Isaiah chapter 55. We'll be looking
at the first seven verses of this chapter, Lord willing, this
morning. The title of the message is The
Gospel Call. The Gospel Call. Now, the word
gospel just simply means good news. Good news. It is the good news of God to
men. And we know that this gospel,
this good news, is not something that began in time, but rather
this good news extended before time began. This good news extended
into all eternity in time. Christ Jesus the Lord. God, from before the foundation
of the world, in sovereign electing love, chose some of Adam's fallen
race for Himself. He chose some that He would redeem. Some that He would save. Not because of them, but because
of His own merit. of His own name, for His own
namesake. That's what it says at the end
of this chapter. It tells us that the Lord will
make for Himself a name. It shall be to the Lord for a
name. The Lord has done this only for
His own glory, for His own self. And He has chosen those to salvation
by Jesus Christ. This was never, there was never
a time, there was never a time, if you could call it time. There was never a time when God's
elect were not known of God. There was never a time that God's
elect were not predestinated to be conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ. There was never a time that they
were not called of God. There was never a time they were
not justified of God. And there was never a time that
they were not glorified of God. See this in Romans chapter 8.
You guys know this well, but I want you to look at it again.
See it again clearly. The purpose of God in salvation. Verse 29 says, for whom he did
for no. Not what? Who? whom He did foreknow. He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. And all of that is past tense. All of it on purpose. It's not
a grammatical error. It is on purpose because God
hath purposed the salvation of His people. We were not elect. If you're
a believer in Christ this morning and you have the salvation of
God, you are the elect of God. And there never was a time you
weren't on His mind and heart. There was never a time. when
you were not in Christ. He put us in Christ. He put us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. He purposed to save us and save
us by Christ alone. Therefore, not only did God an
eternal purpose of the gospel save us, He also accomplished
His gospel by sending His Son into the world to redeem His
people from their sins. To save them. Jesus was the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. He was purposed to
be the Lamb slain. to die for sin. And yet God's eternal decrees,
everything that God has decreed, must come to pass. Otherwise,
He didn't decree it. Isn't that right? If God decreed
something and it did not come to pass, He would cease to be
God and the thing that trumped God would be God, whatever that
is. So everything was purposed and
determined of God beforehand, especially the accomplishment
of this salvation that He had purposed in Christ. So Christ
had to come. He needs come. And He did. He came and offered Himself a
sacrifice for sin. He offered all. himself deity united with humanity and
suffered Christ came to be the propitiation
to be the mercy seat to be the offering, to be the altar, to
be the high priest for everyone that God had purposed. And He
did come and on the cross He obtained redemption for the sins
of His people. He obtained it. When Christ honored
God, He obtained righteousness by His own merit. See, none of this was just made
possible for us to have. You see, if it's just possible,
then there's something else that he's missing. There's something
that he's not doing. There's something that you must
do. And that's not what the Scripture tells us. It says, Christ said
on the cross, it is finished. It's done. The work of God is
done. He said, Father, I have finished
the work which Thou gavest me to do. Glorify Thy Son. He's the only
one that could demand of God glory. and he has received glory. He
has ascended and God is satisfied with his offering. He's satisfied. So that which God purposed, the
gospel, was also accomplished by Christ in time. But this gospel,
this gospel of God's grace and mercy must also have its application
accomplished. It must also be applied. Just as sure as God purposed
Christ to come and He did accomplish salvation, it is just as sure
that everyone for whom Christ died, the blood will be applied
to their heart. They will come by faith to Christ. They will. It is must. It is a must of God. So that
if one If there is one elect sinner for whom Christ died that
goes to hell, Christ Himself is a failure and God's Word is
not true. Friends, this Gospel is vitally
important. It is the Word of God and God
has accomplished whatsoever He has pleased. He has. And He will
accomplish whatsoever He pleases. It does not matter what men do.
They are all under His dominion and power to do with them as
He pleases. He said, I raised up Pharaoh
just to show my power. And He could raise up men and
put down men as He pleases. Our God controls all things. And I know this, everyone that
God chose, everyone for whom Christ died, they will believe
on Christ. I have that assurance. I have
that assurance. This gospel will be and must
be applied to the heart of every believer. Go to second Thessalonians
two. Second Thessalonians chapter
two. And verse 13, the Apostle Paul says, But we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now, if He has chosen us to salvation,
Is there anything that will hinder that? Is there anything that
would hinder God from giving salvation to those beloved? Absolutely not. But the same
God who chose and the same God who redeemed is also the same
God that declares by what means He will save His people. means for everyone. Now, I tell
you, we all do not have the same experience of grace. I know this. Our experience may
be different. I tell you, there are some who
immediately the Spirit of God gives that light and immediately
they believe on Christ. And then there are some that
the Spirit of God in continual bringing and continual conviction
brings them in. But it's always by the same means. And that is by the preaching
of the gospel. You know, there is not one person
that has ever been saved that has not heard the Word of God. Now, I'll tell you, in the Old
Testament it was different because many of them heard the very voice
of God In the time of Jesus Christ,
they heard the very Son of God in His voice. But after He had
ascended, what voice did they hear? They heard the voice of
His apostles. But after the apostles, what
happened? God sends creatures. God sends men. You remember when Naaman... That
great man of Syria came and wanted to be healed of leprosy. He heard
that there was a prophet in Israel. He'd come to the prophet of Israel.
He'd come in his chariots, and he'd come in his robes, and he'd
come with his minions, and he comes to the door of this prophet. Probably a shack in the middle
of the woods somewhere with nothing else around. He gets to this
little shack, probably a one-room shack. Probably doesn't even
have several rooms. So you know when they knock,
he can hear. So he knocks on the door. And what does the prophet
of God do? He sends a servant. He sends a servant. And the servant
gives the message. And what did Naaman do? Naaman
was mad. He was upset. Why? Because he thought God would
do it some other way. He thought. He said, I thought
that this man would come out to me. Surely he'd come out to
me. Surely he would honor me and
then strike the place over which I was. No. No. God sends a messenger. And this
is offensive. This is offensive. This is foolishness. Why does God send you and not
me? I have no doubt that you're smarter
than I am. No doubt. But God didn't call me because
I was smart. God didn't call me because I
was the best. God called me because He would.
And that's the only reason I can give you. There are no earthly
physical reasons why I am here other than God called me here. It's not the money, is it? It's not the pay, it's not the
fame, is it? I'm not here for fame. No, I'm
here to tell you God's Word. I'm here to preach this gospel
to you. God's good news, God's message
of grace to you. To you. I tell you, no man, no man is seeking
after God. No man by nature seeks after
God. They did this poll, and they were asking people 30 and
below. They said, you know, have you
ever doubted the existence of God? And now the poll is way
down from where it was. And someone wrote, well, that's
good, because that means that people are questioning, people
are seeking God. No, they're not! No one is seeking
God. It doesn't surprise me if it
said zero percent. Because that's the real honest
truth. No man by nature seeks after God. Why? Because they're
all dead in sins. You see, God must come to the
man. God must regenerate the man. He must be the seeker. And I'll tell you this, when
we find Him, it's because He found us. See, I wasn't looking. I thought I had it. I thought
I knew Him. I thought everything was well. Until He really revealed Himself
to me. And I know it's the same with
you. It is only by the preaching of this gospel that God saves
sinners. And when God comes, all those
things that He had purposed in Himself in eternity, He fully
reveals them to us in the new man in the new nature. You see, this salvation is not
a decision, it's a miracle. And it's not just any miracle,
it's the greatest miracle that ever happened. God creating the
world is nothing in comparison to what God creates inside of
a man when He saves him by His Holy Spirit. When this gospel
comes in power, God saves. He regenerates. He gives life. He gives faith. He gives us what was not there
before. I tell you, I don't know when
the Lord created this nature inside me. I can't tell you when
exactly. Some people can. That's great. You know what's important? I
believe now. I believe on Christ right now. And now, and now,
and now, and now, and continually now, if by God's grace He keep
me. Because He created something
that wasn't there. It's holy. The scripture says
that we are created after God. What does that word after mean?
Well, it means like to the uttermost. We are created exactly in the
image of God's holiness and righteousness. That's what the new man is created.
Holy. Holy. If you have not been born again
of the power of God, then you've not been given spiritual life.
I'll tell you just to nod your head and say, yeah, yeah, that's
good, that's good, that's not salvation. You can acknowledge
what I say all the day long and it will do you no good unless
it is accompanied by the power of God. Have you been born of
the spirit of God. And anyone who's born, they know
that they're born by this gospel. They must hear this gospel. This is the means that God saves
sinners by. The only means of the Holy Spirit
to give life and faith. Go to Romans chapter 10 verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God. This is why God sends preachers
to declare the eternal gospel of God in Jesus Christ. You see,
I'm not asking your opinion about this. I'm not here to debate
you about this. Whether you believe this or not,
it affects me none. Because I'm not going to change
the message. to fit how you feel or how you think. And I don't
want to change this message depending on how I feel or how I think,
because my feelings are just like yours. They go up and down,
and they're all over the place. But I found this. I base this
solely on God's Word. God's Word. God said it. It's
so. In the beginning, God. Now, I
don't care if you want to say there is no God. Go right ahead.
God's Word said, in the beginning, there's God. God. God was. Does
that really matter if you don't believe it? Does that make it
not so? No. No, it's so. And I'll tell you
soon, every one of us will see it. Every one of us will know
it. And so God sends preachers for
this purpose, to tell of His blessed, glorious gospel. Now, go back over here to your
text. When God sends out preachers
and we declare this gospel to you as I have just done, we do this in a general way. I preach this gospel generally
to everyone here. To every one of you, I preach
the same gospel. It says, Ho, everyone. That means stop everyone. Stop what you're doing. And look! Behold! Behold! Everyone! It doesn't matter who you are
or where you come from or how old you are. It doesn't matter.
Stop! That's what the Gospel says first.
You need to pay attention to this. You need to pay attention. Not somebody else. Don't sit
and think about how somebody else needs to hear this. You
need to hear this! I need to hear this! And not
just once, I study it over and over and it's still amazing to
me. This same gospel, it's still refreshed and new, and it's new
every morning. Cheryl woke up and she said,
his mercies are new every morning. I said, yeah, that's right. Yes,
they are. They're new every day. This gospel
is fresh. But we preach this gospel in
a general way. We say stop to everyone and listen
to this because it deals with your soul. Andrew, this gospel does not
deal with your mom's soul or mine. It deals with yours. It
deals with everyone's here. Your soul. Your soul. Because I'm not going to save
you. And I'm going to tell you this,
you're not going to be able to save yourself. God must do that for you. And He's going to do it by this
call. In Luke chapter 8, you know the
parable of the sower. The sower went forth to sow.
The farmer went out and threw some seed. Now, we plant seed usually in
a little row and kind of one at a time because our gardens
are not very big unless you're Burns and then your garden is
huge but you can't do it anyway. So, that's probably an inside joke
and, you know, if you want to hear it, go talk to Joanne and
she'll tell you all about it. But this kind of sower, he throws
the seed, he reaches into the bag, and he casts the seed at
a venture. He throws it out. Where it lands,
he don't know. That's what I'm doing. I'm throwing
it out. I don't know where it lands. I don't know how it affects
your heart. I don't sit around and think,
well, JD needs to hear specifically this. I don't. I love you, but that's not what
I'm thinking when I'm preparing messages. I want you to see Christ. I want you to behold the Lamb
of God. And so when I cast the gospel out at a venture, I know
that some of you, some of you will not even hear what I'm saying. Some of you have thoughts that
are not here. Your thoughts are somewhere else.
Your eyes may be here. You may be looking at me and
nodding your head. But I remember when I was young,
I'd look at them, nod my head like this, and man, I was somewhere
else. I was at the playground, or I
was at someplace else besides here. And I'll tell you, as soon as
this word goes out, immediately Satan himself comes and snatches
it away. off the surface of your hard
heart. And I'll tell you, when I throw
this seed out there, some of you may say, well, that's a good
deal. I don't like to go to hell. Well, who does? Who wants to
go to hell? Nobody wants to go to hell. And
so some of you say, well, I like that. I want to take that. And
you take it in your heart and you like it and you want to hear
it more and then, you know, pretty soon it gets
boring. Pretty soon hearing this same message over and over again,
just get so weary and tiresome. Oh, I just... Why? Because you fit it in with everything
else. It's just a check mark on your
list of things to do. And man, I'll tell you what,
there is nothing more than, nothing worse than a man who's gritting
their teeth bearing this. There is no worse feeling in
all the world. Oh, I can't wait to get through this. But I'm
going to serve Jesus. I'm going to serve Jesus. Oh,
no. No, you have no deftness of root.
But I'll tell you this, some will hear. Some will believe. Because of the sower? No. because
God prepares the ground and God guides the seed exactly where
he wants it to go. And this gospel will save everyone,
everyone that God regenerates, that God
saves, Every seed he plants will generate fruit. It will. This is what we call the effectual
call. So you have the general call
and then you have the effectual call of the spirit. This word
effectual, don't let it bother you. This word means it gets
the job done. That's what it means. The effectual,
the powerful call of the gospel that gets the job done. This is when God in love at the
appointed time comes to His children. And He plants that gospel seed
in their heart so that they know their sin, they understand their
depravity, and they seek mercy. They come to Christ by faith. This is powerful. And when this comes to a sinner,
it comes in a qualifying manner. Now, this gospel goes out to
everyone. But I'll tell you what, it's only effectual to certain
people. Who are they? Who is this gospel effectual
to? Who does this gospel really get the job done for? Well, look
at your text. Oh, everyone that's thirsty. Come ye to the waters. Thirsty. This gospel is for thirsty
sinners. Thirsty for what? I tell you
what, I am thirsty right now. I am really barged. Man, that was good. Man, that was great. Why? I was
thirsty. Are you thirsty for righteousness?
Do you desire righteousness more than your necessary bread that
you eat in the morning? Do you desire to be right with
God? Do you desire to be righteous
before Almighty God? Are you thirsty for that? Or can you take it and leave
it? This calls for thirst. Thirsty sinners who are in need
of God's grace and mercy. And I tell you, come to the waters. Come here. Here's the water.
This is the water for the soul. It is God's Word. It is God's
promises. It is God's Christ. He is the water. of the Word. Come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, come buy wine and
milk without money and without price. This calls to poor folks. Not poor monetarily in this world,
poor spiritually. And I'm not talking about poor,
you got two pennies in the bank. I'm talking poor, broke. Are
you broke of all goodness? Are you broke of all righteousness? So that you have nothing to pay
God. Well, hey, got good news, you
can come here and you can buy this without money. and without price. See, the gospel
is free. And that's the only way it can
be obtained, freely. You come with something and this
book's closed to you. You come trying to buy it and
this book's closed to you. This is for poor folks. Are you
poor? This gospel is for dead folks. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and labor for that which satisfieth
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
me, hear, and your soul shall what? Live. Now, wait a second. What good is life to somebody
who already has it? Why would you incline your ear
to receive life if you already have it? No. God doesn't call spiritually
living folks. He calls the dead to life. If I were to lay a corpse out
on this table, and I'll tell you, you can put as much, put
an Armani suit on it. Dress it up. Put makeup on his
face. You can even stand him up over
here. But I'll tell you what, ask him to do something for you. Ask him to do something for himself. He can't. He's dead. And it's the same with those
that God calls to life. Listen to me, and your soul shall live. I'll tell you what, some of you
have been righteous all your life, you think. But you've never been dead. God calls the dead to life. And praise God He does. This
call is to the dead. Jesus said the time is coming
and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God and they that hear shall live. Live. Life. Pastor, I'm already alive. You're
alive physically. That has nothing to do with your
spiritual life. And I'll tell you, you will not
come as a dead, poor, thirsty sinner unless God opens your
heart to see that's exactly who you are. unless God comes with
this gospel of Jesus Christ to your soul. And when He does, it's irresistible. It's irresistible. And I'll tell
you what, a person that is alive from the dead, he doesn't want
to go back. He doesn't want to go back. He wants to live. Well, pastor, I'm not thirsty
for this gospel. I'm not poor. I've got something
to offer. I've made my decision for Jesus.
I've done that. Check. I've done that. I've been
baptized. Well, check. Yeah, I got all
that. What else is there? You need
life. And I'll tell you, where there's
life, there's breath. Isn't that right? Where there's
life, there's breath. And I'll tell you, where there's
life, there's evidence of life. Where there's spiritual life,
there's evidence of spiritual life. Jesus came Not to call the righteous,
self-satisfied, those who have no thirst for mercy and no need
for grace. He didn't come to call those.
This gospel is not to you. You may hear it with your ears,
but it's not for you. It's only for those who are sinners. This glass is almost full. When God opens your heart to
see your sin, you will understand you are full of sin. That you have no room for any
righteousness. But He also shows you that Christ
is full of righteousness. And that righteousness is ours
through faith in Him. To those who have believed, this
gospel news is still good news. It's still good news. I'll tell
you what, I doubt. I have fears. And I know you
do too. Man, we fall so many times. We
sin so much. And I know if God would reveal
our sin to us, we wouldn't be able to bear it. We'd die. If
God revealed all our sin to us at once, we would just die. There'd
be no hope. But my confidence is not in my
goodness. My confidence is in His gospel.
And what does He say to those who hear, to those who come and
drink, to those who come and buy without money and without
price? What does He say to us? Look at verse 3. And I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. This David is not the king of
Israel. This David is Christ, David's Son and David's Lord. And just as surely as He accomplished
salvation, I surely receive it. It's mine. That covenant of eternal
grace is mine because God gave it to me. God says, I'll make
that covenant with you. You make your peace with God.
Hell be your destination. If God makes peace, it's sure
that you'll have the mercies of Christ. The mercies of his
grace and kindness to you. And friends, his covenant will
never be disannulled. Never. This is a wonderful thing, an
eternal covenant, because it never has a beginning and it
never has an end. So my salvation never had a beginning. And friends, it never has an
end. God only revealed it to me at
the appointed time. Has God revealed His gospel of
grace to you? Have you come to the waters of
Christ? Do you believe on Him? Do you trust His gospel? Not
that you have to do anything, but that He's done everything. That can only be done by God's
power and grace. And we who have experienced that,
I'll tell you, we are thankful. And we love this message. We
love God's Word. It comforts us. It dries our
tears. It soothes our hearts and gives the weary rest. I pray that God would, by the
power of his spirit, save some. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed
in prayer.