"Repent!" Isaiah 55:6-9

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 

Amen

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

In the Name of Jesus

How many of you have ever been lost?  I got lost with my college roommate once.  We had decided to take a day trip to his home town to see family.  It was a couple hour drive, he had lived at that house, in that town, for a long time.  About half way he realizes that things don’t look right.  What we were seeing out the window wasn’t supposed to be there, or at least wasn’t supposed to be see on that side of the car.  His clue was that Lambau Field was out the wrong window.   He didn’t know where we were, I had never been to his house so I didn’t know where were.  We were lost trying to get home. 

Thanks to a phone call to his dad, we got turned around, found the right roads, and were guided safely to his house.  

It is no fun being lost, especially when you have been told the way to where you are numerous times.  Such was the life of the Children of Israel.  They were professional vagabonds.  Both in an earthly sense, look at the desert years and even after.  Look just through the book of Isaiah.  The earthly woes, the earthly struggles which they repeatedly faced.  Yes you can find some joy in the book of Isaiah’s book, but the oppression, the hardships far outweigh the good times. 

No, it is no fun being lost.  And they struggled, they wandered so much in an earthly sense, because they were not only lost in an earthly way, they were lost in a spiritual way.  They had turned on the One who was leading them since the very beginning.  How much easier could it have been for them?  The one who lead them out of slavery, who lead them through the wilderness by the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, who gave them every provision they would need to survive, who gave their enemies on their hands in battle while they marched towards the Promised Land, told them they way. 

He clearly explained, detailed the way for them.  He told them, these are my commands, these are my expectations of you as MY children.  Sure they would follow, but only for a short time.  Their desire to turn and run after their own desires always ended up being more important than following the one who led to the Promised Land.  And not just the earthly promised land but the heavenly Promised Land, the one who set forth the way that leads to eternal life.

While Moses climbs Mount Sinai to receive the Law of the Lord, the Children of Israel turn to golden images, worshiping false gods, because “Moses took too long”.  They complain to the Lord because they are tired.  Tired of walking around, tired of eating the same food every day, in reality, they were tired of being free.  They longed for the days in slavery when, in their minds, they could eat until they were full, when they had a comfy place to rest, where they could die in peace.

The pattern laid out in the book of Isaiah is the same pattern which the Children of Israel held to since their beginning.  Praise God when it is convenient, curse God all the other times.

Friends this is us.  We are Israel.  We are the ones God has chosen, blessed, washed, called by name.  We are the one whom Go leads through the wilderness of sin and temptation.  We are the one to whom has been shown the kingdom of heaven.  We are the ones who know the one who is the Way the Truth and the Life.  We are the ones who love to wander away, and get lost!   We would rather follow the path which the world lays out than the path which God lays out. 

Even in the midst of our wandering, in the midst of our unfaithfulness to our God, we calls to us.  He ever left the Children of Israel to wander aimlessly.  Even when they left him, when the cursed him, when they completely rebelled, he was with the protecting them and providing for them.  He calls to us just as he did in Isaiah’s time.  These are the words of our Old Testament reading.  Not just our 4 verses heard before, but all of chapter 55 is a call to return.

   

“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.  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.  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. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.  Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.   “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.   “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Our Lord is constantly calling us to return to him!  To return, to repent of our erring ways and return to his way.  For he stands near, ever ready to listen to our confession and to forgive our sins.  That is the beauty.  While we sin, while we turn, while we desert the very one who gives us all we need, he stands ready to give us the things we do not deserve, namely the forgiveness of sin and eternal life.   

It is just as Isaiah writes in the second verse of the chapter.  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.  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.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant. 

Why waste your time?  Let’s be honest, we all have at one time or another sought after an earthly form of satisfaction to try and fill a void in our life.  But that void, that satisfaction that we do desperately yearn for is right here.  Counting on something else, someone else, other than the one True God who call to us to return to save us is simply foolish.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  Return to the Lord.  Return to him at all times.  Return to his ever open arms. 

We must heed that call we just heard.  Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.  What exactly does this mean?  Aren’t we told that he is always with us?  Yes.  But here is the difficult part to swallow.  He will not always be here.  His arms will not always be open.  His love will not extent to all, his forgiveness will one day stop.  At that point, all chances will be past, people of all times will be separated, forgiveness will not be needed.  This will happen on the last day when our Lord comes for us again.  But we must be ready.  We must be prepared for the day when our Lord comes.        

And so daily we must return to God.  We must repent of our sins and be placed back on the right path.  Through confession and absolution, through the remembering of our baptism, which Martin Luther urged us daily to do, we were continually brought back in the family of God.  We are daily reconciled, made right, with God.     

Weekly we must return here.  Return to the place where the marks of God’s church are clear.  Where the Word is properly preached, where the sacraments are properly administered.  Return and receive from our Lord his compassion, pardon, heavenly food, and great gifts.  We must return and continue to learn. 

Today marks the beginning of a new topic in our Bible Class.  We are going to walk through the Catechism and understand just who our God is, what his blessings are to us, and how we respond going forward. 

But above of all, I hope and pray that through our studying, through the Divine Service, you and I both are called to Return.  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

Amen.