Isaiah: Lesson 15

Overview

Seek the Lord While He May Be Found (Isaiah 55–57)

A Limited-Time Invitation

Although God Himself is eternal, the gospel call comes to us within boundaries we dare not ignore. Isaiah 55:6 urges, "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near." Two horizons close this window: our own death and the return of Christ. After either, the opportunity for conversion ceases.

We must also remember how we seek the Lord. We do not generate faith by our own willing or thinking. As Luther confessed in the Small Catechism, the Holy Spirit calls us through the gospel. Where the proclaimed Word is no longer heard, no one can come to grace. Repentance, as Isaiah 55:7 describes, has two dimensions: sorrow over sin and faith in the Lord who abundantly pardons. And lest we imagine God works on our terms, Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that His ways and thoughts tower above ours—our righteousness is filthy rags, our hearts naturally closed to Him until the Word transforms them.

The Necessity of Verbal Witness

Because faith comes through the Word, the popular notion "preach the gospel; use words if necessary" is unbiblical. Kindness, service, and integrity matter deeply, but they are pre-evangelism. No one is converted by our non-verbal witness alone. A neighbor may notice something different about us, but that difference only opens a door; conversion happens when we speak of Christ. Given the limited time framed by death and Christ's return, every Christian is called to grow in verbalizing the faith.

Grace for All—One People in Christ

Chapter 56 broadens the horizon: God's grace reaches the foreigner and the outcast. Isaiah 56:3-8 declares that the Lord's house "shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." Paul echoes this in Ephesians 2:13-18: in Christ, the dividing wall of hostility has been broken down, and Jew and Gentile are made into one new humanity, reconciled to God and to one another through the cross. In a fractured society marked by every kind of division, the church's mission is not to mirror the world's tribalism but to proclaim and embody the reconciliation already accomplished in Christ.

A Warning to Spiritual Leaders—and to the Church

Isaiah turns sharply to negligent shepherds. Isaiah 56:10-12 describes watchmen who are blind, "silent dogs that cannot bark," shepherds without understanding, each turning to his own gain. The New Testament sounds the same alarm: James 3:1 warns that teachers will be judged with greater strictness, and 1 Timothy 4:13-16 charges Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching, watching his life and doctrine closely.

When pulpits trade the meat of God's Word for "felt-need" messages and human philosophies, spiritual famine follows. The pew eventually echoes the pulpit, the church loses the ability to distinguish truth from error, and—having lost its proclamation—it tries to influence the world through politics rather than the Word. But political power cannot change a heart; only the gospel does that.

Pastoral Application

• Treasure the moment. Today the gospel is near. Do not presume on tomorrow.
• Speak the gospel. Live faithfully and open your mouth. Conversion comes through the Word.
• Welcome the outsider. The church reconciled in Christ is to be a leader in reconciliation, not a participant in division.
• Demand a faithful pulpit. Insist on Scripture rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered. That is what makes the church the church.
• Engage the world rightly. Christians may rightly be active in civic life, but the church's distinct mission is the proclamation of Christ, the only message that changes hearts.

Transcript

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for the beauty of today, but more importantly, we 3s

give you thanks for the beauty of your promises. 8s

We give you thanks for the beauty of who you are. 12s

Blessed we pray now this time in your Word in Jesus' name. 15s

Amen. 20s

Well, we studied last week chapters 52 to 54 and the theme was looking at how Isaiah is 20s

used in Holy Scripture. 29s

We saw that there are 80 some 80 references, either direct or indirect in the New Testament 32s

to Isaiah. 39s

We took a look at Isaiah's depiction here of the servant, the Messiah, and how the servant 42s

was to be exalted, despised, wounded, killed, and one who makes righteous. 47s

And of course, we see that lived out in the pages of Scripture. 53s

We examined the necessity for Jesus to be truly man and truly God and why that had to 57s

be. 65s

We examined what's called the passive and the active obedience of Jesus. 65s

The passive obedience of Jesus is Jesus' willingness to go to the cross, the active obedience 71s

of Jesus is his living the perfect life that then gets credited to our account. 77s

We saw how in chapter 54, Isaiah talked about the church and we saw how, as Isaiah was writing, 83s

in his prophetic writings, it was almost as if he was at the scene of the events some 94s

700 years later. 100s

And we saw the incredible reliability and cohesiveness once again of Holy Scripture. 103s

Well, today I'd like to look with you at Isaiah 55 to 57. 110s

So let's turn please to the 55th chapter of the book of Isaiah, 55th chapter of Isaiah. 116s

We see that God is eternal, that God is not limited by time. 124s

Psalm 90 says this, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed them, 135s

the earth of the world from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 143s

Well, with that in mind, let's take a look at verse 6 of chapter 55. 152s

There are Isaiah writes, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. 159s

Now, it's an attrini, isn't it, to understand the eternal nature of God, but also to understand 172s

the fact that what this verse tells us is there will be a time in which God will not be found. 179s

It's important to understand and interpret this correctly by looking at verse 6, the very first word, 189s

seek the Lord while he may be found. We are reminded of the only way that we can seek the Lord. 195s

Luther wrote in the third article in the small catechism, I believe that I cannot by my own thinking 206s

or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has coldly 213s

through the gospel. August Piper writes this, his voice, his call, his inviting word alone 222s

has the power to convert where that voice no longer is heard, there is no opportunity to come 232s

to grace. So if God withdraws the gospel, if God withdraws that proclamation, then no human being 241s

can turn to him, no human being can find him. Seek the Lord while he may be found. 253s

The while he may be found then tells us that this is a limited time offer. It's a limited time 268s

offer that there will be a time then in which God will not be able to be found. Look at verse 7, 277s

let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord that 290s

he may have mercy on them and to our God for he will abundantly part. There's two aspects then 298s

that we see of repentance. One is sorrow over sin and the other is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ 308s

who forgives sin. So God is eternal. He's only found as long as the gospel is preached. 319s

That is limited time because the day will come when the gospel will no longer be preached. Well, 330s

when is that day in which the gospel will no longer be preached? That is when the Lord comes again, 338s

right? That when the Lord comes again, gospel preaching ceases, the world is brought to an end, 344s

it is rolled up and the possibility then of conversion at that time then ceases. 354s

If the Lord carries and we are alive, the moment of conversion then for an individual ceases 364s

at the time of death. There is no second chance after death. So there is a limited time. It's 374s

again, we only seek Him because He seeks us and how is it that He seeks us but He seeks through the 394s

word? That's why the word talks about the absolute necessity for the gospel to be preached, 406s

to be shared. Look at verse 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my 416s

ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your 426s

ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Every human thought that we have with regard to 433s

spiritual matters that originates from ourselves is opposed to God. It is only the God that enlightens 445s

us and gives us the true understanding so we can have the temptation then to believe that God's 454s

grace will always be. But it won't. There is the limited time framed by our earthly death, 462s

framed by the second coming. We can be tempted to think that God rewards human ways with forgiveness. 472s

That if God looks upon us and says, you're just a really good person and He gives us this 481s

granting of forgiveness. No, Scripture tells us that all of our righteous deeds are a filthy rag. 486s

All the things that we would try to do to earn our way into the good graces of God is a is a 495s

filthy rag that we are born wanting nothing to do with them with God. Our heart is closed unto God. 501s

Our heart must be transformed and how is the heart transformed? It is transformed by the word. 510s

Now, there's a popular phrase attributed to St. Francis of the Seas, that says, 521s

preach the gospel, use words if necessary. I'll think critically about that. 527s

There's two things wrong with that statement. One, as St. Francis of the Seas, he never said it. 538s

That's why I think it's wrong with this statement. The second thing that's for the 548s

corollary to this though, is he would often preach five times a day. 554s

And so if a C.C. said, preach the gospel, use words if necessary. He lived out the exact opposite 560s

message. So the first thing you can say is number one, he didn't say it. Secondly, it's not biblical. 567s

Is it? It's not biblical. Now think about this a little bit. 575s

Have you ever been tempted to say, I won't share the gospel with someone, 582s

they'll be converted through the person I am. Have you ever been tempted to say that? 590s

Sure. Absolutely. What's the problem with that? Our witness in terms of who we are as people, 598s

or how we handle situations, or how we model things. None of us are perfect. 607s

But the belief that someone will be converted because they see in us someone who is different. 615s

Is it a part or from Scripture? How is it that someone is converted? They're always converted 625s

through the word, through the word, through the proclamation of it. Who we are? 631s

Maybe kindness that is shown or a helping hand or a good deign to someone. All of that is 638s

is important and it's good, but it's all pre-evangelism. It's all pre-evangelism. 647s

One is only converted through the sharing of the gospel where one is brought to faith. 656s

Now someone may look and say, I see a difference in you. Why are you different here? 664s

Or why did you react to that situation? It seemed to me that you should have reacted 673s

the exact opposite way and that gives an opportunity to share about Jesus. 677s

But the person isn't going to be converted by the non-verbal. It is always the proclamation 687s

of the word. That means that we must be a people that proclaim and share because it is through 698s

that proclamation that people are brought to faith. Let me put a little advertisement in here. 711s

Pastor Malamack's got a workshop on verbalizing of the faith. Steve Berks got a workshop 721s

every day, missionary. It's two workshops. They've got different kind of focuses, 729s

but they're both with the same purpose so that we might become more and more comfortable in sharing 737s

the gospel because that's imperative. Why? Because your neighbor that doesn't go to church 743s

and there's no faith there, there's a limit of time, isn't there? Of the grace of God. 756s

You see, they're going to be that neighbor's death or the second coming. 767s

And the verbal proclamation is how we proclaim and how God brings people to faith. 773s

Be kind, loving, do good deeds, serve, absolutely. Do all of that. Definitely, that's faith being lived out. 785s

But someone comes to faith when they hear of the one whose faith is being expressed from you. 795s

The Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 53, then, we studied about the atonement accomplished by 804s

the Messiah. In 54, we studied about the church. In 55, we see that the Messiah would accomplish 814s

the plan of salvation and that pardon offered as a free gift. When you move into 56, we see that 820s

the Lord's grace and the Lord's love is for all. It is for all. It is the all-inclusive grace of God, 829s

Almighty. So let's look at chapter 56, verse 3. 841s

Says, Do not let the foreigner join to the Lord say, 850s

The Lord will surely separate me from his people. Do not let the foreigner join to the Lord say, 854s

The Lord will surely separate me from his people. The former, the foreigner here is the Gentile 861s

Convert. So it is that saying, Don't let the Gentile convert say, The Lord will surely separate me 869s

from his people. There was an understanding among the chosen people of God that the Gentiles were 878s

second class. So that's where the concern is is for the Gentile convert, say, Surely the Lord's 887s

going to separate me from his people. Look at verse 6, please, of chapter 56. 896s

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him to love the name of the 907s

Lord and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it and hold fast my covenant. 912s

These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. 920s

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. 926s

For my house shall be called a house of prayer. For all the peoples. 931s

Thus says the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel. I will gather others to them, 938s

because those besides those already gather. 944s

In Herod's temple in ancient day, there was a wall. 951s

And it separated the inner court of the Jews from the outer court of the Gentiles. 957s

There was a wall. And on the wall is a sign, a sign for the Gentiles, 965s

that if they cross over to the other side, how's this for clear communication? 975s

They'd be killed. I mean, I can imagine. Here, there's a temple. You got the Jewish side, 982s

you got the Gentile side, the wall and a sign, as says. You step over here. 989s

And you will be killed. Talk about separation. 995s

Let's go to Ephesians, the second chapter. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 1002s

Acts and Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians and then Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13. 1007s

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 1026s

For he's our peace. In his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the 1035s

dividing wall that is the hostility between us. He is abolished the law with its commandments 1043s

and ordinances that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace. 1051s

And might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death 1060s

that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and 1068s

peace to those who were near. For through him both of us have access in one spirit to the Father. 1075s

We are reconciled to God. We are reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. 1088s

And what Paul highlights, what Isaiah highlights is the reconciliation here to each other is also through 1095s

Christ. Now think of the implications of that. 1107s

Think about our society that is so fractured in so many ways, in so many ways. 1115s

Think of the reality of discrimination because someone's 1126s

hegment is different than yours. The only difference is their skin color is different. 1135s

Or they're from another country. 1150s

One author says, we can work towards reconciliation in society 1156s

amongst all of the sinful separations that we have. The best thing that we can do 1162s

is to expand the church because the church in her Orthodox view 1171s

understands that we've been reconciled to God and that we've been reconciled to one another 1180s

through Christ. There's a solution, right? There's a solution. 1184s

Paul preaches it, Isaiah preaches it, and may the church preaches it, 1193s

and hold up the sin and the manifestation that we see in society with regard to separation of groups. 1201s

And as the people reconciled to God and reconciled to one another, 1211s

may the church be the leader, the church be the leader. In reconciliation, 1216s

in our world. The subject now moves from inclusion and outreach 1222s

to a failure of God's servants to warn people. And the picture is when spiritual leaders fail 1232s

in their duty. What Isaiah lifts up in chapter 56 verse 10, 1245s

he says, Israel's sentenials, and he's speaking now to the spiritual leaders, are blind. 1257s

They're all without knowledge. They're all silent dogs that cannot bark, 1263s

dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. The dogs have a mighty appetite. They never have enough. 1271s

The shepherds also have no understanding. They have all turned to their own way, 1280s

to their own gain, one and all. Come, they say, let us get wine, let us fill ourselves with strong 1285s

drink, and tomorrow will be like today great beyond. Measure. Let's go to the book of James, 1293s

please. James chapter 3, James chapter 3 will pick up in verse 1, 1304s

Hebrews and then James, James 3 verse 1. 1313s

And there the scripture says, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, 1325s

for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 1330s

Let's go to 1 Timothy chapter 4, keep turning back towards Matthew. 1337s

1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 13. 1344s

Paul writes, until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture to 1356s

exhorting to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you through 1362s

prophecy with the laying on of hands by the counsel of elders. Put these things into practice to 1369s

vote yourselves to them so that all may see your progress. Pay close attention to yourselves 1379s

and to your teaching. Continue in these things. For in doing this, you will save both yourself and 1387s

your hears. Steve Lawson writes this, the contemporary church seems bent on presenting a non-offensive 1396s

felt-need message, which is a sad departure from the model presented in Acts. 1408s

Delivering a watered down, man-centered message only retards the spiritual hunger of true believers 1416s

for the meat of God's word. Instead, instead of serving a full-course meal of God's truth, 1427s

many evangelical pastors have only prolonged this low spiritual desire by offering the spiritual 1437s

junk food of human philosophies and worldly thinking. Such spiritual junk food, full of quote, 1444s

all kinds of artificial preservatives and unnatural substitutes, wrote William Kaiser, 1454s

has resulted in quote, theological and biblical malnutrition in a worldwide spiritual famine 1459s

due to the absence of any genuine proclamation of the word of God. 1470s

Is he spot on? Absolutely he is. Absolutely is. The problem you see, the problem with spiritual 1479s

leaders that Isaiah condemns, that poll warns about the problem begins in the seminary. 1488s

Begins in the seminary. I was in the seminary in the early 80s and you could see 1499s

the kind of camps there. It is just increasingly gotten, I need to be frank now, it's increasingly 1509s

become worse. It's worse. It starts in the seminary. It begins with the preparation of the future 1521s

shepherds. That winds up then in the pulpit. So as the shepherds are prepared with a certain way, 1534s

or abandonment of God's truth, when one comes out then, if one doesn't repudiate what they've 1545s

been taught, that then winds up in the pulpit because the training then forms the proclamation. 1553s

So it starts with the pepper preparation. It winds up in the pulpit, which affects obviously the 1562s

proclamation. Eventually winds up in the pew and it takes root in the pew so that then the church 1574s

then grows from the seeds that have been planted to her. And when the seeds that have been planted to 1587s

her are wrong and that takes root, it then becomes pervasive. It becomes where the church cannot 1598s

recognize truth from error. And when that happens, then you see the corollary where there is no turning 1610s

to the authoritative word of God. You are simply turning inward upon oneself to speak your own truth. 1624s

So the church then adopts the language of the world that says, 1634s

you just need to speak your own truth. And then the church adopts that language. And so you have 1643s

a congregation then of which the organizing principle is everyone speaking their own truth. 1651s

You go longer have a church, do you? You have people then that meet on Sunday morning and have 1661s

fellowship. But it's not the church, you see, because the church is that which is defined where the 1671s

word is correctly preached and the sacraments correctly administer. 1683s

The church can look critically at society and say, look what's happening to society. 1695s

I would suggest that the church needs to look at herself and to say, what has happened to the church 1706s

whereby there is no clear proclamation to society? Because where there's no 1717s

clear proclamation of the gospel, how then do people convert? We're right back to the 1729s

beginning of a lesson, right? Where there's no proclamation of the gospel, people's heart doesn't 1738s

change. So the church's temptation then is to move into, well, we'll address the problems of the world 1748s

through politics instead of proclamation. Because the church then loses its proclamation, 1763s

says, we don't like what's kind of going on in the world, or maybe we do like what's going on 1772s

the world. They either affirm it or they either say, no, we're going to address it. And they address 1778s

it by political action which never changes the heart, right? That's imposing laws. It's not a heart 1784s

change. It's operating outside of what the scripture talks about as the two kingdoms, two different 1796s

functions. Luther was brilliant in this. He highlighted it that the church has a function of 1802s

proclaiming the word and administering the sacrament. The government has the function of keeping 1807s

society safe. When the church starts to say, we're going to function this way. It's safe. In this 1813s

kingdom to affect change because she's lost per word, there's no change. Then you have society 1824s

saying you want nothing to do with the church. Because we don't agree with them politically. 1835s

You see the problem? So society says we don't want anything to do with the church because we see 1845s

the church is simply another political arm. And the church isn't functioning as a church. 1852s

The house at for an uplifting message this morning. 1861s

But we take the word where it is, right? And we apply it. So where's the bottom line for us? 1868s

Where's the where is the word embrace in this? 1875s

We must continue to maintain to be the church that speaks. 1880s

We must continue to be a church in which the word is rightly proclaimed in the sacraments 1888s

or rightly administered. We must continue to be a church that doesn't lose our message. 1896s

The fellowship is great, but fellowship isn't the church. Is it? 1905s

It's what happens at church. But the church is where the gospel is rightly proclaimed in the 1916s

sacraments. We have nothing to say to the world. Move into politics. You know, should every 1934s

Christian be involved in politics? Absolutely. Not the church. Not the church. You will not hear 1943s

me endorsing who I'm going to vote for for president. You won't. Is your own conscience here? 1953s

Go out. Be active. Involves it isn't absolutely. But the church's proclamation is Christ. 1964s

Because in the end, society is not changed politically. Society is changed by proclamation of the 1970s

church, which changes the art. We can impose a political will on society. 1984s

And what we're seeing is is non-Christians rejecting the church, functioning as the political 1997s

as the political arm, imposing cruel will on society, and therefore rejecting the very 2005s

saying that we'll change there. I really want to go on on this, but we've got this thing at 2013s

11 o'clock. What is that? And it's a service. Anyway, we realize the limited time that we have, 2029s

we realize Lord's grace is for all. We realize that spiritual leaders must not fail in their 2040s

duty and the people must not then reflect spiritual leaders who have departed from their duty. 2048s

We are to speak words of encouragement, we speak the words of the gospel. 2060s

For it is through the proclamation that God brings people to faith and changes the heart. 2067s

Chapter 58-60. Next week. 2077s