Welcome to Truth for Life, where today we begin a series titled Here is Your God. Will learn how to identify false gods by getting to know the one true god. Alastair Begg opens our study by pointing out that while many people believe you can get to heaven through different paths, the Bible categorically denies that claim. and we're about to learn why. Uh I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter forty-five.
We're going to read from the eighteenth verse of Isaiah 45. For this is what the Lord says. He who created the heavens, he who created He is God. He who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it. He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited.
He says I am the Lord, and I am And there is no other. I have not spoken in secret from somewhere in a land of darkness. I have not said to Jacob's descendants, seek me in vain. I, the Lord, speak the truth. I declare What is right Gather together and come, assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Declare what is to be. presented Let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago? Who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord, And there is no God apart from me. A righteous God and a Savior. There is none but me. Turn to me. And be saved.
All you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked. Before me, every knee will bow. By me every tongue will swear. They will say of me.
In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength. All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the Lord all the descendants of Israel were will be found righteous. and will exult. Amen.
Father, we pray that as we turn to the Bible now that you will help us. That the Holy Spirit will come and enable both the one who speaks and each of us as we listen.
So that we might hear from you, the living God, as we turn to your word, the Bible. And we humbly pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, a little over a week ago now, I was taken by a friend, the man who was my host on this.
recent trip to India. I was taken in the early morning hours to a city called Varanasi. which is on the banks of the Ganges River. We arrive by train at one o'clock in the morning in the city. And we were picked up at 5 a.m.
to be taken to the Ganges so that I might be there in time for the rising of the sun. And right around 5 or 5:30, I was introduced to sights, and sounds, and smells. for which I found myself wholly unprepared. Many of you, or some of you at least, may well have been there, and you will know that at that time in the morning there are swelling crowds, and by that I mean thousands of people. who are making their way towards the river.
so that they might worship the river. and so that they might worship also the rising sun. Of these many thousands, some were engaged in the cremation of their loved ones. The construction of funeral pyres, which were literally around our feet. The gathering up of the ashes and the scattering of them in the river, in the hope of eternal bliss being granted to the loved ones who had gone.
These crowds were representative of the literally millions of Hindus in India. Men and women who believe that God is everything. Who are By definition, pantheists. And it is important for us to understand pantheism in light of what I'm going to say. And so let me just give it to you as succinctly as I can.
Some of you will be aware of this. For others of you, this is important new information. Pantheism identifies God with creation. It teaches that the universe is God. Earth is God.
The Son is God. Man is God. Animals are God. In fact, everything is God. It is only when you realize that these animals are gods in the mind of the Hindu that you can wonder why it is that these monkeys, rabbit monkeys, are swinging all around and jumping all over the place.
Why would somebody not come and catch them and deal with them?
Well, you daren't do that because they are gods. Why are these cows making such a mess in the middle of the street and stopping the traffic and trampling on everyone and everything? Because they are gods.
Now in one sense, we are far removed from this. but in another we are a lot closer than we're prepared to acknowledge. Because a superficial form of pantheism is at the very heart and increasing core of American culture. If you doubt that, go to a spa In a nice hotel. and read the books That are in the spa.
And as you read them, you will be introduced to a superficial form of pantheism, indeed of Hinduism itself. If you doubt it, attend a yoga class. where one of the instructors is not simply an exercise person, but is actually someone who is reading and studying and developing sincere and deep convictions concerning Hinduism. And in those contexts, you will discover that, in some measure, that which is in its darkest. Most demonic form expressed on the banks of the Ganges is actually increasingly in the high streets of America.
It will take probably that sight over there to completely overwhelm you. But when it does, you may find yourself, as I did. Retreating or advancing to the words of the prophets. Hearing Isaiah say, From God, I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another.
or my praise to idols. As I sat on a boat in the river, and watched people Go about their ablutions. and their ceremonies and their rituals and argue one of the dirtiest rivers I've ever come across in my life. I realized How deep-seated is the hold. in the minds of these people.
I got a little inkling into why it was that Henry Martin, who when he went as a missionary, as an Anglican minister to India and to Persia in the 19th century, how when he saw a painting, depicting Jesus bowing down before Muhammad. He wrote in his journal. I could not endure existence. If Jesus was not glorified. It would be hell to me.
if he was always to be thus Dishonored. I had a sense of why it was that Paul, when he walked into Athens and was confronted by the idolatry of the city, found that his whole soul revolted at the sight of a city that was given over to idolatry itself. And as we drove away from the river, cars and SUVs coming in the opposite direction, characteristically with their horns blowing. A number of them had dead bodies trapped and strapped to the roof. as they rushed to the Ganges.
to create yet another funeral pyre in the house of death.
So that the ashes may be scattered on the Ganges in the hope of immediate nirvana and eternal bliss. And against that backdrop. The words of Paul as read for us earlier. And you, O God, have given Jesus a name. That is above every other name.
That at the name of Jesus, Every knee should bow. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. Pluralism. only finds a place For pluralists.
Hinduism is happy to absorb a corrupted Diluted diminished form of Christian expression. Hinduism has no place For an avowed, straightforward declaration. of the exclusive claims of Jesus of Nazareth. A second person of the Trinity. as creator of the universe.
As resurrected Lord. As ascended king, And as returning Christ. And as I will share with you this evening, some of those. with whom I had the privilege of spending time. are on the receiving end of beatings and imprisonment.
As a result of their willingness to declare avowedly that Jesus Christ is Lord. And I found myself reflecting on the diminishing impact of world evangelization here in America. the shift into the southern hemisphere in terms of resources, financial and of manpower. The fact that out of Korea and Indonesia, as many missionaries as have ever been sent from North America are now reaching out around the world. And I found myself wondering.
Whether the concerns of poverty and social justice which are now so much a part of evangelicalism. And a necessary part, let me say. The neglect of which surely has always been wrong, but I find myself wondering whether the preoccupation on poverty and social justice. A preoccupation that allows those who claim themselves to be in the mainstream of historic orthodoxy in evangelical Christianity to join hands with the strangest people throughout the entire universe. Whither that preoccupation is actually subtly Taking the place of, dulling the impact of, the message of the gospel itself.
There is no offence whatsoever in going to India into the heart of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, and declaring that we are there to talk about social justice and public policy and the concerns of poverty. There is no shame in that. All of the shame lies. In going there, To declare that Jesus is sovereign Lord, He is the Savior, and He is the only way. And it is that message which is foolishness in India and foolishness in America.
Which is the message that we have been called to proclaim and to live, and the implications of which. Put the foot down in the realm of justice and in the concerns of poverty and so on. But I have a sneaking suspicion and an increasingly deep-seated concern. That there is here in North America. A growing loss of confidence In the Bible itself, as the unerring word of God.
And an increasing Willingness to play fast and loose. With the uniqueness of the claims of Jesus of Nazareth. And to the extent That that is true. The cutting edge of world evangelization. is radically affected.
Now, what I want to suggest to us this morning is this: that if we are going to tell people. As we must, that Jesus has come and will live in their hearts, as we may put it. We must first tell them that Jesus has come and died on the cross. And that it is because He has come and died upon the cross, and the reasons for His death upon the cross that He will come and invade our lives and make us brand new. In short, we cannot, if you like, declare the gospel of Jesus.
without declaring the doctrine of God. The danger for us is that our story is trivial. That it is trivial in the way it is presented, that it sounds trivial to men and women, and they do not reject it because it is false. Nor even because it purports to be true. But they may well reject it because it just doesn't seem to be comprehensive enough to make sense of their existence.
J.B. Phillips, in his book, Your God is Too Small, writes as follows: Many, many men and women today are living with an inner dissatisfaction. without any faith in God at all. They have not found a God. big enough.
to account for life. They have not found a God big enough to account for life. And therefore, it is imperative that when we speak to men and women concerning the story of the gospel, that we speak concerning the grandeur of God as He has made Himself known in our world. And it is for that reason that I want to take a leaf out of Paul's sermon in Acts chapter 17. And here you will remember from your own study that Paul has arrived in Athens.
A magnificent place. He has approached the opportunities that are his on three fronts. First of all, he's gone to the synagogue. Uh to the religious people. Then he's gone into the marketplace.
to, if you like, the everyday people just carrying on the affairs of life. And as a result, having been in both of those places, he has created quite a stir and he's been invited to come to join the intelligentsia of Athens, to the kind of Mundi Philosophical Society, and to enjoy the opportunity of presenting the case for Christ in the Academy. It is a reminder to us that the gospel reaches all of these dimensions, doesn't it?
Some people are here this morning and you are religious people by background. You have been brought up in a religious framework.
Some of it you may have embraced, some of it you may have rejected. And the very reason you are perhaps here Is because at this point in your life you're trying to decide whether there is any future at all down this pathway. whether there is anything in the Bible worth fastening on to. Whether there is anything in the claims of Jesus that actually makes any basic difference in your life. And so it is that here within this framework, you have an opportunity to consider what Paul says.
Others of us have come out of an irreligious background. And here we are, just in the thoroughfares of life. We're in the marketplace. And for whatever reason, we've decided to come along and open up our minds to the story of the Bible, and we are actually looking to see if there is something here that makes sense of our existence. And a few of us, perhaps, a few of you.
have been endowed with a specific amount of gray matter that takes you beyond the realm of the ordinary, and you're actually looking to see if there is that which is significant enough to stir your mind, to stimulate your thought, and to answer some of the deepest questions of your life. While Paul addresses all three. And as a result, And there are those who believe, a few, there are some who sneer. And there's a great crowd that say, well, we could perhaps come on another occasion. But what I want you to notice is the fact that as he introduces his listeners to God.
He does so by identifying five factors or five aspects of God.
Now, please don't be put off by the fact that I just told you there are five. Um I'm not going to belabor the point at all. I want you to notice it. In many ways I'm giving you a sketch, I'm giving you an outline. You can do your homework and your follow-up uh by yourselves.
First of all, in verse twenty four, he introduces his readers to God who is the Creator of the world. Who is God according to the Bible? God is the Creator of the world.
Now, in other words, God stands separate from, distinct from, his creation. In other words, this is not pantheism. This challenges the notions of pantheism. God is not part of the basic material of human existence, of the universe. God is not a force.
Or even the great force of all the forces that exist within our world. No, God made the world, He stands outside of time. He himself is uncreated. And he is the creator of the universe. And when he looked upon that which he had made, he pronounced that it was very good, very good.
In pantheism, interestingly, Material That is Stuff Humanity That which is non-spiritual, if you like, the antithesis of soul, material is not good. And therefore, one of the things that one is constantly trying to do is to escape from this material universe. And again, some of you who read these New Age books will identify immediately the strains that are involved in saying that. In pantheism, since God is everything. That means logically that God is not only moral good, But God is also moral evil.
Because God is everything. Therefore good and evil are God. And as a result of that, there is no hope then of evil being overcome. And I think, and I would want to be very guarded in saying this. That this is one of the reasons that so many of the faces of the people that I saw.
are as gloomy as they are. are as unresponsive as they appear to be. I'm not talking about Christian believers now, where the joy of the Lord is their strength. I'm talking just about moving amongst the masses of humanity. I may be completely wrong.
But I'm not sure that I am. And I think it lies in this. That when you believe that all of the sin that you have accrued you cannot be relieved of. That your only hope is in reincarnation. That when you are reincarnated, you sin inevitably again.
So you're stuck all over again.
So you know you're going to have to be reincarnated again. And all of that dreadful emptiness and all of that dreadful pessimism and all of that dreadful horribleness you see speaks volumes in in a culture. In direct contrast. God the Creator. cannot be contained.
Cannot be brought down to a manageable size, cannot be manipulated into a form expressive of our own designs. Let me just say in passing. that the current mythology abroad in America. which says that the great religions of the world Agree. on the essentials.
and disagree On the non-essentials is exactly a mythology. It is not true.
So Judaism says that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah. Christianity says Jesus is the Messiah. We cannot both be right. Hinduism says that God has been incarnated many, many times and in multiple forms. Christianity says that the incarnation was a unique, unrepeatable event.
We cannot both be right. Islam says that the only possibility of heaven is by making sure that the scales weigh in our direction. Christianity says you can never make the scales weigh in your direction. And that is why the story of Christianity is the story that is emblazoned in a cross with someone doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Pantheism says God is everything.
Christianity says God is the Creator. distinct from his creation. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg, and we'll learn more about God tomorrow. If you listen regularly to Truth for Life, you know Alistair loves song lyrics. He is particularly fond of great hymns, including modern hymns written by his friends Keith and Kristen Getty.
So today we have something very special to recommend to you. It's a new released hymnal from the Gettys. It's called The Sing Hymnal. This is an extensive collection of hundreds of hymns, including classics like All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, O for a Thousand Tongues, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, and contemporary hymns, like My Worth is Not in What I Own, He Will Hold Me Fast, and of course In Christ Alone, written by Keith Geddy and Stuart Townann. In this treasure of a collection, the Gettys have included a brief background for each of the hymns, so you can learn more about how these hymns came to be.
you can request your copy of the Sing Hymnal today when you donate to Truth for Life at truthforlife. org slash donate or call us at eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four.
Now, next week, our offices will be closed as we celebrate Christmas with our families. If you need to reach us by phone to request a book or make a year-end donation, be sure to do that before 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, December 19th. The number is 888-588-658. seven eight eight four.
Thanks for joining us today. Media is awash today with modern day idols, things like sex and power and everything money can buy. Tomorrow we'll learn why these things can never satisfy the deep longings of the heart. But God can. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life.
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