Sermon in Cokato 19.08.2012

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us unite our hearts in opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Our dear Heavenly Father, as we have gathered around Thy holy and blessed Word, we ask, dear Father, open Thy Word unto us, feed and nourish us, uplift and comfort, instruct. For we find ourselves in our own places of watching to be so unsuccessful. We find how easily disobedience and sin attach onto us. Oftentimes, this journey of living faith becomes difficult. Oftentimes, trials beset, difficulties come, and affliction hits us.

Dear Father, remember that we are but dust, and we need Thy care and Thy love. Dear Father, uplift the poorest one. Strengthen the weak one. Dear Father, grant unto us that joy which is only found here in Thy kingdom, when Thou assures unto us the forgiveness of our sins. Dear Father, may this joy be with us in our temporal life. And may it then cause us to serve You, to serve one another of Thy children here in Thy kingdom.

Dear Father, we simply say, increase our faith. Grant unto us new power and strength. And above all, dear Father, preserve us here in the place of a child, so that we may one day end this journey believing as Your child, and that we may one day open our eyes in the full splendor and glory of heaven. For all this we ask, dear Father, in Thy beloved Son's name. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen.

I'm going to read a portion of scriptures from one of the prophets of the Old Testament. It takes place during the lives of the children of Israel, when they had been held in bondage and in exile in Babylon for many, many decades. And now those first ones were being released to return home. And as they were returning home, they heard this message from the prophet. And these words are found in the 55th chapter of Isaiah, beginning from the first verse.

O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Amen.

Amen.

And yet this message from God is so remarkable, even today. It's a reminder unto us of that free offering of grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father. When we think of this portion, oftentimes we think of those who maybe would be in unbelief and this offer of this precious pearl that is before them. If you remember that parable of the pearl. But dear brothers and sisters, this message is for you and I also.

The children of Israel, this takes place around 600 years before the birth of Christ, when the children of Israel from Judah were brought into captivity in Babylon. And yet, when you read of that period of time, you find that their conditions, their living conditions were not too difficult. There was food to eat. And life was not as severe as one would have imagined, or as it could have been. It wasn't.

As a matter of fact, when King Nebuchadnezzar, who took those children of Israel from Judah there into Babylon, and like was mentioned, they were there for many decades. But when they were finally released to return back to their homeland, to rebuild their homes, there were some that did not leave. They stayed there. Conditions were not that bad there. But there was one thing that they experienced there. And it was a famine and a thirst for the hearing of God's word. That is the one thing that was especially lacking there.

Now, as these children of Israel were returning back there to Israel to Judah, the prophet treats them with this message. A remarkable message. Oh, everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters.

Also, we need to remember there in Israel, it's a fairly arid land. And water was very precious. Here, where we live, we have our timely rains and the snow in the winter, and we experience God blesses the land here very abundantly with rain. So when the seeds are sown, the rains come, and the sun warms, and as we see, the crops flourish. It was not so in Israel.

And so they were forced to build reservoirs above ground and even underground for the rainwater. And they stored this water then and used it as they needed it. And what was especially precious was the cool spring water that flowed from artesian wells. There were a few of those. In the midst of the desert, there was an oasis, a pool of water. That cool spring water flowed into that pool continually and all that was around it flourished from this water. And they called that water living water to distinguish it then from the rainwater.

But also there is a spiritual portion for the living water. One of those, and Jesus spoke of it also, but one of those that comes to mind is when one of the prophets was shown of the abundant grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father of this living water that He grants unto us. You remember that that prophet was there at that threshold of the door and the living water flowed from that temple. And at first it was only flowing past His ankles, and pretty soon it was at His shins and at His thighs and pretty soon He needed to swim. He was completely surrounded by this living water.

And so it is, dear brothers and sisters, with us here in God's kingdom. So God blesses us in the midst of this blessing of God. But the prophet certainly caught the attention of the people from this message when He proclaimed unto them, "O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price."

In a spiritual sense it was that free offering of grace that God grants unto them. Remember now they were coming back from captivity and many of them were longing for God's word. Many of them were, as the theme for this day reminds us where it says to examine thyself. That is the theme for this day. Many of them indeed in their thankfulness of returning home were examining their own hearts, their unbelieving hearts, and when the prophet spoke to them they stopped. Many of them they were in need of that grace and mercy that God offers unto all sinfallen mankind.

And so they were so happy to hear this message and what a glorious message it is. "Come ye buy and eat, yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price." God offers mercy and grace freely unto us and forgiveness and love. God, He's speaking here this wine in the spiritual sense, it's that messianic salvation that Christ has prepared for us. This was that offering, the same offering that is offered today unto mankind. And the milk that He speaks of here is none other than the pure word of God.

And oh how many of those captives they were so happy to hear this message. God had prepared their hearts. Many had examined their hearts and realized that they were in need. God is still doing the same today.

Sunshine is such a great blessing and sometimes it kind of blinds us. We have such, dear brothers and sisters, such a miraculous lot that has been given unto us. God has granted unto us so much, so many blessings. Yes, there have been trials and difficulties and afflictions but all the blessings that He has experienced unto us.

Just congratulated a grandmother here in our midst this evening. She's not an ordinary grandmother. She's not just even a great grandmother but she's a great great grandmother. Her great great grandchild was born just the other day. God, He certainly is a loving Father. And it's so wonderful to be here in the midst of His children even though many times we find ourselves to be so little and so sinful. Even though many times we find ourselves to be of so little faith. But God continually comes again and again to uplift and to comfort.

Oh the trials of life and afflictions that beset us. But God comes again and again, approaches us personally. The prophet here asks the question then, "Wherefore do we spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear."

Dear brothers and sisters, this is not only for those in unbelief. Jesus reminded so preciously and again often we attribute that to those in unbelief but it was also a reminder unto us where he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all else shall be added unto you."

Yes, those loved ones in unbelief and those unbelieving neighbors even here in this community, dear neighbors and dear unbelieving friends that we have and know and work companions, and yet God offers and continues to offer this free offering of grace and mercy and forgiveness and He reminds, "Incline your ear, listen, that's why you've come here this evening simply to hear what God has to say unto us that is good."

The Bible encourages us to do this, incline your ear and hear. The apostle Paul reminds us of this importance of hearing God's word and it is important. It is important to hear God's word for faith cometh by hearing and hearing by and through the word of God.

And so those loved ones in unbelief, we encourage them, please incline your ear and hear. We are so thankful when they come to the hearing of God's word in whatever occasion it may be, services or Bible class or baptisms or weddings or either just family gatherings where God's word is spoken and we pray unto God that they would incline their ear and that their hearts would heed that which God is speaking unto them today.

If you hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation when your fathers traveled in the wilderness and so on. Incline your ear and come unto me and hear and your soul shall live.

Oh the simplicity of living faith, it is so simple. Even here the prophet reminds us how simple it is, incline your ear and come unto me and hear and your soul shall live.

The apostle Paul when he wrote unto the Romans and he was reminding them in that tenth chapter, the apostle Paul often spoke of his unbelieving countrymen. Even here in the beginning he speaks of them. He says, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

God's going to love to God's blood in this land that we live. There are many upright and moral people in this land. Many of them know the Holy Scriptures better than you and I. They know what God's word says. This country where we live, oh how important it is to pray for the leaders of this land that God would give them understanding and guidance.

It seems that we are just going further and further into a moral decay and we are. It seems that the holy word of God is not to be spoken and yet I believe, your brothers and sisters, that this land also has a zeal of God. Yes, there are those who have no belief in God or a belief in a God which is so askewed. There are those and they are loud and they are in the forefront and we often hear and read of them.

But there are many, I dare say the vast majority of our people have a zeal of God, a belief in God and yet they have gone about to create their own righteousness. And it is so important to pray on the behalf of this land for our people that God indeed would stop them in their life as He did when the children of Israel were returning from the captivity.

As we read here, incline your ear and hear. But the apostle Paul here he speaks of in this portion that 17th verse, "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." And he speaks of how beautiful is that message that we hear, that message of the gospel, that message directly from the lips of God unto us. For indeed the gospel is the message of God unto us.

And he says here, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things."

When we look at ourselves we see our own sin corruptness, we see our own poorness and yet when we look at our brothers and sisters in living faith we see the beauty there that God has granted.

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel.

You beloved youth, it's important that you help one another. You know Satan wants you to be cliquish and just have your own group of friends and don't let anybody else in and that's not according to God's word. Help one another, especially the quiet one, the shy one. Reach out to them and help them and be their friend. It's important.

I was a shy one when I was young. I know the feeling and so it's important.

That portion where the apostle Paul reminds the Ephesians is so simple and yet it carries such a wonderful message where he says, "Be kind to one another and tenderhearted and forgiving one another for Christ's sake who has forgiven you."

This is our responsibility. These are nothing more than the fruits of faith, the love of Christ that constrains us to help one another and to remember one another.

And so this message is for us, incline your ear and hear and come unto me and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Yes, dear brother and sister, incline your ear and hear that message from God, from the lips of our heavenly Father, that your sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

Continue to incline your ear and hear and beg and ask again and again for this gospel.

Dear brothers and sisters, we will not get to heaven by ourselves. We are totally dependent upon our heavenly Father and His angels here upon the earth. It is such a miraculous, miraculous thing and it is true as the psalm writer has reminded us, the voice of salvation and rejoicing is heard in the tabernacles of God.

Yes, it is heard from here, from the hearts of His own. Rise, arise that prayer of thanksgiving and praise unto God for what He has done unto me and the blessings that He has granted unto me, how He has helped me in the midst of trial and difficulty and how He has carried me.

A complete wretch, the apostle Paul who uttered those words, those same words that we also utter from our heart, "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?" And yet we have such a loving heavenly Father that He comes again and again.

All that's required of us is to incline our ear and hear, your sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious.

And I need to hear this gospel too, that I believe my sins are forgiven. I certainly want to believe with you.

And we have such a loving heavenly Father. We have so much reason to give thanks and we have so much reason to rejoice for He has said, "I will never forsake you, I will never leave thee."

When we remain in that place of a child simply believing that gospel message, simple message of the kingdom of God which is so freely proclaimed, "Thy sins are forgiven in Jesus' name, precious blood in Jesus' name."

Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His kindness upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.