Deo Gloria
Sermon for July 19, 2026
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Isaiah 44:6-11
Theme: When It Comes to God, You Want the Real Thing!
- The greatness of the LORD
- The emptiness of idols
I have a question for you: Would you want your employer to pay you with real money or Monopoly money? Well, real money, right? The Monopoly money wouldn’t be any good. You couldn’t use it to buy any food at the store or pay any of your bills. You want real money. Ladies, when it comes to a wedding ring, would you want a real diamond ring or a fake diamond ring, one of those zirconium imitations? I’ll bet you’d want a real one, wouldn’t you? How about you teenagers, would you want a real cell phone or a toy one? You’d want a real one, right? So if we wouldn’t settle for fakes or imposters or imitations when it comes to the things of this life, why would we settle for fakes or frauds or imitations when it comes to spiritual matters, especially when it comes to the God we worship and adore? A fake god cannot hear and answer your prayers. A fake god cannot help you in your time of need. A fake god cannot save you. When it comes to God, we don’t want fakes or frauds or phonies. We want the real thing. And that’s exactly point of the verses we have before us this morning. When it comes to God, we want the real thing. We want the LORD.
The second part of the book of Isaiah, the portion from ch. 40 on, was written for God’s faithful people who one day would be living in captivity in Babylon. As you might imagine, that would be a very difficult time for God’s people, a depressing time, a discouraging time. Their homes would be gone. Most of their possessions—gone. Their towns and villages—gone. Their beautiful and blessed temple—gone. Their freedom—gone. Why should they go on trusting in the Lord and his promises? Why should they continue to worship him and serve him when in their time of greatest need, he seemed to have failed them?
Let’s listen again to what God has to say: “This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty; I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God”(v. 6). Did you notice the first name God used for himself, the name LORD in all capital letters? The LORD is the great I Am, the eternal God of the universe, the one who has always existed and will always exist. The LORD is the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and called him to go back to Egypt and deliver his people from slavery. The LORD is the one who brought his people out of Egypt and established a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. The LORD is the God of grace and mercy, the one who promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Savior to crush the serpent’s head and rescue them from his power. The LORD is the God who graciously kept that promise and sent his own Son to be that Savior, to rescue them and all people from Satan, sin and hell.
Next he refers to himself as “Israel’s King.” The nation of Israel had many kings over the years—some good, some not so good. And even the goods ones turned out to be rather disappointing sometimes. Take King David, for example. He was a great king and a valiant warrior. He led them to victory against many of their enemies. But he’s also the one who had that affair with Bathsheba. Solomon was a great king too and demonstrated tremendous wisdom, at least in his younger years. But then when he got older, he began to worship other gods. And he took the sin of polygamy to a whole new level. But not the LORD. He was so much better than any of their earthly kings—always good, always faithful, always looking out for the interests of his people, always protecting, always providing. Sure David defeated Goliath. But he—he would defeat Satan and sin and death. Sure Solomon demonstrated incredible wisdom at times; but he–he would possess heavenly wisdom. He would actually teach people about heaven and how to get to heaven. And he would rule with righteousness.
Next he refers to himself as Israel’s “Redeemer.” Back in Isaiah’s day a redeemer was a relative of yours who would pay off your debts and set you free if you had to sell yourself into slavery on account of your debts. The LORD is the ultimate Redeemer, the one who paid off the enormous debt of our sins, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood. And in the process he set us free from sin and death and hell.
Next he refers to himself of “the LORD Almighty.” A more literal translation would be “LORD of hosts” or “LORD of armies.” Our president is the commander in chief of the U.S. military. That’s a pretty powerful position. The LORD is the commander in chief of the armies of heaven, the legions and legions of heavenly angels who can fly faster than an F-16 fighter jet and can deliver more of a punch than even a bunker-buster bomb. So not only does the LORD possess unlimited power himself, he also commands the most powerful army in the universe. He is the LORD Almighty.
He continues, “I am the first and I am the last.” Before there ever was a nation of Israel; before King David and King Solomon; before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; before Adam and Eve; before the world itself, the LORD was there—constant, unchanging, everlasting. After the nation of Israel has come and gone, after the United States has come and gone, after every nation has come and gone, and the world itself has come and gone, the LORD will still be there—constant, unchanging, everlasting.
“…apart from me there is no God.” You see God is not like the FIFA World Cup, where 48 teams from 48 different countries get to compete, but only one wins the championship. The LORD doesn’t have to compete with anyone. He’s the only one on the pitch, the only God that has ever existed. Every other god is a fake and fraud. Allah is a fake and fraud. Buddha is a fake and fraud. Vishnu is a fake and fraud. This non-binary god that some people are talking about now days is a fake and fraud. There is only one true God. He is the LORD.
The LORD continues,
Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come—yes, let him foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one. (vv. 7+8)
Did you catch what the LORD said in those verses: that he can foretell the future? In fact, he not only can foretell the future; he has. In the days of Noah, for example, he foretold that there would be a flood, a massive flood that would destroy the whole, entire world. And 120 years later there was. He foretold that Moses would deliver his people from slavery in Egypt and he did. He foretold that David would be the next king of Israel and he was. He foretold that the northern kingdom of Israel would be conquered and destroyed by the nation of Assyria and it was. The people of Israel were witnesses of these things. They themselves could testify that God had made these predictions and how everyone one of them came true. And now God had made another prediction: that one day in the not too distant future the nation of Judah would be conquered too and the people taken away into captivity.
So should they be afraid? No. Absolutely not, because he himself would be with them. He would be their Rock, their fortress, their refuge in the storms of life, their helper in times of trouble. The turbulent waters of war and destruction and captivity would swirl all around them, but they would not be swept away. He would be by their side. He would give them comfort and strength in those turbulent times. He would watch over them and keep them safe, even in a foreign land. And one day he would bring their descendants back to the Promised Land so his promises could be fulfilled.
This is the kind of God you would want, isn’t it, the mighty God of heaven, the eternal God of heaven, the one who has always existed and will always exist; the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Commander of the most awesome and powerful army in the universe; but not just some mighty and awesome god who is far off and distant and doesn’t care about you; no, a God who actually does care; a God who provides for his people and protects them; a God who loves his people so much that he would be willing to redeem them, to pay the price for their sins and their failures, so they might be free from sin and death and might belong to him forever; a God who knows the future and can foretell the future; a God who knows about the scary things in our future, but who promises to be with us and help us, to be our Rock in the storms of life?
It sure beats the imposters that are out there, the idols, the false gods. There were plenty of such false gods in Isaiah’s day—Canaanite gods like Baal and Asherah, Babylonian gods like Bel and Marduk. The word Isaiah uses for them is a word that means “hewn.” In other words they were made out of stone. In the following verse he talks about them being “shaped” and “cast” from molten metal. He also talks about craftsmen who make them. So let me get this straight. You make an image out of stone or molten metal. You shape it and form it to look like a person or a bird or a bull or a snake. And then you bow down and worship it as if it is somehow greater than you? And then you pray to it as if it can somehow help you? How can it help you if you (or the blacksmith down at the end of the street) had to make it? It obviously can’t. So as Isaiah says, there is no benefit you can get from it. There is no profit. It cannot help you in your time of need. It doesn’t even care. Does a rock or a piece of metal care if you have the flu? Does it care if you lost your job? Does it care if your grandma got sick and ended up in the hospital or maybe if she passed away? Of course not. It doesn’t have any feelings for you. It doesn’t love you. And most of all it cannot save you from your sins. You’re on your own. Good luck! So again, as the Lord says, those who make them and worship them are blind and ignorant. And one day—on the last day when the true God returns in all his glory—they will be filled with fear and terror and shame as they are banished from God’s presence for the rest of forever.
The same is true today, isn’t it? People still worship idols, gods of their own making, their own creation, their own ideas. Allah and Buddha are two obvious examples; but there are plenty of others. In fact, any god or any idea of god that is different from the God of the Bible is an idol. The god who approves of and blesses gay marriage is not the God of the Bible. The god who created six different sexes and is non-binary himself is not the God of the Bible. And any god who expects you to earn your way to heaven by your own good works and your own efforts is not the God of the Bible.
If the God of the Bible is anything, he is a God of grace and mercy and compassion, a God who knows you could never make it to heaven on your own no matter how hard you tried, but a God who loved you so much that he sent his own Son to save you, to redeem you, to pay the penalty for your sins so that you might have forgiveness and peace and eternal life in heaven. This is the one true God, the only God there is. His name is the Lord. And don’t ever settle for anyone else. Don’t ever follow or trust in any other god. When it comes to God, you want the real thing. You want the LORD, because he is God and there is no other. Amen.