May it please almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let's
turn to the prophecy of Isaiah and chapter 55 and we'll read
the first verse. The prophecy of Isaiah chapter
55 and reading the first verse. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
Come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy
and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without
price. This is indeed a very wonderful
gospel invitation. And it commences with this little
word, ho, which really means to draw the attention of everybody
to the statement which is to follow. Because the statement
that follows is a very wonderful statement and it's a very important
statement. So as the word of God addresses
us with such a word, ho, may we perhaps just stop and ponder
and think and say well what is the word which is following what
does it actually say well it's addressed to people and certain
people and we might say special people and those people are those
who thirst everyone that thirsteth so obviously if we are not thirsting
then really it doesn't apply to us but if we are thirsting
then it does apply to us and of course the illustration here
it is a natural one because you and I can understand a natural
one we can understand if we are thirsting naturally But in essence,
the real theme behind this word is one of a spiritual thirst,
with reference to our souls, as to whether we do thirst after
the water of life. Well, this word, this verse,
it's interesting that there are three comes in it to encourage
us. there are many encouraging words
in the Bible but here is one to those who thirst it says 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
how many people today stand back And many people today may indeed
hear such a word as this, but it doesn't have any effect upon
them. They don't hear the gracious
and glorious words of this invitation. As I've said already, it does
address those who are thirsty. It's not just spoken to anyone,
but it's spoken to those who are Thirsty. So this morning,
we obviously need to ask ourselves the question, are we thirsty? Thirsty for the blessing of God. Thirsty for this water of life. Would it be a wonderful blessing? It is so. As I think of these
words, and I'm sure as very often we think of these words, you
know, we're directed to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ when
he was on the earth and he went and met that woman at the well. And we have that glorious account
in the Gospel of John and the fourth chapter. And it's interesting
to read that what the Lord says in that account is, and he must
needs go through Samaria. It was necessary that Jesus should
come and go through Samaria that he might meet a woman. And what a blessed time that
was. And the account is very interesting
and I'm sure most of us are aware of what it says because we're
told then he went to Samaria and he came to a city of Samaria
called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to
his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. And
Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on
the well. And it was about the sixth hour. Again, it's wonderful to read
such a very simple statement because it sets before us that
the blessed Lord Jesus was a human person. He was like us. He became tired. He'd been journeying,
and he needed to sit down. So he sat on the well. And what
happened? It came a woman of Samaria to
draw water. And Jesus spoke to her, give
me to drink. And again, we might be surprised
at that, because here was the Lord Jesus as a human person
speaking to this strange woman. And he said, and he came and
said to her, give me to drink. The disciples weren't there,
he was by himself. And the woman was surprised.
And she said, how is it that thou being a Jew, askest drink
of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Well, it's interesting again
to note that Jesus really ignored that question. He didn't comment
on it. He didn't even refer to it. But
what he says is, he said, If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman said to him, Sir, thou
hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence
then hast thou that living water? And we see how the dialogue progresses. And the woman asked the question,
Aren't thou greater than our father, which gave us the well? and drank thereof himself and
his children and cattle. And Jesus said, whosoever drinketh
of this water shall 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 so we can come back to this
statement, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. And so the Lord here is directing
this woman to the fact that what he was able to give was not natural
water, but indeed was a wonderful gift of this water of life. 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. What a great statement that was.
And so here are we this morning. And I wonder if you and I are
thirsting after the water of life. Not natural water. We need natural water, of course,
to live. Without natural water, we wouldn't
live. But more importantly, It is that the Lord gives to us
this great and glorious blessing of the water of life because
that, as the Lord says, is within us as a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. And so if the Lord gives us this
glorious gift What does it do? It gives us
the wonderful favour of everlasting life. Water naturally we drink,
and we need more water. But you see, if the Lord gives
us, gives us this water of life, this life of God within us, it
never dries up. We may sometimes perhaps feel
it's got very low, But if God has given you and me this water
of life within us, it's springing up and it will never dry up because
it's everlasting. Well, we can understand the response
coming out of this woman. She says, sir, give me this water. But I thirst not, neither come
hither to draw.' She clearly thought it was natural water. But the Lord wasn't speaking
about natural water. He was speaking about spiritual
water. And therefore Jesus said unto
her, Go, call thy husband. and come hither. And now, what's
going to happen? The Lord is going to show to
her His power. He's going to show to her who
He is. Not just an ordinary man, but
the true God and the Messiah. And in answer to this question,
the woman answers and she says, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast
well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, in that sense
thou truly. The woman saith unto her, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. You see, Jesus had reveals to
her that he knew all about her life. Well, today, what a blessing
it is if we realise we are dealing with a God who knows all about
our life. Nothing's hidden from Him. And
as the Lord may come and show to us that He does know all about
our life, may we indeed have that wonderful evidence that
the Lord is the great prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because she goes on to say, our
fathers worshipped in this mountain. And ye say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus and a woman? Believe me. What a great blessing
that is. If you and I come and believe
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Woman, believe me, it was addressed
to this woman. My friends, the Lord does come
and he does address us individually. It may be woman, it may be man. We don't have to ask who the
Lord's speaking to. We know we are being addressed
by almighty God. Woman, believest me, the hour
cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem
worship the Father. Ye worship, ye know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. Again, a great statement, isn't
it? Well, what a blessing for us today. If you and I are thirsting
after this spiritual water, that spiritual water which brings
salvation this wonderful life to our soul for the hour cometh
and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship Him well I'm
sure you realise that I often refer to this grand statement
to be numbered amongst the true worshippers. Today we live in
a sad world when there are many false worshippers. But the true
worshippers thirst after the water of life, thirst after the
spiritual life of God within, as that spring of water springing
up. And what is that? It's none less
than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. You think of those words, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. You see, if the Savior is within
us, that life within, it'll never die. What a wonderful blessing
that is. Perhaps it may seem rather dim,
may not seem to have very much life. But you see, if there is
life, however small it may be, that true life will thirst after
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we will then hear that
word, ho, everyone that thirsteth. we realise we are part of that
number and so the Lord tells his woman the hour cometh and now is when
the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth
they weren't acting and they wouldn't just be pretending they
wouldn't be just going through the motions they wouldn't just
be satisfying their ego they would be worshipping because
they were thirsting after this blessed water of life well the
Lord knows all about each one of us and it's a wonderful confirmation
of the life of God within us, if today we are thirsting after
this water of life. Well, the Lord goes and tells
this woman, he says, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. You see, it's not acting,
it's not acting, it's not pretending. not trying to please people. It's not trying to convince people. No, it's the true concern, the
true desire of our never-dying souls that we are thirsting after
this water of life we're thirsting after the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Savior and that one who has died upon Calvary's
cross to redeem our soul now you see if the Lord grants us
this great blessing it will be indeed a well of water springing
up within God's put it there springing up within The fountain
of the water of life. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye. Gracious, glorious, blessed invitation. How thankful we will be if we
have that desire put within us. The woman said to him, I know
that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come,
he will tell us all things. Jesus said, I that speak unto
thee, am he. What a great statement. What a wonderful statement. For
us today, for the Lord to speak such a word to our souls. It
wasn't any great loud voice, was it? The Lord was just in
conversation with this woman. But what we can believe and know
is that this word, although apparently the word of a man, was the word
of the Saviour. And the word came with convincing
power to this woman. Convincing power. Because the
disciples came, but the woman, she'd come to draw water. She
got a water pot, but she forgot about it. And she went her way back to
the city. And she told the men, come see
a man which told me all things that
ever I did is not this, the Christ. She, you see, was convinced that
what the Lord had spoken to her proved to her that the Lord was
the one that has spoken to her and what a great blessing that
is if you and I today in our life can perhaps remember a time
when the Lord spoke into our heart and that word is there and it's springing up
and it's everlasting and it's living water it's not something
that you and I could have produced because it would have worn off
it would have gone away but you see the Word of God is eternal,
it's everlasting and the water of life to our souls is indeed
eternal and everlasting. And what a great blessing it
is therefore today. If we hear this great and wonderful
word, Ho! Everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters. Come to the Saviour. Look to
me, the one who gives. this great and glorious blessing
of the water of life. Well, it's a wonderful favour,
isn't it? You know, the Lord doesn't leave
this theme, and we can follow it through. And in the 6th chapter
of John also, we read this in the 35th verse. The Lord's speaking there about
the bread and water of life. He was speaking about they had
some bread, the disciples, and now They wanted bread and the
Lord's telling them, for the bread of God is he which cometh
down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said unto
him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus says, I am the
bread of life. He that cometh to me, he that
thirsteth shall never hunger. And he that cometh to me shall
never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Well, what a blessing then, you
see, if God has given us grace to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's his gift to unworthy sinners. We don't deserve it. What a blessing
the Lord favours us and comes to us and grants us this great
and blessed and glorious gift. And in the next chapter, the
seventh chapter of the Gospel of John, the Lord again is speaking. And then it's then said the Jews
among themselves, wither where he go, that's verse 35. that
we shall not find him. Will he go unto the dispersed
among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles? What manner of
saying is this that he said, ye shall seek me and shall not
find me, and where I am thither ye cannot come. And then we read,
in 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. He that believeth on me, as the
Scriptures hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. You see that everlasting life
springs up, flows out, It's never stopped. It's never quenched. But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Many of the people, therefore,
when they heard that saying, said, of a truth, this is the
prophet. Well, what a blessing for us.
If the Lord's given us faith to long after this water of life,
this spiritual water, we know what it is, how necessary it
is to long after natural water. But how more important it is
to long after this great and wonderful and glorious blessing
of this spiritual water, which is found springing up. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. Well, that's the gracious invitation,
isn't it? Come ye to the waters. What a blessing it is, then,
if you and I have a thirst, have a real thirst. Let me go right
back to the last book in the Bible, in chapter 21, right near
the very end. And in the sixth verse, this
is what the Apostle John heard when he was on that isle of Patmos. And he says, verse six, And he
said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely. You see, as I said to begin with,
are we thirsting? But if we are thirsting, if we're
seeking unto God that he will give us this blessed water of
life, then here is the answer. The Lord says, I will give. Unto
him that is a thirst of the fountain of water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son. Now then, the Lord tells us here
about overcoming. Do you know, we have an evil
heart of unbelief. That evil heart of unbelief tells
us, well, it's not for you. There's no hope for you. Well,
remember the devil's always been a liar, and he always will be. So never believe what the devil
will try and plant in your heart. But as I've sometimes said, tell
him the word of God. The devil cannot stand the Word
of God. He hates the Word of God. But you can tell him that Jesus
said, I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of
the water of life freely. That's a wonderful Word, isn't
it? That's a wonderful gift, isn't
it? It's a wonderful blessing to think that the Lord God Almighty
comes and gives us that great and wonderful blessing. You see,
when the Lord gives us such great truths as this, it's not only
water, but it's food for our souls. Because what happens then? We spiritually grow. Indeed,
we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. And we can truly bless God for
it. Well, this morning, are we here? Are we thirsting? Hear that gracious
word, come ye. to the waters it really means
that everyone who thirsts must come, should come because
God gives the thirst God gives the desire the longing
after spiritual blessing it's not something that you can suddenly
drag up because by nature we're dead, we're hard-hearted, we're
rebellious but all wonderful blessing when the Lord comes
and gives us this great and wonderful gift so that our thirst is quenched
and we can truly praise and thank God for it. You know the Apostle
Peter was wonderfully blessed in his life and it's so encouraging
I often think with Peter because of course he was the one that
so vehemently denied that he had anything to do with the Lord
Jesus Christ but he wasn't cast off he wasn't
put on the rubbish heap the Lord didn't say Peter there's no hope
for you now the Lord looked at Peter
he turned and looked upon Peter specifically and what a blessing
if spiritually the Lord comes and looks upon us specifically and Peter's epistle in the first
chapter he tells us this and if he called on the Father who
without respect of persons, doesn't matter how bad you are, who without
respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work. Pass the
time of your sojourning here in fear. That's a humble fear,
not to offend God. A humble fear that God will have
mercy upon you. for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold. You see, they will not redeem
our souls. It doesn't matter how much money
we have to give to God. And we may think, well, if I
give this and give that, I'll make my position sure in heaven.
Doesn't count. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from
your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers,
but... So how are we redeemed? Something
that we can give? No. But with the precious blood of
Christ. as of a lamb, without blemish
and without spot. This is indeed, my friends, the
water of life. This is that which the Lord gives
to his church, to assure them that they are true believers. Let me just read it again because
it's wonderful words. You were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. So we should perhaps ask ourselves
the question this morning, have we been given this great gift? living water. Have we been thirsting
after this blessed knowledge that the blood of Jesus Christ
God's Son has cleansed me? I'm clean. Bless God I'm clean. I'm washed in the Redeemer's
blood. The price has been paid for me that price to take away
my sin and there within me today is this well of water springing
up into everlasting life the devil cannot gain save such a
truth as that it doesn't matter how bad we are doesn't matter
how we've sinned remember the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son
cleanseth from all sin well this morning hoe everyone that thirsteth
come ye to the waters and he that has no money you see we
don't have currency anyway to purchase our redemption we don't
have any money we can't do it nonetheless we've got no money
what does the word still say? does it say well there's no hope? no it doesn't say that it says
come again ye that have no money come ye buy and eat Yay, come! Buy wine and milk without money
and without price. The gospel is free. Amazing, isn't it? You and I
don't have to pay anything for it because it's been paid for. The Lord Jesus has paid for our
redemption and he's paid it with his own life, his own precious
blood. That's why, as I say, so often
it's so important to go to Calvary and see what Christ did there
in order to redeem our soul. He gave his life as a sacrifice
for our sin. What a mercy and what a blessing
and what a favour. So this morning I hope we can
come in with this gracious invitation if we are truly thirsting. And
remember God gives that spiritual thirst and we can praise God
and thank him for it and believe. Therefore he's given that thirst,
he will quench that thirst. And he will give us, indeed,
that great and glorious gift of everlasting life springing
up within us, which will never, never cease. Well, this morning,
may we go on our way, praising God, from whom all blessings
flow. Amen.