Part 6 - Jesus Can Satisfy Me. Series

Jesus Can 2007

Part 6 - Jesus Can Satisfy Me.

Isaiah 55:1-11

Sermon by Rick Crandall - March 11, 2007

*Are you satisfied? Have you found real satisfaction in life?

*Daryl Grimes says.

-I am happy when I go hunting or fishing.

-I am happy when I go see a friend or loved one.

-I am happy when I go to church and experience a good service.

-I am happy when I have fun with my kids.

-None of these things, however, can satisfy my soul!

*Some people are happy while they are high.

-Some people are happy while they are skiing, or snowmobiling.

-Some people are happy while they are partying.

-Some people are happy while they are camping.

-Some people are happy while they are gambling.

-But none of these things can satisfy their soul! (1)

*There is only one ultimate, eternal source of satisfaction, and that is God, Himself. Jesus Christ can satisfy your soul. Let’s look into the Word of God today and see how.

1. First of all, Jesus can satisfy you with His fullness, and that’s what He wants to do! Listen to the great invitation the Lord gives us in vs. 1&2:

“Ho! Everyone. . .” (He’s just trying to get our attention there.)

*We would say, “Hey! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.”

*Have you ever felt thirsty in life? Have you ever felt empty and longing for more? All of us have at one time or another. Scott Ghan reminds us that life can be as dry as the desert. And Scott said:

-“The feeling has been documented by countless contemporary songs. They are more than rock songs; they are anthems because they have struck a cord with the masses.

-It is a sensation that everyone enjoying the affluence of this great nation has encountered. [Forty years ago] the Rolling Stones sang, ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.’ [Twenty years ago] U2 sang, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.’ [And many more songs have echoed that theme.]

-We are all looking for something, something to satisfy this thirst we feel on a daily basis. It is intensified by grief, by loss, by hard times and sometimes just by sheer boredom (Too much time on our hands).

-Sometimes this thirst is intensified by rejection. Some of us here in this room have been rejected by others so often that we have discounted our value in our own hearts and minds. Deep down, we think, ‘I’m worthless!’

-Many have gone on long sprees of self-loathing. All of this intensifies the thirst that the Bible again and again identifies.” (2)

*But God cries out here, not just to the people of Isaiah’s day, but to all the nations of the world. God cries out here to us! “Hey! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

*Rodney Buchanan calls this God’s feast, which is all of His best. And Rodney said, “The feast is the feast of life. The table is spread with all the delights which God has planned and desired to give to his creation. It is a life of goodness and fulfillment. Nothing is lacking. And the best part is that it is free! Even if we have no money, we can come and be satisfied in the richest of fare.” (3)

*God offers us the ultimate satisfaction for free! That’s because it costs more than we could ever pay. And because Jesus Christ already paid the price when He died on the Cross for us.

*But most people miss God’s great offer here. They don’t understand, so in vs. 2, God asks them, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?”

*Buchanan asks, “Why do we do this? What is it in the human condition that makes us run from God instead of running to him? What is it that makes us live in rebellion even when it is tearing us apart?”

*And he says, “The only answer I know is that we are afraid of surrendering to God and losing the control of our lives. We are afraid that even though we are sick of the garbage we have been eating, which is not satisfying us, that coming to God will deprive us even more.

-We have greater confidence in our ability to meet our needs than we have in God. We are confident in our own ability to meet our needs, because we know we are determined to do it. We are not so sure that God will meet our needs in the way we want them met, or on the timetable we have for getting them met.