Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. This morning our scripture speaks
to a specifically, a specific needy people. Specifically needy
people. And it refers to a spiritual
sensation from a person that has been made alive in Christ
Jesus. Verse one of Isaiah 55 says,
ho, verse one, ho, is a call for attention, ho, Everyone that
thirsteth. Everyone that thirsteth. Thirsteth for what? Well, not
just to look out for some place where there's empty religion,
just not for the vain toys of this world. not for man's acceptance, but whole everyone that thirsteth
for the Lord, thirsteth for God. 2 Samuel 23, 2 Samuel 23, the
Spirit of God moved upon David to say something that had such
spiritual significance. Second Samuel 23 and verse 15. David longed and said, Oh, that
one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem,
which is by the gate that just has such a beautiful sound, picture,
such a beautiful type. I just, I just need to drink
spiritually. I need to drink of the mercy
and grace of God. You know, that's, that's a thirst
that you just can't drum up by yourself. It must be given. It must be
given from above. But when God gives life, the
more one drinks of Christ, the more he wants to drink of Christ.
Psalm 42.2 says, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. My innermost self thirst for
him who is the Lord, sovereign, holy, mighty, the God of purpose,
God of certainty, the God of these scriptures, God who is
God. I love the thought, God is God. I don't make him God, he's God. and giving me a heart to believe
it. Thirst for him, long for him. Psalm 63 one says, early
will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water
is. I know this, I know. We're living
in a world, older we get, more we realize there is nothing,
nothing in this world that's of this world, in it or of it,
that gives any eternal, enduring refreshment in itself. It just,
I think about vacation. I do this, look, I'm with you. Man, the excitement of being
able to go on vacation. I look forward to it, I wanna
go. I do, I wanna go just like y'all do. And I enjoy it while
I'm there. But you know when it's over,
you know what I wanna do? I wanna go home. I wanna go home. Go
home and rest. That's this world. That's this
world. What Dee said to Christy, I wanna
go home. You know what it takes to be
able to say that? The grace of God. That takes the grace of
God. To be able to say, I just want to go home. I just want
to be with the Lord. I thirst for Him who is the fountain
of life. Those that are made thirsty for
Christ, they never get over that. Not if they're made thirsty for
the Lord. No, no, no. They grow in grace, the knowledge
of Him. Thirsting after Christ. Not thirsting
after the doctrines of grace, not thirsting after any, I'm
talking, thirsting after a person, a person. I've heard people,
I've told you this before, they said, I came to the doctrines
of grace. That ain't good enough. Come to a person. The Lord said,
he that cometh unto me, all ye that labor, heavy laden,
coming to me, coming to me, I will give you rest. This thirsting
after Christ is the evidence of God's blessing, God's mercy. Matthew 5, 6, blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, but not righteousness
of their own. They know, a believer knows what
kind of righteousness he's got. Filthy rags, but that righteousness
which is earned, which was earned and robes the people of God's
love and affection, called out of darkness, robes them in obedience,
of his obedience. And I'll be the first to tell
you, I don't see it in me. I don't see it in me. That's
what I told people before, you know, I know there's two natures.
Bear, I can see one of them for sure. I know which one I see. by the grace of God. Those that
know Him, they know Him. They thirst after Him, they hunger
for Him. That righteousness that is imputed, not earned by us,
but given. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
thirsteth. Come ye to the waters. The literal
says, come ye to the water. To Him, who is the river of life. You know what, you that believe,
you know what you wanna hear? Right there, that's what you
wanna hear. Come to the water, come to him who is the river.
Come to the fountain, come to the rock smitten. John 7, 37, the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. If you're thirsty, if you're
thirsty for Christ, come unto him. I have no other scriptural authority
to do anything to tell you anything else but that. If you're thirsty,
drink, drink, drink of him. Think of him who was, according
to his word, Proverbs 8, father was there before the world were
formed, the foundation, he said, I was ever before. I was brought
up with him. One in whom the father delights.
Come unto him, the shepherd of the sheep. Come unto him who
is mighty to save. And he that hath no money, No way of paying yourself. No
works, no ability to buy. He that hath no money has nothing
but spiritual bankruptcy about him. Poor in spirit, ruined in
the fall, naked without fit righteousness in himself. You that have nothing
or with you can earn, buy, purchase of yourself. Come ye by wine
and milk without money, without price. I think to myself how
foolish that sounds to the natural man. You come by wine and milk
with no money and no price. You're looking
for something, you know, you look at something, I'm looking
for something in the store. I know y'all done this before.
You're looking for, I'm seeing it. I'm saying, how much is that?
You can see a price on it? You know the first thing I think
of when somebody, I said, what irresponsibility on a store? You put it out here, I don't
even know what it is, just forget it. But spiritually, that which
aggravates me naturally, spirit, is wonderful to me. Because by
the grace of God, I know I don't have anything to pay. What am
I gonna pay? What am I gonna do? How natural. To purchase
without money? To purchase that which has no
price for me on it? Come ye and buy with that which
God gives by faith, by faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourself. That
wasn't, it was given unto you to believe. You don't have that
faith. God has to give it. Buy it with
God's permission. Buy and eat. Not in order to
be alive because the only way you're gonna eat is that you
are alive. God has made you so come and buy wine. I like this, I looked this up
in Blue Letter Bible. Wine, the insinuation here, wisdom's
drink. Wisdom's drink. Buy wine and
milk. Buy that which cheers and nourishes
spiritually. Without money, without price.
He who is pricelessly precious. to his people. Buy of him who
is the gift of God. Buy of him the way that you can't
alone buy. Believe him. By faith, believe
God. Buy wine and milk. Buy of him, casting yourself
upon him, trusting him. Those who believe, and have been
given by the grace of God faith to believe, thank the Lord for
that. And those that don't, that think
they've done something, look at verse two back in Isaiah 55,
verse two. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness, Wherefore do you spend what you have, what you
think you have, that which is not nourishing? Bread. And you labor. You labor for
that which is not gonna satisfy. Number one, it's not gonna satisfy
God. It's not gonna satisfy you. In that day, when we stand before
God, those that have bought, spend their money, spend all
that they have, they weigh their money. Actually, what it's talking
about, weighing your money. You weigh out, you weigh out, you
spend that which has no sustenance to it. Thinking that you've purchased
something by your own works and deeds, why do you toil? That's what's
scripted. Why do you toil, work for that which produces no satisfaction? God or yourself. Hearken, hearken
diligently unto me, verse two. And eat ye that which is good. Just good. I call you me good. There's nothing
good but God. And there's nothing good but
God. Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good.
Let your soul delight itself in fatness. The scripture says Colossians
2, 9 and 10 for in him. dwell with all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him, which is the
head of all principality and power. Eat of Him, drink of Him
that sustains, that satisfies. Verse three, 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. That's two
precious commands, two precious promises that's given in that
last verse for today, for those that thirst. Oh, everyone that
thirsts. This is first command. Verse
three, incline your ear. Stretch out, that's what it is,
stretch out your ear. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Listen, listen. And by the grace alone, I do
that. Have you ever had someone talking and then, especially
if they ask you a question. Now this has happened to me,
this has happened to me. It's happened to me, I'll go
ahead and be honest with you. It's happened to me while Glenda was talking
to me. She tells me all the time, you don't listen to what I'm
saying. I really think I believe her.
But she has been talking to me and then asked me a question.
I'm trying to frantically think about what she just said to me
so I can give an intelligent answer. And that sounds simple,
but buddy, it's scary. when you're trying to figure
out, you know, I don't want her to believe. Oh, listen. But to hear Him incline your
ear, stretch out. That's what it is. That's it.
Stretch out your spiritual ear. Faith cometh by hearing. Lord, cause me to hear. Don't let me, don't let me, don't
let me just ignore what's being said right now. It's so easy,
our minds are so frail, and that, you know, caused me to understand,
caused me to hear it and understand it. Thirst. There it is. There's that first
command. Incline your ear. And here's the second command.
Come unto me. Come unto me. Don't come to the law, don't
come to the front, don't come to the preacher's hand. Come
unto me. Come unto me. How do you do that?
In your heart, in your heart. That's all I, I don't know any
other way to say it. There is no other way to say it. Come
unto Him, two commands given to every thirsty soul. They're absolutely obeyed by
the grace of God, those that are regenerated by God's Spirit.
There is a heart to hear. I want to hear. I want to hear.
I want to hear what you're saying. And here's the promise. It says,
incline your ear, come unto me, and here's the promise, and your
soul shall live. Your soul shall live. Your soul
shall live. Your soul shall continue to live,
because it's alive. Your soul shall live. You come
unto me, and you're going to live. You come unto me. I'll
keep you. I'll keep you. Life is given. Life is given. And spiritual
ears are given. People, by the grace of God,
regenerated by the grace of God, they do incline their ear, they
do hear, and they come unto Him. He said, I will, He said, I incline
your ear, come unto me, and your soul shall live, and I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. Not that this covenant came into
being whenever you did come to Christ, but this everlasting
covenant It's just that, it's an everlasting covenant, but
He's revealed it unto you. You know about it. There was
a time you didn't know about it. You didn't know about God's
everlasting covenant of grace. You didn't know about Him who
is the mediator of that covenant set up for everlasting. That covenant that was placed
in His hands for the setting forth of it by His Spirit and
teaches Oh, you're coming to me. Cline, you're coming to me.
And you'll live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you. It's gonna make me manifest to
you. You're gonna see yourself as being the recipient of that
covenant of God's grace. And what you see by faith, revealed
by the Holy Spirit, it's sure. It's sure. What else do you have?
You don't have anything else. You have nothing else. This is
all the hope you've got. David said, God has made with
me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things insured. Listen
to this true type. This is these blessed truths. I've jotted down just a few of
these things and I'm going to close. That last part, I will make an
everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David,
of Christ. David was a picture type. Let me just read these to you
and I'll hush. Jeremiah 31, 33. I will be their
God. They shall be my people. Jeremiah 31, 34. They shall all
know me. I will forgive their iniquity
and remember their sins no more. Last verse, turn to Jeremiah
32. I just want you to look at these
and we'll stop. Jeremiah 32, to you that are
thirsty, spiritually thirsty. Jeremiah 32, verse 36 to 41. Now therefore, and now therefore,
thus saith the Lord. Now you know, right here, before
I read any further, by the grace of God, may the Lord give us
a heart, incline our ear, incline our ear to hear this. Lord, give
me a heart, give me a heart to thirst for this. And Lord, if
you do, I will, but I will only if you do. And now therefore,
thus saith the Lord, The God of Israel, the God of those that
have been made Israels by grace. Jacob's who were made by the
grace of God to be Israel's. The God of Israel concerning
this city, wherefore you say, it shall be delivered into the
hand of the king of Babylon by the sword and by the famine,
by the pestilence. Behold, I will gather them out
of all countries. You know what that means. That
means God's gonna gather his people wherever they are. They're
scattered over all places. I will gather them out of all
countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger and in my
fury and great wrath, and I will bring them again unto this place. I will cause them to dwell safely.
They shall be my people. I will be their God. I will give
them one heart and one way, which is Christ. I am the one. Give them one way that they may
fear me, respect me forever for the good of them and of their
children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. I will not turn away from them
to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts. They
shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good. And I will plant them in this
land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. Hold everyone that thirsty. Come you to the waters. And drink. Find your heart. I will do you
good. I'll give you the sure mercies
of David. I pray that God bless this. Our
hearts. Thankful that the Lord will make
anybody thirsty. for the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.