Isaiah 55 | Hope for the thirsty | Shaun McGregor

Why would you turn down the great invitation ever? 

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Imagine for a moment the sights and the sounds and the smells of a market. You can hear the sellers calling out, advertising their wares. You can smell the food. You can almost taste it in your mouth. Now imagine for a moment that this market is not in Southeast Asia, not down at Paddy's Markets in Sydney, but in the Middle East. You are surrounded by desert. You're thirsty. And you are far from home. You have no money. You are destitute. And in your sorrow and in your longing to eat what is on sale here, you hear one of the sellers, one of the market holders, the storeholders, calling out, Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Imagine hearing those words. They are wonderful to hear. They are so inviting, so so speaking to your heart, your longings. Not just water which you need, but wine to drink. Not just bread which will fill your stomach, but the richest of fare, says the market holder. And even to you, to you who have no money, surely, surely they would chase you away from their stall. They don't want beggars there. How could they offer this without cost? It all seems too good to be true. Of course, such an offer is not new in the Bible. From the very first pages of the Bible, God has made everything very good, and placed a man and a woman in a garden, and said, Come, you may eat from any tree in the garden. Come. Yet when they rejected him and were cast out of the garden, still, still he called a people and said to them, Come, come to a land flowing with milk and honey. And Jesus, Jesus said, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. As we saw in John's gospel, he is the living water, I am the bread of life. And so he said, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and live. And in the great story of the Bible, on the very last page of the Bible, come, let the one who is thirsty come. These words we read this morning, words spoken by God to those of God's people who had become exiles away from their land under his judgment, he said, Come. And God says, Come to us today. Come and have joy and peace. But what is it that God is inviting us to enjoy this morning? Surely it is more than great food. Come and receive forgiveness and hope. Like often in the Bible, often in poetry, the metaphor is explained, if only you will keep reading. The invitation is repeated. Verse 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. In what sense do they have no money? They are wicked and unrighteous. They are forsaken and turned away from the Lord. So thrown out of the land, living under his judgment. What is the wine and the food that God is offering? He will have mercy on them and freely pardon them. He is offering them, verse 12, joy and peace. From the very beginning of Isaiah's book, his vision of Jerusalem, he said, Come now, God said, let us settle the matter. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Just a couple of weeks ago, comfort, comfort my people, your sin has been paid for. Come and receive forgiveness. But yet there is more. They are defeated, they are prisoners of Babylon, they are so far from their glory days under King David. And see what he offers. Verse 3. I will make an everlasting covenant and agreement with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and a commander of the peoples. Surely I will summon you, surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you. There was an eternal promise to King David. His house would rule forever, and they would rule over the nations. And I'll make that eternal promise with you. You will no longer be defeated. You will no longer be prisoners, you will be so forgiven and blessed that you will invite others to come to you, and they will come running. How good will it be? What is this wine, this richest of fare? We've seen a couple of times in Isaiah 23, God promised a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of wines. What was the banquet? He will swallow up death forever. He will wipe away every tear. A whole world transformed, indeed, the world itself celebrating. Verse 12. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper, instead of briars, the myrtle will grow. God says, Come and receive forgiveness and hope. I was reading yesterday that Elon Musk is the world's first ever trillionaire. But whatever personal wealth you have, in the currency that really matters, we all have zero. We are guilty under judgment and facing hell. And to people who have no money, God says, come. Enjoy my forgiveness and hope. How good is that? Quite a few years ago now, we had some friends who said to us, we have a flat in Paris. It's big enough for you and your five children to stay in for as long as you like. And it's empty. Would you like to come? Well, I don't need to tell you what we did. Do I? What is the greatest invitation you've ever received? Perhaps time with the greatest person that you wanted to be with. Perhaps a gift so valuable and unexpected. God invites us into a relationship with Him, the greatest feast of life forever, and we are completely bankrupt. It is just what I, just what you, just what everyone truly needs, but could never deserve. How could God do this? Surely this is too good to be true. How could you be sure? God says, Come, receive forgiveness and hope, for I have paid, and I will give it to you. There's a little clue in verse 5 as to how this could be true. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you. I said last week that in the first half of Isaiah, chapters 1 to 39, God's promise of hope for a fallen world centres on a king in the light of David. But then somehow in the second half of the book, the second half of the vision, the king disappears, nowhere to be seen. Instead, there is this mysterious figure called my servant. At some times he seems to be the whole nation, at some times he seems to be an individual. What do we see here? Verse 3. I made an everlasting covenant with David. And if you're going to fulfill that covenant, you'll need someone to be David. Who is it in verse 5? Surely you will summon nations you know not. Perhaps it is the nation. But if the word is singular, surely you will summon nations. As Paul saw in Acts 13, this is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, and the suffering servant is also the king who lives forever. They are one and the same person. And what was it that the suffering servant did to bring forgiveness and hope? This promise, this invitation in 55 comes after the buying in 53. He suffered, he was pierced for our transgressions, we saw last week. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. So he has paid. And so you who have no money come. In Australia, we have an expression: there is no such thing as a free lunch. There's always a catch. This offer from God is not free. That's true. Someone had to pay. It is free to you because Jesus has already paid it all. Imagine that for months you are looking for a house and you keep walking past your dream home. It has everything you desire for you and your family. And then one day you are filled with joy. For a for sale sign goes up out the front. Well, you have saved some money. You borrow a stupendous mind-blowing amount of money so that you can purchase your dream home. And a big sticker saying sold goes on the sign. And then you spend the next 30 years paying it off. For you do not really own it, do you? And God's invitation is nothing like that. You have not saved anything. As a Christian, you are not paying it off for the next 30 years. No, it has been paid. That is the sticker on the sign. Jesus paid it all. And God now says, Come. All the sins I did this morning in my thoughts, in my words. All the sins that I will do this afternoon, no doubt, as I lose patience with people, as I focus on myself, as I forget about God, whether they are small or great, right now I can say that the Lord has paid for them all. They are already paid. He will not, he cannot punish me as well, having already put it on Jesus. It would be unjust to do so. And so I come with absolute confidence, receiving forgiveness and hope. Do you see how certain it is? And yet the Lord knows that we need reassurance. His people who are exiles, who are under their own guilt, seeing their powerful enemies around them, they needed reassurance. We, we we have that voice of Satan in our head, don't we? You lost patience again. Your prayers are so weak, Sean, you can't even keep concentrating for five minutes. And yet again, you didn't speak up for Jesus with the opportunity that God gave you. Do you really think, Sean, says Satan, that God will forgive you? Even if he was to make a new world, would he really welcome you? God knows that we need confidence, and so he piles on the reasons. I've paid it all, he says, and I will surely give it to you. Verse eight. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of America, a great man in many ways, betrayed his wife by repeatedly sleeping with another woman, and then failed to protect, to stop his son engaging in a duel, and his son died. And his wife was furious, and rightly so. And in the musical, which is based on real life, you see, and the song says, they are trying to do the unimaginable. He is trying to breach the great divide, and she is trying to forgive. And as the person watching and listening to the song again and again, I so much want her to forgive. That would be the heroic thing to do. And yet I'm wondering, would my ways be that? Would my thoughts be that? Would I do the unimaginable? God forgiving us is unimaginable. And it should seem unimaginable to us. If I was God, would I forgive Sean? And God says to us, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. I promise you, says God, I want you, and I will forgive. The metaphor of the heavens and the earth continues, doesn't it, verse 10? As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater. So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire, and achieve that purpose for which I sent it. The rain that falls down from the heavens today, as it falls on the earth, will produce plants and crops that grow and food to eat. It is effective. And God says, in the same way my word is effective, it always produces what I intend. And I intend to bring you forgiveness and hope. God is not promising here that everyone who hears his word will come to have hope and forgiveness will believe in Jesus. As we saw in John 6, God promises that he will draw everyone who he has given to Jesus. And he will surely make sure that your sins are paid for, that you are forgiven, and that just as he created the heavens and the earth by his word, so he will create a new heavens and a new earth by his word. And friends, it is that word that always accomplishes what God intends. That word that you are hearing in your ears right now. And I pray is getting into your soul that you might have confidence. And when God calls you to come, you know that you will receive forgiveness and hope. I bought it for you, says God. I will surely give it to you. But why? We should ask. Why would God do this? Come, come receive my forgiveness and hope, for I have prayed and I will give to you. Why? So that my glory will be seen forever. Right at the end there in verse 13. This will be for the Lord's renown, his fame, for an everlasting sign that will endure forever. Do you seek your own renown, your fame? Perhaps through your studies or your work, your wit in a conversation, perhaps through your children's success, or your social media profile. However, you do it, it will not last. It could come all crashing down in a day. And one day it will surely fade like a flower of the field. But God is the holy King seated on a throne who alone rightly deserves and seeks his glory. What is the sign? What is the thing that will most show his glory? Is it his power or his wealth, his success, or even judging sinners? Would that be it? No. It is in doing the unimaginable. It is in wanting to and doing everything necessary to forgive and give hope to bankrupt sinners. It is the unimaginable when Eliza forgives her husband Alexander as she did. But God does even more. He pays and then pleads that the guilty party would come. And his greatest glory is his people. Jesus' people. What are they like? They are thieves, betrayers, and persecutors. And that's just the twelve apostles. They are sexual failures and the demon-possessed. That's just in the gospels. And since then they are Nazis, terrorist bombers, and even sneering secularists who come. Everybody who thirsts but has nothing to give him, and he gives why? It is for us. But ultimately, it is not just for us. It is for the Lord's renowned. This is the thing. This is the thing that most shows his glory. And don't you think that really shows his glory? That he thinks this is the thing that most shows his glory. Would you have chosen that? When we come, and when we invite others to come, so we show God's glory. God says, Come. Receive my forgiveness and hope, for I've paid, and I will give to you so that my glory will be seen forever. Well, that just leaves one question, doesn't it? Will you come? What does it mean to come here? It means to admit that you have no money. Verse 1. No matter how much money you have in your bank account or your superannuation, in your skills, your degrees, your experience, or your so-called goodness before God, you are bankrupt. I am bankrupt. And God says to come just as you are. I have paid. I have promised. You just need to come, admitting. And secondly, it's very simple. You need to turn, verse 7. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them and to our God, for he will freely pardon. Turn. Turn away, forsake, and turn to. Did you notice how pathetic it is in verse 2? Why spend money on what is not bread? And your labor on what does not satisfy? These exiles who have nothing. They spend even what they don't have on what does not satisfy, they keep searching after other gods' idols. Can you see how little you would leave behind to come to God? We spend our money and our time and our hearts on idols that do not satisfy. Do you see that? Our next success, our educational work, the next holiday, our retirement dream. Do you find that they fill your soul and satisfy you? If you get one of them, the question is always, what's next? So turn to the Lord. Forsake your wicked ways, as it says. Turn to the Lord. This takes serious reflection, doesn't it? What sort of a change in your thoughts, your words, your relationships, in your family, your friendships, in your private life would be needed here. God is not looking for a superficial Sunday-only faith. He wants a real turning back to him. So we will come as we are, but we will not stay as we are. Will you come? And will you come today? Did you notice in verse 6 the urgency? Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Friends, God is not hiding. Through his prophet Isaiah, through his son Jesus, he revealed himself. It's as if if God was playing the hide-and-seek game with a child and the child is covering their eyes and counting to ten, he's not hiding, he's standing right in front of the child. And even before the child gets to ten, he's calling out, Come. He's not hiding. But he won't be found forever. So many people put off thinking about God, turning back to God. I'll think about that when I have more time. When I've got myself established in the world, a good job, a good house, paid off more of the mortgage, or when I've had my fun and coming to God won't curtail my fun. But putting off coming to God is a misunderstanding of the human heart. Do you think it will be easier to come to God when you're old? No, it will be much harder. You'll be practiced at saying no by then. And your heart will be harder. And putting off coming to God sells God short. Imagine if you were married and you had betrayed your spouse, and your spouse wants to forgive you. They are pleading with you to come and to repent so that they can forgive you. And you hear them. They're saying, Come. And you say, I'll wait a while. I'll keep them waiting. It not only sells God short, it sells you short. You miss out on the joy and the peace that you could have right now. And of course, who knows when Jesus will return? When God can no longer be found. If you have never come to Jesus and received his forgiveness and hope, if you have never admitted and turned, then will you come today? Why would you wait any longer? If you have come, then what are we doing to say come, to invite our neighbors and our friends and our family members, our work colleagues? What are we doing to invite them to come? What are we doing to make our church gathering together as warm and inviting as possible so that you would want to invite someone to come? Or if someone else invites someone, they will really feel welcome when they come. What are we doing to express come? And will you come every day? When I sin this afternoon, in whatever way it will be, but I guarantee you it will happen in some way, in my thoughts or my words or my actions, when I sin this afternoon, what will I do? Will I not even notice? That's possible. Will I ignore it and say I'm only human? Will I take it for granted that God will forgive? Or will I sink into a low-lying, enduring guilt that is never resolved? Or will I remember these words, this invitation? This offer that couldn't be better, the greatest ever invitation that God continues to say. Remember that I can be confident because my sin is paid for, that he will give it to me. And say, Well I come, admit, and turn. God says, Come, receive my forgiveness and hope, for I have paid. Will you come today? Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that your word, your word like the rain, comes from the heavens and achieves what you want it to achieve. So, Father, we pray. We pray that having heard this word, your invitation to come and receive forgiveness and hope, that you would so soften our hearts, that your word might seek deep into our hearts and bring forth, come forth in admitting our need and turning to you, that we might indeed go out in joy and be led forth in peace. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.