I want to call your attention now to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah 55. And let's read beginning at verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. 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. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." May God bless the reading of Holy Scripture. This is the last part of an outstanding chapter division here in the book of Isaiah. This chapter is the gracious invitation of Jehovah. And as we saw last time, it's an invitation to the gospel feast. Now, for Isaiah's generation and for generations not too far removed from Isaiah, this invitation was to the exiles who would be in Babylon. And it is a call for those exiles to come to God, to return to him in their hearts, and literally to return to him in their bodies as the opportunity is opened to return to Jerusalem. And in that return, they would find the covenant mercies of Jehovah, the mercies promised to David, the sure mercies of David. Verse three. They would find true happiness, full provision pictured here in the terms of a feast. Even though they themselves are undeserving, Jehovah would give them these outstanding mercies and favors, restoring them to their homeland, providing for their needs, giving them safety on the way there, protecting them from dangers while they rebuild the city, and so on. Of course, that's just the immediate fulfillment. There's the long-term fulfillment that is a spiritual fulfillment in the covenant of grace set forth in the greater David, the sure mercies of Jesus Christ, to unworthy sinners. Matthew Henry summarizes these verses before us by saying that these verses tell us what is required and what is promised in the covenant of grace. And of those considerations that are sufficient abundantly to confirm our believing compliance with and reliance on that covenant. And that is a good summary here. And that's sort of an outline that I'm going to follow as we look at these things. I know when I have sat down that I will not have begun to do justice to these rich, rich verses before us. But let us at least look at them and make some comment and application on them. As we look especially at verses 6 and 7, we'll spend most of our time here, we see what is required of sinners in the covenant of grace. Some might have a problem with using the word required, but I don't know what else you can call the duty that is given in a command. It is a requirement and it's given here in four terms, four very distinct action words. Number one is seek. Number two is call, in verse six. Thirdly is forsake. And fourthly, return, in verse seven. These are the action words that give the requirement for sinners in the covenant of grace or in the gospel. Let's look at these one by one. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. What is it to seek? In this context it is to make God the object of your supreme desire. To make God the object of your most earnest desire. and delight. Think of those who seek after gold. In the gold rush days of the 1840s and so on, people would leave everything behind and they would go sometimes with nothing but the clothes on their back and they would go to where the gold was or where the promise of gold was. They would give up everything expecting gold. They would give up everything in search of gold. Well, here is something better than gold that demands even more intense search than those that search for gold. To make God the object of our supreme desire, and delight. To seek the Lord is to make knowing him our highest priority. To seek the Lord in this sense is not just a casual on again, off again, when it's convenient or when a problem arises, it is an earnest, continued search that refuses to stop. You refuse to stop seeking until you find Him. Seeking the Lord truly means to forego anything and everything in order to gain Him and to find Him to find peace with Him. God tells us to seek Him. This, beloved, is what life is all about. This is the purpose of life. This is why God has given you life and preserved it. It's why He's put you on this earth, why He's given you a mind, why He's given you eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to hold and find your place in his word. It's so that you might seek him. This is the main business of life. To seek the Lord. And find him. And his appointed way of seeking is in Christ. Who said, I am the way. The truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me. We need to seek the Lord because naturally, we don't seek Him. We need to diligently, deliberately seek Him because in our natural state, we don't do that. In our natural state, we seek other things. We seek fortune. I mentioned gold. We seek fame. We seek happiness. And we make happiness an end in itself. Whereas biblically, happiness is only the benefit of having found the Lord. Finding him, we find happiness. But if we seek happiness itself, we'll never find it. We seek everything except the Lord. And we need to lay those searches aside and seek him. And having found Him, in a sense, the search ends. We're satisfied. We've found Him. And in another sense, we continue to seek Him. The Apostle Paul continued wanting to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, even though he had come to know Him long before. Seek the Lord. Seek him through Christ, through his word. And then call upon him. This is closely related. We might say this introduces the subject of prayer. What is required of sinners in the covenant of grace to call upon the Lord? We talked a little about this last week, I believe it was. This call Calling upon the Lord is not just a mechanical repetition of words that someone has written on a page for you to say, like an incantation that will accomplish salvation. What calling upon the Lord is, truly, is a cry of desperation It is one who recognizes his hopelessness. And he cries out to God because he cannot help himself and because there's no one else to call on to. This is the beginning of a life of prayer. That goes on and on. Calling to him is the communicating of your heart to God. Confessing your need of him. Expressing your confidence in his ability to save. It is asking him to give you his salvation, to impart it to your soul. We need to be told to call upon the Lord because in our natural state, We call upon others in times of desperation. We call upon perhaps friends or family. If we get desperate enough, we may call some professional counselor. But we'll not call upon the Lord unless it is in some way of taking his name in vain so often. We need to call upon the Lord. Seek and call unto him. Ask him. For his mercy. And the third word here in verse seven is forsake. Forsake. But the wicked forsake his way in the unrighteous man, his thoughts. Another word. that might fit here is the word repent. To forsake these things is another way of saying to repent. Let the wicked repent of his way and repent of his thoughts. Two distinct things that are mentioned here, the way and the thoughts, the actions and that which leads to the actions and which is previous to the actions, which is the thoughts. True repentance is a forsaking of thoughts first, and then the way that springs from those thoughts. True repentance is an internal revolution, an internal change wrought by the Spirit of God, by the power and grace of God in our hearts, but it is something that we experience that we consciously experience as we forsake or repent of our wicked hearts and our wicked deeds. It's an internal revolution that leads to outward conversion. Yes, the very essence of repentance is internal, but it does not stop there. It produces effects in our life, in our way or ways. We need a change of mind, a profound and permanent change of mind that will produce a profound and permanent change of conduct. Again, to quote Matthew Henry, we are to forsake all sin with loathing and abhorrence, not taking one more step in that way, striking at the root. Of wickedness to forsake the way doesn't mean to slowly turn, no, it means to stop and not to go one more step in that sinful way. but with the grace of decisiveness to forsake the way, to pursue it no longer, and to run in the other way. And that brings us to the fourth term, and that is to return unto the Lord. And we might call that the kindred grace of faith. If forsaking is repentance, then returning is the grace of faith, to return to the Lord, to trust in Him, to turn toward Him, to have a heart that pursues His thoughts and His way. And we'll see more about that in verses 8 and 9. Now, the obedience to Him is inward. It springs from the heart. Just as certainly as the repentance was initially inward, but it shows up outwardly, so the return unto the Lord is initially inward. It's a revolution inwardly toward God. That manifests itself in outward obedience, actions, behavior, obedience to his commands. Think of the prodigal son returning home. And how does he return? Well, he comes home empty, desolate, ruined, wasted. He comes home with nothing To bring. He comes empty handed. He comes with nothing to offer his father. And all he can do as he returns is cling to the goodness of his father. Plead for his mercy. Take a humble stance. and be happy and willing to do anything that the father asks. That, my friends, is the attitude of faith in Christ is to come to God empty handed, pleading nothing but the merits of Christ, nothing but the goodness of God in Christ. And willing to obey Him, willing to take His commands, willing to take the lowest place, willing to live with the servants out in the back pasture like that prodigal son was upon his return. Seek, call, forsake, and return. Now let's consider what is promised to sinners who comply with these requirements to obey the gospel. What is promised? Again, we can lay these out in about three headings here. The first is at least implied. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Those who seek the Lord will find him. This is what is promised to those that seek. They will find him near, not far off. And. He will be found by those who seek him. with all their heart and seek Him in the way that He has appointed them to seek Him in Christ." The words of David to Solomon are applicable here. If thou seek Him, He will be found of thee. But if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever. And I love to read these words from the prophet Jeremiah. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me. And I will hearken unto you, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord. And I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord. And I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive." These prophets all have the same message. The immediate fulfillment is return to Jerusalem from captivity. The spiritual fulfillment, the New Testament fulfillment is being restored into that fellowship with God that Adam had that was lost in the fall. Those who seek will find. Oh, the joy of finding. The Lord. Or. From a higher perspective, the joy of being found by God. For He is the one who gives us a desire to seek Him in the first place. As He seeks us, the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. He seeks us. He causes us to seek Him. And that is our privilege and duty. This is what is promised to sinners who comply with the requirements of the gospel. They find the object of their search. And then secondly, this is stated very explicitly at the end of verse 7. He will have mercy upon him. Mercy. What is promised to sinners who seek the Lord? Mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is a disposition of pity to those who suffer. Mercy has in view the suffering of the soul. God's mercy is toward those who suffer. It is His pity, even though the cause of their suffering is their own wicked heart. This is why it is such a shock and surprise for God to show a sinner mercy because the sinner has created his own problem. His worst enemy is himself and his wicked heart that is at enmity against God. And in that setting, God has mercy. It's amazing. Again, think of the father of those prodigal sons, and I call them plural because both of them were in such a bad way. That father in that parable is so patient, so gracious, so full of mercy, so long-suffering, so forgiving, both of his sons, who on the surface seemed so different one from another, but in reality, their hearts were the same. They were both so sinful and lost. They were both proud and self-serving. And yet that father has mercy on, he has mercy on the one who comes back crawling home with nothing. He also has mercy on that one who is so self-righteous that he's his own worst enemy also. And in that parable, he represents the Pharisees while his younger brother represents publicans and the like. God promises to have mercy to those who return unto him, and he will have mercy upon him. The merciful heart of God is a most precious discovery to a sin-sick heart. In spite of all that I am, In spite of all I have done, in spite of all of my enmity against God, out of the goodness of his heart he feels sorry for me. And he sends his son to save me. And yes, his mercy endures forever. Closely connected with that is the third term here, he will abundantly pardon What is promised to sinners who obey the gospel? An abundant pardon, not just pardon, not a little pardon, not partial pardon. Not a limited. Pardon, but full, abundant pardon in the margin of your Bible, it probably gives this translation. That he will multiply to pardon. Our sins are multiplied. Our sins are abundant. And so we need abundant and multiplied forgiveness. The grace, God's grace of forgiveness abounds and multiplies even more than our sins. He puts away all our sins, and as we saw in chapter 38, He casts them behind His back. They're gone. He doesn't bring them up again. How can God possibly do this? How can He pardon? How can He show mercy to those against whom justice calls for punishment? God does this by sending His Son to suffer that which justice demands in the way of punishment. This is the wonder of the cross and the glory of the cross. So that the pardon that he gives is an honorable pardon, not one to be ashamed of, not one to be embarrassed about, not like the pardon that presidents and governors give on their last day of office to those who are their friends. You know, that person for the rest of his life, he's pardoned, but it's not really an honorable pardon. It's a pardon to be a little embarrassed about. The pardon that God gives is an honorable pardon because justice is satisfied in a substitute in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the most amazing, staggering thing I have ever heard. May it grip our hearts afresh every day. that will keep us thankful every day. Now, let me say one thing here about the order of all these events in our experience. The order in terms of how we experience them is this. Seeking, calling, forsaking, returning, and then mercy and pardon. Those who are not repentant of their sins, those that are not seeking the Lord, those who persist in their proud, sinful course, have no reason to expect mercy and pardon from God. Oh, how many today have, they know just enough truth mixed with a fair amount of error and man-centered plausibility To say, well, I can continue in my sin. I don't have to seek the Lord. I don't have to forsake my way. But God will still have mercy on me and pardon me. Not so. That is fiction. That is a false gospel. That is so prevalent in the minds of people. It seems like They don't even have to go to church to hear such a thing. They just arrive at that on their own. No, the mercy and pardon is promised here to those who obey the gospel. And yes, it is true that we cannot obey the gospel. Without God's mercy working in us in the first place. But that is hidden. and mysterious to us at the time. In terms of what God promises here, the mercy and pardon is for those who seek Him, call upon Him, forsake their sinful ways and thoughts, and return unto the Lord. So, what we have here in these verses is the door of grace flung wide open, none turned away, All who come, all who return, received like the father received the prodigal son. But I would point out before we leave these two verses that with the command to come, with the command to seek, is a caution against delay. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. We have it twice over, while he is near. It is clear from this wording that a time will come either in this life or in the next life when God will be far off and when he will not be found anymore. Our Lord himself spoke of this in the gospel of Luke when he said, strive, literally agonize to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able when once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door. And ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not, whence ye are. Dear lost friend, the Lord is near and will be found now if you seek him. But for a limited time only. Your opportunity is now. He promises that he will receive you, that he will have mercy, that he will pardon you now. Today. This is your opportunity. Do not waste it, do not delay. Do not neglect so great salvation. Now let's consider these remaining verses more briefly. Here are further encouragements to comply with the demands of the gospel. Further encouragements to comply with the demands of the gospel. We might summarize verses 8 through 13 In this way, the encouragement is because we're dealing with a God who is infinitely transcendent. He is far above and beyond us. And we begin to see that here in verses 8 and 9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. There's a great disparity between God and us. His ways and our ways, his thoughts and our thoughts. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. He had just spoken in verse seven about our wicked ways and our wicked thoughts. And he says, my ways and my thoughts are far above yours. His are higher than ours as to substance. and as to moral character. As to substance, his thoughts and his ways are grand and glorious and wise and unfathomable to us. As for moral character, his thoughts and his ways are holy and pure and right, and ours are so sinful and impure and wrong. In words of the New Testament, oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of the Lord. I suspect the Apostle Paul had Isaiah 55, 8, and 9 on his mind when he wrote those words in Romans chapter 11. We are encouraged to comply with the demands of the gospel because obedience brings us into harmony with thoughts and ways that are higher than our own. We must bring our thoughts into harmony with his and our ways into harmony with his. Another way that we might apply verses eight and nine is this, the mercy and pardon that are promised in verse seven are things that are unimaginable to us. This is not what we see occurring among natural man on this earth. It is foreign to our nature. to be merciful and forgiving to those who have so frequently and egregiously offended us. That's what God does. That's His way. Those are His thoughts. And this is an encouragement then to turn from our sin and to come to Him. forgives in that way and He calls us to forgive as He forgives. Now in verses 10 and 11, let's read, for as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither, that is, it doesn't just return without falling on the earth But watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. God has a purpose in the rainfall and the snow. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void. But it, like the rain and the snow, shall accomplish that which I please. And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. God has a purpose that exceeds our comprehension. And he has at least in part declared it to us, revealed it to us in his word. And he will most certainly fulfill it. He will accomplish all that he has set out to do. The plan that he declares he will fulfill. God's good pleasure will undoubtedly prosper and come to pass. It cannot be otherwise. Think of the parallel of the word that went out of his mouth in Genesis chapter 1 in creation, day after day, and God said, let there be light, let the earth bring forth, let there be lights, let there be affirmament, let the land dry land be divided from the waters, and so on. It's all His creative Word, and it comes to pass. It came to pass. So it is with His Word concerning the return of His people to Jerusalem. He spoke it, He told it, and it came to pass. So with His promise of salvation, He has spoken it, He has given His Word, it will most certainly come to pass. This is true with His Word of Decree, which is secret to Him, as well as with His Word that is revealed unto us in Holy Scripture. In either case, it will come to pass. As far as His revealed Word is concerned, if I can quote Matthew Henry once more, it will accomplish what God pleases and it will prosper in the thing where into he sent it. The gospel declared. Will convict some. And it will soften some. And save some. And others. It will sear. And harden. and condemn, but it never returns void. It is the savor of life unto life for many, and it is the savor of death unto death for the rest. It will either ripen for heaven or ripen for hell. So it behooves us to take heed how we hear. To what our Lord told his hearers, take heed, be careful, pay attention to how you hear. Make sure you hear with profit. Make sure you hear with faith. Make sure you hear with an obedient heart, a receptive, humble heart. This is a further encouragement then to comply with the demands of the gospel that God's purpose will be carried out. It is a sure word. And then last of all, in verses 12 and 13, here is an indication of the great things that God will do. For ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." We can see the relevance of these words to the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. They would leave Babylon with hearts full of joy. God would lead them on the way, protect and provide for them in that second exodus, just like he had in the exodus from Egypt, now in the exodus from Babylon. Likewise, it is as if all creation would be in their favor. The mountains and the hills, the trees, all in their favor. As far as the fulfillment of these things in the gospel of Christ, what do we see? For those who obey the gospel, who come to Christ, they come to him with joy. Yes, tears of repentance, but also tears of joy. at the discovery of grace and mercy and peace with God? Joy? Peace? What about the mountains and the hills and the trees? I have to see here the ultimate fulfillment of the reversal of the curse in the new heaven and the new earth. At the last day, we read in the book of Psalms that God will change the heaven and earth like an old garment is exchanged for a new one. The old one is worn out, needs to be discarded. And here's the new one. So God will do with the very earth, the creation, the mountains, the hills, the trees. You know, very specifically here in verse 13, part of the curse in Genesis chapter 3 involved the thorns in the ground. And here is the promise to those who obey the gospel, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, a tree that is useful and beneficial and enjoyable. No more thorns, no more briars, no more curse. The gospel benefits in their fullness, in the glorified state. The creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, Romans 8.21 declares. Glorification involves not only the body of the saints, it involves all of creation. And that's what I see here in verses 12 and 13. And we'll see it referred to again close to the end of the book of Isaiah. We've already seen a description in chapters 51 and 52. I guess we'll not take time to look at those. But scenes of joy upon returning to Zion. Yes, that's here. That's now. And the joy that we find in Christ now is just the beginning. It's just the foretaste of that joy and peace which will be ours forever and ever. And it shall be to the Lord for a name. It's for his sake, it's for his honor. It's for His name. And it shall be for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. It will be the evidence of His covenant of grace, a token of His covenant of grace. And so this is a further encouragement to comply with the demands of the gospel. Look at the eternal happiness that it brings you to, as opposed to what? The eternal misery and suffering for those outside of Christ. These are not cunningly devised fables. This is God's Word, a God who cannot lie, and we must believe it. So, my friend, let this encourage you to seek the Lord and to find him. To seek him while he may be found. Such riches of divine grace provide the highest incentive for sinners to come to the Savior. and to come to Him now. Now. Now.