may be dismissed to Children's Church. And I invite you to open your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah 45. If you're using a pew Bible, it's page 606. Isaiah 45. Isaiah chapter 45. And let's pray briefly for help. God in heaven, we do love the gospel of Jesus Christ, that you sent your son into the world to save sinners. And we praise you for the way that he is the savior of all who believe. Please grip us with the gospel's urgency. Please move us to love our neighbor and to share with them the message of salvation and use us, we pray, to reach this community and this entire world with the gospel. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Isaiah chapter 45, follow along as I read verses 20 through 23. And this is the word of God. Assemble yourselves and come. Join here together, you survivors of the nations. They have no knowledge who carry about their 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 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." God gives ears to hear his word. Last week, I told you a little bit about one of my personal heroes, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Remember him? Pastor in London, England during the Victorian era. Pastored a church of 5,000 members this became eventually the largest church on the planet he preached every single week from this little half page of notes and preached these incredibly eloquent sermons and Every single week without fail for 38 years at least somebody was converted through his preaching Even though Spurgeon's been dead for over a century people are still being saved and transformed by his ministry today. I His sermons are still widely read and beloved, and I'd encourage you if you can find some. We've got a few volumes in the church library. They're all free online. Give them a try. You might find them incredibly edifying, especially read them in your devotions. Many of his books are still enormously popular, especially his wonderful and highly recommended morning and evening devotional. And Spurgeon, his example of courage during this doctrinal controversy known as the downgrade controversy, it's an incredibly faithful example of standing firm in the face of opposition. Now, you may have already heard some of that about Spurgeon, but what you might not know is how he came to faith in Jesus. The story of his conversion, it's fascinating, and I'd encourage you to read more about it. But if I could briefly retell the story, it goes something like this. As a teenager, Spurgeon was very depressed, as is often the case with teenagers. He knew that he was a sinner and he could feel the shame and the guilt of his sin in his heart. He knew he was not right with God, but he did not know what he should do to be saved. He did not really get that God saves us by grace as a free gift through faith. He still thought that he had to please God somehow through his own good works and efforts. Well, all of that changed one Sunday when Spurgeon began walking to church. He was walking to church and all of a sudden a terrible snowstorm blew up. The snow was so heavy that he couldn't make it to the church that he planned to attend. So he turned aside to this little chapel that was by the way. He went in, sat down, and Spurgeon says that on that day there were maybe 12, 15 people present. Well, the snow was so bad that day that the pastor of that chapel couldn't show up. So some layman stood up in the pulpit. Spurgeon speculates that the guy was a shoemaker, maybe a tailor, and this man was definitely not a gifted preacher. Spurgeon talks in his autobiography about the way that the guy couldn't even pronounce words properly. But the best that he could, this layman preached the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Jesus alone. He made it clear that salvation is a gift of pure grace received by faith, not something that we ever do anything to earn or deserve. Well, then at the very end of the sermon, that layman did something a bit peculiar. And I want to read to you Spurgeon's description. I think this is, I don't intend to emulate this, but it is thought-provoking. Spurgeon writes this. When he had gone on at length and managed to spin out about 10 minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the galley, and I dare say with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me as if he knew all my heart, he said, young man, you look very miserable. Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to having remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow struck right home. He continued, and you always will be miserable, miserable in life and miserable in death if you don't obey my text. But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved. Then lifting up his hands, he shouted as only a primitive Methodist could do, young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look, look, look, you have nothing to do but to look and live. I saw at once the way of salvation. I had been waiting to do 50 things, but when I heard that word, look, what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh, I looked until I almost could have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun, and I could have risen that instant and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the precious blood of Christ and the simple faith which looks alone to him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, trust Christ and you shall be saved. Now that's a moving story, and I'd encourage you to read more about it. He tells it at length in his autobiography. But what Bible verse do you suppose that layman was preaching on that day when Spurgeon was born again? You know, if you could imagine what Bible verse might the Lord particularly use to save somebody who especially would go on to be a great preacher in his church, what verse do you think of? Maybe John 3, 16. Maybe Romans 10, 9, and 10. Maybe Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. If you had guessed any of those, you would be wrong. As odd as it seems the verse that the lord used to convert charles spurgeon Is the verse that we're going to be studying today isaiah 50 pardon me 45 22 Let me read it to you again Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am god and there is no other This is actually a wonderful verse a wonderful gospel verse and it's a very appropriate verse to study as we can Consider our theme this morning of the gospel's urgency Well, it's with this that we come to our second sermon in our little mini-series here on the primacy and the centrality of the gospel. As you all know, I will be done as your pastor in two weeks, which is almost ... It feels like a dream, honestly. It doesn't feel like reality, but that's how life goes sometimes. It's been a wonderful, glorious 18 years. You've been an incredibly loving congregation, but the Lord is leading me and my family elsewhere. And as I seek to land the plane of my ministry here at Trinity, I'm challenging you as a congregation to do everything that you can to remain fixed on the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm challenging you, this church that's loved me so well and that I've loved in return, do everything that you can to keep this ministry built on and focused on the gospel until Jesus comes again. Last week, we considered the gospel's message. We looked at the book of Galatians and saw the way in which the gospel is this message of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, and Jesus alone. Our world is filled with false teachers preaching false gospels. I hope you get that. Those false teachers and false gospels, they will drag you straight to hell. But in such a world, our church needs to be a lighthouse proclaiming that we are saved not by works of righteousness that we have done, but only through faith in Christ Jesus. Today, like I said, we're going to be talking about the gospel's urgency, why it's so necessary to take this message to the ends of the earth. And then finally, Lord willing, next week we'll have a message on the gospel's power. We're going to be talking about the way in which God uses the gospel to save people and transform lives. That's where we're going in this little mini-series. I'd encourage you to be here, be praying for these messages, and maybe even consider a friend to invite to be here to hear God's word. Now turning to Isaiah 45, 22, to put this verse in context, Isaiah is one of the more familiar books of the Old Testament. You're probably familiar with the great passages describing Jesus' birth that we read every Christmas time. The book of Isaiah is loved by many and it's quoted more often in the New Testament than any other book except for the Psalms. Now like the name suggests, Isaiah was written by the prophet Isaiah. He lived about 700 BC and he had a very long ministry. He served as prophet for 58 years during different kings over the nation Judah. He prophesied in Jerusalem around the year 740 BC to 680 BC. Now if you know anything about your Old Testament history, these were years of prosperity and flourishing in a temporal sense for Judah. They were financially secure, militarily strong, but under those circumstances, what do you think happened? When a nation grows rich and comfortable, what happens spiritually? More often than not, they strayed from the Lord. They forgot the Lord who had redeemed them, and they began worshiping the idols, the dead idols of all the nations around them. Now, the book of Isaiah, it's a book in two parts. It's written by one guy, but there are clearly two parts. The first part, chapters 1 through 39, it's all about judgment. God is going to judge Judah for their idolatry, as he had promised he would do many, many times before. And this first part of the book, it's eventually fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar comes in and destroys Jerusalem, burns down the temple, and takes the Jews captive in 586 BC. So that's the first part of the book, Judgment. The second part of the book covers chapters 40 through 66, and this part is primarily about salvation. So chapters 40 through 66, Salvation. Though judgment is coming and that judgment will be fierce, salvation is also coming. God will provide a suffering servant who will be pierced for the transgressions of his people. He will rescue his people from their bondage and slavery, and this suffering servant, though he will die, will somehow be the king of all kings and the ruler of the entire planet. So that's the second half of the book, salvation. Now as you can see, Isaiah 45, 22, it's in this second half of the book on future salvation. Though again, God hates sin and will punish sin, a time is coming when he will provide a savior who will save his people from their sins. Now, considering Isaiah 45, 22, there are four simple questions I'd like us to consider about this passage. First, what does it mean to be saved? What does it mean to be saved? Let me read Isaiah 45, 22 again. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. Now, as you can see, God is inviting the people, turn to me and be saved. But that raises the question, saved from what? If you follow R.C. Sproul, he tells a funny story of how he was in an airport one day and a person came up to him and said, brother, have you been saved? And he asked the person, saved from what? And the person had no answer. They didn't really know. And they just awkwardly walked away because they had no answer to his question. So when Christians talk about salvation, being saved, what are we saved from? Now this word saved here in verse 22, it's a pretty ordinary word and it can refer to temporal salvation, temporal rescue, say salvation from a shipwreck or salvation from calamity, salvation from enemies invading, that sort of thing, a temporal earthly salvation. And yet there are many places in the Bible, including in Isaiah, where this salvation is talking about an end of time salvation, a salvation from the wrath of God coming on judgment day. To give you just a couple of examples of this, Listen to Isaiah 45 17. This might even be on the same page that you're turned to there. In Isaiah 45 17, but Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation. You shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. Clearly that's not talking about some temporal thing. You know, being saved from a bad guy, saved from a robber. This is talking about end of time, eternal life salvation. Here's another one, Isaiah 51 8. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the wool will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations." Isaiah sees this end time salvation. One day the entire earth will be judged by God. They will be punished for their rebellion. But on that day, some will be saved. They will be delivered from that judgment in eternal salvation. And I'm very much persuaded that it's that eternal salvation that Isaiah has in mind here in Isaiah 45, 22. Now, to fill in a little bit of the background here, the entire Bible views human history as moving to a destination, an ultimate end. And this is so huge for making sense of the Bible. If you don't get this, you're not going to make sense of much of the Bible. The Bible views human history as moving, moving toward a great destination day. And that destination day is judgment day. Sort of like how some seculars today, they view the world as like on a crash course with global warming and the earth is just going to melt down and be destroyed. You know what I'm saying? All of that is nonsense, but it is true that human history is moving toward a destination. And according to scripture, that destination is the day of judgment, when we will all stand before God and give an account for our lives. It's like Hebrews 9.27 says, it's appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Just as certain as you woke up this morning, just as certain as you are sitting there breathing in front of me, just as certain as the sun will rise tomorrow, so also a judgment day is coming. And that day is coming for you. Jesus described this day in Matthew 25 31 and see if you can try and imagine this Jesus says when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him Then he will sit on his glorious throne Before him will be gathered all the nations And he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left Then the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world Can you picture that day? Can you imagine that day? This day again is coming for you. A day when you will be called to account for every last word you have spoken. A day when you will give an account for every thought you've thought. When you will be called to account for everything you've done with your hands, everywhere you've gone with your feet, everything you've looked at with your eyes. You will stand before God and every last thing you have done, God will hold you to account. And then, as it says, some will go away into eternal punishment and others to eternal life. That is Judgment Day. And yet, in light of that, this verse is all the more precious, because what does God say? You can be saved on that day. You can be rescued on that day. You don't need to fear that day, but you can, in a sense, look forward to it with anticipation. You won't be condemned, but you will be saved. That's what it means to be saved. Let's consider a second question on this passage. Who needs to be saved? Again, Isaiah 45, 22. Who needs to be saved? Isaiah writes, turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. Clearly, in this verse, God is addressing everybody. Everybody. That phrase, all the ends of the earth, that's referring to all people groups, all nations. Not just the Jews, the Hebrews, but Greeks and Philistines, Egyptians and Babylonians, Germans and Iranians and Russians and Americans. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. Now, something that this implies is that all of us need to be saved. You follow that? If God invites everybody to turn to Him for salvation, I think that implies that all need to turn to Him to be saved. Old Kelvin brought this out in his commentary when he writes this. When he exhorts all the ends of the earth, he at the same time indicates that all men have previously gone astray and have not turned to the true God. For where unbelief exists, there cannot be a true turning to God, so as to distinguish him from dead idols. In a word, he declares that all men have been ruined by being controlled by their wicked inventions, and as a result have revolted against the true God, the knowledge of whom brings certain and eternal salvation. The Lord therefore stretches out his hand in order to save all and point out the means of attaining salvation. Now the rest of the Bible teaches this clearly. No matter who you are, you are in need of salvation. I may have never met you before in my life, but I know something certain about you. You are a sinner headed toward judgment day and need to be saved. It's like God said to Noah, Genesis 6, 5, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. That's you and me by nature, and that's a scary verse. Every intent of their heart was only evil continually? Listen to Romans 3.10 and following, none is righteous, no not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one. Do you understand that is describing you? You individually, whoever you are, you are not righteous. You do not seek God. You do not do good. Instead, you knowingly disobey God, knowingly rebel against Him, and so long as you can get away with it, it doesn't bother you very much. You try to live as if there is no God. That's who you are. That's who I am by nature. I mean, just ask yourself this question. Do you like God messing with your life? Honestly. I mean, do you like him telling you what you can and cannot do? By nature, we hate this. Am I telling you the truth? By nature, we say, thank you, God, very much, but please stay out of my life. Please don't tell me what to do. I can handle this without you. Please just get lost. It's who all of us are by nature. If you're wondering why it is that we're like this, it ultimately goes back to Adam's sin. Adam sinned. Adam, the first man, was the father of the entire human race. And when he sinned, he plunged our entire race into sin. And this is why every last human since Adam, with the only exception of Jesus, has been born with a spiritually dead, spiritually evil heart that basically wants to tell God, get lost. It's like Romans 5.12 says, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all have sinned. How does this rebellion manifest itself? Well, it manifests itself in a thousand different ways in our lives. God says, love your neighbor. We say, I'd rather ignore my neighbor. God says, tell the truth. We say, I'm going to bend the truth however I please to get ahead. God says, honor your parents. We say, what my parents don't know won't hurt them. God says, flee sexual immorality. What do we say? We say, this is my body. I'm going to do with it whatever I please. Is that you? Honestly, is that you? Do you really wish that God did not exist and that you were therefore free to do whatever you pleased? Does your heart delight in sin but hates the living God? Is that you? This is exactly why all of us need to be saved. I'll tell you a third question. Consider with me next, who will save? According to this verse, who does the saving? Isaiah 45.22 again. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other. Now very clearly the one offering salvation in this verse is not Isaiah, but it's actually God who's speaking through Isaiah. The God who created the heavens and the earth. The God who speaks to us in the Bible. The God before whom we will one day all stand to give an account. He is offering salvation to you. And you'll notice the way in which this verse stresses that this is the only God there is. This comes up a lot in this section of Isaiah. He says, for I am God and there is no other. Why does God stress this? Well, remember, at this very time, the Jews had turned to worshiping all these dead idols. By and large, they had turned from the living God to worship virtually anything else. Those gods were Baal and Asherah, Molech and Ramphah. This is something, if you're not a Christian, I want you to grapple with this. Why is it easy to worship anything but the true God? Why is it easier to worship a Corvette than it is to worship the Creator? Why? What explains that? Christians have a great explanation for that, but if you're not a Christian, how do you make sense of that? That I can more easily worship my smartphone than the almighty maker of heaven and earth. But coming back to our passage, those false gods, those idols that the Jews were turning to, they were not true gods. They were dead pieces of wood or stone. Maybe at worst, they're animated by demons. And because of that, the Lord says, I am God and there is no other. Now, how is this relevant to salvation? Well, it's relevant to salvation in this way. If there's only one God, there's only one Savior. If all other gods are dead nothings, they can do nothing for you on judgment day. Baal, Moloch, Zeus, Allah, Buddha, Shiva, again, whoever, since they're not true gods, they will give you no help when you stand before God. Similarly, if your God is money, cars, television, computers, smartphones, friends, family, pleasure, that will do nothing to shield you on judgment day from the wrath that you deserve. Since there's only one God, there's only one Savior. The New Testament emphasizes this same truth, that since there's only one God, there's only one way of salvation. Romans 3, 29. Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. I don't know if you followed Paul's logic there, but since there's only one God, there's one way of salvation. All people must be saved in the same way, by faith in Jesus. Now that's the negative side of this. The positive side of this is that since there's only one Savior, God will gladly save all who come to Him. He has created all and He willingly will save all who turn to Him. Now I realize that Isaiah 45, 22 does not stress that the Lord is the Savior here, just says God. But if you look at the larger context, it's clear He's talking about the Lord Jehovah. Just glance back at verse 17. But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation. I know I've made this point a zillion times since coming here, but whenever you see Lord in all capitals, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that's the covenant name of God, Jehovah, a specific God. We're not just talking about the big man upstairs or your higher power. We're talking about a specific God, the God who speaks in the Bible, who worked for the Jews, who sent his son Jesus. That's the God who will save you if you turn to him. Now if you think about it, we come to a fascinating conclusion. If you take some of these pieces and pull them together, here's the conclusion we come to. We're in trouble with God the Lord. It's that same God the Lord that we're going to stand before on judgment day. But this Lord is offering to save you from his own wrath if you'll but turn to him. You could imagine it this way. The Lord is offering to save you from the Lord. The God you have offended is willing to save you from the God you have offended. But there's actually even more than that. The God who will save you from the wrath of God is the God who died on the cross for our sins. I know I'm saying the term God a lot, but I hope you're following me. We're under the wrath of God, we're going to stand before God, but this God that we've offended offers to save us from his very wrath by the death of God on the cross. What in the world do I mean by that? Well, in other places in the book of Isaiah, like I've mentioned, Isaiah prophesied this one known as the suffering servant, sometimes called the Messiah. This suffering servant will die in the place of his people bearing the judgment their sins deserve. Listen to Isaiah's description of this suffering servant in Isaiah 53 5. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we have been healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. You see, Isaiah sees a suffering servant who will die as a substitutionary sacrifice. He will die in the place of sinners, bearing the judgment they deserve. What's more, Isaiah clearly sees this suffering servant as somehow rising again from the dead. That's why he promises that this same suffering servant will one day rule the entire planet and his glory will cover this earth as the waters cover the seas. In addition to that, Isaiah is clear that this suffering servant, this Messiah, is the Lord God Almighty in the flesh. This is all in Isaiah, by the way. I'm not talking like getting verses from the New Testament. Just cling to Isaiah and you'll get all of this glorious gospel truth. Listen to Isaiah 9.6. This is describing, again, the Messiah. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Again, pull some of these pieces together. We've offended God and under his judgment. Our entire human race is headed toward that judgment day when we're going to stand before him, but God is offering to save you, to rescue you on that day through the death and the resurrection of God incarnate. Does that sound anything like the New Testament gospel to you? Obviously, moving to the New Testament, we discover that this suffering servant that Isaiah spoke of is Jesus. The second person in the trinity he comes down and he's born as a baby to the virgin mary and it is almighty god Jesus grows up and he goes through all the ordinary phases of human development He's an infant toddler teenager young man adult In those phases of life. He experiences all of the temptations challenges that are typical of those stations in life And yet he never sins Where we rebel jesus obeyed all the time and perfectly so he only always obeyed god Then when Jesus was an adult, he had this brief three-year ministry that forever changed the world. And that there is something to ponder. You go back to who Jesus is, this kind of obscure Galilean carpenter. In three years, he changes the world to the degree that 2,000 years later, we're still talking about him and he's still changing lives. How's that happen? But you read the Gospels and during those three years, he performs miracles, displaying his glory, teaches with authority. casts out demons with a word, he shows compassion on lepers and cripples and tax collectors, courageously confronts religious hypocrisy. But then Jesus was arrested and executed, nailed hand and foot to a cross, similar to the one behind me. But behind his crucifixion, a greater transaction is taking place, and this is what you got to get. Something that the Pharisees, the chief priests could not see. As he's dying on the cross, he's bearing the judgment that sinners deserve. It's almost as if, for those of us who believe, Judgment Day already took place when Jesus died on the cross. The full brunt of God's wrath was poured out on him so that now we who turn to him can be forgiven, can be saved. Do you remember what Jesus said about his death right before he died? John 12, 32. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. Jesus died, he was buried, but what happened three days later? Chris already alluded to it, but he's risen. He's alive. And by that we mean literally walking around. He's a resurrected, glorified Savior. And it's this same Jesus who's going to one day return to judge all of us. So who will save? God will save you from God through the death of God. Isaiah is predicting. He's inviting. God will rescue you from the wrath your sins deserve by the death and the resurrection of God incarnate, Jesus. We're almost done, but consider with me one final question. Whom will he save? We've considered what it means to be saved. We considered who needs to be saved. We've considered who will do the saving. One last question. Whom will he save? One more time, Isaiah 45, 22. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. Now I know I mentioned this already, but this passage clearly contains a universal invitation. A universal invitation. People from the ends of the earth, from every nation under heaven, are invited to come to the Lord, the only God, and be saved from the judgment their sins deserve. And that invitation is offered to you right now. God will gladly save you from judgment day if you'll turn to Him. And we know that on that day, people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation will be among the redeemed. The Lord delights to rescue people regardless of their age or ethnicity, their gender or nationality, their level of education or lack thereof, their political preferences or handicaps. God will save you if you will turn to him today. It's a universal invitation. It's just like Jesus invited in Matthew 11, 28, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. So there's a universal invitation, but notice carefully, there's also a specific condition. You see the specific condition? God will gladly save anybody, but that does not mean that everybody without exception is automatically saved. People must respond. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I'm God and there is no other. We must turn, turn to the Lord for salvation. The God who made us, the God from whom we ran, that God will gladly save us if we turn to Him. Now think about it. What does it mean to turn? Well, first it means we recognize that we've been going in the wrong direction. And that requires humility, doesn't it? I mean, you ever been driving around, you're out lost in the country, you have no idea where you are, the person in the passenger seat saying, I think we're lost, I think we're lost, I think we're lost, and you're like, you have no idea what you're talking about, I know exactly where we are. But in your heart, you actually know you're lost and you don't want to admit it. You ever been there? Yeah, I hear some laughs. Realize that's exactly what must take place if you're to be saved. You must recognize that due to your sin, due to your rebellion, you're going in the wrong direction. You're running from God, rebelling against God, fleeing from God. But every second of running from God has only made your life more miserable, and it's only increased the sin for which you'll give an account on Judgment Day. So you must turn around. And again, that requires humility. But not only do we turn around, but we turn to the Lord. We turn to the Lord. We begin following His leadership, going His way, taking up His cross. That's what it means to turn. Another biblical word for this idea is the word repentance. Repentance, and repentance is what all of us must do if we're to be saved. Jesus said in Luke 13 3, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or again, Acts 17 30, the times of ignorance got overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. If you desire to be ready for judgment day, prepared for that day, this is what you must do. Humble yourself, admit that you've been going in the wrong direction. Turn back to God. Repent. Embrace the Lord Jesus with simple faith. Receive what He has done for you. Rely on His cross. Rely on His empty tomb. Trust in Him as your only Lord and Savior. Turn to God that way and He will save you right now. You will be ready for Judgment Day. One last quick observation before we're done. Something I want you to consider in conjunction with this verse is the way in which global missions has always been at the heart of God's plan. Do you see that? How global missions has always been at the heart of God's plan? Now, why do I say that? Well, consider where this verse falls in biblical history. I mean, this universal invitation to all the peoples of the planet, it's not found like in the book of Acts or in the book of Romans or Revelation or something like that. It's tucked back in this Old Testament prophet who's writing primarily to the Hebrews. And yet even here in the Old Testament, while speaking to the Jews, God reveals his missionary heart. God's desire has always been to save people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation. And that was the case even when his focus was primarily on the Jews. You wonder, why then did God focus so much on the Jews in the Old Testament? What was going on? Well, listen to Isaiah 49.6. Is it too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserved of Israel? I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth. Again, that comes from Isaiah. Never think of missions as this brand new thing that took place after the resurrection, around Pentecost or something like that. No, missions has always been at the center of God's plan, and the reason why he chose the Jews was to make them a light of salvation to the ends of the earth. The other nations would look at Israel and say, wow, this is what it's like to know God? Maybe I need to know this God. So that's God's missionary heart, but the question I want us as a church to consider is, is missions a passion for us as a church? Is missions a passion for our church? And I'm talking global evangelism, like frontier missions, taking the gospel to those places where it does not, where it's not. Getting the Bible translated into languages where it does not currently exist. Is that something we as a congregation are burdened for, concerned about, praying about, giving to? Missions has always been at the heart of God's plan, but is it at the heart of us as a church? Well, to conclude our time together, Isaiah 45, 22, it's a remarkable verse. I love it. Let me read it one more time. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. In this verse, we see what it means to be saved. It's to be rescued from the judgment. Your sins deserve on judgment day. In this verse, we see who needs to be saved, namely every individual from all the ends of the earth. In this verse, we see who will do the saving. It's the Lord, the only God, and he will save us from his own wrath. And in this verse, we see whom he will save. Anyone who turns to him in repentant faith, who embraces his son, the Lord Jesus, God will gladly save him or her. So in conclusion, the only question I have for you is this. Have you turned to the Lord and have you been saved? Have you turned to the Lord and have you been saved? The Bible describes Judgment Day in the most horrifying terms imaginable. For those outside of Jesus, it will be the most horrifying thing you could imagine. For those who are not saved, that day will be a day of wrath and fury, a day of tribulation and distress. For those who are not saved, that will be a day when you will be eternally plunged into the lake of fire. There will be continual weeping and gnashing of teeth where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. We read this passage earlier, but try to imagine again, 2 Thessalonians 1-7 and following. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, he will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Believe me, that day is coming and it will be here sooner than you realize. I would venture to bet that deep down you know that day is coming. I think this is actually part of God's law that he's written on our hearts that a day of judgment is coming. I mean, I think this is part of the reason why we're all kind of instinctively scared to die. You know, if all dying was, was going to sleep, who would be scared of it? Now, are you typically scared of going to bed at night? I'm not. You just lay down, go to sleep, wake up the next day. Why is it then that without, with virtually hardly any exceptions, people are scared of death? Why is it? It's because deep down we know we're not right with God and there is a judgment day coming. We understand more than we realize. And again, this is written in our hearts. And just ask yourself, do you sense that judgment day is coming in your heart? But again, before it comes, here's the invitation. Here's the offer. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth. I am God and there is no other. So what's my final word to you today? Turn and be saved. Turn and be saved. Turn from your sins. Turn to Jesus. Turn and be saved from the wrath we all deserve. Let me speak briefly to all of you who have not yet turned to Jesus. And I know that that's some of you. I am begging you. I am pleading with you. Turn to Jesus today. All of you, if you've not yet, just pause and think about this. What are you thinking? Do you really think you can contend with Almighty God and bear the judgment your sins deserve? I mean, what are you thinking? Is there anything I could say to move you to take your soul seriously? Is there anything I could say to move you to take your eternal welfare with gravity. It's as if your house is on fire, the rafters are about to burst in on your head, and you're going to be incinerated in the destruction of the world, so turn before it's too late. Have you turned and have you been saved? Let's pray. God in heaven, we are sinners, we know it, we feel it, and The misery that we experience is really just evidence of our sin, our rebellion. It's a gracious gift that you're using to wake us up to see our need for salvation. So Father, we do beg you on behalf of any within the hearing of my voice who have not yet turned and been saved, work now. Open their hearts, draw them to yourself, save them now. Lord, for those of us who do believe, give us a a healthy fear on behalf of unbelievers, that we would love them, get to know them, and urgently plead with them to turn to Jesus and be saved before it's too late. Lord, protect us from harsh views of your character. Lord, Judgment Day is scary, but that's only because our sins are so evil. So, Lord, please increase our awareness of how evil our sins are, and yet, through that, increase our appreciation of what Jesus endured for us, that we might be saved. It's in His name we pray. Amen.