I would like to direct your attention this evening to the words that we find, the opening words, really, of the 55th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, the first and second verses. Isaiah chapter 55, verses 1 and 2. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye. Buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. the Prophet has been sent to a rebellious people. He has been sent to preach to them a two-fold message really. He has been sent to them to preach to them on the one hand of all of their sins, to expose before them all of their iniquities, all of their failings, all of their shortcomings, all of their backslidings. to show to them very plainly how they have gone altogether out of the way of the Lord turned away from seeking after the God who had shown so much favour and so much mercy to them and had gone away to worship the gods of the nations round about turned their back, as it were, on the God who had been so merciful to them neglected them would have nothing to do with him, but now would give him a token worship at Baths, rather than seeking him with their whole hearts. And yet, with all this, the Prophet was to bring a message of hope, a message which gave to them some prospect for the future. sure he tells them that they must be carried away they must be destroyed if they continue on in this way that they are presently going and as we know from history it was so with the children of Israel they were carried away and of course obviously during Isaiah's time of ministry the nation of Israel was carried away by the Assyrians but we find here he always extends to them a word of hope a word of confidence, a word of a positive prospect and a bright future if they would turn away from the empty systems of the false religions that they were following and would seek the one true and living God and would seek Him with all their hearts. and so we find this here in a sense we could see that the first half of Isaiah up to chapter 40 or so is quite negative it is very much it is perhaps heavy reading when we go through to read it very much woe and condemnation upon the people there is of course just before chapter 50 a short passage of the history that is narrated there but it is very much the woe and the sins and the iniquities and the trouble that they would bring upon themselves by continuing in these things there is of course words of hope and promise all the way through there is no question about it but from the 40th chapter really it seems to turn and there is much more of glorious gospel light and there is much prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ in his coming much prophecy of his sufferings of course in chapter 53 that wonderful precious chapter of Holy Scriptures which speaks of Christ and all that he should come to do and yet with it are all these wonderful gospel words gospel exhortations gospel calls and these things remind us of the matters which are most fundamental to our most holy faith this is the word which comes time and time again this is the word which the believer will never tire of hearing because it is the gospel of his salvation This is the Word by which He is saved. This is the Word which brings to Him the most hope and the most joy. This is the Word which thrills Him and enlivens Him and fills Him with hope and confidence looking to the future because He has a glory ahead of Him. He has a heaven awaiting Him and He has Christ there who He shall see at the last. This was Job's confidence from the very beginning, was it not? I know that my Redeemer liveth. glorious words and this has been the confidence of the saints throughout all the ages they have looked forward to this glorious and grand prospect it is something that is confident not something transient not something passing not something that is here one minute and gone the next but it is sure it is eternal it is everlasting and so we find here in these verses the Prophet is calling out to the people he wants their ear he wants them to hear he wants them to listen he wants them to more than listen to actually act upon what he is saying he wants them to respond to these things he wants them to come now he is not speaking literally when he speaks of calling thirsty souls to come to the waters in a sense he had no physical waters no wine and milk that could be bought and bred and so forth but he is speaking in a picture all these things are vital for life we need to have water and food and nutrition in order to be able to live there is some dispute as to exactly how long one can go without water but if you go without water for any short period of time even you will soon find that you have very negative side effects perhaps it may be a headache perhaps a sore throat and of course as it progresses you find that the mind does not function properly and various other parts begin to cease in their functions and all very quickly without water a man will die very soon he needs water in order to live he can go a little bit longer of course without eating and yet still he can't go all that long without eating before he begins to be incapable of doing anything he is just too weak to do anything he cannot rouse himself, he cannot stir himself up and he does not have the strength and the vitality to do it with because he does not have the sustenance and he must have the nutrition in order that he may be healthy to go on without these things he cannot hope to prosper in the long term that is so much as the natural side of things is concerned from a very natural perspective but we have to remember that we are not only bodies everyone has a soul and my friends I fear it is all too often our fault that we placed so much emphasis on the care of the body that we fail to take sufficient care of the soul now it is not wrong to care for the body of course Christ himself and we find this throughout the scriptures shows that there must be a care for both of them look at Elijah when he is depressed he's all together down and out, he's in the wilderness in 1st Kings chapter 19 he's just had this great success as it were of Mount Carmel the fire of God has come down and God has owned him in consuming that sacrifice after the prophets of Baal have been waiting for hours and hours and hours doing all manner of things and tormenting themselves in the hope that Baal would come and show a sign from heaven he failed the God of heaven came down and proved himself Elijah after that great victory instead of being elated filled with zeal for the Lord of hosts he is depressed and downcast discouraged and he runs away into the wilderness and he wants to die what do we find there? well we find that the angel of the Lord comes to him what did he need? he needed rest and he needed to eat and to drink and the angel provided these things for him and sometimes it is so with us sometimes we are found to be in a distress and it may sometimes be with us that we become very disturbed in our minds perhaps we can become very melancholy very downcast I'm not saying it is always the case but sometimes it is because we are merely naturally weary we have become so exhausted that we can't go on and we actually need to stop and we need to rest we need to make sure that we eat and drink properly and so forth we must take care of the body but I shall say no more about that because my concern more properly tonight is concerning the care of the soul my friends the two are connected in some ways but we must not neglect the soul if we neglect anything at the present time I suppose there are a few cases where we must neglect the body but if anything we do better to neglect the body than we do to neglect the soul the body will perish this body if Christ does not return first will go to the grave it will decay it will become corrupted it will perish but my soul will not my soul will go on and it will live forever and therefore it does me better and must not of course be negligent with what the Lord has given abode in whilst means are in hand to sustain it they must be used and taken but we must look first and principally to the care of our souls what is it then we may say what does the prophet call them to? well he is calling thirsty souls to come and to drink he that hath no money thirsty souls men who have no means in order to do anything for themselves to better their situation men who cannot buy that which is needed to sustain them and to help them in their souls and this is the state of every natural man now whether we are aware of that or not is another matter there are so many who go through life and perhaps I would not like to say for certain whether it is their own deception of themselves or whether it is truly the case they are completely unaware of the fact that they are thirsty that they need this sustenance that they need to take care of their souls of course there are so many in the world and we know very well this that would go out of their way to prove that there is no God to prove that there is no soul of man to prove that there is nothing of the sort for man and that religion is all a waste of time of course there are plenty who do that but all this just a rebellion against God by nature and this is the great problem man was made to worship God and yet man by nature is an enemy of God and therefore there is a tension in it and that tension produces thirst on the part of the man he is parched he is dry he is barren he is fruitless he is thirsty and nothing will satisfy that thirst nothing will quench that thirst except a restored relationship with God but the water of life which is Jesus Christ that is all it must be and so we find here that directly we are sent straight to the cross it has been spoken of in chapter 53 the crucifixion of Christ or the suffering that he must pass through and the prophet has not left off from this theme Still, he goes back to it and he goes back to it time and time again because he has no other message. And the Apostles have this same message. What does the Apostle say in 1 Corinthians chapter 2? When he was amongst the people, he determined not to know anything among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was his message. That was his theme. That was his confidence. And that was his glory. That was what he boasted of. Not of himself. Not of his own abilities. but of Christ Jesus and Him crucified. And this is what the Prophet sets forth then as the great remedy for man's great problem. Every thirsty soul that is barren of hope, barren of joy, barren of any fruitfulness of any kind in this world, a man that is dead and dying in trespasses and sins. for such a one here is water not only is he thirsty not only does he have this great need this great want in his own soul he is so lacking in this respect but he is more than this he is thirsty he is hungry now he might be able to obtain water perhaps from some place but he cannot even have the funds to buy himself any food he cannot buy himself wine or milk or bread he is altogether out of funds and so is a man without Christ he likewise is altogether out of funds and we see how that the prophet here supposes, and we see this in the second verse as well supposes that there is some sort of spending money and yet it is altogether for the wrong thing and we see here two things really in the first place it is very easy for us to think that we have money to spend in a sense and I'm speaking spiritually by which I mean to say it is very easy for us to think that we have some kind of abilities some kind of means by which we can better ourselves. Now from the very beginning this is all on the wrong line. Man is dead in trespasses and sins. The scripture teaches us this very plainly. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? The teaching of scripture is plain on the matter. Adam fell in the garden and when he fell he being the representative of the human race all mankind fell with him as in Adam all die and since in Adam all die every man who is born into the world is dead spiritually dead towards God dead to any kind of attempt to sort themselves out dead in every way and such a dead man can do nothing for himself it's almost strange that we have to say it but in this respect it is so easy for us even as believers to mistake on this point because being so dead a man simply cannot mend himself why? you say to me, well my neighbour he's a good person he's so kind, he's so charitable he does so many nice things to help out he works for a charity perhaps and he does all these good things he's always there to help he always says if you ever need any help just give me a ring and I'll be willing to do anything for you is he not a good person? there's some decency about this chap some morality he's got good standards he's not the kind of person go round drunk you'd never find him partying late at night you'd never find him getting into a brawl in the streets you'd never find him out of place anywhere unseemly what of this man? is he a son of Adam? yes well he's a sinner then he can't be anything else in Adam or Die he says that's very harsh no it's not at all not at the slightest because since he is a son of Adam his whole nature is corrupted his soul is not towards God and therefore every action that that man does, however moral it may seem, however upright it may be, however high a standard he may live, every action that he takes is an action against God. You say, how? He's being so moral, so good, well it is an action against God because of his whole motive behind it. His heart in everything that he does, outwardly good, But inwardly, what is he doing it for? If he does not have Jesus Christ, if he does not have the Spirit of God in his heart, then it is all wrong with him. He is starting off on the wrong footing. And starting off on the wrong footing, how can he ever hope to make progress? We have then a fundamental bankruptcy, which means that we can't do anything. Christ is our only hope. Christ is our only righteousness. Christ in His holy nature as He came into the world. Christ by His perfect life fulfilling all righteousness that there might be a righteousness to be imparted to His people and Christ in satisfying justice. taking for us the wrath that we deserved for our sins. But as believers we may fall into this very selfsame fallacy. We may go on in life as Christian people and yet we may suppose at times that somehow we have some kind of ability of self-reformation. we may be troubled perhaps with some besetting sin some thing that we can't get rid of, some temptation that we can't get out of our minds which keeps coming back and which perhaps we sadly keep falling into and we succumb to our senses perhaps so soon afterwards and we say I have done it again again I have grieved the Lord and yet we try to say well I will try harder next time how foolish is that for all our trying harder it would be no surprise if it makes no difference whatsoever we can try harder all our lives and never make any progress and yet you say well the Christian is to be a sanctified person he must strive against sin of course he must but he can't do it on his own he must engage in heartfelt prayer in this respect he must engage the forces of heaven in his behalf before he begins to venture against the foe in this way elsewise he will soon find himself overcome and perhaps plunged into even deeper troubles and deeper woe he will find himself going from one sin to another and each one worse than the last if he does not enlist the help of heaven in his cause there will still be a wrestling there will still be a fighting there must still be a long hard strife I'm not denying that in the slightest it shall take all the resolve and courage that a man has in this respect for he is commanded that he must cut off the sentiment is so much that it is given by Christ that a man should rather cut off his right hand than enter into hell I'm not proposing that we should ever cut off our right hands or block out our right eyes. The sense that he means to bring across in this is that we must be willing to go to the most drastic lengths to break off sin in our lives because it is so deadly. If we have a sight of Christ at Calvary, how can we take sin lightly? We cannot. That great author inestimable suffering that if anything should tell us the evil of sin that it took the Son of God coming from heaven in order to blot out that sin we must then be wholly dependent upon the Lord God there are so many aspects which we could take this in take one more here he may think sometimes that we are wise enough to make our own decisions in life wise to make our own way wise to establish our goings and make our way in this world he may think and reason through everything in our minds and have all the pros and cons listed before us and think well clearly from my judgement this way is the best way to go Ah, but is it the best way to go? Will the Lord be there? Does it matter if it is the best way in your mind to think? That it is the best way for you to go if the Lord is not there? What of Moses' meek spirit when he said, If thou wilt not go with us, lead us not up hence. however prospective it might be, however advantageous it might be, however good it might look, and however glittering and attractive it might seem, yet, if thou would not go with us, do not take us there. That must be our spirit. But then we see how that in Christ we must seek that what we have we spend in the right way. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Now again we can see this regarding the unbeliever and the believer we can see it regarding the unbeliever in this that a man may go about and by all manner of means may try to fix himself without coming to Christ it may be that a man tries to fix the great problem with himself the great desire that his soul has for some God to worship and he goes about either by trying to worship a false god or following a false religion or alternatively by trying to labour towards some corrupted form of Christianity by trying to work himself into heaven and we find this is a trait even of some of the major religions in the world is a religion where you try to work yourself into a heaven which is a very uncertain religion very unstable religion so many you speak to, you say to them can you be sure that you will reach heaven? and they're like, well I hope I'll reach heaven one day it is a kind of a wishful thinking kind of hope because they hope that they might just be good enough to get into heaven, they might have done enough good things to manage to get themselves over the line as it were over the bar into heaven sometimes think of it like sometimes the way that they would grade exams and they would take a top percentage that would be the pass and so the pass mark instead of being a fixed rate would be an adjustable figure depending on the quality of the performances sometimes I think there are those who have the view of those who reach heaven as being those who get into the top percentile of society for morality my friends it is not like that no man will get into heaven because of his goodness and yet some of the vilest of men will get into heaven because of Christ and these labour so much worry themselves so much trouble themselves so much busying themselves, running about here, there and everywhere trying to labour to get into heaven trying to labour for something which they think is bread and yet which when they touch it turns to dust spending all their labour and all their energies in many cases all their lives most miserably trying to find this and failing and yet this may be ours also as believing people we may spend ourselves on that which is not bread God has given to us resources he has given to us certain abilities and certain gifts and certain graces each one of us has different gifts and different graces we have different abilities and different callings and yet each one of us is given these things of the Lord for a purpose they're not ours we cannot say of them it is of my own making I have have trade myself in this way I have put in so much effort to make myself like this and this is why I'm now proficient in this or that or the other now these things are a gift of God in the first place He must have given to us minds and capacities and abilities in various ways given us the ability to sympathise with people to be able to get alongside people or perhaps intellectual or academic abilities to do certain things these things are from the Lord to begin with He was the creator of all these things He was the first cause and therefore He must have the glory in every respect Stewards then of this. Stewards of these things which are given to us. Well, how are we stewards? Are we to be found spending these things and wasting away the resources which God has given to us on that which is not bread? Wasting our lives out on things which matter not to the Kingdom of God, which tend not to His glory and to His honour, and yet which tend only perhaps to the satisfaction and the comfort of the flesh well this is our danger surely a danger that we always live in why? because this is an inclination of the natural man why does he do it before conversion? because of his pride he wants to do something he wants to help himself he wants to feel in control of everything and so he does it before man has an inherent desire to do something but it must be the right thing that is a vital part all that we have we must seek that we spend it on that which is right I'm speaking of course of intellectual abilities but also of various gifts that we may be given Our strength, our energies, our physical abilities as well as our mental ability, emotional capacities and the like, these must be spent for the glory of God. We may wear ourselves down by fear and by worrying and by stressing about various things. It's not that. Spending our labour on that which is not bread and that which satisfyeth not we may spend the best of our time pursuing recreations following after sports and the like but is this spending ourselves on that which is not bread? surely it is this is not the way that the Lord calls us to it may seem a way that is natural for us a way perhaps even that is more comfortable for us a way that is easier for us a way that we naturally would incline to in some respects but we must understand that this is because there is a tension within the man there is a tension always between the old man and the new man there is a tension in the heart a warfare if you like in the heart between the forces of the devil which would recapture a stronghold which is lost to the cause of grace and of the gospel and that wars the flesh wars against the spirit it lusts against it it tries to depose it down the reign of grace does not satisfy the natural man in the sense that the natural man longs after things which are enmity with God this is what the scriptures teach and therefore since there is such warfare in us we cannot suppose that we can go on our way without having this tension without having this warfare my friends if we are unaware of it tonight let us beware if there is not a warfare going on if there is not some kind of battle in the soul I'm not saying that you ought to try to find one out or make one up because if you are honest with yourself and you search hard enough I can guarantee you you will find one soon enough But we are called to higher things than this. Called to more glorious things than this. Called to more heavenly things than this. And it is hard going. But see what it is here. Galatians 2 verse 20. I, he says, am crucified with Christ. That is my old nun, my old affections, my old lusts, my old passions. my old law-keeping endeavours. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We find this again in Colossians. The Apostle, when he is writing to the Colossians there, in chapter 3, he exhorts the people to this, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead. And your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear. Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth. This, brethren, is our calling. It is a calling to things which are established, which are eternal, things which will not pass away. I think sometimes that if we had more of a sense of eternity, if we had more of a sense of the glory and the greatness of God upon our souls then these things would be much clearer to our minds we would perhaps be more convinced of them and yet I know there is danger in saying these things for there are those on the street sometimes who meet and they say well if Jesus were to walk on the streets now then I'd believe He did, my friends. And what did they do? They rejected Him. They would not have Him to reign over them. They crucified Him. What is to say that we would be any different today? It must be the Spirit of God moving in us. That is what we desire. Again, when we seek the Lord, to come to us. We seek for the Lord to bless us. To help us in the way. We do not want some kind of gentle pat on the back. We want the Lord God to work in our hearts. To stir us up in our hearts. To move us from the deepest part of the man to be at peace in Him. Settled and grounded in the hope of the Gospel. Resting in the sovereignty and the goodness of God. That is a good place to be. That is the best place to be. That is where the Prophet calls us to. That is where the Apostles called us to. We must stand and we must rest in this. We may look at it all from this perspective but just for a moment before I close let us see also what it takes from heaven this is such mercy that ever this way should be made for us that ever we should be called to this let us not think that we can just merely take it for granted that this is open to us that there is such a call as this we cannot take it for granted it is entirely undeserved It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. And it here is not only a promise of the taking away of being consumed, not only a removal of punishment and wrath, not only a quelling of the violence, of the anger of God against sin, not only are the darts of the law quenched in Christ's blood, but that very same blood purchases for us wonderful, indescribable blessings from the hand of God not only brought to a neutral state before God but brought to be sons and daughters of Israel brought to be co-heirs with Christ brought to a state where eternal life may be in our view where heaven may be our possession for all eternity, and our glorious inheritance, and Christ may be our Saviour. What love this took! What mercy! What kindness! What longsuffering! That we, who were once dead in trespasses and sins, and even now sin against Him, Yet what a glory and what a wonder that God should have sent his Son into this world to die for sinners. For may we wonder in this. May we hearken diligently unto these words. Let us seek that which is solid, the solid joys and lasting treasures. that none but Zion's children know. Well, may they indeed be ours by the grace of God, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and may we know them in our souls tonight and from this time forth, for Christ's sake. Amen.