Sermon Tone Analysis

More Of God’s Ways

 

Isaiah 55:1 "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.

2 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 of fare.  3 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.  4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.

5 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."

6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;  call on him while he is near.

7 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.

8 "/For /[KI1] /my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"/ declares the LORD.  9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 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, 11 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.

12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;  the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."

1.

The Invitation – vs. 1-3a

 

This is the nature of the gospel.

Before it is anything else it is that.

People have all the freedom in the world to say “yes” or “no”.

God will never violate that  freedom.

It is an invitation for everyone.

No one is excluded.

No one is preferred.

It is an invitation without strings attached.

You are not expected to bring  gift or a present.

It is a powerful thing when we as individuals or a church body do things without looking for a return.s

Ø      To the thirsty – One of the major prerequisites for finding reality in your relationship with God.

Probably it is something that we drift in and out of – there are thirsty times and there are seasons of refreshing.

The longer that a person goes without water, the greater the thirst.

Ultimately people return to the water – the only thing that can truly satisfy a person’s thirst.

You can dress it up and make it taste better but the ingredients that you add only increase your thirst.

When people get thirsty enough they always come back to the water.

How is thirst increased in a person?

What can we do as a church to make people thirsty for God?

 

·         It is increased primarily by the Spirit of God at work in a person’s life.

·         It is increased as other people portray God positively in their lives.

! Christians Can Afford Good Reputations

 

Dave counsels every year at high school camp.

Tom doesn't allow his kids to attend.

Dave teaches an Adult Sunday school class.

Tom doesn't go to Sunday school.

Dave directs the choir.

Tom doesn't know a single hymn.

Dave chairs the worship committee.

Tom hasn't been inside a church since infancy.

Dave reads his Bible every day.

Tom doesn't own one.

Dave has a grocery bill that's marked "90 days overdue."

Tom owns the grocery store.

Dave invited Tom to an evangelistic crusade.

Tom stayed home and watched television reruns.

See:  Prov 22:1

 

·         It is increased as people tire of life’s repetitive ways.

(Quest For Adventure that abounds today)

 

The doctrine of justification by faith (a Biblical truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort) has in our times fallen into evil company and has been interpreted by many in such a manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God.

The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.

Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego.

Christ may be "received" without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver.

The man is "saved", but he is not hungry or thirsty after God.

In fact, he is specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with little.

The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word.

... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God

 

Ø      To the poor – There are many things in this world that the poor cannot enjoy.

I believe at times, our compassion for the poor is no more than a desire to help us to feel better about our affluence.

And with all the good intentions in the world our burden for the poor would lift if we could elevate them socio-economically.

While Jesus had compassion on them, he also said that the poor would always be with us.

He charged us with the responsibility of helping the poor as individuals in the book of James.

The greatest concern that Jesus had for the poor was their salvation.

You can make a poor man rich and his soul can be impoverished.

You can find the rich who are soul depleted.

All the money in the world can never satisfy the spiritual need of the human heart.

There is one thing that I do have a burden for relative to church ministry.

That is that a lack of finances would never be a barrier for the gospel to be presented to people.

The gospel is for all men regardless of what they have or do not have.

I appreciate the ministry of Bar None camp.

Everyone goes who wants to go whether they are able or not.

Some people wouldn’t attend certain affairs or functions because the price would be too great.

Ø      To the dissatisfied – Someone has said that dissatisfaction is a one word definition of motivation.

There are very few things that will motivate people to change like this.

Ø      To the underprivileged, malnourished soul -

 

2.

The Illustration – vs. 3b-5.

In his invitation to a life that would be fulfilling and satisfying, God speaks through Isaiah to offer a wonderful example of what He can do when He has a "living sacrifice" to work with.

Many of us are not nearly so pliable in God’s hands as we might think by times.

Rather than cooperate we resist God’s working.

The Christian way is different:  harder, and easier.

Christ says "Give me All.

I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work:  I want You.

I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it.

No half-measures are any good.

I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down.

I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out.

Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked -- the whole outfit.

I will give you a new self instead.

In fact, I will give you Myself:  my own will shall become yours."

n      C.

S. Lewis

 

I have a sign in the mirror of my room I see it every morning in my groggy condition, when I first wake up: WHAT HAVE YOU GOT GOING TODAY, GOD? I'D LIKE TO BE A PART OF IT.

THANKS FOR LOVING ME.

I have to find my place in God's plans, rather than make my own little plans and then ask God to support them: "Come on, God, give me an A in this course.

Come on, God, do this for me."

Instead, I pray, "What have you got going today, God?