Watchman Radio Hour

David Shulze: Welcome to the Watchman Radio hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Shulze, your announcer. The Watchman Radio hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now, here's our speaker, Alex Dodson, to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Alex Dodson: For our scripture reading today, let us turn to Isaiah chapter 45 and we'll begin reading in verse 20. Gather together and come assemble you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Declare what is to be presented. Let them take counsel together who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past. Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, righteous a righteous God and a savior. There is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have given us the Bible, that it's your infallible word that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. And now, oh Lord, as we come to study your word today, we pray that you will send forth your holy spirit in great power. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. God calls the nations to look to him. He calls them to turn from their idols who cannot save and to turn to him, the only true God and savior. God is still calling the nations today to look to him and he's calling our nation and its peoples to look to him.

And yet, we are not hearing that call. We're steeped in our idolatry and have turned our backs on God. We have set up our idols and we continue to worship them and refuse to worship the true and the living God as a people. Our nation is in decline and will continue to be in decline unless we turn around and look to the one true God again as our forefathers did once upon a time long ago. We are getting further and further away from our roots. We have lost our way and unless we turn around soon, the nation is lost.

And yet, God is still calling us if we will but listen. And so, I'll read again Isaiah 45 verse 20 to 22 and this time in the English standard version. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you survivors of the nations. They have no knowledge who carry about the 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 besides me, a righteous God and a savior.

There is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. Christ calls all to look to him. Any nation that turns its back on God will not survive. We have turned our back on God as a nation. We have rejected his law and made up our own laws that are contrary to his. We are constantly shaking our fists in his face in the face of God. And yet, God calls out to us today to look to him, to give up our idols and our rebellion and to come to him.

He is the only God and the only savior. May we hear his call and turn around and follow him. Let us see in the first place that God addresses the nations. Verse 20 says this, gather together and come, assemble you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. John Calvin in talking about the fugitives of the nations or the rejected of the nations says, yet if it be thought preference to translate it distant, I have no objection. As if he had said, let them assemble from the farthest parts of the earth.

The important thing is here he is addressing the nations of the earth. Their idols cannot save. Those who serve idols are ignorant. They don't know what they're doing. Today, we serve idols that cannot save us. We bow down to material prosperity thinking it will save us. We bow down to our sports heroes and make gods out of them. We bow down to the latest luxury SUV. We have made an idol out of entertainment in all of its very at multiple forms. And yet, we continue to sleep in our sins. We are oblivious to the fact that we are sinners in the sight of our holy God.

J. A. Alexander of old Princeton wrote, the verse contains two indirect reflections on the idols. First, that they are wooden, and then that they are lifeless and dependent on their worshipers for locomotion. And Matthew Henry, the the old great Puritan commentator wrote, they pray to a God that cannot save. For he cannot hear, he cannot help, he can do nothing. How do those deceive themselves who pray for relief to that which has no capacity at all to relieve them? Certainly, those have no knowledge or are brutish in their knowledge who take so much pains and do so much penance in seeking the favor of a God that has no power.

Yet, God calls out to these ignorant idol worships worshipers to turn away from their idols and to turn to him. God is concerned for the nations. It is the nations that he wants to save. And so, it is the nations that he addresses. In Psalm 22:27 it says, all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will bow down before him. This is God's intent and vision. God promised Abraham that through him all peoples on earth would be blessed. In Genesis 12:2 through 3 it says, God says to Abraham, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. And in Genesis 13:16 God says to Abraham, I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. And in Genesis 15:5 it says, he took him outside and said, look up at the heavens and count the stars if indeed you can count them. And then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And then in Genesis 17:5 it says, no longer will you be called Abraham.

Your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. And then in Genesis 22:17 through 18 after he had offered Isaac up on the altar and the Lord had rescued him at the last moment, God says to Abraham, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore, your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me. And then in Galatians 3:29 we see who the seed of Abraham are.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Today, God is still concerned for the nations. He has he is concerned for our nation and calls it to turn to him, to turn away from its idols and rebellion and to repent of its great sins. God defends himself as the only God and savior in verse 21 where it says this, declare what is to be presented. Let them take counsel together who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past. Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a savior.

There is none but me. He reproves the idols. They had not foretold the future. They had not foretold that Cyrus would help bring redemption to the Israelites. They knew nothing of this redemption. And yet, God foretold it and it would happen just as he said. It did happen just as he said. Matthew Henry writes, let them show when any of their gods did with any certainty foretell future events as the God of Israel has done. And it shall be acknowledged that they have some color for their pretensions, but none of them ever did. Their prophets were lying prophets.

But I, the Lord, have told it from this time, from that time long before it came to pass. And therefore, you must own there is no other God besides me. And John Calvin writes, he challenges them to a strict examination in order to compare with the law and the prophets all that infidels boast of as having been foretold by their idols. I cheerfully admit what is generally believed that the prophet speaks of the redemption of the people. But as the overthrow of the Babylonian monarchy was likewise connected with it, I think this is also included.

And John Gill writes, tell ye and bring them near and let them take counsel together. Tell them what I say of their ignorance and stupidity and gather them all together, their gods, their makers and their worshipers and let them lay their heads together and consult what proof they are able to give of their divinities, particularly by portelling foretelling things to come. And then he writes, who hath declared this from ancient time? Who had told it from that time? That is, who of all their gods or priests have ever declared this or anything at any distance of time before it come to pass?

Either this everlasting salvation of my people, of the redemption by Cyrus, which was a type of it and was spoken of beforehand. Not one of them. And then he writes, have not I, the Lord? He had Christ by his spirit in the prophet signified beforehand his sufferings and his death and the glory that should follow. First Peter 1:10 and 11 it says, concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently and with the greatest care trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the suffering of Christ and the glories that would follow.

Only the true God could foretell what his plan was for the future. And then let us see that he is a righteous God and a savior. He is the only God and he is the only savior. Only in the one true God, Jesus Christ can anyone be saved. In John 14:6 Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man, no one comes to the Father except through me. Acts 4:12 says salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Matthew Henry says, as he is a just God, so he is the savior who can save without the assistance of any, but without whom none can be saved. And J. A. Alexander wrote, have not I, Jehovah? And here is no other God besides me is a Hebrew idiom equivalent to the English question, have not I besides whom there is no other God? John Calvin writes, and a savior. To foreknowledge he adds power and in a former passage, yet he likewise describes for what purposes he exerts his power and that is for saving his people. John Gal John Gill writes, and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a savior.

There is none besides me. Christ is the one God with the Father and Spirit. There is no other nor any savior of lost sinners but him. There is salvation in him and in no other and he is just in things pertaining to God in satisfying his justice and fulfilling his law. He was set forth as a mediator to declare his righteousness and which is displayed in the work of redemption by him to so that God is just while he is the justifier of him that believes in him. Romans 3:25 and 26 it says, God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood.

He did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Only one savior can save you and that savior is Jesus Christ. There is no other savior. And then let us see in the third place the great invitation in verse 22, turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. A there's a command and a promise here.

Turn to me or stop and turn around. Stop your rebellion, stop your unbelief, stop your sinning, stop and turn around to me. The promise is that if you turn and look to me, you will be saved. Turn and look and be saved. Geneva Bible says in verse 22, he calleth the idolaters to repentance willing them to look to him with the eye of faith. Edward J. Young writes, it might seem then that for the heathen or the Gentiles there remain nothing but destruction. Such is not the case. For an invitation of mercy is extended to them.

They are not to continue in their former ways, but a to turn from them. The verb suggests a turning away from something and a turning to something, a true conversion. Edward J. Young goes on to say, the invitation to turn like the invitation of Christ is couched in the imperative and thus the responsibility of the individual is set forth. It is God who commands and man, the creature, has the responsibility of obeying. J. A. Alexander writes concerning the Hebrew word for look, he says it does not correspond exactly to the English look, but denotes the act of turning around in order to look in a different direction.

If we look, the promise is we will be saved. John Calvin writes, and ye shall be saved. Thus, we have a striking proof of the calling of the Gentiles because the Lord after having broken down the partition wall which separated the Jews from the Gentiles invites all without exception to come to him. Besides, we are here reminded also what is the true method of obtaining salvation. That is when we look to God and turn to him with our whole heart. Now, we must look to him with the eye of faith so as to embrace the salvation which is exhibited all through Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him may not perish. The invitation is to you right now today the same. Look under me and be saved. Look to Christ. Look nowhere else. He is the only savior. Turn and look to him now and you shall be saved. And then he invites the whole world, all you ends of the earth. A universal invitation to all to come to him. All people everywhere invited. Young writes, although the verb is plural and although the subject is found in the expression ends of the earth, the reference is to men individually.

If the ends of the earth turn unto God, it is only because the individual men who make up the ends of the earth have themselves turned. There is a stress upon individual conversion. You must turn. The phrase the ends of the earth, he says, the farthest ends of the earth includes all who dwell upon the earth. And then he goes on to write, men have rebelled against God, can only find salvation when having turned from the vain idols of abomination, they turn to the God who has made them. Furthermore, in as much as all men have rebelled, the invitation is open to all men to turn.

And the gospel alone is true universalism to be found. Calvin Daly tried Jehovah, desires both the conversion of all men to himself and through this their salvation. And this is gracious will which extends to all mankind will not rest till its object has been fully accomplished. And Alexander writes, the ends of the earth is a phrase inclusive of all nations and is frequently employed in reference to the conversion of the Gentiles. The question whether Christ is to be regarded as the speaker in this passage is of little exegetical importance to us who know that it is only through him that the Father saves.

The supposition appears altogether natural, but it does not follow that any such impression would be made or was intended to be made upon an action reader. We see God's vision for the world here very clearly. It is his vision that all the ends of the earth be saved. That is that peoples everywhere, all over the earth come to a saving knowledge of Christ and yield to his lordship. In Psalm 22, 27 and 28 says, all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will bow down before him.

For dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. Psalm 72:8 concerning Christ says he will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. In Zechariah chapter 9 verses 9 and 10 prophesying the triumphal entry says, rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion, shout daughter of Jerusalem. See your king comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war horses from Jerusalem and the battle bow will be broken and he will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. And then John Gill writes, all the ends of the earth that is all that live at the farthest part of the earth. Christ has a people there. The Father's given him for his possession and which are the purchase of his blood and for the who sins he became the propitiation. And these he sends his gospel and his ministers to find them out and publish salvation to them and to assure them that however distinct they are both as to place and state, yet through looking to him by faith, they shall be saved even though they are the worst and vilest of sinners.

God is sending forth his gospel into all the world to search out and find sinners and invite them to Christ for salvation. He is sending his gospel to the ends of the earth to carry out his vision to win the whole world to Christ. The gospel declares that Jesus Christ is the only savior. He is God and there is none else. Matthew Henry says it seems to refer further to the conversion of the Gentiles that live in the ends of the earth, the most distant nations when the standard of the gospel is set up. To it shall the Gentiles seek.

When Christ is lifted up from the earth as the brazen serpent upon the pole, he shall draw the eyes of all men to him and they shall all be invited to look unto him as the stung Israelites did to the brazen serpent. And so strong is the eye of faith that by divine grace it will reach the savior and fetch in salvation by him even from the ends of the earth, for he is God and there is none else. John Calvin commenting on the words, for I am God, says when he exhorts all the ends of the earth, he at the same time shows that all men have hitherto wondered and have not looked to the true God.

For where infidelity exists, there cannot be a distinct looking towards God so as to distinguish him from empty masks. In a word, he declares that the ruin of all has been occasioned by their being driven about by their wicked inventions and thus revolting from the true God from the knowledge of whom certain and eternal salvation flows. The Lord therefore stretches out his hand in order to rescue all and point out the method of obtaining salvation. And then us let us see the certainty of salvation to those who look. There is only one God and one savior and he alone gives eternal life.

Those who turn to him will be saved. It is a sure thing. If you look to Christ, you will be saved. John Gill says, be saved or you shall be saved. Christ is set up in the gospel and the ministration of it to be looked at that men may be saved by him and it is the will of God not only that men should look to him, but that whoever sees him and believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The ministers of the gospel are appointed to show men the way of salvation by Christ and to assure them that he that believes in him shall be saved.

And saints in all ages have looked unto him and have been saved by him. And therefore, this may be taken for more for a sure and certain thing that such that look to Christ as the Israelites did to the brazen serpent, the type of him shall be saved. For it says in John 3:14 and 15 just as Moses lifted up the snake or the serpent in the desert, so the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Gill says, for I am God and there is none other.

He explains and so mighty to save, able to save to the uttermost all that come to him and to God by him, be they where they will, since he is truly God. There is virtue enough in his blood to pardon sin and cleanse from it and in his righteousness to justify from all sin and in his sacrifice to expiate it. And therefore, sensible sinners may safely look to him and venture their souls on him. But what about you today? Have you looked to Christ? Have you looked to the only savior? I call upon you right now at this very moment to look to Christ.

Only he can save you. Only he can give you eternal life. Look to him. Don't wait another minute. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to look. Tomorrow may be too late. Look now. You may be turned in the wrong direction. You need to turn around and look to Christ. Turn from your rebellion, turn from your sinful unbelief, turn from your sin and turn to Christ. There is no one excluded from this invitation. God is no respecter of persons, makes no difference who you are. You may be older or young, you may be male or female.

You may be rich or poor, you may be educated or not so educated. Your skin may be brown or black or white or whatever. It makes no difference your skin color or your nationality. Jesus came to save any and all who will look to him. Come now. Come to Christ. Look to him, believe on him. In John 3:16 it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Come pray this prayer with me now. Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that I have rebelled against you. I know that I'm going in the wrong direction, but now I turn and look to you and I accept your great salvation. I accept your offer of eternal life. Forgive me for all of my sins. In his name I pray. Amen. If you prayed this prayer today, may the Lord be with you and grant you his grace and mercy, give you his holy spirit and guide you in your life. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

David Shulze: Thanks for listening to the Watchman Radio hour. We invite you to come again next week to hear another timely message from God's word. We are Watchman Radio Ministries International reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.