Isaiah 53:6-7

Introduction: The Gospel Context of Isaiah 55

0:01 Now let us hear together the Word of God as it comes to us in the 55th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah, the 55th chapter, and I shall read in your hearing the first seven verses. Isaiah 55, verses 1 through 7. Just to put this passage in its setting, those of you who were here this morning will remember that we spent some time examining the central text in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah in which the basis upon which God shows mercy to sinners is so clearly depicted in the suffering servant of Jehovah. And then in chapter 54, on the basis of what the suffering servant of the Lord has accomplished, there is this beautiful imagery of the expansion, the expansion of the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. And now we come to chapter 55, and the God who has told us the way by which sinners may be forgiven and has announced that that message will go to the ends of the earth and that men of all nations shall enter into its provision now comes in the way of entreaty and invitation and command

1:26 and speaks to us in the language of Isaiah, Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone that is thirsty, come to the waters, and he that has no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not?

1:55 Hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me, here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander to all the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and a nation that knew not you shall run unto you because of the Lord your God for the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified you. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.

3:09 Let us again seek the face of God in prayer in the consciousness that it is only the God who gave us this book who can give us understanding in its truth. Let us pray.

3:27 Our Father we bow in your presence to acknowledge before you that it's only in your light that we are enabled to see light and we plead with the psalmist that you would open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of your law. We acknowledge that left to ourselves we grope in darkness. Left to ourselves we can only pervert your very word to our own destruction. But oh God, under the tutelage of your Holy Spirit you can lead us to an understanding of yourself and of your ways and into the experience and joy of your gracious salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grant us to know that ministry of the Spirit with the word as together we plead these mercies through him who loved us and gave himself for us even our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

God as a Street Vendor: The Profuseness of Gospel Provisions

4:38 Now as I already intimated before reading this passage from Isaiah 55 it does form part of this unit in Isaiah's prophecy in which the gospel is so wonderfully and clearly set before us and now as we come to chapter 55 we find this concentration of the free and the unfettered invitations and commands and commands to partake of the benefits of the salvation secured by the suffering servant of the Lord. God condescends in these opening verses of chapter 55 to the role of a street vendor. I asked your pastor if you had any street vendors in Los Angeles. We have them by the hundreds in New York and we use the term hawkers or street vendors. And here the living God takes the power of God and takes the posture of a street vendor and he goes out into the highways and byways and he cries out for attention and says, Oh, attention! Everyone who is thirsty come to the waters.

5:50 And it's as though he anticipates someone saying, Yes, but I don't have sufficient money even to buy water. And so the hawker, the vendor of goods says, He that has no money come, buy, come, buy wine, without money and without price. And here the privileges of the gospel are likened unto water that refreshes, wine that rejoices and milk nourishes. What a beautiful way to set forth the profuseness of gospel provisions.

6:26 It does for the soul what water does to a parched mouth. It does to the heart what wine rejoicing the heart of man as we are told in the psalm. It does what milk does to the babe in sustaining its life. And God says to the nations, Come!

6:48 This is what is provided in the gospel of my dear son. And then after this invitation, this entreaty, this interaction, this kind of divine argument in which the vendor of goods says to people, Why are you spending your money for things that can never profit? Why are you wasting your time seeking to find any satisfaction at the fountains of this world? There is Lord and in his servant and in his salvation in them alone is there true nourishment for the human soul.

The Gracious Command Issued: Seek the Lord While He May Be Found

7:26 Well then in verses 6 and 7 God against and addresses men in the form of the imperative and he speaks what I do not know what else to call but a word of gracious commandment He invites, he entreats and now he commands Seek ye the Lord while he may be found upon him while he let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Now as I attempt to open up these two verses in your hearing I want you to understand I want you to notice with me first of all the gracious command issued the gracious command issued in verse 6 first of all its essence and then its commandment when the prophet said the Lord is he addressing only conscious of the deep need of the soul what men called

8:50 in according to our text he's addressing people described in the next verse as wicked let the wicked forsake his way he's addressing the unrighteous or more literally men of iniquity goodness is they can be designated as iniquitous men furthermore from the preceding paragraph we learn people address have deep utterly impoverished in their ability to meet those needs described as those without money and have not where people who are deceived are wasted by their own they are not on things that can never meet their basic needs verse 2 why do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not profit now what's the point of all of this simply this that this gracious command

10:14 issued by sinners with no qualification it comes to them as sinners sinners sinners sinners sinners in all the nakedness of their need sinners in all deception of their need of their blindness sinners in all of adversity sinners in all of lessness and that is indeed the glory of the gospel gospel the nakedness of his need and the savior in the plenitude of his grace come into direct embrace with no one in between Paul explicitly in one of those faithful sayings in the pastoral epistle when he said this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation Christ Jesus into the world sinners to save and the emphasis in the originals for this is the faithful say Christ Jesus or in the language of Romans 4 verses 4 and 5 to him who works the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt

11:42 but to him who works not but believes on him who justifies the ungodliness his faith is counted for righteousness and so as we contemplate the grace command issued by the prophet we must understand that its subjects are sinners as without any other qualification and therefore you have seen your in the light of the text we examined this morning as part of that great flock of sheep that has gone astray as one who has turned to his own way to me but then notice the essence of this command it's bound up in these two words while he may be found that combination is not new in the Old Testament we find it in Isaiah 5-1 in Jeremiah 29 12 and 13 and in several other places in the Old Testament prophets well what's the heart

The Essence of the Command: Direct and Sincere Dealings with God

13:10 what's the essence then of that command well basically in the Old Testament in the Old Testament in the Old Testament in the Old Testament it points us in two directions first of all it is a divine summons to the sinner in all the wickedness of his need to have direct dealings with God himself notice the language of the text seek the Lord in other words it is a divine summons to have direct dealings with God liable for myself who on the basis of the suffering servant of Jehovah and his work is to be is to seek the Lord to call upon him in other words the command is not simply to shuffle some of your mental furniture about reality the summons is not merely to get your act together and to quit doing certain things and to take up another set of practices the command is not to turn in upon yourself and come to some wholesome self image but to the command is not to join the church partake of the sacraments the command

14:37 is to have direct dealings with God himself seek the Lord and it is not only a summons to have direct dealings with God it is a divine summons to have sincere dealings with God in a way of entreaty seek is a word that a common vocabulary continually the root of this word in Hebrew has in it the concept of treading it might be the parallel of the New Testament terminology of coming unto the Lord him that comes unto me and the word has both Old and Testament connotations we find it embedded in that great gospel passage in Romans 10 whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and there calling upon the Lord is used all synonymously with faith and so when the prophet sends out this divine command to seek the Lord all upon him the essence of that command is a summons that comes not primarily from the prophet not primarily out of the community of the people of God

16:05 but a summons that comes from the throne of God himself to every sinner as a sinner in his status to have direct dealings with this very God against whom he has sinned and to have dealings with him in a way of spiritual entreaty and faith now why do I emphasize this for the simple but fundamental reason that we have well nigh sight of this base biblical truth in our generation the truth is this fundamentally a reality and moral tragedy sin has to do primarily relationship to his God with the effects of interpersonal relationships the effects of sin upon the human psyche and the battering of one's own inner being that we have lost sight of the fact that when we whatever may have one dimension will overshadow all others and it is the vertical dimension and

17:33 you remember David in Psalm 51 guilty of the horrible means of adultery and murder by proxy guilty of the additional sin of living the life of a hypocrite for the space of almost an entire year and yet when the arrows of God found their mark in his heart and drove in prayer and out of the crucible diction and fresh dealings with God the first Psalm what is the emphasis of that Psalm mercy upon me according to the multitude of your tender mercies and then he goes on to say what on the surface seem to be shocking words against you we have ice and done that which is evil in your sight well wait a minute David isn't that a little bit of rhetorical excess didn't you sin against that woman Bathsheba when you looked upon her play thing of your lust when long Hefner was around boy philosophy David had the playboy philosophy Bathsheba's well arrayed flesh was something for you to take and play with how do you dare

19:02 what of Bathsheba and what of that noble soldier Uriah that man who back from the battle and tried to get him to go in as it were and cover up his own adultery would not so much as even go into his house and enjoy legitimate conjugal marital intimacy with his wife his heart was so bound up with the cause of God upon the battlefield that he slept outside on the step David when you destroy a man like that wanton calculated cold-blooded murder by proxy how in the presence of God against you and you only have I sinned will you see David understood what we need to understand that no matter how tragic and foul are the horizontal dimensions of our sin no matter whose property is 攜 or destroyed or marred no matter whose no matter whose name is and I am not minimizing the horrible horizons of sin we need to understand that essentially and fundamentally sin is what we saw it to be this morning it is estrangement from God it is rebellion against God and if we are ever

The Agency of the Command: Urgency and Divine Opportunity

20:30 to be right with God direct dealings this God must be earned sincere with this God for he calls to seek the Lord while he may to call while he is near as we further examine this gracious command having looked at the subjects of the command sinners as sinners the essence of the command note thirdly the agency of the command agency of the command it's bound up in these words seek the Lord why why now what is the prophet suggesting that God is a localized God deity and is only present in some places and not others heaven and you remember the 139th psalm where God celebrates the omnipresence of God if he jumps upon the first rays of the sun as they break over the eastern horizon and shoot out over

21:59 the vast sea if he could ride upon the wings of the morning and go to the uttermost part of the sea even there the hand of God would be upon him nowhere when the prophet says seek the Lord while they be found upon him while he is near what he is doing is underscore that at dispo mercy must be sought as mercy oh divine God did to show grace and if God upon the work of Reinhard door will one day close human history when our Lord comes in upon his enemies but not only the does this primal apply human history it applies in the case of the individual life history of men and women let me state it as bluntly as I know how if you're ever to be

23:29 saved you won't get saved because you have picked a convenient time and if almighty God condescending comes near to in the word of and begins often what has hitherto been an insensitive and dull conscience

23:59 has begun to press in upon your spirit stuff off as a bunch of preacher upon your conscience there is a penetration of divine reality and it reverberates in the deep members of your soul and one part of you says if I could I dismiss it all as a lot of hot air and preachers talk you can't do it preaching of his word often buttressed by stray providence I would

24:46 size who cannot look upon the events of the past weeks and months and say whatever else they are doing me to realize there's something more to this life than feeding my belly and bedding down with my girlfriend or my wife and going to work there's something more and I've got a sneaking suspicion the answer may lie in God and in the world of spiritual reality and God and his providence has brought you here in this place tonight listen to the prophet seek the Lord while call a while while the inflammation of his word for this is the mystery of preaching it is God preached word Ephesians 2 where Paul to those who were nigh well when did Christ ever come to Ephesus and preach when the apostle Paul came to Ephesus and in mercy to sinners and so this

26:16 since of it is not only a summons to have direct dealings with God and dealing in a way of treaty but there is an element of urgency the gospel never comes as a take it or leave it proposition and I say to any of you men preparing to preach the gospel if God does not implant in your breast something of that felt earth that will make you into a pleader with men with a take it or leave it stop preaching Paul 2nd Corinthians we be in the stead of Christ be reconciled to God on the conclusion of this message please turn your tape to side two but then we must hasten on to note not only the gracious command that is issued but in verse seven the manner of obedience required the manner of obedience required the let the wicked for righteous man his thought

The Manner of Obedience Required: Deep and Thorough Repentance

27:46 unto the Lord self to the question what must I spiritual need on the one hand and God's provision through the ministry of the servant of Jehovah on the other hand what must I do act that I like a sheep have gone astern to my own what must I do well I must seek the Lord while he may be found I must call

28:27 the question is asked what should the manner of my seeking him what should be the climate and the accompaniments of my calling upon him and the answer of our text is you must do this in a way of deep and thorough repentance you say I don't see the word repentance in the text no you have something far better a graphic description of the thing and not the bare word it has

29:00 the negative is first let the wicked force his way to Isaiah 53 we have turned into self that is marked all of us now God says this would you know my mercy would you know my forgiveness oh the water of life to us would you know the wine of life to fill would you know the milk of life to nourish you unto everlasting life then in your seeking of the Lord you seek him in a way of deep and repentance the wicked forsake his way he does not say let the wicked forsake certain manifestations of his way no he says let him forsake life live unto self must be fun become a Christian counterpart to this is Jesus called to discipleship what's the first

30:28 requirement if any man will come after me let him say not in the Bible justifies any sinner from the first of Jesus and the way of righteousness is the way of faith but the way of biblical faith is always the way of a that is parted with repentance and inseparably joined to it therefore on the basis of the work of the spirit of Jehovah God up to force their ways of life centered in self desire way of

31:37 God and God says you must forsake it not no forsake furthermore he say in the negative and let the unrighteous man man of iniquity the verb to be supplied from the preceding part of the verse let him forsake his as a man in his heart so is he and God is summons to repentance to make plain that he touches the deepest what is wrong election of the state full heart and are of our hopes with that summons to seek

33:05 must be one that complies wicked forsake his way just man his that he's concerned and returned unto the way of God and so we see the positive then in the manner of disobedience the negative then the positive look at the language of the text let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and the language or catechism and I don't know an uninspired definition that is more comprehensive or beautiful what is repentance unto life repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and an apprehension of the mercy of God does with great of his sin

34:32 again offenses against God are summoned in the gospel to the biblical gospel and man man It is the announced method of restoralship and communion of himself in awake with his righteousness and with his justice we were made for God but like sheep we've left him we've left attachment to his purse we have left that subjugation to his law and now he calls us having forsaken our way and our thoughts with a view do you see anything else is inconsistent with the very purpose for which Christ died I want you to look at a passage in the new testament that is so appropriate at this point first Peter chapter three first Peter chapter three

The Purpose of Christ's Suffering: To Bring Us to God

35:58 verse eighteen Christ all wants for the unrighteous now notice you have one of those quotes of which you've heard many times from your own pastor Christ suffered for us out of hell but that isn't what Peter emphasizes he might give abundance of life that's not what's emphasized by for the unfriend listen when Jesus underwent baptism of divine wrath he attempted to lay out before you this morning what was the intention of his heart why did tread the wine press alone why did he might nation

37:23 to bring offering to God that's why the Thessalonians uses the language he does they then report of us what manner of entering in we had unto you how that you turn to God from your eye and then the two participles you turn with a disposition to serve for his son you didn't get and run off and come to God the one who's the

The Encouragement to Obedience: God's Abundant Mercy and Pardon

38:50 great that comes upon the work of Christ negatively forsake your positively right but now look at given to the obedience we've looked at the gracious command issued we looked at the manner of obedience requirement to obedience given and the encouragement is bound to wonderful words of promise here they are let him return unto the Lord upon him is but a twin courage that we have defied treated him like junk when we've been insensitive to his

40:18 the object of the adoring wonder of all the stand we wonder depth of can my have you ever felt that horrible or in the language of an old hymn writer by the name of binny he wrote eternal light eternal light which placed wing light shrinks not with calm look on thee but how shall I

41:29 whose native sphere is dark whose mind is dim will appear and on my naked you see the problem the but both wesley and binny had an answer there is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode an offering and a sacrifice a holy spirit's energies an advocate with god for the sight of holiness above ignorance and night may dwell with the eternal light through the eternal love hallelujah that's the gospel and wesley answers this way there for me the savior stands stand stand shows his wounds and spreads his hands god is love i know and loves me you see what these men understood and expressed in their hymnody the knowledge of god's forgiveness in christ was not enough is it worthy overcoming of that sense of reluctance it's too good to be true and it was god's pledge and promise that gave them boldness to lay hold of the offered mercy and that's

42:59 exactly what the prophet does look at his word we return we can return leaving as it were god's mercy upon him and you see when we to the place when that's all for mercy what a wonderful place to be you remember the blind beggar bartimaeus he heard that jesus of nazareth was coming by and he had heard wonderful things about this man and his ability to

43:37 and he began to cry son of david have mercy and people said shut up he's got no time for you and i love his response and it says he cried the louder didn't change his son of david and then some of the most beautiful says and jesus stood still may i say it reverently do you want to stop the son of god in his tracks and you just start pleading for mercy because he's pledged to show mercy upon him mercy with its in god's justice satisfied in the blood letting of the suffering servant of jehovah mercy and justice and holiness that is not at all some kind of innocuous glob of divine hope will fix me up that's not the mercy promise rooted in eyes that my sins might be righteously pardoned oh dear sinner i don't

45:07 care what your sin has been in its every single particular is so confident in the ability of his mercy he makes the pledge not me have mercy upon you and then the last part of the promise is untranslatable and you read the hebrew scholars and after they give their suggestions they all say give up multiply pardon i mean either you're pardoned or you ain't except this god is giving sinners every encouragement to go to him you will not reluctant to pardon he will pardon you will find him to be precisely the god of the prodigal son when he started his homeward journey hoping for the best he could hope for was that his pop would let him back in the house and stick him out in the servants quarters and he says if i get that that's

46:36 mercy beyond anything

46:43 your sight no longer worthy to be called your son make me as one as your hired servants he had a totally different view about god's his father's government then didn't he couldn't stand the house rules before now the servants rules are perfectly just and right and good and i'm willing to go back and live by them stick me out in the servant shack dad that's good enough for me

47:16 father but the scripture is beautiful when the son is yet a great way off luke 15 20 does not say that the son ran to the father but the father ran to the son through his arms about his neck and he kissed him and then he called his pardon upon his returning prodigal son oh dear people this is what makes preaching the gospel so glorious with all of its heart

47:56 disappointments to proclaim in the name of the god of heaven that he is to have mercy upon sinners and abundancy sinners by lay hold of that and seek him seek him in the way of directness and faith seek him in a way of repentance seek him in a way of forsaking their own and returning to the living god through his son jesus christ well that's god's gracious in the meditation the offended god will have mercy or compassion and the offended god will multiply what wonderful words of promise and as i close i would ask you my friend sitting here tonight with that horrible pressing weight of your sin sleep causing to have to keep your mind strung out on booze and drugs to maintaining any kind of sanity and because you cannot face the reality of the pressure of that guilty accusing conscience oh friend hear the word of god seek the lord while he may be found call upon him

The Danger of Defying the Summons: God's Judgment

49:25 while he is near forsake your way and your thoughts and return unto god the confidence that he will have mercy and will abundantly pardon but i remind you this is a divine summons to lay hold of mercy and if we defy that summons i leave you with the words of proverbs one twenty two and following and i trust god the holy spirit will cause them and reverberate throughout the corridors of our hearts as we leave what happens if i choose defy to seek his mercy in the way of his appointment hear the word of this saying proverbs one and verse twenty four because i i've stretched out my hath regarded but you have set it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof i will laugh in the day of your calamity i will mock when your fear comes when your fear comes as a storm and your calamity comes on as a whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you now notice then

50:47 for they hate the fear of none of my counsel they despised all my they shall eat of the fruit of their own be filled with their own dear people as glorious as it is to s i know how he that believeth not shall be damned and if you defy the god some of us have lived to see people this life and they're merely ripening for hell don't trifle with almighty god in a short time this preacher will be on a plane and god willing back on the east coast

52:16 and forgotten but the word of the lord my friend i've sought to put a judgment with my hands clean of your who's him who speaks from heaven through his word and dear children of god what a message to bring to our generation what a glorious message what a solemn message may the lord inflame our that by his power others may know the blessedness of his grace and salvation let us pray would have ever have but in a way

53:43 your justice and your grace oh who allows men and women and boys come this place of its son amen