I titled the message, Why Do
You Work for Nothing? I wonder how many of us would
keep going to work if they told us tomorrow morning, now we're
not gonna be, we're gonna quit paying you. How many of us would
keep showing up? Why do we do that spiritually?
Why do you work for nothing? Our text begins in verse one.
Ho, 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. Now this is Almighty God
calling to sinners. He starts out, ho, listen up,
give me your attention. Isn't it a blessing to think
that God calls to sinners? He says, listen, listen, This
is God calling sinners to come to him. Now this is not an open
invitation where he's trying to get people to come to him.
He owes as many people as he can get to come take him up on
his offer. Every call of God always has a condition attached
to it. God never invites all men without
exception. He calls all men without exception
commands us to believe, but he never invites all men without
exception. There's always a condition attached
to God's call. He said, come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Now the condition
is being tired of working, trying to keep a law that you can't
keep. That's the condition. And the promise to you is if
you meet that condition, I'll give you rest. The condition
is being burdened down under the burden of your sins. It's
too great for you to carry, you just can't go on. If that's your
condition, then the Savior's promise to you is, come, I'll
give you rest. Here in our text, the condition
is, are you thirsty? That's the condition, are you
thirsty? And you know, that's a call that we hear all throughout
the gospel. In John 7, verse 37, the Savior
cried, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. In
Revelation 22, verse 17, the Spirit and the bride say, come,
come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that is a thirst,
come. And whosoever will, let him take
to the water of life freely. You see, the condition is, are
you thirsty? If you're thirsty, God says,
come and drink. The condition is, are you thirsty?
The promise is, come and drink. Our bodies feel thirst when there's
a lack of something inside of us. When we want a drink of water,
that's our body's way of telling us, I don't have enough water
in me. What the Lord here is talking about is spiritual thirst.
Is anybody here thirsty for righteousness? Are you like David, you hunger
and thirst after righteousness? If you're thirsty for righteousness,
I can tell you why. It's because you don't have any
in you. You can't produce any. Are you thirsty for life because
you're dead in Adam? Now, if you meet that condition,
come to Christ and drink. Come to him for righteousness.
Come to him and be filled with everything that you need. See,
the question is a question of need. Does anybody here need
Christ? That's the question. Now, everyone
needs Christ. Every son of Adam, we all need
Christ, don't we? The question is, has God showed
us our need of Christ so that we feel it? That's the question.
If some poor person is here this morning and you feel a need of
Christ, I know that's miserable. Trust me, I know that's miserable.
but I've got good news for you. If you need Christ, so you hunger
and thirst after him, God says come and be filled. Be filled. So the first condition
is a condition of need. The second condition that God
attaches to this promise is spiritual poverty. Now, God requires there
has to be payment made for sin. God's holiness requires it. God
can't just ignore sin, it's got to be paid for. Well, if you
have nothing to pay, so that you're spiritually bankrupt,
you can't do anything to satisfy God, you know what God says? Come to Christ. Come to Christ. If you can't do anything to please
God, you can't keep God's law, you can't do something moral
enough, so you kind of contribute to your salvation, you know,
you can't do that because you know you're spiritually bankrupt.
God says to that poor sinner, Come to Christ. Come to Christ. He says here, if you're so spiritually
poor, you got nothing. Come to Christ and buy. Come
buy wine and milk without money and without price. You don't
have to bring money. Come buy it without money and
without price. The wine he's talking about here
is the blood of Christ. Blood that purifies from sin.
It's wine, the wine of the gospel, the wine of Christ that makes
the heart glad. And the milk he's talking about
here is that drink that gives health, that strengthens and
nourishes the new man. It's the milk of the word. Now
come, and he says, buy it. But how can I buy it? Well, you know, when you buy
something, you make it yours. You make it your possession,
don't you? Well, then how can I have the wine and the milk
of Christ? How can I make it mine if I can't
buy it? I've got nothing to buy it with. You receive it freely
by faith. God gives it to you, so it's
yours. It's yours. Sinners make these
blessings ours without ever paying for them because somebody else
paid for it for us. Christ paid the debt. with his
precious blood. It's yours, even though you didn't
pay for it. We had a birthday party, first
birthday party for our grandson yesterday. That child's got nothing. Nothing. He can't pay for nothing.
He wouldn't know how to pay for anything. He wouldn't even know
how to decide what he wanted. He got nothing. He can't pay
for nothing. That child now owns an obscene amount of toys. They're
his toys. because somebody gave it to him. That's what God does for his
people. He gives us what we don't have and he gives it freely.
Not grudgingly, freely. I know many people will say,
if you have any sense of your lost state before God, if you
have any sense of the weight of guilt and the unrest in your
mind, Because you've got any sense of that, I can understand
people saying, I would give anything for salvation. I would give anything
for peace of soul. And I believe you, if that's
the way you feel. Listen, I believe you. I absolutely
believe you would. But here's the question. Will
you give nothing? See, that's the question. Will
you give nothing? and have it for free by God's
grace. That's the question. If you will,
God says come. You know what your permission
to come to Christ is? God said come. That's our permission. Come to Christ completely empty
to be filled. Come to him naked to be clothed.
Come to him hungry and thirsty to be satisfied. Come to him
with nothing, with nothing, and receive from him everything.
That's what God says, come. And then, in case we don't realize
our need of Christ, the Lord asks us a question that reveals
our need of Christ. Look at verse two. Wherefore,
why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your
labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto
me, eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. And this is what the Lord's asking.
Why do you spend yourself in false religion? When you've already
should have figured out by experience, there's nothing there to satisfy
your soul. Why do you keep up with it? Why do you keep going?
Why do you keep on that hamster wheel? False religion tells you
make yourself righteous by obeying the law. Make yourself righteous
by living better than, you know, than other people. Make yourself
righteous by following our moral guidelines, you know. Now I grant
you, you would be righteous if you could obey God's law perfectly.
Perfectly, all of the time, perfectly. You would be righteous. But our
problem is we can't keep the law. Our nature does not have
the ability to keep God's law. Our nature doesn't have the ability
to do anything but sin, so we can't make ourselves righteous.
You see, God did not give us the law so that we could earn
a righteousness by keeping it. God gave us the law to show us
our guilt. God gave us the law to show us
I can't obey this law. I need somebody else to do it
for me. Look at Romans chapter three. This is what the apostle
Paul tells us. Romans chapter three. Verse 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law,
and here's the reason, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. By the law is not the way
to earn righteousness, by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law shows us we cannot keep
God's law. Then why keep spinning your wheels
trying to keep it and make God happy with you? Why would you
do that? All the work that man's religion
puts on you will never make you righteous. All that work man's
religion gives you to do will never give you peace in your
soul. Your conscience will always bother you knowing I haven't
done good enough. The conscience will never let
us have any peace because of our works of the law, because
they're sinful. And here's why a sinner can never
be satisfied by this message of free will works religion.
It's because false religion preaches everything and anything but Christ
alone. Christ is the only thing that
can satisfy you. Their message can't satisfy our soul any more
than sawdust can satisfy our physical thirst. They're just
giving you a mirage. You're out there in the desert,
give you a mirage, you end up drinking sand. It doesn't quench your
thirst, does it? Trying to satisfy our soul, that
thirst after righteousness. Listening to a message that says,
God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. Now
you just got to accept him and you just got to make it effectual.
Listen to that message, it's like drinking sawdust. It'll
make you more thirsty. It won't quench your thirst.
The message, Christ died for everyone. Oh, he loves everybody
so much he died for everyone, but now you know what? He's gonna
send people to hell anyway. There's no peace for a sinner
like me in that. I can't find any peace for myself
in that. Then why do you keep working yourself to death with
a message that never satisfies your soul? It doesn't satisfy,
it doesn't give any peace. You know, you work, and you work,
and you work, and you work, and you work, but you're still spiritually
starving to death. You work, and you work, and you work, and
you work, and you work, and then you work some more, and your soul never
has any peace, never has any calmness. You still fear death? You still fear condemnation?
Then what are you keeping all that work up for, if it doesn't
give you any peace? Why are you trying to build up
your own righteousness, your own morality, if it doesn't give
you any peace? Pretty good question, isn't it? So God says, this is
man's way, this is what we've been doing, working, working,
working, working, not getting any peace, not getting any righteousness.
And God says, ho, stop everything and listen. Listen to me. Listen carefully. God says, come
to Christ. Hearken diligently unto me and
eat that which is good. and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. The Lord says, come and eat that
which is good. Quit the husks of man's religion,
that doesn't satisfy, and come be filled. Now just have a little
bit. Come be filled, filled with good
things. Come be filled with righteousness. Since you can't be any more righteous,
be made the righteousness of God in you. Come be filled with
salvation. that you can never lose. Come
be filled with life that's eternal life. Come be filled with a peaceful,
quiet conscience because you're always looking to Christ. You're
always trusting and believing Christ. He says, come eat Christ.
Come eat him the bread of life. Now, what does that mean? That
sounds very mysterious, doesn't it? Come eat Christ. Eat this
bread of life. Look at John chapter six. To eat Christ is to believe Him. You know, when you eat something,
you have union with it, don't you? When you eat Christ, you
have union. You believe Him, so you have
union with Him. And this is what the Savior teaches us here in
John 6, verse 53. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. Now the Lord here is talking
about believing on him, believing. You know he's not talking about
being a cannibal. Believing, that's eating Christ, that's
having union with him. And the Lord tells us, believe
Christ. Believe him and be filled, believe
him. Well, here's another question
then. How do I get faith in Christ? Scripture tells me believe on
Christ. The preacher keeps telling me believe on Christ. Everywhere
I turn in the scriptures, it tells me believe on Christ. How
do I believe him? How do I get faith in Christ?
Well, God tells us that too. He said, faith cometh by hearing. That's where we began when the
Lord said, ho, listen. Here, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Come eat the gospel of Christ,
so it satisfies your soul by listening. By listening. The Lord tells us, hearken diligently. Don't just come be a bump on
a log and say, okay, well, you know, I was there. Listen carefully. Pay attention. Listen carefully. Listen like your soul depends
upon it. Because it does. It does. This word diligently that Isaiah
uses, it also means obediently. Listen obediently. Listen to
the gospel and be obedient to the command of the gospel. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen like a needy sinner that
needs Christ. and believe on. You know, our
body, our bodies are fed through the mouth, aren't we? Well, the
soul is fed through the ear. Now, come listen. Listen to the
gospel of God. Thus saith the Lord. The Lord's
spoken to us in his word. You know, I know everybody's
busy. With all this modern conveniences
and these things that we have supposed to save us time, everybody's
busier than ever, aren't they? I mean busy, busy, busy. Is it
too much to ask a dying sinner to stop and listen to God? Is it? Is it too much to ask
that a dying sinner take time of our mad dash to hell and stop
and listen to God? God's given us a message of the
Savior. Stop and listen to it. God's promise to needy sinners
is you come to Christ and you'll be satisfied. You're not gonna
be satisfied like, you just barely got enough. Believing Christ
and trusting Christ will fill you with good things. Believing
Christ and trusting him will make your soul delight itself
in fatness, in fatness. I know you wanna eat, eat right,
and they say, you know, all this fat on meat and all this stuff
isn't real good for you, which is probably true, but it makes
it taste better, don't it? I like me a steak with some fat
on it. Tastes better, you know. And you know what this word fatness
means? It means the blessing. Come to Christ, trust Him and
let your soul delight itself in the blessing. The blessing
of knowing Him. The blessing of being found in
Him. The blessing of Him putting your sin away. Come and joy be
filled with the blessing. You know, man's worst religion
just leaves you empty, doesn't it? Leaves you hungry and thirsty
for righteousness, but Christ fills you with good things. He
fills you with the blessings. Now why would you keep working
trying to establish your own righteousness when you come to
Christ and be filled? Be filled with his righteousness.
Okay, here's the second thing. Why would you work to earn a
life that you can't get? Verse three in our text says,
incline your ear and come unto me. Here and your soul shall
live. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Now I'll tell
you what the Lord is talking about here. It's life for our
souls. How can I have eternal life?
Well, spiritual life is just like righteousness. It can't
be had through our works of religion. It can't be had through our works
of morality and living as good as we can. The works of the law
can never produce eternal life, never. A dead man can never produce
life for himself. Now that's not just an opinion.
That's not just my opinion. That's not just the opinion of
old writers and things that I've read. That's a statement of scripture. I want to show it to you, Romans
chapter six. Why would I want to work, keep
working, trying to keep the law and earn spiritual life when
all my works can only produce death? You know, if anybody,
anybody kept the law outwardly, if anybody just, you know, did
it as good as it could be done outwardly, it was Saul of Tarsus.
He said, I was blameless before the law. Now you know he was
still a sinner, but I mean outwardly, as far as what men can see, boy,
nobody catching breaking the law, and this is what, Saul of
Tarsus, this is what Paul had to say about Saul of Tarsus keeping
that law. Verse 23, Romans chapter six. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now wages, that's what you earn
by your works, isn't it? Somebody comes and gives you
your paycheck on payday, that's your wages. That's what you've
earned by being there that week, or that two weeks, or whatever
the pay period is. That's your wages. Well, the
works of the law, Paul says, can only produce death. The only
thing our works of the law, the wages, what we justly get from
that is death. Well, why keep that up? Why keep
earning more death? Look across the page, chapter
seven, verse five. For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sin, which were by the law. You notice this,
which were by the law, that's me trying to keep the law. Paul
calls that the motions of sin. Did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. The only thing that produced
was death. Down in verse 10. Well, look at verse nine. He
says, for I was alive without the law once. He said, what he
means is I thought I was. I thought I'd earned life by
keeping the law. But when the commandment came, God showed
me that the law was spiritual. Sin revived and I died. And the
commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. Paul says trying
to obey God's law gave me death. I thought the law was an instrument
to give me life and instead it slew me. Then why keep it up? Why keep it up? Well, if I can't
earn life for myself, if I can't do something to get God to give
me eternal life, can you tell me how a sinner can have life? How can I have life for you?
Well, the Lord tells us plainly, and he repeats himself, it's
the same way we earn a righteousness, the same way we receive righteousness.
He repeats his command to hear. Hear. Hear, he says, and your
soul shall live. Hear of Christ and believe on
him and you will have eternal life. You will. Now again, just like righteousness,
this thing is by faith. It's not by our works, it's by
faith. If you would be saved, you must believe on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You must. No other option, you
must. But here's our problem. We can't
produce faith. Try as we might, we can't make
ourselves believe on Christ. We can't do it, we can't make
ourselves. But remember this, faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. God graciously gives faith through
the hearing Christ preach. That's how you're going to get
life is by hearing Christ preach and believe. Then be here to
hear. Be here to hear. I've said this
before. I'm telling you, If I didn't know Christ and I knew it, I
would make it my business to be where the gospel is preached
every time I do it. I'd make it my business to. I
really would. Faith is the gift of God. It's
received. It can't be earned. It's freely
given from the gift of God. And he gives that life to sinners
freely. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his mercy, his mercy, he saved
us. It's according to his mercy. And that mercy, the mercy of
God, is sure and it's certain because it's eternal. He calls
it here the everlasting covenant of God, the sure mercies of David. This mercy for God's people is
earned by the Lord Jesus Christ. the son of David. He earned that
mercy for his people. He earned mercy for his people
because he suffered all the justice that they deserve. And now God
can freely give them life. Now why would you continue in
all your works of religion that when scripture says all they
can produce is death, sure certain death. Why would you continue
in that? Come to Christ. and have sure
life for your souls because of God's mercy. Isn't that a wonderful
promise of grace to dead sinners? Come have life freely. Come drink
of the waters of life freely. Well, here's the third thing.
Why would you work trying to earn a pardon you can never deserve? Verse seven, let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon. Now the Lord says let the wicked
forsake his way. You know, if you would have this
promise, he will have mercy on him, he will abundantly pardon.
Here's the condition, you gotta be wicked, and you gotta be unrighteous.
This is who this promise is to. And the Lord says, let the wicked
forsake his way. Now, when I read that, the wicked,
I know what went through all of our minds. All the wicked
things that people do. Oh, that's so wicked. All this
open sin. But that's not who the Lord's
talking to here. The most wicked thing we can ever do is try to
earn our own salvation by our works. instead of trusting Christ. It's the most wicked thing we
could do. The Lord commands us, you forsake all those religious
works, their wickedness, and you trust Christ. And I will
pardon you. I will. Then the Lord says, let
the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. You know what the most
unrighteous thought we can ever have is that I can do good enough
to make God happy with me. It's the most unrighteous thought
I could ever have. That's saying that the Holy God could ever
be satisfied with my dead sinful works. And Lord commands us,
forsake those thoughts. And boy, the believer, we're
constantly forsaking those thoughts, because that's the only thought
the old man can have. The old man is constantly telling us,
get to work and make God happy with you. Forsake that thought
and trust Christ. Trust Christ. And God said, I
will pardon you. I will pardon you. It's not maybe,
I will. Now all of us are guilty. Every son of Adam is guilty before
God. And God's holiness will not allow
that record to be expunged. He will not do it. You know,
we have attached a little bit at least of a negative connotation
to this thing of a pardon. You know, a person commits some
crime and Just to satisfy him. You know, the judge, he's got
rules he follows here. Okay, when somebody does this
and they're found guilty of this, this is the sentence that I must
give. And the judge gives the sentence.
Law says that's what has to be done for me to be satisfied.
And a governor or a president or somebody comes along and says,
well, you know, that's my buddy. He says, I pardon you. You get
out of jail for free. That's not God's pardon. Before God pardons any sinner,
justice must be satisfied. But we can't satisfy God's justice,
can we? You and me suffering in hell
for eternity wouldn't put away one sin. So we need mercy. We can't earn a pardon, but you
know what God says I'll do? I'll pardon you for Christ's
sake. I'll pardon you. I'll let you
go free. You know why? Because I'm going
to punish Christ for you. He's going to take your jail
sentence. He's going to take your death sentence. And I will
abundantly pardon you. You're not going to just get
out barely by the skin of your teeth. I will abundantly pardon
you. I won't just pardon you for that
one sin. I'll pardon all of them. All of them. And you know why
God can pardon all of your sins? because he punished Christ for
all of your sin as your substitute. Now, if that's not grace. I don't
know what it is. That's grace. This is the commandment
straight from God himself. Forsake your religious works.
Turn away from run away from him and come running to Christ,
begging for mercy. And God said, I will pardon you. I will. It's not because you
ran to Christ. It's not because you acted right,
it's not because you asked right. God says, you come to Christ
and trust him, I will forgive you. It's not because of you
and me, it's because of Christ. Because he satisfied God. Because
his blood made the father say, it's enough. His righteousness
made the father say, I'm well pleased with him. Now you come,
and you beg for mercy for Christ's sake, and God will forgive you.
Not because of what you've done, but because of who Christ is.
You see that? I think that's very important. See that? See,
God's mercy, it's all for Christ's sake. Look over here at verse
four in our text. Behold, I've given him for a
witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord
thy God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee. That Holy One of Israel is Christ
himself. He has glorified God. You and I can't figure out how
a sinner can truly be saved. That's why men have made up so
many crazy, crazy religions, trying to make up some way God
could save me, that God could have mercy on me. Is there some
way that God could not punish my sin? So many nations, people, whatever,
of history, they thought, how can God not punish my sin? Well,
I'm gonna sacrifice to God the most precious thing I have. Maybe
God will accept the blood of my child. I'm gonna sacrifice
my child. I think that's good enough that
God will forgive me. Friends, it's not our blood.
It's not anything about us. It's the blood of God's son.
It's the righteousness of God's son. We can't figure out how
God could save a sinner. We could never in our wildest
imagination think of substitution and satisfaction by God's son
becoming flesh. We could never figure that out.
So you know what God did? He sent a witness. He sent his
son to be the witness. This witness He tells the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Doug, when you used to be in
courtroom, wouldn't you love to find a witness to tell the truth? This witness,
Doug, like that never happened. This witness tells the truth.
The whole truth and nothing but the truth. We can't find our
way to God. I mean, we can't find, and we
just, we don't know how to get to God. So you know what God
did? He sent a leader. He sent Christ the leader who
brings us to God. Who brings... I mean, just what God's done
for His people. Doesn't that just make chills run up down your
spine? This is what He's done for His people. Sinners need
a Savior, so God sent the Savior. He sent the Savior to save them,
and He sent the Savior to call those sinners to Himself. Those
nations that knew not Him, they're gonna run to Him. Because He's
glorified God. And you know what? Now I know
this is talking about primarily when Christ came in the flesh
during his earthly ministry. But you know what? Christ is
still calling his people to himself. He's not doing it in his bodily
presence, but now listen, God's still in the business of saving
sinners. Then see Christ. He's still calling sinners to
himself. Lord, call me, ask him, Lord, call me. And listen, this
thing of seeking Christ, the Lord didn't give us something
difficult to do. He said, seek, look for him,
call. I mean, you can sit in your darkness
and your blindness and you can call, can't you? Look what he
says in verse six. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. Today is the day of salvation. The Lord's near. Then call on
Him. You know, we can't do anything
save ourselves, Ken. We can't do anything to make
God save us. But we sure can seek Him. We
can't do anything to get Christ to save me. But I tell you what,
we sure can ask Him for mercy. I can ask Him for what I don't
deserve. I can ask. I can beg. You know one thing
that's not hard for a hungry sinner, a hungry person to do,
and maybe they're really hungry. They'll beg for food. They surely
will. If the Lord ever shows me my
spiritual hunger, Bob, I'm gonna beg you. I'm gonna beg you. And the promise of God Almighty
is, I will give you mercy. I will fill you. That's a promise
of God. I don't know about you, but I'm
gonna beg God for mercy. I hope you do. I hope you do. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this precious commandment and promise that you've given
us in your word to come to Christ and that you will abundantly
pardon. that you will give life, that
you will fill the empty center. Father, we're sinful. We're empty. And by thy grace,
by thy spirit, Lord, we come. We come, depending on you to
keep your promise to be merciful. Father, be merciful, we pray.
How we thank you for this time we've had in your word to worship
you together. Father, I pray you'd cause it
to glorify your matchless name. cause us to see ourselves in
the light of who Christ is, and in awe and wonder, run to him
and trust him to be everything we need. Father, it's in Christ's
name, for his sake, for the sake of his glory, we pray that you
do such a great act of mercy and grace for the likes of us.
Father, it's in his name we pray. All right, Sean.