Jesus is Better Than Everything Else for Everyone
Transcript
How we doing this morning? All right. Flu season got all y'all, huh? My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in our third week of our Jesus is Better Than Everything Else series.
And really, we're kind of shifting how we talk about what we do as a church and how we think about who we are as a church. And so we just kind of are taking this three weeks as we started this year to begin to highlight what we mean when we say Jesus is better than everything else. And so we're in our third week, and we're going to be in Isaiah 55 today as we kind of finish this up. I was watching. I have a three-year-old son, and we watch TV together, and he does not mind watching the same thing over and over again. But I do, and so I have to find different things for us to start watching.
And so we started watching Planet Earth 2. It's the same Planet Earth. They just did another one video of it. And so we're watching the first episode of Planet Earth 2, and they're showing us iguanas on a little island. And all these iguanas are over here. And then it kind of goes to this, like, rock bed area where there's this gravel and then these stones all around it.
And it shows this little baby iguana crawling out of the ground, his first little peeking out into the world. And you can just kind of see in his face, like, oh, what a wonderful day. Like, you know, I'm alive. I made it out of this egg. I get to go start the adventure that is life. Could this day get any better?
And the British guy is like, today is about to get terrible. Like, he pops out, and there are just snakes everywhere. Now, I don't know if you watch nature shows. I think it's probably a good, like, psychological indicator when you're watching a nature show as to whether or not you root for the predator or the prey. Like, are you wanting the deer to get away? Or are you like, get them, wolf, let's go.
Like, I don't know what you're... But I'm not rooting for snakes. So this iguana pops out. I'm not cheering for a snake. And these snakes, like, as soon as they see movement, all these little heads go... And then there's like 30 of them.
I mean, just chasing after this iguana. And I've never been this into a documentary about lizards. Like, I've never cheered for a lizard before in my life. I mean, we've caught them before, used them to terrify my grandmother, but I never was, like, on the lizard's team. Like, he was on my team. But like this, I'm like, I'm rooting for this lizard.
And he's running, and these snakes are just chasing after him. And the snakes can't see real well, so there were times when the lizard would just freeze. The snake, like, crawled up all across his tail. And you're going, oh, keep it together, keep it together. And then he just, he bolts, and the snake's snapping. He runs.
He, at one point, gets hit by the snakes. He gets wrapped up by the snakes. There's all these other little baby lizards that are getting eaten. And it's like, I made my wife watch this. And she was like, what is wrong with you? Then I have to watch this.
He gets hit, and she's like, really? And then he squirms out. And the snakes are, like, wrapped. There's, like, four snakes wrapped around each other. And he, like, you know, the thing they do in cartoons where the person getting beat up at the bottom of the pile sneaks out, and they keep fighting. This happened with these snakes.
They're, like, biting each other. And this little lizard escapes. He runs. These snakes chase him. He finally jumps. He jumps across this pit.
The snake bites a rock, and he gets away. And I was like, yes! And I look over, and my three-year-old son's standing like this. He did it! And it was this, like, he lands on this rock, and you kind of just, you know, the music changes. It calms down.
You realize they're not going to have a secret snake pop out and get him. And you're like, okay. And then I thought, now all you have to do, little buddy, is that exact same thing every day for the rest of your life. You have to beat the snakes. You have to escape all the things that are going to try to destroy you. And then I just got to thinking about it, and honestly, I feel like we can all relate to that lizard, that we were born into a world where it feels like things are out to get us, that the world just doesn't work the way it's supposed to, that it's way more difficult than it ought to be in so many respects.
Like, you think about that perfect pairing and how it really does describe the existence that we have, that this miracle of a lizard can lay an egg in gravel, and then it can just form from, I don't know, scientific, biological magic, and this lizard can jump out and take off running. Like, that thing was quick. Looking at my kid who's three, and I'm like, man, it took you forever to get it together. Of course, it would be real bad if humans were like that, because we'd have to, like, the whole operating room would be different, because if he could hit the ground and take off running like that, he was already all greased up, hospitals would be a trip.
But life, life's like that. There's this very moment when this magical, beautiful, like, mind-blowing thing is happening, snakes surround you and try to kill you. Like, that's what it feels like our world is so much, is that everything is beautiful and good, and then at the same time so broken, so fractured, so despairing, so dark, and that some of you feel this very, very active and present in your life right now. That you're like, yes, I am fighting daily to not get caught, to not get taken down, to not lose to sickness or depression, or to not lose my job, or to not have this relationship fall apart.
Like, I am laboring. Some of you are cynical, and things are good right now. But you're like, yeah, but there's probably a sneaky snake right behind me. Like, everything's good now, but at any moment the music will change, and I'll be... We just live in a world where things are beautiful and painful and difficult all at once. And that, honestly, is the story of the Bible.
That we were created by a good and holy God who made the world beautiful and lovely, and we were designed to relate to Him. That everything was supposed to be at peace. Was supposed to be right with the world. You ever just said, like, this feels like hard... This feels like it's harder than it should be. About anything?
Like, it just feels like this shouldn't be this difficult. This relationship shouldn't be this difficult. Raising children shouldn't be this difficult. Finding a job just shouldn't be this difficult. And the truth is, it was meant to be harmonious. But that humanity sinned and rebelled against God, and that our own wickedness, our own flesh, our own sinfulness, broke and fractured God's good design, and that's called the fall, theologically.
That there was creation, and then there was a fall. A fall from grace. A fall from a good relationship with God. And that all of us are more like that lizard than we would want to admit. That we're all actively having to fight against everything that swarms around us to destroy us. And we have, as humans, actively chosen to sin and tear things up ourselves.
And so we're in this spot where the question in the Bible, and the question throughout the Old Testament, and the question that the Bible is answering is, what does God do with us in our sin? What is the response now that we're in this world that is broken? How do we get out of it? How do we move back to what we were supposed to be in the first place? In a good relationship with each other, in a good relationship with God. And so in Isaiah 55, what we're going to see is this invitation made by God, through the prophet Isaiah, and it's almost as if he's standing at this point in history where there's this brokenness of his good design, and he's saying, here's how to fix it.
Here's the invitation. Here's the hope. Here's the call to all those who will listen. And so let's pray, and then we'll read all of Isaiah 55 together this morning. God, I pray that we would listen. That we would listen well to the invitation that you make to the prophet Isaiah.
That we would respond. And that whether we currently feel like life is good and things are going well, or we currently feel completely out of sorts, and as if this could all fall apart at any moment. I pray that for the time that we have this morning, that we would listen well to your word, and respond actively to your invitation. In Jesus' name, amen. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
And he who has no money, come, buy and eat. So he says, come, everyone who thirsts. So what he's saying is, anyone who feels a longing. Anyone who feels a sense of emptiness. Anyone who feels this ache. I love that God in this passage, the prophet Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God.
So this is God's word. This is God speaking. I love that God is saying, for everyone who thirsts, I love that he chooses thirst. Because you can go for a while without sunlight before you'll go crazy. You will go crazy, but you can go a while before that happens. You can go a while without food before your body will shut down.
The thing you need most is water. And we live in a society where most of us don't know thirst. I've got to think about it. I'm thirsty all the time. And so I just get to drink liquids all the time. I have perfect access to...
I very rarely have to deal with the thirst for a very long time. He's writing this to a people that grew up in it, that lived in an arid climate in the Middle East. When there was drought, they didn't have a way to get water. And he's telling that for those of you who are aching, who are empty, come to the waters. So the invitation is, for those who are empty, for those who are aching, for those who are in need, for those who feel this sense.
And then he immediately says, I have the answer. I can fill you up. You can come to the waters. You can have it restore you. When I was playing football in high school, there was one day where I was evidently getting dehydrated because I could feel my mouth just get, I mean, incredibly dry. And so I ran over to my coach, and I was just going to ask.
It wasn't a time for us to go get water, but I was going to ask, can I go get water? Because I felt like I'm having some problems here. And so I ran over and I said, coach. And when I said coach, my next sentence, I had to stick my tongue to the roof of my mouth, and it just stuck to the roof of my mouth and did not move. And so I said, coach. He looked at me.
And then I went to talk, and I stuck my lips together to try to fix this, and my lips just stuck together. So then I just went. He said, look at me like, you okay? And I was like, he said, you need water? I said, okay. So I went.
I had to like squirt water on my mouth just to get it to loosen up enough so I could open and drink water. And he's saying, some of you in life, you feel like that right now. I may shut down at any moment. Like when he says, come, those of you who thirst, if you're feeling that, if you're feeling this, I don't know if I'm going to make it. He says, come, you who thirst. I have water.
Come to the waters. And then he says, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat. So that for all of us who would respond, that's a great invitation, but I don't have anything to offer you. He says, yeah, I know. I know you don't have anything to offer. I know you can't do this on your own.
I know you're not rich. I know you're not able to buy this on your own. Come, buy, and eat. Come be filled. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. All right.
So this just got exciting. The invitation that God makes into human history for us who are lacking, who are thirsting, who are broken, who are in the midst of sin, who are needy, is come be revived. Come get water. Then he says, and wine and milk. So we need life.
We need restoration. We need the refreshing that comes from water. But we don't just drink water forever. That's not like his table gets more beautiful. It goes from just finding life, just being refreshed, to now you get a glass of wine. Now, when it's not being mishandled, wine is beautiful.
It's used in celebration. The Bible says that it's used as a picture of wealth and of fullness, and God gave it to us for joy. So what he's saying is that this isn't just find restoration, but it's find peace, find rest, celebrate, find joy. And he says, and milk, which the promise of the promised land was. He was taken to a place filled with milk and honey, and what that means is that there's fullness. There's protein in milk.
There's energy in it. There's life in it. And so this invitation to this table that is well set. And then he says, come by without money, without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good.
Delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. So this invitation to everything rich and delightful and good is an invitation to God. He says, come to me. So he gives us all these pictures of being thirsty and getting water, of being hungry, and without any money, and without anything that could give this to you.
And he's going to feed you, and he's going to make you full. And what he's saying is, I'm the one who does this. The invitation that God gives in human history is to come to him. That with him is delight and fullness and richness. And so let's look back up where he says, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? There's two types of people in this room right now.
All of us ultimately are in the same boat, but at this very moment, you may be the type of person who is saying, I'm thirsting. And I have no money, and I have no energy, and I have no life in me. And he's saying, come. I have water. I have food. Without price.
Come. I'll fill you up. And then, maybe at this very moment, you're one of the people who says, that he looks at and says, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? That at this moment in life, you're saying, no, I got this. I got a little money in my pocket. I got some energy in me.
I'm going to make it work. I'm going to satisfy myself. I'm going to fill myself up. The truth is, at all times, we're both. We may feel one or the other. That even if you say, I have money, and I have labor, and I can do this, you're actually one of the people who's thirsting, and that won't satisfy.
And if you're one of the people who's saying, I'm thirsting right now, there's this tendency in us to chase after things that won't satisfy. It actually won't fill us up. That we're running to a bunch of smaller tables that are meagerly spread, and that ultimately can't fill us up when he's saying, I've set a table for you in my presence that'll satisfy. That'll make you full. That'll make you whole. That'll fix the ache in your soul.
So I don't know what it is that we're laboring for. I don't know what it is that you're laboring for, that you think will satisfy, that'll fix you. I don't know what it is that you're looking at right now and saying, you know, if I could just get this, then I'd be fine. If I could just have this, if this would just work out, then we'll be okay. Then everything will be good.
If I could, if I know that if I could just get in this relationship, I know if I could just get out of school, I know that if I could just get this much money, if I could just have a salary that paid this, then everything would be good. We wouldn't have problems anymore. We wouldn't argue anymore. And honestly, if you're a Christian, that should sound so silly to us. We do this all the time, but what we're telling ourselves is, if I could just have, if I could just get paid this much money, I'd stop being a sinner. And so would my husband.
No, I'd stop longing. One of the, I love this quote by Jim Carrey. He says, I think everyone should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer. I honestly think celebrities should prove to us, verse two, I think we should believe God when he says it, but I think celebrities should prove it to us because all of us somewhere, because we're Americans, have in the back of our mind, if we were just rich enough, I was just rich enough, I'd be fine. You can't be sad and rich. I don't suggest you spend a lot of time paying attention to celebrities.
I think you have better things to do with your time. But those people aren't the happiest people in the world. They're not all fulfilled, and everything's working out fine, and they're all happy and joyous and get along, like, that's not how it works. Now, we're all poor enough that we can keep telling ourselves that's what'll happen if we get rich enough. You can keep telling yourself that because you're not Jim Carrey. But Jim Carrey's had all the money he could ever dream of, done everything he's ever wanted to do, and said, it wasn't it, you guys.
I read an article one time about a person who was a waiter in the Hollywood area, and they said that all the people who were striving to become famous were fine. They could be friends with them, that worked well. But they said as soon as they got famous, they were horrible. They said because it made them miserable. As soon as they got everything they ever dreamed of, they were miserable because they realized it hadn't fixed them. And that's what he's saying, and that's what this is saying, is that you're spending your money for something that won't satisfy.
You're buying bread. You're buying things that aren't bread and labor for what doesn't satisfy. And he says, listen diligently to me. Eat what is good. Delight yourselves in rich food. Okay.
The Bible tells us that we were designed to exist in a perfect relationship with God, that we rebelled against God, that we sinned, that we ran from him, that we hate him. John says that, the gospel of John says that we hate the light, we love the darkness because our ways are evil. And we're told that God designed, that there was a snake in the garden that tricked our first parents into rebelling against God, and that ultimately that snake was Satan, and that God has designed a place of destruction and torment and pain for Satan, and that humans who do not repent of their sin and follow Jesus will follow the way of that snake ultimately to destruction and to eternal torment in hell. We're told that.
But that's not the invitation. The invitation is, I've set a rich table full of satisfaction, food, beauty, fullness come to me. He doesn't say, let me tell you exactly what's going to happen to you if you don't listen. Like, that's mentioned, it's talked about, but the primary invitation is, come back. I don't want that for you. I don't want pain and destruction for you.
He's not standing over us and go, you're going to face the air of your way. Like, he's saying, no, come, come to me. Listen. Hear every word. Listen diligently means hear every word. I'm saying, come to me.
Let your soul live. Delight yourself within rich food. Now, somehow it has crept in that to be Christian is to reject everything good and delicious. And to be, the invitation to God is somehow this invitation into just pain, just suffering. Now, what he says is, come delight yourselves in what is rich and delicious and good. Now, that's by way of a cross, so there is pain and suffering for Christians, but we hold out through the cross, through the pain, through the suffering, through the sacrifice, that the ultimate thing we're going to get is this, rich food.
When God spreads the table in heaven, there's no kale on the plate. It's rich food. Now, I know what you're saying. Now, you got to be rich to buy kale all the time. I got, I got, rich food. It's dense.
It's flavorful. Kale sits next to your steak to remind you of the fall so that you might worship while you eat your steak. My wife and I got a gift card to Ruth's Chris one time. So we went to Ruth's Chris one time. We were in there and I ordered a filet mignon and when they brought it out it was about this thick and it was in a plate with butter that was still like bubbling and I thought this is what food is supposed to look like. We ate that at one point they came by and they said um, is this a special occasion?
And I just thought is that obvious we don't belong here? Like, did I use the wrong fork? Like, what was I supposed to do, Ruth? Or Chris? Who's in charge here? So we just were like, yes, it's our anniversary.
They said, okay, would you mind if we brought by cake? And I was like, we will never mind that. They came back and they brought us a slice of cake. I'm not kidding you, it was this tall. I didn't even know you could make cake that tall. It's like, I thought after that I was like, everybody who's ever made cake needs to step their game up.
This is amazing. The table that God sets in His presence makes Ruth's Chris look like a Burger King. Burger King may be a little bit high on the totem pole compared to what God has for those who love Him and those who chase Him and those who belong to Him that we would delight ourselves in rich food. He steps into the middle of the chaos and says, come to me. You're longing, you're thirsty, you're weak, you have this spot in your soul that forever tells you that things in this world are wrong and broken and should not be like this and He's saying, yes, they shouldn't. Come to me where everything is good and everything is delightful and you will be full and satisfied.
That's the invitation. Verse 3, incline your ear, come to me, hear, that your soul may live. This is what Jesus says repeatedly in John 4 and John 7 where He's saying that this thirst is not a thirst that is quenched for a short time and you get it again. He's saying, no, this is soul level, heart fulfilling, thirst quenching. You will be forever full, forever satisfied. So He's saying this is just your soul.
This isn't just earthly richness, earthly wine, earthly milk. No, He's saying it's soul level, eternal level fulfillment. I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David. Now if you don't know the story of the Bible, that may not be as impactful and as exciting as it is meant to be when God utters it through the prophet Isaiah.
God came to King David and He made an everlasting covenant with David. He said, you are going to be a king forever and you can't mess this up. Like, I'm going to fulfill this promise to you. And He does fulfill that promise through Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the root of Jesse and Jesse is David's father. That He's the root of Jesse.
He's the root of David. That He's this promised Messiah, this promised king who's going to reign forever. And so what He just said was, I'm going to love you the way I love David, the way I love Jesus. That I'm going to make this covenant with you. If you come to me, you'll have the covenant I give to King David, the covenant I gave through Jesus, you will belong to me forever and you can't mess it up. So if you were a Jewish person and He says, the invitation to everyone is the invitation I made to David, you're like, what?
Everybody gets what David got? You come to, like He came to David, one specific human and said, I'll make this promise to you. And now Isaiah is saying, the promise is to everyone, they can have the same promise that was made to David. That you will forever be loved and welcomed. He says, behold, I made him a witness to the people. So He's talking about David, but He's also pointing forward to the Messiah, to Christ.
And so He says, I made him a witness to the people. What He means is not that He saw the people, that He witnessed the people, but that He put on display for the people this promise. So that God, in the midst of our rebellion, in the midst of our brokenness, calls out to us to come to Him and to be fulfilled. And then He sends Christ and Christ comes not to destroy us, but to be destroyed for us. So that He displays for us what God is like.
That Jesus is God's character witness. That He takes the stand and says, here's how much God loves you. Here's how good He is. And here's how honest He is to this offer. that He's made. That you might receive only good from Him. So that Jesus Christ goes to the cross so that we might see how much God loves us and that we might be redeemed from our sin because Jesus paid for it.
And so that when He says, I'm going to give you my sure covenant, what He means is that Jesus has already accomplished it. And when you place your faith in Him, you get all that Jesus deserved because He took all that you deserve. A leader and a commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation. Now He's talking to this leader, to this commander.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. So what He's saying, when we find all this out later as Scripture helps us understand what the prophet meant, was that it's not just Jewish people who will be saved. Which, since I know most of you, is very good news for the people in this room. That everyone gets to be included. That this Messiah is going to call a nation that hadn't belonged previously to God and make it His. Seek the Lord while He may be found.
Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man His thoughts. Let Him return to the Lord that He may have compassion on Him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon. So what it just said was, the invitation was, come to me, I'll make everything delightful and good. And then He says, stop your evil and come right now while the invitation is open. Come before the party starts.
Show up before we close the door. Repent of your sin, your wickedness. He says your wicked ways, meaning all the actions that we do that are evil. And then He says the unrighteous man, and His thoughts. There are some of us in this room who think this isn't bad because it hasn't left my brain. And He says, no, it's bad.
I'm not actually cheating on my wife. I'm just thinking about it. I'm not actually an angry person. I don't act on any of these things. I just run through scenarios in my head where I choke my boss. He says, no.
Get rid of not only your actions, but your evil thoughts and come to me while the door is still open. I was talking to a student at the University of South Carolina that I know. And we were talking about this. And he had grown up in a Christian home. And I just knew he kind of wasn't walking with Jesus. And so I just kind of said, at what point did you just decide that you didn't really believe what your parents believed?
And he said, no, that's not it. Like I, I know what they believe is true. I just know that if I believe it right now, I'll have to change the stuff I'm doing. And I'm really young. And there's still time. So what I want to do is get to just kind of enjoy college.
And then, at some point, I know I'll follow Jesus. It was a very sad conversation. Because he was very mistaken in two different distinct ways. One, he thinks that all the stuff he's going to chase after in college is actually more enjoyable than Jesus. And it is not. He thinks it will satisfy him when it is not bread.
And it does not satisfy. And two, he's confident about something he cannot be confident about, which is that he has all the time he needs. See, this invitation is Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts. What that means is that there will be a time when he cannot be found.
And there will be a time when he is not near. And when people beg and plead and weep and grind their teeth and scream as loud as they possibly can. Please, please, please, please. And he says, No. No. The door is closed.
I am not near. I cannot be found. The party has already begun for all those who ran from their sin and ran to me. The invitation was made to you. And you said, No. That moment is not this moment, but that moment is coming.
And so at this moment, I urge you, seek him, turn from your sin, and run to the table that he set where true satisfaction and joy can be found. Let him return to the Lord. This is the back half of verse 7. That he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Presidential pardons, I always find them very interesting. The president, right when he gets to the end of his time, he just starts releasing people from prison.
And he does it right at the end of his time because he doesn't want to have to hear about it. He knows people are already kind of moving on. They're going to talk about it a little bit, but they're paying attention to who the next president is. The reason presidents don't just show up and start releasing people from prison is because they'd have to deal with all the people who were like, What the heck are you doing? But they do it right at the end of time and they just let people go.
And as the president, once they let you go, you're done. You get to go. It has to be a certain set of crimes that the president has oversight over. But once they say you're free, you're free. Nobody gets to round you back up. Nobody's sending a U.S.
Marshal after that guy. You're free. And what he just said was that the God of the universe who has oversight over all of our sin abundantly pardons. He signs the paperwork and you're free. That nobody can round you up because he's the king of the universe. That if we turn from our sin, we run to him and he says, free.
And he makes the covenant he made with David which was, you will forever belong to me. And the way he does it is that Jesus Christ paid our punishment so that we could go free. Verse 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. I don't know if this is the case, but if any of y'all just thought, that doesn't sound fair. I'm glad his thoughts aren't your thoughts and his ways aren't your ways.
He decided to redeem those who don't deserve to be redeemed through the blood of his own son because he's good and because he's smarter than us and better than us. For as high as the heavens are higher than the earth, 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 and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Meaning, he's going to do what he wants to do. He's declared this and this is how it's going to work. I also want to just tag this. I don't think this is what the author is saying, but I want to tag it. He says that the word of God is like rain that falls down, that it brings forth life. And for those of you in this room who are Christians, if you feel dry and withered, weary and exhausted, I just want to ask, have you been pulling up to the table lately?
Have you been studying the word? Have you been letting it soak into you? Have you been letting it give you life? Have you been drawing yourself close to the God of the universe who says he has milk and water and wine? If you feel like you have no energy, he has milk. If you feel like you're about to die, he has water.
And if you just need some joy, he has wine. And it's better than what you bought at Walmart. It's verifiable. Read John 2. God makes good wine. Verse 12.
For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. If you right now knew that there could be a promise over your life of joy and peace, you take it. Honestly, if I could just know that my life would be filled with joy and peace, that just sounds wonderful. I pray for that all the time, that my house would be filled with joy and be filled with peace. And he's saying that's what belongs to those who will belong to him. And it's not just here, it's an eternal promise.
The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Those who belong to Jesus get to live in a Disney movie. You guys. Instead of the thorn, there shall come up the cypress. Instead of the briar, shall come up the myrtle. And it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
The invitation is that we would turn from our sin, be abundantly pardoned, welcomed in the celebration, and enter into a place that forever, that is an everlasting, eternal home where there is no more sin and destruction. There is no Me Too movement in eternity with Jesus. There are no protest marches, no sit-ins, there is no weeping in eternity with Jesus that we have all been invited into and welcomed at a table that belongs to Him. That's a promise made in Isaiah. This idea of flowing water is mentioned in John 4 and mentioned in John 7. It's mentioned in Zechariah.
It's mentioned in Jeremiah. It's mentioned throughout the Old Testament in Ezekiel. It's this idea that God would give joy and peace and an overflowing well of water that would not run dry. Revelation chapter 22 says this and this is where we'll end today. The spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Just leave that up there for a little while for a little while. We're told in Isaiah that the God of the universe steps into the brokenness and says come to me if you're thirsty come drink. And the book of Revelation says that the spirit spirit of God and the bride of Christ that's the church stand together and make the same invitation. That the church that belongs to Jesus will be so filled with the spirit that we would be inviting everyone we can to come. That our role because we actually believe this is to stand and say no, no, no, no, no. I know of something that does satisfy.
I know of one who does fill the longings of your heart. I know of something that will fill you up. I know of water while you thirst and long. I know of a much better invitation that's made to you. This is why I had someone the other day was saying like why do we tell people they should break up with people? We don't always do that.
Some people shouldn't break up. A lot of people should. And here's why we tell people that. We actually believe verse 2 why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? We believe that a lot of people are in relationships and they're actively running away from Jesus. They're actively pursuing sexual sin.
They're actively chasing after things that will not satisfy. And without hesitation without blinking we can look at them and say stop. There's a much better invitation made to you that will not be found in this relationship. This is why we can look at someone and say I don't think you should take that promotion. This is why we can look at someone and say I think your job's too big of a deal. This is why we can look at someone and say I think you're placing too much weight in this area because we believe that it's in our hearts to chase after and labor for things that won't fill us up but that God promises that he will.
And that we get to join the spirit of God, the prophet of God echoing the voice of God and say come. All of you who are thirsty come. There's a beautiful invitation for you. There's richness and depth that you can't even imagine. That's what the church gets to do. That's who we get to be.
That's one of the reasons why we exist in community groups because we get to be a small picture of this party, this celebration that is coming. We've had recently a couple of stories that came out of our community groups that were really encouraging to me. There was somebody hanging out with the group. It was his first time hanging out and after he'd been there for a little while he goes, okay, can I say something? Am I allowed to talk? They were like, sure.
He said, um, my roommate had been inviting me to this for a long time and now I see. I see why he likes it. This is just great. So I don't know if I'm supposed to say stuff like this but this is great. And can I keep coming? That group they said absolutely.
This is why he kept inviting you. He knew it was great. You thought he was weird. He didn't care. He kept inviting you because he knew what was on the other side. He knew what was set at the table.
Somebody would come hang out with a group and they were just playing poker together. They were just sitting here for a while and after a while he just said, how do y'all know each other? Because I just haven't been around people like this. His assumption was y'all have to have been friends for a really long time. Y'all have to have really deep meaningful relationships. And they were like, we just met.
It was just kind of like, we all were part of the same church? And what it was, he had gotten a glimpse into what it looks like for a group of people to be sitting at a table who had been brought in because their sins had been pardoned. Who had been brought in because they knew they had been eating dirt and now were getting to eat bread. They had been brought in because they knew. And there's a grace and a peace and a joy and an ability to talk about really serious things and really jokey, frivolous things and swap back and forth with ease because they're people who've been invited to a table where they didn't have to earn their way in.
My group is going to need to multiply at some point. Dawn Gooch, who's on the video, she's in my community group. I don't want our group to multiply, if I'm honest with y'all. Can I confess sin up here? But I remind myself about Dawn and then I do want our group to multiply because there's other Dawns out there that need to be on a video four years from now saying, I'm so glad they harassed me.
I think she said, I'm glad that Kelly stalked me. Super weird. If this is your first time, I'm sorry. That was creepy, you guys. Here's the thing. We are too.
And if you actually get to take a seat at that table where the food is rich and the God is good who pardons sin, you'll get to say the same thing two, three years from now. You see, we believe that Jesus is better than everything else for you, that you should put your sin down and you should chase after him. And we believe that Jesus is better than everything else for the people in your group, that you should look at them and say, you need to run after him headlong and you need to run away from your wickedness and you need you and he'll make you whole. And we believe that Jesus is better than everything else for everyone else.
And our prayer is that two years from now, you get to stand right here in a portable hot tub, put your hand on the back of your neighbor, put your hand on the back of your co-worker, put your hand on the back of your roommate who currently has no desire for anything that has to do with Jesus and actually is a little bit annoyed with you every time you bring it up. Put your hand on their back and say, who is your Lord and Savior? And have them say, with tears rolling down their face, Jesus Christ. And for you to slam dunk them in some water, because it represents that they have died with Christ, that their sin has been taken away, that they've risen with him, and that they will forever have a seat at that table.
Our prayer is that four years from now, we'll be sitting with someone who right now you haven't even met yet, but you're about to this week, because they're about to get a job, two cubicles down from you. And we'll be laying our hands on them, and praying over them, and weeping over them, because we're not going to see them again for a while, because they're going overseas to tell everybody that there's a God of the universe who stepped into our brokenness, and he says, come, come to me, find fulfillment, find joy, find satisfaction, quit eating dirt. that's our hope, that's our prayer. So we're going to keep actively running from sin and helping each other run from sin, and we're going to keep actively trying to equip ourselves and grow in what it means to be gospel-centered and to love Jesus and to exist in relationships with each other, and we're going to continue to multiply groups and train group leaders, and we're going to continue to repent of sin and practice church discipline, and we're going to continue to do all of these things, because we know there's a moment in time when the door gets shut and the king of the universe starts to party. And we want as many people as possible at that table, and we honestly don't care if they want to hear it or not, because we know what's at the table and who makes the invitation and how good and satisfying it is.
Matt's going to come back up here. We're going to sing. During this next song, you have the opportunity, to sing. You have the opportunity to sit and pray. Maybe you have some people right now that you know you need to begin telling. You need to begin standing with the Holy Spirit as the bride of Christ and saying, come.
Everyone, come. I love in that verse where it says, let the one who hears say, come. That's who we're praying for right now. That's who I was just talking about. That's your co-worker who's going to get to do the same thing, who's going to get to go to someone right now. They don't know Jesus right now, but at some point, they're going to have heard it and they're going to begin to shout alongside you and alongside the Spirit of God, come, this invitation is beautiful and good.
In a minute, as we've repented, as we've reflected, we'll be able to take communion, which is our promise of the future hope of the resurrection. It's us remembering the cross and looking forward to the hope that we have forever in Jesus, that his body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us, that he invited us in. If you're a Christian, that's for you. If you're not a Christian, we'd ask you to not partake in communion because you don't fully know what it means at this point. So during this next song, Matt will sing, we'll pray, we'll take communion, and then in a minute we'll have a chance to stand and sing together as a church.
Let's pray. God, we ask that we could stand shoulder to shoulder with your spirit, that he would dwell in us and empower us as your bride to invite to an unending supply to invite everyone we know to true satisfaction, true hope, true fulfillment, to proclaim Christ. We ask for those in this room right now that need to turn from their sin, that need to run to you, that they'd find you with open arms ready to abundantly pardon. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name.