1. It was almost 150 years ago, in England, that a fifteen year-old boy ducked into a church one Sunday morning. He had never been there before, and had no intention of going there that day.
2. But it was snowing hard and he could not attend his usual church on account of the storm. Inside there were only about a dozen or fifteen people that snowy morning, and the boy took a seat in the back.
3. Due to the storm, the pastor was unable to make it to church and so one of the members went up to preach. He was not an educated man and he was not an experienced preacher. And he was not prepared to preach that morning.
4. He read his text: Isaiah 45:22, and since he had nothing else to say, he kept repeating it. He said: "My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, Look. Now that does not take a deal of effort."
5. On and on he went, and after about ten minutes or so, he looked at the boy in the back and said: "Young man, you look very miserable." The young man had to admit that he felt very miserable.
6. The man continued, "And you will always be miserable – miserable in life and miserable in death – if you do not obey my text. But if you obey it now, this moment you will be saved."
7. Then he began to shout, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ!" The young man did and was gloriously saved that Lord’s Day morning, January 6, 1850. He went on to become one of the greatest preachers of all time, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
8. I believe with all my heart that if anyone looks to Jesus Christ in simple faith they too can be saved the same way young Charles Haddon Spurgeon was.
9. It is important to realize that only God can save you – "For I am God, and there is none else" (45:22). "I am the LORD; and there is none else" (45:18).
10. The church cannot save you. Your good works cannot save you. Your baptism cannot save you. Only God can save you (45:22).

I. ONLY GOD CAN SAVE YOU BECAUSE HE IS OUR CREATOR.

1. "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it…" (45:18). Since God created us, He alone has the right to tell us what to do.
2. It is amazing to me that people allow Satan to control them. Satan is a created being. He was created by God as an angel. He rebelled against God and is now the devil. Why should anyone listen to him? And yet people allow the devil to drag them around day in and day out.
3. One of the devil’s favorite lies is evolution, the ridiculous theory that man has slowly evolved from monkeys (cf. Gen.1:1; John 1:3,10; Isa.42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13).
4. Evolution is nothing but an attack on God and an attack on His Word. You cannot accept evolution and the authority of God’s Word at the same time.
5. Evolution is a hoax, a fairy tale for grown-ups. Sir Fred Hoyle said that the likelihood of evolution being true was as likely as a hurricane blowing through a junk yard and assembling a Boeing 747.
6. Evolution has spawned humanism, communism, Nazism, the New Age Movement, and many other wicked religions. It has helped spread apostasy and unbelief, immorality, homosexuality, and all sorts of deviant behaviour.
7. Teach a young child that he has evolved from monkeys and he will start acting like a little monkey. Parents and educators are puzzled; why are children today so brutal? Can’t they see that if you teach them their ancestors were brute apes that they will act like brute apes!
8. Beloved, God created this world "to be inhabited" (Isa.45:18). Do not let these ungodly people from Planned Parenthood and Zero Population Growth tell you that we should stop having children. God created this world to be inhabited by people (not just animals).
9. This wicked environmental propaganda and animal-rights nonsense and the so-called population explosion has led to abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.
10. God wants us to have children (Gen.1:28; 9:1; Ps.127:3-5). And why does God want us to have children? "That He might seek a godly seed" (Mal.2:15).
11. God wants to save men and God wants to save women, and God wants them to produce a godly seed. Only God can save us because He is our Creator.

II. ONLY GOD CAN SAVE YOU BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD (45:19,20).

1. Allah is not the true God. The gods of the Hindus, the god of the Mormons, the god of the JWs – these are all false gods (cf. 45:5,6; 46:9).
2. Millions of people still bow down to idols (45:20). "They have no knowledge…" They need to hear God’s Word. "Faith cometh by hearing."
3. Idolatry is degrading, idolatry is foolish, and idolatry is an abomination (cf. Isa.44:17; 46:6).
4. D.L. Moody said: "A man must be greater than anything he is able to make or manufacture. What folly then to think of worshipping such things!"
5. I am sure most of you have heard me tell of St. Peter’s big toe, kissed off in the Vatican by the millions of idolaters who have worshipped it. My heart gets heavy when I think of the millions of lost souls who worship statues.
6. One thing is certain. People who persist in worshipping idols, no matter how sincere they may be, will spend eternity in hell (Rev.21:8).
7. The famous hymn-writer, Isaac Watts, wrote:

There is a dreadful hell,
And everlasting pains;
There sinners must with devils dwell
In darkness, fire, and chains.

III. ONLY GOD CAN SAVE YOU BECAUSE HE IS YOUR SAVIOUR.

1. The Bible says, "And there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me" (45:21b; cf. 43:3,11).
2. The LORD (Jehovah) says, "And beside me there is no Saviour" (43:11; cf. Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 4:12; II Tim.1:9,10; Titus 2:13).
3. Our Lord’s name means "Saviour" (cf. Matt.1:21).
4. By comparing Scripture with Scripture, we can see that the prophet Isaiah is speaking here of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 48:16,17).
5. So in 45:23, "I," "my," and "me" refers to Jesus Christ (cf. Rom. 14:11; Phil.2:10).
6. Years ago, when the JW came out with their NWT, they said in the preface that whenever they came to "Lord," they would put "Jehovah" since they mean the same thing. But they were inconsistent and when they came to Phil.2:11, Rom.10:9, and some other Scriptures, they kept it the way it is.

CONCLUSION:

1. Years ago, a man stood up to give his testimony in a church service in Hamilton, Ontario. He said: "I am the last man that John Harper led to the Lord. I was on the Titanic when it struck the iceberg and hundreds of people drowned. While I was floating on a piece of wood, John Harper floated by me and shouted, ‘Man, are you saved?’ I said, ‘No, I am not.’ John Harper cried out, ‘The Bible says: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!’
2. "The waves rolled us this way and that way, and in a little while, as God would have it, we were brought close together again. John Harper said, ‘Now, are you saved?’ I said, ‘No, I am not yet saved.’ John Harper said, ‘The Bible says: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!’
3. The man giving his testimony then said, "I began to think of my soul. Miracle of miracles, I was rescued. I gave my life to Jesus Christ and was saved. John Harper went down to a watery grave. But he led me to Christ on the stormy cold waters as the Titanic sank. I was his last convert."