Alright, open with me back to
Isaiah 55. And I told you Wednesday night
of my slow start this week. And all that time I spent searching
and searching. And the Lord was so merciful
and finally opened up the scriptures and sent messages. I want to show you six words
that were a refreshing cold glass of water to a thirsty soul. That's what they were. When I
read these six words, I just... Look at the middle of verse 3. Isaiah 55, it's the second line
of verse 3. It says, Here and your soul shall
live. Here and your soul shall live. That's glorious. What must I do to be saved? Well,
you're going to have to straighten up and fly right. You're going
to have to quit all those things you know good and well you can't
quit. Here and your soul shall live. You know who he's talking to?
He is talking to a dead man. That's who he's talking to. Here
and your soul shall live. Well, how can he hear if he's
dead? I'll show you. Go over to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16, and look at verse
1. Again the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. And say, Thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and
thy mother a Hittite, and as for thy nativity, in the day
thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed
in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee in the day
you were born, no eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto
thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou was cast out in
the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that
thou was born. And when I passed by thee and
saw thee, polluted in thine own blood." Do you have a margin
right there? Mine says, trodden underfoot, trampled, born, not
pitied, thrown out in the field, trodden underfoot. He said, when
I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood,
I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. Verse 8 says, Now when I passed
by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time
of love. Why did I live? One reason, love. Thy time was the time of love.
And I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea,
I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saying
the Lord God, with thee, saith the Lord God,
and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water. Yea, I throughly washed away
thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. And verse 10 says,
I clothed you. And then it goes on down and
says, I girded you. And then it goes on down and
says, I covered you. Live. That's what happened. Go over to Mark chapter 7. Verse 31 says, And again, departing from the
coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the Sea of Galilee, through
the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that
was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech, and they beseech
him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the
multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, And he spit and
touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven, he sighed and saith
unto him, Ephetha, that is, be opened. In straightway his ears
were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he
spake plain. And he charged them that they
should tell no man, but the more he charged them, so much the
more, a great deal, they published it. And were beyond measure astonished,
saying, he hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak. He maketh. How is a dead man
going to hear? First of all, he's going to pass
by and he's going to say, live. And then He is going to make
the deaf hear. Hear and your soul shall live. Go back over to Isaiah 55 with
me. Verse 3 says, incline your ear, not recline
like a recliner, Incline your ear. Draw nigh to
God. Those times when the Lord allows
us to draw nigh to Him, really, man, it is special. It causes
our soul to live, doesn't it? Incline your ear. Don't just
let it go in one ear and out the other. Not just every man who hears.
Every man who hears, incline your ear. Not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. He's
not talking about the soul that says, I got my brain around it. I got my mind around it. He said, you shall seek me and
find me when you shall search for me with all your heart. All your heart. Incline your ear. I pray the
Lord would put his finger right there and say, Epithet, be open. I pray the Lord would pass by
this place and say, live. I pray this would be a time of
love. That's what I pray. Incline your ear. Look at chapter
54, Isaiah 54, verse 5 says, for thy maker is thy husband. That's great, isn't it? Incline
your ear. Your maker is your husband. Our
text verse 3 says, Incline your ear and come unto me. Come unto me. How often do we
need to be reminded to take it to the Lord? How often? Every
day. Every single day. Come unto me. God's sheep are the only ones
who do because they're the only ones who are drawn. But they come to Christ. There
was a harlot one time who came into the room crawling. And she crawled up to the Lord
Jesus Christ crying, crying on his feet, wiping his feet with
her hair. That woman came to him. You know
it? I mean, she came to him. She
came to his feet, wiping his feet with her hair. She wasn't
coming to religion. She wasn't turning over a new
leaf. She came to him. There was a leper one time who
came worshiping the Lord, begging the Lord. He said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. He came to Him. He came to Him. He didn't come
to a higher understanding. He didn't come down front in
the temple. He came to Him. Lord, if You will, You can make
me clean. There was a blind man who sat
by the wayside begging. And that man was crying, Jesus,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. There was a woman with an issue
of blood, and she said, if I could just touch the hem of his garment,
I'll be whole. She was not coming to his clothes.
She came to him. She came to him. He said, come unto me. That is
a glorious Word of promise. What that means is you won't
be cast out. You won't be turned away. Bear
your soul and it'll be answered. Come unto me. Verse 3 says, 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,
if I cause you to live, and if I cause you to incline
your ear, he was speaking to a dead man, right? But if I cause
you to live, and if I cause you to incline your ear and hear,
and if I cause you to come unto me, then I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you. An everlasting covenant. Everlasting. Actually, it means I've already
made an everlasting covenant with you. Even the sure mercies of David.
Now, what is this covenant? What does this covenant say?
What are David's mercies? They're precious. I tell you,
they are precious. Go over to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah
31, look at verse 33. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall
be my people." I'm going to put my word in their inward parts. And I can tell you that is a
mercy of David to have his word in here. I'm going to write it
on their hearts. And they're going to live on
it. And we do. We really do. They're going to
live on it. They're going to feed on it. Man shall not live
by bread alone. but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God." This word is life. It's life. And it's death to this world.
While it's death to this world, it is life to God's sheep. And
he said, I'm going to be their God, and they're going to be
my people. I will put it, I will write it,
I will be their God, and they shall be my people." That's a
sure mercy of David, that's one of them. Verse 34 says, and they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. I'm going to be their God, they're
going to be my people, and they'll all know me. Every single one
of them. Hold your place right here in
Jeremiah and go back to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54 verse 13 says, And
all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall
be the peace of thy children. They're all going to be taught
of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. I talk about it all the time
and by God's grace we'll talk about it forever because it's
our greatest hope and that's being with the Lord. I almost
can't fathom being with the Lord, one of these days being with
the Lord, physically walking with the Lord. Those disciples
2,000 years ago, they were allowed to actually walk with the Lord.
And I can't imagine hearing Him talk. I can't imagine asking Him questions
and getting His answer. I can't imagine hearing what
His voice sounds like. It's going to happen. It's going
to happen, but the Apostle Paul said, Oh, that
I might know Him. I just want to know Him. I want
to be with Him. I want to be taught by Him. I
want to know Him. That's all. I want my children
to know Him. That's all. Did you know that if you know
the Lord Jesus Christ, You do not need to know anything else. I mean nothing else. Nothing
in this world. Nothing that this world has to
offer. None of the world's wisdom. Nothing that religion has made
up. You don't need to know anything else. If I know Him, they shall
all be taught of God. Every single one of them. And
great is going to be the peace. Hear Him and your soul shall
live. Just hear Him. Just come to Him. Come to Christ. I want to tell
every believer in this room, come to Christ. I already did, I know. Do it
again. Come to Christ. Do it again. I want to hear the gospel like
I've never heard it before. I want to see him like I've never
seen him before. Come to Christ. Just come to
Christ. There's issues and problems and
fears. Come to Christ. Take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. He said, I will give you the
sure mercies of David. Go back over to Jeremiah 31. He said, I will be their God,
they shall be My people. And in verse 34, And they shall
teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. 4. I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more." This is the covenant
that I'll make with them. He said, you come unto me and
I'll give you rest. That's the covenant. When people
hear about election, and when they hear about Christ not dying
for everybody, the world's response is to say, That is not fair. And I am here to tell you, they
are right. It is not fair. It is not fair. Nothing fair
was about that. No even trade took place. He did all the giving. I did
all the receiving. He took all the suffering. I
got to go free. My salvation cost Him everything. And it didn't cost me a dime.
I mean not one dime. Not only did He give His life,
He gave His blood and all of the things He possesses. And
it didn't cost me a dime. It wasn't fair at all. It was
mercy. It wasn't fair at all. It was
grace. There was nothing fair about
it. He said, I'm going to make a covenant with you. I will forgive
your iniquity and I will remember your sin no more. Well, what's
required of me? Nothing. That's my covenant. That's the sure mercy of David.
Look at chapter 32, Jeremiah 32. He's continuing this covenant
of mercy. Look at verse 38. Jeremiah 32,
38. They shall be my people, I will
be their God, and I will give them one heart and one way. I'm going to give them all the
same heart. Whose heart is it? It's the heart
of Christ. The way, the one way. Go to Ezekiel
11. Ezekiel 11, look at verse 19. And I will give them one heart."
This really struck me. The Lord said concerning David,
he is a man after my own heart. That's who David is. He's a man
after my own heart. He's a man after the heart of
Christ. Verse 19, I will give them one heart. and I will put
a new spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart out
of their flesh." That is a promise. I cannot wait for that one. I
know He has. Everything He has done is from
the foundation of the world, but I'm ready to experience it.
I promise. That is a sure mercy. I will
get rid of that old stony heart. And he said, I'll put a new spirit
within you and I'll take the stony heart out of their flesh
and will give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my
statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. Aren't you ready
to walk in his statutes and keep his ordinances and do them? Aren't
you ready for that? Aren't you ready to walk down
the street with no sin in here? That's going to be nice. He said in verse 20, that they
may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them and
they shall be my people and I will be their God. Back over in Jeremiah 32, verse
39 says, and I will give them one heart
and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them. and of their children after them."
Verse 40 says, and, this is the last verse we'll look at, and,
I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them. There's my covenant. I will not
turn away from them to do them good. But I will put my fear
in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. I will not
turn away from them, no matter what. I've already seen them
in their sin. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners. He's already seen our
sin, but God has already dealt with our sin in Christ. And he
says, I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will
put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. They're not going to depart.
I will not turn from them and they're not going to depart from
me. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Do you feel it? Prone to leave the God I love. Well, he said, you're not going
to. Sorry, but you're not going to. I've already made a covenant.
You will not leave me. I will not turn from you and
you will not turn from me. And that's a sure mercy of David. This is what David said, although
my house be not so with God. Yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things insure." He said, this is all
my salvation and it's all my desire. Hear that and your soul
shall live. It will live and relive and relive
every time God opens a heart to hear that. Alright, let's
stand together.