Let's turn again to Isaiah chapter
55. The title of the message this evening is
God's Call to Sinners. Chapter 55 is God Almighty speaking
directly to sinners. God calling sinners. Now that
got my attention as I read that. So let's look at these first
five verses and see if the Lord might be pleased to teach us
something. He begins in verse 1. 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 God is calling sinners. And
he said, y'all don't have to say he's going to say something
important. If God's speaking, it's important. He says, ho,
Pay attention. I'm going to tell you something
important. Give me your attention. Isn't it a blessing that God
would condescend to call sinners, that he would speak to sinners
to call them and tell them, listen, I've got a message for you. Listen
to it. And when God calls here, he's calling sinners to come
to him. Now, this is not an invitation. You know, where God just throws
out the invitation to anybody and everybody hoping that somebody
will take him up on his offer. It is a call of God. But you
read through scripture and you'll find this is so. Every call of
God has a condition attached to it. Every call of God describes
someone specifically that God's calling to. God never invites
men without exception. He always calls with a condition
attached to it. He said, come unto me. Who? All ye that labor and are heavy
laden. See, the condition is being tired, being tired of working
to keep a law you can't keep. The condition is being burdened
down by the burden of your sin that you can't get rid of. Well,
if you're tired of going about to establish your own righteousness,
I read one time where when Paul talked about that going about
to establish your own righteousness, It's constantly trying to prop
up a dead body. And it's constantly falling down.
You're constantly propping it up. If you're tired of going
about to establish your own righteousness, if the burden of your sin is
crushing you, then come to Christ. He said he'd give you rest. See,
the call has a condition to it, doesn't it? Come to the physician. If you're sick, if you will,
you won't come. But if you're sick, come to the
physician. Come to the marriage feast. If you're poor and you're
lame and you're maimed and you're hot, come to Christ. Come to
the marriage feast. Come to Christ. If you can come
as a little child. Come to Christ as a little child
who needs to be taught. I love dealing with children
before they get to know it all. You know, when they're little
and they don't know everything yet. Oh, you can teach them. You can
deal with them. Shawn, you see that school. That age, oh, great,
great age. If you could come to Christ as
that little child who needs to be taught, you come. If you could
come to Christ as a little child that can't do anything for yourself,
you come. Here, God says, come to the waters. Come to the waters of life if
you're thirsty. See, that's the condition. Are
you thirsty? That's the cry of the gospel. We read it to open
the scripture. Our Savior cried, if any man
thirst, let him come to me and drink. The condition is, are
you thirsty? And in Revelation 22, the spirit
and the bride say, come. Let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, whosoever's
thirsty, let him take of the water of life freely. You see,
the condition is, are you thirsty? And I'll tell you when we feel
thirst. We feel thirst when we feel, we recognize there's a
lack of something inside me. We get low on water, we start
to get dehydrated and we feel thirsty. It's our body's way
of telling us, drink some water. Well, the Lord here is talking
about a spiritual thirst. When you recognize you're lacking
something inside you that you need, that God requires. If you're
thirsty for righteousness, you don't have any righteousness
in you, come to the water. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty
for the forgiveness of your sin? All you are is sin, you can't
do anything to get rid of it? Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty
for the cleansing of your sin? Are you tired of being defiled
by your sin? Are you thirsty for life because
you're dead in Adam? Then come to Christ and drink.
Come to Christ and you'll be filled. When he talks about drinking
here, you'll be filled with everything you need. See, the question is
one of need. Do you need Christ? Do you hunger
and thirst after him? Now, I know some people like
water better than others. I love water. I drink water all
day long. I just have a cup and I just
keep it filled. I love to drink water. Janet
does not like to drink water. She just forces it. You know,
she holds her nose and pours it. Now she just wants something
with some taste to it. Unless we've been working and
we've been out doing something and she's hot. Then she's thirsty. Then she, Pepsi won't do then.
She wants water. Only water will do if you're
thirsty. Now, everybody needs water. All
of our bodies need water. Some people don't drink as much
of it as they ought to. Spiritually speaking, everybody
needs Christ. Christ is the need of every person
in this room. Everybody needs Christ. But the question is, has God
showed you your need of Christ? Do you long after Him? Do you
desire Him? Do you thirst for Him? I've got
some good news if you feel your need of Christ. If you hunger
and thirst after Christ, God says you come and drink and you'll
be filled. Christ is all you need and he
will satisfy your soul. Now you come to the water. The
water is speaking of Christ, Christ the living water. And
throughout scripture, Christ is described as water. And each
time scripture describes the Savior as water, you see he's
all we need. In Jeremiah 2, Christ is described
as a fountain of water, the fountain of water that's in you, a fountain
that just ever springs, that never stops flowing. If you have
that fountain, you'll never thirst, will you? You'll never thirst
again. In John chapter 4, Christ is described as a well of water
within you, so you don't have to come draw again. If He's the
well of water in you, you'll never thirst again. He's the
living water. In John 7, Christ is described
as rivers of water. Jan and I live down on the high
river. We take walks and we see that river. I don't know how
much water is in that river, but I want to tell you it's a
bunch. A river is an abundant supply of water. You come to
Christ, He'll abundantly pardon. He will abundantly cleanse you
from your sin. He'll cleanse you from all of
your sin in Adam. He'll cleanse you from all the sin of your
commission. He'll cleanse you of sinful thoughts and desires. He'll cleanse your sins you don't
even know about. He'll abundantly pardon. Look here at verse seven
in chapter 55. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. He'll abundantly pardon because
he's an abundant supply of living water. Now you may wonder, well,
God has this call, he's got a condition attached to it. Is he talking
to me? Can I come and drink? Well, there's
just one requirement and it's easy to know. Are you thirsty? See, this is the first condition
God attaches to his call to come to Christ. Do you have a thirst
for Christ? If you don't have anything, If
you don't have anything that Christ is, if you don't have
anything that God requires, then you come to Christ and drink.
That's the first condition. The second condition that God
attaches to His call, come to Christ, is spiritual poverty. Now God's holy. God requires
payment for sin. If you have nothing to pay, you
don't even have a penny to pay, then you come to Christ. And
by nothing to pay, this is what I mean. If you have, if you cannot
do anything, you can't do even one thing to please God, but
everything you do is sin. If you can't keep God's law,
if you can't, not only can you not pay for your salvation, if
you can't even contribute something to pay for your sin because you're
spiritually bankrupt, that poor sinner may come to Christ. The
one who's got nothing to pay. The word Isaiah uses here, money,
means silver. Silver is what they use to pay
the redemption price. If you don't have anything in
you, any way you can come up with to pay the redemption price,
then you come to Christ and drink. You come to Christ and have redemption
in Him. That's God's call to sinners.
Now this call is heard by all men. But God's call is a distinguishing
call, isn't it? It's a distinguishing call to
those who need Christ. The call goes out to all men
so that all men are without excuse. God calls, but now God's only
speaking to a specific people. He's speaking to the thirsty.
He's speaking to the spiritually poor. He's speaking to sinners.
And if you're spiritually poor, then you come to Christ. He says,
come by wine and milk without money and without price. The
wine is blood of Christ. The blood that purifies us from
sin. The wine is Christ that makes
the heart glad. And the milk, that's Christ.
It's that which gives health to the new man and nourishes
the new man. It's the milk of the Word of
God. Now it seems strange to tell somebody that's bankrupt,
come buy. Come buy wine and milk. But when
he talks about buy here, he's not meaning so much purchase.
As he means, you come make it yours. It's freely given. Now you come make it yours. How
can I buy that wine and the milk of Christ if I don't buy it?
By receiving it. By receiving it freely in Christ. Sinners make these blessings
ours by receiving them in faith. We don't have to pay for them.
Christ already paid for them with His blood and He gives them
freely to His people. Now, can you receive it as a
mercy beggar? Then you come make it yours. In verse two, God says,
you eat that which is good. Well, if you're spiritually bankrupt,
you're empty of anything good, aren't you? Then you come eat
Christ who is good and you make Christ yours. You make everything
that he is yours. You know, when we eat food, we
make that food ours. It actually becomes part of our
body. Well, if you're empty of anything
good, then you come and eat Christ who is good and you'll be filled
with good. You come eat him. You come have
union with him and you'll be filled with good. You come to
Christ and be made righteous in him. Now, I know the righteousness
of Christ is a righteousness that he earned as a man through
his obedience to the law. But it's mine. My righteousness
is the righteousness of Christ. I know Christ earned it, but
He gave it to me. And you know what He calls it?
He calls it my righteousness, because He gave it to me. It's
mine. So you come to Christ empty to
be filled. You come to Him naked to be clothed.
You come to Him without anything. You come to Him hungry and thirsty
to be satisfied. You come to Christ as a blind
man to receive your sight. I like the way Bartimaeus said,
when the Lord said, what do you want me to do? He didn't say, never get off your nose, I forget
how he said, but what he said is, I may receive. It's not that
you make me see. I want to receive. That's the
way a beggar talks, isn't it? I want to receive. Would you
let me receive my sight? Come to Christ diseased, sin
sick, the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there's
nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. You come
to Him as a hopeless, helpless case and be healed. You come
to Him as a dead man, as a dead woman to be given life. You know,
someone will say, boy, I'd give anything for that salvation.
I'd give anything to have that kind of peace for my soul. I
know you would. I know you would. I know you'd
give anything you have for it. But here's the question. Will
you give nothing for it? Will you receive it as an empty
bagel? Will you? God says come and make
these things yours freely. Why won't you come? Why won't
you? What are you waiting for? Is
there anything else you can find anywhere that will satisfy you?
No, there's not. Look at verse two. Wherefore,
that word's why. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Now, why do
you spend yourself in false religion? There is nothing there that'll
satisfy your soul. There's no righteousness to be
had in a false religion that tells you you've got to keep
the law. And most people are smart enough to know if they
ever took half the time to read it. If you read God's law, I
mean, it's not just 10 commandments. I mean, it's pages and pages
and pages and pages of law. So most people don't tell you
got to keep all the law, but they narrow it down to two or
three of their favorites, you know, and tell you got to keep
that law. Well, there's no peace there. There's no righteousness
to be had there because you can't do it. Go ahead and pick one
if you want. Just pick one law and say, if
I keep that law, I'd be saved. It won't be true, but just pick
one. It doesn't matter. You can't keep it anyway. Defending
one point is to be guilty of the whole law. Why do you keep
spinning your wheels? Why don't you come to Christ?
There's no life to be had in the ceremony of false religion.
Boy, false religion likes ceremony. Ceremony that appeals to the
emotion of the flesh. But there's no peace to be had
in that. Man's religion requires you to
do something. But you can never do it perfectly.
And your conscience won't let you have any peace from anything
that you do. Because everything you do has
got sin mixed in it. False religion doesn't give you
anything to eat or anything to drink. False religion preaches
anything and everything other than Christ. So their message
can't satisfy your soul. Any more than eating sawdust
is going to satisfy your physical hunger. Trying to eat sawdust,
I promise you, will not satisfy your physical thirst. That message
of Christ plus something else or anything to do with your works
will never satisfy that thirst. You think about it. To hear that
God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, yet people go
to hell anyway? There's no peace in that message.
There's nothing to satisfy the soul of a sinner in that message.
Who cares if God loves me if he's gonna send me to hell anyway?
There's no peace in that message. There's nothing that will quench
your thirst for righteousness in that message. There's no forgiveness
of sin there. there is in Christ. Now why don't
you come to him? Come and drink freely of him
and you'll never thirst again. The message of man's religion
will not satisfy your soul any more than husk. Eating the husk
you feed to the pigs is going to satisfy your hunger. If you
hunger and thirst after righteousness and then you listen to the message
that tells you Yes, now Christ is good, but you've got to be
circumcised. You've got to keep the Sabbath. You've got to tithe. You've got
to whatever after you got it, whatever you fill in the blank
with that takes away all your peace, takes away all your hope,
makes it so it doesn't satisfy. It'll leave you starving to death. If you hunger and thirst after
righteousness and look for it there, you're going to starve
to death because there's no life in our works. All our works can
produce is death. and there's no satisfaction in
eating death. Your hunger can only be satisfied
by eating bread, eating food fit for humans. Well, only Christ
is the bread of life. Christ is the only bread. He's the only message that will
satisfy your soul. Then come to him, come and drink,
come and eat. Now I know that sounds odd, doesn't
it? Our Lord said, you got to eat my flesh and drink my blood.
People thought, I don't understand that. Is he saying I got to be
a cannibal? How is it that I can eat and
drink Christ? Well, it's very simple. It's
by listening. That's why God began, ho, listen. That's how we eat and drink,
by listening. Look here at verse two. Wherefore
do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me. Eat
ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Now the body
is fed through the mouth. Everybody knows that. Well, the
soul is fed through the ear. Now, you children, listen to
me for a minute. You be mighty careful what you
listen to. If you listen to this world long
enough, you listen to the thoughts of this world, you listen to
the ways of this world, the logic of this world long enough, your
body won't be poisoned, but your mind. Be careful what you listen
to, because that's how your soul is fed. And I tell you, we would
be so wise If our soul is fed, if we drink for our soul by listening,
I tell you, we'd be so wise to listen to what God says. Wouldn't
that be wise? Wouldn't it be wise just find
out what does God say? Eric, that's what you're talking
about the other day. I mean, it doesn't matter what the Baptist or somebody
else said. It doesn't matter what this preacher
says. All that matters is what does God say? Now we better find
that out and listen to it. Listen to it. Is that an unreasonable
request? For us to listen to God? Is it
too much to ask a dying sinner to listen to the living God?
Is it too much to ask a dying sinner, would you please take
some time out of your mad dash to hell and stop and listen to
the Savior? That's not unreasonable, is it?
Is it unreasonable that the creature would listen to the creator when
he speaks? I tell you, I wish we'd learn
to listen. To listen. Listening is a lost art in our
day. I find it comical. I don't see
it so much anymore, but when I was at the warehouse, it just,
it amused me every day. At any moment, I could walk out
of my office and find this situation. Here's two people talking. But nobody's listening. You know,
just because this fellow's quiet when the other person's speaking
doesn't mean this fellow's listening. No, while he's being quiet, you
know what he's doing? He's thinking about what he wants
to say next. He's just waiting for you to
take a breath so he can jump in and say what he wants to say.
And what he says has absolutely nothing to do with what you just
said. They're having two completely different conversations you may
as well have with the wall. Nobody listens. Oh, I wish we'd
stop and listen. Listen to what God has to say. Truly listen. And I think this
is our problem. Truly listening is passive. You can't contribute anything.
You've got to listen. You have to receive what somebody
else is saying. And maybe you don't want to receive
what somebody's saying at work. But boy, when God's speaking,
we better listen. We better receive that now. In order for our soul
to be fed, we've got to listen. We've got to listen and we've
got to process what God's saying. Apply it to me. Now listening
is passive, yet the Lord tells us here, put some energy into
it. Now put something into this. He says, ho, pay attention. Pay attention. He says, listen
diligently. Listen closely so you don't miss
anything. Lock out the distractions. Diligent. Incline your ear. What that means
is bow down and hear. You kids, this illustration won't
make much sense to you, because today, if you want to see a college
football game, it's on TV somewhere. But when I was your age, there
was one game on a week. And we could listen to games
on the radio. But oftentimes, the radio was
static. And you know what I would do? Me and my dad, they had this
big old console stereo speakers on either side. We'd lay on the
floor with our ear pressed up against it. because the station
was so static because we wanted to hear. We wanted to hear what
happened in that game. Oh, I wish we'd incline our ear.
Get close to the sound when God's speaking so we can hear it. I'll
tell you, the only way we're going to hear God speak is if
we incline our ear. We bow down to hear. Now, God's calling sinners who
are thirsty and bankrupt. Listen to me. I've got good news
for you. You come to me and be satisfied. And God makes several promises
of grace to those people, to those bankrupt, thirsty people. God has three promises of grace. You come to Christ hungry. And not only will you be satisfied,
you'll be delighted. Now, if I was hungry, I could
go, I know where the peanut butter and the jelly is in our kitchen,
and I could make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and
it would satisfy my hunger. But I tell you when I'm delighted,
Janet fixes a pot roast in the crock pot, and she puts carrots
and potatoes in there, and she's got hot rolls. She's pulling
them out of the oven. She's got real butter ready to
just put on those. She's got me a tall glass of
water set on the table and there's pie in the oven for dessert. I'd be delighted. I mean, I savor
every bite of that meal. Now I'd be satisfied just like
if I ate a peanut butter sandwich, but if I ate that roast and potatoes
and carrots and those rolls and that pie, You come to Christ. I'm telling
you, you'll be satisfied. God promises more than being
satisfied. You'll be delighted in Christ. You'll be delighted in the fatness
of the gospel. That fatness is everything that
makes the gospel taste so good to a sinner. You come to him. You'll be delighted. Second promise
of grace. You come to Christ and you know
what God will reveal to you? He'll reveal to you His eternal
covenant of grace. He says there at the middle of
verse three, and I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure mercies of David. Now you come to Christ. You come to Him because you're
a sinner. You don't come to Christ because you know that you're
one of God's elect. You don't come to Him because you know
that He's made you part of the covenant. You come to Christ
because you're a sinner. You need a Savior. You need somebody
to wash you. You need somebody to make you
righteous. But I'm telling you, you're gonna find out real quick,
you came to God because He called you first. You chose Him because
He chose you first. See, Christ is gonna save you
in such a way that He gets all the glory. God's gonna show you,
you didn't even contribute to your salvation by coming to Christ.
No, He drew you. Christ is the one that saved
you. He saved you by His blood, and He's the one that drew you.
You didn't even contribute to it by coming to Him. You didn't
come to Christ because you decided to come to Him. No, you came
to Christ because God chose you in eternity past. He put you
in the covenant of grace. He put you in His Son. God set
His eternal covenant mercies upon you before time began. So
in time, God drew you. He drew, He called you and He
drew you to His Son because He loved you. That's why you came
to Christ. Sinner, you listen to me. Listen
to me. You come to Christ. Don't come
to doctrine. Don't come to a different way
of theology or the Baptist way of theology or the Methodist
way or the Presbyterian theology. You come to Christ because Christ
is salvation. Here we're talking about this
everlasting covenant, the covenant of grace. Christ is the covenant. Look at verse four. God says,
behold, I have given him. He didn't say I've given it,
this covenant. I haven't given it. I've given
him for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the
people. Christ is the covenant of grace. That covenant's all
in him. It's all in him. God put all,
he chose a people and he put them in his son. He gave them
to his son to be surety for them. And Christ ratified that covenant
in his blood. And now he lives to be the mediator
of that covenant. He is the covenant. Now you come
to Christ as our leader and as our commander, as our sovereign,
the one that we obey and the one that we follow, the one that
we bow to. That's the Christ you come to.
Here's the third promise of grace, and this is sweet. Everybody
God chose. Everybody Christ died for. They
will come to Christ. I guarantee it. God's word guarantees
that they will come to Christ because this covenant of grace
is ordered in all things. And sure. Look here, verse five. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knewest not and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee because of the Lord thy God for the holy one of Israel,
for he hath glorified thee. Now this is talking about God
calling the Gentiles. And to the Jews, that was so
shocking. They didn't believe it even when
they read it. I mean, here they read this. They read these scriptures
and then when God started to call the Gentiles, they just
didn't believe it. It was just too shocking to them. To a Jew,
there's nothing worse. There's nothing more sinful,
more despised than a Gentile, a Gentile dog, an alien from
the covenants of promise. Exactly. That is exactly who
God calls. He's telling us here, plainly,
God calls sinners to Christ. He didn't call the righteous.
He calls sinners, real sinners. Gentiles who are out there sacrificing
their babies to idols. Just so far out in left field,
so blind, so dead, so lost. That's who God calls. He calls
them because of these sure mercies of David. Now this isn't speaking
of King David. It's the mercies that King David
experienced because of Christ, the son of David. Christ, the
son of David. so fully accomplished salvation
for his people, for sinners. He cleanses the worst of sinners. Every one of them say, I'm the
chief of sinners. And every one of them is going to hear the
gospel. Every one of them. How on earth are they going to
hear the gospel in all these far flung lands? How are they
going to hear the gospel? Well, nothing's too hard for
God. God's going to send my preacher. That's how. Well, how do I know
the preacher will be in the right place at the right time? Because
God will send him. God will put him there. Well,
how do I know that they'll be there at the right place at the
right time and hear the right preacher? How do I know? God's
going to put them in the right place at the right time, too.
And he's going to give them ears to hear so their soul will be
fed. Now, they'll hear the preacher
for a while, no doubt. They might even be mad at him
for a while. But when God speaks, you belong to Christ. One day,
you're gonna hear God speak to the heart. And when that happens,
you're gonna run to Christ. Run to Him with urgency. You're
gonna see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and
you will run to Christ. In closing, I want you to look
at John chapter six. You come to Christ, right where
you sit, You run to him. And I can tell you what will
happen when you do. John 6 verse 30. They said, therefore, unto him,
what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert. As it's written, he gave them bread from heaven
to eat. Now, that's obvious to everybody what they're doing.
They're trying to say you work some miracles so we can get free
food. That's what they're saying. Then
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord evermore, give us this bread. Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall
never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Same thing he said in Isaiah
55, wasn't it? But I said unto you that ye also have seen me
and believed not. You're not thirsty. You're not
hungry. That's why you haven't drank. But look at verse 37. All that the Father giveth me,
all that the Father elected in that covenant of grace, sure
and certain covenant, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Now that's a sweet promise of
grace from Christ the Savior that He will never cast out a
sinner, a thirsty, hungry, naked, bankrupt sinner who comes to
Him for mercy. Come to the waters. Let's bow
in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. How we thank you, how you condescend to call sinful
men and women such as we are to come to the waters, to come
buy and eat wine and milk without money, without price, to come
and receive salvation freely in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
how we thank you. How we thank you for a Savior
who satisfies, who satisfies every longing, who satisfies
every desire, who satisfies every holy requirement that you have.
How we thank you that we can delight ourselves in our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, to delight ourselves in the fatness of the
gospel, forgiveness of sin in His being, righteousness in Him. Oh, it doesn't get any better
than that. Father, thank you for revealing your son to and
in your people. And we pray that this evening
that you would call out your people, that you'd call to the
hearts of your people, reveal your son to them and cause them
to run to Christ. It's in his precious name we
pray and give thanks.