Isaiah 44:24-45:4
Why This God?

Introduction
1. The world is full of religions. Each has their god or gods. They all can’t be right. The fact is that
only one can be right.
2. If all religions are manmade except for one, Christianity…why should we worship this God?
Or is it just a blind leap of faith?
3. Isaiah 44:24-45:4 gives many reasons why this is the One true God.

Why should we worship this God?
I. HIS AUTHORITY 44:24-28
A. His Communication 24a
Thus saith the Lord
1.All religions have a sacred book: Islam/Muslim…Koran written by one author…many errors in 700 a.d. Hinduism…The Veda. Buddhism…The Tripitaka by Gatauma Buddha…Christianity and Judaism…The Bible written over 1500 years by 39 different authors. Redemption is the main theme. The Old Testament has 39 books and through the history of Israel speaks of a coming Messiah. The New Testament has 27 books. Most of the books are letters to the Church.
2.Ultimately, all we know about God is based on divine revelation. God used men without changing their personality or writing to pen Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration (God breathed) and was without error in their original form.
B. His Creation 24b
The key word is Who from verse 24-28. If there is an Intelligent Design there is an
Intelligent Designer.
1.Who formed thee from the womb. Look at the miracle of birth. Life begins at conception. It begins with the sperm and the egg uniting forming one cell…the splitting, 2…4…8…16 etc. The cell is not simple. Bruce Alberts (National Academy of Science) We have always underestimated the cell…The entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of large protein machines. Why do we call them machines?
Precisely because, like machines invented by humans to deal efficiently with the macroscopic world, these protein assemblies contain highly coordinated moving parts.
From this cell comes: skin (breathes, holds blood, stops interior orders, etc.) skeletal system, eyes, ears, a circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, etc.
2.Who stretches forth the heavens alone (by Himself) What begins to exist has a cause. We came from nothing, by nothing and for nothing is absurd. Jay Wesley Richards
The universe had a beginning; therefore, the universe had a cause. The BIG BANG doesn’t answer the question of beginning.
Look at the galactical system…there is a design, so there must be a Designer. In our solar system Pluto is 8 billion miles away…that’s nothing. The nearest star is 4.5 light years (light traveling 186,282 miles per second in one year). Our Milky Way is 104,000 light years across. There are more stars than the sand of the sea. There may be 100-200 billion galaxies beyond ours in the universe.
The closest star to us is the sun (solar system). It would take a star with the highly unusual properties of our sun…the right mass…the right light…the right distance…the right orbit…the right galaxy…the right location to nurture living organisms on a circling planet…just right for habitation!!
3.Who spreads the earth by Myself. Earth was made just right for man to survive: Nitrogen (78% of our atmosphere) all living things need nitrogen to remain healthy. Oxygen (21% of our atmosphere is oxygen). Water is essential for all forms of life and can dissolve nearly anything. Plants…all of the above are designed just right for man to live.
4.Who makes all things. If there is an effect there must be a cause. Mammals…Reptiles...
Amphibians…take a close look at anything on planet earth that is not manmade. Nothing is simple. All have a similar design. There must be a similar Designer!
C. His Confusion 25
Causing wise men to draw back, and turning knowledge into foolishness. (NASV)
1.Men turn to Science. Science today proves preconceived assumptions.
*“The reason for global warming (climate changes…we older people just call it weather) is manmade carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is plant food. Plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Man takes in oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide. ‘Science’ has convinced a whole generation. How much has the earth warmed in the last 20 years? .32 degrees. The polar bear is not endangered. Yet by 2035 we need to be all electric. Where are we going to get electric if there is no fossil fuel?
*Evolution…someday ‘science’ will catch up with God. I thought for sure DNA would be the end of evolution. God made everything after its ‘kind’. If I embrace Darwinism: Nothing produces everything. Non-life produces life. Randomness produces fine tuning. Chaos produces information. Unconsciousness produces consciousness. Non-reason produces reason.
*Gender Identification: What is a woman? Science: If you have xx chromosomes you are a female. If you have xy chromosomes you are a male. That is science. Crossing over does not change the science.
2.All of this came from nothing! The more we know the less we know! The more ‘intelligent’ we become the more foolish we sound.
D. His Confirmation 26-28
Only God can predict the future with total accuracy. Prophecy is so we might know that
the revelation from God is true. There is a God…you can trust Him and His word.
2 examples are given:
1.The Exile, Return and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. 26, 27 This prophecy was given 210 years before the return and rebuilding. The Lord demonstrated His power by drying up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. He can do what He says!
2.Cyrus in 539 B.C. The prophecy was given 180 years before Cyrus lived and became king of Persia. It is predicted God’s use of the Persian king to gather the faithful remnant of Israel back to the land. In this Cyrus prefigured the Lord’s Servant who will shepherd the sheep of Israel in their final regathering (Mic. 5:4).
The Tomb of Cyrus of Persia is found in Iran today. Skeptics: There must be two authors. If Isaiah wants to show that God is God, he must give this information before it occurs.
God uses who He wants and what He wants to accomplish His purposes!
Why should we worship this God?
II. HIS ACCURACY 45:1-4
A.His Appointment 1, 4
1.My Shepherd…My Anointed (Christos) it means, ‘to set apart for a task’.
I have called thee by thy name…I have surnamed thee…though thou hast not known me…Cyrus was a pagan, idol worshiper.
2.If God is sovereign then all of history is His plan. He either orchestrates or permits in order to accomplish His plan. All events have one ultimate cause, fit into an ultimate purpose. For us it means making room for the improbable ways of God.
3.God can use whatever He wants to accomplish whatever He wishes.
B.His Accomplishments 2, 3
1.Babylon was an immensely powerful nation. The wall was 45 miles in circumference. The walls were 32’ thick. It was so wide that 6 chariots could be driven side by side on top of it. The walls were 150’ high.
2.Daniel 5 pictures a drunken party. The river was diverted and the soldiers of Cyrus marched under the wall, opened the gates and took the city.
3.Treasures of darkness were treasures hidden away from men. The ‘treasures’ were conquered by Cyrus.
C.His Acknowledgement 3, 4, 6
1.That thou may know (Cyrus) for Israel’s sake…v. 6 that they may know I am the Lord, there is no other.
2.How would Cyrus know? Josephus (Roman historian at the time of Christ): “Cyrus knew these things since he had read the book of his prophecy which Isaiah had left behind 210 years earlier.”
3.It was not a true conversion 4, 5 It was written ultimately that everyone may know: “I am the Lord…there is no other!”

There is one God and one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ!