Pursuing What Will Satisfy
Isaiah 55:1-3
Let’s turn to Isaiah 55. If you need a Bible, please raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Isaiah 55 is on page 615 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Throughout Israel’s history, God had been faithful to them – filling their hearts with Himself when they sought him, delivering them when they cried out to Him, providing for them when they were in need. But throughout Israel’s history, they had not been faithful to God.
Repeatedly Israel turned her back on God and bowed down to idols. God warned that if she continued, He would punish her. But she persisted in idolatry. And so in 586 BC God raised up Babylon to conquer Jerusalem, and to take the survivors back to Babylon as slaves.
And Isaiah 40-66 was written to encourage Israelites who had been taken to Babylon as slaves. Think of how you might have felt if, because of your sin against God, you were now a slave in Babylon.
But then imagine reading in Isaiah 40 that God wants to comfort you. Imagine reading in Isaiah 44 that God will raise up Cyrus who will free you from slavery, send you back to the Promised Land, and rebuild Jerusalem. Then imagine reading in Isaiah 53 that you can be completely forgiven, because of the Messiah whom God would punish in our place for our sins.
So these chapters are written to encourage Israel as she is in exile in Babylon. And this morning we are going to see what encouragement God brings her in ch.55. Let’s read vv.1-3 --
1 "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 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, and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
Who is God talking to in these verses? In v.1 we can see that God is talking to everyone who thirsts. It’s clear from these verses that he’s not talking about physical thirst; he’s talking about heart-thirst. We all have hearts that thirst for joy, and peace, and satisfaction.
Does anyone here not thirst for joy, peace, and satisfaction? I didn’t think so.
But if we are honest, we will admit that nothing in the world around us has brought us the joy, peace, and satisfaction we crave. The things in the world around us bring some joy. But not full or lasting joy. And so all of us are left thirsty.
In these verses God is talking to Israel and all of us who are thirsty. In these verses God is talking to you.
And what does God call us to do with our heart-thirsts? Many people think the God of the Bible is against joy, peace, and satisfaction. That God calls us to ignore our heart-thirsts, to squelch our heart-thirsts, to deny our heart-thirsts. That God is nervous if we seek joy or satisfaction too much.
But look again at what God says in these verses --
1 "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 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, and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
So what does God call us to do with our heart thirsts? V.1 – “come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” So there is water available for heart-thirsts. Where is this water? The answer is in v.3 – “Incline your ear, and come -- to me.”
Don’t miss that. In v.1 – thirsty hearts are invited to come to the water. In v.3 – thirsty hearts are invited to come to God Himself. So the water your thirsty soul needs is God Himself. God Himself is the water that will completely quench your heart-thirsts.
So God does not call us to ignore, or squelch, or deny our heart-thirsts. God is calling us to satisfy our heart-thirsts – in Him. God is calling us to bring our heart-thirsts to Him, and drink from the living water of who God Himself is.
One of my heroes is Jonathan Edwards, who was a missionary to the American Indians in the 1700’s, and one of this country’s greatest theologians. Here’s what he said:
God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of Him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.
So God calls us to bring our heart-thirsts to Him, and promises that they will be satisfied in Him. Let me show you some other Scriptures to back this up.
Look at what David wrote in Psalm 63:5-6 (p.479) –
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night.
So David had times at night when he would remember God, and meditate on who God was – and the result was that his soul was satisfied like your stomach would be with delicious food – and his mouth started praising God with joyful lips.
I will never forget the first time I experienced something like this, as a senior in high school, going to sleep one night, thanking Jesus and worshiping Jesus and then just starting to weep because of how awesome Jesus is.
David brought his heart-thirst to God, and meditated upon God, and that when David did that – his soul was completely satisfied.
Look also at Psalm 73:25-26 (p.486) –
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Asaph was the author of this psalm. And like David, Asaph knew what it was to bring his heart-thirsts to God, to worship God, meditate on God, fellowship with God. And God so filled Asaph that he said – there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
How satisfied and filled would Asaph have needed to be to say that? He would have been completely filled and satisfied. That’s what God does when we bring our heart thirsts to Him.
Is that what God will always do? Yes. Look at John 6:35 (p.892) –
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
We all hunger and thirst. But Jesus is the bread of life. And if we will come to Him, and believe in Him, and set our hearts upon Him, and surrender to Him, and worship Him – His presence will so satisfy us that our heart-hungers and thirsts will vanish. He promises.
But there’s a problem. We all have heart-thirsts. God calls us to bring our heart-thirsts to Him. But what have we all done with our heart-thirsts? Back to Isaiah 55 (p.615).
Look again at v.2 --
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, and delight yourselves in rich food.
We have all had heart-hungers and thirsts that could only be satisfied in God Himself. But instead of bringing our heart-hungers and thirsts to God, we have pursued things that would never satisfy us.
It’s like this. We are all hungry. And here is all of reality. Over here is God. If we are hungry, then God is like an In ‘n Out Burger, Fries, and Chocolate Shake. And over here is everything else. If we are hungry, then everything else is like this gravel.
So, if we will come to God, and feast on Him, we will be satisfied. Just like a physically hungry person would be satisfied eating In ‘n Out.
But what have we all done? Because of our pride we refused to bend the knee before our Creator. So we turned from God, and pursued things that are not bread, things that will not satisfy.
For example, some of you pursue money to satisfy you. You think that the way to satisfy your heart-thirsts is by getting more money. Now there is nothing wrong with money – as long as we don’t pursue it to satisfy us. But money will never satisfy your heart – only God can satisfy your heart. If you are pursuing money to satisfy your heart – you are like a hungry person eating gravel.
Others of you pursue sexual pleasure to satisfy you. Now there is nothing wrong with sexual pleasure – I love sexual pleasure with my wife. It’s a gift from God for marriage. But sexual pleasure will never satisfy your heart – only God can satisfy your heart. And if you are pursuing sexual pleasure to satisfy your heart – using porn, whatever -- you are like a hungry person eating gravel.
Others of you pursue TV or friends or career to satisfy you. And again, these are not wrong in themselves. But they will never satisfy your heart. Only God can satisfy your heart. And if you pursue TV or friends or career to satisfy you – you are like a hungery person eating gravel.
But not only does this leave us hungry – it’s a terrible moral wrong. God has created you for the joy of knowing Him. That’s why you are here. But we have all refused. We have all turned our backs on Him, and turned to everything else. And that is wrong. Morally wrong. And because God is righteous and perfectly just, He has to punish us.
So – what must we do before we can come back to God? Go to confession? Go to church? Be really good for a month? What do we need to do before we can come back to God?
The answer is – nothing. Look again at v.1 --
"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
That’s strange language. This water and wine and milk must be bought. There is a price that has to be paid if we are going to receive it. But we buy it without money and without price.
What is God saying? He is saying that because of our sin, there is a price that must be paid if sinful people like us are going to be able to come back to God. God is just, and all sin must be punished. So there is punishment that must be paid.
But we saw back in Isaiah 53 that the Messiah – Jesus – pays this price. So there is a price that must be paid, yes. But if we will trust Him, then Jesus has paid that price for us by being punished in our place. Our sin must be punished, but if we will trust Him, then Jesus was punished in our place.
So what must we do before we can come back to God? Nothing. Don’t try to be good enough. Don’t try to earn it. Just come, trusting Jesus to pay for your sins.
This is how the Christian life begins – you turn from whatever else you were trusting to satisfy you, and you come to Jesus as you are, trusting His death on the Cross to pay for your sins. You trust Him to be your Savior, Lord, and heart-satisfying Treasure. When you do that, He will forgive you. He will start to change your heart. And as you set your heart on Him, surrender to Him, worship Him -- He will satisfy your heart hungers and thirsts in Himself. That’s how the Christian life begins.
And that’s how the Christian life continues. Because of our remaining sin, from time to time we turn back to these other things – we trust other things to satisfy us. And the result is that we are empty, impatient, angry, and worried.
So we followers of Jesus often need to turn from whatever else we were trusting to satisfy us, and come to Jesus as we are, trusting His death on the Cross to pay for our sins, trusting Him to be our Savior, Lord, and Treasure, and seeking our heart-satisfaction in Him. And when we do that, He will forgive us. He will change our hearts. And as we set our hearts on Him -- He will satisfy our hungers and thirsts in Himself.
Like Wednesday morning. I woke up, made my tea, opened my Bible, read for a while and started to pray. But I realized I was feeling discouraged and empty – because what I had been seeking for my satisfaction was failing me. So I intentionally turned from that – to Jesus Christ. I came to Jesus as I was – a sinner needing His mercy.
And I set my heart on Jesus – that He created everything. He sovereignly rules over everything. He has always been. 2,000 years ago He was born as a baby. He walked on this earth. He taught with such wisdom that the religious leaders had nothing to say. He forgave the sins of the paralyzed man. He healed blind Bartimaeus. He had compassion on a widow and raised her son from the dead. He fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. He died on the Cross to pay for my sins. He rose from the dead. He is interceding for me now in heaven. He is coming again to wipe every tear from my eyes.
And then I noticed something. My heart was filled. I felt peace, joy, satisfaction.
Now there’s lots more that Isaiah says in this passage. I don’t have time to cover it in detail. But in the rest of the chapter Isaiah gives four reasons why we should bring our heart-thirsts to God. I’ll just give you the bullet points, and the verses.
First, in vv.3-5 – it’s because God will make with us an everlasting covenant, that will last forever and never disappoint us.
Second, in v.6 – it’s because if we bring our heart-thirsts to Him, we will find Him; but if we delay, we may not be able to find Him.
Third, in vv.7-11 – it’s because if we bring our heart-thirsts to Him, we will always find Him compassionate and pardoning.
And fourth, in vv.12-13 – if we bring our heart thirsts to Him, we will receive a future that is so awesome that the mountains will sing and the trees will clap their hands.
What does this mean for us?
First of all, understand why you are thirsty. It’s because you’ve been eating gravel. You’ve been relying on money, or friends, or health, or porn, or the San Francisco Giants to satisfy your heart. But none of those things will satisfy your heart.
And second, understand what Jesus offers. If you will come to Him, He will completely forgive you, because of His death on the Cross. He will start to change you. And as you set your heart on Him, and trust Him, He will completely satisfy you. Your heart is thirsty, and only Jesus Christ will satisfy. And He will fully satisfy.
And third, come to Him – and feast. Maybe you have never come to Him – do so this morning. Or maybe you’ve come to Him and known Him over the years – but recently you’ve drifted back to the gravel. So come back to Him now. And make it a habit to come to Him every day – and throughout the day.