Sermon Speaker: Rev. Geoff Willour

Sermon transcript

Friends, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We continue on in our consideration of various passages from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and this morning we find ourselves in Isaiah 56, verses 1-8. I’d encourage you to follow along in your Bibles. The Pew Bible, you’ll find that on page 732. Isaiah 56, verses 1-8. Friends, this is the Word of God, so let’s hear it with reverence and awe. Thus says the Lord. Keep justice and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come and my righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people.

And let not the eunuchs say, behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. and the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please remain standing as we seek the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, your word is powerful, for Lord, By your creative word in the beginning, you brought all things into being. You spoke the word of creation, and all things came into being out of nothing. You have spoken your word of grace into our souls, and by the Spirit through the gospel, you have brought us to newness of life in Christ Jesus. And you have also inspired, breathed out by your Spirit, your inscripturated word, which is indeed a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, a guide to our way.

We would ask, O Lord, that by that same Spirit who breathed out the Word, that You would indeed illuminate us by Your Spirit as we consider this portion of Your Word. We ask that You would open our eyes to behold wondrous things from Your Word, that we might see the relevance and the significance of this passage for our lives as individual believers and for the life of the church today. We pray these things through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said, Amen. Dear friends, you may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is A Monument, a Name, and a Place for the Outsider. And I’d like to encourage the young people to listen for these four key words. The words are Sabbath, sign, covenant, and gathered. Well, dear ones, a very common hunger within the human heart is the hunger for significance.

We have within our hearts a deep hunger for significance, meaning that we want to matter. We want our lives to make a lasting impact. We want to be remembered. Another way of putting it is to say that we want to leave a legacy. Now, from a biblical perspective, this makes perfect sense. For after all, God’s Word, the Bible, teaches us that God created us in His image and that the Lord has put eternity within our hearts. And now, of course, our sinfulness and rebellion against our Creator have led us to distort this hunger for significance and have pushed it in a negative and self-serving direction. But nevertheless, the hunger for significance still remains, even in our fallen sinful hearts. That’s why so many seek to make a name for themselves. And it helps to explain why it is customary in many cultures throughout the world to mark the graves of the dead with stone monuments, stone monuments indicating permanence.

I don’t know about you, but on those infrequent occasions when I find myself in a cemetery, I will especially notice the big, impressive, and ornate monuments, sometimes weather-worn and cracked by time, but silently announcing to future generations, I was here. I mattered. I had a name. I left a legacy. While stone monuments can serve to symbolize the name and legacy of a departed loved one, Many seek to actually build a name and a legacy through their children, their offspring. In fact, in Old Testament times, this is how you would propagate your name and legacy to future generations within the promised land and within the inheritance that God had given to you. And this is one of the reasons, friends, why barrenness was considered to be so utterly tragic among the Old Testament people of God.

It also helps us to understand the predicament of the eunuch, of someone who is physically incapable of having children. How were they to have a place and a name among God’s people and within the inheritance of God’s promised land if they were incapable of propagating offspring who would continue to occupy the inheritance of their fathers in that promised land? Like the Gentile foreigner, the eunuch in Old Testament times was an outsider, was one who had no place or name among God’s covenant people or within God’s promised land. However, friends, in this wonderful prophetic passage of Isaiah, the Holy Spirit, through the prophet, promises that those who are outsiders, such as foreigners and eunuchs, that a new order is coming. a new messianic order where even those who had formerly been outsiders, like foreigners and eunuchs, would have a lasting name and place and legacy within God’s house, provided they cling with loyal trust to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, a loyalty which is expressed through the keeping of the Sabbath.

Again, as we’re told, in verses three through five. The Lord says, let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord, in other words, who has been converted to faith in Yahweh, the true and living God, let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. And let not the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree. In other words, like a dry tree incapable of producing fruit, I’m incapable of producing offspring. Here’s the words of comfort, verse four, for thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenants, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

And so all of this leads us to, first of all, consider the significance of Sabbath-keeping, since that is a prominent theme that the Lord uses in this passage to describe those who have turned and been converted in faith to the true and living God. So we consider, first of all, from verses 1 and 2, Sabbath-keeping as a covenant sign and a paradigm of piety. Let’s consider Sabbath-keeping as a covenant sign and paradigm of piety. Again, let me turn your attention to the first two verses of our passage. This passage starts off as passages in Isaiah and in the prophets often do. by saying, thus says the Lord, Yahweh, the Lord, the covenant God of Israel. This is not the word of man. This is not the expression of the religious experience of the Israelites. This is not man’s word.

This is God’s word. That is the claim that is being made here. Thus says the Lord, this is what Yahweh says, keep justice and do righteousness for soon my salvation will come and my righteousness be revealed. Now we have been considering in this latter section of Isaiah, we’ve seen much in the way of pointing forward to the days of the Messiah, the New Covenant era. and so much in the way of messianic prophecy, and that continues on in this passage. And the salvation that will come, the righteousness that will be revealed according to verse 1, what is this referring to? This is referring ultimately to the ultimate salvation that would be brought in by the promised Messiah, Jesus our Lord. So it is pointing us forward to the messianic era in view of the fact that God’s Messiah is coming, that he is on the way, Given that fact, the people of God in Isaiah’s time were to respond by keeping justice and doing righteousness.

And of course, justice and righteousness are not defined by man’s ideas or man’s thoughts, but by the law of God. And then a blessing is pronounced. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Now again, we need to remember the overall setting and context of our passage. In the previous chapter, you may recall, the Lord had issued a gracious gospel invitation to faith and repentance. For example, back in chapter 55, verse 1, the Lord had said, come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. This is a gospel invitation that emphasizes the freeness of God’s grace of salvation.

This is an old covenant way of issuing the gospel call. And we see this gospel call to faith and repentance also highlighted in chapter 55, verses 6 and 7. where the Lord says, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Now let me say that there are some higher critical or skeptical scholars of the Bible who see a disconnect between chapter 55 and chapter 56. They say, well, chapters 40 through 55 is filled with comfort, with gospel hope, but here in chapter 56, we must have a different author here, Trito Isaiah. This supposedly anonymous author is sometimes called by the critical scholars.

Why? And they say, well, obviously this is legalistic. He’s talking about doing righteousness, keeping the Sabbath, and so forth. But no, this is not a transition from gospel to law. This is not a transition from free grace to legalism. No. The theme of God’s graciousness is continued on in this chapter, and the symbol of that is the Sabbath. For the Sabbath, ultimately, in terms of its spiritual meaning, points us to rest in the promised Messiah. But again, as I said in the previous chapter, the Lord had issued a gracious gospel invitation to faith and repentance. Chapter 56 does not contradict that, but rather affirms that this gracious promise extends even to those who were typically excluded from the covenant community and from corporate worship under the old covenant economy. And therefore, we should regard this passage in chapter 56 as a prediction of realities that would arrive with the coming of Jesus the Messiah and the new covenant order that He would bring about.

The conversion of these formerly excluded individuals is indicated by their faithful observance of the Sabbath. But that leads us to the question. What is the Sabbath? In our Reformed tradition, we rightly, our confessional tradition rightly identifies the Sabbath as what we would call a creation ordinance and a moral law of God. And so that raises the question though, well, is the Sabbath a creation ordinance? binding upon all people everywhere, or is it a covenant sign with special reference to God’s people? And the answer to that question is yes. Yes. It’s not an either-or thing. It’s a both-and thing. You see, there is a moral principle that undergirds the Sabbath commandment, and that’s why it’s included among the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments, written on stone, spoken by the voice of God, written by the finger of God on tablets of stone rather than on the ancient equivalent of paper, what does the stone writing indicate?

Permanence. The Ten Commandments are set apart from the other ceremonial and sacrificial laws of God. They are set apart by the method of their propagation. The Lord’s audible voice speaking them to the gathered people of Israel, writing them with His, supernaturally writing them with His finger on tablets of stone. The moral aspect of the Sabbath command is indeed binding on all people in all ages. And what is that moral principle? Well, the moral principle of the Sabbath is that, in the words of our confession, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God. And also that we should, in the words of our shorter catechism, keep holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word. We were created in God’s image, we were created to glorify and enjoy God forever, and that requires us to set aside special times appointed by God for worship and for rest from our daily labors.

And we call this a, this moral aspect of the command, we call the Sabbath command a creation ordinance because God himself at the very beginning propagated the Sabbath pattern. in his works of creation. If you go back to Genesis 2, this very familiar passage in Genesis 2, Let me just read verses 1 through 3. It says, thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. We have the creation week presented in chapter 1. And then notice what it says in verses 2 and 3. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. Let me just make a side comment here. When it says that God rested, It doesn’t mean that he got worn out.

He got wore out by all that work of creating the universe and boy was he pooped and he just needed to take a nap. No. He rested. His rest is analogous to, not identical to, but analogous to human rest. He rested, he took pleasure in what he had done. And he did so on the seventh day. But what does it say next in verse three? So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, set it apart. Who did he set it apart for? For himself? He set it apart for us. Because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. So we see the Sabbath is grounded in the very created order itself. It is a creation ordinance binding upon all people at all times with respect to its moral nature and moral principle.

But at the same time, for God’s people, the Sabbath has a special meaning in that it serves not only as a binding moral duty, it is certainly that, but as a covenant sign with special gospel significance for God’s people. This is where the both and comes in. We see evidence, indeed proof of this, if we turn to Exodus 31, let me read verses 12 through 17. Exodus 31, verses 12 through 17. It says this, and the Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths for this is what? This is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death.

Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever.” It’s a covenant sign. with respect to its reference to the people of God. Verse 17, it is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. You see, as a covenant sign, the Sabbath is a wonderful picture, a wonderful emblem of that gospel faith which rests in Christ alone for salvation.

You know, sometimes we grumble about the Sabbath. We grumble about the Lord’s Day. We say, well, why can’t I do my own thing on Sunday? You know, Sunday is supposed to be my fun day. Why can’t we do our own thing? But actually, put yourself in the sandals of the ancient Israelites who had been enslaved under Pharaoh in Egypt. enslaved for generations. If you were a slave in Egypt, you didn’t have a day off. You didn’t have a day of rest. But now the Lord graciously rescues his people and brings them to the foot of Mount Sinai. And one of his commands is, you are to rest. What a blessing. What a gift and what a picture of gospel faith that we are called upon in the gospel to rest in Christ. That physical rest of the Lord’s Day is meant to point us to the spiritual rest that Christ in the gospel invites us to.

And I believe that that is what is alluded to here and is in the backdrop here of Isaiah’s references to the Sabbath. This ultimately points to the gospel. Not only that, but observing the Sabbath or Lord’s Day helps us to orient the flow of our lives on God and on his word, his law, his Torah, his covenant instruction. If you have a pattern in your life of week in and week out, gathering with God’s covenant people at church, That has a way of shaping your life. It shapes your schedule, it prioritizes things in your life, and that is one of the reasons why it is such a commendable practice. Aside from the fact that God commands it, it is for our good. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, as Jesus pointed out.

The Pharisees and the scribes Turn the Sabbath into a legalistic burden, whereas we are to call the Sabbath a delight. It is indeed a delight. It’s a delight, isn’t it, to gather week in and week out with our brothers and sisters in Christ, to receive, to drink deeply of the waters of grace that are offered by the Word and the sacraments and in the context of worship. What a blessing the Lord’s Day is. And it is an appropriate covenant sign of the believer’s relationship with God, and thus it is a paradigm that pictures true godliness and piety. And it is in this latter sense of a covenant sign, the Sabbath as a covenant sign and an emblem, a paradigm of piety, that Isaiah is picturing the Sabbath here in this passage. As a covenant sign, the Sabbath serves as a paradigm for keeping justice, doing righteousness, and keeping one’s hands from evil.

In other words, it is a paradigm of godliness and obedience to the word. So when he says, blessed is the man who does this, the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath not profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil, he’s not just speaking about the ritual observation of the Sabbath day. He’s talking about the covenant life. He’s talking about life in covenant union and communion with Yahweh, the faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. What are some of the takeaways that we can get from this first point? Well, let me ask you, dear listener, have you entered into the salvation rest that is symbolized by the Sabbath or Lord’s Day? It’s interesting, under the old covenant, those who refused to keep the Sabbath Through physical rest, that incurred the death penalty.

Thankfully, there’s no death penalty for Sabbath desecration today under the new covenant. A lot of people would lose their lives today because of that, if that were the case. But there is a truth that still carries on, and that is if you refuse to rest in Christ and instead rest in your works and your own labors, Well then, the ultimate death penalty is coming. For apart from Christ and resting in him, there is no salvation. Have you entered into the salvation rest that is symbolized by the Sabbath or Lord’s Day? If not, come to Jesus today. Jesus invites sin-weary, his sin-weary creatures. He says, come to me, all who weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest the load of your sin upon Christ who was crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead so that all who believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life.

But if you have rested in Christ for your salvation, let me ask you, does the Sabbath or Lord’s Day orient and center the rhythm of your life in Christ? Is your life centered on and looking forward to the weekly gathering and fellowship of God’s people? Sabbath, when I was coming to Sabbath convictions in seminary, I was resistant at first. It seemed burdensome, but then as I reflected more, I realized what a blessing, an opportunity, a weekly opportunity to be refreshed, to set aside my daily worries and labors and to set my focus on the things that ultimately matter. And so the Lord’s Day has come to orient me and prepare me for service in the week ahead. And as I make my way through the week, I can look forward to gathering once again in the presence of the Lord with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

That’s the way it ought to be for us. Let us seek, by the grace of God, to orient and center the rhythm of our lives in Christ by faithfully observing the Lord’s Day week in and week out. But as we move on in our passage for today, we also read in this passage of new covenant inclusion, inclusion that would include the foreigner and even the eunuch. Let me again read verses four through seven. It says, let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. I mean, just to intersperse a comment here. Oh, I’m not of Jewish stock. I don’t have the right racial or cultural or ethnic background. And let not the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree. I can’t have offspring.

How can I enjoy the inheritance in the promised land? For thus says the Lord, to eunuchs, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, eunuchs who rest in the Lord and express that rest by keeping the Sabbath, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. You know, some of the higher critical scholars interpret this literalistically that, oh yeah, there will come a time, the prophet is saying there will come a time when a literal monument, like the stone monuments you see in cemeteries, will be erected in the house of the Lord. What good would that do? This is ultimately pointing to heavenly realities. What is the ultimate house of the Lord? What is the ultimate temple of the Lord?

It is Christ. And in union with Christ, it is his church. And it is referring to heavenly realities. This language here, he’s using Old Covenant language to describe New Covenant realities as many of the prophets, the Old Covenant prophets had to do. They had no other language available to them but Old Covenant language. This is ultimately pointing to eternal life. He’s basically saying for those who rest in the Lord, who bind themselves in covenant to the Lord, by grace through faith. They will dwell in the house of the Lord forevermore. He says, I will give even the eunuch a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. They shall be remembered in everlasting remembrance. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, these Gentile outsiders, They join themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants.

Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” This was quoted In the passage from Mark that Pastor Isaiah read earlier in the service, the court of the Gentiles had become a dirty, smelly, noisy marketplace instead of a place of prayer for the Gentiles. And Jesus was angry with that because he came to redeem sinners, not just from among the Jews, but from among the Gentiles as well. And so the house of the Lord should be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Friends, this is an astounding promise here.

For under the Old Testament administration, certain individuals were excluded from formal membership in the visible people of God. And they were excluded temporarily for various symbolic and ritual reasons. And therefore, under that old covenant administration, these individuals were excluded from membership among the covenant people and from the corporate worship that took place in the temple. We see this, for example, laid down in Deuteronomy 23, verses 1 through 3. Deuteronomy 23, verses 1 through 3. It says this, no one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. It’s obviously referring to eunuchs. No one born of a foreign union, a forbidden union, may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord. No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Even to the 10th generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way and so forth. Now, the fact that these restrictions were not ultimately intended to be permanent or absolute can be seen from the book of Ruth. Ruth, after all, What was she? She was a Moabitess. She was from Moab. But she said, she said to her mother-in-law, your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. She was truly converted, and by the grace of God, she was welcomed. And she became an ancestress to King David. King David had Moabite blood flowing through his body because of his ancestry from Ruth the Moabitess, and ultimately, She was an ancestor of Jesus himself, great David’s greater son.

So all of this points to the fact that these restrictions were ultimately to be temporary. When it says that this will be forever, that means permanently at this point in redemptive history. Sometimes in the context of biblical passages, forever does not mean forever, forever. But in any case, under the New Covenant order that Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, envisions here in our passage, those who were once excluded, such as certain foreigners and eunuchs, are openly and warmly welcomed in. This is, again, to be understood as a prophecy of the Messianic New Covenant era. Now, what can we take away from these verses? by way of application. Well friends, if this passage teaches us anything, it teaches us that providential factors such as your race, your ethnicity, your pedigree, your family background, or other physical factors such as the inability to have children, these factors will not exclude anyone from the kingdom of Christ.

The only factors that will exclude you from Christ’s kingdom are unbelief and impenitence. And so the issue is not, where do you come from? The issue is not, what is the color of your skin? The issue is not, are you married or are you single? And if you’re married, can you have children? That’s not the issue. The issue is, Have you by faith joined yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ as he is freely offered to you in the gospel? This is a message that especially needs to be emphasized today as we are seeing new forms of racism raising their ugly heads even within supposedly reformed communions such as kinism and so-called race realism. Christ died for sinners of every tribe, tongue, people, and language, every race, every gender, male and female, the only two genders there are, and so forth.

If by the grace of God you are resting in Christ for your salvation, which is pictured by Sabbath rest, then you have a monument, you have an everlasting name in God’s eternal kingdom. You have a true spiritual legacy that can never be cut off. Praise God, that’s good news. And if you are truly in Christ, then be assured that you are included in the covenant and kingdom of your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that leads us to our final consideration in verse 8, that outcasts and foreigners will be gathered in. Let us consider finally, outcasts and foreigners gathered in. Verse 8, the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel, such as those coming back from the Babylonian exile in the post-exilic community. The Lord God who gathers the outcast of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.

In this climactic verse, not only does Yahweh promise to gather into his kingdom the outcasts of Israel, such again as those among his people who would return from Babylonian exile, and those whom our Lord Jesus in his own day called the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But in addition, in the new covenant messianic age, the Lord promises, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. In the context of this passage, the most natural identification of these others would include those who had previously been excluded under the old covenant order, such as foreigners and eunuchs. In other words, this passage predicts that in the new order that the promised Messiah would usher in, those who had previously been outcasts and foreigners would be gathered in to be members of the kingdom and family of God.

In this new covenant order, both Jews and Gentiles who believe would be gathered into the kingdom of Christ. Our Lord confirms this reality in John 10, 16. Why don’t you turn there for a moment as we wrap things up. John 10, verse 16. This is the Good Shepherd discourse. Let me start reading at verse 14. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And notice verse 16. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. He’s talking there about the Gentiles. He’s anticipating the Gentile ingathering of the new covenant. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock.

One shepherd. There’s not going to be a separate Jewish church and a separate Gentile church, which is, as an aside, one of the reasons why we should reject the schism of Messianic Judaism. The church is Jews and Gentiles together who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, my friends, we see that our Lord Jesus predicts this. In this climactic verse, we are pointed to these new covenant realities. So what does this instruct us as we close our time in the Word today? What does this teach us? First of all, beloved, this passage reminds us of the fact that this present age of redemptive history in which we live, this age between the comings of Christ, between our Lord’s first advent and his future glorious second advent, we live in this age between the ages.

And what is the fundamental characteristic of this present age of redemptive history? Well, this is the age of worldwide ingathering. Has that hit you? This is not the time for us to be insular. This is not the time for us to be ingrown. Certainly we come together for mutual fellowship and encouragement and refreshment and sort of a break from the workaday world. Yes, that is true. But we do not come together to hold off and keep ourselves separate from unbelievers. We want to welcome unbelievers in that they too might hear the gospel and become part of the family of God. We live in a missionary age. where the Lord Jesus through his visible church is gathering in the elect from around the world as the church faithfully fulfills the Great Commission. And that means that the basic posture of the Church of Jesus Christ is to be outward facing, not navel gazing.

It is to be outward focused, not ingrown. May the Lord use us at Grace Church as agents of this great in-gathering. But you may ask, well, we’ve seen this prophecy. Is there any indication of a fulfillment? Well, I will leave you with a passage from the book of Acts, Acts 8, verse 26 to 39. Our passage for today, indeed, has a biblical fulfillment, a very explicit, specific fulfillment. It’s not the only fulfillment of it, but it is an indication that the Lord is, indeed, keeping his word. Acts 8 beginning at verse 26. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. And he arose and went, and there was an Ethiopian, that’s a foreigner, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this. Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearers is silent. So he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, They came to some water, and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. This unnamed but obviously politically important eunuch here in this passage, he has a memorial, he has a monument, a name, a place in God’s eternal kingdom. And if you share his faith by the grace of God, you too will. Praise be to God.

Let’s pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you that in Christ you have given us significance, that in Christ we have a place and a name, in Christ we have a home, in Christ we belong. We ask, Lord, that these truths would resonate with our souls and bear spiritual fruit in our lives. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let’s close our time of worship by rising and we’ll sing together number 419, O Zion haste, your mission high fulfilling. 419.

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Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. consideration of various passages from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and this evening we consider Isaiah 55, verses 10 through 13. Isaiah 55, verses 10 through 15. You’ll find that beginning on page 731 in your pew Bibles. I’m gonna begin reading at verse eight to kind of remind us of the broader context here, but our focus will be on verses 10 through 15 of Isaiah chapter 55. This is the Word of God. Hear it with reverence and awe. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress. Instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle. And it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of His Word. Our Lord and Father in Heaven, we thank you that you have given us a sure and certain word in the Holy Scriptures, for they are your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word, a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.

We would ask, Heavenly Father, that You would grant us the grace to hear Your Word with faith so that we might, by Your grace, be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We pray that by the power of Your Spirit, You would also grant unto me, Your unworthy servant, the grace to declare and speak forth Your Word with clarity, with power, with the assistance of Your Spirit for the edification of Your people, the salvation of the lost, and the glory of your holy name. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this evening is God’s Effective Word. And the young people can be listening for two key words tonight, the words word and deliverance. Well, dear friends, as many of you know, throughout the history of fallen humanity, God’s Word has been incessantly mocked, ridiculed, denied, attacked, and more subtly often reinterpreted to fit in with the worldly wisdom of unbelieving culture and unbelieving philosophy.

Of the many biblical doctrines that are routinely attacked by the forces of skepticism, unbelief, and compromise, a central target of skeptical attack is often doctrines connected to the Bible itself. Doctrines clustering around what the scriptures teach about itself. Doctrines such as the doctrines of the inspiration, the authority, and the inerrancy of Holy Scripture. Now friends, historically reformed and evangelical churches and theologians have often been at the forefront in courageously defending and upholding the Bible as God’s inspired, God-breathed, authoritative, inerrant word. By the grace of God and in his good providence, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, in her witness for Christ, has been part of this noble tradition of defending and upholding the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of Holy Scripture. Indeed, the OPC was founded due to the efforts of faithful churchmen, such as the late Dr.

J. Gresson Machin, to defend and uphold the supernatural redemptive Christianity revealed in the Bible, and to defend and uphold the authority of the Bible against the forces of theological liberalism and doctrinal indifferentism, both of which had spread their tentacles throughout the mainline churches, including the mainline Presbyterian Church. But while evangelical and Reformed churches have done a noble job in bearing witness to and maintaining the truths of the inspiration and authority of God’s Word, arguably one possible weakness among otherwise faithful churches today is a neglect to uphold the power and the efficacy of God’s Word. Do we really believe that this this book that we confess to be divinely inspired, breathed out by God, authoritative, divinely authoritative and inerrant, do we really believe that this Word is powerful to do that which God has sovereignly decreed for it to accomplish?

We in the OPC confess and uphold the truth that scripture as God’s word is indeed divinely inspired and inerrant. But do we also uphold and confess with equal clarity and equal firmness the efficacious power of God’s word to accomplish all that which our sovereign God decrees for it to accomplish? You see, friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day evening not only assumes the divine inspiration and authority of God’s Word as that Word is conveyed through prophets like the prophet Isaiah, our passage for this evening also forcefully declares and presents us with, in beautiful and poetic fashion, the truth that the word of the Lord through the prophets is God’s effective word. A word that serves as a messenger from the Lord, which is sent forth to actually accomplish his sovereign, holy purposes. As we read earlier in this evening’s service from Hebrews 4 verse 12, we are told in that passage, for the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit. of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And of course, God’s written, revealed word is able to do that because it reveals Jesus, the divine Logos, the living word of God. And so, as we turn our attention to our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, we are first of all confronted here in this passage with a powerful Word. That’s the first point in your sermon outline as we consider the Scriptures as God’s powerful Word. Listen again to verses 10 and 11. Isaiah writes, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Again, Isaiah is using figurative language and he’s speaking in the language of observation, ordinary everyday observation.

He’s not speaking in the language of technical science, but what he is saying is true, that indeed the rain and the snow come down from heaven and they produce a harvest. Now, friends, as we seek to understand this passage in its context, we need to remember that through the Holy Spirit, the prophet Isaiah had predicted the Babylonian exile of the people as a divine judgment against them for their faithlessness and for their rebellion against the Lord. But in this latter section of Isaiah, the prophet he foresees in this section that started back in chapter 40 and goes through this chapter, he foresees in this section a time beyond the Babylonian exile. Ultimately, he prophetically foresees the Messianic age, the age that we now live in. In this chapter, the Spirit through Isaiah issues a gospel call for the people to come to the waters provided by the coming Messiah, and also to prepare for Messiah’s coming by seeking Yahweh their God, forsaking their idolatrous ways, and returning in faith to the Lord their God, to Yahweh their God.

As we considered a number of weeks ago, as we considered the opening verses of this chapter, we saw that those verses are a gospel call given in Old Covenant language as The Holy Spirit through Isaiah says in Isaiah 55 verse 1, come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money, without price. It’s by grace. Jesus the Messiah through His Spirit in this passage invites sinners to faith in Himself, the One who is the living waters. And we also saw in verses 6 and 7 recently, we saw that the Lord calls the people to faith and repentance. As it says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. And so the thrust of this entire chapter is a thrust of mercy and grace. This is a word of mercy. There have been plenty of examples of words of judgment coming from the Lord, but now we have a word of mercy. And this word of mercy to rebel sinners runs counter to the ways that we tend to think about justice and about mercy in our own fallible, fallen human wisdom. Perhaps that’s why the Lord reminds us that His ways and His thoughts are not like our ways or our thoughts, as we read in verses 8 and 9, where the Lord reminds us as His people, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. This context, my friends, underscores the truth that the Lord’s word referred to in verse 11, where the Lord says, my word that goes out from my mouth, this word is a gospel word. It is a word of grace and forgiveness, a word of restoration and ultimately new creation. And we see that in the language that he uses here. As it says in verse 10, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, and so forth. Think about the language that he uses here. He references rain and snow and seed to the sower.

In this verse and throughout this entire section, Isaiah employs illustrations and analogies from the created natural order, and he does so in order to illustrate spiritual truth, in order to illustrate, in this case, the power and the efficacy of God’s Word. The rain and snow that water the earth have an inherent power in them to bring forth a harvest from the earth. And in a similar manner, God’s word has been infused with an inherent power to accomplish God’s sovereign purposes. Whether we’re talking about his purposes of justice, judgment, and wrath on the one hand, or whether we’re talking about his purposes of grace, salvation, and mercy, as is the case in the context of our passage for this evening. As one commentator puts it, God has given an energy to his word, an energy of its own, as he has to rain and snow, and it will fulfill its purpose as they do theirs.

And of course, all of this, my friends, is by God’s sovereign design and ordination. So as he uses these very earthy illustrations to demonstrate, or to display rather, the power and efficacy of God’s word, he goes on to say in verse 11, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and so forth, so shall my word be that goes out from what? That goes out from my mouth. And we know that God does not have a physical mouth. But the mouth is connected with speech. And if you speak something from your mouth, it comes from you, not from someone else. There’s no ventriloquism going on here. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Imagine how this would have impacted Isaiah’s contemporaries. Now his contemporaries lived before the Babylonian exile, but they had been hearing all of these fearful oracles of judgment, and perhaps some of them who were faithful among the faithful remnant, perhaps they were trembling with fear and wondering, is the Lord abandoning us? Is he abandoning his sovereign purposes? Is he betraying his covenant? The answer is no. There is hope and there is salvation beyond the exile. But this would also be a very encouraging passage for the exiles themselves as they awaited deliverance and a return to the promised land. The Lord is telling them, my word is effective. My word that goes out from my mouth, it shall not return to me empty. And again, this is a word of restoration, a word of salvation, a word of grace.

But notice again the language. Isaiah says, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. You see, even though God communicated His Word through human instruments, such as the prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament, even though God communicates His Word through His prophets and apostles, ultimately His Word originates not from the human prophet or the human apostle, though they are used by Him to convey His Word. but ultimately the Word comes from God’s own mouth. We need to remember that as we read the Scriptures and we read the different portions of Scripture. We see that the human authors express God’s Word in different manners. They each have, you know, you read Mark, Mark has a different writing style than Luke and so forth, but these were holy men of God carried along by the Holy Spirit so that they wrote, though they wrote their words, they wrote ultimately from the mouth of the Lord.

They were carried along by the Spirit to write precisely what God wanted them to write. And so, though prophets like Isaiah communicated the divine word, the word that they spoke and wrote did not originate from them, but from the mouth of the Lord. Talk about a high view of scripture. Isaiah is saying, look, these are not my thoughts, my speculations, my ideas, no. Isaiah is, in essence, saying, what I’m writing, this comes from the mouth of the Lord. This is the Lord’s word. Ultimately, it is divine speech. And as divine speech, it carries with it divine power and divine efficacy. Just like God’s speech at the beginning of creation. You read Genesis chapter 1. How does God bring about his creation order? By speaking. God spoke and it came to be. Likewise, when it comes to salvation, God speaks His word of grace in Jesus Christ, and it comes to be in His time and in His way.

As God says in this verse, verse 11, it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose. Friends, God’s word always accomplishes its intended purpose. But some might scratch their heads and say, wait a minute, Pastor. There’s many times when folks hear the Bible, they read the Bible, and it seems to make absolutely no impact upon them whatsoever. As our evangelist Isaiah was sharing with us this morning, in the case of unbelievers who love the praise of men more than the praise of God, the word goes in one ear and out the other. It doesn’t seem to make any noticeable difference in their lives. Well, again, it might appear in the short run that in certain cases, the Word of God fails to accomplish the divine purpose, especially if it doesn’t seem to bear immediate fruit.

But friends, here’s where the analogy of the rain and the snow is helpful. The rain and the snow that God sends to water the earth do not immediately suddenly produce a crop. It isn’t like it rains and all of a sudden, poof, There’s a field of corn or a field of grain. No, there’s a process that goes on. It’s ordained by God, but it takes place in due time. So gradually, mysteriously, and over time, as God waters the earth, The seed sprouts, and in due time, a well-watered field produces an abundant harvest, provided there are no hindrances to that harvest, like bad soil or pests that eat up the fruit, and so forth. Well, likewise, the message of the gospel often seems to fall upon deaf ears and appears to make no immediate impact. But sometimes the word of God is working beneath the surface in ways that you and I cannot detect.

In the case of God’s elect, the seed of God’s gospel word eventually does take root in the heart. And as that seed is watered by the word, over time, the spiritual fruit of effectual calling and conversion and sanctification eventually occur. And even in the case of the non-elect, who in their sin hardened their hearts and refused the gospel, even in their case, God’s gospel word still accomplishes God’s sovereign purposes. But in their case, it is a purpose of confirming the unrepentant sinner in his freely chosen sin, confirming the unrepentant in his hardness of heart, and thus ripening the reprobate wicked for the judgment. But either way, God’s Word does not return void, but it accomplishes His sovereign purpose. God’s Word never fails to accomplish that which He ordains for it to accomplish. This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul wrote about the gospel. in 2 Corinthians 2 verses 14 through 17.

And again, it’s a different context and Paul is dealing with some different issues, but he says this. If you turn to 2 Corinthians 2, let me just read verses 14 through 17. Paul talks about how the Lord leads us in triumph in Christ, and he talks about the gospel and the spread of the knowledge of the gospel. He says this, but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are, we, we apostles, we who spread the word, we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. And he reflects upon this heavy calling and he says, who is sufficient for these things?

For we are not like so many peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.” Again, Paul clearly believed that the word of the gospel was a powerful efficacious word, even in the case because it spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ. Unto those who are being saved, it’s a knowledge of life unto life. Unto those who are perishing, it is a knowledge of death unto death. But it is still the knowledge, the aroma of Christ, and God’s purpose does go forward. Well, what are some of the lessons or takeaways that we can glean from verses 10 and 11? Well, friends, this passage not only reveals the power and efficacy of God’s Word, as I’ve repeatedly said thus far, but think about it, this passage also underscores the great wisdom of our God.

Our God is so wise in how He communicates to us, His creatures. Think about it. Water and snow, mountains and hills, trees and briars, the human agricultural activities of sowing and reaping. All of these things are features of the created order and of natural life. These are things that the ordinary person is familiar with, especially in the context of Isaiah’s contemporaries in their agricultural setting. They would have been very familiar with the sowing and the reaping, and they would have been very tuned in to the rhythms of nature in terms of rain and sunshine and so forth. How wise our God is in teaching us His truth by means of simple illustrations and analogies taken from the created order, from nature itself. This passage, and many like it, is a very earthy passage. And our God, not to be shocking or blasphemous, it’s not intended that way, but there’s a sense in which our God is a very earthy God.

He created not only the spiritual realm of angels, but He created the dirt. that gets under your fingernails. He is a God who is willing to get down to our level to communicate His truth to us, and He does so with great wisdom and great beauty as well. Passages like this one underscore the truth that God intends His Word to be understood not simply by highly trained theologians and academic scholars of the Bible. He intends for His Word to be understood by the ordinary, everyday believer. the one who understands these simple illustrations of rain and snow and sowing and reaping and sprouting and so forth. Praise God for that. Praise God that you can be a believer in Christ and be in a saved condition without having to be a Bible scholar. Now we praise God for the gifts that He raises up in His church for those who are gifted as theologians and Bible scholars.

We benefit from the fruits of their gifts and the fruits of their labors. But praise God that it is simple faith in Christ, childlike faith, that brings us into union with Christ. Indeed, it is union with Christ that brings us to that faith and enables us to believe, and even a child can be called into the kingdom. So again, this passage extols and reveals the wisdom as well as the kindness of our God and his great and gracious condescension to us. But again, We also learn from this passage that this truth, that God’s word is efficacious, this truth, beloved, should give the church boldness in its evangelism as well as encouragement when it seems like our testimony to the word isn’t making an impact. It is frustrating, isn’t it? You’ve had perhaps opportunities to share the gospel in gospel conversations with unbelieving family members or friends or co-workers, and so often you share the word and you can just see their eyes glaze over.

You can see they’re just checking out. They’re not with you anymore. It doesn’t make an impact. Well, again, It may be making more of an impact than you realize. The spirit works mysteriously and secretly in his timing according to his will. And this should give us great boldness. It should encourage us not to give up but to keep persevering as we bear faithful testimony to Christ and as we confess him before men. So let us be encouraged and let us be bold as a church in fulfilling our mission. But as we move on in this passage, not only do we see that the word of the Lord is a powerful word, we also read here, especially in verses 12 and 13, of desolation reversed and deliverance secured. Desolation reversed and deliverance secured. Verse 12, Isaiah writes, for you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Again, clearly he is using poetic, figurative language.

Trees don’t have hands to clap and so forth. But the point of this illustration is that all of creation will be renewed. in the end. Now, what is the historical background that serves as the backdrop of what Isaiah is writing here? Well, very, very likely the historical background to this passage is the anticipated return of God’s people from their exile in Babylon back into the promised land. And certainly, in the case of the returning exiles, they shall go out in joy. There was great joy among many of them as they were able to return to the promised land. Such going out from Babylon would indeed fill hearts with joy. But the redemptive historical event of the people’s return from Babylonian exile and the joy that it would produce point forward, beloved, to an even greater deliverance and therefore an even greater joy.

Ultimately, friends, this points to the salvation that would be provided by the one who provides the living waters, the promised Messiah. Ultimately, this points to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the joy of eternal salvation that would be secured by the redeeming work of the promised Messiah. And then it goes on to say, in verse 13, Isaiah writes, instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Again, as we’ve seen in our study of Isaiah, Isaiah in numerous places had predicted desolations against God’s wayward, faithless people. Just to give you a few reminders of that, let’s turn back to Isaiah 5 and let me just read again. from the Song of the Vineyard, verses 5 through 7.

It’s been a while since we’ve been in that earlier section of Isaiah, but remember these words of judgment, this oracle of judgment that the Lord, through Isaiah, had delivered to his faithless people. It says, and now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured. I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste. It shall not be pruned or hoed, and briars and thorns shall grow up. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Notice the references to briars and thorns, rain and no rain, and so forth. Verse 7, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant planting.

And He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed, for righteousness, but behold, an outcry. And then skip ahead to chapter 32, verses 12 and 13. Isaiah 32, 12 and 13. where again, this is an oracle of judgment against God’s faithless people, addressing the complacent women in particular. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briars. Yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city, for the palaces forsaken, The populous city deserted, the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks until the spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. You see, the spiritual desolation that occurred among God’s faithless people as they broke the covenant, wandered after the idols of the surrounding nations, and compromised their allegiance to the Lord.

That spiritual desolation is pictured as impacting the created order itself. And often in scripture, God’s judgment is pictured as a reversing of the original created order and a returning of creation itself to a state of primal chaos. Remember in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it says, the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters. And he brought what? He brought order out of the original chaos. Well, oftentimes God’s judgment is pictured as God throwing the creation back into chaos. plunging creation itself into the chaos of his judgment. But here in our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, the desolation wrought by God’s judgment will be replaced by the majesty, the beauty, and the order of the new creation. And this is pictured here by the replacement of worthless growths like the thorn and the briar with the cypress and the myrtle.

In the words of Dr. E.J. Young, the noble trees take the place of useless and offensive plants. God’s deliverance of his people through the Messiah will be the beginning of a new creation, a restoration of order after the chaos wrought by sin. And what will be the result of this glorious new creation, this glorious salvation that the Lord will accomplish through his promised Messiah? Well, it says, in verse 13, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. And of course, ultimately, that everlasting sign is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We remember His cross work. We celebrate His gospel. Two thousand years later, we’re still talking about what Jesus did to save us from our sins. This is indeed the everlasting sign and the memorial of God’s gracious and great liberation and his restoration of order after the chaos of the Adamic fallen world.

So friends, just a couple of closing applications here. The scriptures indicate that we believers, we groan inwardly for the new creation to be consummated. We have the beginnings of the new creation in our hearts by the spirit for after all, the Bible says we are new creatures in Christ. If you are in Christ, you are already a new creation. You have already tasted the glories of the age to come and yet you still thirst for that to be consummated because the new creation has broken into this present age in principle at a spiritual level, but then we still see the effects of having to live in a fallen, sin-cursed world. But praise God that the consummated new creation has been secured by the saving work of Jesus the Messiah. And though we groan and suffer in this present age, we await the adoption as sons at the day of resurrection.

The Apostle Paul reflects upon this reality in that familiar passage in Romans, chapter 8. Let me just read Romans 8, verses 18 to 30. Paul reflecting upon his sufferings, and the Apostle Paul was very familiar with suffering for the Lord. He says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, He also glorified. Again, speaking of the entire salvation process, including future glorification, as if it’s already happened because it is so certain to happen. Do you, dear listener, have this inward groaning, this inward longing? Have you come to the living waters to the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation from sin? If you are finding yourself hungering and thirsting for righteousness, go to Jesus. And even if you’re not, call upon the Lord to have mercy upon your soul and give you that soul thirst for the Lord Jesus.

Come to him who was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and raised from the dead for our justification so that all who believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Come to the waters of life. Come to Jesus. I began this sermon this evening talking about the importance of confessing and defending the inspiration and authority of the scriptures. And I hope that we will continue, by the grace of God, to do so. But friends, as we confess, uphold, and defend the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of God’s Word, let us also with equal vigor make it our aim to confess, uphold, and defend the efficacy and the power of God’s Word to accomplish all that which God ordains for it to accomplish. And in that confidence, let us live lives of confidence in the power of God’s Word.

Amen. Let’s pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we are thankful and we praise you, God, for the power of your Word and that it is indeed powerful not only to bring us salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit, but powerful to edify us and build us up in faith that we might grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grant, O Lord, that your word of grace would indeed effect grace, salvation, and growth in all of our hearts and lives. Starting tonight and continuing through the rest of our lives. We pray these things in Jesus name and all of God’s people said Amen As we close our time of worship together, let’s rise and we’ll sing together Psalm 119 e teach me O Lord your way of truth 119 e

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Sermon transcript

Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 6 through 9. You’ll find that on page 731 in your Pew Bibles. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the proclamation of His Word.

Our Lord and Father in heaven, your ways are indeed not our ways, your thoughts are not our thoughts. But Lord, we thank you that you have revealed your ways to us in your word. And we ask that by your spirit you would give us insight into your ways and into your thoughts that we might, by your grace, conform our lives more and more to your word. out of obedience to Christ and His Lordship. Be with us now, Lord, as we consider this passage of Your Word, and grant unto me clarity of thought and expression, that we might hear that which the Spirit is speaking to us in this portion of Your inerrant Word. We pray these things, Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is, Seek, Forsake, Return.

And the key words that the young ones can be listening for today are the words repentance, grace, and ways. Well, dear listeners, we have here in this text of God’s Word this morning a passage that highlights the various elements and the various aspects of genuine repentance. And because of that, that makes this passage highly relevant if we wish to understand what real biblical repentance actually looks like. This passage, my friends, is greatly relevant to our contemporary situation today because it exposes and corrects the many wrongheaded and unbiblical ideas about repentance that one can find today in our contemporary society and even within the walls of the church. Just to give you some examples of such wrongheaded ideas about repentance, For example, it seems that some folks think that repentance involves simply an emotional feeling of regret or an inner sense of guilt.

And so, for example, you do something bad and you feel bad about it. And many folks might mistake that for repentance. However, friends, the Gospels record that Judas Iscariot felt deep remorse for having betrayed our Lord, but Judas’s remorse led him to despair and ultimately to suicide, not to true repentance unto life. Judas’s remorse was what the Apostle Paul describes, I believe in 2 Corinthians, as a worldly sorrow that leads to death rather than a godly sorrow that leads to repentance and life. And so repentance is not simply feeling bad about doing bad things. On the other hand, there are others who think that repentance is simply an intellectual exercise, a mere change of mind that leads one to see things differently. And sometimes this is based on a certain understanding of one of the Greek New Testament words for repentance, metanoia, which can be translated as a change of mind.

But while it is true that there is this one Greek word for repentance that can literally mean a change of mind, we need to understand how that word is used in its context and in the biblical context that we find it showing up. And when we consider biblical repentance in its context, we understand that such words contemplate a change of mind that results in a change of direction, a turning from one way of life to a different way of life, a 180 degree turn away from sin and toward God in Christ. Still others confuse biblical repentance with the Roman Catholic practice of penance, which they believe to be a sacrament, a practice where one not only confesses one’s sins to a human priest and receives absolution, but one is also called upon to perform works of penance that are believed to somehow contribute to atoning for one’s sins.

But friends, God’s Word says that only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross can pay the penalty for sin. An ocean of tears and a lifetime of good deeds done in penance cannot pay for sin and cannot earn for one eternal life. Only the grace of God and the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins, can atone for our sins, and fit us for heaven. So again, friends, true repentance is not mere outward reformation. It’s not just cleaning up your life on the outside, but leaving the heart untouched. Nor is it a mere emotional regret, nor a mere intellectual restructuring of one’s thinking, a mere change of mind about one’s sin and about God’s grace. What then is genuine repentance, biblical repentance? Well friends, as we see in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, biblical repentance entails a whole-souled turning from sin to God’s mercy offered to sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a change of mind and a turning to the Lord that is wrought in the heart by the Spirit and Word of God, a turning that is produced by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of those who are born again by the Holy Spirit. In the words of our Westminster Shorter Catechism, in answer to question 87, the question, what is repentance unto life? The Bible-based answer to that question is this. Repentance unto life is a saving grace. I’ll pause there. It’s a saving grace. It’s not a human merit or a work that we do to appease the wrath of God. No, repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.

Or to use the words that we find in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, true repentance involves and entails seeking, forsaking, and returning. Now as we turn our attention to our text for this Lord’s Day morning, once again we need to understand this passage as we need to seek to understand all passages of God’s Word that we study. We need to understand this passage in its historical context. And while this is a passage that is certainly relevant for all of God’s people in all ages of human history, it’s important to try to put ourselves in the shoes or in the sandals, if you will, of Isaiah’s contemporaries and try to understand how they would have heard this message from Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 9. So again, we need to understand the historical setting in which the prophet Isaiah ministered.

And we learn here in this passage, as we consider it in light of its narrower and larger context, that through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Prophecy, remember that Isaiah, through the Spirit of Prophecy, had predicted the Babylonian exile of God’s people for their faithlessness, their covenant-breaking, their idolatry. The people, you see, in Isaiah’s time had been seeking after idols, seeking after the false gods of their Gentile pagan neighbors, instead of seeking Yahweh, their covenant-making, covenant-keeping Lord. However, in this latter section of Isaiah, the prophet not only foresees the Babylonian exile, he sees through the spirit of prophecy beyond the Babylonian exile to the messianic age, the promised Messiah and the messianic age that the Messiah would bring in. And foreseeing that age, Isaiah calls the people to prepare for Messiah’s coming by seeking Yahweh their God, by therefore forsaking their idolatrous ways and returning in true faith to their Lord.

Now as we turn our attention to the details of our passage for today, the first thing we consider here in verses 6 through 7 is the urgency of repentance. We learn here, we hear in this passage an urgent message. We are confronted with the urgency of repentance. Hear again these words from verses 6 and 7. Isaiah writes, under the Spirit’s inspiration, he says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Let me pause there. Once again, I know I point this out often, but it’s important for us to keep this in mind. You’ll notice in your English translations that word LORD is in all capital letters. That is a an indication from the English translators that they are translating the Hebrew word Yahweh, or sometimes it’s transliterated incorrectly, in my opinion, as Jehovah. But it is the covenant name for God.

It reminds the people of the God who graciously redeemed them from their slavery in Egypt and brought them into the bond of covenant love with Himself. So they are to seek Yahweh, to seek the Lord. While he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. Again, notice, friends, that the wording of this passage stresses the urgency of repentance. We sinners are to repent by seeking Yahweh the Lord while He may be found, and we are to call upon Him while he is near. What does this language imply? Well, among other things, it implies that God owes no sinner an opportunity to repent. God does not owe you or me opportunities for repentance. That being the case, these words also imply that opportunities for repentance are a divine gift grounded in the mercy and grace of God.

They are not entitlements owed to rebel sinners. God does not owe any rebel sinner even one opportunity to repent. And if God chooses to give you, in His kind providence, an opportunity for repentance, and you refuse, He has every right to end that opportunity then and there. And so we are urged, seek the Lord while He may be found. The truth of this passage about the urgency of repentance and seeking the Lord and turning to Him while He is available, so to speak, this is a truth that is reflected in numerous passages found throughout Scripture. Let me take you to just a couple passages in the book of Psalms as we turn to Psalm 32, verse 6. Psalm 32, verse 6, which is a psalm, a mask of David. It is a psalm of repentance, and in verse 6, David writes these words.

Psalm 32, verse six says, therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you. Notice, at a time when you may be found, surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. While he may be found, there are providential opportunities where sinners, touched by sovereign grace, may seek the Lord. And if that opportunity is now, then let the godly, everyone who is godly, offer prayer at a time when the Lord may be found. Or consider this familiar passage in Psalm 95, verses 7 through 11, where after calling the people to worship, the psalmist presses upon the people the need to hear the voice of the Lord and not to refuse His instruction. As it says in Psalm 95, beginning at the end of verse 7, If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massa in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

For 40 years I loathed that generation and said they are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Therefore, I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. the people of Israel who rebelled in the wilderness. They heard the voice of the Lord, but they did not heed the voice of the Lord. And as a result, He abandoned them in the wilderness, or He left them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of their hardness of heart. And we think of the warning. I think of the warning that is given in Proverbs 29, verse one. where Solomon writes, he who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck will suddenly be broken beyond healing. This pictures a hard-hearted sinner who receives reproof, who is urged to change his ways, to repent time and time again, but persistently refuses.

There will come a time when such a one who remains impenitent in their sin will suddenly be broken beyond healing. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul presses upon his readers in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2, he says, Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In fact, why don’t you turn there to 2 Corinthians 5 and let me read beginning at verse 20 through verse 2 of chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 5 beginning at verse 20. Paul, writing of himself and the other apostles as ambassadors of Christ, he says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Working together with him then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, in a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, that means pay attention. This is important. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In other words, friends, Jesus, the promised Messiah, has come Jesus, the promised Messiah, has ushered in this period of redemptive history when gospel light dispels the satanic shroud of pagan darkness that had covered almost all of humanity prior to the coming of Christ. Now the gospel is going forth. Now sinners are being called to faith and repentance, called into the kingdom of Christ. Now is the day of salvation. And so again, we need to keep all of that redemptive historical perspective in mind as we look at our passage for today, where Isaiah again says, One of the other things that these words imply, especially the statement, Friends, we serve a God who is transcendent.

While God is indeed transcendent, He is beyond time and space and matter. Indeed, He is the creator of time and space and matter. He is infinitely above His creation. As the theologians put it, there is an infinite distance, ontologically speaking, in terms of His being. There is an infinite distance between God and us, His creatures. But at the same time, while God is transcendent, He is not a far off. But rather, in grace, He has drawn near through Jesus Christ, His incarnate Son, and by the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So He has drawn near to us. He is accessible to all who seek Him. And so again, what is being urged here in verse 6? Isaiah offers this call to repentance, and he says, seek the Lord, seek Yahweh.

In other words, turn from self-seeking, turn from seeking after idols, whatever form those idols may take, and instead seek the Lord, seek Yahweh. Now notice, he doesn’t say, seek a better way of life, or seek after the God of your own conception, or seek after the deity, the God of generic theism. No. True repentance does not just seek after a God or God generically considered. True repentance is not just becoming religious and seeking a more moral, virtuous way of life. Seek what? Seek Yahweh the Lord. Seek Yahweh specifically, Yahweh being the triune covenant-making, covenant-keeping God revealed in the Bible. The sovereign God who in sovereign grace seeks His own. Later on, the prophet Jeremiah addressing the people of God in their Babylonian exile has similar words and indeed a promise. If you go to Jeremiah 29 and look at verses 10 through 14, Jeremiah writes this.

For thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, that’s how long the Babylonian exile lasted, 70 years. When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Not with a divided heart, like you did before, before the exile, when, yes, you sought the Lord, but you also sought the Baals and the Ashtoreths and Marduk and the other gods of the nations.

No, you will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. “‘I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Seek the Lord while he is found. And then look at verse 7. Isaiah gets more specific. He says, let the wicked forsake his way. He’s addressing the wicked, those who are rebels against God. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Wicked is parallel to unrighteous. This is referring to those who are in rebellion against the righteous God and who thus spurn his holy ways as those ways are revealed in his word.

And what are the wicked and the unrighteous to do? Well, first of all, they are to forsake the wicked way. True repentance entails and results in both outward reformation, in both forsaking your way, forsaking the sinful, godless way of life, but also it involves an inward change of heart and attitude. For he says, let the wicked forsake his way, that’s his lifestyle as we would call it today, this sinful, godless lifestyle, and the unrighteous man, his thoughts, his attitudes, and so forth. So sinful actions and attitudes must be turned from. They must be forsaken. But not only does repentance mean turning away from the sinful, the wicked, the evil ways and thoughts and attitudes that predominate in the hearts and minds of the unrepentant. True repentance also means returning to the Lord For he goes on to say, let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him.

By means of repentance, true repentance, the sinner not only turns from sin and wickedness, but turns to the Lord, the true and living God, Yahweh. And friends, this is why repentance and faith, though we can distinguish those two elements of true conversion, repentance and faith are ultimately inseparable. Just like you cannot separate the heads and tails of a coin, you can distinguish the two, but you can’t separate them. They go together. After all, true faith involves turning to Jesus Christ for salvation from sin. Trusting Christ as your Savior from sin implies a forsaking of the sin which you are trusting Christ to save you from. And that involves returning to the Lord. Notice the language of returning. Returning. God did not create us to live away from him, to live east of Eden, to live in exile.

God created us for his glory and his friendship and to dwell with us and we with him forever. And so, we were created for God. In true repentance, we turn back to the God for whose glory we were created. And this God again, he says, return to Yahweh, to the Lord. Not just return to your own conception of God or turn to a more virtuous, stoic way of living or what have you, no. turn to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, the true and living triune God revealed in the Bible. And what is the promise if by the grace of God, the sovereign grace of God, we return to the Lord? Well, that brings us again to verse 7, as we consider promises of grace to the truly repentant, promises of grace to the truly repentant.

He says, let him return to the Lord that he may, what? Have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Brothers and sisters in Christ, these are precious promises, precious words. This powerful passage not only contains an urgent call for sinners to repent, a call to seek forsaken return, but it also reveals wonderful gospel promises to those who through sovereign grace truly repent. And what are those promises? The first promise to the truly repentant is divine compassion. The truly repentant returning sinner will find that God receives him with compassion, not in anger or bitterness or rejection or even half-hearted tolerance. But rather, the Lord will receive the returning sinner just like the father in our Lord’s parable of the prodigal son receives the returning prodigal with celebration, with joy, with open arms.

It’s not that the Lord says, oh, you’re coming back again. You know, you keep messing up, you keep falling, and you want to come back again. I guess I’ll have you back, but, you know, watch it. That’s not how the Lord receives the truly repentant. He welcomes them. He embraces them with divine compassion. He also promises abundant pardon, not just a a half-hearted pardon, but abundant pardon. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Because of what Christ our Savior has done for us sinners in dying on the cross for our sins, the repentant returning sinner will find God to be a God of overflowing grace and abundant pardon. This passage reminds us of the gospel principle revealed in passages like Romans 5.20, where Paul writes that where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

In fact, let me just read briefly Romans 5, verses 20 and 21. Romans 5.20 and 21. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Dear listener, God’s grace in Christ abounds to repentant sinners who turn to him. Dear listener, have you turned to him? Have you heeded by the grace of God? Have you heeded the urgent call? to forsake your sin, to seek the Lord, forsake your sin, and return to the Lord in repentance. But finally, our short passage for today also highlights Yahweh’s higher ways. Yahweh’s higher ways. The wicked are told to forsake their way, but then the Holy Spirit through Isaiah reminds his readers that the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways.

Verses 8 and 9, for my thoughts, the Lord says to his people, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. How much higher are God’s ways than our ways? The illustration being used, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now friends, appeal is often made to these verses to highlight the general theistic truth that God is transcendent over and above all of his creation and that his ways and thoughts are inscrutable and unsearchable to his limited finite creatures. And of course, this passage does indeed imply the general truth that God is indeed far greater than his creation, far greater than we can even begin to conceive.

We can only begin to conceive of His infinite greatness. However, at the same time, we need to be sure we interpret these verses in the light of their immediate context. While they do contain generic truth about God and his glorious being, they also contain truth that is related to this call to repentance. And this, remember, this call to repentance in verses six through nine follows the gospel call that we discovered in the first five verses of Isaiah chapter 55. Remember that the statement of these verses is found here in a passage of Isaiah which stresses the free grace of God offered in the gospel and the call to seek Him in true repentance. Within this context of God’s amazing grace and our responsibility to respond to that grace with true faith and repentance, within that context, some have suggested that this passage in verses 8 and 9 is actually focusing on what we might call the scandal of grace.

In other words, that God’s ways of grace towards sinners who deserve nothing but his holy wrath is something that fallen man cannot even begin to grasp or wrap his or her brain around without the illumination of the Holy Spirit. You see, think about it. Think about how the worldly wise think about justice. The idea of showing mercy, kindness, and grace to the unworthy is offensive to the fallen, natural, self-righteous man. But God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours. And our Lord Jesus revealed the Father’s gracious disposition in His life and ministry. How? Jesus welcomed the despised of society. He welcomed all who recognized their sin, their brokenness, their wretchedness, and therefore their need for Christ’s mercy. And so Jesus welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes, and other public sinners who knew their need of him. In fact, that was one of the biggest complaints among Jesus’ enemies.

This guy hangs out with the wrong people. He welcomes sinners. Ew. Ick. That’s the greatest compliment that you can give to the Lord Jesus. He welcomes sinners. Praise God that he welcomes sinners. That means he welcomes someone like me. But that same Lord Jesus who welcomed wretched sinners who had made a wreck of their lives, that same Lord Jesus also pronounced judgments against the respectable religious, outwardly upright, who were inwardly self-righteous. Jesus rebuked those like the scribes and the Pharisees who were self-righteous, who thought, hey, they looked so noble. They were model citizens on the outside, religious. They had a veneer of respectability, but Jesus knew their hearts. This is indeed the scandal of sovereign grace by which God often chooses to save the wretched sinner who has made a wreck of his life and scandalized and hurt others while at the same time passing by the outwardly noble unbeliever who seems to have his life together and leaving that unbeliever unrepentant in his self-righteous delusions.

And so we have the scandal of grace. And when we think about God’s scandalous grace, showing mercy to sinners and often passing by those who seem outwardly respectable. That is the scandal of grace. But God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. But whether or not this particular understanding of our text is correct, it is indeed true that God’s ways of righteousness and grace are high above all human conceptions. As Dr. E.J. Young writes of this passage, he says, God’s ways and thoughts, unlike those of the wicked, are righteous. And for that reason, the wicked must abandon his own ways and thoughts. God’s mercy and grace are such also as could never have entered the heart of the wicked man apart from special revelation. Hence, the wicked is to leave his own thoughts.

God’s ways and thoughts are sovereignly efficacious in that they accomplish all that they are designed to accomplish. I don’t understand the ways of the Lord, you might say. I don’t understand how it is that God can show mercy to sinful wretches. Well, that is your only hope. That is my only hope. That is the amazing grace that we sing about. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a good person like me. No, that saved a wretch like me. Again, the Lord says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Let’s trust that God knows best, that his ways and thoughts are correct, and let us seek to learn from the Lord’s word, to think, to let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we might have God’s heart and God’s thoughts as we indeed seek the Lord, forsake our wicked ways, and return in faith and trust. to the true and living God, and to His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And all of God’s people said, Amen. Let’s pray. Gracious Lord, Father in Heaven, we do thank you for the grace of Christ our Savior. We thank you that that grace has touched us, wretched sinners though we be. And we thank you that that grace gives us hope. Lord, we know that our repentance does not appease your wrath, and our repentance is so imperfect. but it is a repentance that looks not to ourselves or to our own sorrow or heart dispositions, but rather we look to Christ and Christ alone, to His perfect obedience and sacrifice. May we rest in Him, for that is the whole soul of true repentance, to look unto Christ alone for salvation from sin. In sovereign grace, grant us the grace to continue to cling to Him alone. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen.

Well, friends, as we’ve heard the Word preached and as we are preparing to come to the table of the Lord, let’s rise and we’ll sing Hymn 203, According to Thy Gracious Word, 203.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

Sermon transcript

for the reading of God’s Word. My sermon text today, as we continue to make our way through select portions of the prophet Isaiah, is Isaiah 55, verses 1 through 5. I’m going to read the entire chapter. It’s a short chapter to fill out the context a bit, but our focus will be on verses 1 through 5 of Isaiah, chapter 55, and you’ll find that on page 731 in your Pew Bibles. Dear friends, this is the Word of God. Hear it with reverence and awe. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come by and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of His Word. Lord, we would ask that you would give us a soul thirst for your word this morning. And we ask that by your spirit, through the word, you would satisfy that thirst and cause us to drink deeply of the waters of life. Cause us to drink deeply of Christ, our Savior, that we might be conformed more and more into his image and might be sanctified and built up in him. Lord, bless your word as it goes forth this day, we pray in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is, Are You Thirsty? And I want to encourage the young people to listen for four key words in my sermon today.

Those words are invitation, listen, witness, and nations. Have you ever been thirsty? Of course, Pastor Jeff, everyone’s gotten thirsty. But I’m not talking about ordinary thirst. Not just thirsty in the sense of ordinary, everyday thirst, but really, desperately, deeply thirsty, such as the kind of desperate thirst that is brought on when you reach the borderline of dangerous dehydration. You ever been that thirsty before? Dear ones, as you may know, the impulse of thirst can be exceedingly powerful. And when you experience this kind of burning thirst, the only thing that you can really think about is quenching that thirst as quickly as possible. Now, we’ve all experienced ordinary thirst many times in our lives. Perhaps you’ve even experienced that thirst today. But there was one time in my life when I believe I experienced the kind of desperate, powerful thirst that I have described to you.

I was a boy, probably eight or nine years old, and I was visiting my grandparents in Worcester, Ohio during summer break. And one hot, sunny morning, my grandfather, who enjoyed golfing, decided to invite me along with him as he went to the golf course. So he took me along with him. Foolishly, I had neglected to properly hydrate that morning. and we’d taken no water with us. My grandfather was apparently like a camel for the scorching heat on the golf course didn’t seem to bother him in the least. And as we made our way through the course, I was too embarrassed to admit to my grandfather how desperately thirsty I was becoming. At one point during this long morning on the golf course, I remember that we came across a public water fountain, and my heart leaped for joy, and I rushed over to the public water fountain, and I tried to turn it on, only to discover that it wasn’t working.

The screaming thirst that I experienced during that long, scorching hot summer morning was finally satisfied when we returned home and my kindly grandmother gave me a nice cold glass of orange tang, which I quickly gulped down with great enthusiasm and zeal. And I think she even saw how thirsty I was and gave me another glass. Well, dear ones, in our outer man, we experience physical thirst. But physical thirst is, of course, not the only kind of thirst that human beings experience. God’s Word indicates that there is a spiritual thirst that humanity experiences in its inner man, a spiritual thirst for the transcendent. Scripture reveals that God has created mankind, male and female, after His own image. And He’s created us to enjoy communion with Him, friendship with Him, forever. But sadly, as you know, humanity has fallen into sin and rebellion.

And one of the results of this sin is that in our fallen, rebellious condition, we are separated from God’s friendship, and thus we are separated from living, loving fellowship with our Creator. This has resulted in an inner longing in our hearts, a longing that is comparable in Scripture to thirst and to hunger. But sadly, in our sinfulness and rebellion, we try to satisfy that spiritual thirst and that spiritual hunger with things that don’t really satisfy in the end. We fill our lives with all kinds of idols instead of turning to the true and living God. You know, God’s Word reveals that there is a way for our desperate spiritual thirst to be quenched and for our spiritual hunger to be satisfied. Scripture teaches that the only way our spiritual thirst can ultimately be quenched and our spiritual hunger truly satisfied is by receiving through faith the Lord Jesus Christ as our very own Lord and Savior.

For the scriptures reveal Jesus Christ to be the living water and to be the bread of life. Jesus Christ, as he is freely offered to us sinners in the gospel, he is the only one capable of being our true soul food. And his gracious gospel alone can bring spiritual sustenance to the parched soul of a sinner. In our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, we find a gracious invitation from God for spiritually thirsty sinners to quench their spiritual thirst with the gospel grace that is offered by the promised Messiah, great David’s greater son, the one whom we know to be our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So as we turn our attention to our text for today, We notice, first of all, the universal invitation of a benevolent God. The universal invitation of a benevolent God.

Verses one through the first part of verse two says this, come everyone who thirsts. Not just come you among my people who thirst, you who are Jews who thirst. No, come everyone who thirsts. Where are we to come to? Come to the waters. And he who has no money, come buy and eat. How can we buy something if we have no money? I’ll talk about that in a few moments, but notice come by wine and milk. These symbols of satisfaction and sustenance come by wine and milk without money and without price. And then he interrogates them with an important question. He says, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Now friends, it’s important to understand that this portion of Isaiah is well connected with the flow of what has come before it.

Chapter 55 is connected with the revelations given to Isaiah back in chapter 54 and especially chapter 53. And so seeing the literary and thematic connections of these chapters is very important for understanding what our passage for today is teaching us. And so you will recall, brothers and sisters, the famous messianic prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53, a prophecy that had revealed the redeeming work that would be accomplished by the messianic suffering servant of the Lord and the one who would bear the iniquity of many to make atonement for their sins. This prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53, of course, was fulfilled when our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. And the sufferings of Christ on the cross are depicted and prophesied in great detail in that amazing messianic prophecy. chapter 53.

But then as we also discovered in chapter 54, that chapter predicted the missionary expansion of the New Covenant messianic age, as chapter 54 foresaw a time when God’s covenant mercies would extend to the nations of beyond the borders of Israel, drawing in multitudes from among the Gentile nations who would be added to the ranks of God’s people. And of course, we, brothers and sisters, are part of the fulfillment of that prophecy in chapter 54. But here in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning from chapter 55, it goes beyond just the prediction of the Gentile ingathering into God’s covenant people. Here in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, we have an instance of an Old Testament gospel call. as God graciously calls and invites everyone who thirsts in their souls to come to the waters of life that are offered and provided by the promised Messiah, great David’s greater son, the one to whom he is given, as he says in verse three, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Now Dr. E.J. Young does a good job in reminding us of the historical setting of this passage. He writes, in oriental countries where water is scarce, water is sold by a vendor who calls out, attracting attention to his ware. And so God is compared to such an oriental vendor of water, calling out, crying out for people to come in. But then he goes on to say, it is not physical water, however, of which Isaiah speaks, but like milk and wine, water is a figure of spiritual blessing, the water in particular signifying the spiritual refreshment that is offered. And so we have here, again, a universal invitation. Yahweh the Lord says through His prophet Isaiah, come everyone who thirsts. This is a universal invitation. And brothers and sisters, passages like this one are one of the reasons why we in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church affirm what has been called the free offer of the gospel.

Now, some of our Reformed brethren, especially those who lean in a more hyper-Calvinistic direction, think that there’s a contradiction between, on the one hand, God’s sovereign, electing, predestinating grace, and on the other hand, the universal invitation. And so there are some who would identify as Reformed and Calvinist who would deny that the gospel call goes out to the non-elect. They would say, only the elect get the call. And they would kind of point out some of the limiting language that we find in these calls, such as everyone who thirsts. And they would say, well, not everyone truly thirsts for God, and so forth. But again, when we compare scripture with scripture, and when we look at the thrust of passages like this one, we see that, indeed, this is a genuine invitation given to all of humanity.

You see, in Scripture, my friends, the truth of God’s sovereign, particular, electing grace on the one hand, and the truth of God’s universal benevolence toward all, which moves Him to freely and sincerely offer gospel grace to everyone on the other hand, these truths, though they are distinct, they are presented in Scripture as compatible, not contradictory truths. You see, in God’s Word, sovereign particular grace on the one hand, and the universal invitation of the gospel on the other hand, these things go together, even if we can’t figure out how to hold these biblical truths together in our own limited, finite minds. In fact, my friends, while it’s hard for us as finite creatures to understand it, remember that it is through the gospel call that God calls his elect to faith in Christ. The effectual call of sovereign grace comes by means of the universal call, the gospel call, the outward call.

And so these truths are indeed not contrary, but they are compatible to one another. And we see this language inviting those who thirst to come. We see this kind of language in many places in scripture. Just to give you one New Testament example that I’m sure is very familiar to you folks. In Matthew chapter 11, 28 to 30, the Lord Jesus says this, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle. and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So we have here a universal gospel invitation to everyone who thirsts. But this invitation, this offer, is grounded in God’s free grace.

And that is also underscored by the language and imagery of this passage. It says, come everyone who thirsts, come to the water. And he who has no money, no resources, no claim upon this water, this spiritual water, this refreshment that is offering, he who has no money, come buy and eat. We have this imagery of eating and drinking and of a purchase taking place, and yet those who are without money can make this purchase. How is that possible? It’s possible because of Jesus. God’s offer is grounded in His free grace. It is without money, without price, not because it is valueless, but because of Jesus. It is free to us sinners, free to us who thirst and hunger. Why? Because, as the hymn writer puts it, Jesus paid it all. Dr. Young writes, but how can one buy without money?

The language is evidently designed to point out that the water, wine, and milk are obtained not by human purchase, but by divine grace, the free gifts of God. Nevertheless, it may be that the form of expression chosen is also for the purpose of emphasizing the legitimacy of the transaction. Indeed, there was a price paid that man might have water, wine, and milk, And that price consisted in the fact that the chastisement of our peace was upon the servant of the Lord. What about these figures, though, of water, wine, and milk? What appropriate pictures of the spiritual sustenance provided in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? You know, oftentimes in the Word of God, God uses illustrations from the natural world and from human everyday life to underscore and to illustrate the spiritual truths that are parallel to them.

And so again, to quote from Dr. Young, as water signified the refreshment offered, so wine points to exhilaration and enjoyment and milk to nourishment. The water of life offered by Christ in the gospel not only provides us with the refreshment of salvation, forgiveness of sins, the gift of eternal life, but it also gives us peace of conscience. It gives us joy in the Holy Spirit. It gives us great satisfaction. And again, this is one of the reasons why our catechism begins with that wonderful question, what is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. God’s purpose is our joy. But there is also here in this universal invitation an implied warning not to seek soul satisfaction in the wrong things or in the wrong places. As it says in verse 2, Isaiah, or the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet, raises this question.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Now, some scholars and commentators believe that Isaiah has in the back of his mind, he has in view those who were taken into Babylonian exile. You know, not all of the Jews who went into Babylonian exile returned after that exile was over. Many of them, they sunk down their roots in Babylon. They got comfortable there. They were prosperous there. They built homes. They felt at home there. And so they didn’t really want to pick up roots and go back. to Jerusalem and Judea when it was made possible for them to return to the promised land. So perhaps Isaiah has some of these folks in mind in the immediate historical setting that look, yes you’re prosperous, you’re physically and materially prosperous, but that’s not going to satisfy your soul.

Go back to where, to your roots. Go back to Israel, to the promised land. But whether or not that’s in the background of Isaiah’s thinking here, this does indeed apply to everyone who is tempted to reject the Lord, to reject the waters of life and to seek satisfaction elsewhere. Because again, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? You see, whatever it is that you pursue in place of gospel grace, whatever you think is going to replace Jesus in your life and bring satisfaction that only Christ can bring, That idol, whatever it is, whatever form it takes, will fail you and leave you empty in the end. So this is a warning not to seek soul satisfaction in the wrong things. Reminds me of what our Lord Jesus said in his call to his disciples to deny themselves, to take up their cross and to follow him.

In Matthew 16, 26, Jesus asks, taking the standpoint of a business transaction, he says, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Beloved, just like material possessions and financial wealth cannot satisfy an empty soul, so also things like dead ritualism, empty ceremonialism, shallow spiritual emotionalism, vigorous activism, and false religions and ideologies of every kind. These things may give a sense of satisfaction for a time, but they cannot ultimately quench our soul thirst. They cannot ultimately satisfy those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness. False gospels, false religion, false ideology cannot take the place of the satisfaction that comes from knowing that Jesus has got you. that you are fully, freely forgiven and justified by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from your works, that you are clothed in His perfect, everlasting righteousness, that you are an adopted son or daughter of God, that His Spirit abides in you, that Spirit by which you cry, Abba, Father, that Spirit who has sealed you unto the day of redemption, that Spirit who enables you to enjoy peace of conscience, and the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Only that can satisfy. Dear ones, Christ alone can satisfy your thirsty soul and mine with the overflowing river of his abundant grace, for he is the water of life even as he is the bread of life. Jesus alone is true soul food. Jesus alone is our spiritual drink. Jesus himself said so. Just to, I read a passage from Revelation earlier that shows the fulfillment and is connected to our passage here from Isaiah, but think about what Jesus claimed for Himself. Remember, for example, His conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Let’s go to John 4 and look at verses 10 to 14, John chapter 4, verses 10 to 14. in the midst of our Lord’s conversation with the woman at the well, Jesus says this, beginning at verse 10, Jesus answered her, you know, after the woman says, how is it that you, a Jew, are talking to a woman of Samaria like me?

Verse 10, Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? She doesn’t know he’s talking about something more significant than just physical water. And she says, Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself. as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

And of course Jesus is that water. We know that because if you skip ahead just a few chapters to chapter 7, John 7, let me read verses 37 to 39. It says this, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Keep your finger there. Go back to chapter 55 of Isaiah, verse 1. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. But Jesus doesn’t say, come to the waters. Jesus says, come to me and drink. Verse 38 of John, chapter 7. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. and then john explains what jesus meant now this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive for as yet the spirit had not been given because jesus was not yet glorified the spirit at that point and not been given in new covenant fullness as it would be after his resurrection from the dead but the point here jesus is the water of life that is the water that we sinners are invited to come and drink of But Jesus is also the bread of life.

If you stay in the Gospel of John, turn to John chapter 6 and let me read verses 35 through 37. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. There’s another I am statement. Jesus claiming to be the I am, claiming to be God. And as God incarnate, he is the bread of life. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me.” There’s sovereign grace. The Father has given a people to his Son. All who are given by the Father to the Son will come to him and receive him as the bread of life. But whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

There’s the free invitation available to all. And here we have gospel grace, sovereign grace, and the free offer in the very same passage. Dear friend, Are you thirsty? Not just thirsty for physical water, but thirsty for true water, the water of life? Well, if so, have you come to Jesus, the water of life? Are you hungry in your soul for soul food? Have you looked to Jesus as the bread of life? But how do I do that? Well, our passage goes on to answer that question of what it means to come to the waters, because it goes on to say in verse 2, at the end of verse 2 and into verse 3, it says, listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food, incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast sure love for David.

This brings me to my next point where we are exhorted to listen and live. Now here, Isaiah emphasizes our responsibility to respond to this universal gospel invitation. Other passages emphasize his absolute sovereignty and his transcendent glory, but this passage emphasizes our responsibility to listen And notice the language that Isaiah uses for this listening that he’s speaking of. Clearly, he’s not just talking about casual listening or superficial attention. He’s talking about listening that hones in, listening that is fully engaged. For he says, listen, incline your ear, and hear. Verse two, listen diligently to me. Not just listen casually, listen diligently to me. And then verse three, incline your ear. What a picture, inclining your ear. Perking up, paying attention. Hear that your soul may live. This is not just hearing that fills your mind with information, but hearing that results in new life being born in your soul.

You see, friends, from the perspective of God’s Word, we don’t really hear or listen unless we respond to the message with a heart of faith and with obedient action that flows from and is the fruit of that true and living faith. The Scriptures often exhort us as God’s people to listen to the Lord. And just to give you a few samples, if you go back to Deuteronomy, where Moses addresses the people of Israel as they’re preparing to go in and conquer the promised land. In Deuteronomy 4, verse 1. Moses says to the people, and now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you and do them. Notice the close connection between listening with faith and the action of doing the commandments. Listen to the statutes and the rules that I’m teaching you and do them, that you may live and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. or consider Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 through 6, the Shema, the famous Shema, where God, through Moses, says to his people, hear, O Israel, which doesn’t just mean listen and cognitively perceive, it means hear, O Israel. and obey by faith.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart, and so forth. Again, passages like this one and like our text for today remind me of what the Apostle Paul writes of the gospel in Romans chapter 10, verse 17, that familiar passage where Paul writes, so faith, speaking there of saving faith, justifying faith, the faith by which we are made right with God, faith comes from what? From hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. The Spirit enables us to hear unto salvation. Our Shorter Catechism comments well on this faith-filled hearing in question and answers 89 and 90. If you turn there in the back of your Psalter hymnal, you’ll find them on page 974 and 975.

Question 89 on page 974 of our Shorter Catechism asks this, how is the word made effectual to salvation? Notice it says, the Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. And so the Word is made effectual by the sovereign grace of God. The Spirit of God uses the reading and preaching of the Word to bring us to faith and to keep us in that faith. And that’s what’s emphasized in the Bible-based answer of question 89. But then question 90 focuses on our responsibility to receive that word carefully, to listen carefully. Question 90, how is the word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation? That the word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with what? diligence, preparation, and prayer.

Receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives. This reminds me, brothers and sisters, of a story that one of my seminary professors told me. I went to Gordon Conwell Seminary, which is a more generically evangelical seminary, but we did have a few Reformed professors at that seminary. And one of those professors happened to be a member of the PCA, a minister and member of the Presbyterian Church in America. And I remember this particular professor in one of my classes, and I don’t remember all of the details of the story that he told, so forgive me if I get a few of those details wrong. But he was sharing a story one day in class of a gentleman who had started to attend their church. And this gentleman was not a Christian, but he was interested in the Christian faith, and he was actually interested in becoming a Christian, but he really struggled with doubts.

He really struggled with questions. He came to church. He heard, sat under the preaching of the Word. I believe that my professor said he read his Bible and prayed and participated in the worship of the church, minus the sacraments, of course, because he wasn’t a professing believer at that point. But at one particular point in time, this particular inquirer, this gentleman, asked to meet with the pastor. And he sat down with the pastor, again, if I’m remembering the story correctly, and he said to the pastor, you know what, pastor, I really think I should stop coming to church. I feel like a total hypocrite. Because to be honest, while I wish I could believe, I just can’t. I just can’t buy all of these truths. So maybe I should just kind of back off and stop attending church until I can get my questions sorted out.

My professor shared that his pastor gave this searcher, this inquirer, some very wise advice. The pastor said, you know what, you’re not being a hypocrite by admitting your doubts and your questions. So I would urge you, keep coming to church, keep sitting under the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s word, keep singing the hymns, keep reading your Bible in private, and keep crying out to God to give you greater light and understanding. And this gentleman did decide to do that, and continued attending my professor’s church for a time, for quite some time, actually. And one day, this gentleman, this skeptical gentleman, approached the pastor and said, you know what, pastor? Something amazing has happened. I think I really do believe. I really do believe. Again, his conversion was not some kind of dramatic Damascus Road conversion.

It seems that this particular gentleman that my professor was speaking of was gradually converted over time. But the thing is, he diligently listened. He pursued. Obviously, he didn’t listen diligently in the sense of listening with faith, but he was pursuing faith. And actually, I would argue that the Lord was pursuing this man long before this man was pursuing the Lord. God’s sovereign grace was at work even in his questions and his doubts and his struggles to come to a solid faith in the Lord. So I would urge you, if any of you here today or any of you listening through the internet find yourself in the position of this gentleman, this inquirer that I mentioned here, I would urge you to Give diligent use of the public means of grace. Put yourself in the place where the Lord by his spirit can work in you.

Yes, seek to have your questions answered. There’s plenty of wonderful apologetic material out there that can help you if you’re struggling with particular questions of faith. But don’t give up. Use the means of grace. Cry out to God for light, for grace. Cry out for the Lord to regenerate you and give you a heart of faith. And you will find that as you pursue the Lord, you’ll discover that he’s been pursuing you all along. And it is, all of this is grounded in, of course, the everlasting covenant of grace that God made with his son, Jesus. As he goes on to say in verse three, incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. You know, it’s interesting, the New Testament interprets this passage as being fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, and being fulfilled in particular in our Lord’s resurrection from the dead.

Turn to Acts 13 and look at verse 34, Acts chapter 13, verse 34, where the Apostle Paul is preaching the gospel in Antioch and Pisidia, and it says this, Paul writes, or Paul says as he’s preaching here, And as for the fact that he, that God raised him, Christ from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. What’s he quoting from? He’s quoting from Isaiah 55 verse 3. Christ is the one that Isaiah is speaking of. So he’s speaking of the new covenant. He says, I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. It is based on this everlasting covenant of grace that God makes with Christ and in him with his elect people.

Based on that, that’s what gives the gospel power. And that’s what gives power to the gospel, to bring those who hear the word to faith in Christ, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. So friends, whether we struggle with doubts, or whether the certainty of our faith is firm as a solid rock, let us continue to heed this call, to listen diligently, and to incline our ears to the Word of God. For God’s Word is powerful, and it will accomplish all that which God intends for us to accomplish in His good time. We are assured of that later on in our passage, and I’m not preaching on this today, but look again at verses 10 and 11 of chapter 55. The Lord says, For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that for which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Friends, God’s Word is powerful. As blessed by the Spirit, His Word is powerful. We see that even in the very beginning of Scripture. Right? In Genesis chapter one, how did God create the universe? Creation out of nothing. How did he do it? He did it by his sovereign creative word. He spoke and it came to be. And likewise, he speaks grace into the souls of his elect through the word, through this gospel invitation. And what makes all this possible, that leads me briefly, To my final point, as we consider what we learn here of the messianic witness to the nations, the messianic witness to the nations. Verse 4, it says, Behold, that means pay attention, I made him, speaking of Christ, great David’s greater son, I made him a witness to the peoples, not just the people of Israel, but to the Gentile peoples as well. a leader and commander for the peoples.

Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. Now, since these verses follow immediately after the reference at the end of verse 3 to my steadfast, sure love for David, and since, as we saw, the New Testament interprets this passage as a reference to great David’s greater son, the Messiah Jesus our Lord, then these closing two verses here in our passage must clearly be referring to Christ and to the extension of his kingdom and covenant beyond the borders of Israel to the Gentile nations. And that is what will happen in the new covenant era of Jesus the Messiah, this era of redemptive history in which we now live.

Yes, Isaiah does use Old Covenant language to describe these new covenant realities, that is true. And so do all of the Old Covenant prophets. But that was the only kind of language available to them. After all, Isaiah, like the other Old Testament prophets, was a believer and prophet living under the Old Covenant administration. Of course, he’s going to use Old Covenant language when predicting New Covenant realities. Beloved The Son of God, our Messiah and Lord, is himself a witness to the peoples, as we’re told in verse four, a witness to the everlasting covenant of grace that is spoken of in verse three. In other words, he through the gospel, and as the church fulfills its missionary mandate in the Great Commission, through that the nations of humanity will hear the glad tidings of great joy, the good news of salvation full and free, that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation which Christ has accomplished for sinners who by grace turn to him.

The nations will be called to turn from the futility of idolatry to the forgiveness and the fullness that are found in God’s chosen, anointed Messiah. And through Him, the living waters will flow, quenching spiritual thirst and bringing eternal hope to the nations. And so once again, I close my sermon with the question I opened it with. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty for the living water? Well, dear friend, come to Jesus and drink deeply, for he is the water of life. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, sovereign and eternal God, we praise you and thank you, God, that you have provided us with spiritual refreshment and sustenance in and through Christ, the one who is the living water, the bread of life, the wine of the new covenant. Lord, feed our souls this day through the word, through what we’ve heard.

Help us to take these truths to heart. And may we share the bounty with others that you have so richly granted to us in the gospel. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. As we close our time of worship, let’s rise and we’ll sing together number 444, come to the waters, 444.

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