Probably what people who love
Christ have in common more than anything else is they all believe
that Christ is all. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 55? Ho, this is God speaking. Ho, everyone 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. I've entitled this message, Ho,
Everyone That Thirsts. In the late 60s, there was a
popular song that had this line that I always thought about myself
when I heard it. Still a man hears what he wants
to hear, and disregards the rest. Heard that song? And I can't help but think, how
often does that describe me? I hear what I want to hear, and
there's so much that I do not hear. I disregard the rest. Hearing only what we want to
hear and disregarding what else has been said. Now, in this passage
of scripture, in Isaiah chapter 55, God says, ho, that's an attention getter. God condescends to do that. And listen to this. What God
has to say to me is a whole lot more important than what I have
to say to him. Look what he says in verse two. Hearken diligently unto me. Look what he says in verse three. Incline your ear. You know you
gotta bend down to incline your ear. If you're up too high, you're
not gonna hear. Hear, and your soul shall live. Ho! Like a drill sergeant saying,
attention! Listen. Listen to what God is saying. Don't merely hear what you want
to hear. May the Lord deliver us from
that. And may we hear what God is actually saying in this passage
of scripture. And what a condescension on God's
part to use this language. Ho! Everyone that Thirst. I love everyone, but there is
a qualification to these everyones. Everyone that thirsteth. Doesn't say how thirsty. He just
says everyone, that's a broad word, everyone that Thirst is a felt absence of what is
needed to quench your thirst. Water. And you know that what
is going to quench your thirst must come from outside of you. That's what thirst is. It's a
felt absence of what you need to quench your thirst. And you realize that there's
nothing that can come from within you that can quench your thirst. It must come from outside of
you. Now, the scripture gives us a
lot of glorious information with regard to what this thirst consist
of. You'll remember the fourth beatitude. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. A felt absence of this in and
of yourself, knowing that it must come from without you. Look in verse 17 of chapter 54. I love the way he gives this
verse right before the whole everyone that thirsteth. No weapon
that's formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me, saith. The Lord, do you thirst for this? Do you thirst to have his righteousness,
his perfect 33 years that he walked upon this earth, his righteousness
as your personal righteousness before God? Do you thirst for
this? Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
I don't want to have anything to do that has my thumbprints
on it. I don't, not having my own righteousness, I don't want
to have anything to do with that, but that which is through the
faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. Come ye, to the waters. Are you thirsty? Come ye to the
waters. Not go and do, not go and make
yourself better, not make yourself worthy. Right now, come ye to
the waters, the spirit and the bride say, come and let him that
heareth say, come and let him that's a thirst come and whosoever
will let him take the water of life freely. Do you need his
righteousness as your righteousness before God? Come. Now the Lord knows how natural
it is for us to believe in works. Believe there's something that
I need to do. There's something that I need to bring. There's
something I need to give up before I can come. We just think that
way naturally. Look what the Lord says. Oh,
everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that hath
no money, come ye. Buy and eat, yea, buy wine and
milk without money and without price. Now the Lord further qualifies
this thing of having thirst. Who is the one he calls upon
to come? the one who has no money, the
one who has nothing to bring to the table, nothing, not a
zilch, nothing. That's the person he calls to
come. If you have anything that you
can pay, if you have anything that would recommend you to God
or obligate him to act on your behalf, there's nothing for you. This is the only thing that is
truly free. Do you hear? Do I hear? This is the only thing that's
truly free. Free grace, the only currency
accepted is to have nothing. To have no good thing. You have
nothing to bring right now. Would that be you? Water to quench your thirst. Milk to strengthen you. Wine
to enjoy. All is to be had without money
and without price. There's nothing you need to do
to make yourself worthy. Nothing. The only requirement
is to have nothing. Would that be you? Verse two, this verse deals with our spiritual
stupidity. Wherefore do you spend your money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfies not? Why do you do that? Hearken unto me, diligently listen. This is that hoe, this is God
condescending to say to us, listen to what's being said. Why do
you spend your money on that which is not bread, your labor
for that which satisfies not? There's only one thing God is
satisfied with. His son. The person and work of Jesus
Christ, his beloved son. That's all he's satisfied with
and he's so satisfied. He's satisfied with his son.
He's satisfied with what his son did. He's satisfied with
everyone his son did it for. Completely satisfied. You know the only thing that
satisfies me is what satisfies God. If God's satisfied with
what he did, I am too. Why do you spend your money for
that which is not bread? Which provides no satisfaction. Hearken diligently unto me and
eat ye that which is good. and let your soul delight itself
in fatness, in the plenteousness of the gospel. I love Romans
chapter eight. I know you do too. I love when
Paul says, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely? You hear the word, don't you?
Freely, do you hear? Freely give us all things. There's nothing that can prevent
him from freely giving me all things because he spared not
his son. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Who can bring any accusation against me? God justified me.
Are you satisfied with that? Who can condemn me? It's Christ
that died. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Now, it's free. Free. There's nothing you need to do.
We naturally think there's something I need to do before He can act
on my behalf. I need to do this. Free. Free
grace. Verse three. Incline your ear,
bend down. You know, if I'm having a hard
time hearing it's because I'm up too high. That's what prevents me
from hearing. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Not go and do, come to me now
let me give you some i hope it helps me i hope it helps you
too what happens when you come to christ you leave someplace
when you come to christ you leave salvation by works and if you
haven't left salvation by works you haven't come to christ hebrews
4 9 there remaineth arrest for the people of God, for he that's
entered into his rest hath ceased from his own works. As God did from his. To him that worketh not. Are you convinced that salvation
has anything to do with something you must first do before God
can do something for you? You're in trouble. To him that
worketh not, but believeth. on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Here, and your soul shall live,
faith cometh by hearing. Here. Oh, what a glorious thing
that God tells us this. Oh, hearken diligently. Here, and your soul shall live. Now look what he says. In verse
three, incline your ear, come unto me here and your soul shall
live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. Even the sure
mercies of David. Now what are these sure mercies
of David that God says I'll make? Now turn with me to 2 Samuel
23. David's dying. Look in verse
one. Now these be the last words of
David. David, the man after God's own
heart. David. The beloved David, the
sweet psalmist of Israel. David, who up to that point was
the greatest king in the world. The scripture says the fear of
David fell on every nation. David, the man that God used
so mightily. David, the man who was a sinful
man. And he understood that. What
is on his mind when he's dying? These are his last words. What
are they? Well, look what he says in verse
five. Although, remember these are
the sure mercies of David. Although my house be not so with
God. And David's house was a mess.
Is your house a mess? David's was worse. He had his
kids trying to kill each other. Oh, what a mess David's house
was. It was all his fault and he knew it. The Lord told David,
the sword's never gonna depart out of your house. David was
speaking of this house. Although this house, this body
of death, this old man, this wretched man, be not so with
God. Although this house, Be not so
with God. Do you know what that means?
You understand? Although this house, my house,
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, the sure mercies of
David. And what does David say about
this? This is all my salvation. This is all my desire. Though
he maketh it not to grow. Now, why doesn't it grow? Because
it can't. It's complete. You could just
as easily say, since he makes it not to grow or because he
makes it not to grow. Why? It's complete. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete. In him. Lacking absolutely nothing. Now, Archon diligently, he says,
I'll make an everlasting covenant with you. Even the sure mercies. of David. Back to our text in
Isaiah 55. Verse four. Behold, God is still
speaking. Behold, he's been saying, listen,
well, this is the same thing here. What a mercy that God says
this to us. Listen, hearken diligently, behold. Behold, I have given him. And he gives three names for
the Lord Jesus Christ. I've given him for a witness
to the people, a leader, and a commander to the people. I've
given him as a witness, as a leader, and as a commander. He is the witness. He said, I
came to bear witness to the truth in John 18, 37. And when he went
to the cross, he bore witness to the truth regarding the true
character of God. I'm not gonna know God apart
from who he is. He is the witness of the true
character of me. I see who I am, not by looking
within my heart. I see my sin when I see what
he had to do in order to put it away, my evil. He's the witness concerning salvation. He is salvation. He's the witness.
He's the divine witness. And he's the leader. Now, what do you do? You follow
the leader. He said, follow me. Now, generally, when we think
of this, I know the way I think, follow, follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. I think of imitate Christ, do what he does. That's what
I think. And we should. Is that the way you follow someone?
You follow someone by keeping your eyes on them. and not looking
anywhere else. If you're in a crowd and somebody's
up ahead, how do you follow them? You keep your eyes on them. You
don't look down at your feet to see how you're walking. You
don't look behind to see if there's any good evidences. You don't
look to other people. You look to Him only. That's what it is to follow Christ.
It's to look to Him only. At all times, to look to Him
only. and he's also the commander to
cause us to do it. Thou has given commandment, David
said, to save me. Oh, what a blessed one this is,
who is the witness, the leader, and the commander. Verse five,
behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
that knew thee not shall run unto thee. because of the Lord
thy God and from the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee. Now, I love that scripture in
Proverbs, the name of the Lord, his name is his attributes, that's
who he is, it's the person behind the name. The name of the Lord
is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are saved. Now,
why do we run? Because this scripture says the
Lord has glorified him. He said, I finished the work
thou gavest me to do. I've glorified thee on the earth.
I finished the work thou gavest me to do. When he said it is
finished, he didn't say I've done my part. Now you do your
part. He said, it is finished. The full glory of God accomplished
by what he did. And we run unto him. Verse six. Seek ye the Lord. while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. When is that? Right now. Don't wait. Well, I'm gonna get
this thing taken care of tomorrow. You know what that is? Salvation
by works. You're talking about what you're
gonna do. Don't wait. The time is right now. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. The time to
look to Christ only, to come to Him, to drink of this water
with no money and no price is right now. Don't wait. You know, the two biggest false
refuges men have is the future and the past. Look into something
I'm going to do or trying to rest in something I did. It just
works. Look to Him right now. This is the time. This is the
hour. The day of salvation is now. Behold, now is the accepted time. Do you hear? Don't wait for anything. Don't wait till you get better.
Don't wait till you think your life is straightened out. Look
to Him. right now. Verse seven, he is near. Don't you love that scripture
in Romans 10 where Paul said, the word is nigh thee. Even in
thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith, which we
preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus. He's Lord. He's the creator. He's Lord of creation. He's the
Lord of providence. Do you believe that? He controls
everything, every thought. He's Lord of salvation. Salvation's
in his hand. Do you confess the Lord Jesus?
Do you believe in your heart? God raised him from the dead.
I'm not just talking about believing in the fact of the resurrection.
You have some understanding of why he raised him from the dead.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
Would it be successful? Oh, the word's an IV. Don't wait
for something else to happen. Don't wait. The time is right
now. Verse seven. Let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man, his thoughts, let him return
unto the Lord and he'll have mercy upon him. And to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon. You don't have to go through
a period of probation. You come right now. And he will abundantly
pardon. Let the wicked forsake his way
of salvation by works and his wrong thoughts of God. Our thoughts
are wrong. Let him return to the Lord and
he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. Listen, there's no probationary
period. You come right now. and you will
be completely received. Verse eight, have ever true words been said,
for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways. Save the Lord. Our thoughts, our ways. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and
he will abundantly pardon. You know, there's a way that
seems right to men. Scripture says that. There's a way that
seemeth right to men. The end thereof are the ways
of death. Would you turn with me for a moment Proverbs chapter
28. Proverbs chapter 28. Verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper. Isn't that what Adam did? Isn't that exactly what Adam
did when he made that covering? but whoso confesseth and forsaketh. Now, what I want to point out
to you, look at them. It's in italics, isn't it? It was supplied by the translators,
but that's not what is really said. Whoso confesseth his sin
and forsakes this thing of trying to cover his sin. That's the
way that comes natural to the natural man. He shall have mercy. Oh, may the Lord enable me to
confess my sin before him. I hate it when I, and I do this
all the time, when I confess my sins, and you're not even
thinking about what you're saying very much. It's just words. May God
give me grace to take sides with God against myself and confess
my sin and forsake trying to cover it and looking to Christ
only. Back to our text in Isaiah 55. Verse nine, verse eight, for
my thoughts are not your thoughts. Don't you know that so? Every thought I have of God that
comes from my nature is wrong. Every thought I have about myself
that comes from my nature is wrong. I'm so thankful the Lord
says this, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your
ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. I love that scripture in Jeremiah
21 and 29, where God says, I know the thoughts that I have of you.
Thoughts of peace. Believe that. I'm accepted in the Beloved.
I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. I'm sinless in Christ Jesus.
God says, thoughts of peace. I love that passage of Scripture
in 2 Kings chapter 5 where Naaman hears that there's a prophet
in Israel and he goes down to see the prophet and he says to
the king, I've heard you can Recover me from my leprosy. The
king says, I can't do that. He's trying to cause problems
with me. He's trying to start a fight with me. And then Elisha
hears and says, you tell him there's a prophet in Israel.
Now, would you turn with me there to second Kings chapter five?
I want us to read this passage of scripture. Verse eight. And it was so when
Elisha, the man of God, had heard that the king of Israel had rent
his clothes, 2 Kings 5, verse 8, that he sent to the king,
saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now
to me, and he shall know that there's a prophet in Israel.
So Naaman came with his horses, with his chariot, and stood at
the door of the house of Elijah. I love to think about that. He
comes with his fine clothes, his chariot, His power, here
I am. And Elisha sent a messenger unto
him. Oh, don't you know that offended him? Elisha didn't even
come. He just sent a messenger to him,
saying, go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall
come again to thee and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth
and went away and said, behold, I fought. There's your problem. Behold, I thought he will surely
come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord
his God and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper.
Are not Abana and Tharfar rivers of Damascus better than all the
waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be
clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants
came near and spake unto him and said, My father, if the prophet
had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?
How much rather then, when he saith to thee, wash and be clean,
then he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh came
again, like unto the flesh of a little child. And he was clean. Naaman, you thought wrong. Isaiah
55. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it." Now, first of all,
preaching the gospel is never in vain. God said, the word that goes
out of my mouth. And in true preaching, if this is true preaching,
I might be having words, but that the words that come from
him, if this is true preaching, that's what true preaching is.
And it's never in vain. It always accomplishes whatever
God intends for it to accomplish. It's never in vain. And I'm so thankful for that.
But let's look at it this way as well. Who is the Word that
comes out of God's mouth? In the beginning was the Word. He is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning. with God, and the word was made
flesh. Now, read this in light of this
being the Lord Jesus. Yes, it's a gospel message, but
read it now as the Lord Jesus. So, verse 11, so shall my word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereinto I sent it. Now, Christ is the
sent one. You believe that? You believe
God sent him? You know, the Lord said, this
is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. He said,
I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. And this is the father's will,
which has sent me that of all which he has given me, I should
lose nothing. Now all my hope of salvation
is found in the truthfulness of that statement. I won't lose
one. That's why I came. I won't lose
one. Don't you love in Luke chapter
9 verse 31 when the Lord is transfigured before the disciples? And his
face shines above the brightness of the sun, his clothing is glistening
and white, and they were scared to death, and I understand that.
Moses and Elijah were talking to him. And what were they talking
about? They spake of the decease which he should accomplish. When
I die, there ain't gonna be no accomplishments. Oh, but when
he dies, when he died, what an accomplishment. And that is my
salvation, that he's gonna succeed in whatever he does. The Father
sent him to save a people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall save his people from their sins. He saved his people
from their sins. All my eggs are in that basket.
I'm looking nowhere else. What he accomplished. Verse 12, for you shall go out
with joy and be led forth with peace. Remember that scripture
in Romans chapter 15, verse 13, The joy and peace of believing.
The joy of knowing that everything God requires of me, he looks
to his son for. Does that make you happy? The
joy, the peace, the only thing that gives me peace is that he
is my peace, that he accomplished my peace. Therefore being justified,
having been justified. You know what it means if you're
justified? It means you've never sinned. It means you stand before
God without guilt. It means you stand before His
law perfectly. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For you shall go out with joy
and be led forth with peace. Notice, you'll go out, and you
know why you'll go out? Because you're led forth. He
leads you, and when He leads you, you go out freely. And when
you go out freely, it's because He's leading you. You go out
and you'll be led forth with joy and peace, and the mountains
and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Oh, the whole
creation rejoices and claps their hand. There's this great, glorious
salvation. Instead of the thorn, come up
the fir tree instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree.
Now the thorn and the briar, where did they come from? The
curse. Oh, here we have the fruit of
God, the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit that come as a result
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it shall be to the
Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Now, if I'm saved, I'm saved
by his name, right? When I call upon his name, I'm
calling upon all of his attributes to save me, save me as an act
of your sovereignty, save me by your grace, save me by your
justice, save me by your wisdom, that's his name. His name is
magnified in the salvation of every one of his people, and
it's an everlasting name. His name shall endure forever.
That's my name before God. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our
righteousness. This is the name we're with.
She shall be called. Yes, he shall be called that,
but us too. And then he calls it a sign. And that sign, same
word, translated token. Now here's the eternal token. The blood shall be a token for
you. He didn't say when you see the
blood. He said when I see the blood. That's the eternal token. What was the one thing God was
looking for? The blood. Here's the eternal token. I hope
we always rejoice in this. When I see the blood. I will
pass over you. Have we heard? He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Lord, give me those ears.