Sermon Tone Analysis

Satisfaction guaranteed!

You hear the promise all the time.

It’s become a staple of selling in T.V. commercials and radio ads.

The phrase satisfaction guaranteed is often used as an advertising slogan more than a legally binding contract.

The implication is that the product or service is so reliable or consistent in quality that the manufacturer or service provider is willing to stand behind it.

This doesn't necessarily mean the product or service has an absolutely perfect performance history, but it does mean the customer will be guaranteed some form of satisfaction even if the product does not meet his or her expectations.

In this chapter, God speaks through Isaiah the Prophet and offers to His people an everlasting covenant that will, indeed, provide complete satisfaction.

God WANTS us to be satisfied, but He wants us to be satisfied in that which is satisfactory.

HE is the satisfactory One.

One of the preachers I regularly listen to is Dr. John Piper, pastor of Betlehem Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN.

He writes that, /“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”/

How can you find satisfaction?

Real satisfaction in God?

!

I. To Find Real Satisfaction, YOU HAVE TO BE THIRSTY

#. in verse 1, Isaiah addresses the participants to whom God promises satisfaction guaranteed

#. it is only for the thirsty and the hungry

* /“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”/

(Isaiah 55:1, NIV84)

#. the first step to satisfaction is dissatisfaction

#. to be /satisfied/, you first have to be /unsatisfied/

#. to be /filled/, you first have to be /empty/

#. to have your /thirst quenched/, you first have to be /thirsty/

!! A. THE WORLD WILL NEVER FULLY SATISFY US

* /“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”/

(Isaiah 55:2, NIV84)

#. it’s no secret that we live in a consumer culture

#. the airwaves are full of ads ... magazines and newspapers depend on advertizing to pay the cost for their product ... unless you have a “pop-up” blocker on you computer, the internet is constantly using what they call “push technology” to “push” advertisements to your screen

#. all this advertizing is designed to convince us that we simply cannot live without the product being promoted

* ILLUS.

Someone once said: The only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments.

A social commentator a few years ago quipped that the typical American buys stuff they don’t need, with money they ain’t got to impress people they don’t like!

#. consumerism promises many things; perhaps at bottom, though, it promises to satisfy our needs and wants

#. consumerism promises, in exchange for some of our resources, the fulfillment of our desires

#. in the pursuit of such fulfillment we will not only have our basic needs satiated, we are told that we will find our true selves

#. perhaps inside of you there exists a latent fly-fisherman, film-maker, or hula-hooper

#. you can only find out by purchasing the needed products and giving them a try

#. the question, of course, does the “stuff” of the world really satisfy?

#. well, to a certain degree, it does which is why we are often like Oliver Twist holding up a bowl and saying, /“Please sir, may I have some more?”/

#.

Satan knows full well that many people will ignore the satisfaction of their soul if they have satisfaction of the flesh

#. “stuff” satiates

#. “stuff” will lull people into a deep spiritual sleep

#. perhaps that’s why Jesus told his disciples that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God

#. this may also be why Isaiah begins the passage with the exclamation /Ho!/ (or Hoy! as in ahoy!)

#. so great is the sluggishness of men that it is sometimes difficult to arouse them without a shout, and so Isaiah begins the passage with a shout—wake up and listen!

#.

God wants your soul to delight in the riches of fare v. 2

!! B. TO FIND SATISFACTION IN GOD YOU MUST BE THIRSTY FOR THE THINGS OF GOD

#. man’s essential problem is that we often do not recognize our spiritual thirst or, when we do, we attempt to slacken that thirst with the wrong sorts of things

* ILLUS.

She was a woman who had been around and it showed, if not on her face, then in the deeper resources of her heart.

It wasn’t the years; it was the mileage.

When it came to picking men, she had plenty of experience and all of it was bad.

One relationship after another had ended in disaster.

Then one afternoon, she went down to the well to draw water and found a Galilean rabbi there.

The last thing she wanted was to get into a religious discussion, but she was drawn into a discussion despite herself when he began speaking to her about her need for living water—a lasting, spiritual, never-ending source of spiritual water that would refresh her tired soul.

You know the story and you know that there came a point in the conversation where Jesus said to her, “Go get your husband and bring him here.”

You can almost see her wince at the mention of the topic.

Why did He have to go and mention that?

“I have no husband,” she responds.

But that question enables her to understand that at the very least she is dealing with a prophet.

Eventually she asks for the living water he has to offer.

#. why did Jesus go there?

#. it was to show her need

#. it was to make her thirsty for that which only He could satisfy

#. he does the same thing to us today

#. there are things that the Lord brings into the sinner’s life that are designed to increase their thirst for the spiritual

#. hardships, ill health, physical, emotional, and spiritual traumas, and even natural disasters are all events that the Holy Spirit will use to create a spiritual thirst in a sinners’s life

!

II.

To Find Real Satisfaction, YOU HAVE TO BE WITHOUT RESOURCES

#. also in verse 1, Isaiah address the plenty by which God promises satisfaction guaranteed

* /“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”/

(Isaiah 55:1, NIV84)

#. to be satisfied, you not only have to be dissatisfied, you also have to be unable to satisfy yourself with that which you have at hand

!! A. GOD’S RESOURCES ARE IN ABUNDANCE

#. three times in verse 1 we hear God’s gracious invitation—Come!

#.

God invites us to experience the abundance of His resources

#. those resources include ...

#. /the waters/—In the East, water is a precious ingredient; and an abundance of water is a special blessing.

Water brings refreshment.

#. /wine, milk, and bread/—Wine, milk, and bread were staples of the Jewish diet, and the primary source of nourishment.

#. the invitation to buy wine and milk and bread indicate that the people were living on substitutes/ that did not nourish them

#.

they needed “the real thing,” which only the Lord could give

#. as in Isaiah’s day, too many of our friends and neighbors and family are living on substitutes that do not nourish them

* ILLUS.

John MacArthur tells the story of an old farmer who had a mule.

The farmer was a frugal old fellow, who had concluded that the oats he was feeding his mule were costing him too much money.

He needed the mule, so he couldn't just sell him.

Instead, he concocted a plan.

He'd substitute just a little bit of sawdust for the oats, hoping the mule wouldn't know the difference.

And it worked.

The mule ate his bag of oats with the sawdust and didn’t seem to notice.

Soon, the farmer subtracted more oats and replaced them with more sawdust.

Again, the mule didn’t seem to notice.

Pleased with the money he was saving, the old farmer continued substituting more sawdust for oats.

Unfortunately, the mule eventually died of malnutrition even though his belly was full.

#. there is a lesson for us in there

#. we sometimes do to our souls, to our spiritual lives, to our relationship with Jesus Christ, what that foolish farmer did to his mule

#.

Jesus probably had Isaiah 55:2 in mind when He said, /“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life”/ (John 6:27, NKJV).

!! B. GOD’S RESOURCES ARE FREE

#. the invitation is to buy even though the customer has no money