Isaiah Lesson 72

Some of the women are off, I think, at Sight and Sound today. So Pastor Jeff is with Pastor Marty Berglund. Every month, they get an opportunity. He encourages local pastors. So we are here, and we are continuing in the book of Isaiah.

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff finished his two-week session on Isaiah 53, which can very easily be looked at as the pinnacle, because it's the great messianic chapter that actually starts in the beginning of the end of 52.

And he took us there for a couple of weeks. And so as we are coming out of 53, we are kind of looking at almost an echo. If you're looking at the pattern of how it was written, it's called a chiastic structure, where you have events leading up, and then you have a pinnacle pivot, and then events coming down.

And so what we had last week, as we are coming down in chapter 54, was a look at the millennial kingdom, specifically looking at the prophecies of the millennial kingdom as it relates to God's chosen people, the nation of Israel.

And in the last part of chapter 54, we actually had a significant teaching of what it's going to look like in the millennial kingdom. So if you're ever interested, the end of 54 gives us probably the strongest passage on the millennial kingdom.

Where we are now in chapter 55 is God's promises for the rest of humanity. And it's as wonderful as it is for his chosen people, because as we go into the post-tribulation period, we know it as the millennial reign.

This is God bringing peace and order back to Earth. But my one takeaway for this week, up on the top of the page, is for those who hear and respond, God promises blessings. And the significance of it is you have to get through chapter 53, you have to have the Messiah, you have to have him going to the cross, you have to have the blood shed, the propitiation for sins.

Having that, we now come down to the glorious side. And there are no alternatives. It's the blood of Christ. That is the answer, that is the solution that man desperately needs. In our small group, we are studying, now at this time, the second letter.

We did the first letter, now the second letter. And the first letter is written to encourage these Jewish Christians who were being persecuted and abused in and around Jerusalem. And so they scattered into what we now know as Turkey, age of minor, and all these little churches set up.

So the first letter encouraging them, because you're still going to have a tough time. There's still going to be persecution. And so he's encouraging them to remain strong through that. A couple of years later, he writes another letter, and he's giving them a heads-up that there will be false teachers.

And he wants them to be equipped to stand strong against the false teaching. And specifically last night, there was the warning that from among you, false teachers will arise. That becomes very, very scary.

But it's true. And we're all told to beware and to be so grounded on truth. Well, in this chapter, we're going to be looking at God's promises to all of humanity, who hears and to respond, and the reality of the promises that he has for them.

And these promises become fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom. And eventually, they become fulfilled in the New Jerusalem after the Great White Throne of Judgment, after his final return. We're going to go into chapter 55.

And for now, let's pray. Lord God, as we come to you, we come with the hope of your promises. We come with the realization that the world has obstacles in the way. The world has been condemned because of man's sin.

And mankind has a sin problem. But there is a promise for those who will turn to you for full restoration. We look for these words of encouragement this morning, this afternoon. In Jesus' name, amen. Rich, you're going to be my Isaiah 55 person, all right?

We're going to take it a bit at a time. And Lisa, if you look at my notes, Deuteronomy 10 -12, if you would have that ready. Does she have a sheet? OK. All right. He said, I don't have a sheet. I don't think I'm going to get one.

First Bob, second Bob, third Bob. Bob.

You should do Japanese and call them by their last name. What is your last name? Ball. Ball? Ball-san. Bob-san. Ball-san. Hi. Ball-san. Ball-san. Ogenki desu ka? Thank you. Ball-san.

That means, how you doing, Bob, Mr. Bob? Arigatou. Arigatou. Arigatou gozaimasu. Don't mention it. Arigatou. Don't touch my mustache. Dodashimashita. Anyway, that's a little bit of Japanese that I remember.

All right, Lisa, you're going to get Deuteronomy 10 -12, Matthew 5, 6, Bob 1, Bob 2, Genesis 12, and Bob 3, 2 Samuel. We'll get those ready. I'm sorry? What do you mean, I get it? You're going to read it for us when I get there.

Oh, OK. I hand out verses to read, and we end up discussing them they support. My teaching, as with Jeff's, is expository, which says that we are going to take a book of scripture, and we're going to work through it, and where it takes us next, that's what we're going to preach on, teach on.

So at this point in time, we're up to 55. We also exegete, which means we take the meaning out of the scripture. We don't come up with an idea and try to prove it. But scripture on scripture helps us to understand the fullness of the message.

So we tend to have verses that we work together with. So give me verses 1 to 5 in Isaiah 55.

The Invitation to Come, Listen, and Receive

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you have no money, come by and eat. Yes, come by wine and milk, without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David.

Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, that the nations who do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

Now pretty much in the strength of this first section here, this is a promise not to the nation of Israel, but to the nations that are not part of Israel in fulfillment of much of God's promises. In all things and in every way, Deuteronomy 10, 12 is the active passage that allows us to participate even in these promises.

So Lisa, if you could give Deuteronomy 10, 12.

And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?

That promise is given to the nation of Israel, but on the strength of where this passage goes, the requirements are the same. What does God want? He wants you to heart. He wants you to listen to him. He wants you to walk in his ways.

And so it starts out in the first verse, come everyone who thirsts. The concept of what does it mean, what does it mean to be thirsty? My pregnant pause means if you got a thought, throw it out there.

What does it mean to be? You're short of water. You're short of water. You need it. And you need it. And you're sensing that it's something that you need. In this particular context, he's using a metaphor.

Those of you who are thirsty, what do you look for? You look for a fountain to get something to drink. When you have money, what do you do with that money? You buy food because you need sustenance. But the metaphor is you have a need that goes greater than the need for water and the need for food.

You have the need for the spiritual cleansing, the spiritual feeding that you have. Matthew 5, 6.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

That's the promise of God is that if you want food, you're gonna eat the food, you'll be hungry again. If you need water, you're gonna drink the water, you're gonna thirst again. He says, I'm the living water.

And he basically says if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, if that's where your intent is, that's where your seeking's at. If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, eventually you will be satisfied.

That's true satisfaction. He says here, come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And by the waters, he's talking about being satisfied through God, through the Holy Spirit. He who has no money, come and buy and eat.

It doesn't even require money for you to receive. It's given freely. That's actually what he's saying there. Now he goes on and he says, I want you to listen diligently to what I have to say in verse two, verse three.

Incline your ear. He's seeking attention to the words that need to be spoken, that need to be heard. What is the difference between listening and diligently listening? Anybody who has a teenager understands this concept.

Or if you're me. I tend to not listen.

What is the difference? Ah, very well done. I think listen, listen is to hear, and diligently listen is to hear and process what you're hearing. That's what he's asking.

That's well said. He is seeking those, to come to church on a Sunday, to come to a Bible study, and to spend time allowing the words to be spoken so that you hear the words, and you can be satisfied that I heard the words, and that's enough for me.

He's saying I need you to go beyond that. I need you to be diligent in your listening. I need you to incline your ear. The concept is pay attention, process the words so that the words have impact. Even the term thirst.

Remember, they're a desert community. So we sometimes gloss over that word. Yeah, I get thirsty once in a while. I get a drink of water. But just think about their society and culture. That would really have a deep meaning for them, just to get their thirst satisfied.

Absolutely.

Yeah, like when it says thirst, do they mean like, do you ever get really thirsty, and you just chug, and you can't stop chugging? Or sometimes you're just thirsty, and you take a little drink, and you're done.

Does it indicate which thirst it's talking about? Well, this is intense.

This is the life desire, the life need for something to satisfy, for something to meet your need. And so he's saying, listen intently, because I've got the answer for you. Basically, what he's telling him now is, I need you to come to me.

I need you to come to God. And the benefits of it, in verse three, your soul may live. And then he goes on, and he says, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant. The reality of, it's appointed unto man once to die, okay?

But for those who have come, and tasted, and accepted, and heard, and have become part of his family, there is an eternal life that goes on beyond that. And then he is saying, now again, this particular chapter is focused on the nations outside of Israel.

And for him now to make a proclamation that you do what I'm asking you to do, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant. What God is proclaiming, basically, it comes out of Genesis 12, one to three.

Bob, too, you have that?

Yes, Genesis 12, one to three. Now, I don't know, I said to Abraham, get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen, and away from your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you.

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you are to be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who curses you. And by you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

And other renderings by you all nations will be blessed. So God does establish, in reality, a nation and the rest of the nations. He does establish that, for his purposes, he has called a people, they have a blessing, and they have an obligation, but through them, all nations will be blessed.

Well, this is being fulfilled as we get into this chapter here. Following the pronouns is so important in a chapter like this. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know. The you there, he is speaking to the external nations.

You will be going towards and seeking out Israel. They have a specific, and a nation that did not know you, okay, that's Israel, who did not know you because you were outside the camp. They will actually run to you.

What he's setting up here is a reunion of the manhood, the one race of the human race, and that eventually, it's not Israel and everybody else. Eventually, it is mankind, identifying mankind as those who came up from the beginning of this verse and who came through chapter 53.

And they're thirsting and they're coming and they're paying attention and diligently paying attention. He sees all mankind of that definition as one. He's bringing them together. 2 Samuel 6, 5 -3.

And I will provide a place for my people, Israel, and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and will no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore as they did at the beginning and have done ever since.

Ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from your enemies.

What is going to happen in the millennial kingdom, as we saw last week, is God restoring a land, restoring a land of peace and a land of joy and a land of plenty. The nation of Israel is promised that, but in this, the rest of the world of those who are believers are joining in with that promise.

What we found out last week, and at the end of what you read, Bob, was that there'll be a land of peace. But we did find out last week, in the end of chapter 55, that there will be a time of opposition, even during the millennial reign.

Now, we do know from other teaching that at the end of a thousand years, Satan is released and he can deceive as many as would be deceived. The only ones that he could deceive are those who don't already accept him, aren't already his children, that the only way that works out, only believers enter the millennial kingdom, but there are offspring, and those offspring must individually choose.

Some are not. But it's going to be a land of peace. And how he closes off this opening section is that because the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you, following the pronouns, we're talking, again, about those nations that are not Israel, that have not been part of the camp of Israel, and God is expanding his blessings to all of humanity who have accepted him.

And it's actually in fulfillment of Genesis 12, three. Through you, all nations will be blessed. This is his eternal covenant, which holds true. But this is based on a call for you to hunger and thirst, and to come to him, to take what he's got, and to listen diligently.

And so now we get into some of the details. What is he looking for them to do? And you're gonna give me six through nine, and Sue, I want you to get 1 Chronicles 28 ready, please. And Lisa, you're gonna get Acts three ready, please, and Ephesians two.

I'm just gonna speak to that one. You don't have to look at that one. But go ahead and give me six through nine.

Seek the Lord, Repent, and Receive Abundant Pardon

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, and he will have mercy on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, says the Lord. Whereas the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Oh yeah, a nine. Yeah, he's now giving them a specific how-to, if you would. I want you to hunger and thirst. I want you to come and buy. I want you, now here's what I really specifically want you to do.

I want you to seek the Lord, and then he adds into there this phrase, while he may be found. And then he says, call on him while he is near. All right, Sue, if you would give me 1 Chronicles 28 nine, please.

As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intents of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you.

But if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

If you seek him, other versions will say, if you seek him, he will let you find him. The reality, yeah, about three.

Back in Kings, it just happened to me. Kings 2, 11. First Kings, second Kings. Second Kings. Second Kings, 2, 11, okay. I have a note here, 2 Samuel 7, which is what I read. Yes. And it says, if all are killed, the line of David ends.

Yes. I just, that was from another, was that, did we study that last time?

Well, not in this study, but here's an interesting observation off of that. From the proclamation in Genesis 3, after, well, we're in, I think it's Isaiah 7, where Lucifer has the five I wills of Lucifer, and the final one is, I will make myself like the most high and God sends him to earth.

He banishes him from his presence. And since that time, and especially when we get into Genesis 3, he will bite my heel and I will crush his head, the first messianic promise. Satan has been on a mission to thwart the approach of the Messiah, to obliterate God's chosen people.

If you go into the book of Esther, and Haman is going to send out an edict that all Jews would be killed, that's Satan trying to destroy the messianic line. Well, God had a better way, all right? If you go into 19, I'm gonna say it's 1949, give or take, Russia established the hydrogen bomb before the United States did.

And Stalin wanted to rule the entire world. And he figured a way to egg the United States into initiating conflict by killing all Jews. And so he had an edict written. For all Jews to be killed, figuring the United States wouldn't put up with that, they would initiate a conflict and then he could justify using the hydrogen bomb.

He mysteriously died in the middle of the night before he signed that edict. Satan has had this need to obliterate the line of David. He has. But God has protected the line of David throughout history.

That's a great catch to what we have here. Seek the Lord while he may be found. God brings his very presence to humanity so that humanity could respond. What do we call that?

God, God, or Emmanuel?

What do we call God making his presence to God, so that, to man, so that man could respond? What do we call that? Emmanuel? Grace. Are you saying the gospel? We call that grace. Man in his, man in his being is totally incapable of even responding to God because we are so sinful, that God provides grace so that, we call that regeneration, so that our soul can be alive and even respond to God.

It says here, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. When God is there and when he is approaching, it says in 1 Chronicles 20, eight, nine, if you're seeking, he's gonna let you find him.

He is that loving of a God, that with your heart, if you're seeking after him, he will let you find him. Now, here's how this actually then calls out. It says that we need, let the wicked forsake his way.

What does that sound like? Repentance. Yes, it does. Proverbs three, five, and six. Go with it. Forsake his way, okay. Go with that. Proverbs three, five, and six. Yes. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, be not unto your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.

Absolutely. Now, to do that, we have to, first of all, acknowledge that our path is wrong. Man, that hurts. People don't like to be told their path is wrong, but that's what he says. Forsake your way and your unrighteous thoughts.

Forsake them, that's repentance. Confess them, forsake them, and all your ways acknowledge him. And then he has some promises for you. If you do that, he says, he will have compassion. And he will abundantly pardon.

You see, man has a sin problem, and that sin problem has no right in the very presence of God, but the reality is, and we know from scripture that God even knew this before day one. If we go to Genesis 1 .1, in the beginning, God created, well, before that all happened, he already knew, and so he put in motion, he put in motion the solution.

And as you said, the Davidic line, Satan needed to kill that Davidic line so that it couldn't come to be, but God protected it. And for everyone that is going through chapter 53, for everyone that is doing this, seeking the Lord, listening to him while he may be found, his promise is compassion and abundant pardon.

When I'm living my life, when I leave here today, and I leave here, I don't want to, I really seek to have a heart that follows God, but I do recognize I'm going to sin. And when I do, what happens? When I sin, what happens?

Your fellowship is gone. He won't cast you off forever? No, he does not cast us off forever. That's the beauty of it. What's gonna happen is I'm gonna break fellowship with God. God is not going to break his relationship with me, but I'm putting up barriers so that I'm not seeing him because my sin's getting in the way.

But at the same time, the accuser is going up to the throne and he says, John is doing it again. Do you really, really want him in your kingdom? And Jesus is there saying, I already knew about that one, and I covered it.

Yeah, Bob.

I hate to keep, but. Don't, please stop, keep going. You made a point Sunday morning about the Lord from the cross saying, my God, my God, why ask thou for sickening? And I think that's probably only the second or third time I've seen anyone put together the fact that all the sins, well, I couldn't figure that out for a long time, why Jesus would say, why have you forsaken me?

And back a while, years ago, I guess, it all of a sudden dawned on me that God had to turn away from him, had to turn away from the cross, had to turn away from Christ. And I thought, well, the Lord never abandons us.

God never.

Never does it, because it's all uncovered.

Why do you think Jesus. Well, but the point is, it was covered by Christ. Right. And he did forsake Christ. Right. It was the penalty. I thought Jesus didn't go to hell. No. Yeah, I mean, hell is the absence of God.

And that just really, I'm still working on that.

Why do you think Jesus sweat drops of blood in the garden? Yeah, he knew. He knew that he was gonna be whipped by that cat of nine tails. He knew that those thorns were going to be crushed down on his head.

He knew all of that, but he sweat drops of blood because he also knew that there would be a brief instant in time where his fellowship with the Father would be broken.

Would be broken. For the first time in all eternity past.

And never again, and that broke his heart to where he sweat. He loved us that much. And he said, we are going to receive, through his compassion, abundant pardon. Did I have somebody read Acts 3 .19 already?

Well, no, I don't. Go ahead, please, Lisa. Oh.

Repent ye, therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

There is refreshing coming. There is refreshing coming. And I ache when I sin. I do, hopefully. Hopefully, I'm not having so much fun that I don't ache, but. It'll get you. We will eventually. There is refreshing that is coming for a scoundrel.

And then Ephesians 2 .8 and 9, it sums it up. For by grace are ye saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of words which any man should boast. We are told, he's ready to be found, and he's gonna give us the grace.

While he is there, we must seek him, we must respond to him, and then we must repent and confess and turn to him. And when that equation is fulfilled, what he promises is full pardon. Amen. He goes on by saying, your thoughts, my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways.

We, people, try to come up with ways to satisfy God and to be acceptable to God. No, he has one way. His ways, his ways is the way. The heavens are higher than the earth, and so are my ways higher than your ways.

I've got the way, and it's for you to seek me. Then comes now his blessings. And again, remember, these are for the nations. So you're gonna give me 10 and 11. Bob, you're going to get Proverbs 3, Mark 4, Bob 2, Bob 3, John 15, and Philippians 2.

Sue, if you would have that ready.

Go ahead and give me 10 and 11, please. The early church was known as the way. Yes. For the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and does not return there but borders the earth and makes it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

So shall my word be, it goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to be void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing from which I sent it.

I want you, my brethren, I want the brethren, and in this letter to the nations, I want you guys to understand the gift that you've got through the word. I want you to understand what the word does for you, and to do so, I'm gonna paint a picture for you.

When the rain comes down, it's interesting. They did not understand the hydrostatic cycle back then. They didn't understand that, but here it is. It says the rain's not gonna come down and then go back up to the clouds until it does what it's supposed to do.

Well, that's what rain does. It comes down, then runs off, and eventually it evaporates back up. It's the hydrostatic cycle, right? I love it when the Bible throws these things in that weren't even understood back then, but the rain is gonna come down and it's going to do a couple of things, and one of them is it's going to nourish the soil.

What happens to the soil if there is no rain? Just dry, it gets hard. It gets hard. Nothing grows. Nothing grows. Nothing can grow, and the picture now is my word is gonna come down with a purpose. It's not going to return to me.

We're gonna see a passage in just a minute.

Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3, 1 through 3. Yeah. My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you.

Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Is that verse 3 also? Yep. Okay, what we are gonna need is we are going to need the word. It's gonna be given by God. It's gonna come down, but I had the opportunity to do a devotional for youth during a sports camp, and I wanted to pick up on the reality that this here is a gift that is given to us, but it's not good unless it's used, okay?

So I had a big tray so that I wouldn't make a mess, and I had a two-liter empty soda bottle, and I had a two-quart pan with a handle half filled with water. And I said, can somebody put the water from this pan into this bottle without spilling a drop?

I've got $5 if you can do it. Well, the kids were all excited, but nobody could do it. I said, man, I'm so sorry, guys. I had this big white mouth funnel that fit into the top of the thing. I said, I forgot to tell you.

I've got this, so use this, and if you can do it, I got that $5 for you. So one kid came running up. I couldn't have planted him any better. He came running up, and he took the pan and started to pour without the funnel.

It's like. He wasn't listening. Diligent. He wasn't listening. This word here is everything that you need, but it's only good for you if you use it. It's only good for you if you take it in. As the rain falls and grows, so the word is going to come down, but you've got to go into the word, and you've got to make it, you think.

Mark 4, 20. This, by the way, is towards the end of the parable of the soils, okay? And we have the seed that is cast, and some is on rocky soils on the path, and some is on thorny soils, et cetera, et cetera.

And finally, we get to the good stuff.

Would those who are on rich soil hear the message, accept it, and bear fruit, 30, 60, or 100-fold?

The soil's got to dig up.

What happens if you never bear fruit? You never see it.

Does that mean you're not really a Christian? I'm going to ask you guys, what do you think about what Lisa just asked?

I think the Bible says that you must bear fruit if you are one of His. Right, and so if you don't. So your answer is, no, you can't be a Christian.

I think you need to prove what areas need to be pruned so that you will bear fruit. There's something holding you back. I'm waiting.

I got no fruit. Well, if you go into the book of James, and the book of James is so important.