God's Game Plan for Missions

If you will, turn in your bibles to Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah 45. While I was in Japan, I got to spend an hour and a half conversation with an unsaved Japanese man. And I I was trying to witness to him and he gave me, hey, this is what we as Japanese people believe. And, you know, we can read books about this is what the Japanese people believe.

They believe this. They believe that. But when you hear someone say, I believe in millions of spirits. I still worship my ancestors. I will accept Jesus Christ as another spirit to worship.

It hits a lot different. And I went back to the Mission missionaries house after that conversation going, Lord, I don't think I can do this. Bible college did not prepare me for that answer. I mean, I can show show them from the Bible many different ways to get to heaven on the Isaiah Road, the Romans Road, the John Road. Bible college, tell me how to do that.

But Lord, how do I get from millions and millions of spirits to for whosoever is called upon the name of the Lord shall be saved? Lord, how do I bridge that? Lord, can I bridge that? Lord, is Japan really where you want me to be? And by God's providence, he led me to Isaiah 45.

And as I was reading that passage, all throughout Isaiah 45, there's a theme that we see. In Isaiah 45, we see in verse number five, it says, I'm the Lord and there's none else. There is no God beside me. Isaiah forty five six, I'm the Lord, there is none else. In verse number 14, at the end, surely God is in thee and there is none else, there is no God.

In verse number 18, I am the Lord and there is none else. All throughout the rest of the the passage, we see this idea of there is no other God except for God. And if you look at Isaiah 45, it starts off of God talking to Cyrus. The pagan Cyrus saying, I have I will raise you up. You're gonna do I'm going to use you.

You're going to liberate my people, but I want you to know it's all me. It is not your gods, I am God. I am the God who created and formed the light and created darkness in verse number seven. And from verse number one to verse number 19, God is talking to Cyrus. But when we get to verse number 20, God changes focus.

And starting in verse number 20, it says, assemble yourselves and come, draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set up wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them near. Ye, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared it from ancient time?

Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there's no God else beside me, a just God and a savior. There is none beside me. Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else.

This morning this evening, I would like to preach a message called God's God's game plan for missions. Let's bow our heads in the word of prayer. Dear heavenly father, Lord, I pray that you would be with this message. Lord, I pray that you would use this message to work your will. Lord, I pray that you would remove your servant so that your message may shine through, Lord.

This message is not about me, but it is for me, and it is for anyone else who is willing to hear. Lord, I pray that you would be with our be with us and soften our hearts to your word, Lord, whatever it may be. Lord, we love you, and we pray all this in your holy and precious name. Amen. Growing up in the South, my family watched a lot of football.

My dad had grown up as a Steelers fan from the nineteen seventies. And so with mean Joe Green in the the Iron Curtain. And so growing up, he was I I watched football. Sunday afternoon was was football time. My mom was a Broncos fan.

My brother was a Steelers fan. My mom my sister was a Steelers fan as well, and I watched football. I played fantasy football, so I still kept in kept in touch with football. But I noticed that there was something that happened before the ball was ever snapped, before a pass was ever thrown, before a a runner ever grabbed the ball, and that was something called the huddle. And in that huddle, the quarterback tells the team what they're gonna do.

Well, in verse this passage that we just read is God could huddle giving us the huddle, the game plan. What is we gonna do about missions? The first thing I want us to see is the charge to the saved. In verse number 20, it says, assemble yourselves and come draw near together ye that are escaped of the nation. He's talking to his people saying, hey, come.

Come here. We gotta we gotta talk. We gotta go over the game plan. The first charge that he says is to see the world around them. It says, they have no knowledge that set up wood of the graven image and pray to a God that cannot save.

God was telling his people, hey, the people around you, the people who are you are under captivity with, they serve a God. They serve gods. They serve their graven images. They're idols made of wood and stone, but they can't do anything. Earlier in Isaiah, we hear about idols.

There are gods that have eyes but see not, have ears that hear not, have tongue mouths that speak not, have hands that do nothing. This was what Isaiah God was telling his people, hey, the world around you, they have they were they're worshiping something that cannot save them. Applying it to us now and the world around us are worshiping stuff that cannot save them. They're worshiping their their money. They cannot buy their way into heaven.

They're worshiping their different idols of substance, whatever it may be. The different idols of popularity, of power, but it it means nothing. They they sacrifice and pray to gods that cannot save them. Are we willing to see that that charge that God has given us is, do you do you see the people around you? Do you see their need?

That that they're they're striving after something that they cannot attain? The second charge to the saved is to tell you and bring them near. Mean, we it means that we're supposed to be witness. It is a charge for us to be witness. Isaiah second Corinthians five twenty says, now then we are ambassadors as though God be did beseech you by us, we pray you and Christ said, be ye reconciled to God.

We are given the ministry of reconciliation to offer the word of reconciliation to the world. Acts one eight says, and ye shall be witnesses unto me. It is a duty. It is a reasonable service. It is understood that we as Christians are going to be witness.

The charge for us is to see the world but also to tell the world. It's not enough to see their spiritual need but also tell them of what they can they need. We can see all we have to do is turn on the news and see, oh, yeah, the world's the world's well, I I don't wanna say up in flames, but hey, the world's going down. Morally, they're they're declining. Never have in my lifetime, and I know it's a short lifetime comparatively to some, never in my lifetime have I seen two assassination attempts of the same president.

Never in my lifetime have I seen wars almost start almost on a weekly basis in two different parts of the world. The world's is is morally declining, but if all we do is see that and not do anything about it, we're not following the charge that God has for us. It's not just for us to see and be disgusted. It's not, oh, this, the wickedness of the world and get angry at it or completely close yourself off from it and isolate yourself. No.

It says, tell ye and bring them near. Hey, If the world's gonna be sinful, hey, tell them of the gospel and bring them in. Bring them out of the world. Hey. That's an idea.

Doesn't mean that you have to go You do have to go to find them. You cannot isolate yourself. Christianity and the gospel cannot be sown in isolation. It must be propagated. So there's a charge to see, a charge to tell, but also a charge to live.

It says, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared it from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? That, yay, let them take counsel together is let them ask questions, make them curious. Live a Christian life that when they see something see you, they're like, this guy has there's something different about this guy.

I want what he has. When there's when we have joy, when there's a tribulation, the world sees it. When we have a peace that passeth all understanding even though we shouldn't be. By by all accounts, by by the world when they look and see what's going on in our life, we shouldn't have peace. God gives us that peace.

God gives us a a calmness that's so otherworldly that it should make the world go, I want what he has. A joy that springs up where there's not a lot of joy. Make them curious of Christ, not cautious of it. You know, I can live a life that people say, oh, he's on something different. There's something different about him.

I don't wanna stay away from that. You see, I could live my Christianity like that. I can live my Christian life like that, but you know, there's no furtherance of the gospel. I'm not telling them and bringing them near. I'm not making them curious saying, hey, what's going on with this guy?

Why is he so different? How can I get what he has? How can I get the joy that he has? You see, that's part of the charge is to be make live your Christianity to make the world curious, not cautious. So there's a charge to the saved.

There's a challenge to the unsaved. In verse number 21, it says, yay, let them take counsel together. Who have declared it from ancient time and who have told it from that time? We see the challenge to the unsaved is it's been here. Are you ready?

Are you ready to hear it? Is it this is for some, this is old news. It's been from ancient times. Ancients even longer than AD. It's been long before since BC.

We know that it's been since creation that God has had salvation and plan. Yay. The Bible does say that even before the foundation of the world, this was plan was already in motion. The challenge to the unsaved is, are you are you willing to hear it? Are you willing to find out?

So you see, there's a challenge to the save saved, a charge sorry, a charge to the save, the challenge to the sinner. Then do we see the characteristics of the savior. It says, have not I the Lord and there is no god beside me, a just God and a savior. This is the characteristics of God. He is a just God.

Yes. And we know that the Bible says the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And guess what? The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Romans six twenty three, for the wages of sin is death.

Meaning, rightly for what I have done, for because I have sinned, because I am a sinner, what is due unto me because of what I have done, because I have sinned is death. I deserve separation from God. I did a paper in college, a research paper for our English class. It was only supposed to be a 10 page paper and when choosing my topic, said, you know what, I wanna do my research paper on the holiness of God applied to man. I thought that's a 10 page paper for sure.

And I got through studying studying about a week of studying for it, and I realized this is a dissertation, not a research paper, not a 10 page research paper. I could write about a library on this. So I had to narrow it down and because of the nature of God's holiness in that because he is holy, he cannot have abide sin. He cannot have sin in his presence because that is his nature. Justly, in order for him to keep being holy, he must do away with what is unholy.

That is his nature and that is just. But you know, if we stop there, God would be just like all the other gods that are in in the world or that are worshiped in the world. You know, if you go through what read whatever mythology you want, you'll see this idea of if you're good to the gods, they'll bless you. If you're bad to the gods, if you dis do disrespect to the gods, you're gonna get judgment. So the world understands this concept of justice, of I gotta do right or else I'm gonna get punished.

And that is that would be what we would consider a just God. But, you know, God's not just a just God because, you know, it continues on and says, a just God and a savior. See, what the other world doesn't what the world doesn't have is the last part of six twenty three, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes. The wages of sin is death, that is justice, but the gift of God is eternal life.

Yes. The soul that sinneth, it shall die, but God what's that? While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But God commended his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Yeah.

We still we accept this, but you know what? Even while we're still here, God provided us a lamb. That's the difference between our God and the gods of the other pantheons. Not only is he real in verse in verse number 21, and there's no else God besides me, but his characteristic is that he is just and a savior. And then we've seen the charge to save, the challenge to the sinner, the characteristics of the savior, and now we see lastly, I want us to see the complications of salvation.

In verse number 22, it says, look unto me and be saved all ye ends of the earth for I am God and there's none else. That's how complicated it is. Look unto me and be saved. This is referring back to the book of Exodus where the the story where the Israelites murmured against God and God sent fiery adders or snakes to to bite the people, to judge his people. And God Moses pleaded with God saying, Lord, please have mercy on this people.

They're they're just stiff neck, but hey, they're still your people. Please save them. And God told Moses to make a brazen or a bronze serpent lifted up and whoever looked on that serpent would be saved. They wouldn't die from the snake bites. And the bible says even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so shall the son of man be lifted up.

But the way to be saved back from that story was just look on the serpent. The way to be saved is looking to me and be saved. Turn from whatever you're following and look unto the savior. Turn towards Christ, follow after Christ, go towards Christ, that's it. That repentance of this isn't saving me, I'm going to die this way.

Hey, God sent his son to die for me. Look and be saved. The bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. Acts sixteen thirty one. Romans ten thirteen, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That's how complex it is, it's not. You know, we oftentimes we kind of we tend to complicate how how to get saved. Well, what comes first, repentance or faith? In the grand scheme of things, why does that matter? Turn to Christ and be saved.

We argue the finer points of well, what does what does this mean? What does that mean? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. Why complicate it? And it's so simple.

Salvation is so simple that anyone can do it and anyone can give a testimony of salvation. I realize I can give my salvation in less than a minute. I grew up in a Christian home. My dad was a preacher who was preaching on on hell, and I realized that without Christ, that's where I was going. However, the bible says, it shows us that it's only through the blood of Jesus Christ that we can escape the torments that burn forever.

And it's so simple, it just says believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved and thy house, period. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life, period. That's it. No other works involved. It's that simple.

As we close, just wanna give you this encouragement. We've heard the game plan. There's a charge for us as the say who are saved. This is a challenge for us whoever might not be saved. And it's because of the characteristics of the savior that he's given us the complexity or the lack of complexity of salvation.

Let's bow our heads in prayer. Dear heavenly father, Lord, I pray that you would be with us this evening. Lord, if there's anyone here that would say, brother Caleb, I'm not saved, but I wanna get that right. I want to accept the challenge that we've seen. I pray that you would come forward and someone would show you from the bible how you can get saved.

Christian, we've been issued a charge. We've been given a charge to see the world, to tell the world, and to live a Christian life. Lord, if if there's anyone here that is not seeing the world, telling the world, and living like they should. I pray that that you'd work in their hearts and in their minds. Lord, use them the remaining time.

Lord, we love you. Pray all this in your holy and precious name. Amen.