Everybody wants something for nothing But everybody is skeptical of anyone who claims that he offers something for nothing because we've all learned by experience That there's no such thing as a free lunch But that which is more valuable than anything in this world that which alone will last when time shall be no more and is absolutely free. Absolutely free.

It must be bought. It must be bought by a deliberate choice and a deliberate act. Yes, a deliberate choice and a deliberate act of your will. It must be bought. But it can only be bought without money and without price. Now I want by the help of God's spirit to talk to you this evening about free salvation. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 55 and hear this word from God. Free salvation. Listen. Pray that God himself will speak as you read his word. Just hold your Bible open here at verse one. And we'll look at each word in this text with utmost simplicity, but I pray that God will speak through it.

Ho, every one that thirsteth. Come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come by wine and milk without money and without price. Now with those words, the Lord God himself calls and invites poor sinners to come to Christ. And in doing so, he offers to all full, free, everlasting salvation in Jesus Christ. Did you get that? The Lord God Himself calls and invites poor sinners to come to Christ, offering to all full, free, and everlasting salvation in Him.

Now, I know some folks get upset and object to us using the word offer. We talk about God offering sinners His grace. One fellow wrote a book, and it's a pretty good book, really. called no offers of grace but only operations of grace. But this text reads like an offer to me.

It still looks like God's offering something to sinners and he's calling on sinners to come and take it. We understand fully that no sinner will come and take what God offers unless God performs a mighty operation of grace in him. But still God says come Buy wine and buy milk without money and without price. Will you do so? He says, anybody out there who's thirsty, come and buy this great free salvation in Jesus Christ.

All right. Look at that first word. Hope. I've been looking at that for several weeks now, and about the best thing I can make of it is that means, hey, you, hey, you, Try to get a picture. Here stands God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in all the fullness of His divine glory, on the street corner of time, at the intersection of life and death. And God calls out to every sinner passing by and says, Hey, you! Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? He, everyone, you, everyone, she, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.

Yes, God himself is right now speaking to you by the voice of this man. Now, somebody may think that's a bit presumptuous. Hold your hands here and turn to 1st or 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. Every time the gospel of God's grace is preached, in the power of His Spirit, every time God speaks through a man, the word of His grace to sinful hearts, God speaks. God speaks.

I don't know how to impress that sufficiently on your heart and mine. I've not come here tonight as a representative of the Baptist Church, I've not come here tonight as a representative of Grace Baptist Church. I've come here tonight as an ambassador of God Almighty. And I've got a message from God for you. I've got a message from God for you. I know it's a message from God.

And this is what Paul says concerning that. 2 Corinthians 5, 20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador is an errand boy, is a messenger. That's all he does. He doesn't invent a message, he just delivers it. We're ambassadors for Christ.

As though God, listen to this, did beseech you. As though God did urge and plead with you by us. God speaking now, we pray you in Christ's stead. That is, we pray, we plead, we beseech, we urge you, we persuade you in the room instead of Jesus Christ. Just as Christ died in the place of his people at Calvary, the preacher stands in God's stead, in Christ's stead, and says, be ye reconciled to God.

Now that word reconcile is a big word. It means put down your shotgun. That's what it means. It means quit fighting against God. When two parties are at odds, if they want to get along, somebody's got to make some effort toward reconciliation and the other must conciliate.

And God Almighty has spoken to sinners by Jesus Christ, for God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, but imputing our trespasses unto Jesus Christ. And now God says to you, you be reconciled to me. Be reconciled to me. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Hey you, hey you, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters and die. The word ho, John Gill said, is expressive of calling and carries in it an invitation in which there seems to be a commiseration. Now, I didn't know what that word meant. It means pity. A pity of the case and of the persons called. And it is delivered in an indefinite term and very openly and publicly and has in it the nature of a gospel call or invitation to the persons described as thirsty. So, God speaks. And this first word's an attention getter. He says, hey you, hey you. All right, now listen. Ho, every one that thirsteth. Has life left you thirsty? Has sin left you thirsty? Has the world left you thirsty? Has religion left you empty and thirsty?

You remember our Lord Jesus over in John chapter 7 went up to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles, and he watched the people. He watched the people. He was moved with compassion toward the people. He watched them. They had been in Jerusalem for a week now, and they'd gone through all the rituals and ceremonies of their religion, gone through all the rituals and ceremonies required by God's law.

But Judaism was now an empty husk. Judaism, the religion that God had instituted himself, had been taken by man and perverted into nothing but a vain course of idolatry and a show of godliness, nothing else. You read about it in Isaiah chapter 1, God said your offerings are an abomination to me, your prayers are a grief to me. I didn't ask for this from you, I asked for your heart. Judaism was empty, Judaism was meaningless.

And these folks had gone through their religion, they'd come up doing what God required as best they their teachers taught them, but they they had blind leaders. And so they were led by blind men and they fell into a ditch. And as they walked away, the son of God said, is anybody thirsty? Let him come to me. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth on me, that's what it means to come to him.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly, that is, out of his inmost being, shall flow rivers of living water. Believe on me, and the Spirit of God will be in you a fountain of everlasting life. Our Lord uses this phrase many times in the scriptures. Look in John 4, verse 14. Our Lord's talking to the woman at the well. Whosoever drinketh of this water, 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 living water, springing up and everlasting life.

And the poor woman didn't know what he's talking about. She thought he's talking about Water so she wouldn't have to come draw water out of that well anymore. She said, Oh, sir, give me this water. But the Lord Jesus wasn't talking about that kind of water. He was talking about the water of life.

If you're thirsty, come to me and drink and you will never thirst again. You'll never thirst again. Look in Revelation 21, Revelation 21, verse six. And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Look at chapter 22, verse 17. And the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come. And him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him come. and take of the water of life freely.

Now I ask, are you thirsty? The water of life is here offered to thirsty souls. Oh, everyone that thirsts. Obviously, the Lord is not talking about a natural thirst, the thirst of the body for water, Certainly, he is not talking about a sinful, sensual thirst, the thirst of the heart for satisfying its lust. But rather, he's talking about a spiritual thirst, a thirst in your soul, a thirst that only God by his grace can create, a thirst that only God in Christ will satisfy.

If you're thirsty, this text is talking to you. You say, Pastor, I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure enough thirsty. Well, give me your ear, will you? Give me your ear. If you're thirsty, God created the thirst. If you're thirsty, I've got hope for you. If you're thirsty, there's an invitation here addressed to you. Everyone that thirsty. Are you thirsty? For the free, full, forgiveness of all your sins by Jesus Christ. There is such a thing.

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Are you thirsty for justification, righteousness before God Almighty? There is such a thing. As God made Christ to be sin, so he makes sinners to be the righteousness of God in him. Are you thirsty for salvation by God's almighty grace? There is such a thing. Christ came to save his people from their sins, and he does.

Are you thirsty to know Jesus Christ? There is such a thing as knowing him. There sure is. I remember listening to men describe this knowledge of Christ, and I thought in my soul, oh, what I'd give to know him in grace, in complete forgiveness. so that my conscience quit accusing me. So that I'd go to bed at night and have peace with God. So I'd no longer have terror in my soul. If you're thirsty, God who created that thirst in your soul, and only God can relieve it. Only God can.

Now I can get you to sashay down here and say a little prayer and say I believe in Jesus and baptize you and get you in church. But that won't do you any good. That won't do you any good. That won't do you any good. But I'll tell you this, if you believe on Jesus Christ right where you sit, your thirst will be quenched. Your thirst will be quenched.

Read on. Oh, everyone that thirsted. Come ye to the waters. Come ye to the waters. Now, the word waters here refers to the seashore. It has the idea of a entry port where ships come laden with cargo, where folks come down and buy what's on the ships. And the Lord God says, now if you're thirsty, come down here to the waters and buy what I've got to offer. Come down here and buy that which is set before you. What waters?

Not the waters of baptism. You can be baptized in the river Jordan till every tadpole in the river knew you by your first name, but it wouldn't do you any good. Not the waters of church membership. Being a member of this church or of any other church won't benefit your soul. Not the waters of moral reformation.

It won't do you one bit of good to have your life cleaned up on the outside. Now, I grant men and women ought to live better. Men and women ought to behave better. You oughtn't to be a thief, a drunkard, a swearer, a liar, a murderer, any of those things. but cleaning up the outside of the platter won't do any good. Cleaning up the outside of a sepulcher of dead men's bones won't do any good. Something's got to take place on the inside.

When He says, Come ye to the waters, He's talking about the living waters of grace that are found only in Jesus Christ the Lord. The Lord Jesus is presented to us in the book of Revelation as a river of living water flowing down from beneath the throne of God in heaven to thirsty sinners upon this earth. His blood, Zacharias says, is as a fountain open for cleansing. So that unclean folks can dive in and be made clean.

Cleansing. I get out and work a little bit. get sweaty and dirty before I sit down at the table or before I sit down next to my wife or before I come over here to work, I'm going to go inside, take a shower, get off those dirty clothes, clean up, just clean up a little bit, get the filth off. If the filth of sin is on you, in your heart, in your soul, so that you You know that you're obnoxious before a holy God. And you know that you cannot approach God Almighty as you are.

There's a fountain open for cleansing for the unclean. It's Jesus Christ's shed blood. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood. lose all their guilty stains. His spirit is a fountain, a river of the water of life to purify and to revive your soul. The Lord Jesus Christ is that smitten rock out of whom flows to sinners the water of life from which sinners who are thirsty may freely drink. Come on a drink.

He was smitten and slain by the law of God, by the decree of God and by the command of God. As Ron Redd typified in the slaying of the sacrifice. Our Lord Jesus was slain for us and by his death, life springs up and waters of life flow out to guilty sinners. Well, who may come to the waters? Read the text and say, Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Not the Jews only, but the Jews and the Gentiles. Not the learned only, but the learned and the unlearned. Not the white only, but the white and the black. Not the male only, but the male and the female. Ho, everyone that thirsteth.

Maybe you think, well, I can't come. I can't come because it says come to the waters. And I have nothing with which to buy the water. I got no money in my pocket. And I have no feet with which to walk to work and no hands with which to work. If I had a place to go to work, I had nothing.

Oh, you're just the one I'm talking to. He says, Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath no money. Come ye, buy and eat. You who have no money are bidden to come and buy and eat. Now I told you I'm talking about free salvation. The only person in the world who can buy it. The only person in the world who can make this transaction The only person in the world who can buy God's salvation is that person who is so desperately poor that he has no money with which to buy.

Now, the poverty of which our Lord is speaking is not physical poverty. There's no spiritual blessing promised to folks who are physically poor. There's no more advantage to being poor than there is to being rich as far as spiritual things are concerned. He is not talking about a natural poverty because all men are naturally poor. No man really has anything with which to buy God's grace. He is not even talking about a spiritual poverty because all men are spiritually poor as well. The poverty he is talking about is a felt poverty. He's talking about, he's talking about poverty of the spirit, poverty in your spirit. Our Lord Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Poor.

Lindsay said this morning, God requires righteousness. God requires righteousness. And you can't give it, because you haven't got any. And you can't produce any. And God requires restitution. God requires payment for sin. God requires atonement. But you can't give it. You can't satisfy justice. You can't redeem your own soul. And yet the Lord God calls for folks who are so poor, So poor in spirit that they have no righteousness and no restitution and no hope. So poor that they have absolutely nothing to present to God Almighty. He says, now you come, come and buy and eat. What on earth does he command? Come and buy.

Though salvation is free, God will never force you to take grace that you don't want. I thought you believed. An irresistible grace. Nobody who's ever heard me preach one sermon has any basis on which to question that. Absolutely. When God said sets out to save a sinner, he saves him. But I want to tell you something. God will never force you to take grace you don't want. He'll never do it. If you don't want his son. All right, go to hell. If you don't want his grace, all right, perish under his wrath. God will never force you to take what you don't want.

You must, by deliberate personal choice, buy it from him. Matthew Henry said, make it your own by an application of the grace of the gospel to yourselves. Make it your own upon Christ's terms. Nay, make it your own upon any terms, but make it your own. That's what you must do.

Here's salvation. Here's forgiveness, justification, eternal life, pardon, acceptance with God, everlasting glory, God's salvation. Now I'm not thirsty. Oh I am. And I'm going to tell you something, if you're thirsty, somehow or another you're going to get to the water and drink.

You'll do it. And you'll do it because you've got to have water. If you want Christ, if you want Christ, somehow you'll get to Christ because you've got to have Christ. Got to have it. Though salvation is bought without money and without price, it is bought. And you have to give something up to get it. You sure do. If you would buy God's grace and God's salvation, you're going to forsake your sin.

He says in verse seven, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. You're going to have to throw away your righteousness. The Jews being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness would not submit to the righteousness of God in Christ. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.

And if you would be saved by God's grace, you're going to have to throw away your righteousness and claim he is alone. If you would be saved by God's grace, if you would buy this salvation he describes, you're going to have to give up your life. He that saveth his life shall lose it. He that loseth his life for my sake and the gospels our Lord said shall find it. You can't be boss anymore, Bobby. Can't do it. You can't rule your way anymore. No, sir. Give up the reigns and rule of your life to Jesus Christ the Lord. That's what it is.

To come to Him by faith. You remember our Lord describes the Pearl of great price. The man walking back to found the treasure hid in the field and he found that pearl of great price. And the scripture says he sold everything he had to buy that treasure or to buy that pearl. Everything. Everything.

Not only must we buy Christ. You must eat him too. He says, come buy and eat. That seems like a strange word to use there, doesn't it? But that is truly and forever yours, which you eat and digest. And so our Lord Jesus describes this business of faith in those very terms.

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Now, he's not talking about eating the bread and wine of the communion table. He's talking about faith. He's talking about faith. I sat down over at our table today and I had some black-eyed peas and country ham and meatloaf and mashed potatoes and corn and bread. Nice glass of tea. And everything that is of value in what I had for dinner is permanently mine. It's mine. You can't get it. You can't get mine because I've eaten it and I've drunk.

And I'm telling you that to have Jesus Christ, you come to him. And you see what he has done for poor sinners by his obedience to God's law in his life of righteousness on this earth. And eat his flesh. And you see what he paid. to satisfy divine justice by pouring out his life's blood at Calvary. You drink his blood and everything in him is yours forever. Forever. That's what faith is. It's taking Christ. Read on. Yea, come by wine and milk. Come by wine and milk.

Now, I used to be a pretty good salesman. I think I could sell just about anything that I needed to sell. I was a pretty good salesman. In order to sell folks things, you've got to convince them that they need what you're selling, don't you, Lindsey?

You can't sell that fella annuities and insurance unless you convince him he needs it. You've got to convince him he needs it. And then once you've convinced him that he needs it, You've got to sell him on the product. He won't buy it if he's got good sense. He won't buy it unless he needs it. And he won't buy it if he's got good sense unless the product looks to him to be as it's represented valuable and needful to him.

And so you sell the product. And this is what the Lord God does here with his grace. He said, now you need what I'm offering. Are you thirsty? Come and buy wine and milk. He compares the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation in Christ to wine and milk. Why? I read a good bit on this this week but let me just give you three or four things. The scripture says wine maketh merry the heart. Oh now I know why it compares salvation in Christ to wine. The Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that's in him is the one and only thing in this world that will fill your life with joy. Isn't it silly? How we go about seeking pleasure all our lives. And we seek it. And those things are going to bring us nothing but misery. We seek pleasure, but we seek it in things that are going to bring us nothing but pain.

I don't know that I have one anymore. Someone recently got a picture of me when I was 15 years old. It was taken just before God saved me. I was just about your age in high school. And I'd been all my life seeking pleasure everywhere under the shining sun seeking pleasure but if you could see the picture you'd see written on the face of a 15 year old boy the misery and the heartache and the pain of a man who had found nothing but misery heartache and pain That's all. A few months after that picture was taken, God was pleased to give me this wine. And oh, my soul, it has made glad my heart.

And I'm telling you, nothing but Christ and his salvation will make glad your life. Nothing else. mean you won't have pains? Oh no, we have pains, but we have pains that we bear with joy in our hearts because Christ is ours. We have troubles, but in the midst of trouble we have Christ and we learn to be content and there's no pleasure on this earth like contentment. And then he compares salvation in Christ to milk.

Why milk? Do you realize milk, I suppose, I'm not certain this is the case, but as far as I can tell, milk is the only food in this world. That is, if you can go somewhere and find somebody that had messed with it, the real stuff, that kind the doctors say you're not supposed to drink anymore. Milk is the only food in this world that has everything you need to sustain your life, give you strength, keep you in health, and build your muscles. The only food in this world. Jesus Christ alone contains everything you need for life and death, for time and eternity. He's the only one. The only one.

Wine is rich and pure. It's an old thing. You get wine by letting it sit a while. And the older it is, the better it is. So the gospel of Christ sets before sinners a treasury of grace, a pure and righteous salvation, one that was established of old from eternity in the covenant chambers of God himself.

But milk is an ordinary thing. It requires nothing to get it, but a cow or a goat and a tit, and any man can get it. Any day of the week, just go to the farm and find one. That's all. Go get you some milk. Anybody can get it. It's accessible to anybody. Just an ordinary thing. And so Jesus Christ and the free salvation of God's grace in him is an ordinary thing. So ordinary, so free, so common to men. that anybody who wants it can get it. Anybody who wants it. The gospel I'm preaching to you is a gospel of wine and milk. It has everything necessary for life and all the riches of everlasting grace.

I'm talking about the pardon of sin. Full pardon. For sin's past, sin's present, and sin's future too. I'm talking about the present pardon right now. Right now. I know pardon was accomplished at Calvary 2,000 years ago. I know that. But I'm telling you right now, it's possible that you came through those doors this evening burdened down with guilt. And if right now, right where you are, you'll make this transaction that is here presented in this text of scripture. If right now you look to Christ, believe on him, you can walk out those doors free from all condemnation. Free from guilt.

When Pilgrim carried his heavy burden on his back. He went to Mount Sinai and he went here and he went there and folks kept pointing him up to Mount Calvary. And as he as he went up to Mount Calvary, he said, I looked up and I saw him hanging on the tree. And as soon as I looked, my burden rolled away and was gone.

And I'm telling you, there is therefore right now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Look to him and your burden is gone. It's gone. And I'm talking about a lasting pardon. A lasting pardon. God won't. God won't charge saying where he's forgiven sin. God won't bring back any accusations against those whom he has relieved of all accusations.

The gospel I'm preaching is a message of complete justification. So that you stand before God. being justified from all those things from which you could not be justified by law and works. You stand before God completely justified in Jesus Christ. The pardon and the salvation and the grace and the justification I'm talking about is eternal life. My sheep, our Savior said, hear my voice. I know them, they follow me. I give them eternal and they shall never perish. Now these things are freely offered to every one of you, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done.

Don, you're not You're not being candid now, are you? You don't mean God will pardon any sinner. You don't mean God will forgive every sin. You don't mean, you don't mean now that I can walk out of here tonight with no condemnation, do you? Oh, yes, I do. Yes, I do. That's exactly what the Lord means. Oh, 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. Oh, now there's the kicker. Without money and without price.

You see, the biggest problem in sales work is getting folks to come up to the price that's demanded. The biggest problem in preaching the gospel is getting folks to come down to the price that's demanded. Very few people are willing to come down to this price. Not many.

The Romanist says, I'll come to the waters, but I'll bring my Hail Mary's and I'll bring my mass and I'll bring my rosary and I'll bring my penance and I'll bring this and I'll bring that. This up, all those things. No, you can't, you can't buy. The ritualist.

Says, I'll come to the waters and I'll buy, I'll buy this water of life. I'll buy this, this milk and this wine. And I'll bring my baptism and I'll bring my recitations and I'll bring my prayers and I'll bring my, my sacraments. I'll bring these and I'll come, I'll come and buy.

No, you can't buy. The philanthropist He comes and he says, I'll buy this. Oh, this is a good deal. I'll buy this. And he brings his gifts and his beneficiaries and his charities and his good works of philanthropy. And he says, I'll buy it. No, you can't buy it.

The moralist comes. And he says, now, I know I've committed some sin. After all, nobody's perfect. None of us are saints, you know. But I've. I've been pretty moral. I do good. I obey mom and dad. You won't find me in the houses of ill repute, and you won't find me in the bars, and you won't find me in the dens of iniquity, and you won't find me rolling in vice.

No, I'll bring my moral goodness. I'll take this water. No, you can't buy it. You can't buy it. The churchgoer comes and he says, well, I'll have this water. I'll have this water of life. I read my Bible and I say my prayers and I go to church and I've been a member of Grace Baptist Church for years now. Here, I'll have this water. No, you can't buy it either.

And then the deep experienced Calvinist comes. And he says, I have had deep, deep conviction. God took me through hell. God created thirst in me, and God caused me to sense my sin, and God filled me with terror, and I'll bring those experiences, and I'll come back.

You would just as well bring your Hail Marys, just as well bring your rosary beads, The fact is. All of us naturally want to bring something to Christ. Everybody does. Everybody. I want this water and I'll buy this water. And here's what I got to offer my feelings.

My repentance, my prayers, my works, my readings, my righteousness, my faith. No. You got to come to Christ for everything, even for faith. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Helpless, look to thee for grace. Naked, come to thee for dress. I to thy dear fountain fly. Wash me, Savior. else I die. God's salvation is free salvation.

He requires no payment. No payment. But I'll tell you what, Lord, if you'll, if you'll give me this water, I promise. No, he won't accept any promises. He won't accept any promises. Oh, but I'll buy this salvation. I'll buy this water of life. I'll buy this rich wine of his grace. I'll buy it. I'll buy it with my prayers. I'll plead and wrestle with heaven until I get this thing. No, he won't take any prayers. Prayers no substitute for faith. He won't take it. I'll come and Lord if you'll take me, this is what I'll do. No, he won't take any performances. No works. Well, Don, how can I buy this water of life? How on earth can I buy this water of life? Right where you are, right where you sit, Take Him. That's it. Just take Him. Just take Him. Take Him. And He's yours. God help you to take Him.