An Amazing Invitation

Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55.

We'll read the entire chapter.! Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen. Listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest affair. Give ear and come to me. Hear me, that your soul may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.

Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendor.

Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way, and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth, and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower, and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth.

It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Amen. You will go out in joy, and be led forth in peace.

The mountains and the hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush, will grow the pine tree, and instead of briars, the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed. How many of you have heard this saying, that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

It usually comes from people who have been conned into thinking something is an unbelievably great deal, only to find out later that it wasn't as good as it seemed.

If you've lived very long at all, you've probably had such stories to tell. I have a few of my own that I won't bore you with. And so, with the wisdom of experience, we then turn to the next naive generation, and we say to them, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Now, what I'm going to say this morning goes against this conventional wisdom, because what God says to us in Isaiah 55 today sounds too good to be true.

But it is true. It is true. What would you say if I told you that there's a store that has everything you could ever want and need and more, and the prices are great.

In fact, everything there is free. Free for the taking. You don't need any money to buy anything here. It's all free.

Well, God is here offering us sinners amazing things. The forgiveness of our sins. Freely pardoned. Blotted out. Full satisfaction of your soul's deepest desires.

A settled joy and peace that starts in this life and goes right on through all eternity. An intimate relationship with the living God, your maker.

Having him never stop doing good to you in this life and the next. Changing your eternal destiny from hell to heaven. A place where there is no curse, no sin, no frustration, nothing wrong.

Perfect bliss. And all of these items are of inestimable value. Who could put a price on any one of them? And yet, they're all free.

It sounds too good to be true. But the reason they're free is because someone else already paid the full price for them to purchase them for us.

Last week, we saw that 54 comes after 53. This week, we see that 55 also comes after 53.

By which we mean this invitation in chapter 55 to such blessings, amazing blessings that are offered to us for free is only possible because of what the servant of the Lord did back in chapter 53.

What did he do for us in chapter 53? What did he do there? Well, the servant bore the sin of many, didn't he? And then he suffered in their place for those sins everything they had coming from God.

He was pierced for their transgressions, crushed for their iniquities. He took the punishment that brought us peace and by his stripes we were healed.

What comes free to us was of great cost to him, the servant of the Lord. And it's because of the cross that there God the Son was damned instead of his people that this amazing invitation is going out into all the world and has reached us here in Bremen, Indiana.

It's the feast of salvation that we're being invited to. It's abundant and eternal life at no cost to the sinner. Come to Christ and enjoy a feast that somebody else paid for.

Verse 1, come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

What an invitation. Let's notice several things about this invitation. The first thing is that God is earnestly desiring all sinners to come.

God is earnestly desiring all sinners to come. These are the sounds of the marketplace. It's the cry of the street vendor who's hawking his merchandise on any passers-by.

Ho, you there, come on over here, buy what I have. Don't go there. Why waste your money with that? Come here, what I have is far superior. It's the marketplace that was so well known to anyone who would have read these or heard these words from Isaiah's mouth.

They try to get your attention. They try to get you to listen. They even reason with you. And why does the vendor do that? Because he really wants you to come to his shop and buy what he has.

And even so, the living God who gave up his son on the cross for sinners is calling you and he really wants you to come and take what he has to give.

He's earnestly desiring you to come. He says it over and over. Come. Come. Come. He's sincere in his invitation.

And if you don't come, it won't be because he is not willing. No. He wants sinners to come. Secondly, notice it's for everyone.

Come all you who are thirsty. Not just some of you. Not just you who are good and righteous. Verse 6 tells us it's for the wicked and the evil man to come.

Those who have broken God's laws, you come too. It's for those who are so poor that they have nothing to offer to God. You come too. You won't need any money here. You who have no money, you come buy and eat.

Without money and without cost. Come and enjoy what another is already paid for. What my servant has already provided for you. You can't earn what I have to give.

There used to be a commercial about one of the credit cards and if you're coming to this certain place you might as well leave this credit card home because they're only taking this one. This deal is even better.

You leave all your credit cards at home. You leave all your money at home and you come and you buy with nothing. In fact, if you bring anything to offer for these gifts, you thereby disqualify yourself from taking them.

Salvation has always been free to us, though so costly to the Lord's servant Jesus. Now God shows, so if you're too proud to receive salvation as a free gift, you're simply too proud to be saved.

That's the bottom line. You need to humble yourself and receive it as a gift that it is. Now, I said in point one that God earnestly desires you to come.

We see that continuing into verse two. He even reasons with us about our choices in life. Just like the street vendor says, don't go over there. No, no, no.

I got something superior than that. So God Almighty is saying, come now, let's reason together. Let's talk about your choices in life.

life. I've got what you really need. And he points out what poor shoppers we are in life. We lack discernment to make wise purchases.

Verse two, why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest affairs.

You're wasting your money, your labor on that junk food. food. That which cannot and does not nourish or satisfy your soul's deepest needs.

I have real bread. I have the real stuff of life. I have real food for the soul. And if you're willing to listen to me and eat, your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Listen, listen to me. So he's saying you've got to turn your ear away from all the other voices in this world that are calling for your attention. You've got to turn that off and listen to me.

Both ears on what I have to say. Otherwise, you'll be spending your life on things that do not satisfy. Now, here in verse 2, we realize that this feast that is being offered is a spiritual feast.

It's soul food. That which will satisfy your soul. That's your deepest inmost needs. And the sad reality is that men search in all the wrong places for what only God can give.

Soul rest. Soul satisfaction that comes from knowing the living God, being right with Him through His crucified Son.

They labor, they work, they try hard to satisfy themselves. But as Augustine said, Lord, you have formed us for yourself and our hearts are restless until we find rest in you.

Where does soul rest come from? From God alone. And we're restless until we come home to God alone. And that leads us to the third point in this invitation.

Only God Himself can satisfy us. It's like someone said we have a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts. And the only thing that can fill that God-shaped vacuum is God Himself.

And men are forever trying to fill it with other things. And it's no wonder that they are not satisfied. So give ear and come to Me, the Lord says.

Hear Me that your soul may live. and we see that all these blessings and satisfaction is found in a person. Come to Me.

In Me you'll find this satisfaction. A lot of people are willing to take God's gifts but not God. And so they suck in all that God gives in this creation and they appreciate the creation but they don't come to the giver Himself.

God is inviting men to come to this gospel feast and it's an invitation to come to God Himself. Come to Me. So the gospel feast is found in Him.

The blessings of salvation are wrapped up in Him. In knowing Him, Jesus says, this is life eternal to know Me and the one true God who sent Me. So when God came to Earth, God the Son came to Earth, took up our humanity, He was found among men saying, come to Me.

The same God who's crying out in Isaiah 55, come to Me. Now He's here in our flesh and He's saying, come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am meek and gentle of heart and you will find rest for your souls. Your soul will be satisfied with the richest affair.

And when Jesus sits down on a well of Sychar at noon and an immoral Samaritan woman comes to draw water, Jesus says to her, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

Again, that water stands as a judgment on all that men seek to slake their thirst with. You come to this well, lady, and you'll be back again.

And that's like anything here below. Whatever you try to satisfy your thirst with, you will thirst again. She had sought to satisfy her thirst with relationships with five men and was now on another, only to leave her thirsty again.

And Jesus says, you keep drinking from this well and you'll thirst again. But, whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. It's found in me. I have this life in me.

Come to me. Why keep working for and eating what is not bread and cannot satisfy? So Jesus says to a crowd in John 6, I am the bread of life.

Me. I am the bread of life. And he who comes to me will never go hungry. And he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

You see, Jesus is God in the flesh and he's the feast. And all the blessings of salvation are found in him. You come to him. You take him and in taking him you get life.

You get satisfaction. You get peace with God. You get heaven. This is where our greatest needs are met. And at the very end of the Bible, Revelation 22, the last chapter toward the last words, the spirit and the bride say come and let him who hears say come.

Whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. There's this invitation. It flows right through the whole of the gospel.

It meets us at the end of the Bible. You see, God, is earnestly desiring that all come to him. There's plenty in this feast, but you must come to have it.

You must come to me. Those who answer the invitation are those who partake of all that Christ did in Isaiah 53. So my question is this, why?

Why, when Jesus offers himself and eternal life in him and satisfaction, why should you spend another day rejecting Jesus? Why should you go on spending another week seeking to fill your life with things that cannot satisfy you?

Why would you not come and take the free feast that Jesus Christ himself is and gives to all who will come to him?

All alternatives to Christ are not only costly, they're disappointing. They leave you thirsty still. Why, when the invitation from God is so urgent and free, would you put it off?

Will you come to Christ right now? If so, God promises you something. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, verse 3. My faithful love promised to David.

So that's our fourth lesson from the invitation. all comers share in the everlasting covenant with David and all of its blessings. So right away we need a history lesson.

What is this covenant with David? What is this unfailing love that God promised to David? Because that's what God promises to all who come to him. Would you remember that David, once he was established as the king of Israel, had a promise made to him by God in which God said, that my love, he says, your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me.

Your throne will be established forever. My love will never be taken away from your offspring who succeed you as I took it away from Saul. 2 Samuel chapter 7.

So God promised to David, the king of Israel, that he would have a dynasty of kings coming from his descendants. And God would never take his love away from those descendants of David as he had done with Saul.

You remember King Saul disobeyed God and what did God do? He removed him from the throne. There were no descendants of Saul that were on the throne. Rather, God put David on the throne.

What happens if his offspring who become kings no longer follow the Lord? He says, I will not take my unfailing love away. I will chasten them with the rod, but I won't take my love away.

You see the difference between Saul, King Saul, and King David? This is the covenant, the promised unfailing love that God promised to David. Offspring forever on the throne, a throne of David that would last forever.

Now, as Isaiah 55 came to the Israelites, what was going on? Well, the Davidic throne was empty. That descendant of David who was their king had been taken away to Babylon in captivity.

The throne is empty. It seems like the promise has failed. It seems like God's love has indeed failed toward David's offspring and toward David in this covenant that God made.

Well, that's how they felt. But had God forgotten his covenant? Had God run out of his love? No, these promises to David find their fulfillment in David's greater son, Jesus Christ.

That's why when you open the New Testament, the very first page, Matthew 1, 1, you have a genealogy. And it is very intent in letting you know that this Jesus, who was born of the virgin in Bethlehem, is none other than the seed of David.

Oh, this is one of those offspring that God promised would sit upon the throne of David and reign forever and ever. A throne that would never end.

And we're told on the first page, Jesus is the seed of David. That's why Gabriel, the angel, in coming to the Virgin Mary, said to her in Luke 1 that her virgin-born son, about her virgin-born son, the Lord will give him the throne of his father David.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. And when he, the long promised Davidic king, was cut down in death, it seemed again like the promise had failed.

But God did not let his flesh see corruption, but raised him from the dead and raised him to the throne of heaven, David's throne, where he now sits and reigns forever and ever, and he will reign until he has put all of his enemies under his feet, and then he will return to the earth here.

In Acts chapter 13, the apostle Paul says, we tell you the good news. Here's the gospel. What God promised our fathers, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.

The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words, and he quotes Isaiah 55, verse 3, I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.

What is this blessing, this covenant with David? It's a descendant who would sit on the throne and rule forever. And it's fulfilled in Christ when Jesus was raised from the dead and seated on his throne in heaven.

It was fulfilled for us. And when God says, if you will come to me, if you will turn away from all these other vendors of life, calling for your allegiance and calling for your heart and your money and your love, and you will turn to me, I will give to you the sure blessings of David, which is to have you belong to the kingdom of Christ who reigns forever and ever in grace and glory.

So this salvation is purchased by a seed of David who will reign forever and ever. And this salvation is to be enjoyed by the nations.

He will summon nations and he'll call them, come to me, and they will come. In fact, they will hasten, verse 5 says, they will hasten to him because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel.

God will see to it that they come to him. And if you will come to me, you will belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, that coming son of David, full and free salvation, free for the coming.

Now, do you not agree that this deal is too good to refuse? But the truth is that people are refusing it.

So we must ask why. Why do people refuse such everlasting life in the kingdom of Christ, freely taken?

Well, the reason the invitation is forsaken is because rejected is because it comes with a call to repent. That's one reason. It comes with a call to repent. And that's where the last half of this chapter starts to go.

The call to repent, verses 6 and 7. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him.

And to our God for he will freely Pardon. So he invites you to come to me. Y'all come to me is the invitation. And now he urges, Isaiah urges you to go to him, to seek the Lord, to call on him to save you.

You see the urgency in his voice? Don't put it off, do it now, while he may be found, while he's near. The implication could not be clear, and this is the first lesson about the call to repentance, and it's that your opportunity to be saved does not last forever.

It may end at any moment, and you would be lost forever. So seek the Lord now, while he may be found. Seek him now while he's near. It was that way with salvation in Noah's day, wasn't it?

And the door was open, come on in. And as long as it was open, no one wanted in. Then God shut the door and started sending the rain and the floods, and then everyone wanted in, but the door of opportunity had been closed by God, and no one but the eight who had got on board were saved.

That is a picture of salvation. The opportunity is limited. That's why it's so urgent that you get into Christ, you come to Christ now before the day, the door, and the day of grace is closed forever.

I once heard Bob Self describe what it's like for a sinner to reject Christ. And not just once, but every day that they go on without Christ, they are playing Russian roulette.

They take a six-shooter, and they open the chamber, and they put one bullet in, they give it a spin, and they put it to their heads, and they pull the trigger. That's today.

And the next day that they get up, and they live without Jesus Christ, they spin it again, and they pull the trigger. They are gambling that they will always have another opportunity.

But one day the opportunity will be gone. Hence, the urgency of the call. Come to me, and come right away.

Seek the Lord, and seek Him right away. So then the call to repent. Notice it. If you're going to turn to the Lord, that's the word of repentance.

What is repentance? Repentance is about face. And if you're going to turn to the Lord, then you're going to have to turn away from something else. Right? But what is it that we must turn away from?

Well, your way and your thoughts. Your way and your thoughts. Two things. First of all, let the wicked forsake his way. What's wrong with my way?

Well, it's not God's way. That's it. My way. In the late 1960s, a song was written that many different artists have sung and it's loved all over the world.

It's called just that, my way. And it was found to be the most frequently played song in British funeral services. It's about a man who comes to the end of his life and whatever he's accomplished or hasn't accomplished, one thing he has accomplished, I did it my way.

Can you see the brashness, the pride of such a statement? I am ready to go out of this world and to meet my maker and the one thing I want played at my funeral is that I did it my way.

Now folks, we all have that disease. That's precisely what's wrong with us. That's precisely the problem. That's what Isaiah has told us in chapter 53 and verse 6.

We all like sheep have gone astray. Astray from what? From God's way. From God himself and his way. And we have turned each one to his own way.

I want it my way. And that's the problem. That's why I need to be saved. I've got to be saved from that because the way that seems right to a man is the way that leads to destruction.

That's the way that leads to everlasting damnation. that's the way that I like instead of God's way. It's the way that I seek satisfaction instead of from God.

And notice it's the way that must be forsaken. It's not a matter of minor tweaking of our way that will suffice. It's not a giving up of this and that.

Okay, I see. I need to give up this and that in my life if I'm going to turn to Christ. No, you've got to forsake your whole way. The whole shooting match is stinking in God's sight.

You are going your way. You need to forsake your whole way and come to me. So anyone who wants to come to me, you must repent and turn your back on your way.

A whole new lifestyle. The whole thing is wrong. The whole direction is anti-God. it must be given up entirely. And in coming to the Lord, we are saying, Lord, your way, not mine.

It's a whole new way to live, isn't it? A whole new orientation, a whole new center to our world. Your way, not mine. So that's the first thing you've got to leave.

You've got to forsake your way. The second thing is your thoughts. And the evil man must forsake his thoughts. Well, we're talking about the inner life.

The inner life that determines our way. Because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. You see, before we ever go astray in the wrong way, we first go astray in our thoughts.

We first start thinking wrong thoughts. And so they too must be forsaken. Repentance not only changes the way we live, folks, the way we think.

Repentance reaches right down to our very inmost thoughts and our thoughts must go. Why? What's wrong with my thoughts?

Well, just this. They're not God's thoughts. They're not God's thoughts. Verses 8 and 9. For my thoughts, God says, are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, your ways, my ways, declares the Lord.

In fact, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Again, do you see, there's not just a little tweaking to be done.

The difference between the two is the difference between the distance from heaven and earth. It's an infinite chasm. So we must forsake our way, we must forsake our thoughts.

So here we have it. God's thoughts, my thoughts. What am I to do? Well, if I'm to seek the Lord, I've just got to forsake my thoughts and come to the Lord.

I come and I embrace his thoughts. That's why when I'm reading the Bible, what I'm doing is coming to God and saying, God, I don't even know how to think, right?

Will you please teach me your thoughts? would you teach me how to think about yourself, about Jesus Christ, about the only way to heaven, about life after death?

Would you teach me about how to do your family, your way? Would you teach me about raising children, about being a teenager? I need to think like you do about these things.

Would you teach me your thoughts about money, your thoughts about time, your thoughts about sexuality, your thoughts about homosexuality, about abortion, your thoughts about everything because my thoughts are not your thoughts.

And I come to be safe from my thoughts and have you teach me your thoughts. teach me the way to be right with you.

I've got my thoughts but teach me yours. Let's just consider your thoughts about yourself. I need to learn how to think about me.

Well, by myself, I think I'm a pretty good guy, pretty smart, pretty self-reliant. But did you see what God thinks of you? let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.

Those aren't the most flattering terms, are they? Wicked, evil. When's the last time you've used those two terms to explain you? That's what God says.

That's what God thinks. The sinner is wicked. The sinner is evil. There's far more wickedness and evil in not believing in Christ than we've ever come to realize.

I need to learn to think about me. And I need to abandon my own thoughts of me.

You think you're pretty smart? God says my foolishness is wiser than your wisdom. You think you're self-reliant? God says you only draw the next breath if I give it to you.

God that's different. That's a different way to think about myself. You think you're pretty good? God thinks that your sin is so bad that it will take the damning of his own son to remove the offense from it.

That's different. My thoughts, your thoughts, forsake yours and come to me. God will teach you how to think about yourself, about your sin, about the only way of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Some don't even think God's thoughts are worth considering and that's why this is a neglected book. God's thoughts, who cares? It's my thoughts. You've got to forsake your thoughts.

You've got to come and embrace God, all that is his, his way, his thoughts, instead of your own. Oh yes, the invitation to the gospel feast includes this call to repent.

And that's the great deal breaker for many. Yes, I'd like to have all the goodies. I'd like eternal life. I'd like this and that to be satisfied, but not in my thoughts.

Could I ask you, are your way and your thoughts that valuable that you will trade eternal life for them? Why don't you forsake your way and turn to the Lord right now.

Yes, you come to him just as you are, but you don't come to him to remain as you are. You come to him to have him save you from your own way and your own thinking.

You come to have him save you by applying the blood and righteousness of Jesus to cover all your sins. and you go away whiter than snow.

You go away a follower of Jesus forever, loving his word, loving him. You say, what will happen if I do come to him this morning?

If this day I come to Jesus Christ, what will happen? He wants you to know what will happen. What will not happen? You will not find him to be one who is there to berate you, to scold you.

No, you'll find him to be one to welcome you, to pardon you, to show you mercy, to treat you in a way that your sins don't deserve, and to freely pardon you.

You see, you're under a life sentence. You're under an eternal sentence. And he is willing to pardon you forever. That's the kind of love, the grace, the mercy that will find you.

You will find in him if you come. You see it in verse 7b, let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will freely pardon.

The Lord Jesus took the rap for you that you might be fully pardoned if you come to him. Never was a man coming home treated better than you will be if you come to Jesus today and you'll be the one kicking yourself saying why did I wait so long to come to such a savior God wants you to come and so he wants you to be sure of what will happen if you do come you'll find mercy and multiplied pardon does it all sound too good to be true too easy to how can this be you're telling me that my eternal address will go from hell to heaven because of what just coming and receiving Jesus Christ to save me from my sins yes it sounds too good to be true but it is true it is true and God would convince you that it's true and so he gives us a reassurance that his promises will come to pass he will forgive you he will pardon you he will bring you these this joy and peace that comes from believing this eternal life and he does it by telling you that

God's word is effective it will not fail to accomplish what he sends it to do effective as rain is we've had a lot of rain over the past week and I guess we're getting a little more we have a saying that April showers bring nothing about no we don't April showers bring May flowers it causes the earth to bud and blossom we've already seen things budding and greening up what is that that is God pointing to the way that he works in his world when I send rain from heaven it's the water cycle he's talking about long before men perhaps had it on their textbooks but here it is I send rain down to the earth and before it comes back up to me before it returns it first does what I sent it to do well what did you send it to do Lord I sent it to bring forth seed for the sower and for the inhabitants of the earth so that they can eat and still have some left to plant next year that's what

I meant for it so I send the rain it accomplishes what I wanted and then it comes back until I send it forth again it's the rain is effective in doing what sent it to do!

there's life on the planet like no other place God says my word is like the rain it doesn't go out of my mouth and come back to me until it has accomplished all that I purpose for it to do do you see what word he has sent out that goes for every word in the book it goes for the word that says I'm coming back and I'm going to judge the living and the dead that word has gone out of his folks it's not coming back empty to him it will accomplish all that he sent it will be effective it will happen but that's not the nearest promise the nearest word of God that we have in our passage he's just made a promise if you come to him you'll get mercy and a free pardon can it be that easy can it really be true or is this one of those things that if it's too good to be true it probably is no it isn't because my word is like the rain contrary to your word my word accomplishes everything that

I say and if my word has gone out that if the sinner will turn whoever he is whatever he's done if he'll turn and come to me he'll find when it's stormy and the winds are blowing you go out on the lake and you say peace be still what happens to the wind and the waves nothing they just keep blowing and rocking your boat but when God says the same words and those words come out of his mouth what happens as Jesus on the sea of Galilee said peace be still and the wind stop blowing and the water whatever comes out of my mouth will not come back empty it will not fail to accomplish all that I have sent it to do and so if you will receive this word that has gone out of my mouth this invitation as it's come to you this morning and you will obey it you'll find mercy and pardon my word stands behind it in fact my salvation is so great it's not just you that will be saved but the whole universe is going to be saved and you'll see that

I will save the planet the planet that was plunged into sin and under the curse by sin is to be redeemed by Jesus Christ and so you will go out in joy and be led forth in peace isn't that what people are seeking in all the wrong places joy and peace and God says I have it and I will give it to you who come to me and there's coming a day when you will go out of your captivity perhaps referring to the Babylonian captives the Israelites there they will go out in joy and peace and enjoy the freedom but there's too much here to apply only to that situation it points rather to that freedom that will come to every believer and to the whole creation when Jesus returns you will go out with joy and peace this world itself will enter in the mountains and hills now groaning under the curse because of man's sin they're going to share in the joy they're going to share in the freedom of being set free from the curse for

God is going to wipe away all sin and the whole earth and this world will be a paradise restored and so the trees the mountains and hills will burst into song and all the trees of the field will clap their hands oh you'll see nature doing things that it never did before I don't believe they're going to literally clap their hands but the point is you're going to see nature restored and entered into the freedom that it once had before man and its sin made this place such a ruin and a wreck furthermore instead of the thorn bush remember what did sin bring thorns and thistles now instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine and instead of briars the myrtle will grow the cursed unproductive land will be restored and transformed and made fruitful again this is the end to which my salvation is moving and if you'll come to me you will be a part of it you'll be there you'll enjoy it you'll rejoice you'll sing and all creation will sing with you and this will be for the lord's renown for an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed you know what human kings do when they have a great victory a great triumph a great achievement they build a monument and they put their name on it and then the next king comes along and does something great and he tears your monument down or it it's knocked down by the sands of time and the monument is forgotten the sign that pointed to the greatness of these kings is soon!

well God has accomplished something amazing in saving his people and their environment the whole world from the ravages of sin and he's going to have a monument what will it be?

it will be a restored universe a new heavens and a new earth with a new people the righteous and this monument will never be destroyed it will say look what the Lord has done it will be for his renown it will be for his glory and forever and ever he will receive praise are you going to be a part of that the invitation is yours this morning it's there come come come and coming taste and see that I am gracious experience those sure unfailing mercies of David experience what it's like to live under the kingdom of Jesus Christ forever and ever let's pray Lord when we think of who you are and what we have done against you we we wonder how could these words be spoken to us that you have anything good to say to us is mercy and here you are not just inviting us but urging us pleading with us to come to you to forsake our way and our thoughts and to embrace you and your salvation in Jesus

Christ thank you for such mercy thank you that many of us have come and we've not been disappointed we have found what we were made for we have found what we exist for a relationship with you through Jesus Christ our Lord spread that good news help us to be bearers of this invitation and receive glory Lord even by gathering new believers into your family this day who will forever exist to your glory and praise in the new heavens and a new earth we pray in Jesus name amen