Sermon Notes, August 28, 2016 AM
An Inviting God
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. Oscar
Wilde told the story of “Aunt Jane,” who lived alone and received very few
visitors. When her new neighbors threw a
lavish party Aunt Jane determined that she
would not be outdone. She decided to host
her own ball. Immediately she set to
work. The old house was repainted,
refurnished and the grounds replanted. The
gourmet food and the band were ordered from
London. An army of servants was
hired. Everything would be of the best
quality with no question of cost. At last the
anticipated night arrived. The drive was
lit for two miles with colored lights. The hall
and
staircase were gorgeously decorated with fresh flowers. The ballroom floor was
as shiny as a mirror. The bandsmen, dressed
in formal attire, bowed as Aunt Jane,
adorned in a splendid diamond studded gown,
descended the staircase and waited
beside the door. Time passed but no guests
arrived. Finally, after midnight Aunt Jane
swept a deep curtsey to the band and said,
“Go and have your supper. No one is
coming.” Aunt Jane lived the rest of her
life regretting that no one came to her party.
Only after her death was it discovered that
she had forgotten to mail the invitations.
1. Most people love to receive invitations
to such great occasions as Aunt Jane’s ball.
2. Sometimes we may not be on the guest
list. How does that make you feel? I still
remember a time when I was a child and
a neighboring child had a birthday party
outside in full view and I wasn’t
invited.
B. I
want to emphasize two things about God.
1. He doesn’t forget the invitations.
2. He doesn’t show favoritism in who He
invites. God is an inviting God.
3. There is an Old Testament prophet who
said a great deal about the invitation of
God.
a. Isaiah was an 8th century B.C.
prophet in Judah.
b. He used hyperbole and metaphors to
describe a coming Messiah who would
bless all nations.
c. As we look at Isaiah through the lense
of the New Testament we have a better
understanding of these terms.
Wonderful, counselor, prince of peace, Immanuel,
the branch, the suffering servant. All
of these terms given 700 years before
Jesus.
C. In
Isaiah 55 there is a series of four imperatives that describe God’s invitation.
They
are the words: “Come,” “Listen,” “Seek” and
“Return.”
I. COME
A. Everyone who thirsts – vs. 1
1. There is such a thirst for God in our
culture and we do not see it.
2. Augustine said, “God shaped hole in
every person.” In America we’re trying to
stuff that hole with everything else
but God. Money, Possessions, Power,
Privilege, Position.
3. God says, “Everyone who thirsts come
to the waters.”
a. Could there be a more appropriate
metaphor for life?
b. Your body needs two and a half
quarts of water each day to function properly.
If you become dehydrated you can
suffer serious problems and even death.
c. God uses this picture of water to convey a deeper message of eternal
life.
In John 4 Jesus was at Jacob’s
well in Samaria when a woman came to draw
water from the well. According
to verse 7 Jesus asked the woman for a drink.
She responded by asking why He,
a Jew, made such a request of her, a
Samaritan. Jesus responded by
saying in verse 10, “If you knew the gift of
God, and who it is who says to
you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked
Him, and He would have given you
living water.”
d. What a magnificent thought. Water
from a well that never runs dry. Water of
life. Water of hope. Water from
an unending, unpolluted, unfathomable source.
e. 700 years before Jesus was born
Isaiah pointed to Him and said, “Come to the
water of life.”
B. Everyone who is hungry - verse 1b.
1. “And you who have no money come, buy
and eat, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.”
a. Economics 101 tells us there is
no such thing as a “free lunch.” There is cost
involved.
b. Our spiritual dilemma is that we
need the nourishment only God can provide
but we have no money (we have no
righteousness or merit) to purchase it.
2. There is good news! Someone has paid
for your meal. Occasionally someone
will give us a “Gift Card” to
Chili’s, Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel or even,
“Sonic.” I enjoy those meals because
I know someone cared enough for me to
pay for them.
3. Who has paid for your meal? The
Suffering Servant of chapter 53. The one who
has born our iniquities. The one by
whose stripes we are healed. The one on
whom God has laid our transgressions
even though we, like sheep, have gone
astray.
4. That Suffering Servant has an
invitation for you. “Come to me all you who are
weary and burdened and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in
heart and you will find rest unto your soul”
(Matthew 11:28-30).
II. LISTEN
A. In verse 2 we read, “Listen carefully to
me and eat what is good and delight
yourself in abundance. God invites us to
satisfy our holy hunger by coming to His
banquet table. This is not a snack. It
is a banquet of abundance
1. I heard a story about a man who died
and went to God’s banqueting table. His
wife joined him there and they
delighted in the abundance of delicacies. She
said, “this is all worth it.” He replied,
“Yes, and I could have had it years ago if
you had not put me on that low carb,
no sugar, fat free diet.”
2. God doesn’t skimp.
B. In verse 3 - “Incline your ear and come
to Me. Listen, that you may live; Why does
God want us to listen?
1. He says, “I will make an everlasting
covenant with you according to the faithful
mercies shown to David.” It’s going
to be a covenant for all people.
2.
J.M. McCalep, (1861 – 1953) along with W.K. Azbill went to Japan in the 1990’s
to do mission work. McCaleb was one
of the great pioneers of missions among
churches of Christ. In 1921 he wrote a song entitled, “The Gospel
Is For All.” “Of
one the Lord has made the race, through
one has come the fall. Where sin has
gone must go his grace the Gospel is
for all. “
3. This was the covenant of which God
was speaking and why it was imperative for
Isaiah’s audience to listen.
III. SEEK
A. The third component of God’s invitation is
found in verse 6. “Seek the Lord while
He may be found. Call upon Him while He
is near.” There are many admonitions
about seeking God.
1. Psalm 9:10 – “For you, O Lord, have
not forsaken those who seek You.”
2. Psalm 14:2 – “The Lord has looked
down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who
understand, who seek after God.”
3. Three times in the Sermon on the
Mount. Matthew 6:33; 7:7, 8.
B. What did Isaiah mean when he said, “Seek
the Lord while He may be found?”
1. Is God playing “hide and seek?” Is He
trying to avoid us?
2. For each of us there is a window of
opportunity to find God. God is not going
anywhere but we will. You will not
always have the opportunity to find God you
have today.
a. Your heart may become hard.
Romans 1 is a good picture of what happens
when people’s hearts become
hard.
b. One of these days you are going
to have your last chance to seek and find
God. You will hear the last sermon you’ll ever
hear. You will sing the last
invitation
song you’ll ever sing. You’ll walk through the doors of the church
building for the final time. The
next time you come through them there may
be six men carrying you.
IV. RETURN
A. The final component is in verse 7 – “Let
the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; and let
him return to the Lord, And He will have
compassion on him, and to our God, for
He will abundantly pardon.”
B. There has to be a change of direction. Occasionally
I use my Navigator phone
app. Sometimes when I have missed an
address or missed a turn it says, “Turn
right.” “Turn around.” Isaiah 55:7 is like a spiritual navigator
saying, “Turn around.”
“Return to me.”
C. When Jesus came His message was still
the same. “Repent.”
CONCLUSION:
A. The
greatest invitation you’ll ever receive is the one that comes from God. His
invitation is real, valid, necessary and
applicaple to each of us today. It is the
invitation to:
1. Come
2. Listen
3. Seek
4. Return
B. May
we assist you as you respond “An Inviting God” while we stand and sing?
