Isaiah 45, and verse 22, says: “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
What Does It Mean to Be Saved?
Could I ask you tonight a very simple question? Are you saved? You might say, “That word gets used a lot, but I’m still trying to understand what it actually means to be saved.” Fair enough. Earlier today I was walking around downtown Ottawa, near Parliament, looking out over the Ottawa River. I saw a few boats out there, and some people on paddleboards.
Picture someone out on that river in some kind of flotation device. They can’t swim. They don’t have a life jacket on. And while they’re out there, something happens — the boat capsizes, flips over, and they find themselves in the middle of the river. What does that person need?
They need to be rescued. That’s a person who needs to be saved.
Salvation is a concept most of us understand instinctively when we picture someone drowning. They need rescue. Now, I don’t believe there’s anyone in this meeting tonight, or listening online, who is physically drowning. No one here is in physical danger. But there are people here tonight who are in spiritual danger, because you are in your sins.
What Road Are You On?
There’s a chart at the front of this hall tonight. It isn’t an inspired chart — God didn’t hand it down from heaven — but every reference on it comes from Scripture. Someone took the time to go through the Bible and lay out, on paper, the truth it teaches about where every person stands before God.
Every one of us was born on the broad road. David said it plainly in Psalm 51: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” Every single one of us was born on that broad road. The Lord Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 7: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” Wide is the gate. Broad is the way. Many go in that way. But then, in verse 14, he says, “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
So the question tonight is: what road are you on?
There’s a word you could write over that narrow road — the word we’ve been hearing about tonight: saved. And there’s a word you could write over the broad road, the one that leads to destruction: lost.
What road are you on? Have you ever actually located yourself according to what the word of God says, rather than according to how you feel?
The Story of Adam
I remember a summer evening years ago. I was working for a season with a family of land surveyors. Not far from where we were working, there was a gospel meeting, maybe half an hour away. I asked a coworker, Adam, if he’d come with me. He’d never been to one before — grown up with some religious background, but he’d never thought much of the Bible. He agreed.
Two men stood up that night and preached from the word of God, much like we’re doing tonight. And while Adam sat there listening, his eyes were fixed on the very same kind of chart — the two roads. He was listening to what was being said, and he was quietly trying to work out where he stood.
When the meeting ended and everyone else began filing out, Adam didn’t move. He got up, walked to the front of the hall, and stood there staring at that chart. I gave him a few minutes, then walked up and asked him, “Adam — where are you?”
Could I ask you the same thing tonight? Where are you? If I handed you a pencil right now — not a permanent marker, because your position on that chart can still change tonight — where would you put the mark?
Adam looked at the chart for a long moment and said, “Tim, if what those men are preaching is right, and it’s found in the Bible, I’m on the broad road. I’m not saved. Those men were talking about salvation tonight, and I’m not saved. I’m on the road that goes to hell.”
I can tell you happily that it wasn’t long after that when Adam was found. He came to understand the words of John 10:9, where the Lord Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.”
Could I ask you tonight — are you saved? Are you ready for heaven? Have your sins been forgiven? Have you been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ? Have you been given new life from God?
Look Unto Me and Be Saved
It’s a wonderful thing to be saved. The Lord, speaking through Isaiah, was looking directly at the nation of Israel in his day — but the words apply just as directly to us tonight. If there’s someone in this meeting who isn’t saved, listen to what the Lord says: “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Don’t look at yourself. Look inside, and all you’ll find is sin, fear, wickedness, unbelief, and doubt. Look to another instead. Look to Christ, who has finished the work, and trust in him — because the Lord says, “Look unto Me and be saved.”
There’s something striking about what leads up to that verse in Isaiah 45.
The Display of a Powerful God
We’re reminded first of God’s character — specifically, of a powerful God on display. The God of the Bible is a God of power. Look at verse 18: “For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other.’”
That’s the display of a powerful God, and we don’t have to look far to see it. Even around Ottawa — I walked over eleven kilometres today, and it’s a beautiful city. The green spaces, the rivers, even the cornfields on the drive in. Monotonous as a long stretch of cornfield might look, there’s still a quiet beauty in it — all of it God’s creation. The heavens declare the glory of God.
But tonight I don’t have to look outside this hall to see the power of God in creation. I don’t even have to look past the seat you’re sitting on. Every one of us has been formed by God. David said, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Every one of us is a display of a powerful God. When Paul preached in Athens, in Acts 17, he told his hearers, “For in Him we live and move and have our being… for we are also His offspring.” We have all been shaped by the hand of God — a display of a powerful God.
The Demands of a Holy God
But after the display of a powerful God, Isaiah writes about the demands of a righteous God. A God who is powerful is also holy, just, and entirely righteous — and God has never hidden that about himself. Look at verse 19: “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth.” God has not concealed who he is. He has made himself plainly known — not only the display of a powerful God, but the demands of a holy God: who he is, and what he thinks of sin.
Have you ever asked what God thinks of my sin — not the sin of the person next to you, but the sin that belongs to you, on your own seat? Even as I stand here tonight, what about my own sin?
Ezekiel 18 puts the demand plainly: “The soul who sins shall die.” God cannot alter who he is, and he will not. “I am the LORD, I do not change.” His verdict on sin doesn’t shift. Sin is disobedience against God; it’s the breaking of God’s law. And the Bible says, without exception, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” None of us measures up to God’s standard. And the demand of a holy God is this: sin must be judged. Sin must be punished.
What does that mean, practically? It means every one of us deserves the wages of sin — eternal judgment, apart from grace. That’s not a comfortable thing to say, but it’s what a holy God demands.
The Desires of a Loving God
But leading right up to this text, God doesn’t only reveal himself as just — he reveals himself as Saviour. That tells us something about the desires of a loving God. I’m thankful that when I stand and preach the gospel, telling you about your need before a holy God, I’m also able to tell you that God has done everything necessary to save you from your sins. Heaven has moved to meet the need of sinners.
That takes us from God’s character to God’s concern. Heaven looked down and saw sinners condemned and perishing on the road to ruin, and God said, in effect, “I love that world, and I’m going to move for that world.” So God sent his own Son. John 3:16 says it plainly: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” First John 4 adds, “The Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world.” Heaven sent the very best heaven had. “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.” So tonight we can point you away from ourselves entirely to the finished work of Christ. Look unto him. Look unto me, the Lord says, and be saved, all the ends of the earth.
It isn’t only the work of Christ, either — it’s the ongoing sending of the word of God. I don’t know exactly how many years ago the gospel first reached Ottawa, but men were sent because God saw sinners in the dark and wanted to shine light. The years have passed, and the word of God is still true. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” And preachers have been sent again, because God still wants to shine light into the darkness — because God cares.
Maybe tonight you’re wondering whether anyone actually cares about you, in all your need. Friend, God cares. He was moved enough to send his Son, and he continues to send the message. I can look back through my own family’s history and see the goodness of God at work — my great-grandparents came to trust Christ at real personal cost, turned out of their own home for it. Because they heard, my grandfather heard the gospel, my mother heard it, and I’ve heard it. God is a God who cares, and he communicates his word.
Some people picture God as impatient to judge. Second Peter 3:9 says the opposite: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” First Timothy 2:4 says God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” That’s why God has been patient with you — because he wants to save you from your sins.
The Great Call of God
Now think, in these closing moments, of the great call of God — because God’s character and God’s concern come together in these words: “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.”
The Authority of the Call
That last phrase points to the authority of the call. This isn’t coming from a preacher — it’s coming from God, who says, “I am God, and there is no other.” That expression, or something very like it, appears seven times across Isaiah 45 and into chapter 46. It changes everything in a gospel meeting when a person realizes that what they’re hearing isn’t the opinion of the man standing at the front — it’s the word of God. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, thanking God that when they received the message, they welcomed it “not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.” Something happens when a listener recognizes that. God is speaking — right now, to people in Ottawa. Maybe to a young person, maybe to someone much older. And God wants your attention, because he wants to tell you: look unto Me and be saved.
The Availability of the Call
But it isn’t only the authority of the call — it’s the availability of the call. “All the ends of the earth.” I’m thankful there isn’t a single person we’re speaking to tonight, inside this hall or outside it, who falls outside the scope of God’s salvation. The work of Christ was never limited to a select group. He gave everything; his own lifeblood was poured out to reconcile a world to God. So we can stand on the word of God and say, without hesitation, “all the ends of the earth” — the call reaches everyone.
That call reached a seven-year-old boy in a small town in Newfoundland who came to understand, “I’m lost, I’m guilty, I deserve to be in hell — but Christ died for me.” It reached a sixteen-year-old boy in Boston who trusted Christ as Saviour. It has reached people right here in Ottawa. Maybe you’re sitting here tonight wondering, “Would it reach me?” Remember what the Lord says: “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. I am God, and there is no other.” The gospel is a message for everyone.
What Does “Look Unto Me” Ask You to Do?
What’s the actual focus of this verse? It’s the call itself — “look unto Me.” That brings us back to Acts 16, where a man asks, “What must I do to be saved?” You have to recognize something here: there is nothing you can do to save yourself. Nothing. Romans 5 says it clearly: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” We can’t save ourselves from our sin.
And yet, whenever we come to the word of God, the gospel demands a response. It’s a choice. You make that choice — God won’t make it for you. That’s why, when Paul and Silas looked at the Philippian jailer, they answered with a verb that demands a decision: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” Here, the Lord is saying the same thing: “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.” Look away from yourself, and look to another.
The Finished Work of Christ
You say, “What has Christ actually done?” You’ve already heard it tonight. When the Lord Jesus hung on the cross, that perfect sacrifice for sin, God’s infinite justice met his own Son there. The justice of God was satisfied when Christ died on the cross — completely, entirely, eternally. There’s an old hymn that captures it well: because the sinless Saviour died, the sinner who trusts him is counted free, for God the just is satisfied to look on Christ and pardon them. God’s unbending justice was satisfied at Calvary — satisfied because Christ shed his own blood. A sacrifice was made, and God was satisfied.
How do we know God is satisfied? Because of the work of Christ. We read in Scripture that God raised him from the dead. There is a living Saviour. If we could look past the roof of this hall tonight, past the sky, past the planets and everything in the heavens, into heaven itself where God dwells, we would see a man there who still bears the marks of the cross — a man who suffered for sins and finished the work, who said triumphantly, “It is finished.” And the Bible tells us that this man, after he offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. The work of Christ will never have to be repeated, because it was done once and for all.
And that’s why God says: “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.”
Assurance: God’s Word, Not Feelings
As we bring this meeting to a close, think about the assurance of the call. What are you depending on tonight? What are you trusting in for eternity? When it comes to the matter of your sin and your need before God, are you trusting your feelings? Feelings come and go. Feelings deceive.
My warrant is the word of God — nothing else is worth believing. Do you know how I know I’m saved? Because God’s word tells me. That’s all I have, and it’s all I need. A person can do with nothing less than what the word of God says, and a person needs nothing more than what God says in his word. And God says this: “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.”
Look to him. Trust in the Saviour, and you’ll know what it is to be saved from your sin — even tonight.
