Doug McMasters: Five, Isaiah chapter fifty-five.
Doug McMasters: History has a way of turning on invitations.
Doug McMasters: In the late 1400s, a person that we know of by the name in English anyway, as Christopher Columbus, had a bold idea that they just simply sail west across the Atlantic, and there they would find the Spice Islands and Asia and India.
Doug McMasters: Now, most experts in his time thought that the journey was too long and too dangerous, and some of them thought it was just simply impossible.
Doug McMasters: But Columbus was convinced, but he needed a sponsor.
Doug McMasters: So, first of all, he went to Portugal.
Doug McMasters: Portugal was the natural place to go.
Doug McMasters: They were at the time the leading maritime power.
Doug McMasters: They had already made their way down the coasts of Africa, had gone around the Cape of Good Hope, and were shortly thereafter to find their way over to India itself.
Doug McMasters: But after reviewing the proposal, uh King John II of Portugal declined the invitation to be a sponsor for Christopher Columbus's journey.
Doug McMasters: The court of Portugal thought that the risks were too high, and so they said no.
Doug McMasters: They declined the invitation.
Doug McMasters: So what did Columbus do?
Doug McMasters: He went to Spain.
Doug McMasters: And there he talked to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.
Doug McMasters: And in 1492, after some rejections before, they heard once again his invitation and they said yes.
Doug McMasters: And they agreed to fund the voyage.
Doug McMasters: They made him admiral of the ocean sea and granted him governance over any of the lands that he discovered.
Doug McMasters: That yes changed human history.
Doug McMasters: Spain acceptance of that invitation launched an era for them of exploration, of colonialization, and started what is in effect to our day, global transformation.
Doug McMasters: Portugal, by contrast, declined the invitation and missed the opportunity to lead the West in that exploration and development.
Doug McMasters: One nation said yes, one nation said no.
Doug McMasters: But invitations, missed invitations, don't always have just a political or global effect.
Doug McMasters: They also have a personal effect.
Doug McMasters: And all of us can look back on our lives when we've been had moments that were offered to us and we declined them.
Doug McMasters: And we might have thought, well, something else is better, or I we were too distracted to say yes, or too proud to welcome it, or too uncertain to step into the moment, only later to realize that was the moment.
Doug McMasters: That was the time.
Doug McMasters: That was the door, but I missed it.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah 55 opens up with just such a moment.
Doug McMasters: It begins in verse 1: Come, everyone who's thirsty, come to the water, and you without silver, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without silver and without cost.
Doug McMasters: This is a glorious invitation.
Doug McMasters: And it's not just a casual offer.
Doug McMasters: It's not even a statement of religious sentiment, it's a divine summons to find wholeness and fullness and restoration in God's welcome.
Doug McMasters: It's about a new life.
Doug McMasters: And Isaiah is speaking to a people who were in exile because they've been chasing bread and paying the price for it, and those things that don't satisfy.
Doug McMasters: But the Lord is not finished.
Doug McMasters: He gives them an invitation to come, to come to a feast, to come to this glorious promise, to come to a person who is himself the bread of life.
Doug McMasters: And if there's any tragedy at all in this situation, it's the tragedy, not that they weren't invited, it's a tragedy that they didn't accept the invitation.
Doug McMasters: And so this morning we're going to walk through this.
Doug McMasters: We're going to see the invitation.
Doug McMasters: We're going to see the foundation of the security that's there.
Doug McMasters: We're going to consider the response and see how it flows out to all who accept it with joy and fullness and life.
Doug McMasters: So let's begin with this first moment.
Doug McMasters: This moment where we're asked and told to come and to be filled in verses 1 and 2.
Doug McMasters: Again, Isaiah begins with these sweeping words.
Doug McMasters: Come, everyone who's thirsty, come buy wine and milk without silver and without cost.
Doug McMasters: And this invitation starts with a stunning word.
Doug McMasters: You may not think of it as stunning when you first see it.
Doug McMasters: The word come is a very common word for us, but it is a very, very striking word.
Doug McMasters: It's the Hebrew word, which in every other place in Isaiah is translated whoa.
Doug McMasters: But here it's come.
Doug McMasters: It's like a street crier's exclamation to try to grab attention.
Doug McMasters: It's not very gentle, but behind it are gracious purposes.
Doug McMasters: I don't know if there's an English equivalent to this at all.
Doug McMasters: The only way I could think of it was when I was a boy and I heard the words, Douglas Alan McMasters, I knew I'd better duck, right?
Doug McMasters: Because uh mom had discovered that I had been not the kind of boy I should have been, and I was getting called into judgment.
Doug McMasters: But imagine if I heard Douglas Alan McMasters, and here I come, like, oh dear, what did my sister say about me now?
Doug McMasters: And I come up to her and she says, I just wanted you to see your official name on this will that says you've just inherited 10 million dollars.
Doug McMasters: What a difference, right?
Doug McMasters: So this word, come, it's not gentle, it's disruptive, but it's disruptive for the purposes of grace.
Doug McMasters: And the shift from woe to come is showing us that God is calling the attention to the people, not because he wishes to be a judge to them, but he wants to be a gracious provider to them.
Doug McMasters: And then he wants them to come to him, not bringing payment for the penalty, but to receive without any money at all.
Doug McMasters: It's it's a glorious way to use a word in such a dramatic and different way.
Doug McMasters: And what he promises us here is that the the depth of our comprehensive needs are met in God's inexhaustible wealth and generosity, and that they're provided to us without any cost whatsoever.
Doug McMasters: And we can have them not because we have the resources to purchase them, but because he's already provided it.
Doug McMasters: The imagery is striking there.
Doug McMasters: Water, right?
Doug McMasters: Wine and milk, symbols of necessities, symbols of joy, symbols of abundance.
Doug McMasters: Come and get these things.
Doug McMasters: And they're not rationed, they're not given to us in little measure, they're there in the fullness.
Doug McMasters: And he says, Come take.
Doug McMasters: Do you have necessities?
Doug McMasters: Come and have your necessities supplied.
Doug McMasters: Do you need joy?
Doug McMasters: Come and have all that would bring you joy given.
Doug McMasters: Do you do you want to be in a place of abundance?
Doug McMasters: It's all here for you.
Doug McMasters: Come.
Doug McMasters: Now, God is not offering himself as some sort of uh spiritual vending machine where we just kind of go, Yep, I'll have the lay potato chips, and we walk away and we don't think about the vending machine until, well, I want another bag of potato chips, and we go back and get another one.
Doug McMasters: He's not saying, I'm just going to be a spiritual vending machine to you, and there's no money you have to put in the slot, but he is inviting us to an eternal feast.
Doug McMasters: He tells us if there's any tragedy at all, it's the tragedy of not accepting the invitation.
Doug McMasters: And take a look at verse two, he presses that home to us.
Doug McMasters: Why do you spend silver on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Doug McMasters: Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and you'll enjoy the choicest of foods.
Doug McMasters: What a tragedy it would be to exhaust yourself in the pursuit of trying to find those things to fill your needs, to fill your joy, and to give you an abundance, only to realize that you've expended all your time and all of your attention and all of your resources on something that doesn't give it to you.
Doug McMasters: That's the tragedy.
Doug McMasters: Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verses 10 and 11.
Doug McMasters: The preacher there confessed that he had looked into all sorts of things.
Doug McMasters: He had spent money and time and attention on them, and he said at the end of it, it's all just empty.
Doug McMasters: It's vanity, it's a burst soap bubble.
Doug McMasters: Jeremiah 2, verse 13.
Doug McMasters: Who?
Doug McMasters: The spring of living water.
Doug McMasters: And they've dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that can't hold water.
Doug McMasters: When I was in Israel a few years ago, we went into a cistern and it was about at least a hundred feet deep.
Doug McMasters: It was huge.
Doug McMasters: And I can only imagine without the excavation tools that we have in our day, that people were out there digging that hole.
Doug McMasters: It was cavernous.
Doug McMasters: Imagine digging down a hundred feet and spread out as far as it was, and you and you go, well, that's no good.
Doug McMasters: It can't hold a bit of water.
Doug McMasters: This is what he's saying here.
Doug McMasters: The tragedy is not only the emptiness of the false sources, it's also found in the rejection of the one source of supply.
Doug McMasters: We've seen this in our day.
Doug McMasters: Jim Carrey is a good example of that.
Doug McMasters: He, after years of being in the public light and receiving all of the accolades that that brought and the money that it did, he said this.
Doug McMasters: He said, I had everything people dream of.
Doug McMasters: Wealth and fame and accolades.
Doug McMasters: And I was still unhappy.
Doug McMasters: And he he said later, he said, I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they've ever dreamed of so that they would find out that that's not the answer.
Doug McMasters: Russell Brand.
Doug McMasters: He said, I thought fame and fortune would fill the hole inside of me.
Doug McMasters: It didn't.
Doug McMasters: It made it worse.
Doug McMasters: And then Lady Gaga, I had all the things I thought I wanted, and I didn't feel happy.
Doug McMasters: I felt empty.
Doug McMasters: Those are modern reverberations of Isaiah 55 in verse 2.
Doug McMasters: These are people who had spent their money on what is not bread and their labor on what does not satisfy.
Doug McMasters: You see, the bread of empire, the bread of Hollywood or Wall Street or Babylon, doesn't satisfy.
Doug McMasters: This invitation is not just their reticle, it's it is meant to be received, and it is meant to be an experience.
Doug McMasters: And the Lord is offering Himself here so wonderfully.
Doug McMasters: Come, come and be filled.
Doug McMasters: And the second point is come and be anchored in verse 3.
Doug McMasters: Come and be anchored.
Doug McMasters: Pay attention and come to me.
Doug McMasters: Listen so that you'll live.
Doug McMasters: I will make a permanent covenant with you on the basis of the faithful kindnesses of David.
Doug McMasters: This is really the hinge of the whole chapter here.
Doug McMasters: God's invitation, sincere, secure, eternally satisfying, is based upon this phrase here: a permanent covenant on the basis of the faithful kindnesses of David.
Doug McMasters: Well, that's a strange phrase for us, the faithful kindnesses of David.
Doug McMasters: What does that mean?
Doug McMasters: Well, on first glance, it might seem like it's the faithful kindnesses given to David, but it's actually talking about the covenant actions fulfilled by one of David's line.
Doug McMasters: That the life and the fullness of supply that's offered here is founded on the basis of the faithfulness of one son of David, one who will be righteous, one who will do God's purposes, one who will fulfill all that God demands.
Doug McMasters: And on the basis of that, David, the people will have everything they need.
Doug McMasters: We see this in scripture in different places, and I won't bring us there, but in 1 Kings chapter 11, God speaks to Jeroboam and he talks about the things that he's promising to do for the kings and for the people.
Doug McMasters: And he says he's preserving the people and he's going to preserve the king because of David, who did my will, who fulfilled my purposes.
Doug McMasters: And because David did fulfill God's will and purposes, as weak and frail as he was, future people would be able to have blessings secured in their time.
Doug McMasters: This is what it's talking about.
Doug McMasters: And this causes us to wonder why all of a sudden David's name shows up again in Isaiah.
Doug McMasters: We haven't heard about it for a long, long time.
Doug McMasters: What we've been reading about and learning about in the past several chapters is a person identified by the title of the servant, the servant.
Doug McMasters: But now we're told about David and these faithful kindnesses of David.
Doug McMasters: Now we have to ask ourselves, why is Isaiah switching gears here?
Doug McMasters: What is he doing?
Doug McMasters: Well, let's think about it for just a second.
Doug McMasters: Let's trace both of these lines: David and the servant.
Doug McMasters: In Isaiah 9, we're told that a child is going to be born, that a son is going to be given, and that the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will reign on the throne of David and establish peace forever.
Doug McMasters: In Isaiah 11, just two chapters later, we meet the shoot of Jesse Stump.
Doug McMasters: What is that?
Doug McMasters: A spirit-anointed ruler who's going to bring justice to the nations, a son of David.
Doug McMasters: And from that point forward, we hear nothing about David.
Doug McMasters: Until we get to the place in Isaiah chapter 40 and beyond, 42, 49, 50, 52, 53, all of a sudden the servant is mentioned.
Doug McMasters: And in four servant songs, we see someone who is also chosen by God, also filled with the spirit, also bringing justice, also being a light to the nations.
Doug McMasters: So there's this overlap between these two figures.
Doug McMasters: On one hand, the servant is spirit anointed in Isaiah 42 1.
Doug McMasters: On the other hand, David, the Davidic king, is spirit anointed in Isaiah 11 2.
Doug McMasters: On one hand, the servant brings justice in Isaiah 42, and on the other hand, the Davidic king brings justice in Isaiah 11.
Doug McMasters: On the other hand, servant gathers the nations in Isaiah 49, 6, and on this hand, the Davidic king rules the nations in Isaiah 11, 10.
Doug McMasters: What's happening here?
Doug McMasters: Isaiah is taking two brushes with two colors, and he's painting the same portrait so that it might give it a three-dimensional look to us.
Doug McMasters: This one who's coming is the son of David, and he is the servant of the Lord.
Doug McMasters: The servant who will bear our iniquity is also the son of David who's reigned, raised, and will reign, and will be faithful, and who will gather his people and will give light to the nations.
Doug McMasters: And this is exactly how the early church understood Isaiah 55.
Doug McMasters: In Acts chapter 13, Paul quotes this verse to declare that God has fulfilled his promises by raising Jesus from the dead.
Doug McMasters: The faithful kindnesses of David then are not just faithful kindnesses remembered to David, but they're enacted and sealed in the obedience and the justification that's found in Jesus Christ and in his vindication through the resurrection.
Doug McMasters: So Jesus has fulfilled all of the purposes of God by being the suffering servant.
Doug McMasters: And because of that, he's highly exalted, and he is become the reigning obedient son of David.
Doug McMasters: Luke chapter 1.
Doug McMasters: Gabriel speaks.
Doug McMasters: He said, Listen, you'll conceive and give birth to a son, and you'll name him Jesus.
Doug McMasters: He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.
Doug McMasters: Now, take it back to Isaiah 53.
Doug McMasters: What Isaiah is saying, this invitation to come and to get all the water you need, to get all the wine that you need, to get all the milk that you need, don't bring any silver with you, just come and receive, and the bounty is there, and it's in such an abundance.
Doug McMasters: It's going to be an ever-flowing stream of water, it's going to be an ever-running source of joy.
Doug McMasters: It's going to be an abundance and a fullness where it's going to be said of you, eyes not seen, nor is it even entered into the hearts of men, the things that God's prepared for those that love them.
Doug McMasters: It's going to be so full you can't even conceive it.
Doug McMasters: Why is that there?
Doug McMasters: Because there is a faithful servant.
Doug McMasters: There is a faithful son.
Doug McMasters: And he's given it to you.
Doug McMasters: And it's not based upon whether you woke up today and you felt like I walked with God today.
Doug McMasters: It's based upon the one who every day did the will of the Father.
Doug McMasters: This is why it's secure.
Doug McMasters: So come and be filled, and come and be anchored.
Doug McMasters: There's more.
Doug McMasters: Come and be restored.
Doug McMasters: Now, verse 4 and verse 5 seem a little puzzling to us at first.
Doug McMasters: Since I've made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples, so you will summon a nation you do not know.
Doug McMasters: And nations you do not know will run you.
Doug McMasters: For the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel, has glorified you.
Doug McMasters: Now, this invitation, remember, is given to the people of Judah who are in Babylon because of their disobedience.
Doug McMasters: And there is this invitation to come back to the Lord, even though they've forsaken him for generations.
Doug McMasters: And that even though they're in exile, they have a promise of restoration through the faithful kindnesses of David.
Doug McMasters: And if they come back to the Lord, they will once again be restored to the very meaning and purpose of their national identity.
Doug McMasters: Because I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander for the peoples, so you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations you do not know will run to you.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah is referring back to that unique role that the people of Israel played in human history.
Doug McMasters: When God called Abram out of the land and brought him into a land of promise, he said, look up into the stars.
Doug McMasters: And he said, You and your seed will be a blessing to the nations.
Doug McMasters: And so the identity of the Jewish people from that point forward was not just about their relationship with God, but about the responsibility of a role to be a light to all of the nations.
Doug McMasters: There's a lot of discussion in evangelical circles today about whether or not we're blessing Israel.
Doug McMasters: The question in the scriptures here is Israel blessing the nations?
Doug McMasters: That's the bigger question right here.
Doug McMasters: And what God is saying in Isaiah 55 is when you come to me, I'll restore you to your original design.
Doug McMasters: You will be a spokesman for me among the nations, and they will heed you.
Doug McMasters: Those things are reinforced and reaffirmed all through the Old Testament.
Doug McMasters: Genesis 12 and Exodus 19, Isaiah 2.
Doug McMasters: Now follow this thought.
Doug McMasters: Because through the faithful kindnesses of David, this one who was made a witness to the peoples, this one who is a leader, this one who is a commander for the peoples, is going to represent his people as they return to him.
Doug McMasters: And what he is, they will be also.
Doug McMasters: And so through him, the promises of God are not only wide open for forgiveness, yes, but also for restoration of their identity and their purpose.
Doug McMasters: Their life will now all of a sudden have meaning and direction.
Doug McMasters: It has significance again.
Doug McMasters: They will be able to step into their role and the responsibility of being a light to the nations.
Doug McMasters: Let's go to Acts 13 just for a second.
Doug McMasters: Acts 13.
Doug McMasters: The Apostle Paul here in Acts 13 is preaching in the synagogue of Pisidian, Antioch.
Doug McMasters: And in that he's addressing fellow Jews and also God-fearing Gentiles.
Doug McMasters: And you can see that beginning in verse 13, where he's he's beginning to preach.
Doug McMasters: Verse 16, fellow Israelites, and you who fear God, listen.
Doug McMasters: And then he begins to recount Israel's history and reminds them of God's covenants with David.
Doug McMasters: And then in verse 32 and 33, he makes a dramatic statement.
Doug McMasters: He said, We ourselves proclaim to you the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors.
Doug McMasters: God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.
Doug McMasters: As it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son.
Doug McMasters: Today I have become your father.
Doug McMasters: So what Paul is saying here is that Jesus is the faithful son, that he is the one who has been counted as the ruler of David, as Psalm 2 indicates, the embodiment of all that Israel was meant to be.
Doug McMasters: And he deepens that within with this argument in verse 34.
Doug McMasters: As to his raising him from the dead, never to return to decay, he's spoken in this way I will give you the holy and sure promises of David.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah 55.
Doug McMasters: Now, Paul doesn't just preach, he presses this home on the people with a sense of urgency.
Doug McMasters: And he tells them that they need to listen to this.
Doug McMasters: In verse 40, beware that what's said in the prophets does not happen to you.
Doug McMasters: Look, you scoffers, marvel and vanish away, because I'm doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if someone were to explain it to you.
Doug McMasters: He's telling the Jewish people, you need to listen to this.
Doug McMasters: The scriptures have found their fulfillment in Jesus, Isaiah and Psalms all over.
Doug McMasters: And we we need to come to this invitation.
Doug McMasters: And if we don't, it's going to be it's going to be a tragedy for us.
Doug McMasters: But they didn't listen.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse 46.
Doug McMasters: Well, 44.
Doug McMasters: The following Sabbath, almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of the Lord.
Doug McMasters: But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what Paul was saying, insulting him.
Doug McMasters: Paul and Barnabas boldly replied, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first.
Doug McMasters: Since you reject it and judge yourself unworthy of eternal life, we're turning to the Gentiles.
Doug McMasters: If you refuse to come, you're not only refusing eternal life, he's telling them, but you're refusing the joy of living as you were meant to live.
Doug McMasters: Paul says that he himself has found that fulfillment in Christ.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse 47.
Doug McMasters: For this is what the Lord has commanded us.
Doug McMasters: I have made you a light for the Gentiles to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
Doug McMasters: Now, doesn't that sound like Isaiah 55, verses 4 and 5?
Doug McMasters: It's actually a quote from Isaiah 49, one of the servant's songs in verse 6.
Doug McMasters: But listen to Isaiah 55 for a second while you have your finger here in Acts 13.
Doug McMasters: Since I've made him a witness to the peoples, a leader, and a commander for the peoples, so you will summon a nation you do not know.
Doug McMasters: And nations you do not know will run to you.
Doug McMasters: For the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel, has glorified you.
Doug McMasters: Now look how Paul has applied this quote to the servant song in Isaiah 49.
Doug McMasters: He says that these things were spoken to him.
Doug McMasters: Well, in Isaiah 49, they're spoken to the servant.
Doug McMasters: In Acts chapter 13, Paul says they're spoken to us.
Doug McMasters: What is Paul saying?
Doug McMasters: He's not treating these things as some distant prophecy.
Doug McMasters: What he's seeing them is a present commissioning of the apostolic proclamation of Christ.
Doug McMasters: And he's saying the servant's mission and believing Israel's mission are melding together as one and the same in the apostolic proclamation of the gospel.
Doug McMasters: Paul is saying here that through union with Christ, finally believing Israel is united to the servant, the son of David, and his mission is their mission.
Doug McMasters: They are now being able to call the nations to the Lord who is their Lord.
Doug McMasters: All of that, to say this to us, let's go back to Isaiah 55.
Doug McMasters: That's a little bit of a biblical theology right there, but there's a practical point to it.
Doug McMasters: To these people who are in exile, who are under the thumb of a foreign nation, who are under the dictates of Babylon, who have no sway of their own, are by returning to the Lord going to be in a place where they can speak to the nations, have the nations come to them, are finding not only forgiveness and supply, but meaning and significance and renewal of their purposes.
Doug McMasters: And what is this telling us here?
Doug McMasters: When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we're not just forgiven.
Doug McMasters: We are reformed.
Doug McMasters: We are made into what we were supposed to be as people.
Doug McMasters: We are finally able to live as God intended humans to live.
Doug McMasters: We are finding a purpose and a significance in our life in every day.
Doug McMasters: Because to know Christ is not simply to be comforted, to know Christ is not simply to be brought into the fullness of his supply.
Doug McMasters: It means that he's going to work within us to reshape who we are, to reorient our life, and to refit us to walk in the purposes that he's designed for us.
Doug McMasters: Let's put it in a Pauline way.
Doug McMasters: For by grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
Doug McMasters: It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Doug McMasters: For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God has before ordained for us to walk in them.
Doug McMasters: This is forgiveness and meaning, supply and significance for our lives.
Doug McMasters: Because knowing Christ's forgiveness is not the end of the journey, it's the beginning of the journey.
Doug McMasters: And the more deeply we get to know Him, the more we get to know how we ought to be living our days.
Doug McMasters: So, what does that mean?
Doug McMasters: It means when you're working and navigating a career and you're feeling like, well, you're just disconnected from any kind of purpose.
Doug McMasters: The drudgery of daily duties.
Doug McMasters: When you come to Christ, it doesn't mean you abandon your profession.
Doug McMasters: It means that the things that you're doing gain a new significance, that you're placed there for a purpose, to be a witness of Christ, to be in a space for living out Christ-like integrity, to be a means of serving others, even in the workplace itself.
Doug McMasters: When you come to Christ as a parent, it means that you've now stepped into the role that's not only familial, it's sacred.
Doug McMasters: That in your hands is an eternal soul, that you are in a most intimate place of influencing and shaping.
Doug McMasters: I said to my sons, I said, you know, my my biggest role in my life is not just to be your dad, it's to be the very one that helps you to see Jesus.
Doug McMasters: And I need to be your discipler more than I need to be your father.
Doug McMasters: If you're here and you come into Christ and you sit amongst us and you wonder, well, I'm just a lonely person in a crowd.
Doug McMasters: What can I bring to this body?
Doug McMasters: The scriptures tell us that God supplies gifts to each and every single one of us.
Doug McMasters: And he wants to fulfill his purposes in you and through you to give you that significance by way of those spiritual gifts that he's provided you.
Doug McMasters: And they look different, so different, but all so needed.
Doug McMasters: Or if we're looking at the world and we sense its brokenness, and boy, it is.
Doug McMasters: Coming to Christ isn't a call to retreat and hold out till the end, stay up in the castle, you know, lock yourself up.
Doug McMasters: One of these days King Jesus is going to rescue us out of here.
Doug McMasters: You know, we've no, no, no.
Doug McMasters: He's called you to be a light, not to hide that light, but to be distinct through your compassion and through your courageous integrity in the face of compromise.
Doug McMasters: To be a voice of God amidst a world that desperately needs the hope of the gospel.
Doug McMasters: Here in poetic form, Isaiah is speaking to the people in exile and saying, if you come to me, you're going to be so renewed, you'll be able to accomplish what I wanted you to do.
Doug McMasters: You're going to be a light to the nations.
Doug McMasters: And we come to Christ, we're going to be able to accomplish what he wants us to do.
Doug McMasters: Because the one who calls us is also the one who equips us to do those things.
Doug McMasters: So come and live, come and be anchored, come and be restored.
Doug McMasters: And there's one more invitation come and be forgiven.
Doug McMasters: Verse 6.
Doug McMasters: Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Doug McMasters: Call to him while he's near.
Doug McMasters: Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts.
Doug McMasters: Let him return to the Lord so he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will freely forgive.
Doug McMasters: This is the response of the invitation in some ways.
Doug McMasters: It is a response of repentance and return.
Doug McMasters: What is repentance?
Doug McMasters: Well, repentance is to abandon the path that you've been walking that leads you away from God.
Doug McMasters: And it is also one of behavior and thought, your way and your thoughts, it says here.
Doug McMasters: But it's also a return back to the one who is near, who is compassionate, who pardons abundantly.
Doug McMasters: Repentance is not merely sorrow, it's surrender, and it's not simply behavioral correction, it's relational return.
Doug McMasters: And so the scriptures are filled with statements of repentance.
Doug McMasters: Jesus began his ministry with those words, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand in Matthew 4.
Doug McMasters: Peter began the apostolic ministry with the words, repent, in Acts 2.
Doug McMasters: Paul, as he brought the mission to the Gentiles in Acts 17, said, Repent.
Doug McMasters: And even before the king, Agrimpa, I preached that they should repent and turn to God.
Doug McMasters: But I want you to notice something here.
Doug McMasters: The gospel shows God's readiness here in just beautiful ways.
Doug McMasters: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.
Doug McMasters: This is the Lord's declaration.
Doug McMasters: What is the Lord saying here in light of that?
Doug McMasters: What he's saying here is that his heart is a heart of mercy.
Doug McMasters: That his reception of us is not grounded in our worthiness, it's grounded in his character.
Doug McMasters: That his mercy is not like ours.
Doug McMasters: His compassion is deeper, his forgiveness is fuller, his grace is stronger.
Doug McMasters: Why do we need to hear these words?
Doug McMasters: Because God is so overwhelmingly forgiving, it escapes our ability to comprehend it.
Doug McMasters: Because we wouldn't forgive that kind of person who did that to us.
Doug McMasters: But he does.
Doug McMasters: We imagine a God who receives us reluctantly because we too often are people who receive reluctantly.
Doug McMasters: And this is why God has to say, My thoughts are not like your thoughts, my ways are not like your ways.
Doug McMasters: My forgiveness is a lot different and bigger than yours.
Doug McMasters: A lot.
Doug McMasters: And so if you're thinking about returning to the Father, I want to tell you this.
Doug McMasters: Don't be hesitant.
Doug McMasters: God's ways are different than what you understand.
Doug McMasters: And this restoration is not fragile either.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at this.
Doug McMasters: It's secured by the power of God's word.
Doug McMasters: And he goes on to say, For as the heaven is higher than the earth, and my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than yours, verse 10, for just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing heat to sow and food to eat, so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to be empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.
Doug McMasters: Now, this is a glorious statement about Scripture itself and its effectiveness, but in the context, it's a clear declaration of the effectiveness of God's promise to forgive everybody who returns to him.
Doug McMasters: This is the assured word that he'll receive the lost who come home.
Doug McMasters: To those who've been awakened to their sin and come to him fleeing, they will find him welcoming.
Doug McMasters: Because this is a declaration of God's promises of good news.
Doug McMasters: That yes, his word is sent out to call the lost to return home, to awaken them to repentance and to bring them to renewal, even though they've been rebellious.
Doug McMasters: And he's not waiting passively, he's actively working his word to do that.
Doug McMasters: It's going out there and it's accomplishing that purpose.
Doug McMasters: And so you might wonder well, I've been a really wicked person.
Doug McMasters: I've done a lot of bad things, and my thoughts have been even worse than my actions.
Doug McMasters: Can God do anything with the mess I've made of my life?
Doug McMasters: And the answer to that question is yes, he can.
Doug McMasters: Absolutely, he can.
Doug McMasters: Because he will send his word into your heart and it will prosper in his hand.
Doug McMasters: He can restore and renew you no matter what you've done.
Doug McMasters: His mercy is not exhausted, and his purposes are never derailed.
Doug McMasters: He accomplishes what he wishes.
Doug McMasters: So don't be hesitant.
Doug McMasters: Don't think you've gone too far.
Doug McMasters: Don't wonder if any good can come out of that.
Doug McMasters: Listen to this and don't be fearful.
Doug McMasters: Receive it.
Doug McMasters: His word is not empty, it's alive.
Doug McMasters: One final point.
Doug McMasters: We've heard the words come and be filled, come and be anchored, come and be renewed, come and be forgiven.
Doug McMasters: And the next word is go and be full and joyful.
Doug McMasters: Look at verse 12 and 13.
Doug McMasters: You will indeed go out with joy and be peacefully guided.
Doug McMasters: The mountains and the hills will break into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Doug McMasters: Instead of the thorn bush, a cypress will come up, instead of the briar, a myrtle will come up, and this will stand as a monument for the Lord, an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.
Doug McMasters: And in this prophecy spoken to people in exile of Babylon, they're told that if they come and receive and respond to the invitation of God, that they turn away from that path and come to Him, He'll receive them, but He'll lift them up out of their exile and bring them home.
Doug McMasters: And when they come home, their journey march will not be a weary one to look at the rubble of a ruined past, but it will be a joyful procession into something new and vibrant.
Doug McMasters: They will go out from Babylon and come in to mountains where the hills are breaking out in song.
Doug McMasters: They'll come back to a land that once was rubble but now filled with trees that are abundant and secure.
Doug McMasters: Yes, the language is poetic, but it's profoundly prophetic as well.
Doug McMasters: Because the people that were once brought out of the land in disgrace are now to come back to the land in praise.
Doug McMasters: The people that were left, had left the land dormant for 70 years are now going to come finding it not just needing agricultural attention.
Doug McMasters: They're going to find it flourishing, waiting for them.
Doug McMasters: It's not just a reversal of their address, it's a renewal of their life.
Doug McMasters: And they'll rejoice that God is that merciful.
Doug McMasters: And the evidences of what once were covenant curses are going to be replaced by displays of covenantal blessing.
Doug McMasters: What once were thorn bushes and what were once briars are now going to be replaced by cypresses and myrtle trees.
Doug McMasters: Once were symbols of a curse and a futility of life, and of living and gaining our bread by the sweat of our brow, are now going to be replaced with symbols of strength and beauty and permanence, the cypress trees and the myrtle trees.
Doug McMasters: But I want you to see something more here.
Doug McMasters: Because Isaiah's vision, yes, reaches into the future of the people past the 70 years of exile, into the return to the promised land.
Doug McMasters: But this language is not done yet.
Doug McMasters: This language is stretching to further horizons yet.
Doug McMasters: Because there are whispers of Eden restored here.
Doug McMasters: There are whispers of the curse taken away.
Doug McMasters: There are whispers of that Genesis curse being undone, of a fallen world being remade and restored to its original design.
Doug McMasters: That the original Eden is once again going to be planted and there will be plenty and there'll be joy.
Doug McMasters: You see, the promise of Isaiah 55 is only whispering it, but it's telling us that we should stretch beyond ourselves in our present day and look for the glorious good of God and his generosity that will turn away even the curse itself.
Doug McMasters: Yes, the people had 70 years in Babylon and they did return.
Doug McMasters: And they were able to settle in that land.
Doug McMasters: But Isaiah is telling them, keep looking.
Doug McMasters: Keep looking.
Doug McMasters: Because you haven't gotten it all yet.
Doug McMasters: You're back, but you're not, you've not gotten it all yet.
Doug McMasters: All of that's coming.
Doug McMasters: And this is why the New Testament picks up these words if anyone be in Christ, new creation, it's begun.
Doug McMasters: When Christ came, the start of that reversal of the curse, that start to the plenty of the fullness of Eden restored, has begun.
Doug McMasters: Because there's planted in the heart of every believer the Spirit of God that reminds us of our permanent home, by which we are assured through the promises of God and the kindnesses of David, that permanent covenant, that there will be a new heaven and a new earth that you will call home.
Doug McMasters: And this is why Paul said in Romans 8, the creation itself will be set free from the bondage of sin.
Doug McMasters: When will that happen?
Doug McMasters: It's already started.
Doug McMasters: It's started when people come to Christ and find themselves made anew.
Doug McMasters: It's started when Christ rose from the dead and put the old world to nothing.
Doug McMasters: And it's still working, and it's still moving.
Doug McMasters: Because out of these dead stumps, the fruit of the Spirit is beginning to emerge.
Doug McMasters: And one day, even these bodies that were born in weakness and that are going to fall apart are going to hear the voice of the trump of God.
Doug McMasters: And they're going to be restored in a twinkling, in a moment, and they'll be changed to a body of incorruptibility.
Doug McMasters: The servant who suffered is the king now.
Doug McMasters: And the word is going out to accomplish its purposes.
Doug McMasters: And those who return in repentance will flourish in the fullness of eternity in a way they can never imagine.
Doug McMasters: And this is why the book of Revelation picks up these words.
Doug McMasters: And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
Doug McMasters: That day, that day the earth will be loosed from its bondage.
Doug McMasters: That day the manifestation of the sons of God will be revealed.
Doug McMasters: That day, all the mountains will sing, and all the trees will clap their hands, because the curse will be forever lifted, and Eden will be forever restored.
Doug McMasters: You see, this is poetry, but it's also a promise.
Doug McMasters: And it's not just a metaphor, feel the momentum.
Doug McMasters: Feel the momentum in it.
Doug McMasters: That the servant's work is restoring everything.
Doug McMasters: And so we can rejoice.
Doug McMasters: For those who are longing for purpose, you can find it in Christ.
Doug McMasters: For those who are overwhelmed by the brokenness of the world, take heart.
Doug McMasters: The trees are going to clap one day.
Doug McMasters: And for us as a church community, we're meant to be a preview of things to come.
Doug McMasters: We are God's trailer, if you will, of that glorious eternal movie that's going to be seen in the grace of God.
Doug McMasters: Let our light shine.
Doug McMasters: So here we are in Isaiah 55.
Doug McMasters: We're in a section of Isaiah that started in Isaiah chapter 40.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah 39 talked about the people in rubble, trotted off to Babylon in shame because of their rebellion.
Doug McMasters: And while they were sitting in Babylon, taking stock of the fact that their city was ruined, that their temple was destroyed, that their king had been murdered, that the people were dispersed from a land they had been promised, came these words in Isaiah 40.
Doug McMasters: Comfort, comfort my people.
Doug McMasters: Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of hard service is over, that her iniquity has been pardoned, and that she's received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
Doug McMasters: Those words that broke through the silence of suffering and shame, those comforting statements to tell them that they weren't going to live forever in exile, that they weren't forever meant to bear their shame, that they weren't in Babylon simply to survive another day, but one day would come when they would truly be comforted and they would truly be restored and they'd be truly welcomed.
Doug McMasters: And when those first words broke into their conscience as Isaiah preached them, comfort, comfort.
Doug McMasters: They must have wondered how, why, when Isaiah 14, verse 3, a voice of one crying out, Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
Doug McMasters: Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled, and the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places a plain.
Doug McMasters: Because the return to the Lord wasn't simply a journey that started on Google Maps that said, start in Babylon and walk to Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: And yes, you're going to have elevation gain and drop.
Doug McMasters: It was a walk from exile to home.
Doug McMasters: And it was going to be an easy journey because the Lord was going to bring you home.
Doug McMasters: And who was going to do it?
Doug McMasters: Jesus Christ Himself.
Doug McMasters: And this is why John the Baptist quoted these words and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Doug McMasters: Verse 5 of Isaiah 40, and the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Doug McMasters: And John picks up these words in John 1, and he said, And we beheld his glory, the glory as the only one of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Doug McMasters: The glory of these prophecies, and the center of these prophecies, and the home of these prophecies is Jesus Himself.
Doug McMasters: The servant is made away, the King is on his throne, and the new creation has begun.
Doug McMasters: And so listen to the words.
Doug McMasters: Come, come, come, come and be filled with water and wine and milk.
Doug McMasters: Come, don't bring your money, just bring your need.
Doug McMasters: Just come.
Doug McMasters: Come and be anchored in my promises.
Doug McMasters: Come and be restored as you were meant to be.
Doug McMasters: Come and return to the Lord who's full of compassion, who has sent out this word to make it happen in your life.
Doug McMasters: And then go and just sing.
Doug McMasters: Just sing about what God has done for you.
Doug McMasters: Be full of joy.
Doug McMasters: Let's pray.
Doug McMasters: Father, what a wonder these words are.
Doug McMasters: We thank you for the invitation that echoes in Isaiah's words.
Doug McMasters: An invitation to a relationship with you.
Doug McMasters: An invitation to a feast of grace.
Doug McMasters: Because you're the God who calls the thirsty.
Doug McMasters: You're the God who anchors the weak and the strength of your covenant promises.
Doug McMasters: You're a God who restores purpose to the broken and who forgives the rebel and who sends us out with joy.
Doug McMasters: We praise you for the servant who suffered.
Doug McMasters: We praise you for the Son of David who was raised.
Doug McMasters: And we praise you, he's now King Jesus who reigns.
Doug McMasters: And so, Lord, let your return, your word go, not returning void.
Doug McMasters: Let it water what's dry, let it revive what's dormant, let it bear fruit where there's only been failure.
Doug McMasters: And make us a people that come with humble hands, open hands, and humble hearts, and are filled with resurrection hope.
Doug McMasters: And Father, we pray that our homes, our work, our church, our communities will witness that we are the monuments of your mercy.
Doug McMasters: And so, Lord, help us, we pray, to hear these things, to be filled with grace and anchored in Christ and fruitful for your glory.
Doug McMasters: And we pray this in Jesus' name.
Doug McMasters: Amen.