All right, Isaiah chapter 55,
and the title of my message this evening is The Cry of God. The
Cry of God. Here in verse 1, it says, Ho,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money, come. Buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Now, before this, in chapter
53, we've been through these chapters together and we've studied
these. In chapter 53, the prophet reveals
to us the arm of the Lord, which is none other than Jesus Christ. He who has come to save His people,
His sheep, which most definitely is Christ, the man of sorrows,
that He did bear the iniquity of His people, and God was pleased
with His offering. And then in chapter 54, we come
to this, the prophet speaking out to God's people. He says, Sing, O barren, barren,
the sinner. He is calling out to the sinner, the barren sinner who has no
righteousness. He calls them to sing, for they
shall have more righteousness than the religious. And he calls
to this to comfort his church, to assure his church. And we
by nature are barren of any righteousness, yet we find all our righteousness
in Jesus Christ. He is our husband, our Redeemer. And even though we are tossed
about with troubles and afflictions of our sin, the flesh, the world,
and the devil, Yet behold, Christ is here, is represented as our
foundation. He says that in the previous
chapter, chapter 54, in verse 11. He says, O thou afflicted,
tossed, and tempest, and not comforted, behold, I lay thy
stones, thy fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphire. We find that Christ is our foundation,
and he is established in righteousness. And therefore, at the end of
the chapter, he says, no weapon that is formed against us shall
prosper. So we have the revelation of
Jesus Christ in 53. We have a call to the church
in 54 as the baron. And he tells us of our Savior
Christ. And he comforts us in our affliction. And so now we come to chapter
55, and again we have God speaking and crying to His people. We have God, the Lord, calling
out and saying, Ho! Stop! Cease! Listen! All you flesh, listen! God is
speaking! And He says, Stop! And hear My
words! The witness in our text is the
heart and grace of God to call out the sinful and rebellious
men. The Scriptures are so clear to
point this out. That except God had purposed,
except God had come to man, except God had spoken to us and called
us, we would have never come to Him. Had God never called
man, man would have never come to God. You remember in the very
beginning when Adam sinned, they were exposed and they covered
themselves. They tried to hide their nakedness. And yet they did not go to God. But rather, God came to them. It was God who was walking in
the cool of the day and spoke with such kindness. Did He not? He said, Adam, where art thou? Now this was not for information.
God knew where Adam was. And yet, hear the plea in His
voice. God said, where art thou? He
came to Adam. And what did Adam do? They hid
themselves even further in the garden. Why? This is because man by nature
is depraved. Man cannot and will not come
to God by Jesus Christ, which is the only way to God. In John
chapter 14, Jesus said this, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. There's no way to God but by
Christ. And yet man by nature will not
come to God by Jesus Christ. In John chapter 6 in verse 44,
Jesus makes this again plain. No man can come unto Me. Except the Father which has sent
me, do what? Draw Him. Except God come to
us, except God speak to us, no man will ever come to God. Therefore, it is necessary that
God cry out to man. It is necessary that God speak
to man. And except God speak to you,
you will never come to God. In that same passage he says,
every man therefore that hath heard, heard, faith cometh how? By hearing. And hearing how? By the Word of God. You see,
God must speak to us in order for us to hear. And he that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me. Who comes
to Christ? Only those who are taught of
God. Only those who hear God speak. How do men come to Christ? How
are men saved? not by the coming of the will
not by merit but by the grace of God by the grace of God you
remember it says in John chapter 1 as many as received him to
them gave he the right to be called the sons of God which
were born not of the will of the flesh not of blood not of
the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Man
is born again, he's born of God. You remember that infant in Ezekiel
chapter 16 that was cast out, polluted in its own blood. He
said, I said unto thee, when thou wast polluted in thine own
blood, isn't that what He did to us who believe on Him? Were
we not polluted in the blood of our Father? Were we not polluted
and corrupted in our sins? And yet God in mercy, seeing
us cast out, He said to our soul, live, and we lived. This is how
men live, is if God says, oh, if God speaks to the soul and
heart of man. Now the Word of God here is,
I've just spoken to you as general. I've just told you the Word of
God. I've just read you the text that God speaks. Yet listen,
not all people will hear it. Though you've heard it with your
ears, that doesn't mean you've heard it. It's only if God speaks
it into your heart you'll ever hear it. The Word of God goes
out in general to all men. But if you notice this, when
God speaks in the general gospel call, He always limits it. Have you ever noticed that? I
believe our brother, two Wednesdays ago, preached from Isaiah chapter
45. In verse 22, he said, Let's go over there. I don't
want to misquote it. He said, "...Look unto Me, and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and
there is none else." Did you see the limitations in that?
He said all the ends of the earth. But listen, who needs salvation
but those that are lost? Isn't that so? Look unto Me and
be ye saved. Well, I don't need to be saved.
Well, He's not talking to you. He's talking to those who need
to be saved. And you know, He limits it. He
says, Look unto Me. I'm God and there is none else.
He limits to whom to look to, doesn't He? He said, I'm God.
I'm it. I'm salvation. So it's limited
in that. Only those that are lost need
to be saved. And so here in our text, look
at this. Look how he limits this, even though he says, Ho, everyone.
He doesn't say, Ho, everyone, come to the waters, does he?
He says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth. You see, there's a qualifying
remark there. Thirsteth. He qualifies his statement
to whom he's speaking. Who is he speaking to? To whomsoever
thirsteth. That's who he's speaking to.
He's thirsty. Now, man by nature, man by nature
has many thirsts. And this word, thirst, it is,
when you're thirsty, it means you're lacking something. You're
lacking water. You're lacking water. And so
you're thirsty. You have a desire for water because
you're thirsty. Man has many desires or many
thirsts. A man may surely thirst for pleasure.
He may thirst for riches. He may thirst for honor and fame
or power. How about this? A man may thirst
for a good family. A man may thirst for a comfortable
life. Who's not done that? Who's not
thirsted for those things? And surely a man, it is in the
bounds of a man's nature to thirst after religion. You read in Romans,
and Paul tells us that every man knows there's a God. Every
man knows that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness. You see, a man knows these things
by nature. And yet man does not know the
God. by nature. And he doesn't follow
after God by nature. Matter of fact, he glorifies
and rather worships the creature rather than the Creator. Man
may and does conceive a God of his own mind, a God much like
himself. Now listen, if your God is much
like yourself, your God is not God. Your God is anything like
yourself. He's not God. God said, Thou
thoughtest I was altogether such in one as thyself. That's what
man thinks by nature, that God is, He may be a little higher
than I am, but you know, He's kind of like me. He has the same
passions and emotions and feelings that I do. No, God says, I'm
nothing like you. And he may try to quench his
thirst of religion by his deeds, his ceremonies, by pageants,
or by his obedience to the law. But these to whom God is addressing,
this thirsting is in no way about sin, thirst for sin, or
treasure, or religious works. This thirst cannot be satisfied
by anything carnal, because it is a spiritual thirst. It is
a spiritual thirst. How do we know this is talking
about spiritual things? Look at verse 3. He said, Incline
your ear unto me, and hear that your, what? Soul. Your soul shall
live. You see, he's talking about soul.
Look at verse 2 at the end. He said, eat that which is good
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. So this thirst that
God is speaking of is a spiritual thirst. It has to do with the
soul. It has to do with spiritual things,
not carnal. Therefore, no amount of outward
religion or carnal works can satisfy a spiritual need. This is what man thinks. Listen,
this is what man thinks about religion. He thinks that it may
be a spiritual problem, but that this spiritual problem can be
solved by carnal means. You know, if I just do this ceremony,
I'll be spiritually whole. If I just do this, I'll be spiritually
whole. That's what religion does. But
it can never satisfy this thirst. Because it's not carnal. We who know this thirst, this
spiritual thirst, we know this thirst is spiritual.
Because of what we saw in the scripture. So behold, God reveals
by his call the need of every man. Every man has a spiritual
need. A spiritual need. And this thirst
is a spiritual thirst. Because Adam sinned, all of his
race were defiled, corrupted. We all died in Adam. And from birth we were born in
sin. We were all spiritually judged
and condemned so that we cannot and will not by nature come to
God. We are born in sin and we are
lacking something. Just as a thirsty man is lacking
water, what we are lacking spiritually is righteousness. Righteousness. That's what man is lacking by
nature. In Romans 3, in verse 10, it says, There is none... What? Righteous. No, not one. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. There is none that seeketh after
God. There is none that understandeth. Have you considered what God
requires of you? You would be wise to consider
what God requires of you. God requires of us perfect, spotless,
sinless righteousness. That's what he requires. He requires
us to have active, positive obedience to all of His holy law. Without holiness, no man shall
see God. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Yet none of us could merit such
a righteousness. You not see the lack, you not
see the need of our souls is righteousness that we cannot
provide. Try as you may, work as hard
as you will, you and I can never provide what God requires of
us. And only those taught of God
will hear this cry. where he teaches us first to
know our need. If you've ever been taught of
God, you understand what thirst is. You understand what he's
talking about when he calls the thirsty to the waters. Thirsty for righteousness. Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst. After what? Righteousness. Righteousness. God says, ho,
everyone that thirsteth. Are you such a sinner? Are you
a sinner that is devoid of righteousness? Are you as a man dying without
water? Do you need righteousness? God says in Jeremiah chapter
two, he said, my people have committed two evils. They have
forsaken me. the fountain of living water,
and two, they have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns that
can hold no water." Hold no water. We have by nature forsaken God
and have made broken cisterns. Man labors and strives and works
to be good. He tries to please God. He tries
to please his flesh, but neither is satisfied. But the more he works, the greater
his thirst. Isn't that so? You remember this
is illustrated easily in Luke chapter 8 with that woman with
the issue of blood. You remember how she went to
the doctors and she spent all that she had. What happened to
her illness? It grew none better but only
worse. Isn't this what happens to a
man when he becomes sensible, when God makes him sensible of
his sin? He goes here, and he goes there,
and he's exposed, and he can't find any rest. He moves here,
and he looks for religion, and that doesn't satisfy. He looks
at determination, that doesn't satisfy. He looks maybe to sin,
it doesn't satisfy. Nothing. But he grows worse. Even so does God do with all
his objects of mercy. He exposes our sin and we run
to and fro for relief. We try to look for some remedy
for our guilt and find nothing but only grow worse. In Psalm 107, he says we stagger
the men on the sea, stagger in the storm as a drunken man. Then, when they've come to their
wits end, then they cry unto the Lord. When will anyone hear
God's message? Oh, everyone that thirst has
come to the waters. Only when they're at their wits
end, when they got nowhere else to go. That's the only time they'll
ever come to God. Isn't that sad? is doesn't that just show the
depravity of man's nature? That he will not come to the
waters, but he'll keep working in the dirt to try to hewn out
a cistern for himself. Oh, but when we come to our wits'
end. I'm so thankful for that. I've
come to my wits' end. I've had that where I've got
nowhere else to go. He's hedged up my way with thorns. And He brought me to the end
of myself. And I had a thirst that could
not be satisfied with anything else. And He said this, Oh, come
you thirsty. Come to the waters. This is the
gospel message of God that He cries. Come to the waters. What
are the waters? What are the waters? This water
is the water of life, which flows from the throne of God. This
is the gospel message of salvation. Go to Revelation chapter 22.
See this picture in the end. In verse 1 he said, And He showed
me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, Where did it
come from? Proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. This salvation is as old as the
throne of God. This salvation, this water that
flows, it flows from the love of God, from the mercy of God,
from the grace of God, and from the power of God. It flows from
God to man. That's where this water comes
from. It comes from God to man. And I'll tell you, it only comes
through the Lamb. It only comes through Christ. This water of salvation is eternal
life and peace with God, and it only comes through Christ. You remember that picture in
the Old Testament when they were out in the desert and Israel
was... They were dying of thirst. They didn't have any water. And
they cried out to God in desperation. That's usually how it happened.
They waited till their wits end, didn't they? Before they cried
to him, but when they cried, we're thirsty. He said to Moses,
he said, behold, I'll stand on a rock. And when you come to that rock,
you smite the rock and out will flow water. and the people may
drink." You see, this salvation of God that flows from God comes
through the smitten rock, which is Jesus Christ. Paul reveals
to us in 1 Corinthians that that rock is Christ. 1 Corinthians
10, 4 tells us he said that rock which followed them in the wilderness
is Christ. It is a spiritual rock. Now see
how costly this water was to the Son of God, that He must
be stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. See how He came
as the rock, the chosen rock and foundation of His people.
Behold, Christ is the rock on whom all the church of God is
built. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone,
a precious stone, a cornerstone, a sure foundation. Jesus said,
upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. He was to be our rock and foundation
for the church. He was to be the second Adam,
the mediator and high priest and representative of all the
elect. Therefore, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. Why was Christ to suffer? Why
was he to die? He was to die for the sins of
his people. All those people that God gave
Christ He was to bear the full responsibility
of their salvation. And the only way the waters of
life and salvation could come to us was that He should be smitten. That's it. This is the only way
salvation comes, is that sin must be dealt with. It must be
punished. God is just and cannot let sin
go. He must punish sin. So if He
is to let this water of salvation come to sinners, it must be through
the suffering of the substitute. And he should bear and suffer
the full measure of the weight of the wrath of God alone. And
when he shall see of the travail of his soul, God shall be satisfied. God was satisfied when Christ
died. Did you know that? God was satisfied. Completely and absolutely satisfied. By His one offering, the Apostle
tells us in Romans 9 and Romans 10, by His one offering, He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. God has accepted
His offering. for our sins. And what flows
out of His sacrifice is this. Blessings! Blessings! Blessings! Mercies! Mercies! Mercies! A never-ending river
of water of life that flows out of Christ freely. And what does
God say? What is God's message to man?
Behold My Son. Behold My Son. You thirsty, come
to My Son. You stricken, smitten, hey, come
to My Son. You sinner, come to My Son and
be washed and cleaned. You know this whole book is about
His Son? This whole book is about His
Son. You see, all of the blessings of God were stored up in Christ
from eternity. He said He had given us all spiritual
blessings in Christ. And these blessings could not
flow to man except the rock be broken, except the rock be smitten. And now He's saying the rock
has been smitten. The blessings are pouring out
of Christ. Therefore God says to the thirsty,
those thirsty for salvation, those thirsty for righteousness,
those thirsty for eternal life. He said, behold, my son, the
water of life. Behold, from him comes the water
of life. Are you sensible of your thirst? And listen to me very carefully. You should ask of him. And He will give you this water
freely. Isn't that what He said to the
woman at the well? That woman that He, He met that
woman. He had purposed to meet her.
She had no idea what was going to happen. She had been, this
woman had been divorced five times. Now back then women didn't
divorce men. The men kicked them out. This
woman had been kicked out five times. And this woman was not
even married to the man she was with. And she was an outcast
of even the Samaritans. The Samaritans were the lowest
people. And she was an outcast of them.
And yet the Lord purposed to save this woman. He purposed
to meet her at that well at noon. And she came to draw that water.
And He met her there. And you know what He said? If
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it was that asketh thee,
give me to drink, you would have asked of him, and he would have
given thee, freely, given thee the waters, living waters. And
she didn't know what that meant. She started talking about that
well, he cared nothing about that water. He said, no, you
drink that water, you're going to thirst again. But this water
that I give you, any man that drinks this water, he shall never
thirst, but there shall be a well of water springing up within
him." This is the water that He gives.
It is the water of life. It is the water of salvation.
It is the water that cleanses us from all sin. Why then will
sinners wait? Why wait? If He says He'd give
it to you freely, why would you wait? Why would you not come? This is God's cry, remember.
This is God's crying to man. Come, you thirsty. Come to the
waters and drink. Listen, don't come to the waters
as an observer. Christ don't need observers.
How many people come to Christ and examine Him? They walk around
the river. They look at the river. They
measure the river. They never drink. It's like a man, a tornado coming
outside and a man's measuring the door. Oh, that's a pretty
good door. That might keep me safe. I don't
know. But he never goes in. What good is that? Come to the waters to do what?
What does a thirsty man come to waters for? He comes to drink. He comes to drink. How does he drink? How do you
drink spiritually? It is to believe on Christ. It
is to trust the Son of God. It is to believe on Him as all
your righteousness, all your peace, all your sanctification,
all your wisdom, all your salvation should be summed up in Him and
you should want to be found only in Him. Is that you? Have you
drank? That's what it is to drink. And listen to this, he says,
come you that have no money. You that have no money, come
and buy wine and milk without money and without price. Now
listen, man has some currency. Man has some currency. Look what
God says in the second verse. He said, wherefore do you spend
money? He said, man has currency. It's just not currency God takes. Think about it. A man preacher
put it this way. He said a man has a shilling
in his pocket, but he's in a foreign country that don't take shillings.
What good is that? What good is it? It's no good. A man may have currency to merit
religious favors, honors of men, but God does not accept the currency
of works. God does not accept the currency
of will. God does not accept the currency
of man's determination. God accepts only the currency
of grace. Grace! Come and drink how? Freely! Drink freely, without
merit, without money, without price. Come. and drink of Christ,
who is the pearl of great price. Now I'll tell you, He is valuable. This salvation that I'm talking
about is immensely valuable. It's immensely valuable. He is
the pearl of great price. So rare is this salvation that
only one man merited it. In all of humanity, one man did
it. And this man Now he freely gives it. He married it. And it's so rare. And yet it
is against our nature to take it freely, isn't it? Well, aren't
we by nature like Naaman? Remember Naaman? He came with
all that treasure, and he had that leprosy, and he came to
the prophet, and the prophet didn't even come out. Didn't
even bother to come out. Sent his servant out. Tell him,
go dip in Jordan seven times. And Nathan was mad. He said,
surely I thought it should be this way. And he took off. And you remember
that servant come up and sign and said, master, father, master,
if he had asked you to do something hard, wouldn't you have done
it? See, by nature, we want to earn
this. And God says, you come with anything, I won't give you
my son. You must come empty. That's good. Because I don't
have anything anyway. That's good for me. That's good
for me. Because I'm coming without anything.
He said that's the way you gotta come. You gotta come empty. And
you can have all you want. You can have all you want. Drink
of the waters of life freely. Come empty. Come empty and be
cleansed. Come now and drink of Christ. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Wine is for joy. Milk is for
nourishment. Water is for refreshment. Who
needs that? I do. Then come and drink freely. Because God said to. Isn't that
authority enough? What further authority does a
man need to come? But God says, Ho! Everyone that
thirsteth, you come. I'm thirsty, well come, okay. I believe, I trust in Jesus Christ
as all my hope. Now to you who have come. How
is this applicable to you? You who have drank of Christ,
do you not still thirst of him? Is there any other water you
desire to drink? Are you not still walking through
this barren wilderness and need refreshment? Do not your feet get dirty and
they need to be washed? Does not your conscience daily
load down with guilt because of the old man? And you that have come, come. Come. I like this. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst. That's a continual thing after
righteousness. They shall be what? Filled. Filled. Satisfied. Satisfied. We who have come still come. We come by faith. and we come
daily. We are often cast down, distraught,
and have need of His joy. We need milk for growing. Therefore,
believer, let us cast off the flesh, cast off the dead works
of this body, and cease to look to self and look to Christ daily. How are you supposed to live
in this world? The same way you came to Christ the first time,
by faith, that's how, faith. Therefore, believer, let us heed
the words of God. Let us who thirst come. Oh, oh, everyone that thirsts. Come to Christ and drink. How do I know if it's for me?
Are you thirsty? Drink. And then we give glory to God
for the ability to drink. Give glory to God for the water
of salvation. I pray that God would bless this
to you. I really do. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.