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Summary
We are reminded of God’s astounding offer of salvation to sinners, drawn from Isaiah 55:1-7. This passage presents three astonishing appeals from God: to come to the God who gives freely, to listen to the God who covenants, and to return to the God who forgives abundantly — all made possible through Jesus Christ.
Key Lessons:
- God offers salvation freely to the spiritually destitute — not to the self-righteous or those who think they can earn his favor, but to those who come with nothing but faith.
- Idols and false gods take but never truly give; only God can satisfy the deepest hungers of the human soul with true and lasting abundance.
- God’s everlasting covenant, rooted in the mercies shown to David, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who gathers peoples from every nation into one redeemed community.
- Repentance means forsaking our old ways of thinking and acting and returning to God — and it is the wicked, not the self-righteous, who find him.
Application: We are called to respond now, while God has made himself findable, by repenting of sin and trusting in Jesus Christ. We must not delay, as there will come a time when the opportunity is no longer available.
Discussion Questions:
- What ‘idols’ or false treasures are you tempted to turn to instead of God, and how does this passage expose their emptiness?
- What does it mean to come to God ‘with nothing but faith’? How does this challenge the way you think about earning God’s approval?
- Since God is near and making himself findable right now, what is one step of repentance or faith you can take today in response to his offer?
Scripture Focus: Isaiah 55:1-7 — God’s threefold appeal to come, listen, and return; John 6:35 — Jesus as the bread of life who satisfies all hunger and thirst; Romans 8:32 — if God gave his Son, he will freely give us all things.
Outline
- Introduction
- Context of Isaiah 55
- Come to the God Who Gives
- Listen to the God Who Covenants
- The Davidic Covenant and the Promised Servant
- Salvation Extended to All Peoples
- Jesus Christ: The Fulfillment
- Return to the God Who Forgives
- Conclusion: Take Up God’s Offer
Introduction
Well, this is an exciting day as we anticipate our five brethren giving public testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ by baptism.
In a way, what we will soon hear is five customer reviews of God and his gospel.
After all, what is a customer review if not a personal testimony?
Now, I don’t know if that sounds weird to you. Maybe you’re saying to yourself, “Pastor Dave, isn’t it a little crass to talk of salvation as if it’s like a financial transaction to be reviewed?” But to that I say, let’s remember that God himself uses such language memorably in a certain portion of scripture.
Because what really is God selling?
Is it prosperity and health? Is it freedom from all your problems?
No. Rather, God offers himself and eternal life with him.
And how much must you pay for what God is offering?
Nothing. It is completely free.
And to whom is God making the offer?
Not to the rich, not to the righteous, not to those who think they can offer something for God’s favor, but to the poor, the spiritually destitute, to those who know they have nothing that they could give God to earn his favor in return.
So before we hear the customer reviews, let’s hear this morning about the seller and his offer.
“God doesn’t need your money, your sacrifices, or your good works — but you need what he has.”
We’re going to do that by going to Isaiah 55. Please take your Bibles and go to Isaiah 55:1-7, and we look at God’s astounding offer to sinners. God’s astounding offer to sinners.
You can find this on page 738. It’s the passage we read earlier for our scripture reading.
Context of Isaiah 55
Before we investigate this passage verse by verse, let me briefly inform you of its context.
We’re in the prophecy of Isaiah, who prophesied in Judah during the divided kingdom period. At this time, the kingdom of Judah is experiencing trouble and uncertainties on multiple sides. The people are sorely tempted to turn to sin and false hopes to get through.
Much of Isaiah’s prophecy up to this point has been foretelling what God is going to do in the future. Basically, God is going to judge the kingdom of Judah for its wickedness and lack of faith.
But God is also going to restore that kingdom later in repentance, in righteousness, and to a level of prosperity it had never known before under God’s Messiah, King.
Isaiah 55, the passage we’re looking at or the first part of it, in many ways represents an application section to those earlier prophecies.
If everything that God previously spoke is what God will make sure to bring to pass in the future, then how should the Judahites of Isaiah’s day respond?
What God presents through Isaiah is an offer that goes beyond Isaiah’s original audience, a salvation offer to any needy sinner who is facing God’s holy judgment and the troubles of life. That’s what we’re looking at together today.
“God presents a salvation offer to any needy sinner who is facing God’s holy judgment and the troubles of life.”
In the text before us, God gives three astonishing appeals for you to turn to God in repentance and faith. God’s first appeal appears in Isaiah 55:1-2.
Come to the God Who Gives
So we’re going to have three points for our sermon outline. The first one is: come to the God who gives.
Come to the God who gives. Let’s read Isaiah 55:1-2.
God speaking:
“Ho, everyone who thirsts, 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 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 delight yourself in abundance.”
The image here in verses 1 to 2 is extremely surprising. The picture is of one going to market and God himself is setting up, as it were, as a seller in the market with competition with other vendors.
Who are the others selling goods? Well, they are idols and lusts, false objects of worship.
Truly, there is no competition with the one true God. But Judah at this time, the original audience, they are shopping around for a different God or maybe additional gods. They’ll keep Yahweh but add more.
Earlier in Isaiah, God showed the extreme uselessness of all false gods. But now God himself enters the marketplace to give Judah a deal that no sane shopper would refuse.
“Ho,” God announces in verse one, “come to me to have all your needs totally satisfied.” God has water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.
Now water and food are basic life needs, aren’t they? Without food and water, we will get sick and eventually die. But God says, “I’ve got everything you need for life. Come and buy from me.”
Notice the appearance of wine and milk in verse one. Wine and milk go beyond life’s needs, don’t they? They are a delicious upgrade on mere water.
Wine and milk then are a representation of prosperity and delight. God therefore has an even better deal for shoppers, saying, “Come to me for more than the bare minimum. Drink even wine and milk from me.”
God’s Free and Generous Offer
But notice whom God seeks for customers in verse one. It is the literally bankrupt.
God says he wants people who thirst.
That is, they don’t already have sufficient water. Twice he says he wants people who have no money.
And then God stresses that his customers may obtain their fill without cost.
What on earth? What kind of seller goes to market and charges nothing for his goods?
Such a seller is either stupid, insane, or so great that money is no object.
Which is it for God?
Well, it is the last of these options.
God is so great that he doesn’t need anything from you. He already owns everything, and he is perfectly satisfied within himself.
He is the creator. He created you.
He doesn’t need your money. He doesn’t need your sacrifices. And he doesn’t even need your good works.
But you need what he has.
And he would be so glad just to give it to you.
“You need what he has — and he would be so glad just to give it to you.”
In fact, to try to obtain something from God by earning it is offensive to him.
This would suggest to God that he lacks something that you are able to give him. It would also suggest that you somehow deserve glory for something good that you are able to provide yourself instead of asking for it from God.
God will not abide that kind of transaction.
Rather, God demands, “If you wish to buy from me, come with nothing but faith, and I will freely give you all.” How different all this is from false gods who require so much from their devotees.
“If you wish to buy from me, come with nothing but faith, and I will freely give you all.”
It was true back then, as it is true today.
You’ve got to earn blessings from false gods. You’ve got to recite prayers. You’ve got to present offerings. You’ve got to make little statues of your gods. And you’ve got to keep those statues clean and presentable.
You’ve got to perform rituals. You’ve got to do various works.
And sometimes back then you must even sacrifice your own children just so that maybe those gods will give you what you’re looking for.
God points out the senselessness of this kind of transaction. In verse two, God asks, “Why do you spend your money with these other sellers when I’m more than willing to give all that you need for free?”
God asks also, “Why do you go to them when what they’re selling isn’t even real?” Notice God says in verse two, “You buy from them what is not bread.” It’s not real food. It doesn’t nourish or satisfy.
It’s like instead of getting a fresh loaf of bread from God for free, these shoppers spend their money to buy a plastic loaf that they can’t even eat.
The Emptiness of Idols
And isn’t this really the cruelest part of idols? Whatever you are inclined to turn to that is not God.
Idols take but they do not give.
No matter how much you serve them, go to them, give up for them, they ultimately cannot give you what you need.
It’s not in their nature. They are empty.
“Idols take but they do not give. No matter how much you serve them, they are empty.”
Oh, they can give you pleasure as you anticipate receiving from the idol what you need. Maybe great pleasure in that sense.
But when you finally get there to receive what you’re looking for from the idol, what do you find? There’s nothing there. You’re still hungry. You’re still thirsty.
So friends and brethren, listen to me today. If you are serving any idol, any strong desire, any treasure from this world in your life, the time to give it up is now.
Do you not realize that the idol is robbing you and it will continue to do so until it kills you forever eternally?
Why will you keep going after that seller? It is a lie that you have in your hand or in your mind.
Flee from this idol. Don’t compromise with it. Cast it away.
Why will you keep going to that deceptive treasure when God offers you a much better deal?
“If you are serving any idol, any treasure from this world, the time to give it up is now.”
The Abundance God Provides
Look again at the end of verse two. God says, “If you come and listen to me, you can eat what is good.” That is that which is truly good, even the best.
And you can delight yourself not just in a small amount, not just with a sample, but what does he say? Abundance.
You can delight yourself in an abundance of it. Life, nourishment, satisfaction, joy.
What kind of God offers himself so generously to poor sinners, destitute sinners?
A God who is way greater than you and I could dream up on our own.
Now, in this passage, is God promising literal food, literal drink, literal wine and milk here, or are these just figures?
Well, there is an element to these that is literal. When Israel and Judah followed God, they were guaranteed according to the covenant given to them through Moses to enjoy the abundance of their land. God would give them literal food and drink and goods to an unheard of level of prosperity.
Now, Christians are not part of that covenant. We can’t claim that specifically.
Nevertheless, even we Christians have received God’s promise of perfect and pleasant provision in this life.
That’s Matthew 6, right? Jesus’ words: don’t worry about your life. God knows how to take care of you.
Nevertheless, the greater fulfillment of these promises even here in Isaiah 55 is spiritual and eternal. Pastor Mark made reference to this in his prayer earlier.
But what does Jesus himself say in John 6:35? “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.” While we Christians are grateful for the physical provisions and pleasures that God gives to us in this life, our greatest provision and pleasure is always God himself.
He is the one who gives us joy and peace, and not just later, today.
He gives it to us now, but he will give it to us in even fuller measure when his kingdom comes and when we see him in glory.
John 6:35: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.”
So God’s first astonishing appeal to you from this passage is to come to the God who gives.
Listen to the God Who Covenants
God’s second astonishing appeal is number two.
Listen to the God who covenants.
We see this appeal in Isaiah 55:3-5. Look at those verses with me.
Incline your ear and come to me. Listen that you may live.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the faithful mercies shown to David.
Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you because of the Lord, that is Yahweh, when you see that in all caps in your Bible.
That’s the name Yahweh. Because Yahweh your God, even the Holy One of Israel, has glorified you.
The scene switches here from one of buying to one of making covenant.
God commands the people of Judah to incline their ears and listen. That’s poetic parallelism used for emphasis. Basically, God is saying, “Listen up. I’ve got something great to tell you.” The parallelism of the first two lines of verse 3 shows this.
Just as inclining the ear in line one is the same as listening in line two, coming to God in line one is really the same as living in line two.
Do you want to live?
Do you want to live not just now, but in a perfect world forever?
Then listen to God’s offer. Listen to his explanation of that offer in the third line of verse 3.
God offers an everlasting covenant.
What’s that? That’s an agreement without end.
And what kind of everlasting covenant?
“Do you want to live — not just now, but in a perfect world forever? Then listen to God’s offer.”
The Davidic Covenant and the Promised Servant
What kind of agreement? Well, he says, “One according to the faithful mercies shown to David.” What kind of mercies were shown to David?
Many, but one in particular. Recall that in 2 Samuel 7:8-17, King David desired to build a house for God.
But God told David, “No, I will be the one that builds a house for you.” David then received from God what theologians call the Davidic covenant.
God promised that David’s line, David’s lineage would always possess the throne of Judah. There would always be a king from David’s line in Judah. And God would establish the kingdom of David’s line, David’s seed forever.
God also promised never to remove his covenant love from David or from David’s seed.
So what does this offer here from God? An everlasting covenant to the one who listens according to the mercy shown to David.
It’s not that we will each receive similar covenants to that which David received. Rather, we will receive an interest or a portion in the merciful covenant that was given to David.
That is to say, we receive a portion in the one promised to David in covenant love. The seed whose kingdom would be established forever.
Who is that seed? He is the greater David, the promised suffering servant whom Isaiah has already described by this point in this book. The one who will not only one day redeem his people from their sins but also return as conqueror to establish God’s kingdom on the earth.
You can have a portion in this promised one.
“The promised one will not only redeem his people from their sins but return as conqueror to establish God’s kingdom.”
Now notice how verses 4 and 5 go on to further describe this same one. Behold, God says, see it, picture it.
Verse 4 then speaks as if in the past tense, God describing a future event with such certainty that it’s like it’s already happened. What does God say? I have already established him as a witness, as one who testifies.
Testifies of what? Well, what has he just been talking about? In context, he’s testifying of God’s salvation, of life, of the merciful covenant given to David.
Salvation Extended to All Peoples
Yet notice to whom this coming one testifies. It says to the peoples.
That’s plural peoples.
Now what is this? Was not Isaiah prophesying to the Judahites? Was he not prophesying to the Jews? That’s one people. Why does it say peoples now?
Well, this must be because God is proclaiming this coming one will testify to more than one people. He’s going to testify to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews.
They were often referred to in the Old Testament as the peoples.
God says in verse 4, “I have established my promised one, the one in the line of David, as a witness of my salvation to all peoples.”
In fact, this coming one will be the leader and commander of the peoples. They will follow him as part of his hosts. He will be their captain.
This means that not only is God’s salvation plan being told to the Gentiles, but that the Gentiles themselves have a part in it. And that’s good news for us here who are Gentiles.
“Not only is God’s salvation plan being told to the Gentiles, but the Gentiles themselves have a part in it.”
Verse 5 goes on to say more of the same thing. Now notice God speaks to the promised one directly. He switches from speaking about him to speaking to him. Behold, God says again. God wants the promised one himself to see something vividly.
What should he see?
“You will call a nation you do not know. And a nation which knows you not will run to you.”
Now what’s this? We had peoples plural before, but now we have nation singular.
Is God talking about the one nation of Judah now? Or perhaps Judah and Israel, the Jews?
No, that cannot be. For this nation we have described here in reference to the coming one who is of the line of David and the people of Judah does not know him and he does not know them. They are not intimately equated. They are not already associated.
What must that mean?
Despite the singular form, the nation that God is referring to in verse 5 is still talking about the Gentiles. The shift to singular probably is because these many peoples are made into one nation by the call of God’s special servant.
For notice in verse 5, this is exactly what the coming one does. He calls to the nation he doesn’t know. He calls for them to come.
And what do they do? They not only come, they run to the servant. They rush to the lifegiver, their leader, their savior.
How will such things come to pass? Are you kidding me? The peoples of the world made into one nation coming to the promised one of David.
How will this be? God says in verse 5, Yahweh ordains it.
Notice the last two lines of verse 5. Why is it that the people run to the coming one, the promised one? Because of the Lord. That’s the covenant name used of God there. Because of Yahweh, I am. He is the faithful one. Because of Yahweh your God, even the Holy One of Israel, they will run.
Why?
What is it that God has done? He says at the very end, he glorified the servant.
Here again, we have a past tense used to describe a certain future reality.
God says, “I have commanded that you, my servant, be glorified.” It’s already a done deal. Therefore, the nations will run to you and be gathered into one nation.
Jesus Christ: The Fulfillment
Okay, but what is the point? What is the point of all this in verses 3 to 5?
The point is if you will listen to God, if you will come to him, you can have a part in this great unfolding salvation plan.
The promised savior will not just come for other people. He will come for you, too. You’re made into one of his own.
Who is this promised savior? You can guess by now. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the son of David, the one who came to redeem not only his own sheep from the fold of Israel, but also to gather his sheep from abroad and make them all into one new flock.
Just as John 10 says, Jesus came once, but he’s coming again and he will establish God’s rule on the earth.
Do you want an interest in him? Do you want a portion in that savior? Do you want to be on his side when he comes?
And God says, “Then come to me now. Listen to my words and live. I offer you a part in my merciful covenant. Won’t you listen? Won’t you listen to the God who covenants?”
“Come to me now. Listen to my words and live. I offer you a part in my merciful covenant.”
Return to the God Who Forgives
God’s third and final astonishing appeal in this passage is in verses 6 to 7, and it is number three.
Return to the God who forgives.
Look at those verses.
Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to Yahweh, and he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
The new image at the beginning of verse 6 is of someone searching. Someone is seeking. He’s trying to find someone else. He’s even calling out for someone else.
And for whom is he searching? For Yahweh, for the great I am, for the God who keeps covenant.
And this isn’t just a description of someone else. This is an implicit invitation for you to do the same.
God even entreats you this morning through Isaiah. Search for me now. I have made myself findable. Call upon me now. I am near and I will hear you.
The Urgency of Seeking God Now
But notice the word “while” used twice in verse six. This indicates that this is not a permanent situation.
Eventually there will be a time in which each person is no longer able to find God. When will God make himself no longer findable?
Well, certainly when you die and face his judgment. Hebrews 9. But God may also allow your heart to be hardened by sin during your life.
After he makes his way of salvation known to you, he importunes you. He pleads with you to come to him and you reject that. God may then hide himself from you so that you will no longer be able to find him. You will no longer hear his appeals anymore.
That is a fearful thought. Yet it is true.
Therefore, you must respond to this limited time opportunity right now, today in this place. And from this text, God is making himself findable for you. So don’t dare waiting.
Don’t say, “that’s nice.” Don’t dare waiting any longer so that God might turn himself away from you. He is near to you now in mercy. So call out to him while you can.
“God is near to you now in mercy. Call out to him while you can.”
True Repentance and Abundant Pardon
Now verse 7 reveals who it is when he searches for God will find him.
Who is it? It’s the wicked man. It’s the unrighteous person, the unjust one.
Now this also is a huge surprise. It might make sense for God to allow a righteous man to find him, a righteous person to find him, but a wicked man.
Yes. Actually, it is those who admit they are unrighteous who find God.
That’s right.
But who never finds God? The self-righteous. The one who tries to earn God’s favor or supposes that he is already good enough for God.
This person never discovers God. And why not really? Because this person never looks. He never calls out. He doesn’t think he needs to.
Therefore, God never comes.
Thus, what we see in verse 7 describes the same thing we saw in verse one. Only the bankrupt can receive the bounty. Only the admitting wicked can receive God’s compassion and forgiveness.
“Only the bankrupt can receive the bounty. Only the admitting wicked can receive God’s compassion and forgiveness.”
But the contrite wicked man, he not only searches for God and finds him, he also returns to God. As the third line in verse 7 says, the word for return is the same one in Hebrew that means repent.
What does it mean to repent? The text itself tells us the wicked person forsakes his way. That is his course of life, his pattern of behavior.
He also abandons his thoughts, his previous way of thinking, his goals, his convictions, his desires.
He then goes back to Yahweh. He begins walking in God’s way according to God’s course and he begins thinking with God’s thoughts according to God’s goals, convictions and desires.
Now don’t misunderstand. This new thinking, this new walking, it is not a prerequisite to salvation. As if you must clean yourself up first before God will make himself findable to you. No. The text says it’s the wicked when he calls out and finds God. Not the one who’s reformed himself. It’s the wicked one.
That’s right.
Nevertheless, such returning to God, such true repentance, it will result in new thinking and new walking.
Amen. This always accompanies true salvation.
“True repentance will result in new thinking and new walking. This always accompanies true salvation.”
Now notice the promised outcome for the forsaking and returning man. God promises to have compassion on him.
Yes, even the man of wickedness.
And then notice the phrase “and to our God.” What’s significant about that one? It’s the possessive pronoun. Let him return to our God.
You see this wicked man, this wicked person, when he repents, he becomes a part of a community of repentant wicked ones. All of them are in the same boat. Wicked yet shown the undeserved compassion of God.
How could so many wicked ones be forgiven? It’s God’s design. As the last line of verse 7 says, for he will abundantly pardon.
It doesn’t matter how much sin. It doesn’t matter what kind of sins. It doesn’t matter how many sinners.
God’s compassion is so abundant that all of them are pardoned. All of those who come to him.
We thus again return to the analogy from verse one. God’s stores as a seller are so great that he can grant forgiveness to all who come.
All who admit their helplessness in their sin. All who call out for help and life from God. And all who turn to God away from their previous doomed course of acting and thinking.
The Cross Makes It All Possible
All of this you see is made possible by the suffering servant that God promised.
When Jesus came, he took the place of all sinners who believe in him before God.
On the cross, God’s holy wrath for sin fell on the Son instead of on the people who believe in the Son. It fell on the Son and it was fully paid.
While at the same time, the Son’s perfect righteousness, his record of life that we all should have lived, it was put on those believing ones. It now surrounds them like clothing so that God looks at them and he says, “Righteous, acceptable to me.” Jesus of Nazareth is the one who makes each one of these astonishing appeals possible.
“On the cross, God’s holy wrath for sin fell on the Son — fully paid — so believers are counted righteous before God.”
This is why we redeemed wicked ones love Jesus.
This is why if you have not yet turned to Jesus, you must do so now because right now the market is open. The covenant is available. God is near.
But such will not be the case forever.
Conclusion: Take Up God’s Offer
What should you do, dear listeners, today?
Hear the appeal from God in this passage.
Come, you spiritually destitute, to the God who gives freely.
Listen, you far off ones, to the God who is more than willing to include you in the merciful covenant of his son. Return, you wicked ones, to seek the God who can forgive you completely in his son.
Take up God on his astounding offer.
Repent and believe.
And you, yes, even you poor sinner, you will be saved today, right now, even in this service.
Considering how generously God provides for his people salvation in his son, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?
Romans 8:32.
If he took care of the big thing—your salvation, your sin—you can trust him with every lesser care of your life as well.
Romans 8:32: “If he took care of the big thing — your salvation — you can trust him with every lesser care of your life.”
So, how about it?
God offers you his present bounty and his greater future bounty by faith.
Will you buy it?
We will shortly hear glad testimony from five people who are now dismissed to get ready for baptism while I pray.
After I pray, our brother Dan Picatoli will share a plugged-in presentation about our mall evangelism ministry. We’re going to do that in between the message and the baptisms.
Allow me to pray.
Heavenly Father, you are so great.
Who could have believed that the God, the one true God, would offer up salvation in such a free way, in such a generous way?
Not to the deserving, not to the innocent, but to sinners, to rebels, to those who have exalted themselves even against you.
God, you are such a great God. Forgive us our rebellion.
Thank you that you do forgive it in Jesus Christ. Oh God, I pray that everyone here, if they’ve strayed from you in the ultimate way of salvation or have merely strayed as a believer into unrepentant sin, that they would take you up on your offer this morning and return to Yahweh.
Oh, that such life and refreshment might come. Lord, do that for your own glory this morning.
Please bless this time of baptism now in Jesus’ name. Amen.