Let's take our Bibles this morning
and turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55. This morning, what I'd like to
do today is I'd like to look this morning at the first three
verses In the second service, I'd like to look at the next
two verses, 4 and 5. The Lord willing, next Sunday,
finish the book of Isaiah 55. We're going to deviate today
or next Sunday in accordance with our Lord's goodwill and
providence. And just look at this blessed
chapter of the book of Isaiah, chapter 55. Let's read the first
three verses. Hold every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come,
come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money, without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not great, 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." Let's pray together. Our blessed Father, how wonderful
it is to call you our Father, and to know that we can draw
near unto you this morning by the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, help us. Help us to worship. Help us to hear. Help us to see. We're needing people. Bless your
word, I ask this morning, for Christ's sake. Amen. This morning, the scriptures
speak of a sensation, of a need, that only a regenerated sinner
knows anything about. It refers to thirsting The scripture says, and it begins
with, HOLD. And that's a word that sits forth,
a call to attention. Listen up! Listen! Give me attention! Everyone that thirsteth. Thirsteth for what, David? King David IV said in 2 Samuel, let me read
this to you, 2 Samuel chapter 23 and verse 15. May this request, 2 Samuel 23,
15. David longed and said, O that
one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem. which is by the gate. Or you
read that verse of scripture right there and you think, I
see the spiritual significance of that. I hear with the ears that the
Lord has given me, I hear what he's saying. Oh that one would
give me to drink this morning of the well of the fountain of
the water of Bethlehem, that place where Almighty God was
pleased to send the One of whom we must drink today. Thirsty souls know something
about Him who is the fountain that springs up unto everlasting
life. David said in Psalm 42, verse
2, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. You know, I've said before, sometimes
I can remember when my kids, after I told them to go to bed,
Next thing you know, you hear one of them saying, Dad, Mom,
yeah, I'm thirsty. I'm thinking to myself, all right,
you know, you get up and go get him a glass of water. Thanks. I mean, you weren't thirsty. No, you're not thirsty. But there's
been times when you find yourself and you haven't had any water. You're so dry, you're so thirsty. I mean, this is a sensation that
you just can't get away from. I mean, this takes precedent. When a man, when a woman is truly
thirsty, I can just imagine, just, I remember
when I was in grade school, and we had a little water fountain
there in the hallway, and I don't know what it was about that particular
fountain. The others didn't do this, but
I don't know if it was the pressure, I don't know if it was the, how
it was, but when I turned that little lever, It was just the
right amount of water that could come out. There was a goodly
amount of it. It wasn't a little small stream,
you know, that you had to shoot right up into you, you know,
and kind of suck it. I mean, there was so much of
it. And I would just sit there and
I'd drink, and when I got really thirsty, I thought about that
fountain, that little water fountain. I thought, I can remember that
was, That was where I could drink. That refreshment. David said,
my inmost self, my soul, thirsts for Him who alone is God. Tell me this morning, tell me
about Him who is mighty. Tell me about Him who is sovereign. Tell me about Him who is holy.
I didn't come this morning. Well, it's Sunday. We've got to go to church, you
know. When are we going to go to church? I had a neighbor of
mine when I lived in Tennessee. She told me one time, she said
my husband and I decided maybe this Sunday we might do church. No. Hold everyone that thirsts. That thirsts really, truly. I want to hear. Tell me about
them. My soul thirsts for God. For the living God. Oh, what
a blessing. What a blessing that God would
give somebody a soul that thirsts for Him. Ask yourself this. Has He given me a soul that thirsts
for the living God? That's a convicting thought,
isn't it? Do I want to hear, David said, early will I seek
Thee. My soul thirsty land where no water is. I'm in a world that has no enduring spiritual refreshment
in itself. And I seek and I thirst for Him
who is absolutely life itself. I realize by the grace of God
that There are places where the Lord is raised up. That place where I can drink. Don't tell me about it. Just
tell me about the fountain of life. Tell me of Him thirsting after Christ. I'm talking
about truly Thirsting, and I'm listening to what I'm saying
right now, and I'm asking, Lord, give me a heart that thirsts
for You. Thirsting after Him is the evidence
of God's blessing and mercy and compassion to you. That's the evidence. Do I have
to drink continually? Do I need to drink? We drink water every day. We
probably need to drink more than we do. And I understand that
part of it, drinking. It goes in my mouth and then
wherever else it goes, you just, you know. But I'm talking about
a soul that drinks. Do I have a soul? lest, the Scripture says, that
they pursue hunger and thirsts after righteousness, not their
own. We know that. I'm talking about a righteousness
that God alone accepts. I'm talking about the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ earned by His obedience. Just stop just
a minute and think about this. There's a God in heaven. right
now. There is a God in heaven that
reveals secrets and reveals to His people that which He has
everlastingly purposed to do. How would I know that the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world and walked before God and earned
the righteousness that God itself, one righteousness, to accept
one man's obedience, the man Christ Jesus. And that righteousness,
imputed, charged, robed in Christ alone, His robe, His obedience,
His goodness, His righteousness before God, I sold first for that. Only a person that's robed asks
for that. And they ask for that which God
has already told everyone, everyone that thirsteth. Jew, Gentile,
man, woman, anybody that thirsteth. I know what men continually say. I read this again the other day.
I was reading an article by somebody, and he said, this world hears
the glorious gospel of God's free grace, and this is what
they say. You're trying to make it so narrow
that you're trying to see if you can block out people that
may want to come, but if they're not one of God's elect, they're
not going to come. No, you've got a distorted view. Unless Almighty God gives him
a heart made willing to that is power. But I can tell you
for a fact, I can proclaim with certainty, anybody, everybody, anyone that
thirsts it, come, come. Do you think that a preacher
of the gospel of God's grace has the ability to stop God Almighty
from doing what He's purposed to do? No, but by the grace of
God, we've been given a heart that knows, you preached this. You set forth man's depravity. You set forth God's sovereignty. You set forth God's election.
God's redeeming. God's quickening. God's preserving
grace. In Christ, you preach! Ezekiel, can these bones live?
Lord, you know. Marvin, can these bones live?
Lord, you know. You preach to them. You preach
to them. And I will cause. I'll cause
like I'll cause. Oh, anyone that thirsts, Has He made you? Has He given
you a heart that you want to come? Come to the waters. The literal of that, I looked
that up. It says come to the water. Come
to the water. Come to Him who is the river
of life. Come to Him who is the rock smitten
of which the water flowed. That rock that followed Israel. Come to Him. John 7.37 says,
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me. Let him come to me. Come to the one that was ever
before the Father. Come to the one in whom the Father
delights, the shepherd of the sheep. Come to him who is mighty to
save. Come. He that searches for it
has no money. You that are the ones that have
no possessions, you who absolutely are spiritually broke, you know,
you don't have any money. I mean, you're broke. You're
concerning this world. You're in a world of hurt. You're just at the mercy of someone's
kindness, aren't you? You that absolutely have no ability,
you that are maimed in the fall of Adam, you that are naked without
a fit have nothing to pay, come. Yeah, come. And buy wine and milk without
money and without price, huh? I'm telling you how foolish that
sounds to the natural man. I tell you how foolish it sounds.
He doesn't believe it. And he has in his mind He has
the ability. He has the ability. He thinks.
He has the will. He thinks. He has the worth.
He thinks. Purchasing. That which has no
price on it. Excuse me. He said, we go into a store,
we've got to have two things to buy something. Number one,
you've got to have the money to buy it. Number two, you want
to know how much does it cost. But Scripture says, come by wine
and milk without money, without price. Years ago I'd go to these little
shows, these little art shows and stuff like this and I'd have
a piece here, got a frame on it, you know. And somebody would
come up and maybe want to talk about it, you know. But what
you're basically trying to do is you're basically trying to
explain to them the merits of it and kind of bring them up
to the price. I realize it's a little pricey,
but you see, let me start describing how, why it's like this. You
know, this particular frame was X, and it's got this certain
kind of mat, and it's got this, I'm trying to bring you up to
the price. Spiritually, the grace of God
brings a man down to the price. free? People are suspicious that
something is free. I get something in the mail that
says, you know, congratulations, you are free! Free! Somebody called me the other
day here at the church, and they said, listen, we've got a twenty-second
interview. Twenty-second interviews already,
and for twenty seconds of your time, we've given you a two-day
cruise I don't even want to hear it. That ain't so. There ain't
no way in the world that you're going to give me a two-day cruise
for 20 seconds of my time. I don't believe you. The scriptures
set forth that that which is foolishness unto men, that's
the power of You that have nothing. You that
are poor and wretched and blind and poor. You that have nothing. And buy without money, without
price. Buy with God's provision. Faith. Faith. Buy that which Almighty God reveals
to you, you have no abilities to purchase. was given to you,
and faith believes it. Well, then this was not of my
doing. This wasn't according to my ability. This wasn't according to my,
you know, timing and work. Right. Right. That which God Almighty gives
freely According to His mercy and compassion, He says, come,
buy and eat. Feast upon this. Feast upon the
merits of His goodness, grace, and compassion in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Buy wine. Buy that which is the
joy. revealed by the Spirit of God,
the joy of the Lord, that which enlivens the heart, the wine. Mr. Scourge said concerning that
wine of the Spirit, he said, take skill to know how to produce
wine. Take skill to know how to do
that. The One who skillfully, everlastingly,
on purpose, chose to show mercy by this which your soul hears
and you rejoice in it. This is good. You need to tell
me that I am saved by grace, revealed by faith. That it's
not in myself. It's the gift of God. And I have
no ability to keep it. And I'm kept by the power of
God through faith. To be revealed in due time. Unto
the salvation, eternal salvation of Almighty God. Is that what
you're saying? Yes. Buy of him who is God's gift. Buy of him who is the joy of
the Father and of his people. Come buy. Buy wine and milk,
that which is absolutely, totally health, nourishment, all you
need to live upon. Buy the milk. Buy that wine. The world, they don't even know
what you're talking about. You know, he said, this is so
ridiculous, I've never heard of this kind of mess in my life.
And a believer sits there and they just absolutely rejoice.
You think to yourself, salvation's of the Lord. Salvation is all
of grace. And for those, back in Isaiah
55, to believe that they possess the means purchase their salvation,
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." Hearken diligently, listen carefully, listen, listen! I think about that parable when
the Lord, the story, when the Lord said there was a rich man,
he cared sumptuously every day, and there was a man named Lazarus
and he laid outside and he had all sorts of swords and he scraped
himself, the dogs licked him and stuff like that. be satisfied to eat whatever
the rich man threw out every day, threw his trash out through
the back door. Lazarus would be satisfied just
to, you know, rich man died. Scripture says, lifted up his
eyes out of hell. And I thought about that. Oh, those that have left this
world without Christ, possible. Well what do you think
if it were possible? It's not. It's not. Well what
would a man give if he had one more time to sit on the gospel
and just hear it one more time? Why? Why do you spend money for
that which is not real? Do you think that you're, do
you think your little feeble, impotent efforts, do you think
Do you think that all of your excuses for not coming and buying, do
you think that all of those excuses, do you think that all of your
false efforts, do you think all of that is going to matter in
the day of judgment? What do you think? Listen to
me. This may be the last time you
ever hear the gospel. And I pray, and I know this,
I know that Almighty God is going to do that which is pleasing
in His sight. I know He's going to do that, and that's the covenant
that I have. But I'll promise you this, any man, any woman
that doesn't come, number one, they didn't want to come. And
number two, in the day of judgment, they'll have no one to blame
but themselves. You wouldn't come. You wouldn't
come. You'll not lay this at God's doorstep. You'll not lay
this at anyone's doorstep except your own. It's like Nathan when
he came to David and said, you're the man. Why? Why do you weigh out? Why do you spend money for that
which has no sustenance? Every food that is not Him. Why do you buy, why do you toil
and work for that which produces no satisfaction, number one,
in your soul or especially before God? Or can you attend to the
voice of Him who is our only hope? Feed upon Christ. Here's the amazing thing. God's
people, regenerated by the grace of God, hear these words and
the Spirit of God blesses them to their hearts. And they eat,
and they feast, and they rejoice, and they're thankful. They bless
the Lord. Why? Because in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete in
Him, which is the head of all principalities and power. Let your soul delight in fatness. You don't have to worry about
running out of him. You don't ever have to. There's
times that I'll go home and I'll think to myself, I've told you
this before, but you just don't have any idea how much I beat
myself up after I preached and go home and I sit down and I
just, you know, kind of sit down and maybe kind of just think.
I should have said this. You know I should have said this.
Maybe I should have said that. That's the way. Maybe I should
have said that. I'll ask Glenn, did that come out all right? Just so, so, you know. One of the things that I grieve
myself over, have I said that too much? Have I said too much
concerning God's song? Have I repeated myself too much?
No. I know better. I know better. How are you going to feast too
much upon His fatness? Upon His fullness? How are you
going to hear too much of God's mercy to you? How are you going
to hear too much of God's sovereignty? How are you going to hear? You're
not! Lest God will go by the grace of God through eternity
hearing and seeing behold Him, who is all of our hope. We eat
of Him when we truly believe Him. Did you truly believe that
there's coming a day when He's going to come back, when we'll
not be in this world? Think of the saints that departed
this congregation. Do we truly believe? that they're
with the Lord, seeing Him, beholding Him, resting in Him. Because
God said, no more tears, no more worry, no more dishonoring God,
no more work days. Do we truly believe that? Is
there coming a time truly when these days will be no more? Lord,
teach us to number our days. He's appointed today. It's appointed
by the man once and for all. And you're not going to die before
that appointed time. But you're not going to go past it either.
That we truly believe. Eat. Eat. Feast. Incline your ear, the scripture
says. Incline your ear, verse 3. Come unto me here and your soul
shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. What? Say that again! Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Our soul is fed by the Spirit
of God blessing the Gospel of Christ. That's what we eat. I want to eat. God's people are
satisfied with one meal. One meal. Give me Christ. Set forth Him. Incline your ear,
come unto me. Not to the Lord, not to the front,
not to the pastor. Come unto me. And your soul shall live. Obviously, there's got to be
life given before anyone can come and come here. The meaning of this, by coming
and hearing the word of the Lord, that's where you find that upon
which you live. No one comes in order to live. They come because God's made
them alive, and they're alive. Made alive, quickened by the
grace of God. Incline your ear, hear it, and
your soul will live. Come unto me, and I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David." Now, in closing, this everlasting
covenant did not come into being when the sinner came by faith
to Christ, or else it wouldn't have been everlasting. He says,
come unto me, and I will make an everlasting covenant with
you. It did not begin when you came. Then what does it mean? It means
that the covenant that is everlasting will be made manifest to you. Almighty God, by the grace and
mercy of himself, chose to show mercy. Christ redeemed by grace,
by power, by his blood, those that the Father gave him. and surely call them out of darkness,
all according to that everlasting covenant of grace. And I was
born in this world. I came forth from my mother's
womb, speaking lies, living in rebellion, a child of wrath,
just like everybody else. I hated God just as much as any
unrejected sinner. despised him, had no interest
in the gospel. I didn't even want to go to church,
much less anything about him. I had no interest. It was fine
with me. If I don't go, that's fine. I
don't care. I don't care. I take it or leave
it. I'll go and decide to make my
mom and dad feel better. I don't care. But one day, when
it pleased God, Almighty God in His infinite mercy and compassion
was pleased to stop me and reveal to me that which is concerning
that everlasting covenant and He made it known to me. Come
unto me and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies
of David. What do you mean the sure mercies
of David? Let me just read these verses
to you, and then we'll stop. Jeremiah 31, verse 33. Jeremiah 31, verse 33. This shall be the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel, the spiritual Israel.
That's spiritually speaking. After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts. in their hearts. God one time wrote a covenant,
it was a covenant of do and live, pray, do and live. This is not
the sure mercies of David, the spiritual David, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Here's the sure mercies of him
of whom David was a tyrant. I'm going to put my law, not
on stone, but I'm going to put it in your hearts. They shall
teach no more, every man his neighbor, every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. All of God's
sheep they shall know me. From the least of them to the
greatest, saith the Lord, I will forgive their iniquity, and I
will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 32, just one page over. Verse 36 to 39 is the sure mercies
of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, therefore, thus saith the
Lord thy God of Israel concerning the city, whereof they say it
shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon by the
sword of the famine, by the pestilence." Listen to this. No, I will gather them out of
the countries, whether I've driven them in my anger, in my fury,
and in great wrath, and I will bring them again unto this place,
and I will cause them to dwell safely, and they shall be my
people, and I will be their God, and I will give them one heart,
and I will give them one way, that they may fear me forever
for the good of them, and their children after them, And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts, and they shall not depart from me. There's the sure mercies
of God. Oh, everyone thirsts. Everyone that God's given a heart You said, well, I came years
ago. Salvation is right now. Come
on now. Come now in your heart by faith.
Come to me. Cast yourself upon me. As you
receive Christ Jesus, that's the way you welcome Him. We have
never changed from the way we first came. You come every day,
every moment, just like that. See, false religion looks back
and it's on time. Well, I came, you know, I was
14 years old when I came to Christ. A believer comes right now. A
believer is ever coming. He's ever coming. A believer
looks unto Him who is his hope. Today is the day of salvation.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts for Christ's sake.