God's Faithfulness
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
AG: Are You in This World?
With an unprecedented number of Americans out of work, a reporter visited the famous Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, Florida. This exclusive club has a membership of about thirty-five hundred, most of whom are millionaires or approaching it. On this day, the men had just returned from their yachts, tennis courts, and the links, and were ecstatic over the exotic buffet of expensive and colorful foods. When asked, “Is there a recession here?” a member replied, “I don’t know of anyone who has been laid off or anyone who is hungry. That isn’t part of our world.”1
G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 366.
Our world has invented many ways to divide and segregate us. There are exclusive clubs and night spots where the “insiders” get to gather. But God’s Kingdom isn’t like that!
TS:
RS:
I. A Universal Invitation—in Regard to the Grace of God (55:1–9):
I. A Universal Invitation—in Regard to the Grace of God (55:1–9):
This is one of Scripture’s greatest invitations.
A. The participants(55:1a):
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
exclusive
God’s redemptive work and glorious kingdom are for the benefit of all wiling to come.
It is only for the thirsty.
Like we thirst for water, we should also thirst for spiritual life
We call this conviction.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
B. The product(55:1b):
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
Free wine or milk.
Salvation is being offered
C. The price (55:1c–2):
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
It is absolutely free!
It is offered to those who have no money.
Spend money for “not bread”
Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.
Not the bread of deceit from Earthly things
We are spiritually bankrupt without Christ, so there is no money we could bring.
Vs 2 and 3 of Rock of Ages
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
Their thirst and hunger will freely be filled freely to them
Salvation is the offer being done.
It was bought and payed for by the suffering servant, Jesus, discussed in ch 53.
God freely offers salvation to all who will accept
D. The promise(55:3–5):
Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.
Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.
Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”
This free drink saves one’s soul!
God gives a everlasting covenant
The Davidic Covenant:
God made an unbreakable promise to King David that one of his descendants would reign on the his throne in an eternal kingdom.
Paul connected the resurrection of Christ with this very promise:
And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’
Jesus’ death paid the price to atone for sin
Jesus’ resurrection makes possible the ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant in the eternal Kingdom!
Now, the call goes out universally to all people on Earth to come!
E. The plea(55:6–9):
Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Sinners are urged to seek the Lord now, before it is too late.
Here we see one of he clearest invitations to to salvation now and kingdom blessings later
In OT and now in NT salvation grace and mercy are available to the one who:
1. seeks the Lord
But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.
Forsaking our sin is wrapped up in seeking the Lord
That is repentance: turn from going our own way to following God in His path
2. Call on Him while He can be found
For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him.
You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”
After the Tribulation, it will be to late
Our time will run out
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
John MacArthur summarizes it this way:
Such true seeking in faith is accompanied by repentance, which is described as forsaking ways and thoughts and turning from sinful living to the Lord. A sinner must come, believing in God, recognizing his sin and desiring forgiveness and deliverance from that sin. At the same time he must recognize his own inability to be righteous or to satisfy God and cast himself on God’s mercy. It is then that he receives a complete pardon.
John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Is 55:6.
II. A Natural Illustration—in Regard to the Word of God(55:10–11):
II. A Natural Illustration—in Regard to the Word of God(55:10–11):
Isaiah compares the weather to God’s word.
A. God’s weather (55:10):
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
The rain comes down from heaven to produce food for people’s bodies.
a. That dirt has the latent potential for beauty and glory.
b. There is the potential for feeding and helping mankind.
c. All it needs is the rain to transform it into life
God’s word comes down from heaven to produce food for people’s souls.
1. God’s word is from His Mouth
Inspiration of Scripture
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Men did NOT write the Bible, God did!
God inspired, breathed, it into the hearts and minds of the humans who penned it.
The result of this is that it is 100% the exact words God wanted written.
2. Won’t return void
God’s word is powerful and it isn’t wasted when it goes forth
Take Genesis for example:
God spoke and there was light, earth, atmosphere, life!
The same holds true today in the written word of God
God put it forth and it powerfully does what He decrees!
3. Accomplish His purpose and Prosper
purpose of the word:
1. To reveal Himself.
2. To bring us faith.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
3. To bring us eternal life.
4. Transform us:
a. From a dry, parched, fruitless field to a lush, verdant garden.
b. God's Word has transformed lives that men have classified worthless or hopeless.
Fire transforms all things it touches into its own nature. The wood does not change the fire into itself, but the fire changes the wood into itself. In the same way we are transformed into God.
Meister Eckhart
III. A Personal Application—in Regard to the People of God (ISA 55:12–13):
III. A Personal Application—in Regard to the People of God (ISA 55:12–13):
“For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Someday during the Millennium all believers will dwell peacefully and joyfully in a perfect world!
The curse will one day be reversed
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
In the Kingdom, that curse is no more!
We will sing and rejoice praising God, the very One who reversed the curse on Earth and within us.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Though we are longing for the coming Kingdom, we get a small taste now.
Have you ever been to Sams club? I used to love going there because of all the free samples they handed out. A little taste of the food to tempt you buy it all.
We get a taste of the Kingdom when we repent and call on Him to save us.
Our souls are transformed and we The Holy Spirit within us, sealing us until the final Kingdom.
Today, we rejoice!
If you have not entered the Kingdom, this is the day to answer God’s invitation!
[1]
[1] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Is 54:13–55:13.