March 7, 7:00 p.m. 
Speaker: H.B. Charles
Topic: The Great Invitation
Passage: Isaiah 55

Message Summary: 

Isaiah 55 reminds us that the magnitude of our message is the motivation for our mission. God graciously extends a great invitation for guilty sinners to get right with Him.

God graciously offers to feed, forgive, and fulfill His people.

God commands sinners to come to Him (55:1–2).

This great invitation is more than a good opportunity—it’s a God-given obligation. God commands sinners to come to Him, trust His promises, and repent of their sins. True satisfaction is available in God. But the sinner must come to Him.

God commands sinners to trust His promises (55:3–5).

The great invitation that God offers and the satisfaction that He gives are all of Him. It is all by divine accomplishment, not by human achievement.

This great invitation is only received by faith in Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

God commands sinners to repent of their sins (55:6–7).

This great invitation is extended to all, but verses 6 and 7 remind us that the sinner must come on God’s terms, not his own. God calls sinners to forsake their ways and return to Him. And if the sinner will do this God will have compassion on him.

If you return to God, if you come to God, He will not just pardon, He will abundantly pardon (v. 7).

3 reasons why you can trust this great invitation that God extends to unworthy sinners:

Because of How God Thinks (55:8–9)

Don’t judge how God thinks based on how you think.

• • God’s thoughts and ways are different than ours. Our understanding is not the measure of what God can do.  
  • God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours. We can’t measure the gospel by human reasoning. Romans 5:7–8 says, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We have no right, no reason, to second-guess a God like that. We should trust Him, we should serve Him, and we should praise Him.

Because of How God Speaks (55:10–11)

God’s thoughts and ways are different and higher than ours. How then can we understand His thoughts and ways?

The Bible is not man’s thoughts about God. It is God’s self-revelation to us. The nature, character, and authority of Scripture are rooted in the nature, character, and authority of God Himself. So we have confidence concerning this Word that we preach, knowing that God’s Word will never return to Him empty. God’s Word will succeed in the thing for which He sends it.

Because of How God Works (55:12–13)

God graciously gives that which is not deserved, and He mercifully withholds that which is deserved.

When God works, death is transformed into life. Judgment is transformed into salvation. Curses are transformed into blessings. Barrenness is transformed into fruitfulness. And briars are transformed into evergreens.

Verse 13 tells us that the reason God works this way is for the sake of His name.

God did not cause you to preach to make your name great. He didn’t call you to the place you serve to make your name great. May the Lord help us to preach faithfully this good news of Jesus Christ and die and be forgotten if the name of Jesus can go forth to the nations.