Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the prophet Isaiah, chapter
55, and reading for our text the first three verses. O 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. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfies
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me, Here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Isaiah 55 verses 1, 2 and 3. A gospel invitation, rebuke and
promise. I want to come straight to three
points and then open up a little bit more of what is meant here
in these verses. Firstly, an invitation of the
Gospel, and then secondly, a loving rebuke, and thirdly, the promise
of the Gospel following a repeated invitation, each of the points
based on each of the three verses. And what we need to say straight
away is that what is being spoken of here is spiritual needs being
satisfied. This is not a natural thirst
for living water. but it is a thirst spiritually
for living and spiritual waters. And yet the way that the word
is put using these illustrations, these things that we know and
are familiar with in a natural way, it does help us very much
to understand what is set before us in a spiritual way. we would remember that there
are many aspects, especially through the ministry of our Lord
by parables, where we are to understand a natural first, and
then the spiritual. You think of the parable of the
vine. I am the vine, ye are the branches. No, it's not literally that the
Lord is a vine. or that we are not literally
branches, but the picture does picture a union of the people
of God with the Lord, and how the vine supplies the branches,
so the Lord supplies His people joined to Him. And so when we
have an invitation like this, we can understand, especially
on a warm day like this, that where we thirst, then we desire
water. And to have an invitation to
come to waters and to drink would be a wonderful thing to have. And it tells us of those that
will most value those waters are those that are thirsty. And then we have a picture of
someone with no money. If someone was like that in our
community, and there are many that are struggling now, that
are needing to use food banks and needing charity to survive,
but if one has no money, then they can't buy what is needful,
what is a provision for them. They need food, they need that
which shall sustain them. And yet to have the word set
before us here, that there's a word to those that don't have
any money, come ye buy and eat. And you'd immediately object
and say, but they haven't got any money. How can they buy? How can they eat? They need to
eat. They want to eat. But how can
they without money? So it's clarified, yea, come
buy wine and milk without money and without price. You do not
need to have anything. So why put about buying? Because there is a cost. But
it is already being bought. It is already being provided.
And so those that come, they are being welcomed to a provision
that has been made, has been paid for, and they are freely
to partake of it. All of us know what it is to
be invited to perhaps a wedding as a wedding guest or to a party,
to a meal with friends and we get there and the food is all
laid out on the table. We haven't paid for it. We haven't
done anything to merit it. We've just been invited to come
and to eat of it. And in fact, our guests would
be quite offended if we said, well, we must pay for some of
this. We don't want to have this for
nothing. We want to pay for it. And they
said, but we've invited you. We've already paid for it. And
we want you to partake of it freely. And so this is the, the
picture you're going from natural and we're thinking then in a
spiritual way. So there's a word ho, ho everyone,
not just some but everyone that thirsts. So immediately it is
to a character. This is one of the distinctive
articles of the gospel standard that we hold that the invitations
of the Gospel are to characters. And we are not born with a character
that the invitations of the Gospel are to. We do not feel anything
spiritually. We are natural. A natural man
receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, He
certainly doesn't ask for them or feel after them or feel his
need of them at all. And so those characters are already
made so by divine grace, by the work of God in their hearts. And we read by Paul that the
law is a schoolmaster unto Christ. It is that which brings one to
need the gospel, need the good news of salvation who are brought
to be the character described here. The law is first, the gospel
is second. The law makes known our condition
by nature. It shows unto us our fall, our
state before almighty God, our condemnation. That is why when
we come to Romans 8, We read, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. But there is a time when we are
under condemnation. And that wrath of God is upon
all that do not fulfil the law perfectly. Cursed is he that
continueth not in all points of the law to do it. He that
offendeth in one point is guilty of all. And by the law is the
knowledge of sin. And so the invitations here and
other places too, they are to those who already have been quickened
into divine life. And the evidence of that life
is like the Apostle said, when the commandment came, sin revived
and I die. and that which was ordained unto
life I found to be unto death. To put it in the way here, that
which was ordained to fit and prepare us to receive the good
news of salvation freely, that we found to be unto death, very
painfully bringing us to feel our destitute state and condition. On one hand, We feel to have
no righteousness, no goodness of our own, nothing but sin and
disgrace, nothing but that which shall bring the wrath of God
upon us, and we have no means, no money if you like, of remedying
that situation at all. We cannot buy ourselves out,
we cannot redeem ourselves, we cannot pay a price to set ourselves
free. We are under the law, we are
under condemnation, we are in a position of condemnation, a
position of need. And we feel it, and we know it,
and we know our helplessness. And yet in the midst of that,
there is a desire after holiness, after the goodness of God, after
the right way, And he desire, as the apostle says, when I would
do good. He wanted to do good. He did
not want to do evil. There has already been a change
wrought. There is already life. But as yet, there is just under
the law, under condemnation, looking for something in self. And so it is to These characters,
here is one that thirsts after righteousness, thirsts after
life, thirsts after those spiritual blessings that we are so destitute
of in the fall. In the day that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. When we think of other invitations,
come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Why do they labour and are heavy
laden? By the teaching of God, through
the law applied, they've been brought to be a character that
the gospel is a good news for. They desire it, they're looking
for help, they're looking for blessings, but in themselves
they're not able to attain to it and they have no means of
making themselves better. You have other invitations, whosoever
will, let him cometh, come unto the Lord, or come unto the gospel,
come unto me. And that is very wide, you might
say. But the word says, thy people
shall be willing in the day of my power. Natural man is not
willing. They say, we will not have this
man to rule over us. So even in the willing, that
seems to be an open invitation to all, it is not, because it
comes down to those that really are made willing to receive the
blessings of life freely. Freely. We always, by nature,
want to pay. We want to be able to earn it. We want the praise. We want the
glory for ourselves. But all the work of the Lord
is that no flesh might glory in his presence. It is vital
then that we be brought to be the characters that are described
here. As many, if we were to go out,
even into the streets of this town, and make invitation to
come to the house of God here and to hear the word of God,
Because here you'll find life and here you'll find blessing
and the way of truth. And they would say, well, we're
not interested. Our life is quite all right,
thank you very much. We don't want to be burdened
with rules and with all things like that. We don't want to go. And then you might come across
someone and you say, oh, I'm quite interested. I'd like to
have that if it's free. So you come into the house of
God. And then they find out that,
well, If you are to be a follower of the Lord, then there are things
that we are bidden to do and to not to do. There is the way
of the Lord, those things that are right and those things that
are wrong. It's not just to take the benefits
and continue in the world and continue following sin and serving
Satan and hope that you're going to get to heaven at the last
and have some blessing eternally. As soon as then they find out
what the cost is and what it involves in following the Lord
or to obtain those eternal blessings, they don't want to know that.
When they find out that it's spiritual blessings, they say,
oh, we thought we'd have a good life and have nice health and
strength and have a good bank balance. I thought that's what
you're promising, that's why these Prosperity preachers have
full churches because the natural man, it wants those things. It goes after them and so they're
gullible, they're deceived in thinking if they give enough
money then the Lord will give them money back. They're only
thinking of natural ways. If those in Christ's day followed
him for the loaves and the fishes and that they were exhorted to
labour not for the bread that perisheth, but for that which
endureth to eternal life. It is no surprise, if they are
those, and will be to the end of time, that will be content
to follow the Lord, if they can have everything good in this
life. But if it is for crucifying the flesh, if it is to be as
Moses, to endure affliction with the people of God, rather than
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, there's no desire for
that. And so the invitation is given
to characters, and it is very important that we do notice that. We're not saying to one that
is full and healthy, look, we know a wonderful doctor, and
he's able to do wonderful things, and they turn around and say,
I don't need a doctor, I'm fully healthy. You're wasting your
time on me. But if you come to someone that
is really ill, and you can recommend a good doctor, they're all ears.
They want to know about it. And so the character is important. And because also the character,
it has the stamp of God's work in it. They are what they are. They've been made ready to receive
the gospel. And so they feel and really there's
a I felt in meditating upon this word such a need to see the the
contrast you might look at that where it says everyone that thirsts
yes and you think well isn't that that's a that's a wonderful
positive characteristic of that song you might think Oh, that
I could be like that, that I could really be one that was truly
thirsting after the truth, after the gospel, after righteousness,
feeling my own unrighteousness, thirsting after holiness, feeling
how unholy I am and unclean, that I really had a thirst and
desire. And you might feel, well, I feel
I do, I do. I do long for these things, but... And the but comes in when we
look at our state and our condition. He that hath no money. No money. He that is so destitute and empty
and poor. And we look upon ourselves and
we see the sin. We see the deceitfulness of our
heart. We hear fear the enmity by nature. how easy we have anger in our
heart, how easy we have rebellion there, how full of uncleanness
we are. And we see all these things,
and we see that we have absolutely nothing, nothing to bring to
God at all, nothing at all that will recommend us, nothing that
we can give in return at all. And so on one hand, you might
say there's the positive blessing of thirsting. On the other hand,
there's the painful feeling of corruption and sin and what we
are, a sight that is painful to behold. And you think, how
can anything good dwell here? How can I be a character to whom
the Lord is inviting to come, to come to Him, to come to really
a gospel table. And yet it is vital that the
character be the two-sided one. Really, it is only God's people
that really feel and groan under and mourn how sinful they are. We've all the time got this thought,
well, if we are to mourn in the right way, then we won't love
our sin. and we would somehow be a nice
sinner, a nice sinner. But instead we feel a hell-deserving
sinner, a wretched sinner, a foolish sinner, a wayward sinner. And yet it's sinners the Lord
came to save, and it's sinners that need the gospel, that need
that which is free. And this is why the invitation
is so clear and is doubled in our text to them. And so it is
to come to the gospel table. What does that mean? How does
it work like that? I mean, those to whom this is
said may well have been coming regularly to the house of God,
and they may well have been praying and seeking unto the Lord. What
is the difference? What is the come? You know, it's easy when we feel
so wretched, you come into the house of God and think, this
word is for everyone else. It's not for me. The blessing
is not for me. I cannot expect that the Lord
will speak to me. And as it were, the ear is shut. It refuses to hear because it
thinks that this is not being spoken to me at all. It's to
other people. Remember, it's a strange illustration.
I know, I had a procedure in the hospital a while ago, and
I thought that those that were working around me, that they
were talking around with themselves. And I just shut myself off in
my little mind, and I was just thinking of my things, until
the surgeon's words come through. is probably talking to you. What
are you going to say? And I didn't think they were
talking to me at all. I thought, well, they're just
doing their thing. And I always remember that time. And it was because I thought,
well, it's not a word for me. They're not worried about me.
They're not concerned really about me. They're doing the procedure,
but they're just doing it. That's their job. And we can
be like that under the gospel. We can think, well, the minister
is preaching to others and he's setting forth these things to
others, but this is not for me. This is not for me. But one of
the blessings of the blessing of eternal life is, mine ear
hath he opened. This is why it is said in all
the parables, he that hath an ear, let him hear. There were
many that heard those parables. And they just heard the natural
and went away and thought there was no spiritual there. But there
were those that they couldn't understand, but they asked, what
do these mean? Interpret it to us. They wanted
to know. They discerned there was something
more. And all the letters to the churches, the same message,
he that hath an ear. Well, in one sense, this gospel
is saying, open your ear. Listen. This provision in the
gospel, this is what you hear preached and this is what you
hear read, this is for you. Listen to what is being said
to you. Receive it and feed upon it. Without the thought, this is
not for me, I'm shutting my ear to this. You listen to it. You think of when we've been
at school and there's been a a class assembly or so, and there's something
that's being said to one class, another to another class. When
it's being said to another class, it doesn't concern us. We hear
the words, but we know it doesn't concern us. But when it is to
us, then we listen, because we know it's to us. And so in this
way, in embracing this invitation, in coming as being here, The
ear is open. This, the word, is to us. The
gospel is to us. The preaching is for me. I can
expect, I can receive it without having the devil saying, you'll
not have that, or the world saying, you'll not have that. It is to
come to that gospel table, coming to the means of grace, coming
to prayer. What a difference in coming to
prayer. believing that the Lord is able
to give and willing to give and has to give all that we need. And there's another aspect here. Who would give an invitation,
especially to those that have nothing and yet have nothing
to set before them? That there be no gospel table,
that there be no provision. You wouldn't do that. You'd make
sure if there is an invitation, There is that what these people
need and that they want, and so with the gospel. There is
forgiveness, there's pardon, the Lord is exalted to give repentance,
remission of sins unto Israel. Every provision is for the people
of God, robe of righteousness, holiness without a stain. Washing,
cleansing, a new heart will I give you. Creating me a clean heart,
says David. All these provisions, they come
in the gospel table. Again, who would invite someone
to come to a table as well spread, but they knew nothing had been
paid for? They're offering to give it away,
but at any moment, the rightful owners will rush in and say,
these are all These are all stolen goods, they're not yours to give
away at all. And so here, this is why the
language is, come ye buy and eat, because it has already been
purchased. And our eyes as we come to the
gospel and the blessings that flow, they flow forth from Calvary. We are mindful that the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary He settled the debt that his people owed. He brought in everlasting righteousness. He endured the wrath of God.
He purchased for his people their own lives and every blessing
that they need to stand faultless before his throne at the last
day. And so it's vital to know this
in this beautiful invitation of the gospel, the gospel is
good news, as we have sung, is good news for sinners. And in
this word is, those poor sinners are welcome. The table is spread,
the provision is there, all has been purchased and paid for. And we may say this as well,
that when the word is preached and set forth, the Holy Spirit
is the one that applies and blesses that word. We don't even need
to come and help ourselves to a word here or a word there.
The word is given. He bids his people come and he
gives them. He serves them. That's a blessed
thing, isn't it? They shall all receive of the
Lord's hand. Do you think when Mephibosheth
came because David bade him, because he was the seed of Jonathan
of Saul, that David would give him life. And so he brought him
to the king's table. And he sat at the king's table,
though lame in both his feet. Do you think he had to serve
himself? Do you think he had to find the food himself or bring
it to himself? Was he not served with David's
servants? Was he not provided with the
same provision that David had as king? He was, though he was
lame in both his feet. And that is the same with the
people of God. You know, Ruth, though she gleaned
amongst the sheep, she was given handfuls of peppers, freely,
sovereignly by Boaz, because he had a favor to her. He commanded
his servants to let forth those handfuls of purpose so she could
clean them and pick them up. And that is the same through
the ministry, the Lord directing his servants. Though we're not
inspired, yet the Lord ordering our footsteps in his word, bringing
the word to the people. The authority is in the word
of God, as in this text, in this word. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money, without
price. That which is precious, that
which is nourishing, that which does not need much digestion,
that which makes glad the heart of man and beast, the blessings
of the gospel, But then in the second point
we have a rebuke, a loving rebuke. In verse 2 we read, Wherefore
do you 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. Let us think of the natural first,
and perhaps then get a clearer view of what is said here. If
we had someone that did not have any money, although they had
a little bit of money, but they didn't spend it, on
bread, didn't spend it on vital things. They had a nice good
smartphone, and they had nice shoes, but they didn't have anything
to eat. And what they did spend it on
didn't satisfy them at all. We'd say that they were foolish
to spend their money and what small resources they had on that
which was not vital, that which was not good. You know, with
the people of God as well. How can we spend, as it were,
in this time of that which is not good and not bread? One way
is concerning our time How do we spend, how do we use our time? What are we doing with that?
Are we doing what is in verse six? Seek ye the Lord while he
may be found, that's implying time. Call ye upon him while
he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him,
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. How are we actually walking? And how are we acting? One of
our hymns says that all my prayer and praise suggests come and
dwell within my breast. But is how we are acting suggesting
that? The Lord seeing what we are doing
and how we are acting? And what are those that are like
in Romans 10, that we're going about to establish their own
righteousness. The very reason why we feel to
have nothing is because we have tried that way. We've tried the
law, and by the law we find we have nothing. But to keep going
back and back again and seeking that we might by some good works
in some way attain a righteousness That is spending money for that
which is not bread. All the while we're looking to
the law, looking to Sinai, looking to our works, looking to man,
looking anywhere else but in the Lord Jesus Christ and to
his gospel and his provision that is wasted and ineffectual. It does not satisfy. It's empty. One of the things the people
of God prove in experience, that vanity of vanities, said the
preacher, all is vanity, the emptiness in worldly things,
emptiness in anything outside of Christ. And so the advice
is to hearken unto me. Eat ye that which is good, and
let your soul delight itself in fatness." We have that old
base appetite, but going after those things will never satisfy
our soul. However much the world promises
it, Satan promises it, it will not satisfy. You might say the answer to,
you might say, am I doing this? Am I spending? Am I doing that
which is for not bread? Does it satisfy? Are you satisfied? The path that we're taking, where
we are looking, what we are trusting in, does it satisfy? And so there's
a loving rebuke. What a message, even for those
that have the character, even for those that Feel that how
deservedness doesn't automatically bring them into the right way,
doesn't automatically make them to seek in the right direction. You're prone again and again
to try our own way, to go our own way. And so the invitation
needs to be repeated again This time in the third verse there
is promises of the gospel that follow this repeated invitation. Verse 3 reads, incline your ear
and come unto me. Now here's a different way of
putting it, isn't it? In the first verse it's come
you to the waters or come you to the gospel come you to the
provision those living waters that flowed from jerusalem half
to the former sea half to the jews half to the hindu sea to
the gentiles in summer and winter shall this be this is the provisions
of the gospel but now in verse three it's come unto me And our
Lord's invitation so direct, come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. Of course, we read the Beatitudes
in Matthew 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And
so that blessing is not when they're comforted but when they
mourn, is not when they are filled but when they do hunger and thirst
after righteousness. And why are they blessed? Because
God has made them to be what they are, to hunger and thirst
and to desire these things. Need to put the blessing. upon
the first preparation and making us to be what the Lord would
have us to be, ready to receive his word. So now we have. Incline your ear. Reminder these
blessings, they come through the ear. They come through the
word of God. They enter into the heart through
the ear. My sheep, they hear my voice
and they follow me. Incline your ear and come unto
me. here and your soul shall live. And that's the thing to be brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the time of His sojourn here
below, they brought unto Him the deaf, they brought unto Him
the blind, they brought unto Him the lame. They didn't go
away blind and deaf and lame, He healed them. And they were
brought to hear His voice, and they are brought to follow after
him. The gospel, the good news of
the gospel, always leads to Christ. It won't take blessings, typified
here with food to eat and drink and oil and wine, and not take
notice of the giver. The Lord commended the leper
who returned to give thanks unto God. Where are the nine? They'd
taken their blessing, but they hadn't turned to the giver. The
blessing here it brings to the giver, brings to the Lord. Come
unto me. And so the whole design of the
gospel is to bring sinner and saviour together, shepherd and
sheep together, redeemer and redeemed together, the people
of God with God himself. That is the aim. That should
be our aim and should be our desire. Not what can I get, what
can I receive, but what brings me to the Lord. In the desire
of the hymn writer, where is the blessedness I knew when first
I knew the Lord? Where was those souls' refreshing
view of Jesus and His word? They are the things that satisfy
and gladden and joy the soul. Those two on the way to Emmaus
in all the scriptures concerning himself, they were the things
that warmed their heart. And so the invitation is repeated
again, and the emphasis of hearing and listening and coming to the
Lord and hearing, and your soul shall live. I am come that they
might have life, that they might have it more abundantly. We come
to the Lord's house feeling so hard, so cold, so lifeless, so
dead, so far off. Oh, to ask life of the Lord.
The Lord said, You will not come unto me that ye might have life. I give unto them eternal life.
They shall never perish. The word of God is the word of
life. The words that I speak unto thee,
they are spirit. and they are life. And that is
what the invitation is to hear. Now there is this gospel promise. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Remember David
said, although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,
And this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he
make it not to grow. How does the Lord make that with
us? Well, that covenant really was
made with us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
A covenant is agreement. And the agreement was that Christ
would take his people, lost and ruined in the fall, that he would
pay their debt that he would give them a robe of righteousness,
that he would teach them, quicken them, call them, and bring them
to be with him and part of his inheritance forever. And so the sign of that covenant,
that covenant when it is made with a sinner, is when the benefits
and blessings of that covenant are let down to them and they
begin to enjoy them. When they see the Lord in all
His beauty, they receive of His grace, they receive of His fullness,
grace for grace. They receive life in their souls,
they receive these tokens for good. Mephibosheth had day by
day tokens of the king's favor as he ate at the king's table.
And as we receive that spiritual food, as we receive grace, As
we receive help and blessing and mercy and the kindness of
the Lord, the Lord establishes his covenant with us. David says,
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In
you, by the Lord's blessings, he that has helped me, says the
hymn writer, Hitherto shall help me all my journey through. Give
me, says Rahab, a true token. And there's a token of a covenant
which is not just a temporal one, it's an everlasting one,
of which we are the beneficiaries. I think going back to Mephibosheth,
when David made the covenant or agreement and promise with
Jonathan that he would not extinguish his flame, but show mercy to
his seed. I don't think Mephibosheth was
even born, but he was the beneficiary of it at the set time. And so that which Christ did
from the foundation of the world and done at Calvary before we
were ever born. But when we are called by grace,
when we receive the blessings of the gospel and the Lord has
made us to receive them, in a character to receive them, then it is the
Lord making with us that covenant, the sure mercies of David. It was Mr. Rainsbottom in his
little book, Bible Doctrine Simply Explained, that gave the illustration
of how do we know as an answer to a question posed to a group
that were meeting together. How do we know that we are elected? And various things were proposed. But an old soldier was there. And he said to them, he said,
as you know, he said, I am an old soldier. And because of that,
he says, I get a pension from London. And he says, I know that
there is in London a book with all the names of old soldiers
in it. He says, I've never been to London.
I've never seen the book. I've never seen my name in the
book. But because I receive month by
month my pension, I know that there is a book and that my name
is in it. And he said, likewise, I've never
been to heaven. I've never seen the Lamb's Book
of Life. But because I receive blessings
from heaven, receive blessings in my soul, I know that there
is a book and that my name is in it. And it is a blessed thing
to realise that every blessing has the stamp of eternal favour
on it. The Lord is he that blesses his
people and that sends the gospel to them that he has made willing
to receive it freely. as empty, poor, hell-deserving
sinners, receiving that which He has paid for, which He has
sealed with His precious blood on Calvary's tree. So may the
Lord bless this word, own it that we are, make us, if we are
not, those characters to whom it is addressed. And may we come
to the house of God or to prayer with our ear open, expecting
that this is for such sinners as we, desiring the word of God
with our ear opened, waiting to hear what the Lord will speak
to us. Cornelius and his household,
when the angel had bid them to go and get Peter and speak to
them, they said, we are all here ready before God to hear what
God has commanded thee to speak. They were expectant. They were
convinced that this Lord's servant was brought to speak to their
souls and speak salvation and blessing to their souls. And
may that be how we come and hear the word and to receive the word
as it is truly proclaimed and set forth to us. The free everlasting
gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May He bless it
to us. Amen.