WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.560 Please turn back to Isaiah chapter 55 as we come towards the end of a series on the book 00:00:09.560 --> 00:00:15.320 of the servant and some of the things that follow on the great servant songs. 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:21.120 I've been asked tonight to preach in Isaiah 55, I'm going to try and go through the whole 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:29.960 chapter but the key thing is to see that in verse 1 and then in 6 there are great invitations 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:38.320 in verse 1 come and that's repeated then in verse 6 seek. We're going to focus on these 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:47.960 invitations, what they are and what follows them. Now this is a chapter that's full of the Gospel, 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:55.760 it's full of good news for now and for always and it's a chapter that's full of pictures of the 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:03.159 Gospel, what it is and what it can mean for us. And as we work through it I want you also to see 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:10.599 that it's a Gospel chapter for those who do not yet know Jesus, who had invited to come, 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:17.879 but it's also a chapter I think for those who have fallen away to some extent, who have wondered 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:28.479 off and are called to come back and to return to the Lord. Now in the context here it's important 00:01:28.479 --> 00:01:41.039 to see how this follows on from chapter 52, 13 through chapter 53, that great song of the 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:47.960 suffering servant, the one who gives himself for our sins, the one who succeeds in that mission, 00:01:47.960 --> 00:01:56.280 he gives his life, he is raised to life and he changes lives and we saw that that chapter Isaiah 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:07.960 53 is fulfilled in the sufferings of Jesus. Then following that in chapter 54 good news of a future 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:14.120 for those who trust in the servant. We saw last week in the first half of that chapter in the 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:20.799 symbolism of marriage and home, what he means. And then in the second half of that chapter from verse 00:02:20.799 --> 00:02:29.799 11 it's the symbolism of a city with its beauty and security that people of the servant live in 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:38.000 that city. I just want to highlight one little detail that ties a lot of this together for us. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:50.160 The servant of Isaiah 53 and the sections before calls people to know him and the people who come 00:02:50.159 --> 00:03:00.000 to know him become the servants of the Lord themselves. The servant of the Lord brings servants 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:09.680 to the Lord. That's one of the themes of the last sections of Isaiah. So for example Isaiah 52 and 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:20.200 13, behold my servant, that's who he is, the suffering servant, the servant of the Lord. The 00:03:20.200 --> 00:03:32.240 end of chapter 54, the second half verse 17, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Because 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:40.280 of what the servant has done we can become servants of the Lord and walk in the footsteps of the 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:50.120 servant and in perfect service to God with him we find our freedom. But how do we become 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:58.640 servants of the servant? Well that's what this chapter is about. Let's in the first half for 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:08.119 time together look at verses 1 to 5 and see this first amazing invitation and what it offers to us. 00:04:08.119 --> 00:04:20.319 Now essentially in this first part of the chapter we're being invited to come to a feast. In my young 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:29.040 days preaching often spoke about the gospel table. That was a favorite image. They didn't mean the 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:37.159 Lord's table specifically but they just meant the gospel itself. That you're invited to come to the 00:04:37.159 --> 00:04:46.240 table of Jesus, to a banqueting table. It's full of great food and drink and it's available to anybody 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:54.600 who wants to come. That's the picture here. Invited to a gospel table that's open to all, where 00:04:54.600 --> 00:05:05.079 everything on the table is equally available to every single person who comes. Let me contrast that 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:14.199 with something I read the other day. The Grand Oak dining table in the Great Hall at Colodon 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:21.719 House was crowded with crystal glasses, silver cutlery, white porcelain crockery emblazoned with 00:05:21.719 --> 00:05:31.199 and so it goes on. This very fancy table. This is just before the Battle of Colodon. Teams of 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:38.599 servants supplied the Prince and the leaders of his army with a magnificent feast. It began with a 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:47.560 course of mussels. Well, they're welcome. Followed by a rack of lamb dished up with pepper turnip, 00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:57.640 potato and cabbage cakes and various other things. Then they had another course of cheese and then 00:05:57.640 --> 00:06:05.280 that was followed by a fourth course, a compote of berries macerated in whisky with toasted oatmeal, 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:12.359 heather honey and whipped cream. This banquet was washed down with copious servings of champagne 00:06:12.359 --> 00:06:21.039 and French claret from the many casks in the absent Lord President's abundant cellar downstairs. 00:06:21.039 --> 00:06:27.879 Toast after toast, feasting and drinking on into the wee small hours with evermore extravagant 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:36.079 boasts about coming victory. This banquet contrasted sharply with the fair dished out to the Prince's 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:43.680 soldiers. There was plenty oatmeal, it says, in Inverness, but it wasn't brought, that was the 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:50.639 most they were ever going to get, but it had been brought to them because of incompetence. Only one 00:06:50.639 --> 00:07:00.279 biscuit per man could be distributed to the army and none of these men had eaten anything for 24 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:14.560 hours. That is the opposite of what the gospel is about. We offer the same feast to anyone and 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:24.360 everyone who wants to come to the one table that is set with the gospel of Jesus, open to all and 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:35.319 everyone is equal at that table. You can see how warm the welcome is at the beginning of the chapter. 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:47.360 Come, notice that's repeated in the original, it's said three times, come, come, come, as if it's on 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:55.199 three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. The first one says, come, and the second one says, 00:07:55.199 --> 00:08:04.680 please come, and the third one says, you must come. And the invitation you can see comes from 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:12.519 God, 2nd half of verse 2 into verse 3, listen to me, give ear to me, come to me, hear me, that 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:21.759 your soul may live. That's God language, God inviting us into a personal living relationship with 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:31.399 him. And it's an invitation, as I said, to a feast. There's a lot to drink according to verse 1, 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:39.919 an invitation to the spiritually thirsty. Corey didn't have time today for an illustration from 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:46.279 C. S. Lewis. I'm not sure I have time today for an illustration from C. S. Lewis, but if you 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:52.879 want to go back and read chapter 2 of the silver chair, the very famous section where Jill is 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:00.600 desperately thirsty, she's dying of thirst, but there's a liar, and she's afraid to come any nearer. 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:08.519 But he says, you have to come. Eventually she does come. At one point she says, I'll have to go 00:09:08.519 --> 00:09:17.080 and find some other water. And the lion says, there is no other water. She comes and she drinks, 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:27.960 and her thirst is quenched immediately, this amazing, clear, cold, sparkling water. And here is an 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:37.240 invitation to the thirsty to come to the waters. Notice in the drink that's offered here, it's 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:45.160 often said three classes of drink that do three different things. There's water to quench your 00:09:45.160 --> 00:09:55.519 thirst. There's milk as a drink that nourishes, that feeds. And there's wine, which according to the 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:06.519 Bible is meant to gladden the heart of man and woman. So the gospel of Jesus spiritually slakes 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:19.199 your thirst, and it feeds your soul, and it gladdens your heart. So the first application is to pray 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:27.680 for spiritual thirst for myself if I don't have it, to pray for spiritual thirst for others if 00:10:27.680 --> 00:10:36.600 they don't have it, and to pray as a Christian to be led to people who are spiritually thirsty, 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:44.320 that I might bring the gospel to them. There's also lots to eat as well as to drink, the second 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:53.120 half of verse 2, the best of food, rich food, it's a banquet. We're not given details of exactly 00:10:53.120 --> 00:11:02.920 what's on offer in terms of the food here, but clearly it is a rich feast, a banquet for the soul. 00:11:02.920 --> 00:11:08.520 I don't know what the imagery in your mind might be, but we learned last week that for Derrick, 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:16.399 it would be steak pie, and we know from a little while ago for Corey, it would be bacon and maple 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:26.000 syrup, cronuts, I think. If that doesn't do it for you, mushrooms and lashings of Alpro, 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:33.600 if you're so inclined, we have to be politically correct here. But whatever your thing is, 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:44.440 you're meant to picture a feast where it's on offer to you, and it's on offer for nothing. This 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:53.000 is the stress here, nothing to pay, no money. He who has no money come, and you can drink, 00:11:53.000 --> 00:12:04.679 and you can eat, because this meal is absolutely free. It's free grace. We cannot buy or merit or 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:15.720 earn the favor of God. Jesus has provided his gospel of forgiveness. Jesus offers to feed my soul 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:24.200 and slake my thirst. Jesus simply asks me to come and receive what is there free, 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:33.320 gratis. Now, of course, as we've learned in the servant songs, what's free to us wasn't free to 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:43.120 him. Isaiah 53 is Jesus paying the price so that we might have all of this for nothing. So, 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:51.879 someone has paid, someone has paid the full cost in his life and death for us. And that, 00:12:51.879 --> 00:13:00.480 now, living Savior invites us to come and receive what he has bought for us at the cost of his own 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:08.840 blood. And we can have that forgiveness and freedom for absolutely nothing. Isaiah 55 is 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:17.879 not possible only because of Isaiah 53. Now, think of the claims of Jesus when we hear this kind 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:25.280 of language of come and drink and eat. Wasn't he referring to this kind of passage in his own 00:13:25.280 --> 00:13:34.800 preaching so often? Matthew 11, 28, come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:43.240 rest. Or in John 4, the famous story of the Samaritan woman, he offers her water that means she 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:51.079 will never thirst again. Or John 6, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go 00:13:51.079 --> 00:13:56.879 hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 7, if anyone is thirsty, 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:06.480 let him come to me and drink, whoever believes in me. Jesus saw himself in Old Testament passages 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:14.600 like this and he picks up on that language and he still uses that language today. As he, through 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:23.080 people like me and others, he preaches the gospel and he says, come and he says, drink and he says, 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:32.560 eat and he says, it's all free, just come to me, that cost you nothing. Just another detail in the 00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:41.000 passing, we also notice here beginning of verse 2, the question, why spend your money for that's 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:48.160 not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy. So often when I have conversations with 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:57.120 people outside the church, they have the idea that it's Christians who have difficult questions to 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:07.159 answer. That's why in St. Andrew's a few years ago, the CU would often put on grill a Christian 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:15.879 event as an evangelistic thing and you could come and ask a Christian, maybe somebody let's say who 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:20.480 taught science at the university was a Christian, if you were interested in science you could come 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:27.559 and ask them your questions. So you grilled a Christian and you put them in the spot because 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:35.919 Christians have difficult questions to answer. But what the Bible often says is it's the non-Christian 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:42.399 who has really difficult questions to answer. Scripture is full of questions of the sinner 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:50.079 like here and it's saying why do you spend your money on what really isn't going to nourish your 00:15:50.079 --> 00:16:00.959 soul? Why do you work so hard for that which is never going to satisfy you? Early in Isaiah 44, 00:16:00.959 --> 00:16:10.480 Isaiah has talked about idolatry, where people seek idols to worship and eventually he says the 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:21.360 deluded idolater feeds on ashes. He cannot save himself and he's simply feeding on ashes. So the 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:32.240 question for the unbeliever is why all the effort, spending time and money chasing after what will 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:42.000 never ever ever meet your deepest needs. I saw it illustrated recently in terms of drinking 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:52.720 salt water. Chasing after these things, chasing after idols is like drinking salt water to deal 00:16:52.720 --> 00:17:01.159 with your thirst. You might say well it's water, it's going to hydrate you, but it just makes 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:11.960 you more thirsty. And the irony is that drinking salt water eventually leads to dehydration and to 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:23.079 death. God offers water that will slake my thirst and bread that will feed my soul and that bread has 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:31.639 been paid for by Jesus. I can tell already we're not going to get through much of Isaiah 55, but 00:17:31.639 --> 00:17:38.039 just on that note of bread being paid for, apologies if you've heard this story before, 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:44.359 become a very famous story many years ago. When somebody who had been a little boy during the 00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:51.639 Second World War, grown up used to tell this story. The one day he was one of the children who 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:58.360 hadn't been evacuated certainly at this stage and he's wandering around and he got lost and he got 00:17:58.360 --> 00:18:07.520 very very hungry and he smelt bread being baked in a baker's and he was looking through the 00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:16.400 window and he was feeling very very hungry and a soldier in uniform came up and decided of course 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:23.120 he would take him to a place of safety, but first he said, are you hungry? The boy said, yeah I'm 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:30.720 starving. Would you like something? What would you like? And the boy said, oh I'd love one of the 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:39.640 rolls. So the soldier went in, came out with a bag of freshly baked rolls for the boy. He handed 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:48.680 it to him and the boy said, I've got no money and the soldier said, but I've paid, they're yours. 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:56.800 And as the boy hugged the warm bag to his chest he just looked up and he said, Mr. are you God? 00:18:56.800 --> 00:19:05.240 He was so overcome by what he thought was a miracle that he wondered if God had come to 00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:15.759 offer him bread for his hunger. God has come to offer us bread for our hunger and he's come to give 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:27.440 it to us free of charge. I've paid, it's yours, all you have to do is come and eat. As this section 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:37.880 continues from the middle of verse 3 to verse 5, just let me touch on a couple of things. It's 00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:44.559 saying that as we respond to this invitation of Jesus to come to him and let him satisfy our 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:56.519 souls, what's happening here is number one of eternal significance and number two it's of universal 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:07.519 relevance. Second half of verse 3 it's of eternal significance. See the language I will make with 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:16.920 you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast sure love for David. A covenant is a binding commitment, 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:26.320 an absolute promise, a bond. And God is saying literally, I will make for you, 00:20:26.320 --> 00:20:36.600 referring back to the people who will respond to the invitation, I will make for you in favor of 00:20:36.600 --> 00:20:44.800 you an everlasting covenant and bring you into the eternal blessings of that covenant. And how is 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:54.399 that possible? Well, it's because of this person here called David, but it's not the same David of 00:20:54.399 --> 00:21:03.240 the earlier story in the Old Testament. It's a coming David. And who is this? Well, of course, 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:13.039 it's the promised Messiah. It's not so long ago that we were all hearing Isaiah 9, 6 to 7 about a 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:20.920 child being born and a son being given. And who would that be? That's the one who will have the 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:28.639 throne of David with the government on his shoulders, and he'll have a reign of peace. So that 00:21:28.639 --> 00:21:39.759 David, that coming messianic king, is the one through whom we can have an everlasting committed 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:47.920 relationship with God. So God is saying, come to something that is a forever commitment, 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:56.119 because of that king who will live the life that we could never live, die the death we deserve to 00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:06.720 die, and offer us his salvation forever. So it's everlasting. And it's also of universal relevance, 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:17.480 verses 4 and 5, verses about international mission. As people are drawn, you shall call, 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:25.120 you in verse 5 is singular, so it may be a reference to the king calling, or it may be a 00:22:25.120 --> 00:22:32.360 reference to the people of the king calling. But I wonder if it could be both. But what it's saying 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:39.639 is, the king calls people from all over the world, all peoples and nations, he will call them to come 00:22:39.639 --> 00:22:49.839 to him, to his feast. But he will call them through his people. He will call non-believers to come, 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:55.639 but he'll call them through his own people. You see, in verse 5, for he has glorified you, 00:22:55.640 --> 00:23:05.600 or he has endowed you with splendor. And what's happening is, I think, that people see something 00:23:05.600 --> 00:23:14.200 of the king in the king's people. So they come to hear about the king and see something of the king 00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:21.720 through the splendor of the king's people. And so they come to the king, who is himself endowed 00:23:21.720 --> 00:23:29.400 with splendor. Now, that would take ten minutes to explain what I mean by that, but I'm just throwing 00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:36.720 it out there, that here I think is something about universal mission, where people are ultimately 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:44.319 being attracted to the king, but it comes through the people of the king, who live lives that honor 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:51.720 the king, that attract people to the gospel, that has changed them. So that's the first invitation. 00:23:51.720 --> 00:24:02.439 Let's come secondly to another amazing invitation in verses 6 to the end of the chapter. The 00:24:02.439 --> 00:24:09.240 invitation itself is in verses 6 and 7, really. I'll look at 8 and 9 as well and connection with it. 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:17.480 Seek the Lord, while he may be found. If you want another three billboards outside Ebing, 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:30.640 Missouri, they would be seek and call and return. Seek the Lord, call upon him, return to him. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:39.440 Now, this is reminding us that there's always a note of repentance at the heart of Christian 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:47.320 experience, the experience of coming to know Jesus, or the experience of living the Christian life 00:24:47.320 --> 00:24:57.440 in relationship with Jesus. There's always a note of repentance. Now, there's a challenge here you 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:09.160 can see to repentance. A challenge in verse 7 to a person's life, let him forsake his way. It's a 00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:18.039 lifestyle shift, leaving a certain way of living behind. And it's also a challenge to the mind, 00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:25.840 and the unrighteous man his thoughts, to give up thoughts that are wrong. In the New Testament, 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:36.240 repentance is a change of mind. So, it's a change of lifestyle that results from an inner change 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:48.679 of mind. And positively then, it shows itself in turning or returning to the Lord, turning to 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:56.880 him and asking for mercy, and a turnaround of life as well, life going in a new direction, always 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:08.519 looking to God. So, repentance is saying to me and to you that we need, first of all, decisively, 00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:13.640 if we've never done it before, to see that we have been going in the wrong direction, 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:19.040 to see that our thinking is wrong and our living has not been for the glory of God, 00:26:19.040 --> 00:26:26.560 and to ask God to change our thinking and to change our living and to point us in the right 00:26:26.560 --> 00:26:33.880 direction. And very often that's also true in the Christian life, that we wander away in the wrong 00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:42.240 direction and we need to say to God, sort out the way I'm thinking and feeling. Sort out my life 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:50.319 and my lifestyle and help me to come back to you as a prodigal returning home, confident that the 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:58.240 Father will embrace me as I come back to you. And there's encouragement to repentance here, 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:09.400 encouragement because he says, while he may be found, while he is near, he may be found, 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:18.280 for example, in this day of grace in which we live. We live in an age where we are free to come to 00:27:18.280 --> 00:27:25.519 Jesus, where the gospel is preached, where the Bible is available to us, and we could come to Jesus. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:34.600 While he may be found, while he may be found in this life as well, there's no second chance beyond 00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:43.399 death. We only have one shot at life, and we need to come to know Jesus in this life before it's 00:27:43.399 --> 00:27:52.799 too late. So while he may be found means here and now in this life. And while he is near, 00:27:52.799 --> 00:28:01.240 is that seeing something even more? I think it is. When does Jesus come near? Well, he comes near 00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:10.839 when somebody hears the gospel. He comes near when a friend is witnessing to you about Jesus. He 00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:18.720 comes near when you're reading the Bible. He also thinks he comes near at particular times of life. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:26.720 Perhaps at particular stages of life, most people who become Christians are converted when they are 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:35.640 young or in young adulthood, a time when people are thinking and rethinking, making decisions for 00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:42.720 the whole of life. And often then, that's when Jesus comes near. Or he comes near during various 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:52.480 providences in life, sometimes tough times, sometimes very good times, opportunities to reflect 00:28:52.480 --> 00:29:03.640 and think about the big issues of life. I know somebody who became a Christian because he and 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:11.839 his wife had a baby, their first baby, completely changed his view of everything. He thought, 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:22.079 I've got this little child in my care, in our care, this child who is going to live in this 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:29.079 world who knows for how long, and will this child live in another world beyond, began thinking about 00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:37.399 all these sorts of issues. And he became a Christian because they had a baby. I know somebody else 00:29:37.399 --> 00:29:47.480 who became a Christian because they lost a baby. They lost a child very, very early. And the opposite 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:55.599 of the previous providence, a tough one, and they began to look for help and for comfort and for 00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:04.279 answers. And they came to Christ through that most difficult of circumstances. So Jesus came near 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:14.279 in both of these situations in what would be a pleasant providence and in what would be the most 00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:21.480 difficult of all providences. So Jesus comes near at all kinds of times and stages and ages in all 00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:30.039 kinds of ways. But the important thing is when he comes near that we respond, that we don't let 00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:38.920 that opportunity go. But whoever we are, unbeliever or believer, if Jesus is speaking, if Jesus is 00:30:38.920 --> 00:30:48.440 coming near, if Jesus is touching your heart, if his hand is on your shoulder, then take advantage 00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:59.000 of that moment in the best possible way and respond to the Jesus who has come near in his grace to 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:08.880 you. There's also the encouragement to repent when it says he will abundantly, freely, part of 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:20.080 it. Notice it says that he will, he really will. It's not he may forgive, he may pardon, but he 00:31:20.080 --> 00:31:29.360 absolutely will. The penitent are forgiven. And in the theology of Isaiah, it's also important to see 00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:40.159 that this idea of pardon means complete and utter forgiveness. So, for example, early on in Isaiah, 00:31:41.199 --> 00:31:47.839 he has this image in chapter 1 of your sins being a scarlet, they'll be white as snow, 00:31:48.719 --> 00:31:57.279 red as crimson, they'll be like wool. The point is that people would say it's very easy to dye 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:03.599 something that's white and make it red. But if something is crimson, they found it very difficult 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:11.599 to make it white again. And God is saying, even though your sins are like scarlet or crimson, 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:18.000 they'll be as white as the snow we've seen over the last couple of days. They'll be as white as 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:29.200 the whitest, purest wool. Or in 43 and 25, he says that he blots out our sins and remembers them 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:39.359 no more. He just wipes it clean. He deletes them forever. And he deletes them in a way that is 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:51.519 irrecoverable. He does it forever and he forgets them forever. Or in 44 and 22, says your sins are 00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:59.759 like the morning mist. You get a mist, we'd talk, in the morning, and you thought for an hour or so 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:06.319 it would never go. And then a little while later, the sun is shining and it's as clear as could be. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:14.639 Where does that heart gone? The mist. It's gone. It's gone. And God uses that image for sins. 00:33:14.639 --> 00:33:24.319 They're like a cold cloud. But he says, I can deal with them. I can make them disappear. And I will 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:33.119 forget them forever. And when it says he will abundantly pardon, it says literally that he 00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:40.559 will multiply pardon. God is into multiplication. He will multiply pardon. He will forgive and 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:48.239 forget all of your sins. Whatever you have ever thought or said or done, he will forgive and 00:33:48.239 --> 00:33:55.839 forget the whole thing forever. And he will never recover them again, because they have been dealt 00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:04.000 with by the servant. And what the servant did is sufficient once and for all and forever to deal 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:11.759 with all of our sins for all eternity. And when he goes on to say in verses 8 and 9, 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:18.159 my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways. Of course, he's referring back to 00:34:18.159 --> 00:34:29.519 verse 7, where the wicked are called to forsake their way and forsake their thoughts. And then 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:35.839 it's contrasting their thoughts and their ways with God's thoughts and God's ways. 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:44.639 God is different. God is holy. But I think especially what is contrasting is that God is a 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:52.239 God of grace. And God's ways are not our ways, and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. And when 00:34:52.239 --> 00:35:02.239 God says he will forgive, he will forgive. We are often very reluctant to forgive. Or if God is 00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:08.480 into multiplication, we're into division. And I've said to people—I don't know if you have, 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:14.000 I shouldn't say you've done this, but I've done it—I'll say, well, I'll forgive that part of it, 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:22.079 but it's very hard to forgive that. Or I'll forgive that and that, but it's very hard to forget 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:28.960 what you said or what you did. But God says, I'm not like you. My thoughts are not your thoughts. 00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:35.280 My ways are not your ways. I don't hold grudges. When I say I will forgive your sins 00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:49.040 100% and forever and never recall them, I will. I am different from you. In God, we have a forgiveness 00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:57.040 that is guaranteed and that God will never go back on. He will never renaig on his commitment 00:35:57.039 --> 00:36:05.840 to forgive us forever and forever. The verses following these from verse 10, I was going to 00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:13.199 say something about trusting God's word in verses 10 and 11. Very important to Isaiah, 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:21.279 the section of Isaiah. If you read the first few verses of chapter 40 and then these verses 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:27.840 towards the end of 55, that's a section of Isaiah. And you'll notice how important the word is in 00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:33.280 the first half of chapter 40 and the second half of chapter 55, is if he's bracketing all that he's 00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:40.800 saying with the power of God's word that comes down from above, like the rain and the snow, 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:45.440 and makes a difference to the earth. And he's using that image. And he's saying, you see the snow 00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:52.880 come down, you see the rain come down, and eventually irrigation makes things fruitful in the spring. 00:36:54.159 --> 00:37:00.880 God's word comes down from above, and he makes things fruitful in his own time and by his own 00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:08.000 power. And the other thing in verses 12 and 13 was trust God's future for those who repent 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:15.920 and those who want to see God at work. They will see God at work in the language here from verse 12, 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:26.239 is the language of return from exile and poetic language about creation, rejoicing, and the hills 00:37:26.239 --> 00:37:33.840 being alive with a sound of music, it's saying, a singing planet and the disappearance of thornbush 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:39.360 and briers throughout Isaiah have been symbols of God's judgment and curse. And it's saying, 00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:46.400 God can change your situation. And to us it's saying spiritually, God can change a spiritual 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:55.200 wilderness like Edinburgh or Scotland or Nepal. He can change it into a place that's fruitful. 00:37:55.200 --> 00:38:01.680 He could do it by his power, because he's the God of revival who sends his word from above 00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:08.079 and can change the situation. And of course at last it's looking to the ultimate change of the 00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:14.960 environment and the whole situation in the new heavens and the new earth, when everything sings 00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:21.519 and everything is harmonious and heaven and earth have come together and there's nothing but beauty 00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:29.679 and security wherever you look, and this is for an everlasting sign, Isaiah says. Everything in 00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:40.000 that world will be a sign that God has succeeded in grace. Every person, everything, everything you 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:47.759 will ever see or hear in that new world is a sign of the grace and the glory of God having 00:38:47.759 --> 00:38:56.079 reached its fruition. Now, I had a great illustration to finish with, as Cody said this morning, 00:38:56.079 --> 00:39:01.519 but there's just not time to do it, so you'll just have to accept that it really was. 00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:09.519 Everybody's good. I mean, both me and Cody today have two absolutely scintillating illustrations, 00:39:10.319 --> 00:39:15.360 and you haven't heard either of them, but you just have to trust us that they were really good. 00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:23.039 The last thing I will say, because I really want to say this as I finish, is that all of this 00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:32.800 we should hear today coming to us from Jesus, the divine servant who is saying to me and to you 00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:43.440 tonight, come, come, come, and he was saying seek and call and turn. This is coming from Jesus in 00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:51.759 heaven, the divine voice of Jesus. That's why it's so important, because he is God, and he gave his 00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:58.480 life for you, and as the one who gave his life for you and who is divine, he calls you to himself. 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:05.440 Now, why, as I finish, do I highlight that particularly in this section of Isaiah? 00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:13.520 Because Isaiah 52, 13, which begins that last great servant song, says, 00:40:13.519 --> 00:40:23.119 my servant shall be high and lifted up. That's where he is. How does that say he's divine? 00:40:24.400 --> 00:40:33.119 Because in Isaiah's great vision in chapter 6, he saw the Lord Yahweh high and lifted up. 00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:42.320 So God is high and lifted up, and the servant is now high and lifted up. Jesus has received 00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:51.120 the answer to his prayer in John 17. Glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world was. 00:40:51.120 --> 00:41:02.160 The servant incarnate God, who came so very low from heaven above, has now been invested as incarnate 00:41:02.160 --> 00:41:10.880 God with the glory he had as the eternal Son before the world was. So that glorified majestic, 00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:20.079 splendid, victorious Jesus in heaven, the King who died as the servant for you, 00:41:21.200 --> 00:41:30.320 is calling you with his divine voice to come to his table and to seek his face and to give your 00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:39.599 life to him, and he is saying, if you do that, that will change your history and it will change your 00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:50.400 eternity. If you trust in Jesus now, you are guaranteed the joy of the new heavens and the 00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:59.920 new earth forever. Isn't that an amazing thing? A decision made so simply in this world, responding 00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:10.480 to the voice of the divine Jesus, guarantees that you will enjoy his blessing forever and forever 00:42:10.480 --> 00:42:20.320 and forever. Why would somebody not come and not seek when so much is on offer from God himself, 00:42:20.320 --> 00:42:28.960 and it's there free for any one of us. Amen. I'll leave it there.