Don’t Wait, Come Before Its Too Late

We find in Judges chapter 2:1ff where God speaks of the broken covenant with His people Israel.

Judges 2:1-4

1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you,

2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?

3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be [thorns] in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."

4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, NIV

We find here in Isa 55:1-3 where God is saying “come unto me”. When God speaks He use a lot of times the speaking of water. Why water? Well nothing that has physical life can survive without water. Nothing will live very long if water is withheld.

Look at these verses about water from the bible;

Isaiah 12:3

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. NIV

Isaiah 21:14

14 bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema, bring food for the fugitives. NIV

Isaiah 32:2

2 Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. NIV

Isa 35:6-10

6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.

9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,

10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

John 4:7

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a

drink?" NIV

John 4:10

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

NIV

John 4:14

14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." NIV

John 7:38

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." NIV

1 Kings 17

II. SPIRITUAL FOOD. But we are now to consider that "man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word," etc. (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4). The saints have meat to eat of which the world knows nothing (John 4:84). Elijah had other food than that which the ravens brought him. In giving" daily bread," God does not forget man's spiritual part, even if he forgets it in his prayer for bread. And God supplies the soul's needs by laws not unlike those which govern the supply of material food.

1. We must use the means of grace. The treasury of the Church contains an abundant provision. There are" living waters," there is" super substantial bread," there is word and sacrament, prayer and psalm But we must come to the waters and drink (John 7:37; Rev 22:17). Our faith needs something to feed upon, and it is in vain we ask for miracles, so long as we do not use means. If we want to love God more, we must seek to know God, through His word and works, better. If we want to be more like Christ, we must be more with Christ, in His word and ordinances, for it is "association produces assimilation." There is a tendency to decry the means of grace. There is a religion which is wholly subjective, which seeks its growth and expansion in everlasting self-introspection or mystical contemplation of the Divine perfections. But "Thou shalt drink of the brook." True, the channel is nothing - Annus non ager, facit fructum, - but a channel. It is God must fill it, but if God has dug it, it is presumption to discard it. "The means that Heaven yields must be embraced, And not neglected; else if Heaven would And we will not, Heaven's offers we refuse."

2. If we are debarred from the means of grace, God will give grace without means. It is a blessed truth, gratis non ligatur mediis. We may not dispense with them, but God can, and does. He did so in the oft-cited instance of the dying thief. He was saved without sacraments, but St. Paul was not (Acts 22:16). And how often have the saints and martyrs, cut off, Amid fierce persecutions, from the communion of the saints, found their deserts or their cells glorified by direct communion with God. Matthew Henry quaintly says that "if we cannot go to the house of the Lord, we can go to the Lord of the house." The Church of England proclaims that there may be a true Eucharist without the elements (vide The Communion of the Sick, 3 rd Rubric). But it is only when we are deprived of the means that we can justly expect God to dispense with them. He has commanded His ministers to feed His Church (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2); He has given them word and sacrament, bread and wine, wherewith to nourish it; but He is independent both of means and ministers.

3. Supplies of grace are granted day by day. Our soul's bread is a daily bread. Every day we ask for forgiveness, for grace (Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread. ); and as our days, so our strength shall be (Deut 33:25). If we have not morning and evening prayer in the Church, we may have it in the house. And the Word of God and prayer, in private, may sanctify morning and evening. Each may find a Cherith in the closet; each receive there his portion of meat in due season.

4. Grace is given without measure. God does not promise luxuries, because they are often hurtful. But there is no over indulgence here. It is significant how excess in wine is contrasted with being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18). One cannot drink too deep of the living waters (John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.)"

They are given freely (Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life).

NIV

Isa 55:6

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. The condition and limit in the obtaining of the spiritual benefits (Isa 55:1-3):

(1) Seek the Lord.

(2) Seek Him while He is to be found (Isa 65:1; Ps 32:6; Matt 25:1-13; John 7:34; 8:21; 2 Cor 6:2; Heb 2:3; 3:13,15).

Isaiah 65:1

1 "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'

Psalms 32:6

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. NIV

Matt 25:1-13 is dealing the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins. The story goes that those that were not wise did not prepare themselves for the return of the Master who in this parable is Jesus. That is a case of not being to find Him while you may be able to find him when the opportunities present it self.

John 7:33-36

33 Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."

35 The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?

36 What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"

NIV

Call ye upon him-casting yourselves wholly on His mercy (Rom 10:13). Stronger than "seek;" so "near" is more positive than "while He may be found" (Rom 10:8-9).

Romans 10:8-9

8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:

9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. NIV

Romans 10:13

13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

NIV

While he is near-propitious (Ps 34:18; 145:18).

Divine Nearness of God

Psalms 34:18

18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit NIV

Psalms 145:18

18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. NIV

Jeremiah 23:23

23 "Am I only a God nearby, "declares the LORD, "and not a God far away?

Acts 17:27

27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. NIV

Do'nt Wait, Come Before Its Too Late

Don’t Wait, Come Before Its Too Late

Isaiah 65:1

Divine Nearness of God