Turn to Me
My text today comes
from the 45th chapter of the prophet Isaiah. Please listen as I
read, or follow along in your handout: (Isaiah 45:20-24)
“Gather yourselves and
come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge,
who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot
save. “Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together.
Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not
I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God
and a Savior; There is none except Me. “Turn to Me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. “I have
sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue
will swear allegiance. “They will say of Me,
‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’ Men will come
to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.”
God spoke these words to
His chosen people in the eighth century BC. But it’s necessary that we
understand that by that time, Israel had for generations remained steeped in
idolatry, practicing as part of their blasphemous religion the worship of wooden
and stone gods, as well as temple prostitution and child sacrifice. And although
God warned the nation again and again to turn from their sin, they repeatedly
ignored Him.
If you know your Old
Testament history, it was not long until God sent the Assyrians to ravage the
northern Kingdom and bring His chosen people into a desolate exile. Now then, you’d
think that the southern kingdom of Judah would have learned the lesson from its
northern sister of Israel. But they did not learn the lesson. Listen as the
Scripture recounts WHY God brought the Chaldean army across Judah and Jerusalem:
(2 Chronicles 36:15-17)
“The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them
again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and
on His dwelling place; but
they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His
words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of
the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Therefore
He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men
with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young
man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his
hand.
Jeremiah records the
aftermath of the Babylonian invasion this way: (Lamentations 1:1-2a) “How lonely
sits the city that was full of people! She has become like a widow
who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among
the provinces has become a forced laborer! She weeps bitterly in
the night and her tears are on her cheeks; She has none to comfort her.”
God's chosen people
could have avoided this outcome – if only they had put away their idols and
false gods. And, Christian, don’t miss this point –Yes, God is love. But He is
also holy. And He is Just. And He will never share His throne, His authority,
His majesty with another. That’s why God demands that we worship only Him. Hear
the eternal words of Jesus, “You shall worship the Lord your God,
and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:10).
And do not forget the ominous
warning of Hebrews: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of
the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)
21st-century Man makes
a tragic error to think idolatry and its inevitable judgment from God is a
thing of the past. It is not. One does not have to bow before wood or marble
statues to be an idolater. The dictionary defines idolatry not only as the
worship of man-made idols, but includes “excessive devotion to, or reverence
for some person or thing.”
In other words, anything
that diverts our full devotion to the one true God is an idol. Anything that
dilutes from true worship and obedience to Almighty God is also, by definition,
an idol. Listen to St John’s exhortation: (1 John 2:15-17) “Do not
love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The
world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does
the will of God lives forever.”
And while we in the West
might not bow down to sculpted wood and marble, we often DO bow before non-tangible
things such as power, greed and possessions. And how many bow before Science, or
Government, or Philosophy – and even religion?
Let’s define some of
those terms. According to the dictionary, ‘science’ is defined as ‘A
systematic discipline that builds and organizes knowledge about the physical
world and its phenomena through observation, experimentation, and the
formulation of testable hypotheses.”
But by its very
definition, ‘Science’ cannot explain miracles, for miracles defy testable
hypotheses. Miracles are only ‘one time’ events and cannot ever be subject to a
laboratory. That is why Science cannot explain God. It cannot, for example,
explain the Virgin Birth. Or the feeding of the 5,000 with two fish and five
loaves of bread. Or the instantaneous healing of blind, the deaf, the mute, or
the crippled. Science has no means to measure the resurrection of Lazarus, or
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. But yet, massive numbers of men and women
choose Science over the unambiguous testimonies of Scripture – therefore making
Science an idol that inserts itself between God and Mankind.
Philosophy is yet
another construct that often gives people reason to disobey the clear teaching
of God. Philosophy – which originally meant to have a ‘love of wisdom” – is the
systematic study of questions related to our existence. Yet God tells us, for
example, in Proverbs: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)
St Paul warned the
Christians at Corinth: “For the word of the cross is foolishness
to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it
is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in
the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come
to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of
the message preached to save those who believe . . . .But by His doing
you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-21,
30)
Science and Philosophy become
idols when their focus on human (and often very flawed) ideas replaces our focus
on God and His word. They become intangible idols when they replace full faith in
the God of the Bible with man-made traditions. Once again, the Holy Spirit warns
us through the apostle: (Colossians 2:8-10a) “See to it that no one takes
you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition
of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather
than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in
bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete.”
Lusts of the flesh,
lusts of the eyes, the pride of life – along with an eye on power and
possessions, science and philosophies – all can easily interject themselves
between us and the Almighty.
There is yet one more
potential idol I want to address before moving on: Religion can also come
between ourselves and the God of Scripture. The Pharisees and Sadducees of New
Testament days were preeminent in their obedience to the Law – but Jesus
repeatedly warned them they were missing the whole point of the Law. We don’t
have time to review the 23rd chapter of Matthew’s gospel, but the
Lord’s series of ‘Woes’ against the religious leaders jump off the page as we
read it with open and humble hearts. Those ‘woes’ are just as applicable to the
21st century as they were to the first.
Somewhat similar to
that point in Matthew 23, St Paul addressed idols that masqueraded as
personality factions that had developed in the Corinthian church. Listen to
what he writes in 1 Corinthians 1:12-13a: “[E]ach one of you is saying, “I
am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of
Christ.” Has Christ been divided?"
And the question remains in 2025: Is Christ STILL divided? When Christians go around saying, “I’m a Baptist,” I’m a Catholic,” “I’m a Methodist,” “I’m a Presbyterian” – are we not boasting of our differences and not of our unity in the Body of Christ comprised of ALL baptized believers who live in obedience to Christ?
Christ calls us to win
souls to His kingdom, not to win them to our church, whatever the label.
Well, enough talk about
various idols. God demands of us a more obedient and devoted life and lifestyle
than bowing before the idols of science, or philosophy, or money, or power, and
so forth. And that better way circles back to our text for this afternoon. Look
with me at verse 22 of our text in that 45th chapter of Isaiah
wherein God tells Israel, and God tells us today: “Turn to Me and be
saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.
“Turn to ME” says our
God. Not to philosophy, not to traditions of men, or the confident pontifications
of those who have turned from the God of Scripture. Listen to what He says
through Isaiah: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not
according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them.” (Isaiah 8:20)
It is God alone who has
the right to demand of humanity obedience to His unchanging rules of life – all
of which are found in full within His inerrant, infallible, and totally
inspired Scriptures. And you can write this down, so you won’t forget it: “When
anyone – author, teacher, psychologist, sociologist, pastor, or priest – when
anyone offers advice that contradicts any of God's rules for life – they do so
because they have no light.
“Turn to ME,” says our
Creator. Turn like the prodigal son who finally came to his senses. “Call to
Me,” God appeals even to us through Jeremiah, “Call to Me and I will
answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do
not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3)
“Turn,” God pleads.
Turn, you who are traveling the broad way of various idolatries of which I’ve
already spoken because that broad way “leads to destruction, and there are
many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow
that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
How do you know if
you’re going the wrong way? That’s easy. Does your life and lifestyle mirroring
to the best of your human frailty the holiness of God as described in Scripture?
Is your life framed by obedience to God? Listen now to Jesus (Luke 16:10): “He
who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is
unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.”
And again a few verses
later: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Or, for that matter, any
other idol, whether tangible or intangible as we have seen already in this
message).
You know as well as I
that there are congregations today – even in this town – who hear from their
clergy that all religions lead to heaven. Others hear from their pastors that
we can have a reasonable hope that hell is empty. Still others hear them deny Biblical
morality and sexuality applies to today.
How do you know you’re
going the wrong way? Does your philosophy of life match the philosophy of Scripture?
Remember again God's warning through St Paul: “See to it that no one takes
you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition
of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather
than according to Christ.
“Turn to ME,” God says
to us because if we bow before today’s idols, we cannot be safe from an
eternity in hell and the Lake of Fire.
I need to bring this
message to a close, so let’s move on in that 22nd verse of Isaiah
45. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.” That
last clause comprehensively declares that there is no person on this planet, no
people-group, no language, no nationality, no creed, to whom this message of
salvation is not offered.
Please listen: God does
not vindictively say “Turn to me or I’ll throw you into hell.” Rather, our
merciful God and Creator says, “You’re already on the broad way to hell. But My
mercy and grace plead with you, ‘Turn to Me’ and I will save you from
that future.”
And now this final word
– which is a critically important word in this age of intangible idols such as
possessions and power and science and philosophies and religion: We turn to God
because – as He proclaims throughout earth and throughout the heavens – “For
I am God, and there is no other.
I recently learned a Latin
phrase, “memento mori.” It means, “Remember that you will die.” I suspect the person who coined that Latin
phrase knew the passage in Hebrews 9:27 – “It is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the Judgment.”
Time is short for
everyone in this sanctuary. You know how many of your family and friends passed
into eternity during the 12 months of 2024. And only the omniscient God knows
how many in this very sanctuary and this very building will enter eternity in
the next 12 months of 2025.
Please, I appeal to you:
Don’t let anything or anyone seduce you from your devotion and obedience to Almighty
God. Do not let today’s idols turn you from your only hope for eternal life. As
Scripture again warns us:
“For this reason we
must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do
not drift away from it. For if the word spoken
through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and
disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we
neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:1-3a)
Do you hear God imploring
us? “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God,
and there is no other.”
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