"The Servant's Success" Sermon: Isaiah 55:1-13 (manuscript)

 

“The Servant’s Success”

[Isaiah 55:1-13]

May 23, 2021 YouTube

            God whets the spiritual appetite of His people in describing the Kingdom that is to come for all those who believe in Jesus savingly.  Now God turns to speak of those who should come and those who do come to Him.

            First, God provides for His people.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Does this sound at all familiar?

Jesus speaks to the woman at the well, “Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14, ESV).

And again, “And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment’” (Revelation 21:6, ESV).

This Water comes from God Alone through Jesus.  Who is the Water in passages like these?

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39, ESV).

The Water in these texts is the Holy Spirit.  All believers are told to come and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in “greater” measure day by day and throughout all of eternity. 

And those Who receive the Water from the Father and the Son receive Him freely.  We cannot offer anything for the salvation and the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit – it is a gift of God, not of works.  No one is holy enough to offer God anything – in fact, we sinners are totally reliant on God and His Grace and Mercy for everything we have.

“Come, you are being filled with the Holy Spirit, receive what He gives as He directs our gaze to our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

God needs nothing from us, and we have nothing to offer.

And because we live in the now and not in the before or the not yet, we still sin and turn away from God.  We convince ourselves that this little bit of tinsel is of more value than the refulgent glory of the Holy God.

So, God asks with incredulity, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live;”

We are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our strength and all of our mind – giving every part of who we are to God for His Glory and our enjoyment.  Still, we turn to sin instead and waste our money – we waste our lives, we raise the question if we have ever truly received – and receive – the Living Water from Jesus.

God tells Jerusalem and us that if we eat the good and the rich foods that God gives us – in the indwelling of God the Holy Spirt – if we listen diligently to all God says, if we hear Him – and we find listening and hearing God our priority, we will live eternally.

If we listen and hear the Word of God and do not turn a deaf ear to Him, but rather believe in Him and obey Him, we will live eternally in a world without end.

We can understand, as Jerusalem begins the long preparation to be taken into the Babylonian exile, she could find God’s promise of a Kingdom for all a little hard to believe.  So, God points out to them that God has covenanted with David and his generations that there will always be a descendant of David on the throne in Jerusalem.

“and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.”

And we might question this agreement that God gives to Israel:  is there a king who is a direct descendant of David on the throne in Jerusalem right now? Perhaps a better question to ask, as we see the bombs falling on Israel once again, is, where is the throne of David and his sons?

The Sanhedrin asks Jesus if He is the long-awaited Messiah, “And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62, ESV).

 Jesus tells them, “Yes, I am the Messiah, and not only that, I Am the Sovereign God, and you will see Me return to my throne next to the Father, having all authority over the Creation, just as You will see Me return in power and glory from Heaven.

Kings from the line of David reigned over Israel and died time and time again, until Jesus came to earth. As the angel says to Mary, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33, ESV).

Jesus is the legitimate heir and final King to sit on the throne of David, and He reigns eternally.

And God chose the send the Son to incarnate and be the Savior of all those who believe, not just from Israel – but from every nation of the world: “Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.”

God has provided us with the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit and all we need to follow God in righteousness, and God chose to make the gift of salvation known to the world through our telling people the truth we have come to know.  And God will draw all those who are His to Himself, and God will be glorified for choosing to save people from every nation throughout time and space.

Thus, God has provided for His people.  We are to grow in faith and obedience and shout the Good News from the rooftops, and God will draw people to Himself.

Second, God calls all people to repent.

“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, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

At the end of the first section, we see that God has called all peoples to Himself – the Jews and the Gentiles.  The Jews – Jerusalem – is going into exile because she is loitering in the Presence of the Lord, whereas the Gentiles are running into the Presence of the Lord.

And so, we have this general call to repentance – which is to all peoples.  Seek the Lord now – you don’t know how much more time there is for you or the world.  Don’t think you can come to God at a time that’s more convenient or when you are older and have nothing better to do.  No, now is the time for salvation.  The Lord is here now, so the wicked should repent of their ways and the unrighteous of their sinful thoughts.

Jesus speaks of the household servants and their master: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks” (Luke 12:35-36, ESV).  Don’t wait.  We don’t know when the Master is returning.  Come sincerely and piously now.  Come as you are but be prepared not to remain as you are – in Christ you shall be changed.

This is the message – the call to all peoples – the call to each one of us.  And if anyone does come to the Lord and confess his sin, and forsakes his way, we have the promise that God will have compassion on him and abundantly pardon him.

What does this mean for the person who answers the call to repent?

We are not to doubt but believe that God has lots of compassion.  We are to believe that God’s ways are incomprehensible.

Paul writes, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21, ESV).

Our sin is cosmic rebellion against God, and the sin of the unbeliever has him hanging over the bottomless pit – eternal death – but if he repents and believes savingly in Jesus, he is met by a grace that is greater than his sin.  He is met by the infinite compassion and willingness to forgive of our God and Father through Jesus Christ.

It is incomprehensible to unbelievers and believers alike that God has infinite compassion and forgiveness for all those who repent and believe – like the father in the parable of the two brothers, whose younger son took his inheritance and blew it in sinful living, broke down, understanding his sin and returned to his father, not looking to resume his place with the father, but merely to be a servant in his father’s house.  But the father runs to his son and restores him and rejoices in him in infinite joy and compassion and forgiveness.

And so, we receive what God says here, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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.”

God says, “You understand a little bit in repenting and believing in the Savior and striving to live a holy life, but I am still so much greater than you in every way, you can only begin to understand what it means that ‘God so loved the world.’”

God is sending Jerusalem into the Babylonian exile, but He tells her to repent and believe in the Savior, and God will have compassion on her and forgive her and that will leave her mouth hanging open in disbelief and lack of understanding.

But let us be careful – our text does not mean we cannot understand God at all.  R. C. Sproul writes:

“What can we know about God? That’s the most basic question of theology, for what we can know about God and whether we can know anything about Him at all determine the scope and content of our study. Here we must consider the teaching of the greatest theologians in history, all of whom have affirmed the “incomprehensibility of God.” By using the term incomprehensible, they are not referring to something we are unable to comprehend or know at all. Theologically speaking, to say God is incomprehensible is not to say that God is utterly unknowable. It is to say that none of us can comprehend God exhaustively” (https://www.ligonier.org/blog/god-incomprehensible/)

So, we can understand God’s call to all people to repent and believe in the Savior, yet the infiniteness of His compassion for believers and the fulness of His willingness to forgive believers – is beyond our comprehension.

We understand that God calls all people everywhere to repent of their sin and believe in the Savior – and the time to respond is now.

Third, God sends His Word out and it returns full.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Do we hear what God is saying?  The Gospel – Who Jesus is and what He did – will go out through the world and accomplish everything that God intends it to do.

In explaining the parable of the sower, Jesus speaks of those who truly repent and believe: “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:23, ESV).

Listen again:  The Gospel goes out through those who preach, and God causes the sending out of the Gospel to bear fruit.  In fact, everyone that God intends to save will believe the Gospel and repent.  No one is lost that God intends to save.  The Gospel – the Word of God goes out – and it accomplishes everything God intends it to accomplish, including the saving of everyone for whom Christ died.

God is also Sovereign over the whole Creation.

 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

Here we have the imagery of the Exodus again – just as God’s people were led out of Egypt in joy and peace – so in an even greater sense on the last day – we with the Creation will exit the fallen world and follow God into the restored world – the Kingdom without end.

In response to the Word of God going out and the belief and repentance of all those God intends to have believe, the Creation rejoices.  Metaphorically, the mountains and hills break out into song and the trees clap their hands.

Paul writes, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:19-22, ESV).

The Creation “knows” that when all those for whom Christ died believe and repent – filling the Kingdom – the Creation will be delivered for its punishment that it has been under since the Fall in the Garden.

The Creation will be freed from all of its corruption and returned to its state in the Garden: “’The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 65:25, ESV).

“Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

All of the Creation will be restored -- not the animals only, but all of the plants will be restored as well.

All this will be a witness to the Lord and His glorious work.

God provides for His people and calls all people to repent and believe the Gospel, and as He sends out His Word – the Gospel – it accomplishes everything God intends it to do – including the restoration of the entire Creation.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, You have called a people for Yourself and given them to Your Son.  You provide for all of Your people – all each one of us needs for this day – and You call all the world to belief and repentance, knowing that some will never believe and repent – some will continue to hate You.  We are amazed at Your work of salvation and only begin to understand it – and You have given us minds to hear and read Your Word so we would know You there and in the Creation.  We understand that our first parents brought sin into the world and the world was cursed for their sin.  So, we look forward to the coming of the Kingdom in all its fullness, and we rejoice in knowing that we who believe will be eternally restored in our bodies, and the whole Creation will be restored as well.  Lord, forgive us for our sins, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.