Satisfaction guaranteed. Is 55. WBC 27/4/03 am
The invitation of God- v1
29 Palms
In the summer of 1988 Gregory Patton found himself temporarily assigned to Camp Pendelton, California Marine Corps Base. He’d requested to go to search and rescue school and he had gotten his wish.
About midway through the eight-week training his commanding officer told them that all available search and rescue personnel – including students – were being requested to be sent to nearby 29 Palms California Marine Corps Base. It seemed that one of their staff had turned up missing and they wanted them to come and help in the search effort. At first they were all excited. After all, they were barely halfway through the training program and they were already being called upon to put what they were learning to the test. But their excitement soon turned to sadness as they discovered that the person they were looking for had already been missing for nearly three weeks.
The military bureaucracy had fouled up again. A young eighteen-year-old marine was left out in the middle of a training field late on Friday night. Nobody had bothered to have a roll call that night because it was already late, so nobody knew he was missing. When Monday morning rolled around the private was reported as being UA – unauthorized absence. His buddies immediately reported that he had not been seen since the training assignment and that he might still be lost on the base. Three days later the Marine Corps recorded him AWOL – absent without leave. Two weeks later and only after the young private’s parents and friends pleaded with the Marine Corps- the search for the young man began. After a week of trying in vain on their own, they called in search and rescue.
They were all gravely disappointed, because they knew they were no longer looking for a live body. You see, 29 Palms is a Marine Corps Air and Ground Combat Centre located in the heart of the Mojave Desert. The average daytime temp in the summer is 120°. Chances of surviving just a few hours without water were slim. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that 29 Palms is a huge base. Knowing that he had been missing for three weeks only worsened the situation.
For two weeks twenty-five aircraft searched the base in an organized grid pattern. On their second week there their commander told us if they didn’t find the marine by the end of the day the search would be called off. Late in the afternoon a call came over his headphones – the young marine’s body had been found. Their commander wanted all the students to the site to witness how a recovery was performed. As their helicopter flew to the site he noticed they landed just on the other side of a small lake. Near the lake was a small building. Gregory later found out that the lake contained a fresh water spring that fed water to the entire base. The building was a pump station that contained a telephone and, was never locked. From the spot where the helicopter landed, where the young marine lay dead, all of this was hidden.
It was a great tragedy that a young eighteen-year-old man lay dead. But an, even greater tragedy was that this young marine had died from dehydration and heat exhaustion just three hundred yards from life giving water, shelter and a phone and he never knew any of it was there within his reach.
From www.sermoncentral.com sermon by Gregory Patton on Isaiah 55:1-2
The invitation comes to the Jews exiled in Babylon, here, 2,500 years ago
- weeping in the dry lands of modern Iraq. A long way from green Canaan
- having tried everything, lost everything… even hope
The invitation comes FROM God to come TO God- the only one who can satisfy and give hope
- and it’s an invitation to us, today
o honestly: it’s an invitation with satisfaction guaranteed
If you ever go to Jerusalem or Israel you will see water sellers on the street
- selling scoops of water from buckets (or, if you’re lucky, bags)
o apparently: tastes pretty disgusting & I wouldn’t recommend it
- but they do! “Come and buy your water! Don’t thirst”
God… the living God… the I AM… the God who walks in the garden of Eden with mankind…
- comes and walks our streets and market places
o seeking us out (as the prodigal’s Father)
o crying out, like street traders do:
“Come and buy! Get the very best food here! Get the food that satisfies! Why, oh why are you off spending your money on all those things that don’t satisfy?! Come and get the best! It’s FREE (to you)”
You can almost hear the cockney language. (and, if you like, it may be ‘cockney language’- as He cries out in OUR language. Humbles Himself. Removes EVERY barrier that there might be to us understanding and receiving this
- gracious invitation
- free gift
Here’s the scenario:
- we spend so much time, energy, and money seeking things that
o just don’t satisfy!
It’s true! They don’t. Can have more and more, and still restless… unsatisfied.
Augustine – Our Hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee
Blaise Pascal – God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.
o Cost SO much
The famous poet, Lord Byron, described his experience vividly: he "Drank every cup of joy, drank early, deeply drank, drank draughts which common millions might have drunk, then died of thirst because there was no more to drink."
Sometimes the thing we run to- the job, the mask, the image… does us SO much harm
• Is 30:7 ‘dragon do-nothing’ Egypt the utterly useless
• USA. ’Human fly’. man who would climb up buildings etc. Eventually fell and was killed- found in his hand a wodge of cobwebs. He had grasped at something not real, solid.
Here’s the truth:
- Jesus is the only one who will satisfy. The answer. The key
o Illustr: picture last Sun pm of combination lock & tumblers- but God providing a key to unlock the key
- And it’s FREE
o But it didn’t come cheap
Too good to be true? ‘nothing is for nothing!’
HE paid. It cost Him everything….
… and in Him is food, water, LIFE, wine that satisfies
- but you’ve gotta seek Him first. Hunger and thirst for Him (and KNOW that you are hungry)- to be satisfied
MT 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
v6 – the timing of God
His generosity is just amazing! “Amazing love how can it be?”
His patience is just astounding! He’s waited 2000 years since Jesus’ day
But this offer is not indefinite. It says:
“seek the Lord while He may be found”
That means
- you’re in a place, state, situation (now, today) where God may be found
here! God is moving!
There’s an opportunity, window… now
o FIND HIM NOW (or be found by Him) before the world, flesh or devil pulls you away. Before your ‘hearing’ goes, or your heart grows cold
- You have this life to find LIFE. One life, one chance
o After that you live with the decision
o Heb 9:27 man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment
Seek Him while He may be found
- Illustr: that text brought a friend back to the Lord. On car
A story is told of a shipwrecked crew who had been drifting for days in a small boat off the coast of Brazil. They were suffering the horrors of thirst but they dare not drink the seawater because the salt would make it even worse. They saw a vessel coming towards them, and called out, "Water, water!" "Dip your bucket over the side" they were told. They thought they were being mocked. But no, the water was fresh. They had drifted into the flow of the mighty River Amazon bearing fresh water far out to sea.
It’s there, within your grasp. All you need! Reach out and draw, NOW- before you get carried out to sea!
V8- The ways of God
God’s ways are not our ways- it reminds us, here!
- they are bigger, and higher than ours… and often beyond understanding
o his ways and plans for our saving, healing, helping, maturity
But also His ways are not like ours in that
1) His gift is FREE (without money and cost).
- we charge, and feel like we have to earn it
2) He WILL forgive!
- ISA 55:7 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.
ISA 55:8 "For my thoughts are NOT your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
- forgiveness is SO key in all of this. And WE find it hard to forgive
o but God doesn’t. Costly, yes- but hard, no
o he knows that forgiveness is key to our whole wellbeing
emotional and spiritual. Our salvation, even
o and Jesus’ coming to us was (is) all about forgiveness
o > and here’s the incredible promise.:
v7- turn around your ways, deeds, thoughts
turn to God, through Jesus
and He will have mercy on you and freely pardon
v9- the word of God
It’s the promise of God- and His word does not return to Him void
- Jesus’ coming, death and resurrection WILL achieve that which God purposed,…. purposed for you from the minute you were conceived
o Forgiveness.
- His promise of freedom from Babylon
o God has spoken His word, and it will not return to Him void
God has promised that if you seek Him, turn to Him, believe in Him (and act as though you do!)
- you will find Him… and find all that you need
o you know I’m one for being sure about the promises God makes, and cautious about the ones people make.
So- what’s the God-given promises, here?:
- satisfaction in God, Jesus. REAL satisfaction. It’s not something evasive, ethereal. Jesus, placed FIRST, can satisfy you
- Forgiveness and freedom
o Thorns turned to pine trees. Beauty to ashes
o A life that brings glory to God
And there are other clear promises in His word of
–sufficient grace, ability to do ALL things through Him, ability to rejoice (not be happy!) always, all things working together for good, His plan for your life… His tangible presence
- and other promises He has made to YOU, personally
Hold on to them.
This is your:
V12- the future with God
And if you’re NOT experiencing them
- hold on still more! They will not return void!
- But just check you’re doing your part to receive them… not blocking them by
o An idol
o Not seeking (while He may be found).
’The turning point in our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is’. Patrick Morley in the ’Seasons of a man’s life’
2CO 6:1 As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says,
"In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you."
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
o Not ‘coming’
o Not (v7) ‘forsaking your ways and thoughts’
Because God is true to His promises, and here for you this morning. Here for the seeking, the drinking, the eating… the satisfying.
- satisfaction guaranteed
Charles Spurgeon said, We need our God; He is to be had for the seeking; and He will not deny Himself to any one of us if we personally seek His face.
