Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

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Introduction:
Barnes and Noble date….caught my eye!
Life on the outside
Freedom: The Story of My Second Life, Oufkir’s follow-up memoir, details her struggle to create a “normal” life outside her homeland. First in France, then the United States, Oufkir confronts the abundance of food available in supermarkets, shocking after all those years of prison deprivation and hoarding even the smallest crumb. Equally frightening to her is how technology makes the world a small place; Oufkir learns how to live in a world where her appearance on “Oprah” makes her an international celebrity.
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

The eldest daughter of General Oufkir, the King of Morocco’s closest aide, Malika Oufkir was adopted by the king at age of five as a companion for his daughter. She spent most of her childhood and adolescence within the gilded walls of the palace, living an extraordinarily privileged yet secluded life.

Her world was shattered on August 16, 1972, when her father was executed for his part in an attempt to assassinate the King. Along with her mother and five siblings, Malika, then nineteen, was imprisoned in a penal colony. The Oufkir family spent the next fifteen years in prison, the last ten in solitary confinement, until they managed to dig a tunnel and escape. Their freedom ended five days later, however, when they were captured and returned to prison. In 1996, after twenty-four years of incarceration, the Oufkir family was finally granted permission to leave Morocco.

In Stolen Lives, Malika recounts her family’s story with unflinching and heartrending honesty. She recalls their day-to-day struggle for survival in harsh conditions, being watched around the clock by prison guards, and communicating with her family solely through prison walls for more than a decade. She tells of raising her brothers and sisters, teaching them good manners and attempting to provide them with some semblance of a normal life. They celebrated Christmas and birthdays, saving up rations to make cakes and fashioning toys out of cardboard. Through it all, Malika managed to draw upon her sense of humor, which, she says, “allowed us to survive even-and most of all-at the worst moments.”

In the Preface to Stolen Lives, co-author Michˆle Fitoussi recalls that, upon first meeting Malika, she asked herself, “How can anyone appear normal after such suffering? How can they live, laugh, love, how can they go on when they lost the best years of their life as a result of injustice?”

This is a quiz: Where do these words come from?
Revelation 22:16-17 “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” ESV

I. Who Is “You”?
First of all let’s take the “you” in verse 12. “For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace.” Who is this “you”? It’s the same people that have been spoken to all along. In verse 6 it’s the person who seeks the Lord while he may be found and calls upon him while he is near. In verse 7 it’s the wicked person who forsakes his way and the unrighteous person who forsakes his thoughts—the people who return to the Lord for mercy and pardon.

In verse 1 its the people who come to the water because they are thirsty. And even though they have no money, they “buy” wine and milk without money and without price.

In other words, the “you” of verse 12 is a person who feels need in his soul, hears the voice of God offering refreshment and nourishment and exhilaration, seeks the Lord while he may be found, calls upon him while he is near, drinks from the fountain of life, receives mercy and pardon for all sins, and trusts in the triumphant promises of God described in verse 11—”my word . . . shall accomplish that which I purpose and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Is that you this morning? Have you been responding to what God offers in this Great Invitation of Isaiah 55? If so you are the one being talked about in verse 12.

Revelation 22:17 throws the door wide open to all who will come!
“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” ESV

Let me tell you if no one has told you…you are included!
You have been included all along from eternity!
Isaiah is written 2700 years ago and it is about Israel
Chosen, rebellious, disciplined and redeemed.
But throughout the book the promises apply to everyone!

II. When?
Isaiah 55:12-14 ““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.”” ESV

Verses 13 –

Genesis 3:17-18 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.” ESV

The curse reversed! He returns wasted years! This is our God.
When? When the curse is reversed!
“for an everlasting sign” - Not a brief change but permanent!
Promising a major change

Romans 8:18-22 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” ESV

Isaiah 11:6-9 “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. “The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. “The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” ESV

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”” ESV

This picture of a future….is a picture of your future.!

III. What Will Our Future Be Like?

A. The future God is planning for you is happy
“You shall go out in joy!”

We have some happiness now.
Past test…a deer during season…family at Thanksgiving…
A new car…a job…forgiveness…purpose in life.

But always mixed with a shadow of dissatisfaction, disappointment, pain, sorrow,

“Go out”
Go out of Egypt
Go out of Babylon
Go out of the world as we know it and leave it behind!
As we leave it behind we release it with hesitancy because it is the only world we know and we don’t know what the next will be like…
But it will be the age of perfect happiness!
The timeless moment!
Joy never marred by sorrow and pain. All inner turmoil gone!
Pure, everlasting joy!
That’s what God is planning for you!

B. The future God is planning for us is one of peace!
The hope of peace!
Wow! Is there peace anywhere?
How in the world will peace ever be part of my external world?

“Be led forth” = our leader, commander and chief.

There is One who has the power to bring about peace!
No tragedy of war raging in my body.
No tragedy of terrorists’ bombs.

Won’t have to let go of the Mtns and hills
The hills are alive with the sound of music
Rocky Mtn High

Or the trees that clap their hands.

The world of nature not against us anymore.
No floods or typoons or earthquakes or tornadoes, or blizzards.
This radical change is permanent and it is for the whole world.
This is the promise of the new earth and it is for those who seek and call on the Lord.

The world of nature for us…

C. The Anthem of the Lord’s Renown!

A fitting memorial!
The eternal, external peace of nature redeemed.
The eternal peace within.
The eternal happiness of God’s people!

The eternal glory of God will be manifested in the eternal joy of his people.

People filled with hope…
Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” ESV

Colossians 1:4-5 “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,” ESV
James 5:7-11 “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. “You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” ESV

2 Corinthians 3:12 “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,”

Filled with confidence that God is planning joy and peace for you.