass in divine majesty.

What we have here is God measuring the oceans in his hands, weighing the mountains like they're dust.

What we have here is not a God who's intimidated by the tasks that are set before him.

Rather, we have this God that's omniscient and omnipotent and uncreated.

James White writes about this text: there's nothing in the created order analogous to God.

Every example breaks down.

That's why comparison itself borders on idolatry.

Only the God of the Bible is the true God, and he's exclusive, and he's distinct, and he's without equal in the whole world, in the whole universe.

Now, the reason God is saying this through the prophet Isaiah is because the Jewish people in these days had replaced the worship of the one true God for the worship of idols that were made of wood and of stubble and of metal.

And so what Isaiah the prophet is saying is you're out here, you're worshiping all these other gods, but these gods can't help you.

And so Yahweh, the one true God, keeps saying, I'm the only one.

And stop following these senseless gods.

They can't help you, they can't rescue you, they can't save you.

And in this whole section, God keeps reminding them of his reality and their unreality.

And so I think you'll find this passage to be God dismantling all of their thinking relative to idols.

And it'll be enlightening, not only to see what it was like for the people back then, but I think also if you look carefully, if you're willing to consider, the passage will also be enlightening as we consider what gods we're drawn to in our own hearts today.

And so this morning we'll look at three different movements in the sermon.

First, we'll see the case against the false gods, and then we'll see the case for the one true God, and then we'll see the application for us today.

First, you'll see all the nations will listen as God makes his case, and as they listen, they will strengthen themselves to respond, and then they will be called to speak.

And then with all of the facts on the table and all of the case laid out, a verdict, a final judgment will be made.

And as that final judgment is rendered, we will find out who is the one true God.

Isaiah 41 to 46 is a rather lengthy section of scripture.

So, as such, I'm not going to be reading every verse for you today.

I'll be skipping around quite a bit.

If you have a Bible, you'll be flopping it around in these chapters.

I'll also have the verses on the screen for you.

But though I'll be jumping around quite a bit, I think by the end of the message today, you'll have the gist of what's going on in Isaiah 41 to 46.

So that's our plan.

And without the Holy Spirit's help, we cannot make this happen.

So let's pray and ask for that.

Our Father and our God in heaven, you alone are God.

You stretched out the heavens by your own hand.

There is no other rock besides you.

And as we open your eternal word today, would you now silence the noise of our hearts?

Silence the fears we brought in here, the ambitions, the false securities that always compete for our trust.

And would you, dare we ask, would you expose whatever idols I have built?

We have built, not to shame us, to free us.

Show us again.

You alone can bear the weight of that kind of hope.

And so send your spirit now to open the eyes of your people, to your word, but also to your greatness, and open our ears to your truth and our hearts to the grace we find in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the one who carries us.

It's in his strong name we pray.

And all God's people said Amen.

Movement one, the case against the false gods.

Isaiah 41, verse 1 has the setting for our passage.

Isaiah 41:1

Imagine, if you will, God Himself summoning the nations and their gods before Him to prove, if they can, that they are the ones who shape history.

Isaiah 41, verse 1 starts like this.

Isaiah 41:1

Listen to me in silence, O coastlands.

Let the peoples renew their strength, let them approach, then let them speak.

Let us together draw near for judgment.

Pause.

The setting here is a heavenly courtroom.

On the one side of the courtroom we have God.

On the other side of the courtroom, we have the coastlands.

Or better translation, you could say in Hebrew the word is translated also elsewhere, the islands.

It's one of Isaiah's favorite terms.

He uses it 13 times.

It deserves a little explanation.

For many people in the ancient world, the sea or the ocean was the end of what they knew.

And they peered out into the water, and those coastlands, those little islands, were the farthest places that they could possibly ever imagine.

And so for them, this is like Fiji or somewhere way out there.

And the point here is that the coastlands or the islands are a figure of speech for the ends of the earth.

In other words, the whole world is on trial here.

All of the earth, including all of the coastlands.

Everyone's coming to court.

And next, God gives evidence, verses two to four.

God, the prosecuting attorney, presents Exhibit A with a question.

Who stirred up one from the east, whom victory meets at every step?

He gives up nations before him so that he tramples kings underfoot, dropped down to four.

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he.

Now the one from the east in verse 2 is the first of many references to Cyrus, the king of Persia, who God will raise up in a few years to destroy Babylon, the country who would take Judah into captivity.

So just to get your timeline straight, Isaiah is prophesying that the South will be taken into captive into Babylon.

And then Isaiah is also prophesying that the nation of Babylon, the Empire of Babylon, will also be defeated.

And then after that, he's also prophesying that they'll be defeated by the Persian Empire, who will be ruled by a certain individual whose name is Cyrus.

Cyrus will then allow the Jewish people to go back to their land.

Now, as a matter of historical background, the rise of Cyrus, the king of Anshan, a city in Persia, was quite swift and impressive.

Here, God is revealing to everyone who's listening that he can take care of those who trust in him because he's totally sovereign over all world politics, and therefore, because of that, he can save his people.

So the question is, is it Cyrus who is the master of this world?

And the answer in this section is no.

The Lord says, no, he is merely my instrument that I have stirred up in verse 2 by my word, which you'll recall from chapter 40, stands forever.

What is important here, what I want you to notice on the screen, ladies and gentlemen, is the nature of God's argument that he is making.

As the goal here is to engender your trust.

Notice, therefore, it is not an argument from creation.

I want you to trust me because I created the world.

That's not what he's saying.

Nor is this an argument from God's character.

I want you to trust me because I'm holy.

No.

Rather, what's happening here is he's giving an argument from God's involvement.

I want you to trust me because I'm intimately involved in all of the affairs of this world.

The Lord is the one who makes plans and accomplishes those plans on this earth.

This is a God whose hand creates and controls and even calls world leaders into existence.

And so, friends, let me just drop anchor here and just say for a moment: if you are anxious and afraid, if there were some elections this past week that caused some stir of anxiety inside of you, this is the kind of argument that should matter to you.

In that moment of fear and anxiety, brothers and sisters, you don't really care that God created the stars.

In that moment of anxiety, you don't really care that God is long suffering.

No, in that moment, all you want to know is whether or not your God is the kind of God who can be in charge of even the politicians.

And here we learn He is.

This is the God of Israel.

Compare that to all of the other nations who turn to another source for advice and for help.

Drop down to verse 7.

The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer, him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, it is good, and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

Now, what this is referring to is idolatry.

Anytime in this particular section of scripture that you read about gold or metal or wood or craftsmanship, that is referring to idolatry.

See, as you face the threats in life as they face the threats in their lives, if they wanted supernatural help, the God of the Bible is not the only option in town.

You can go to a psychic, you can go to over to the Mormon temple, you can go to the Christian science reading room, you can hang crystals from your rearview mirror, you can buy a Hindu god and place it in your kitchen.

Or like the ancients in our text, if you're not happy with the current options of religions and gods out there, you could just make up your own religion.

There are lots of spiritual options out there for you to consider.

So instead of trusting God, what the nations do is they opt for other gods to help them.

So here in this section, what we're finding is that idolatry is something that is actually very offensive to God.

But it's not only offensive to God, what Isaiah is going to tell us is that it's also fundamentally absurd.

Flip over with me to chapter 44.

Verse 12 has this.

He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm.

He becomes hungry and his strength fails.

He drinks no water and is faint.

Here in this particular section of scripture, what we have here is biting sarcasm.

This is actually kind of humorous if you think about it.

There's so much sarcasm going on in these passages, it feels like we're reading the Babylon bee or the onion or something like that.

It's like God Himself is coming to us as people and saying, Are you kidding me?

Do you really think these gods can help you?

Isaiah's pen drips with sarcasm as Yahweh pleads to these idols, why don't you go and do something?

Anything, good or bad.

Do you really want a God that you can shape with a hammer?

Is this the kind of God that's gonna show up in your time of need?

In verse 12, he says, I hope your ironsmith or your blacksmith gets enough to eat because it sure would be a shame if while he was fashioning the idol he couldn't finish it because he didn't have the energy to do so.

Now, let me just ask for a little audience group participation for this part of the sermon, if you will.

I'm gonna pose to you a ridiculous question, and I want to ask you about the foolishness of this idol, and then I'm gonna point to you the audience, and I want you to say something back to me.

I want you to ask a question back to me, and the question is this what kind of God is that?

So work with me, let's try this together, okay?

Ready?

Let's say it together.

Ready?

What kind of good, you're doing good, okay.

So let's try the first question like this.

Do you really want a God that you can shape with a hammer?

Exactly, exactly.

You're getting the idea.

Drop down to verse 13.

The carpenter stretches a line, he marks it out with a pencil, he shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass.

He shapes it into the figure of a man with the beauty of a man to dwell in a house.

He cuts down cedars or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest.

He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.

So here's the question: Do you really want a God that a carpenter can shape with a chisel?

Exactly.

Exactly.

Drop down to verse 15.

Then it becomes fuel for a man.

He takes a part of it and warms himself.

He kindles a fire and bakes bread, and he he makes a God and worships it.

He makes it an idol and falls down before it.

Do you really want a God that's made from a tree?

You take some firewood and you make a fire with half of the wood, and then you take the other half of the wood and you make an idol out of it.

What do you really want a God that's made from a tree?

Exactly.

This is ridiculous, isn't it?

These idols, how can they possibly help you?

Drop down with me to verse 19.

No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and have eaten, and shall I make the rest of it into an abomination?

Shall I fall down before a block of wood?

Notice that phrase at the beginning, no one considers.

Some translations say, no one stops to think.

And this, Christian, is our task as we look out to the world around us and we see them bowing down to the idols of our age.

Our job is to help them to consider, to help them to stop and to think about the folly of this idolatry.

This is the problem.

No one thinks about it.

Idolatry is not rational.

It wasn't rational back then, and it's not rational today.

Flip over to chapter 46 as God says this in verse 5.

To whom will you liken me and make me equal?

And compare me that we may be alike.

Those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the scales hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a God.

Then they fall down and worship.

They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place and it stands there.

It cannot move from its place.

Of course it can't move.

It's not real.

If one cries to it, it does not answer.

Of course it doesn't answer.

It's not real.

Or save him from his trouble.

Here's the question: Do you really want a God that you have to melt to make?

Exactly.

Exactly.

Of course you don't.

Because that wouldn't be real.

I want you to notice on the screen and in your Bibles that that word in verse 7, the word carry.

That's a very important word because what they would do is they would carry these idols.

And they would carry them, and sometimes in procession, there would be a parade where the idols were carried along on an animal or on a cart or on a donkey.

And these idols were carried in and paraded through the town.

And God is looking down, going, You have a God that you have to carry.

And let me tell you what's going to happen.

Those gods are going to be carried off into exile.

That's what's going to happen to those gods that you're carrying.

And God, in response to his people, is saying, You don't need a God that you can carry.

I'm the God that carries you.

I've been carrying you since the beginning, and I will continue to carry you until the day that you come and meet me.

This is the kind of God we have, not the kind of God you carry.

I want to carry you, God says.

Now, this is so foreign to our thinking.

But back then, this is what they did.

They would fashion idols out of created things, then they would bow down and worship.

Isaiah here doesn't just mock idols, he exposes something deeper.

The human heart is exposed.

The heart that makes them is being exposed.

I was greatly helped here by author Curtis Chan, who points out that idol construction is a kind of identity construction.

See, when we feel threatened, we look for stability.

And so we make something that looks solid, something we can see, something we can control.

But Isaiah shows us these idols, they don't just fail us, they expose that the Maker is as shaky as the thing that has been made.

Author Daniel Strange says it this way: quote, idolatry and autonomy go together.

Idols are shaky because they are created by shaky selves.

In other words, our idols are like mirrors.

They reflect back to us our own insecurities.

They are self-made gods built by self-made people trying to make themselves whole.

So to illustrate this, let me just share this particular item I have hidden right here.

I have a weakness, and this right here is my weakness.

It is.

Smooth chocolate, creamy peanut butter, wrapped in gold, like the crown jewel of the candy aisle that it is.

Now, imagine, just for the sake of argument, imagine I take this this candy and I make an altar out of it.

And I and I turn this candy into a shrine, a god that I that I worship.

And I and I I get a mug to go with my candy, and I and I have this scarf for when it gets cold.

I have this candy.

And then when I go to bed at night, I put on my night shirt for the candy.

And then some Sundays I I put my Reese's socks on.

You don't know this, but I wear my Reese's socks when I go to preach a sermon, and I have my little Reese's mug here, and I have my Reese's reindeer guy.

And let's say if I take this candy and I make a shrine out of it, and I go, mmm, look at this.

God made chocolate, God made cocoa, God made sugar.

All good things.

But when I start doing this and I start craving this more than I crave my time with God, now I have a theological problem.

Now imagine for a second that I just start thinking about this.

I just start obsessing about this.

And so I'm thinking about Reese's during the staff meeting tomorrow.

And then I'm thinking about Reese's as I'm preparing my sermon for next time.

And then I'm thinking about Reese's even while I'm delivering my sermon all the time.

I'm thinking about Reese's, I can't stop thinking about Reese's.

I'm always thinking, how can I get another Reese's?

At that point, this silly piece of candy has become an idol.

You say, come on, Dave, this is just chocolate.

Exactly.

And that's what makes idols so sneaky.

Now, most idols aren't bad things.

Most idols are good things that we've turned into ultimate things.

Chocolate's good.

And success is good.

And you working hard at your job and getting rewarded is good.

And you getting teacher of the year is good.

And you getting able to retire is good.

And you being really athletic can be good.

But when I start saying I can't be okay without that, life won't be sweet without that.

Now I've replaced the giver with the gift.

And that's the heart of idolatry.

This is so silly, isn't it?

I feel silly just illustrating this.

We laugh at this, but the truth is most idols don't look this silly at all.

They look more respectable.

They look like success.

They look like a comfort.

They look like the perfect image of a family.

They look like my career has finally made it.

John Calvin said it this way: the human heart is a factory of idols.

It's when something small and sweet ends up sitting on the throne that only God deserves to sit on, Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

So can I ask you, what is that for you right now?

Now why do we do this?

What this tells us is that humankind is designed to worship something.

If you're not worshiping the one true God, you will worship something.

Everybody worships.

The question is not, do you worship?

The question is who or what do you worship?

That's why idolatry isn't always about worshiping bad things, it's about trying to create a self without God.

Commentator John Oswalt reminds us that these gods are merely reflections of humanity.

They can't explain the past or shape the future because they're trapped in the same system that you and I are trapped in.

But the Lord is outside the system.

He made the system, he sustains the system, he directs the system, he created the whole system, he's the only one worthy of worship.

And so that's the case against the false gods.

Now we see the case for the one true God.

There are two key areas of evidence that are brought forward here by Isaiah, the attorney, that he uses to prove to us that only the God of the Bible is the one true God.

Exhibit A is that God is going to be the one who has the ability to create.

And exhibit B is that God or Yahweh also has the ability to predict the future.

And so we'll look at those one in each turn.

First, God's ability to create.

Now, when Yahweh says, I am the first and I am the last, God isn't saying that he was first or that he will be last, but both are eternally present to him.

This is Isaiah's way of expressing the absoluteness of God's being.

Chapter 44, verse 24 continues this theme by saying, Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb.

I am the Lord who made what?

All things, who alone stretch out the heavens, who spread out the earth, by who?

By myself.

Chapter forty five.

Verse 18.

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.

So here we see the case is being brought forth for the one true God, and the case is all about the fact that God is the creator.

Isaac Newton, the physicist and mathematician and astronomer, once said this: quote, the most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being, unquote.

God as the creator is standing in contrast to all of these idols who are created.

They are created by human hands as opposed to God, who is the creator.

So this is God's ability to create for exhibit A.

Exhibit B, we will see Yahweh's ability to predict the future.

Chapter 41, verse 21, says this: set forth your case, says the Lord.

Bring your proofs, says the king of Jacob.

Let them bring them and tell us what is to happen.

Tell us the former things what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome, or declare to us the things to come.

The things to come in the future.

And so one of the major proof tests for supernatural power has and always will be the ability to accurately predict the future.

Not in generalities shrouded in double meaning, but real specific predictions of the future.

Here, Yahweh, God, says, Can the false gods do any of that?

You're entrusting your whole future to their hands.

Do they know the future?

One commentator puts it this way: These verses dramatize the utter impotence of our self-made gods.

They can't even speak, much less predict the future.

Chapter 43, verse 8.

Yahweh himself at this point calls a witness up to the stand.

And the witness we see here in verse 8, God says, Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears.

So picture the scene here.

Here we are in the courtroom.

There's this trial.

The Lord has made a great claim that He is the only one true God.

This is the case.

And his rivals, all those pagan gods, he's being accused here by all those pagan gods of lying.

All of those pagan gods have as their witnesses all the many peoples who worship them.

And the Lord then turns and brings forth his witness.

And the witness that the Lord brings forth is someone who's blind and someone who is deaf.

And the people that are he is bringing forth here that are blind and deaf are his own people.

He's bringing forth the people of Israel who are deaf and who are blind, and then they take the witness stand.

And we see that in the court of law, and we're sitting there watching the court case, going, Well, the case is about to be over here.

I mean, how in the world is a witness who's blind and deaf going to help this God's case?

Surely the case is lost.

But yet, these witnesses actually come forward, take the stand, take the oath, and they produce incontrovertible evidence of the truth of God's claim.

And the evidence that they're about to put forward is that God alone foretold the things that are now taking place.

Verse 9.

All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble.

Who among them can declare this and show us the former things?

Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say it is true.

Verse 10 You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.

Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

So he starts his questioning of the witness in this way.

And he wants to tell them that they're gonna bring forward one of the most impressive things that he has ever predicted in his word.

And what he's about to tell them is to tell the courtroom what he predicted about the next world ruler.

Namely, that he predicted the rise of Cyrus the Great.

And so in this chapter, what he's gonna say is he's gonna name Cyrus his shepherd, and he's gonna call him his Messiah, the one who'll be used as God's anointed one to send his people back.

45 verse 1 makes this clear.

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.

Now think about this for a second.

Just look at the screen.

When Isaiah wrote these words, King Cyrus had not been born yet.

He would not appear on the human scene until 150 years after this text was written.

And Isaiah the prophet calls him by name.

Not once, but three times.

God is saying, I already know the next king of the next world empire.

Now that's so astonishing that when liberal scholars approach the book of Isaiah, they cannot accept this as being true.

They've got to come up with some excuse to say there's no way the prophet Isaiah wrote that.

You see, here's here's here's actually what's happening.

The tone of Isaiah 1 through 39 is actually a much different tone, and Isaiah takes on a different theme in the first half of Isaiah, and then the second half of Isaiah, chapters 40 to 66, afterward, uh, someone else wrote that down afterward, after Cyrus already came to power, but he wrote it down more as history rather than prophecy.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

But the evidence for this being written by Isaiah is so strong that that case won't hold.

Number one, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, when he came to this earth, quoted from both halves of this book, and both halves he attributed to the prophet Isaiah.

Number two, we have found manuscript evidence, including the great Isaiah scroll in the Dead Sea scrolls, and there's not two copies, it's one long copy, all one piece, one to 66.

There's no break in the middle.

Number three, you see from studying this book, and we've been studying it for a couple of months, that the themes and the vocabulary all weave together in both halves of the book with a certain seamlessness and a certain tapestry that fits very well.

And fourthly, and most importantly, brothers and sisters, there are parts of Isaiah that are fulfilled way later, even in the life of Christ, like Isaiah 53.

When we get there in a few weeks, you're going to read that and go, how could he have known about the suffering of the Savior in this very specific way?

There's no way to say that Isaiah couldn't predict the future.

We believe in a God who can speak the future before the future happens.

If we deny that, we have lost more than Isaiah.

We've lost the living God who reveals himself in history.

And here's what's remarkable.

If you read the Jewish historian Josephus, Josephus records that when Cyrus came to power, one of the prophets, people speculate, perhaps Daniel the prophet, went to Cyrus the Great and brought to Cyrus the Great the great Isaiah scroll.

And one of the Hebrew prophets pointed this out to Cyrus the Great, saying, Hey Cyrus, did you know that your name is in here and that it was written 150 years ago?

Did you know that your name is in our prophetic scrolls?

Can you imagine?

This is what our God can do.

In contrast, Isaiah says the Babylonian gods, the astrologers, chapter 47, they can't predict anything.

What kind of a God is that?

Our God knows the future because he rules the future.

Our God knows the future because he's in church.

If this were just a human book, it couldn't possibly contain so many fulfilled prophecies.

If this was just a book written by men, it would not contain this kind of material.

But yet on many occasions, not just here, on many occasions, the Bible predicts the future years, decades, sometimes hundreds of years in advance before these things took place.

This isn't just a human book.

It's the voice of the eternal God who declares, I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning.

Look down in verse 9.

This is exactly what he says next.

Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish my purpose.

So God's claim here is that all of the other gods are imposters, and he alone is the one true God.

He is God, and that is proven by the fact that he not only created everything, but that also he can predict the future.

So the God of the Bible creates, and the God of the Bible predicts, and the useless idols of the nations can do no such thing, because they are nothing.

4124 says it this way: Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing.

An abomination is he who chooses you.

You are a Reese's peanut butter cup.

Behold, they are all delusion, their works are nothing, their metal images are empty wind, or empty calories.

So in the courtroom of Isaiah, God, the prosecutor, presents his evidence and he presents exhibit A, and then he presents exhibit B, and then the verdict is in.

Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

I am the Lord.

And besides me, there is no Savior.

Dr.

James White calls this the strongest statement of monotheism in the whole Bible.

And with that, the prosecution rests his case.

Movement three.

We've seen the case against the false gods.

We've seen the case for the one true God.

And now we'll see how this applies to us in this room.

Because we've been talking here about this trial, this courtroom scene about whether or not the false gods are real and whether Yahweh God is the one true God.

And it's an interesting trial to sit there in the audience and watch.

But actually, friends, if you're honest with yourself, if you know the story of the Bible, then you know that the story of the Bible is not a story about God who is on trial.

The story of the Bible is that we are the ones who are on trial.

It is humanity that has to stand in the dock and defend himself.

God has already proven himself to his people again and again and again as the one true God.

And yet, despite all of the proof that he has given, this is the response of his people.

Verse 22 of chapter 43, God says, I've proven myself, yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob.

But you have been weary of me, O Israel.

You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices.

You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burnt burdened me with your sins.

You have wearied me with your iniquities.

Drop down to verse 26.

He continues, so put me in remembrance.

Let us argue together.

Set forth your case, human being, that you may be proved right.

Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.

Your first father, Adam, rebelled from the get-go, and everything unraveled since then.

Not even your mediators, your priests acted perfectly.

So as humanity stands trial, once again the verdict comes back, and this time the verdict is guilty.

And this is why Isaiah the prophet says we have a need.

And the need is we need to be saved from the penalty of our sin.

We all need to be rescued.

You may not think that, you may not know that right now, but one day, my friend, you will know that because we all have a terminal disease, and it is the disease of sin.

And so, in the midst of this verdict, in the midst of this second courtroom scene, in the midst of this place where we as humanity all stand condemned before a holy God, this Yahweh, God of the universe, actually stands up and does the unthinkable.

The God of Isaiah steps down from the judge's bench and decides he's gonna take the sentence upon himself.

In this plot twist, God is gonna decide to blot out their transgressions and offer his people their salvation.

Look at verse 25.

God says, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

That is good news.

This is the news of salvation that Yahweh, yes, is the one true God who creates, and he's the one true God who predicts the future, but he is also the one true God who can save.

He alone can save, he alone can redeem us.

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions, God says.

Isaiah 43 is one of the most beautiful texts in this whole section.

God says, But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, listen, he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you.

I have called you by name.

You are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I'll be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.

When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you, for I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

In this beautiful text, what we learn here is that same majestic God who existed before creation, who stretched out the heavens, is the same God who comes down and says, Now I'm gonna take hold of your hand and I'm gonna walk with you in your life.

In this breathtaking balance, we have transcendence that is coupled together with covenant tenderness and mercy and grace of this God.

This section on the screen is so powerful.

I want you to look at what God is saying to his people right here because he's also saying the same thing to you.

Friends, the words on the screen are the reason why we do not need idols.

The reason why we don't need idols is because we can have a solid identity that we don't build for ourselves by what we do.

Rather, we can embrace the identity that is given to us by the God of Scripture who says, You are mine, I'm the one who calls you what you are.

You are beloved of me, and I am your savior.

That's who you are.

You don't need to worship some other God and try to craft some identity of yourself in some other place.

You get your identity bestowed upon you by me, your creator.

Every idol tells a story.

Every script is a script we live by.

What is the script you live by?

If I don't get good grades, then I'm not a successful student.

If I can't run the race in this time, then I'm not a good athlete.

If I don't maintain my beauty, then I'm not worth anything.

If I'll just succeed, then I'll matter.

If I could just stay safe, then I'll be okay.

Those are all scripts, those are all lies.

And the reason they're lies is because they're built by shaky selves trying to secure their own identity.

And all of those idols always collapse at one point or another.

Only God can give you a stable identity, only the gospel can give you a stable identity.

One that comes from outside of yourself, Jacob, whom I have loved.

God says, I'm up here.

You are the one I love, I have chosen you, I have named you, I have redeemed you, and that is the foundation upon which you can build your whole life.

In one final plea, Isaiah turns to his people and just simply says, So turn to me and be saved.

All the ends of the earth, the coastlands, the islands, 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.

To me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear allegiance.

This majestic God here doesn't just win the trial.

Instead, he opens his arms and says to his people, Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.

Dr.

James White says, and in the miracle of all miracles, the omniscient and eternal creator proclaims himself to be not only the righteous God, but also the Savior.

So our passage here is telling us that this God who created everything and who predicts the future wants to take care of everything in your life too.

All of our fear, all of our sin, all of our blindness, all of the chaos, and all of the rebellion of this world, all of it can be taken care of by God.

All the focus here in this text ends on Yahweh God.

He's the one who saves, he's the one who restores, he's the one who frees, he's the one who heals, he's the one who gives us his covenant, and he is our only hope.

Isaiah's point this morning, ladies and gentlemen, is simply this: there is only one true God.

And the one true God is the answer to the question and the solution to the problem.

He is the destination of your journey, and he's the explanation of this whole universe.

He is the key to that lock that you cannot open, and he's the way out of the mess you're currently in.

My friend, there is no one else.

There is no other way.

No other God can save you.

Metal God can't save you.

Bronze God can't save you.

Buddhist God can't save you.

Muhammad's God can't save you.

The High Faith God can't save you either.

The Mormon God can't save you.

Jehovah's Witness God can't save you.

The God of secular humanism out there cannot save you.

Elon Musk can't save you.

Bill Gates can't save you.

Zoram Mamdani can't save you.

Donald Trump can't save you.

There is only one God.

Now, if you look at the screen and you know your Bible, then you know that 700 years later, the Apostle Paul picked up his pen and wrote a letter to the church at Philippi.

And in that letter, in chapter 2, he quotes a certain portion of Isaiah on purpose.

And what Paul is saying, if you put those two together, is something absolutely breathtaking.

Here's this passage in Isaiah about the transcendent, omniscient, omnipotent God of the universe, Yahweh, the great I am, the one true God.

The apostle Paul sits down with his pen and says, that Yahweh, God of Isaiah, is Jesus of the cross.

And it's before Jesus that every knee will bow.

And it's before Jesus that every tongue will confess that he is Lord.

And there is no other name by which we can be saved.

And his name is Jesus.

And so the question I would leave you with this morning, brothers and sisters, is that same question that I started with.

Is Jesus really everything to you?

Or is he just one out of ten things competing for your affection today?

Former U.S.

Senate chaplain Richard Halverson once said, quote, Jesus Christ is God's everything for man's total need, unquote.

Someone wrote to Emily Post, the great etiquette guru, and asked, What is the correct procedure when one is invited to the White House but has a previous engagement?

Her reply was, an invitation to dine at the White House is a command, and it automatically cancels any other engagement.

Friends, what we have here in this text of Isaiah is Yahweh, the God of the universe, giving an invitation to you.

And when this God calls, when this God asks for a relationship with you, when this God asks you and invites you to come and dine with him at his table, there is no higher priority.

So let me ask you that question again.

Who or what is your everything?

Husbands?

Let me affirm to you that your wife is something, and she is something wonderful, and someone very special.

But she is not your everything.

Wives, let me remind you that your husbands are something, a leader and one worthy of your respect, but he is not your falling star, and he is not your getaway car.

He is something, but he is not your everything.

Parents, let me remind you that your children are tremendous blessings from God Himself.

And they are something, but they are not your everything.

Grandparents, those grandkids are the apple of your eye, they hung the moon.

They are something.

They are not your everything.

Your bank account and your money in it is something, but it is not your everything.

Your finances are a blessing and provision from God, but it is not your everything.

Your occupation, your ambitions, your dreams, your vacations, your scrapbooking, your tools in your shed, your riding lawn mower, your signed autograph giants football jersey, your Beatles White album, they are all something, but they are not everything.

Jesus said, I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life.

No one comes to the Father except by me.

Everything else in this world is less than that.

Everything else falls short of fulfilling the deepest desire of your heart.

And because Jesus Christ is the one before every knee will bow, and the one to whom every tongue will confess one day that he is Lord, may He be everything to you.

Let's pray together as the worship team comes.

Our Father and our God.

If we're honest, we confess.

How easily we trade the glory of the Creator for the created things.

How easy it is to make our everything our own success or our own comfort or the approval of others or control.

So thank you for reminding us.

And thank you for speaking to us through your word.

And thank you for telling us that only you can save, that only you can satisfy.

And so where we have trusted in our own strength, would you forgive us?

And where we have bowed to lesser gods, would you topple them over and restore us?

Teach us to rest in your steadfast love.

Teach us to walk as people who are called by your name.

And let us remember who carries who in this relationship.