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 . . . 30 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 focusing on our differences and not on 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.”