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INJ
'No Other God'
Isaiah 45:20-25
Morning Service
Reminescere, The Second Sunday in Lent
March 12th, 2006
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO
Dear Saints,
“There is no other God.” This is what the LORD Jesus is teaching us in our Old Testament text from Isaiah chapter 45. This is the theme, the common refrain running all through this section of Isaiah.
Verse five: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me.”
Verse six, “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
Verse fourteen, “They will make supplication to you, saying, 'Surely God is in you, and there is no other; There is no other God.'”
Verse eighteen, “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
And in the verses that we have heard read, verse twenty-one, “There is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.”
Verse twenty-two: “For I am God, and there is no other.”
And so today, as this text is set before us for our consideration and meditation, we see that it is an exhortation by God Himself that we would keep the first commandment: You shall have no other God. This is the first and chief and most important of all the commandments. If we keep this commandment we keep them all, and if we break any of the commandments, we are breaking this one. But it all seems pretty simple and easy. “Yes,” we say, “it is true, the Lord is the only God, and there is no other. We have no other Gods.”
But we also know this, that whatever God desires and wills, the devil is there, desiring and willing the exact opposite. And when the Lord continues to teach us that it is His desire that we have no other gods, we know that the devil is busy creating and distributing false gods and lords. That even when things run short, and there's not enough food or money or time, there will never be a shortage of false gods and idols.
So we ask, what does it mean to keep the first commandment? What does it mean to have no other gods? Our 'god' is that to which we look to for all good and in which we find refuge in time of need. Our 'god' is that which we trust, and love, and fear above other things. If we trust in anything for help or consolation besides the Lord our God, this is idolatry. And so we can ask ourselves, “What do we trust?”
Is it our money? This, indeed, is the most popular idol; it has always been the case, and how much more in our day or over-worked materialism. “Mammon,” Jesus calls it, saying, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” [St Matthew 6:24] What does it mean to “serve Mammon,” that is, to worship the god of money and possessions? It means to trust in them, to think that because we have enough money that we will be safe and secure, and that we will be happy. But you don't have to have money to worship it. It is also idolatry when we think, “If only I had enough, a little more, then I would be safe and secure, then I would be happy.” When we look to the bank for security and comfort and help, then this is our god.
But by no means is money and material things the only false god and idol. We can idolized our education and our intelligence, our job or our social status, our family and our church, or any number of things. The devil even tempts us to trust in ourselves, thinking that we can save ourselves and help ourselves, and so instead of looking to the Lord Jesus for help, we say, “I can take care of this on my own.” When we think that in these things, our money or education or anything that belongs to us or even ourselves, we are supported and helped, we are not believing that our help comes from the Lord, we are worshiping another god.
What are your idols? What does the devil tempt you to trust? What things do you want to hold on to and cling to and depend on for help in time of need? Listen to what the Lord Jesus preaches in our text, “I am God, there is no other.” [Isaiah 45:22] All of these other gods are nothing, shadows, gods that cannot help in time of need, but our God, the true God, is different. He can help and does help us in all our need.
He promises us, “I am a just God, and a Savior.” [Isaiah 45:21] A Savior is one who saves, and God alone saves us, there is no other. Jesus alone is our Savior. “There is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12] In His name: Jesus, we rejoice, for He, and He alone, is our salvation. All other gods are rejected, must be rejected, for they cannot save.
Jesus stands alone.
We see His “aloneness”, Jesus' “no-other-gods-ness,” we see it there, on the cross. In the Lord Jesus' suffering and death, there He is our God and our Savior, there He is justifying us and giving us His glory, there He is doing the work that He alone can do. Jesus is on the cross for you, and there is no other.
There is no other death for your salvation, there is no other Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, there is no other cry, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken Me” and “Father, forgive them,” there is no other flesh by which we are able to enter into the holy place, there is no other blood which pays the ransom for our sins, there is no other, no other god, not for you, not for me, not for the salvation of the world, than this Jesus. There is no other Holy One who becomes sin for us, there is no other Son of God who humbles Himself and takes the form of a Servant unto death, even the death of the cross, there is no other.
And there is no other who has risen from the dead and overcome death and the grave, there is no other who is ascended to the right hand of God, there is no other who will come again to judge the quick and the dead, and who will give eternal victory and life to all who believe and trust in His promises, there is no other, no other God, no other Savior, than your Jesus.
“For I am God, and there is no other.” [Isaiah 45:22] May this be your comfort and your joy, that there is no other God but our loving and gracious Holy Trinity, the Father who so loved you that He sent His only Son even to death, the Son who so loves you that willingly He suffered the punishment of your sin and death, and the Holy Spirit, who loves you so that He has granted you repentance and given you faith and trust in His Word. To Him alone, who loves us, the only true God, be praise and glory even unto the ages of ages, for there is no other. Amen.
And now, may the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Wolfmueller