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Isaiah 54-57
Skip Heitzig

Isaiah 54 (NKJV™)
1 "Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman," says the LORD.
2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.
3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4 "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5 For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
6 For the LORD has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused," Says your God.
7 "For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you.
8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," Says the LORD, your Redeemer.
9 "For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed," Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
11 "O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
16 "Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD.
Isaiah 55 (NKJV™)
1 "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
2 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.
3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you--The sure mercies of David.
4 Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.
5 Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And 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."
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
7 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.
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
12 "For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
Isaiah 56 (NKJV™)
1 Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil."
3 Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from His people"; Nor let the eunuch say, "Here I am, a dry tree."
4 For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant,
5 Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.
6 "Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants--Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant--
7 Even them 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 nations."
8 The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him."
9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour, All you beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory.
12 "Come," one says, "I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant."
Isaiah 57 (NKJV™)
1 The righteous perishes, And no man takes it to heart; Merciful men are taken away, While no one considers That the righteous is taken away from evil.
2 He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, Each one walking in his uprightness.
3 "But come here, You sons of the sorceress, You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!
4 Whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth And stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, Offspring of falsehood,
5 Inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, Slaying the children in the valleys, Under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the stream Is your portion; They, they, are your lot! Even to them you have poured a drink offering, You have offered a grain offering. Should I receive comfort in these?
7 "On a lofty and high mountain You have set your bed; EVEN there you went up To offer sacrifice.
8 Also behind the doors and their posts You have set up your remembrance; For you have uncovered yourself to those other than Me, And have gone up to them; You have enlarged your bed And made a covenant with them; You have loved their bed, Where you saw their nudity.
9 You went to the king with ointment, And increased your perfumes; You sent your messengers far off, And even descended to Sheol.
10 You are wearied in the length of your way; Yet you did not say, 'There is no hope.' You have found the life of your hand; Therefore you were not grieved.
11 "And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, That you have lied And not remembered Me, Nor taken it to your heart? Is it not because I have held My peace from of old That you do not fear Me?
12 I will declare your righteousness And your works, For they will not profit you.
13 When you cry out, Let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, A breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, And shall inherit My holy mountain."
14 And one shall say, "Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way, Take the stumbling block out of the way of My people."
15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16 For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made.
17 For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, And restore comforts to him And to his mourners.
19 "I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near," Says the LORD, "And I will heal him."
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 "There is no peace," Says my God, "for the wicked."

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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23 Isaiah - 1990

Isaiah is perhaps the best known of the prophets, and he was frequently quoted by Jesus Christ. Pastor Skip Heitzig guides us through this study of Isaiah's warning to the people of God.

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Chapters 54 through 57, which is what we want to tackle tonight, talks about salvation that comes to the nation of Israel as a result of the work of the messiah, the servant. We have seen three separate servants in the book of Isaiah. And we know that Israel was called the servant of the Lord, but Israel failed to be a light to the nations. She was taken in her idolatry and later taken into captivity.

Jesus the suffering servant, already described in Isaiah 53, will do what the nation of Israel failed to do. Be a light to the Gentiles and a light to the ends of the Earth, so that all people can gather together to worship the Lord. In verse 1 we read, "Sing, oh barren, you have not born. Break forth into singing. Cry aloud, you who have not travailed with child, for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations. Do not spare. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes, and you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited."

Speaking of the numerical growth of the nation of Israel is important because they were going to be scattered. There were going to be taken into captivity. Many of them would lose hope and believe that God had forsaken them. And the promise through Isaiah is that she will increase and grow so large that they need to expand into other territories.

Now as you know, the nation of Israel never occupied all that God gave her to occupy. The Lord gave her boundaries, all the way from the river Euphrates to the river of Egypt, the Mediterranean Sea, extending far north up into Syria. She only occupied a small portion of all that God gave her. God said, you will increase so much that you have to expand your stakes of your tent.

It's a figure of speech. They didn't have homes in the ancient days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had tents. And when you wanted to get a bigger home you just moved the tent a little further. You just kind of opened a flap and sowed some more skins onto it, and you had a larger house. So if you wanted a three bedroom tent you can easily put one on in a day. You don't have to lay a foundation, you don't have to put plumbing in, you don't have to do anything. You just kind of make the wool go out a little further, add a few more stakes and some rope, and you've got it legged.

When you would have children, because as you were growing you needed more room, you'd just expand. Now what they used to do is that when you'd get married, you'd bring your wife in and you'd stay at home living with your folks in the same tent. They would just make the tent bigger. And oftentimes you'd have extended families.

You'd have these huge sprawling tents and they would just add on as the kids would live with their parents and bring their kids in with it, and it kind of got out of hand, I suppose, after a while. But that's how they did it. God is speaking how that Israel will grow. Fertility has always been a sign of God's blessing.

And here we see, "Sing, oh barren one." You've been infertile, you haven't grown, you've been hindered by the captivity but you will be able to grow, especially in the kingdom age. To a Jewish woman, infertility was a sign of God's curse. I mean it's today tough to deal with. In those days it was a sign of God's disapproval. At least that's what they thought. And when a woman was able to bear a child she rejoiced greatly.

Remember Hannah. As soon as she had a child she just broke out in song, because God answered her prayers. She wasn't barren any longer. To be barren was a curse. In fact, it's not scriptural, but some of the Jewish teachers said, "Two groups of people will not enter the kingdom of heaven: a man that has no wife and a woman that has no children." And so some of them took it very seriously. Here God, in a metaphorical way, is teaching how Israel will grow.

In verse 4. "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed nor be disgraced. For you will not be put to shame. You will forget the shame of your youth and you will not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more, for your maker is your husband. The Lord of Hosts is his name. And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel."

Got it again, in a beautifully picturesque setting, describes the regathering of the nation of Israel. As a husband would bring his unfaithful wife back to her, God is saying, I am your husband, your maker. "For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit like a youthful wife when you were refused, says your God. For a mere moment I have forsaken you. But with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I had my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you says the Lord your Redeemer."

I love the last section of the book of Isaiah. It's all about consolation and restoration. No more judgment, no more retribution, although you see it interspersed in the text. Mainly God is saying, you blew it big time but I love you bigger time. And even though you flipped out on me and you went your own way, nothing will separate you from the love that I have for you. Even when you go your own way, I'm big enough to rescue you and to turn you back to me.

And even though I was vengeful and wrathful because I must punish sin, according to Deuteronomy, I will bring you back with tender cords. It's a theme that runs throughout much of the Old Testament. The Book of Hosea is dedicated to this metaphor of a husband and wife.

Hosea had a tough ministry. God wanted a visible demonstration of his love for the nation of Israel, just like we read this morning how Jesus visually demonstrated his love. Hosea, a prophet, was told to marry a woman, who was a whore, to rescue her from her prostitution, knowing in advance that after they would get married, she would run out on him and go out in the streets again and hang out and sleep with other men.

And when she went out and she left her husband, left Hosea and was out hanging around with other guys, the Lord told Hosea to support her. How would you like that, ministry men? Not to divorce her, to support her. To bring gifts. To bring supplies to her lover's, lest she die. Then God commanded him, after she passed the flower of her youth and she was old and ugly, to bring her back and to love her like a brand new, fresh bride.

And God used Hosea and that whole episode as a demonstration of how much God loved his own people. And even though they committed spiritual adultery, God would bring them back. And that last part of the Book of Hosea is God's tender mercies in bringing her back. And God says, I will restore her. And we see that here beautifully used.

"With a little wrath I had my face from you for a moment. With everlasting kindness--" The word in Hebrew is "chesed," which means, "a love dictated by a covenant." It's not a feeling. It's a love that has been dictated by a covenant. In other words, God made a deal with them, a covenant, that he would love them, that he would be committed to them no matter what. Keeping that love in mind, that covenant love, he will draw them back.

What is the covenant he made? Well he made a covenant with Abraham. He made a covenant with David. He said over and over again that he would never forsake Israel. He would punish Israel, but he would never forsake Israel. Eventually, God would bring her back. Says in the Book of Romans, Paul says, "For if they are being cast away, is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?"

Israel being regathered. Newness of life. "For this is like the waters of Noah to me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so I have sworn that I would not be angry with you nor rebuke you. For the mountain shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you. Nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you."

"Oh, you afflicted one tossed with the tempest and not comforted, behold I will lay your stones with colorful gems, lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies your gates of crystal and all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear."

"And from terror for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals of fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work. I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their righteousness is from me, says the Lord."

In beautiful, poetic language, God paints a picture of his love for them. And he uses an analogy that I think is my favorite analogy in all of scripture for our relationship with a God. And that is a marriage relationship, an intimate relationship, a husband and wife relationship. Often in the Bible you'll notice that God uses different descriptions of the relationship that we have with him.

We're called the body of Christ, and even as you have a brain, a head, that sends out messages to the body, so are we as members to Christ. You have the analogy of a soldier obeying his commanding officer. You have the analogy of a building upon a foundation which is Christ. Many different analogies. Each one paints a picture of a relationship. We get a different facet of how we're connected to the Lord.

But my all time favorite is the fact that we are the bride of Christ. Even as Israel was the wife of Jehovah in the Old Testament, we're the bride of Christ and Jesus is the bridegroom. And see when God uses that analogy, all of a sudden the gap, the distance, between God and myself is closed. Because the most intimate of human relationships is a marriage relationship.

And when God says you're the bride, I'm the bridegroom, the message is, I don't want to be distanced from you. I don't want just the reverential respect, though you're to have that as my children. I want intimate love. I want you to come close to me even as a husband and wife share intimacy and they are close with one another. And so I love verse 5, "For your maker is your husband."

You know the Greeks used to say that the major characteristic of the gods is distance and apathy. That the gods that exist in the universe really don't care what happens to man. They're so far removed from man that they could care less. They're apathetic to our condition. And Jesus came and painted a different picture of God. He said, you can call God father. That's a close relationship.

He spoke about the bride of Christ, the church. Again a very intimate relationship. Now as some of you know, the traditions in Judaism, in a marriage relationship, are very much different than they are here in the West today. See today, men and women date. And after a while if she looks good enough and cooks good enough and he treats her well enough, they kind of decide that they're in love, they get married.

They didn't do it back then. They selected wives when they were about 12 years old or even earlier. It was pre-selected. It was arranged by the parents. Parents would go out and select a bride for their son. Dowry was paid, they drank a cup of coffee, they shook hands, the deal was settled. They're engaged.

In the eastern mind, marriage came before love. That's going to flip a lot of you guys out. Love was always seen as a choice, never a feeling. You decide to love somebody. That's why the scripture commands us to love our wives as Christ loved the church, not feel like you love your wife. Love her. It's a commandment. Because love is always an act of will. It's not a feeling.

You should have feelings. It may be kind of crazy to not have feelings. But feelings follow a choice. And you can see that even in a modern relationship. A guy and a girl date, they have feelings for one another, but eventually they make a choice, don't they? They say, will you marry me? She says, oh, yes. And that's a choice that they've made.

They feel wonderful at the moment, but they have made a choice and they stand at the altar in front of an audience of people, making a decision to stay together til death do they part. Not til feelings do they part, til death do they part. Not til debt do they part, til death do they part. It's a commitment.

Well in the ancient Jewish culture that commitment came first. Feelings came later. That's why we're commanded to love God. Because love is an act of will, not an act of feeling. You decide to love your God. He commanded you to do it. Like the Nike commercial said, just do it. You can act toward a person even differently than you feel toward a person. It's a matter of choice.

Now we have the term today, "falling in love," which is really a wacky term. As if love is a pit that you walk along and fall into. Yep, you just can't help it. You know, I was just kind of walking down the road and I saw this girl and we just fell in love. I had absolutely no control over it. Well I'm sorry, it didn't work that way.

You can have infatuation and emotional feelings toward a person, but you can direct your future by making right choices. And so they would have that arrangement where a bride was selected. Now you can see how that analogy fits our relationship with the Lord. He is our husband. He selected us. He selected us before the relationship was even tested, like it is today in a dating--

God didn't date you. God picked you first. If God would have dated you, he might not have picked you. You can be grateful for this kind of a relationship.

After that came a period of one year prior to the wedding ceremony called the engagement, or the betrothal period. It was a time where the man and the woman laid a foundation, got to know one another, learn likes and dislikes, idiosyncrasies, habits, patterns. And they built a foundation. There was no physical contact. There was no sexual relationship. Maybe they held hands. That was about it.

But they learned to commit themselves to each other and make decisions for their future. They were dating. They were courting. Now I sort of see this life as a courtship, and I should use that term instead of dating. It's a betrothal period. We are waiting for the wedding day. We're espoused to the Lord, Paul says in second Corinthians.

We've committed our love. We've committed our lives to Jesus and we're waiting for the day. Until that time we're laying a foundation. That's what this earth is all about, it's a period where we are laying a foundation in our relationship with the Lord so that the bride will be ready and prepared to meet the bridegroom.

And we ought to be ready. We ought to be courting so that when you get to heaven you'll know what's going on. You won't have to say, what's that over there? Well, didn't you read about it? I mean it's in the Book of Revelation. What's the words to that song? Well, you never read Revelation before? You ought to know that song. So it's a time where we're preparing to meet the Lord. Then after that of course they had the wedding ceremony and there was a seven day feast. Invited all the friends over and they had a seven day feast at their home.

Until the Lord comes, we are espoused to him. We're a bride of Christ. What do we do until he comes, and until that final day of consummation, the wedding feast of the lamb? A couple of things. Number one, stay faithful.

During that one year betrothal period, a man and a woman had to stay faithful. If she decided, you know, I think this guy is kind of a creep and I see another guy down the street I'd like to hang out with-- If there was any kind of a relationship of infidelity during that time, it was grounds for legal divorce. During the betrothal period. That man and that woman had to stay faithful to the relationship.

Until the time that Jesus comes to take his bride away, which is around the corner I believe-- It's soon. Until that time we need to stay faithful to him. Paul said, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. I've espoused you to one husband, even Christ. Now Paul was kind of like a jealous dad. I got you guys together, I led you to the Lord, I've espoused you to Christ.

Don't have an affair with the world. Don't go out on Jesus. You're engaged to him. Don't flirt with anyone or anything else. Don't backslide. Don't compromise. That's having an affair. That's spiritual adultery. And I have a godly jealousy for you. Stay faithful.

And then secondly, since we're engaged to him, we ought to show our affection to him. We ought to tell him we love him. Nurture the relationship. It's one thing as a Christian to claim negative purity. Well I don't sin this way. I don't drink. I don't take drugs. I don't sleep around. I don't cheat anymore. Well that's great, but that's negative purity. How do you demonstrate your love for Jesus?

That's sort of like a wife saying, you know, I don't sleep around with anyone else. I don't show affection to my husband, but I'm faithful to him. Well big deal. That's wonderful. I commend you for it, but the relationship can't go anywhere unless you nurture it and demonstrate your love to your husband. And husband demonstrating his love to the wife. The relationship on a positive note needs to be nurtured. You need to demonstrate love.

And so that's where worship comes in. That's where sharing our faith comes in, everything motivated because we love Jesus and we want to please him. He's my maker, he's my husband. I am espoused to him, I'm betrothed to him. Therefore I'm doing this to please him.

I may not feel like it, but I'm doing it to please him. I want to nurture the relationship. It's a beautiful analogy. I find many allusions to it in the scripture. Now in chapter 55. It's an invitation.

And I love it. Not only an invitation to the Jews, but to all the nations alike. Salvation to the Gentiles is a free gift.

"Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you have no money, come buy, eat. Yes, come buy 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 diligently to me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance." Or as the old King James says, "in fatness."

"Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you." God is inviting people to be refreshed by himself. Anyone who thirsts, remember what Jesus said in the Feast of Tabernacles in John Chapter 7? He stood up the last day of the feast, the eighth day, and he said, if anyone thirsts, let them come to me and drink. It was an invitation much like this, an invitation for abundant life, for a satisfying life, anyone who thirsts. Now verse 2, yeah.

"Why do you spend your money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy?" You know that is a perfect description of so many people today who think that having money, a job, a home, will satisfy. And they're constantly buying but they're never satisfied.

They're constantly trying to acquire things. And they're not living, they're just surviving. They work to get and they get to work. And they make more money so they can eat better, and they eat better and they go right-- It's just a cycle that goes on. There's no real life, it's just existence. No satisfaction.

God is promising satisfaction and saying, you know, why do you go out and do this and you're not satisfied? You struggle, you strain, you buy, but you're not satisfied. And he says, listen diligently to me. I once heard a very good definition of loneliness, which I think this verse describes. A person without the fulfillment of Christ in their life is a lonely person, a desperate person. Lives a lonely, dark kind of a life.

And here's the definition. Loneliness is malnutrition of the soul that comes from living on substitutes. A perfect description of loneliness. You see, we think that loneliness is the absence of having people around, friends around. Hey, I know people with lots of acquaintances and friends and they're still lonely. I know married people that are lonely. It's the malnutrition of the soul that comes from living on substitutes.

God offers us joy, fulfillment, we settle for entertainment. We substitute so many things in our life. Instead of abundant life we've crammed it full of substitutes. And God says, look, you're not satisfied. You're working, but you're never satisfied. You don't get bread, you're not fulfilled. Listen diligently, or with all effort--

Put your ear up close, God says. Don't move it. Listen carefully and heed what is good. Let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear and let your soul live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

You see the whole problem of loneliness, the whole problem of dissatisfaction, is an inside problem. It's all taken care of in the heart. And the cure for loneliness is a cure that comes from within, not as a source. But you deal with the heart problem. And it's cured by giving your heart in a relationship to a bridegroom. Get engaged to Jesus and you won't be lonely anymore. Be betrothed to him, let him fill your live, feed on his promises, drink his abundant life, and you won't have to settle for substitutes.

Life won't be a bore anymore. You'll be able to enjoy life and be fulfilled as God Intended you to have. Satisfaction. No malnutrition of the soul. God says, I will make an everlasting covenant with you. God wants to make a deal with you, an offer you can't refuse.

He's saying, I'll give it to you free. You're out there working, spending all sorts of bucks and you're not satisfied. I'll give-- it's a free gift. You don't have to earn it. Take it. A lot of people will turn down the offer, won't they? Talk to them about a relationship with God, they don't want it. It's a free gift. Talk to them about abundant life, they're a little bit leery. They'd rather go out and spend money and turn up empty. It's funny but it's true.

I spoke with a guy a few weeks ago, I told you about, in North Carolina. He was taking my bags to my hotel room. And he was so interested in the conversation about the Lord, the relationship with the Lord. He was so interested he asked all these questions. And I kept saying listen, why don't you settle the issue right now and give your heart to Jesus? He goes, no, no, no, no, no, no.

And he was, again, talking about his life and how he's working and how he's married but he's not satisfied. He's spending his money for that which doesn't satisfy. I said, OK, I'll say it again. It's a free gift. Let's settle it now. Try it, you'll like it. Do it. No, I don't want to. What do you mean, you don't want to do it? You want to keep going on empty? Why don't you just do it?

Finally he said, all right. I think I need to do this. God has got my attention. I need to do it. And right there he gave his heart to Jesus, and he walked away with an entirely different countenance. He knew inside the reality of God. God broke through into his heart at that very moment. He walked away a changed man. I just wrote him a letter this week. A new relationship with God. But we're so willing to chase after the wind and come up empty.

Verse 4, "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 and nations who do not know you shall run to you. Because the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, he has glorified you." Now he's going to say that salvation is available to everyone.

Now in the next verse it says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on 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."

Seek the Lord while he may be found. There is always the night time when no man can work, Jesus said. There is a door of opportunity and a time of opportunity. But that time will cease. Doors are open. And when you can seek the Lord, do it while you can. Because there comes a time when you won't be able to. In every man's life, life will end and there will be no more time to seek the Lord. It'll be over. It'll be too late.

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord." Now when you do that God will extend his mercy to you, as the verse says. He will have mercy on him and to our God he will abundantly pardon. You know God said, in the Book of Ezekiel, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Turn, turn. For why will you die?"

Now people get this concept that God is out to can them, to smoke them. He's preparing lightning rods to fry people. He doesn't do that. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He doesn't want anyone to enter into eternity unprepared. He wants everyone and says in Peter to come to him in repentance. He's not willing that any should perish. So seek the Lord. He's calling, he's asking, he's inviting.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord." Boy, that's an understatement almost. I have tried for years to figure God out, and it's impossible. And some of you have. I have all sorts of questions just like you have, and most aren't answered. Now why is this in the Bible? Why did God do this? And if I suppose I were to figure out everything God did, I'd be as wise as God.

And I'm not. I confess I'm not. I shake my head when God does some stuff. I think, you know, that's not logical. And if you would have asked me first I would have told you not to do it that way. I had a wholly different plan that you should have followed. And I'm always reminded of this verse. Your ways aren't my ways, your thoughts aren't my thoughts. It's a good thing, too.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts and your thoughts." In other words, you'll never be able to figure out the way God thinks. He thinks at a different level than you do because God has an advantage you don't have. It's called precognition. God knows the end from the beginning. It's quite a handy thing to have. Now you don't have that. And so you wonder, why'd you let that happen? Well he knows the future. You don't. So hang on. Trust him.

"And as the rain comes down in the snow from heaven and they not return there, but they water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, that it might give seed to the sore and bread to the eater." Now that's an analogy that you would see in Israel. An arid climate that depends on the rain primarily for its fertility. And almost overnight a rainstorm will come in and flood the land and you can wake up the next day and look over the Jordan Valley, where it's just dirt one day, and you'll see almost lush vegetation the next. Flowers cropping up over a day or two day period. And it just waters the ground. Beautifully lush vegetation.

The analogy in verse 11. "So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void or empty. It shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." You know what that tells me? That tells me that the most important thing I can do is tell people the word of God and teach the word of God. And not spout opinions and fancy sermonettes, but the word of God, because the word of God has power. And herein lies the fault of many powerless Christians. They don't know nor apply the word of God.

Jesus to the leaders said, "You are in error not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God." This tells me that the word of God is powerful in and of itself. It has power to transform. It has power to change. It changes perspective. It changes the way we live. "Sharper than a two edged sword," Jesus said, "heaven and earth will pass away. But my word will never pass away."

Well that tells me then that we ought to be giving ourselves to knowing the word of God. The most important endeavor is to know God and know what is in his words so that you can know God in a more intimate way.

There is a story told of a Salvation Army girl. Unknowledgeable. Uneducated, I should say. But she knew God. It makes her the wisest girl alive. She was out preaching the gospel in downtown Chicago one day, ringing her bell, preaching the gospel. In those days Salvation Army people didn't ring the bell just asking for money. They rang the bell and preached the gospel.

She was preaching the gospel and a crowd was around her and a pretty well-known atheist came up and started arguing with her. He was intelligent. He could rhetorically fashion an argument that would just cut her to the quick, and she didn't have an answer. She mildly turned to him and said, "Sir, I don't know the answer to those questions. All I know is the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses a man from all sin."

And she continued to share. And he'd come up with another argument. And she'd say, "Sir, I don't know that. But I know the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses a man from all sin." And of course, that got him kind of angry. It was like a broken record to him. And he kept trying to do it and she kept coming up with the same thing. And it went on and on and he just kind of went away angry.

He came back the next day. And he said, "What did you tell me yesterday the Bible said? That's been haunting me all night long." And he gave his life to Christ. The word of God ate away at him. It has the power to do that. It's sharper than a two edged sword. So use it. Don't talk about it. Don't just carry it. Use the sword. And you don't have to defend the sword, either.

There is room for apologetics. If you know me, you know that I love that subject. There is room for that. But you can defend the thing and never use the thing. Hey, look at my cool sword. And you know this sword can cut people down where they're walking and it's sharp. Look at the blade on that thing. Look at that tip. It's an important sword, it's a great sword. Use it. Don't tell me about it. Swing it a few times. I want to see it in action.

So use the scripture. Know it and use it. Powerful. It's powerful against temptation. It keeps you walking with the Lord. How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word. It keeps you from sin. And many, many advantages that we've gone through before.

"It shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Verse 12. "For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." Now I don't know if this is poetic. Probably it is, since most of it's poetic. It's a description obviously of the Millennium, of the kingdom age.

When creation will rejoice. When there will be a reversal of the curse that occurred in the book of Genesis under Adam and Eve in the garden. But it would be kind of any wouldn't it? To see the trees clapping their leaves together, singing songs. I've always thought about that.

You know, Jesus told the leaders, when he was coming on the donkey into Jerusalem. And the disciples are saying, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And they said, tell your disciples to be quiet. He said, hey, if they hold their peace, these rocks are going to break out singing. And I've always wished, as I read that, he would tell his disciples, hey, cool it.

And then just-- you know, they'd blow their-- they'd flip out. All the Mount of Olives, the rocks would be singing out. Talk about a demonstration. And if you've been to Israel, that's pretty significant, because there's rocks everywhere. Where isn't there a rock in Israel? It'd be a massive hallelujah for us.

"Instead the thorn shall come up as the cypress tree. Instead of the brier there shall come up the myrtle tree." After Adam and Eve sinned, there was the curse that thorns and briers and weeds would infiltrate the fields so that his work became tougher. And by the sweat of his brow he'd earn a living. Man was called after that to work hard. There would be a reversal of that, and it'll be free.

Like it says in the first part of the chapter, "Come buy wine and milk without money and without price." Imagine going to the store and finding the best produce. And you take it up to the counter and they say, it's free. You don't have to pay for it. In the Millennium, no one will take advantage of you. No one will-- it'll all be in such abundance you can just take it for free. It'll be incredible provision.

"And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off." The earth will become unusually fertile in that time. "Thus says the Lord, keep justice. Do righteousness. My salvation is about to come. My righteousness is to be revealed." And this goes on talking about how that God will open up salvation for the Gentiles. Look at verse 6, we'll get right to it.

"Also the sons of the foreigner who joined themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants--" These are non-Jewish people who commit themselves to the covenantal relationship with God. "Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant, even them 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 nations. The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him."

Remember Jesus said, "Other sheep I have that are not of the sheepfold. Them I must bring also." He was speaking about us, people who are not of the covenant relationship. Now here's sort of a preview of this in the Old Testament. There were in the times of the temple worship, people called proselytizes. That is, people who recognized that God was the only true God. They wanted to worship him and they had to proselytize or convert into the Jewish religion.

They had to keep the Sabbath. They had to keep ceremonial, ritual law. And if they were male they had to be circumcised, no matter what age they were. Those are the criterion for coming into Jewish faith. And God said, let them come in. Allow them to do that.

There came a point however when Judaism became so stringent and so exclusive that they barred people from coming in, and nobody wanted to join such a legalistic religion. It was just dead and ritualistic. There wasn't a joy in worshipping God. It never attracted anyone. They were not evangelical. They didn't go out and share with Gentiles. The Jews had a distorted view of people who are non-Jews.

The rabbis came up with a saying. God created Gentiles to kindle the fires of hell. That's what they said. A Jewish rabbi would wake up in the morning and say God, thank you that I am not a Gentile or a woman. They didn't like women that much either in those days. But Gentiles were despised, and they blessed God that they were not Gentiles. Just a strict, dead, ritualistic kind of a religion. Here God is opening up and showing the intention for Israel to become a light to the world.

Now it talks about keeping the Sabbath. And there is kind of a debate that's been raging and it'll probably never cease til the Lord comes back. There are groups within Christianity that make a big deal about keeping the Sabbath. And every now and then I get a question, aren't we to keep the Sabbath? The Sabbath is the seventh day, it's Saturday.

God made a covenant with Israel and told them to keep the Sabbath. But he said, "this is an everlasting covenant to the nation of Israel." Not to the Gentile. Unless you proselytized in the Old Testament into Judaism. Then you'd have to keep the Sabbath.

In the New Testament, it is not a big deal. The Sabbath was never an issue. In fact, Paul the Apostle said, "One man esteems one day," or regards one day of the week over all of the others. That's the sabbatarian, the person who says the Sabbath is the only day in which a man or woman should worship.

You better keep the Sabbath. You better not work. You better go to church, not on Sunday, but on Saturday. And some people make a big deal out of Saturday. Or some people make a big deal out of Sunday. And they esteem one day over all the rest of the day.

And then Paul said, another man esteems all of the days of the week to be the same. In other words, I worship God Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There's no difference. To settle the argument Paul said, "Let each one be persuaded in his own mind."

If Joe over here makes a big deal about Saturday or Sunday, great. Joe, go worship on Saturday. If Sally over here says, hey you know, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, they're all the same to me. I just love God and go to worship him. Great, then you go for it. And let each one be persuaded in his own mind. We're not going to make a law out of it.

When there came a crisis of faith in the Book of Acts, chapter 15, Gentiles were coming to know Jesus. And some of the strict Jewish Christians got wind of it. They were upset. And they followed Paul and Barnabas. And after they would preach the gospel, these Judaizers would come in and tell the people, you have to keep the law of Moses for you to be saved.

And Paul said, you're wrong, Jack. All they have to do is believe in Jesus. And there was an argument. They settled it in Jerusalem. James presided over the council. And in Acts chapter 15 they deliberated and came up with a letter that they sent to the Gentile Christians in Antioch. And they said, it seems right to the Holy Spirit first, and to us, we agree with the Holy Spirit, not to put too much of a burden on you except that you follow these things:

Keep yourselves from idols. Keep yourself from blood so you don't offend your Jewish brethren. Don't drink blood or drain the animal. Don't sacrifice to an idol and so forth. And keep yourself from fornication. As far as a stringent law, you know. And if you do those things, you do well. God bless you. That was it.

Because in the meeting, Peter stood up. And he said, why are you trying to put a yoke on these Gentiles that neither we as Jews nor our forefathers were even able to bear? And you're trying to make them do it? We can't even keep this. Jesus talked about the Pharisees ladening men down with burdens that no one could keep. Thou shalt not do this, thou shalt not do that, just on and on and on.

Worrying about the thou shalt nots instead of what you shall do. Hey, be in love with God. Love Jesus, commit your life to Him. You can become so hung up on the negative. And there are certain prohibitions, but you know some Christians get all tied up into thou shalt not. Well you know a Christian shouldn't be seen going to a movie, Christians shouldn't dance, on and on. And just hung up on the legalistic stuff.

God here is speaking about in the Old Testament joining themselves to the Jewish nation. And it was very important to keep all these things, because you couldn't be saved in the Old Testament unless there was a covenant of blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. God allowed people graciously to come under the wing of Judaism so that they could be saved. It was an act of grace. It wasn't legalism back then. Shedding of blood came in the ritualistic system that God ordained.

And Jesus, when he spoke to the Samaritan woman said, "Salvation is of the Jews." We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. You can't come to God any other way up til the death of Jesus Christ except through Judaism. Then anyone who believes in Jesus Christ can be saved. And then there is a tremendous freedom.

Now in verse 9 of chapter 56 and all the way through chapter 57. I hope to just brush through this. Verse 9 all the way through speaks of God condemning the wicked. Now Isaiah, speaking of the future, speaking of God bringing in the Gentiles and his hope for the servant of Israel on an on, also speaks about the condition of Israel at the time of his writing. That they're wicked, but the leaders are wicked.

It seemed that Isaiah wrote about the future in hopes that people in the present day Israel would look to the future and see what God had planned, and that would cause them to repent in turn. But it never did. It was all in vain. "All you beasts of the field come to devour. All you beasts in the forests as watchmen are blind. They're all ignorant. They are all dumb dogs."

Surprising what the scripture says. "They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber." I had a dog like that once. "Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand they all look to their own way, everyone for his own gain, from his own territory. Come, one says, I will bring wine. And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink. Tomorrow will be as today and much more abundant."

The shepherds of Israel were after the buckaroos. They weren't caring for the sheep, they weren't feeding the sheep, they didn't love the sheep. They just cared that they themselves would get fat from their ministry. They used their gifts for personal gain and God condemned them for it. And I don't think God's feelings have changed much on the subject.

When a person in ministry claims to serve God and is out there ripping off people blind, something is wrong. And I thank God if there is no repentance when God removes such a one to spare the sheep. I really thank the Lord for. And it kind of-- you know it kind of bothers me when people throw this thou shalt not touch the Lord's anointed business when you talk about these leaders.

Hey, when they act like that they ought to be touched and the sheep ought to be warned about it. They ought to be called rip offs when they're blatantly ripping people off. And some of the ones that have fallen prey to the scams of the media. It's interesting, so many people were saying, oh, you shouldn't talk about it. You should mention them by name. It's interesting how their tune has changed after those leaders have fallen.

Now I'm not trying to wave a flag and point condemning fingers in any leaders who have fallen. But I am saying that many of them fell prey to their own sin. It's what they were judged for. And [INAUDIBLE] the world picked up on that quicker than the church did. The world thought there should be more purity in the church than the church did.

I mean you've got to wake up. God condemned this sort of activity of ripping people off in his name long-- It's consistent with God. Long ago he's warned of it. And I've told you before. I've shared the information so much. But keep in mind in the early church there was a book that circulated called the Didache, which warned the early church of how to spot a false prophet. And one of the ways is, if in the name of the Lord he asks you for money, kick him out of town. He's a false prophet. We should circulate the Didache in modern NIV English around today.

If he comes and says, thus saith the Lord, prepare a big meal. Fine, do it. But if he eats of it he's a false prophet, because he's trying to get fat and enriched off of his own prophesied. Using a gift of God for his own personal pleasure and enjoyment. The righteous perishes and no man takes it to heart.

"Merciful men are taken away while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." The righteous are taken away, but people don't realize they are taken away from the wicked who are remaining, and the righteous in their death are at rest or at peace.

In contrast to this, look at verse 3. "But come here you sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer, the harlot." God gets pretty hot and heavy here, doesn't he? "Whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Are you not children of the transgression, offspring of falsehood, inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree?"

"Slaying the children in the valleys--" Descriptive of their idolatrous practices. "--under the clefts of the rocks, among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion. They are your lot. Even to them you have poured a drink offering." You have offered a grain offering. "Should I receive comfort in these?"

Israel was practicing pagan cultic religion, prostitution, in their religious ritual. They would worship the god and the goddess of fertility, Baal and Asherah, by fornication. They would go in and have sex with a temple prostitute. And during the sex act they would say their prayers. They would say, even as fertility is taking place in my body right now, please oh Baal bring fertility to my family, to my crops, to my cattle. That's how they would worship.

And of course this attracted many people. Sensual worship. They thought, it's a lot more fun worshipping this way than in the temple in Jerusalem. And the entire nation was swayed. Of course God judged them for it quite severely.

They would do it under green trees. They would have their temples up on the high places, the high, elevated mountains. I guess they felt it was closer to their gods if they put up their places of worship there in the high temple. And here God describes their practice and in verse 6 he says, "Should I receive comfort in these?"

What is interesting is that these Israelites were not exclusive in their worship. They did not completely turn away from God, they thought. They simply worshiped at the temple and worshiped Baal. They were syncretistic in their worship. They put it all together. They wanted to worship God and they kind of wanted the sexual worship of Baal. They wanted both worlds.

And it reminds me of people who think that they can sow wild oats all week long, and all of a sudden come to church on Sunday and hope what they sowed doesn't grow, that the harvest won't grow. Living one way all week long, worshipping the world, basically, coming to church and saying they're a Christian on one day of the week. They're trying to mix it all together.

And God says, now am I supposed to receive comfort in this? Oh, great, I saw you in the temple today. I'm really comforted by that. I saw you in church today. Oh, great, yeah, no problem. No, not at all. There wasn't an exclusiveness of worshipping God.

And I think-- I grew up and I saw a lot of this. I saw a lot of people thinking, I go to church, I put money in the plate, my name is on a roll, I've been baptized, I've been confirmed, I'm fine. Just doing their own thing all week long and all of a sudden they act like a Saint on Sunday. They talk different, they act different, they kind of whisper. Just totally two faced. God takes no comfort in that.

Thinking that, well you know, I'll give an offering. I'll give this generous offering and I'll kind of buy God off. You know, when we were renting our first building here in town, the guy who was our landlord offered to give it to us for a really good deal. And I said, great. You know, we took it as just a confirmation from the Lord, it's something we could afford.

And as we were signing the paper he says, you know I'm going to give this to you at a real reduced rate, and you know when judgment day comes maybe this will push me over the edge and get me in. And so I put the pen down and said, well if that's the impression you're under, then I'm not signing this thing. Because it won't work, pal.

A lot of people think that. They think they're going to stand before God and show God their receipts of they're giving. Look what I've given to the church, Lord. If you are under that impression if you put anything tonight in the boxes that you're going to buy God off, see the usher before you leave for a refund. Because you're under false pretenses. That kind of worship makes no headway with God, not at all. God takes no comfort in that.

"On a lofty and high mountain you have set your bed. Even there you went up to offer sacrifice, also behind the doors and their posts. You have set up your remembrance. You have uncovered yourself to those other than me. And I've gone to them and have enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them. You have loved their bed where you saw their hand. You went to the King with ointment and increased your perfumes. You sent messengers far off and debased yourself even to Sheol. You are wearied in the length of your way. Yet you did not say there is no hope. You have found the life of your hand. Therefore, you are not grieved."

And look down in verse 14, after God speaks about the wickedness, here's hope. "And one shall say, heap it up, heap it up. Prepare the way. Take the stumbling block out of the way of my people. For thus says the high and the lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble. To revive the heart of the contrite ones."

In other words, if you come to God broken and you really mean it, he will receive you. If you come to God haughty and say that he owes you anything, he won't receive you at all. But if you come broken in spirit, or as Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, you recognize you're bankrupt before God apart from him. You mourn for your sin and you repent. Yet as you turn from it and turn to God, he'll receive you. No matter what you've done, he will heal the backslidden in heart.

"For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would fail before me. And the souls which I have made for the iniquity of his covetousness. I was angry and struck him. I hid and was angry. And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him. And I will lead him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of lips. Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near."

Whether you're a Jew or whether you are a Gentile. Whether you're part of the covenant and you're close, or whether you're not and you're far. Or let's put it in other terms. Whether you're walking with the Lord tonight or whether you're far off from the Lord tonight, it's an invitation of peace.

He's saying, peace, peace. If you're far off, if you're close, come, I'll heal. No matter what you've done, no matter how far you've backslidden, I have healing for you. "And I will heal him," verse 20, "but the wicked are like the troubled sea--" What a description. "--when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."

How many people run from God-- How many people try so many different forms for satisfaction? And yet they're just burned out. They're like the sea, they're never resting. Well, friend, as long as you are apart from God, no matter what you get into, your soul will never be at rest. No matter what you earn. No matter what relationship you enter into in this life, no matter how big of a home you live in, until you come to God, your soul will never be at rest and you will always be like the sea, never settled down.

You will go from one experience to another experience to another experience till you're old and beat up and bitter and worn out and burned down. There's no peace. Peace is a byproduct of a relationship with God. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. Turn that around.

There is peace that we have in our relationship with God. "Therefore being justified by faith," Romans 5, "we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ. A peace that passes all understanding."

Knowing two things, a, a relationship apart or life apart from God brings neither satisfaction nor eternal life, and following God fulfills the person, brings satisfaction, and guarantees eternal life, is it a wise choice to stay away from God? Not at all. Why would you die? "Turn ye, turn ye," as it says in Ezekiel. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

Now we have just read four chapters of God reaching out his hands to love and to heal. That means, Christian, no matter how much you've lost the game and dropped the ball and blown it in your relationship with God in the last few months, you haven't been reading the Bible, you haven't been praying, you haven't been witnessing, you've been lousy to your wife, God can heal you and forgive you.

And you should never let guilt separate you as a barrier between you and your God. God wants to wipe away that guilt and bring you into intimacy with him and then change you. Like we said this morning, God loves you the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. He'll forgive you, he'll cleanse you, and he'll heal you. He'll work it out with you.

That's why repentance should be a word that we always use. Not just for the unbeliever but the believer. Or let's call it being restored, being reconciled to God. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your graciousness toward us, your chesed, your loving kindness, your covenant love. You have made a commitment to love us no matter what, because of what Jesus did for us. And because of that, we have an everlasting union with you.

We have a relationship with you as children of God that is unending. And although we have union with you we don't always have communion with you. Sin separates us and we don't always have fellowship with our God.

We know the effects of sin, the loneliness of sin, living on substitutes. We know what it's like to feel far from you, to feel like you are displeased with us. We also know what it's like to hear the voices of the devil telling us we're not worthy, we can't come, we have sinned beyond limit. None of that is true tonight, Lord.

You told a nation completely steeped in idolatry that you would heal those who are near and those who are far off. And so Lord, we collectively come to you tonight as our God. As you made an everlasting covenant with us, we renew our covenant with you. We sin and that's no news to you. We simply admit it now and ask for your cleansing.

Hide us Lord in your holiness. Set our feet upon a rock. Establish our goings, put a new song in our mouth. As the Psalmist declared, even praise to our God. And I pray that you'd restore to us the joy of salvation.

And Father I also pray for those who've never made a step of turning their life over to Jesus that tonight, no matter what their religious upbringing is, that they would get right with you tonight. As you continue to pray right now, I simply extend an invitation to those in this room who need to make their peace with God. If your desire is to do that, would raise up your hand?

Additional Messages in this Series

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2/25/1990
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Isaiah 1-2
Isaiah 1-2
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3/4/1990
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Isaiah 3-6
Isaiah 3-6
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3/11/1990
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Isaiah 7-12
Isaiah 7-12
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3/18/1990
completed
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Isaiah 13-24
Isaiah 13-24
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3/25/1990
completed
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Isaiah 25-28
Isaiah 25-28
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4/1/1990
completed
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Isaiah 29-30
Isaiah 29-30
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4/8/1990
completed
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Isaiah 31-36
Isaiah 31-36
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4/22/1990
completed
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Isaiah 37-38
Isaiah 37-38
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4/29/1990
completed
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Isaiah 39-43
Isaiah 39-43
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5/6/1990
completed
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Isaiah 44-52
Isaiah 44-52
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5/13/1990
completed
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Isaiah 53
Isaiah 53
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6/10/1990
completed
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Isaiah 58-60
Isaiah 58-60
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6/17/1990
completed
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Isaiah 61-66
Isaiah 61-66
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There are 13 additional messages in this series.
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