Isa 55:6-7 Seek Ye the Lord While He May Be Found 1/30/2005 ίΰ
#1. A Witness to the People (Isa 55:4-5, Eph 1:4, Gen 3:15)
#2. Call Ye Upon Him While He Is Near (Isa 55:6-7, Rom 1:21,24,26,28, Amos 8:11-12, Matt 24:24)
Please open your Bibles to the Prophecy of Isaiah 55:1 (2X). The title of the sermon today is, Seek Ye the Lord While He May Be Found (2X), which is found in Isa 55:6. We started in this chapter last week, but time ran out and I did not get further than verse 3. Last week we already saw that this is not a chapter that is addressing all mankind. This chapter is a call:
But not everyone thirsts for the Word of God, and not everyone thirsts for having their sins forgiven, and not everyone hungers and thirsts for righteousness. Only those whom God irresistibly draws to the Lord Jesus Christ do hunger and thirst after these things. Let us look again at these first three verses:
Isa 55:1 Ά Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy
wine and milk without money and without price.
God offers salvation, without money and without price, because
salvation is a free gift. It cannot be purchased with money and the
price tag is so great that God has to give it away. Only God is able to make
such a large payment. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ had to be God in order to
purchase all His people at the cross of
Isa 55:2-3 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which
is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken
diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness. Incline
your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I
will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David.
Here again these verses are addressing only those who are tired
of obeying works gospels, and only those who are able to hear. But only
when we have received salvation by the grace of God are we willing to abandon
works gospels. All the unsaved are in one way or another striving to make peace
with eternity by their own works. And all the unsaved are dead in trespasses
and sins, and thus they cannot hear. Only when we have been made alive by the
grace of God are we able to hear the true Gospel, and are we willing to listen
to those who bring us the true Gospel of grace alone. Please turn in your
Bibles to the Gospel according to John 6:44 (2X). And thus we
recognize that the first three verses of this chapter are addressed exclusively
to a group of people who are called Gods elect, or the remnant
chosen by grace, or children of Abraham, and so on. These verses apply
to both OT saints as well as NT saints, who are saved the same way. OT saints
were saved by looking forward to Messiah in whom they have put their trust, and
NT saints are saved by looking back to Christ in whom they have put their
trust. The Lord Jesus expressed this clearly when He said in John 14:6, I am
the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
In other words, Absolutely no one goes to heaven to be in the presence of God
except through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are required to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ first before we can go to heaven. But no one CAN come
to Jesus out of their own free will. We read that here in John 6:44-45, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me
draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is
written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Paraphrased the Lord Jesus said: No one is able to come to Me, because
they are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Only those who are made alive
and are drawn by the Father will come to Me. Therefore the Prophets said, They
shall be taught of God. Therefore those who have been taught of God shall
come to Jesus and therefore those who come to Jesus He will in no wise cast
out. This is an important point of doctrine, and it is contrary to what most
churches today teach. The Lord Jesus said that no one comes into the
presence of the Father by their own efforts. Therefore the Free Will
religion peddled by Pelagius in the 5th century, and by Jacob
Arminius in the 16th century, and by John Wesley in the 18th
century, are false gospels. They are works gospels that cannot lead anyone to
Christ. This free will religion, or also called the Arminian gospel after
Jacob Arminius, is very popular these days, but it cannot lead anyone to
Christ. The Lord Jesus considered this principle so important that He repeated
it in verse 65. We read in John 6:65, And he said, Therefore said I
unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my
Father. Let us return now to the Prophecy of Isaiah 55:3,
where we have read in the end of verse 3, the sure mercies of David. This
could have been better translated The faithful mercies of David, and
by David is meant a descendant of David. This refers to the Lord Jesus, because
He was the descendant of David that everyone in the nation of
#1. A Witness to the People (Isa 55:4-5, Eph 1:4, Gen 3:15)
We understand that this refers to the Lord Jesus Christ being that witness. We read in verse 4,
Isa 55:4 Behold, I have given Him for a witness
to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
God has given Christ for a witness of the fulfillment of the
prophecy of verse 3, The faithful mercies of
David. When the Lord Jesus Christ came on earth He demonstrated that He
was faithful, even to the death on the cross, and even to the equivalent of the
2nd death on behalf of all those He came to save. In His atonement
on the cross He extended His mercies to all those who are in Him, by
paying for them the guilt of all their sins, so that they do not have to go to
Hell. In Him. This is a great and wonderful principle that we are in
Him. And it is a mystery why this principle is unknown to so many in this
world who call themselves Christians. If we count the number of times we find
the words in Christ and in Him, we find it occurs 144
times in the NT alone. You cannot miss it! This principle is most clearly
stated in Eph 1:4, where God says through the pen of the Apostle Paul, According
as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him. It means that before the foundation of the world the Father chose
the Bride of Christ, His elect, and placed each one of them in Christ,
who is the second Person of the triune Godhead. We were still in Christ
when Christ went to the cross. The Bible teaches in various places that we were
crucified with Christ, we died with Christ, we were buried with Christ, we rose
from the grave with Christ, we ascended with Christ into heaven, and we are
seated in the heavenly places with Christ and in Christ. We were not there
literally, because we did not exist yet. Our souls as well as our bodies did
not exist yet. But Christ was our representative. Therefore if He is our
representative, in Gods terminology it is as good as if we were there with
Christ and in Christ. Therefore, when Christ suffered the equivalent of
an eternity in Hell on the cross we went there with Him and in Him
through the torments of Hell, and therefore God can never send us
through Hell again, because in principle we already went through Hell with
Christ and in Christ. This is the great blessing of the representative
principle. God surprised Satan by stating this principle of substitution
already way back in Gen 3:15. And this then is the marvelous principle
by which we have escaped Hell. We deserved to go to Hell, but through these
wonderful arrangements that God has made God withholds Hell from us. These then
are The faithful mercies of David. The Lord Jesus Christ was given for
a witness to us, to witness of the mercies of Christ through His atonement on
the cross. God says in verse 4 that Christ was also given to us as a Leader
and Commander of the army that is under His command. This implies that
there is a battle. Where is the battle? Let us move on to the next verse, verse
5, where we read about this battle. God says there:
Isa 55:5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that
thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee
because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath
glorified thee.
Here then is the battle of the woman, or the Bride of Christ,
against Satan and the seed of Satan, as it was prophesied in Gen 3:15. Throughout
time the saints shall extend the call to salvation throughout the world, and
through this call God shall draw His elect together to Christ and into the
church. God the Holy Spirit shall do this by His irresistible grace, and He
shall do this for us and for the Lord Jesus Christ, and for His glory. And
because Christ is glorified we too are glorified, because we still are in
Christ. This is how Satan was defeated at the cross: All the elect who
were purchased at the cross were also guaranteed to be delivered from the
clutches of Satan at some point in their life through the action of God the
Holy Spirit. Christ purchased His people and He also purchased the detailed
route through which His people would be delivered, because He purchased the
world and all that is therein and rules over all its affairs, so that His
people will be delivered at the appointed time. Satan has no hold on us at all.
This is called the
Please turn in your Bibles to the Prophecy of Ezek 34:22 (2X). This is a passage that has been misunderstood by many, who hold the doctrine that there will be a future 1000 years where Christ shall set up a earthly kingdom in Jerusalem, and the Jews shall all be converted and shall evangelize the whole earth, until the great falling away 1000 years later. But this is a doctrine that is not taught in the Bible. So, let us read this passage carefully. God says here, through the pen of the Prophet Ezekiel,
Eze 34:22-23 Therefore will I save my flock, and
they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and
cattle. And I will set
up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my
servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their
shepherd.
How many flocks does the Lord Jesus Christ have? One! No,
He does not have two flocks of sheep, one for the Jews and one for the
Gentiles. The Lord Jesus said in the Gospel according to John 10:16, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, and
one shepherd. The remnant chosen by grace
from the Gentiles and the remnant chosen by grace from the Jews will be
together, and they will be one flock, and there will only be one Shepherd over
them. How many plans of salvation are there? One! There will not
be one plan of salvation for the Gentiles and another plan of salvation for the
Jews. The Lord Jesus said in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me. There is only one plan of salvation. From the
context in Ezek 34 we understand that this passage is not speaking about the
future NH&NE, but it speaks about the life of the people of God on this
present earth. And so, when we read in Ezek 34:22 that they shall no more
be a prey, we understand that those who have been saved shall no more
fall into the hands of Satan. Their future is predestined, and purchased, and
secure. Once they have been drafted into the army of Christ they cannot fall
away towards the camp of Satan. In other words, there are no backsliders,
and there are no carnal Christians. All those are inventions of a
society that is driven by their desire to determine their own destiny by their
own free will. But they are not listening to the Bible. And then God says in Ezek
34:22, I will judge between cattle and cattle. According to
verse 20 Christ will judge between the lean cattle and the fat cattle,
between those who are oppressed and those who are their oppressors, those who
are His people and those who oppress and persecute His people. And Christ will
separate His people by one Gospel, into one flock, or one church, or one Bride
of Christ, or one group of saints who have been born from above by the will and
the power of Gods grace. And those who were their oppressors shall be judged
on the Last Day. And Christ shall be the one Shepherd over His saints,
worldwide. But here He is called David. Will God reincarnate David to rule
again over the nation of
Eze 34:24 And I the LORD (Jehovah) will be their God,
and my servant David (Christ) a prince among them; I the LORD (Jehovah) have
spoken it.
It sounds like an oath. God guarantees the promises of verses 22 and 23. If we will abide by these things that we have discussed here, including Rev 22:18, and we understand that we can do so only by the grace of God, then Jehovah will be our God, and Christ will be among us. Is it not true that He has said in Heb 13:5, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee? Let us now return to the Prophecy of Isaiah 55:6 (2X). Here in verse 6 God picks up the line of thought He left in verse 3. You remember in verses 1-3 God said, Come to the waters, and Hearken diligently unto Me, and Incline your ear and come unto Me. And now in verse 6 God says, Seek ye the Lord While He May Be Found, and:
· Call Ye Upon Him While He Is Near (Isa 55:6-7, Rom 1:21,24,26,28, Amos 8:11-12, Matt 24:24)
Isa 55:6 Ά Seek ye
the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Isa 55:7 Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he
will abundantly pardon.
What is the big deal about this admonition to seek the Lord while
He may be found? Does this imply that there will ever be a time when He cannot
be found? Absolutely yes! God said through the pen of the Apostle Paul in Rom 1:24,26,28,
God gave them up to vile affections and God gave them over to a
reprobate mind. What does it mean that God gave them up, or God gave
them over? It means that God does not bother to teach them the right way of
salvation. When God gives up on certain people, it means that these people are
going to Hell for sure. Why would God do this to certain people? God
said it plainly in Rom 1:21, Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. And so, this is a
great warning from God to us, yes to us, that we must glorify the only God
there is, the God of the Bible, and we do not want to experiment with other
concepts of God. Our God, the God who is described by the Bible, has certain
attributes and certain characteristics that we do not want to forget. Our God
is loving and merciful and forgiving, but His longsuffering with sinful man is not
infinite as some have suggested. From these verses in Rom 1 we can clearly see
the warning that we do not test God to the uttermost. Please turn now to
the Prophecy of Amos 8:11 (2X). You find Amos after Daniel, Hosea,
Joel, and then Amos (2X). God says here that before the Last Day comes, there
will be a period of time in the history of this world that the Word of God will
become scarce, or it will not be preached any more. For this reason it will be
a time of great tribulation for the people of God, but for those who are not
hindered by the scarcity of His Word it will be time as usual. God says
in Amos 8:11-12, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they
shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall
run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. This is not a famine of physical food,
but of spiritual food. Somewhat like the situation we have today, but only
worse. And when will God send this spiritual famine upon the earth? It
will be when churches fall away, and fall prey to the doctrines of devils, and
begin to worship the gods of their own imaginations. For example, they will
worship the god of free will religion, totally ignoring all the passages
in the Bible that speak of salvation by grace alone. They will worship the god
of self esteem, totally ignoring the doctrine of man and the depravity
of man as stated in the Bible. They will worship the god of miracle healings,
and signs, and wonders, and dreams and visions, and utterances of saints raised
to a level equivalent to the written Word of God, totally ignoring what God
said in Rev 22:18. They will worship the god of science, elevating the
theory of evolution to compete with the first eleven chapters of Genesis, and
totally ignoring what God said in Rev 22:19, that we may not take away from the
words of the Book of this prophecy. They will worship a god of money, using
the science and business practices of marketing, and changing the doctrines
they preach, and changing their worship practices to lure in more attendants,
and creating more of a show to please audiences. These are just five
examples of the gods created by man in the past 2 centuries. But there are
many more! When the secular world out there worships these idols, the only true
God would not be so angry. The heathen have done these things throughout time,
so what is new? But when the church, who calls themselves of the family of
Christ takes these gods into the sanctuary, and teaches their congregations
such abominations, then God is very angry, and God will give up on churches,
and God will give churches over to their abominations, and God will bring on the
phenomena of the end of the last days. What are these phenomena? God
says in Matt 24:24, For there shall arise false Christs, and
false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. False preachers will
come up with man made gospels that are O-so-close to the true Gospel that even
the elect might be deceived, if that were possible. The reprobate do not even
know what is up or what is down, and so they will drift along with every teaching
that comes their way. But the elect will have some discernment, and will be
able to recognize what is false by applying the rules of Rev 22:18-19. But all
these churches that have drifted into another gospel call themselves also Christian.
Therefore, those who have been converted recently, and are seeking for support
groups in a church, are drifting from one church to another, and have the
greatest difficulty finding a place where the true Gospel is preached. They
will think that the days of Amos 8:11-12 have already arrived. But I
think that the situation is not bad enough right now. There are still many
churches left that are preaching the true Gospel. Let us now return to
the Prophecy of Isaiah 55:6 (2X). There God says, Seek ye the LORD
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. What does
it mean while He is near? Well, are you presently in the audience and
listening to this sermon, or are listening to this sermon from a tape, or from
the radio, or from the Internet? If so, then you should be aware that God is
near. There are still a few individuals who are listening, but who are
undecided, uncommitted, not certain of their salvation, and not certain of what
God requires of them. I do not know how they can sleep tonight, but that is a
true state of affairs of some in this church and perhaps some out there who are
listening too. Please remember that now is still the day of salvation, now is
still the time when we can hear the Gospel, and now is still the time when,
from the human perspective, we can make a commitment to serve the Lord Jesus
Christ in word and in deed. I know that you cannot become saved when you make a
commitment, but that it is the outward manifestation of the miracle that God
has done in your soul. If God has not done this miracle in your soul then stay
where you are and do not force yourself to make a commitment. But if God has
been doing a work of grace in your soul, then consider that time is short. Today
you are still privileged to hear the Gospel, but God can take my life tomorrow.
God can take your life tomorrow, and is this state where you are in, the
condition you want to be found when you die? That really is the bottom line of
verse 6 when God says, Call ye upon Him while He is near.
Repentance is a dirty word these days. But repentance is absolutely necessary for salvation. There is no salvation without repentance. God says in Isa 55:7,
Isa 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he
will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon.
God calls the wicked to forsake their way. All men are born wicked. Does
this mean that God is now addressing everyone in the world? Or is God now
addressing all the sinners? Take a test. Ask the people in your family, or on
the streets, or those at your workplace if they are wicked. They will deny it! But
did you know that God saves every sinner? Yes, everyone who admits that
he or she is a sinner is actually on the way to become a saint. Only if someone
comes to realize that he is a sinner, and that there is Hell to pay, only then
does the Gospel find an entrance into his soul and into his mind. The fear of God
and subsequently the fear of Hell makes a person receptive to listen to any
solution out of his predicament. That is when they are willing to listen. That
is why we find in five places in the Bible, The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. Therefore God says in Isa 55:7, Let the wicked forsake his way. Who are those who dare to call themselves wicked? Only
those whom the Father is drawing to Jesus will admit that they are wicked. They
stop blaming others for their unfortunate circumstances and they begin to look
at themselves as the cause for all the sin in their life, and around them the
sins in the lives of their family members. Have you noticed that the unsaved
are always blaming others? They deny that they are wicked, and thus they do not
see their need for a Savior. Paraphrased God says, It is fine that you recognize
that you are wicked, but what are you doing about it? You must repent, and forsake
your ways and your thoughts. Have you noticed sometimes that you have wicked
thoughts? Those thoughts have to go! You must repent of them and return
to the Lord. Why did God say return? When did we leave Him? We left God when
Adam sinned, way back in the Garden of Eden. Here is the representative
principle again. Just like Christ is our representative in the Spirit, so Adam
is our representative in the flesh. We were in Adam way back when God created
Adam from the dust of the ground, and we were in Adam when he sinned by eating
from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That was our
original sin, and it has led to our enslavement to sin and Satan. The Lord
Jesus stated the principle in John 8:34, Whosoever committeth sin is
the slave of sin. And therefore we were inherently wicked and sinners at
heart. Thanks be to God that He has provided a way of escape from Hell. But we
must repent and confess our sins. God says in 1John 1:9, If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Christ will cleanse us from all our past,
present and future sins. Moreover He has delivered us from our enslavement to
sin, so that we do not have to sin. Nevertheless, since we still live in a body
that lusts after sin we are not totally free from sin. There is no sense
denying it; just confess it. This is reiterated in the Prophecy of Isaiah. Please
turn to Isa 1:18 (2X). We have here in the 1st chapter of Isaiah
a well known verse that reflects the love of God for His people, and His
compassion for helpless sinners. God says here in Isa 1:18, Come
now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool. This verse falls in the same category as Isa 55:7. God
pleads with us, to reason together with Him in prayer and in the reading of His
Word. Admit that we are sinners, and that we need a Savior. Then a Savior shall
be given, and we will receive a soul that continues to thirst after
righteousness. We cannot ask for more. O Lord, forgive our sins, and let
our actions in Your sight be white as snow. Then God says in Isa
1:19-20, If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the
land: But if ye refuse and
rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath
spoken it. If we are willing and obedient to the commands of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we shall eat the spiritual food of the
Let us turn to the Lord in
prayer.