I invite you to turn with me tonight to Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44, as we read together this chapter, these first chapters here, beginning with Isaiah chapter 40, really obviously all tie together and hang together. The first part of chapter 44 not only introduces chapter 44, but comes off of 43, and the last part of 44 is an introduction for chapter 44. 45. And it's really kind of the central portion that I'd like to focus on with you tonight. We'll read together the entire chapter. Isaiah 44, as we hear now God's holy word. But now listen, O Jacob, my servant, Israel whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says, He who made you, who formed you into the womb, and who will help you. Do not be Be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, I belong to the Lord. Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Still another will write on his hand, the Lord's, and will take the name Israel. This is what the Lord says, Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty. I am the first and I am the last. Apart from me, there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people and what is yet to come. Yes, let him foretell what will come. Do not tremble. Do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me? No, there is no other rock. I know not one. All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind. They are ignorant to their own shame. Who shapes a God and casts an idol which can profit Him nothing? He and His kind will be put to shame. Craftsmen are nothing but men. Let them all come together and take their stand. They will be brought down to terror and infamy. The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals. He shapes an idol with hammers. He forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength. He drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker. He roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is man's fuel for burning. Some of it he takes and warms himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread, but he also fashions a god and worships it. He makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood He burns in the fire. Over it He prepares His meal. He roasts His meat and eats His fill. He also warms Himself and says, Ah, I am warm. I see the fire. From the rest He makes a god. His idol. He bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, Save me. You are my God. They know nothing. They understand nothing. Their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds close so they cannot understand. No one stops to think. No one has the knowledge or understanding to say, half of it I use for fuel. I even baked bread over its coals. I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood? He feeds on ashes. A deluded heart misleads him. He cannot save himself or say, Is not this thing in my right hand a lie? Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I have made you. You are my servant. O Israel, I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Sing for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done this. Shout aloud, O earth, beneath. Burst into song, you mountains and forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob. He displays His glory in Israel. This is what the Lord says. Your Redeemer who formed you in the womb. I am the Lord who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by Myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of His servants and fulfills the predictions of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, It shall be inhabited, of the towns of Judah they shall be built, and of the ruins I will restore them, who says to the watery deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your streams, Who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please. He will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt. And of the temple, let its foundations be laid. There ends the reading of God's holy word. May he bless it to us tonight. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as many of you will remember last week Sunday evening, I mentioned that I personally got a bit of a heartache, a sad and disturbing feeling as I saw the acts of reverence and worship that were being given to the Jade Buddha and the statues around it up at the corner. And it made me think, as I told you, of the angel's words to John in Revelation 19 as John bows down to the angel. The angel quickly says, Do not do it. Do not worship me. worship God but that wasn't the only thing that I thought of as I looked at that statue that day as I looked at the form and the detail with which that celebrated statue was decorated beautifully decorated it was painted with with physical and cultural features really a very very beautiful work of art and as I looked at that I thought of Isaiah chapter 44 and and of the carpenter going to the forest and selecting a tree, cutting it down, building a fire, warming himself, cooking his food, carving out the idol out of the very same tree. Now we have here our God's divine sarcasm, we would say, pointing out to us the utter silliness of idolatry. And that passage, Isaiah 44, was reinforced to me as on our walk home, a young child and friend who was with us said, unprovoked, he said, they think man can make God. But the Bible says God makes man. How simple from a child. Really pointing out the blessing of a Christian home, huh? And a Christian church community and a Christian school. And that's exactly what Isaiah teaches us, especially in this central portion of Isaiah chapter 44. Man doesn't make God, but God makes man. What that child says is something to which God in Isaiah 44 and the surrounding chapters would say, Amen. Now, we need to understand here and remember that Isaiah prophesies of the captivity in Babylon that was to come upon the kingdom of Judah. Many, many years before they would even be sent into captivity, Isaiah tells them this is what is going to happen. And then beginning with chapter 40, Isaiah looks even farther ahead, really to the end of that captivity, many, many, many years later, looks farther ahead to God's rescue, to God's deliverance of the remnant of His people. Now these are beautiful chapters of the promise and the comfort of what God will do in redeeming and forgiving His people and in bringing them back to their land, even telling them who would be His instrument to bring them back out of Babylon, namely Cyrus. Someone who wouldn't be born for well over a hundred years at this point. Yet throughout these chapters, God also continually reminds His people of why they would need deliverance. Why they would be in captivity in the first place because of their own sin, because of their own rebellion and rejection of God, because of their own idolatry which they had played with. All of these things for which they would need the suffering servant that Isaiah preaches of whom the New Testament identifies as none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, it's in this context of the captivity of God's people and the promise of her deliverance, it's in the context that we find this message of Isaiah that the power to save belongs to the only God. Not simply to God alone, that too. But to the only God. And it is reflected, first of all, in the fact of God. Secondly, in the folly of idolatry. And thirdly, in the forgiveness of God's people. First of all, reflected in the fact of God. or we might say facts about God. Now, most of us here know what a resume is. Boys and girls, a resume is a piece of paper, a document with personal information on it about a person. And that information would include things, not only their birth date and where they live and those kinds of things, but also it would include where they went to school, what education they had received, and as well it would include things like their work experience, the jobs they have had, the accomplishments that they have enjoyed. And that resume, of course, is used to try to sell yourself to a company in order to try to get a job. You want them to think that you're the best for the job. God doesn't need a resume. He doesn't need to sell Himself. He doesn't need to try to convince anyone that He is God, that He is to be believed, that He is to be trusted. But in a sense, He does. In a sense, in these chapters, he gives a resume of himself. He tells about himself. And while he does so, he demonstrates his patience even while he contrasts himself with idols and with false gods. God identifies himself. He does so over and over throughout these chapters as he reminded Israel of who he is and of what he has done. And we can't consider these in detail, but just to take a look at them. First of all, He identifies Himself as the Creator a number of times. In verse 2, He says, This is what the Lord says, He who made you, who formed you into the womb. He says that again toward the end of the chapter. And it sounds a bit like Isaiah 43, verse 1. He who created you, O Jacob. He who formed you, O Israel. The only thing is there's an addition in chapter 44, in the womb. He formed you in the womb, pointing to God as the origin of life. Now for Israel, the womb, we might say, was the time of the patriarchs beginning with Abraham and the time of their bondage in Egypt as well as their exodus from Egypt. She had been taken from nothing. She was chosen by God. God gave a life to her and made her into a great nation. But God is also the Creator of man. And the womb for man, we read in Psalm 139, verse 13, For You created My inmost being. You knit Me together in My mother's womb. Pointing to the fact that this God is the God of life. He is the One who makes man. And He is the Creator of all things. Toward the end, He says again, I am the Lord who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by Myself. And in chapter 40, we are told that He is the One who measured the water in His hand. He marked off the heavens. He created the stars. He calls them all by name. He is the one before whom the nations are like a drop in the bucket. Beloved, that means that He even made the physical materials that idols are made of. He is the one who created all things. He is the God of life who gives life versus idols who need to be made. Not only is He the Creator, He is the Redeemer. The passage says in verse six, he's identified as Israel as Israel's king and redeemer, a king we know protects and cares for his subjects. And Israel knew the protection of her king. She knew the redemption of her king. She knew her history well. She knew of her redemption, her deliverance from Egypt. She knew, remembered all of the times that she had been rescued from the hand of the enemy. And here God promises that again through Cyrus. And we see that already in verse 3, For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. The thirsty land and the dry ground point to Israel's desperate and weak and helpless condition in captivity, but God would revive her. He would restore her. Her comfort was to be that the fact that God had made her and called her to be His own prized possession that He guaranteed that He would preserve His work and keep her in life. And this points ultimately to the redemption from sin through the suffering servant. Applied by the Holy Spirit, verse 3 also says, I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants. Indeed, captivity in Babylon pointed to captivity to sin and the desperate need of mankind. And Cyrus, as the deliverer for Israel, many, many years later, down the road, points to the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate Redeemer, the ultimate Deliverer from all of our sin. God identifies Himself as the Creator, the Redeemer, but also, we might say, as the Communicator. Now, that may sound a little bit strange to speak of Him that way, but I mean this in the context of the fact that He is the covenant God. He is the covenant God who not only promised with His very own mouth to be their God, and not only called them to be His people, but He outlined in great detail blessings for covenant obedience and curses for covenant disobedience. And as Israel had found out throughout her history, God was telling the truth. He is a God of His Word. He said what He meant. He meant what He said. Notice verses 7 and 8 again. Who then is like Me? let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people and what is yet to come. Yes, let him foretell what will come. Do not tremble. Do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other rock. I know not one. And in chapter 41, verses 22 and 23, we read, in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were so that we may consider them and know their final outcome or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what the future holds so we may know that you are God's. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. Indeed, God challenges these pretenders. He challenges them to speak. He challenges them to communicate. to tell what's going to happen. But they cannot do it. And Israel, when she would be in captivity, Israel was to remember all that had happened to them and to remember that it all happened as God had said. To remember that He is a God of His Word. He communicates with His people. He reveals Himself as the God of truth, as the God of His Word. And He is also a God who is incomparable. As chapter 40, verse 18 says, To whom then will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to? The point being nothing compares to Him. And again in verse 8 of chapter 44, You are My witnesses. In other words, you've seen it. You've heard it. You've experienced all of it. Is there any God besides Me? No. You know there's not. There is no other rock. I know not one. you've seen me, as if he says, to say, you've seen me go up against the false gods. He is incomparable because he is also the only God and the eternal God. Verse 6 says, I am the first and I am the last. Apart from me, there is no God. There was none before him. There will be none after him. And he is from eternity to eternity. Beloved, we consider all of this together and there's so much more that we could. And it is really amazing, isn't it? that God needed to remind His people again and again and again of the truth of Himself and of what He had done for them. They had witnessed it. They had witnessed His power. They had witnessed His truth throughout history. And what they had witnessed had been passed down from generation to generation, yet they needed to be reminded. In the same way, beloved, as He gathers us for worship, every Lord's Day and as we spend time in His Word, through the preaching of His Word and through the reading of it, through the law that we consider in the morning and through the assurance of pardon, through His greeting and through His benediction blessing, He reminds you and me again and again and again through all of that of who He is and of what He has done for you and for me through Jesus Christ. He reminds us again and again that we belong to Him because of His grace. You see, we need our eyes because of the sin that still clings to us that would draw our eyes away to focus on other things in which to put our trust. We need our eyes continually pointed back to Him again and again. Especially as we face a world on Monday through Saturday who says, it's not true. It says, you're being deceived. You're wasting your time. We too need our eyes continually pointed back to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ again and again until the day that we will not be able to take our eyes off of Him in glory. God had proven over and over that He was completely dependable. And that there is no other rock of refuge, no other ground of trust. He had proven that even as God challenges the pretenders, as we read those verses, prove yourself. The challenge goes up. Prove yourself to be a God. Go ahead. Explain things. Go ahead. Say what's going to happen. Go ahead. Prove that you can tell the future and then bring it to pass. This God was not afraid to challenge the pretenders. And in Egypt, through the plagues, the gods of Egypt were proved powerless. With Elijah on Mount Carmel, again, our God demonstrated His power and as well He demonstrated Baal's powerlessness. And if all of this is not enough, if all that He had done, of all that who He is, all of His majesty and power, If all of that was not enough, God reminds His people here in the second place of the folly of idolatry. Okay, as if to say, if you're not going to look at me and take it from that, then look at the other side. Look at the options. Look at the foolishness of idolatry. And He points out the foolishness of idolatry here through the work and activity of those who make idols. again divine sarcasm and I trust that the silliness and the absurdity of idolatry was clear to you to all of us as we read this together that everything that God is everything that God ought to be idols are not idols themselves are dependent dependent on man to make them we're given a glimpse of the idol makers workshop here God again is the creator God has life in His very being, life in Himself. He gives life. But the idol, whether metal or wood or concrete, whatever it might be, or a combination of all three, depends on man, depends on the creature to form and shape it. And even then, it turns out, as verse 13 says, He shapes it into the form of man. Of man in all His glory that it may dwell in a shrine. All that man can come up with is a God after his own image. A God after the image of creatures. The idol is dependent on man to make it. And also, we might say here in this passage, dependent on man to save it. Think of that idol. Think of that portion of the tree, that idol being saved from being burned up as fuel. For heat. For food. Something truly serviceable. If you think about it, the idol ought to have bowed down to this man and said, thank you, thank you, thank you for not throwing me into the fire so that I didn't become like the rest of me, this tree. The idol ought to thank the man. You see, beloved, idols are only a match away from being consumed. A moment away from being turned to dust, to rubbish, to nothing. And the idols of one's heart is only a moment away from being demolished by some hardship or devastating circumstance in life that proves that cannot help us. But God, for Jesus' sake, is our rock of refuge, our ground of trust. He is the one who is unchangeable, the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the one who truly is serviceable for His people, the one who gives life. If you think about it, the idol also depends on God to provide itself. God created the forest. He created the trees. In verse 14, it talks about the rain to make it grow. This morning we said that God sends the rain. We get the picture here of this carpenter who goes out into the forest and he finds this little tree. you know, someday you're going to make a good idol. I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to protect you, make sure nobody cuts you down or harms you. But yet, he must wait for God to send the rain to cause it to grow. Idols are dependent and also lifeless. Psalm 115, which we sang, teaches us they have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, noses but cannot smell, hands but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk, throats, but they make no sound. It's a pretty complete picture, isn't it? As Isaiah describes it in chapter 41, they are less than nothing. And in verse 8 of chapter 41, He nails down the idol so it will not topple. And then you remember again what we read in verse 13, that it dwells in shrines. It's made and then the carpenter puts it in a shrine to protect it from wood rot and from rust and from tarnish and he has to nail it down so that it will not fall over or so that no one can steal it. Do you see the divine sarcasm? Do you see the foolishness? When it ought to protect, it needs to be protected. And other proofs of folly include it's worthless, it knows nothing, it does nothing. It is dangerous for those who worship it. Notice verses 9 and 10. all who make idols are nothing and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind. They are ignorant to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol which can profit him nothing? As if the Lord says, who would do such a thing? Well, it's explained further down beginning in verse 18 of them. They know nothing. They understand nothing. Their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think. No one has the knowledge or understanding to say, half of it I use for fuel. I even baked bread over its coals. I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood? He feeds on ashes. A deluded heart misleads him. He cannot save himself or say, Is not this thing in my right hand a lie? Psalm 115 says, Those who make them and those who worship them are like them. Boys and girls even understand that a doll has no life. That in order for the arms and the legs of a doll to move, you have to move them. You have to dress it. You have to pretend to feed it because it has no life. That's the idol. But those who worship them are blind to that truth. In verse 9, the idol maker is described like the earth in Genesis 1, verse 2. You remember how the earth was described? It is described there as being formless and empty. The same words used for the idol maker. In other words, those who make them, those who worship them, are nothing but a spiritual wasteland. And then, to top it all off, he says, Save me. You are my God. Man who needs a Savior calls out to a thing that could not even make itself. This all points to how hopeless idolatry is. We see that here too, even while physically working hard to build the idol, the man, in verse 12 we read, gets hungry and loses his strength. He drinks no water and grows faint. You see how completely dependent the image is on weak man who makes it? and that image cannot even relieve the man in his fatigue because of making it. So how could it ever save him? It does not satisfy. He feeds on ashes. He feeds on nothing. That is all the idol is worth. That is all idolatry can give, is absolutely nothing, because the idol and idolatry is a lie. And the same is true, beloved, with the gods of our own making. Whatever those gods might be, whether it be materialism or sex or money or physical fitness or a host of other things, whatever it might be, whatever might become so important in life that it's all that one lives for, all that one desires, one makes their plans around it or builds their life on it, none of it truly satisfies. It is all temporary. It will all perish. It is all worthless. And it cannot, most of all, it cannot save. in our most desperate need. But instead, it can only harm. It can only cause one to take their eyes off of the true God and the only Savior and only lead to hopelessness. Beloved, all of the things and pleasures and good health and fitness in this life are absolutely meaningless apart from trust in God. The one and only God who outlasts the things of this life. He is the only healer of broken hearts. He is the only comforter of those who are mourning. He is the only Savior from sin. He alone gives true joy and lasting peace in preparation for that life and eternal glory that outlasts the things and the pleasures and the good health as well as the worries and the anxieties and the concerns of today. Only God. And God through Isaiah reminds Israel that the power to save belongs to the only God as He promises in the third place the forgiveness of His people. What a beautiful promise. Remember the context that Israel is being sent away into captivity because of her sin, because of her rejection of God, because of her idolatry. And given the promise that she shall be returned to the promised land. And this promise for all of God's people forgiveness of sin. There's a beautiful call to remember here. A call to remember, verse 21, remember these things. Remember on the one hand, the nothingness of idols. Israel, remember the nothingness of idols that they could not save the nations from the power of God. You witnessed it. Remember that they could not save Israel from God's wrath against her sin and rebellion. You witnessed it. Remember that they can only bring anger and punishment from the only true God. Again, you witnessed it. Remember the nothingness of idols, but also remember the truth of God. Remember His revelation of Himself. Remember His work on behalf of His people. Remember His promises made and kept. Remember His proof of Himself over and over and over again for those to whom He gives the promise to never forget them. He says, I will not forget you. Why? Verse 22 says, I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. Sounds again similar to chapter 43, verse 1. Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are Mine. What a beautiful promise here. What a beautiful truth. Redeemed from sin. That's what it's talking about. Just as Jeremiah 31, verse 34 says, For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. And notice the certainty with which God speaks here. He speaks as if it's a done deal. He speaks as if the price has already been paid, as if the purchase has already been made by the suffering servant. Isaiah prophesied some 700 years before the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is with such confidence because our God is the only God because our God communicates His truth. And because our God keeps His promises that He can speak with such certainty here as if it had already taken place. And therefore, too, Paul can say in Colossians 2, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. God says, return to me. You see, He Himself has opened the way to return to Himself through Jesus Christ. And He will never forget His people, But instead, He will keep His people in His care. He will keep them in safety forever, all and only because of Jesus Christ. Only He could do this for you and me. Not idols. And He has done it. And therefore, there is a call to rejoice in verse 23. Sing for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done this. Shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests, and all your trees. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob. He displays His glory in Israel. Notice the task of creation there. I think it's fascinating. Creation is not to be served, but itself is to serve God. Paul talks about creation groaning as if in childbirth. and waiting for the redemption of all things. And that's what is promised here. That's what the earth responds to. The creation is to sing. The mountains are not to become high places on which to practice idolatry. The trees are not to be cut down and carved up and bowed down to as idols. But both are to sing the praises of God for His redemption come to earth. Beloved, we are to remember. We are to remember all the things and the people and the situations in this life that we may have been tempted to or have put our confidence in that have failed or have let us down or caused heartache or pain or would draw one away from God. And remember that these things are powerless. These things are hopeless in and of themselves. And instead to remember God, remember His revelation of Himself in His Word, Remember His promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ that our sins are paid for, that God's wrath is turned from all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's been poured out upon Him. And as believers, you and I are to remember as well that there are so many, as we said last week, so many who are out there who are worshiping false gods, who are headed down a dead-end path, a deadly path. On the way across the street this morning talking to one of our elderly gentlemen about the sermon, he made me think of something that indeed, he says, there's still hope. Why shouldn't we love our enemy? There is still hope for them. Absolutely, as long as our God pours down His rain and sunshine on all of mankind, there is still hope. And our prayer is to be that our God would turn many to Him and maybe even through us to use us. We are to remember the promises of God that He remembers our sins no more and that He is even now preparing a place in glory for you and me. Remember that He is the only God. Remember that He has proven Himself in Jesus Christ. Remember that there is none who can defeat Him. Remember that He was there in the beginning and that He will be for all eternity. And our response ought to be, oh, for a closer walk with God, And that He will continue to work in our hearts and lives, praising Him for the forgiveness of our sins, even of the idolatry of our hearts. It's all forgiven. And that more and more by the power of His Spirit, He would drive the idols away from the throne of our hearts. And that Jesus Christ alone would be enthroned there, that we would serve only God who has saved us in Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, as we come together again with heads bowed and hearts bowed, indeed, we praise Your name for this powerful reminder, this picture of who You are and of what You have done. A picture of You that is even more majestic and powerful as we consider the pretenders to the throne of God. The false gods of this world. And Father, we know that there are so many out there in this world who are deceived. We thank You, Father, for giving us clear eyes of faith to see the truth of You, to rescue us from our deception which was natural to us. And we confess, Lord, that there are still so many things in life upon which we would set our trust maybe not an actual figure that we can hold in our arms and hug and caress. But so many things in this life upon which we place our trust. Help us to see more and more, Father, these things can only fail. And only You are faithful. And You have proven Yourself faithful in Christ Jesus. We thank You and praise You for being our God, for calling us to be Your people, for not leaving us in darkness, but bring us into the light of Your truth. Father, more and more, day by day, we pray that You would drive far from us the idols of our own making, the idols of our hearts. And more and more, may Jesus Christ alone be enthroned upon our hearts to rule over us and care for us, to lead us and protect us, to whom we would give all glory and honor and praise. In His name we pray. Amen.