Isaiah 55, Isaiah 55. Oh, everyone, everyone that is thirsty, everyone that is thirsty, the Lord said, come, come to me. He is the water of life. And that person who has no money, no merit, who has nothing, come buy and eat. by wine and milk, strange economics here, without money, without price. Salvation is the free gift of God, is it not?

Well, I'm entitling the message from the theme of these verses. And in reality, it's the theme of all the word of God. It is the theme and heartbeat of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is this, salvation is free. Salvation that's of the Lord is free. Don't bring your money. Don't bring your works. Don't bring your merit. Come as you are, naked, guilty, needy sinners. The Lord is never cast out.

All the years I've been reading and studying the Scripture, I've never read one time where a needy, guilty sinner came to the Lord Jesus Christ and was turned away. Blind Bartimaeus cried out for mercy. The leper that came down and worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ full of leprosy, he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And the Lord reached forth His hand and touched him. He don't do that to a leper. And the Lord said, I will be thou clean. That ought to encourage us to seek the Lord. Seek mercy where it's found. Seek mercy where it's found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salvation is full and free. We studied From Romans chapter three, remember what it said, God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely, freely. I like that word, don't you? Free grace, free and sovereign grace. Freely, I freely give you all things. Knowing and understanding and believing the Lord Jesus Christ purchased salvation for us with his own blood, He said, you're bought with a price, you're no more your own. Knowing and understanding and believing that Christ accomplished and provided all that God required of us, his covenant people, everything that God required of us, the Lord provided for us. He's able to meet all our needs according to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's of his fullness that we all have grace upon grace,

Knowing and understanding, believing that Christ the Lord Jesus accomplished salvation for us and provides everything that God requires of us, he freely gives that unto us. This makes salvation to everyone that believes, that believes the gospel, certain, sure, everlasting, and free, justified freely by his grace to the redeeming blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the promises of God in Christ are yes, and in him, and amen, and to the glory of God.

Now, in Isaiah 53, most people are familiar with Isaiah 53. We see the gospel provided through a covenant sacrifice. That covenant sacrifice is that lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He's called the blood of the everlasting covenant. We see there in Isaiah 53, the Lord Jesus Christ set forth as a lamb that would be slain, wounded, bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his tribe, we are healed. Healed.

Isaiah 54, we see the gospel promise of covenant mercies. We see a covenant sacrifice. We see the promise of covenant mercies. Look at Isaiah 54, verse 10. We had this several weeks back. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that had mercy on thee. It's a covenant of peace. We have peace with God. People say sometimes in religious circles, I've made peace with God. That's not a good statement. You can't make peace with God. He's holy, we're sinful. How can we be reconciled? Only in Christ. He made peace for us with His own blood. That's what we call covenant mercies. Through the covenant sacrifice.

And then Isaiah 55, we see the gospel promise of the covenant call. The call of God. Verse 3, incline your ear and come unto Come unto me. Hear. Hear what? Thus saith the Lord. Hear, and your soul shall live. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of the Lord. That's familiar, isn't it? We had that recently, didn't we? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. Incline your ear and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live.

And I'll make an everlasting covenant. This is not temporary amnesty. He saves us with an everlasting salvation because of this everlasting covenant. Before Adam ever sinned against God, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as the surety and sacrifice of that covenant. Certainly sure. It's called the sure mercies of David. And it's talking about the greater David, the king of kings. David was the king. a shepherd, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd, the great shepherd of the everlasting covenant. David was the king in Israel, but the Lord Jesus Christ is king of kings. I call him the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that's what we see in Isaiah 55. You remember the last words of David, King David? The sweet psalmist, a man after God's own heart, as he lay dying on his bed. 2 Samuel 23 verse 5. Although it be not so with my house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and is sure. This is all my hope. This is all my salvation. Covenant mercies. Covenant mercies.

I remember reading a book years ago that someone gave to me to read. It was called The Mercies of a Covenant God. You know the word covenant's used over 250 times in scripture. Our God's a covenant God, a covenant God. But that book was called The Mercies of a Covenant God. I think there may be a copy on the table out there. It's written by John Warburton and it's an autobiography of his life. Mercy, God showed mercy to a beggar a sinner because of his covenant, that everlasting covenant of grace.

The gospel of Christ is to be proclaimed and preached unto all men everywhere. We studied that in Matthew 28 and Mark 16, going to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. God ordained that. God will bless what he's ordained. You remember he said in verse 11 here of Isaiah 55, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. Go preach the gospel. Go repeat, and that's what preaching is, repeating what God's already said. It's just one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. And God will bless his word. He promised that it won't return to me void.

So go on all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. That's what God has ordained, but it's only effectual and irresistible. That call, the effectual call and irresistible call is only effectual to the elect of God. There is that general call the old timers talked about, but there is that specific definite, irresistible, effectual call of the gospel that comes through the preaching of the gospel. And God uses that preached word to quicken, to call of his own will, beguile us with the word of truth. His sheep will hear his voice through the preaching of the gospel, and he will call them out of darkness and into his marvelous light, and he'll make them new creatures. It's the remnant that the Lord our God shall call. I quoted that. In the book of Joel, chapter 2, on Sunday it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord said, in the remnant whom the Lord our God shall call.

We love Him because He first loved us. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Our Lord said, you didn't choose me, I've chosen you. And there is a remnant according to the election of grace that the Lord will call out. He'll cross His sheep with the gospel and irresistibly, the power of God, the Holy Spirit, quicken them, give them life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will embrace Him. That's why we don't browbeat and beat up on people. My pastor told the young preachers that were under his leadership, he would often tell us, preach the gospel and ask God to bless his word. Preach the gospel and leave folks alone. Don't bug them, browbeat them, beat up on them, coerce them, buttonhole them, badger them, If it's the work of God, He will irresistibly work in the heart of a sinner. I can't do what preachers, false preachers, they try to do the work of the Holy Spirit. They try to bring on conviction. You can't do that. Not true Holy Spirit conviction. That's the work of God. That's the work of God.

So, he said, no man can come to me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. And I'll raise him up at the last day. No man has the ability in and of himself. Man's will is not free. It's in bondage to sin.

But he says here this beautiful, and I'm not going to call it an invitation because God doesn't invite men to do things. It's His command. Here's the command of the Lord. He says, He says, Ho! And I looked that word up. Trying to get the sense of the meaning of that word, the way it's written there. Oh, ho, everyone. And really, it translates like this. Oh, or hey, you, as we'd say in our day. Hey, you. Would you listen? Everyone that's thirsty.

Now, man by nature drinks iniquity like the water. This is a spiritual thirst that God gives to the sinner that causes him to crave for the water of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever really been thirsty? I mean, I'm thirsty right now. And what do you do when you get thirsty? You go for the water bottle, don't you? What quenches your thirst? better than water, natural water. There's nothing better that quenches your thirst. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that will quench our spiritual thirst for life, for righteousness, for salvation.

Oh, everyone that is thirsty. He said, don't go to the law. Don't go to the preacher. Don't look anywhere else. He said, come. Come to me. Come to me. And as I said on Sunday, just coming to Christ is not a physical thing. Come to Christ and don't move a muscle. Come to Christ by faith in your heart. Look to Him. Oh, everyone that's thirsty. And this is that spiritual craving for the Lord Jesus Christ. How does He irresistibly draw us to Himself? He makes us thirsty for Him. He makes Himself irresistible. We've got to have Him. He makes Himself altogether lovely for everyone.

Does that include you? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Oh, everyone that's thirsty, if you're thirsty, come to Christ. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him. Rest in Him. Trust Him. He'll never cast you out. Didn't he say that in Matthew 11 verse 28? Come to me all ye that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. He said, all that the father giveth me, they'll come to me and those that come to me, I'll never cast them out. Isn't that a sweet verse?

Everyone that's thirsty. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, come. Same message he had over here in John 7, 37. In that last day, that great day of the feast, people been going through all that religious exercise and ceremony. The Lord Jesus Christ stood up and cried. He said, ho, everyone that's thirsty. Saying, if any man thirsts, Let him come to me and drink." Same Lord, same message. Same today. The Lord uses His Word to call out His people.

For everyone that's thirsty, come ye to the waters. Come ye to the waters. The Lord Jesus Christ is the water of life. Remember when the Lord met that woman of Samaria there at the well? And he sat down on that well at high noon, being wearied in body. And he asked that Samaritan woman for a drink of water. And she said, well, you're a Jew. Jews don't have anything to do with us Samaritans. She said, woman, if you knew who it is who would ask you a drink of water, he would give unto you that spiritual living water. And then he says, He says this to that woman. If you knew the gift of God, the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. And Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is, that saith to thee, give me the drink, thou wouldst ask of him, and he would give The living water.

The woman said, sir, thou has nothing to draw within the well is deep from whence then hath thou this living water. Are thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and cattle? And the Lord answered and said, whosoever drinketh of this water, In that well, natural water will thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And the woman said unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Lord, give me that water. I want that living water. that living water, and that's who Christ is.

Oh, everyone, everyone, everyone that is thirsty, all men naturally desire to drink water, nothing more satisfying to the flesh than to quench our parched mouth with a cool drink of refreshing water. And there's nothing that can satisfy our spiritual need and thirst and desire and quench our parched soul but the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I found this scripture in Proverbs 25, 25. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Cold waters to a thirsty soul. Good news from a far country.

What's the remedy for our spiritual thirst? Our Lord said, come unto me and drink. Come to the waters. Come to Christ, the water of life. He said, come unto me and hear, and your soul shall live. Look at the second part of verse 1 there. He that hath no money, come with no money. You know, you think about this. If the Lord would have said, come with $100, what would people do? Boy, they'd dig up $100, wouldn't they? But when the Lord said, come with nothing, you can't find people who want to do that.

but only by his grace. He that hath no money, no merit, nothing, guilty, vile, wretched, nothing to recommend yourself unto God, with nothing, nothing but sin, nothing but guilt. He said, come, come poor sinner, and buy, come and buy, and then come and eat.

Yea, he said, again he says, come, come, Come, buy wine and milk. Wine and milk? Water? Wine and milk? Without money and without price. That's the economics of grace. That's the economics of grace, isn't it? Come and buy. How do you buy with no money? Try it down the street here. Walk into the store and get some milk and some water. And if you walk out without paying, you're in trouble. But here in the gospel he said, come and buy plenty wine, sweet, sweet wine. Milk, the milk of the word, the wine of his blood. That's what the wine represents, his blood, the shedding of his blood. And the milk of the word, desire the sincere milk of the word that you might grow thereby. And come and buy, come and enjoy the wine of his Blood atonement that puts away our sin in the milk of His Word. Without money and without price. Isn't that good news? That's good news, is it not?

Come to the Lord Jesus Christ with nothing else. and with nothing less. Come to Christ. Come to him and leave your merit, leave your righteousness, leave your feelings, leave your religious tradition, experience, and ceremony. Come to Christ alone.

One old songwriter put it this way,

nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to the cross of Christ I cling.
Helpless look to thee for grace.
Naked come to thee for dress.
I to the dear fountain fly.
Wash me, Savior, else I die.

That's good, isn't it? Impossible to do apart from the sovereign grace of God.

Forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which are before. There is a remnant according to the election of grace. and his people will be made willing in the day of his power. Come buy wine, milk without gold. Christ is a priceless, unspeakable gift of God. You can't put a price on that, can you? It's free. It's a free gift of God. We are redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation cannot be bought because it's free. It's free. Free.

The Lord Jesus Christ is to the believer the water of life, to the thirsty. He's a bread of life to the hungry. He's a wine of joy to the mourner. He's a milk of strength to the weak. What was that old commercial about milk? Milk will do a body good. Milk will make your bones strong. Well, the milk of the Word causes us to grow thereby. Buy and eat. Buy and eat that which is good, it says in verse 2. He said, eat ye that which is good. You see, there's none good but God. God is good. The Lord is good. He's good to his people.

Look at verse two now. Two questions are asked and answered by the Lord. Why? Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? And why do you labor for that which will not satisfy? Hearken diligently unto me. Here's the good news of the gospel. And eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness, in his fullness.

The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. Of His fullness have we all received grace for grace. Let your soul delight itself in His fullness. In Him goes all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in the Lord Jesus Christ we stand complete. Complete in Him.

Why spend money? your labor, your time, your energy, your strength, for that which is not salvation, which is not bread, which is not satisfying to God, will not honor God's law and God's justice, nor bring salvation. It will not. Why do sinners seek salvation by the deeds of the law or works of righteousness instead of resting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, faith alone, and grace alone? Why do they do that? Out of ignorance.

He said, my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways are not my ways, saith the Lord, out of ignorance. Remember we studied in Romans 10, they're lost and they're dead in sin, they're ignorant of God. Going about to establish a righteousness of their own, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

What is the cure and remedy for ignorance? Right knowledge. Right knowledge of God. His Word, His truth, His Gospel. Hear His Word. Eat that which is good. Consume it. Eat that which is good. Consume the Word. His Word is the children's bread. We feast upon His Word. We look into His Word.

Our Lord said to those Jews, you do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. They are they which testify of Me. And you will not come to Me that you might have life. Let your soul delight itself In Christ, He's our delight. He's altogether lovely. To you who believe, He is precious.

Now, verse 3. Incline your ear. Incline your ear. Lean over and listen just a little bit. I have to do that quite often. Because I have a hearing impairment. And quite often, incline your ear. Listen. Sit up and listen. Sit up and listen. Incline your ear. Lend me your ear, as the old politician said. Incline your ear and come. Again, he said, come to me. Don't come to the law. Don't come down front here. That way she's not down front. Salvation's in Christ.

Incline your ear. God must give us, our Lord said, blessed are your eyes for they see, blessed are your ears for they hear. Incline those hearing ears. You know, hearing is a very passive thing. It's a very passive thing, isn't it? I mean, if you've got good hearing, you're just sitting there and listening. It's really just a passive thing, isn't it? Incline your ear. And come, come unto Me. Here! And your soul shall live.

Your soul shall live. And if the Lord has given you ears to hear His voice, it's because your soul is already alive. You had to be quick until you were dead. And your soul shall live. And then He says this, end of verse 3. He said, I will, You see, it's I will and you shall. It's not I will if you will. I will be your God and you shall be my people. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I've given him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater David, for witness to the people, a leader and a commander.

Now, two promises are given here. He said, here in your soul shall live. One must have physical life to hear the words of men, so too one must have spiritual life to hear the word of the eternal God, the spiritual word of God. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, John 5, 24. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life.

I read something either last week or this week, I can't remember. It's in somebody's bulletins. And the old preacher said, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. What does that mean? Got it. Hath. Got it. Got it. That may not be good English, but it's good theology. Got it. Got it.

He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life. There is power and life in the gospel, and spiritual life is given and granted to the means that God has ordained. It pleased God through the preaching of the gospel to call out his people. We're born again, not of a corruptible seed, but of an incorruptible seed. What is that incorruptible seed? The word of God. The word of God, of his own will, begat he, yes, with the word of truth.

Our Lord says, and he says, I will, the last part of verse three, I will make this everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David, the sure mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ and David were the type of The Lord Jesus cried, God is the good shepherd who has never lost one of his covenant children. His mercies are certain and sure in the blessed Redeemer.

Now don't turn, let me just read this to you. Those covenant mercies we have in Christ Jesus. In Romans 4, 16, this will be familiar to you. Don't turn, let me just read it to you. Therefore, it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. It's a faith that it might be by grace that the promise might be sure, certainly sure, covenant mercies that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God did covenant God. He made that covenant with Adam in the garden. Covenant of works is due and you'll live. What happened? Adam disobeyed God and plunged us all into guilt, death, and sin. But God made this everlasting covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ, now the God of peace. that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep to the blood of everlasting covenant. This is an everlasting covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the surety of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Covenant mercies. I will be their God. I think we can turn and read that, can't we? You find Jeremiah just over from a couple pages over from Isaiah and then Jeremiah. Find Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32, 38, you should have this marked in your Bible, I've referred to it. 38, Jeremiah 32, 38, and he said, they shall be my people and I will be their God. I will give them one heart, one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them I will not turn away from them to do them good. I put my fear in their heart, and they shall not depart from me. I will, and they shall.

Covenant mercy, ordered in all things, and is sure, all my hope, all my salvation.