The Lord God says in His Word
in Isaiah 55, Ho, every one 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, without price. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. 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." The Lord says, ho, that is, stop, look. Listen, hear this, stop what
you're doing in this day of everyone's busy and caring about and doing
so many things. He says, stop. Jeremiah 6 verse
16, Stand ye in the way, saith the Lord, and see, Stop, listen,
ask for the old paths wherein is the good way, and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your soul. But they said, We will
not walk therein. Nevertheless the Lord says, Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the water. In John chapter
4, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to a woman who came to the well
to draw water. She came every day with her water
pot, the same well, and kept coming to that well over and
over again until she met the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
water of life. She dropped her water pot. As
people do today, they come to the waters of this world, the
things of this world, the people of this world, the religions
of this world. All will leave you thirsty. They
do not satisfy. They give no lasting joy, happiness,
peace, or rest. But Christ said, the waters that
I give, which are Himself, He's the water of life. The water
that Christ gives through the preaching of the Word, which
is the water, the gospel of Christ crucified, is a wellspring of
life, springing up. If thirsty for the truth, if
thirsty for mercy, if thirsty for forgiveness and peace with
God, if any man thirst, Christ said, come unto me. Are you tired
of religion? Are you tired of religion with
all its programs and its money-making schemes and entertainment, vanity? Are you tired of that? Come to
the waters. Come to where the water of God's
Word is declared. Bathe your weary soul in it and
drink to its fullness, and you will find fullness and satisfaction
in Christ and Him crucified. He says, Come, he that hath no
money. Come, buy and eat. Yea, come,
buy wine and milk without money and without pride. Salvation
is free. Salvation is free. It's the gift
of God to all that ask for it. Salvation is free and so is worship. Any place that charges admission
to its services is not of the Lord. It's corrupt. It's money. Money answereth all things, and
the love of money is the root of all evil, especially religious
evil. The Word of God is free. Worship
is free. The truth is free. Salvation
is free. It's a free gift. It's not earned
by our works, by our duties, but given to all that ask. So he says, come ye, buy and
eat. But I don't have anything, preacher,
to give to God. I don't have any goodness. I
don't have any faith. I have no ability. Come ye, Scripture
said. Who, me? Yes, yea, come. Buy and eat wine and milk. without money, without pride. Wine. Come, drink wine to its
fullest. Now wine, actual, literal wine,
is not forbidden in the Scripture, but spoken of often. The Lord
Himself drank it, and the Pharisees, those touch not, taste not, handle
not legalists, they accused Him of being a wine-bibber. But the
Lord turned water into wine and drank it Himself. Wine has uses. It's good for medicinal purposes. It is beneficial. It has a calming,
sedative effect. It's used often in celebrations
of marriage or good time. But I'm not here to condone the
drinking of it or condemn the drinking of it, but it's a symbol
of God's Word. Wine, a symbol of God's Word,
which Scripture says, wine maketh glad the heart of man. The Word,
the Gospel, has medicinal quality, healing. It is the balm of Gilead. It heals us. It has a calming
effect. It gives rest. It gives peace.
Celebration of the marriage supper of the Lamb all come by wine. And it symbolizes, more than
anything, the blood of Jesus Christ. When he turned that water
into wine, that's symbolic of Christ turning the water of His
Word into His blood. The whole book speaks of the
blood of Jesus Christ. And Christ said, He that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. Come, he says,
buy wine and milk. Milk, it has the same symbolic
purpose of God's Word. As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. Newborn children
of God, they love the Word, they crave the milk of God's Word,
the sincere, the pure. Milk of God's Word. Oh, it gives
a strong foundation. It does their bones and their
soul good. So he says in verse 2, why? Why
do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for
that which satisfies not? Why do you spend? Why do you
spend your time, your energy, your effort, your money for that
which is not bread and does not satisfy? Why do you invest in
the world, the things of this world that leave you thirsty?
Religion, why would you go there? Why do you spend your money?
Why do you spend all your time and money on something that gives
no fulfillment, no satisfaction? He says in verse 2, hearken diligently
unto me. Listen carefully, he said. Listen. Hearken diligently unto Me, and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."
Eat that which is good. Your soul will delight in fatness. You will be fat of soul. Psalm 106, the Lord rebuked the
people for lusting after things and not longing for Him. It says
they forgot His works, they waited not for His Word, but they lusted
exceedingly in the wilderness, that is, after flesh, after things,
tempted God, tested God. Verse 15, And He gave them their
request, but sent leanness unto their soul. Leanness. But our
Lord says here, Hearken and eat that which is good, and your
soul will delight itself in Fatness, yea, wine on the leaves, fat
things and wine well refined, the Word of God. Oh, this generation
is fat of body and lean of soul. Obesity is epidemic and leanness,
spiritually lean people is also. Oh, he says, eat that which is
good, the Word, the Gospel, the truth, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Verse 3, he says, incline your
ear Come unto me, hear, your soul shall live. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The command of God
and the Word of God is sent for a sinner to hear the gospel.
And if they hear and repent and believe, they have life. They've
been given life to hear. Life comes before faith, but
it's actually a simultaneous thing done by the Word of God.
Incline your ear and come unto Me. Herein your soul shall live.
Faith cometh by hearing, and the soul is fed through the ear. The soul is fed through the ear.
He says, here in your soul shall live. Here by God's grace. Repent again by God's grace. The goodness of God that leads
someone to repent. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt have eternal life. Whosoever believeth lives. They shall not perish but have
everlasting life. He that believeth not, shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Oh, he says,
incline your ear. Incline your ear. So many are
not interested. So many will not hear. So many,
when they do hear, turn away their ears from the truth undefabled. But He said, Incline your ear. Incline your ear and come unto
Me, and here and your soul shall live. And He said, I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. An everlasting covenant. The
sure mercies of David. What is that? Well, he says in
verse 4, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader
and a commander to the people. Behold, I have given him. Who? David? No, this was written
long after David. This is not talking about David.
As Simon Peter and the Apostles preached at Pentecost, he said,
he's not speaking of David, but he's speaking of the Son of David,
Jesus Christ, born of the seed of David. Not Solomon, the Son
of David, but a greater than Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of David, but the Son of God. He says, I have given
him as a witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the
people. He's a covenant head of the people. He said, I'll
make an everlasting covenant with you. Come to me and I'll
give you the sure mercies of David. All the mercies of God,
you see, are in Jesus Christ. All the mercies of God. Covenant
mercies. That is, God has made an absolute
covenant by an oath and ordered these things, and sure, God,
who cannot lie, has promised these things. Sure to all the
elect, all of whom shall come, the covenant of God made with
Christ was for those in Christ who come to Christ by His Spirit.
It has been ratified and sealed with His blood and shall be honored
forever. All whom Christ died for shall
be saved eternally. All whom the Spirit gives faith
to, all who believe, not work, but believe, shall be saved eternally. Because God gave an oath. God
made a covenant. Christ sealed it in His blood,
and He's the head of the covenant. He ever lives as a surety of
that everlasting covenant, making it sure that all He died for
shall enter in. And God says, I've given Him
as a witness. Not only the coveted head, not
only the judge on the throne, but a witness to testify of all
things before the law, of his doing, of his working, a witness. A witness is one who must tell
what he has seen and heard. Well, no man hath seen God at
any time or heard His voice, but the only begotten Son, He
hath declared Him. And sees that faithful witness,
he said, the words that I speak are the words of God. The Son,
He hath told us. So everyone wants someone to
come back from the grave and tell us what eternal life is
and what's out there. He did. His name is Jesus Christ. He said, I've given Him as a
witness. I've given Him as a leader, a leader, the head of the covenant,
the leader of the people. The Lord, the shepherd, the captain
of his people, the commander. He says, I've given him as a
commander to the people. Lord, sovereign, sovereign, ruler,
governor. The government is upon His shoulders. He orders all things. He commands
all things. He commands the elements, the
sun, the moon, the stars. He commands angels, principalities,
devils, men. All governments do His bidding.
The King's heart is in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's all for the salvation of His people. He said, I gave Ethiopia
for their ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for them. And he shall call
a nation that knew him not. Nations that knew not the Lord
shall run unto him. Gentile. That's me. That's perhaps
you. Because of the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, he hath glorified thee. Because God made
him Lord, he hath glorified thee. And all who know his Lord and
bow, they shall also glorify him. Oh, I pray God will give
you ears to hear. Amen.