Going back to Isaiah 55. What a chapter this is. What
a chapter. I could cover, I'm going to try
to cover this chapter tonight, but then we could go back and
just take a verse by verse and just camp there for a while.
He starts out this chapter with the word ho. Stop. It's hard to get people to stop
in. In this day and time, I'm telling you, one of the hardest
things to do is get people to stop and listen. You probably
can't get a person hardly nowadays to listen to a 30-40 minute message
on the radio. You've got to give them these
quick ones. You've got to give them a fast one because they
just won't stop and listen anymore. People are racing into eternity
at a breakneck speed. He is shouting here. If I could
shout this like it ought to be shouted, it would ring the walls
here. Stop. Stop. In chapter 54, we
looked at last time. The last, I think, Wednesday
before last. We had the gospel promises to
the church. Here in this chapter, we have
the gospel proclaimed to the needy. and to the guilty and
to sinners. You know, the Gospel describes
the people it's proclaimed to, doesn't it? It describes who
it's for. You've just got to find them.
You've just got to find the needy. You've got to find the guilty.
And as we stand here and proclaim the Gospel and on the radio,
I'm looking for guilty people. I'm looking for someone that
needs mercy. Someone that's thirsty, as we'll
see here tonight. Someone that is thirsty. And
I'm glad it said, ho, everyone that's thirsty. I'm glad it said
that, doesn't it? You know, if it had said, ho,
everyone that's rich, that would cut off a lot of people. If it
would have said, ho, everyone that's wise, that would have
cut off a lot of people. But you know, everyone in this
world knows what it is to be thirsty. When you talk about
being thirsty, I don't care what station in life a person is,
he knows what it is to be thirsty. He knows something about thirst.
And so that's what he says here. Oh, everyone that is thirsty,
the gospel is for the needy. It's for needy. It's for thirsty
people. And this is a spiritual thirst
he's talking about here. This is not talking about a natural
thirst. He's talking here about a spiritual thirst. It is a proclamation
of the rich, rich mercies of God in Christ to sinners. Oh, I would to God that we never
lose what it is to be a sinner. Because that's where the Gospel
stood. It's to sinners. To sinners. The Gospel is for
weary people. Weary with sin. Weary with guilt. Weary. Just weary with this life.
Weary. That's what the Gospel is for
the weary. Our Lord said this, Come unto
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest." He's describing the ones he's talking to, those who are
labor and heavy laden. And this is the only gospel that
can save a sinner and keep him saved and present him faultless
before God's throne with exceeding great joy. This gospel can do
that. It can do that. And I'll tell
you this, there's no substitute for the substitute Christ Jesus.
He is our message. He is our drink. He is our food. He is our everything we need. He is it. He is our satisfaction. David said, I will be satisfied
when I wake with thy likeness. That's when I'll be satisfied.
That's when the child of God will be satisfied, is when he
wakes with Christ's likeness and gets rid of this flesh, gets
rid of this sin. It says here, whoever one that
thirsteth. Here's what He's saying, stop!
Stop, look, and listen. Stop, look, and listen. The Lord
of glory. This is God speaking here in
this chapter. The Lord of glory is speaking
here. The Lord is speaking to a particular people here. He's speaking here to a people
that's thirsty. Thirsty and hungry and weary. If you came here tonight
that way, you'll get something out of it. If I came this way,
I'll get something out of it. When I read this last two or
three days, I thought the people who really get anything out of
the gospel are the ones that are thirsty. If you were thirsty,
you're really thirsty, and I handed you this water, I guarantee you
would drink it. You wouldn't examine it. You
wouldn't look at it and say, well, I don't know if I'm going
to drink that or not. You would drink it because you're
thirsty. And our Lord says, drink. You thirsty? He says, drink it. He's speaking here to a people
who have been given a spiritual thirst after God. David said
this, as the heart passeth after the water brooks, So panteth
my soul after thee, O God." That's who he's talking to. This is
not a natural thirst that can be quenched with natural water.
Nothing in this life can quench this thirst. Nothing. Nothing. This thirst is of God. This is
of God. It came from heaven. This thirst
came down from heaven. And only the one who inhabits
heaven can quench this thirst. He's the only one who can quench
this thirst that He created in us. He created this thirst in
us. And I thank God. I thank God. I have it and you have it. I
thank God for it. Thank God if you're thirsty.
Thank God if you hunger and thirst after righteousness because that's
of Him. You know there was a time you
didn't thirst after those things. There was a time I thirsted not
for God. I thirsted not to know Him. to
have fellowship with Him, to have anything to do with God.
We're all in that same boat at one time. For everyone, he says,
that thirsts. This thirst has to do with fellowship.
It has to do with a fellowship with God, a thirst to know God,
a thirst to have communion with the living God. It's real. It is real. Like the woman in
the Song of Solomon said, Have you seen my beloved? Have you
seen him? Tell him. I love him. Have you
seen him? Thirsty for him. I know this. There is a natural thirst in
man that he cannot quench. He can't do it. When Adam fell,
he left his children, every one of them thirsty. He left them
thirsty. And that's why men pursue many
vanities. That's why they do that. They
have an unquenchable thirst and they go after sin trying to quench
that thirst. And I'll tell you what that does.
That only makes you more thirsty. Sin does not satisfy. It only
makes you more thirsty. It cannot satisfy. Not at all. It actually causes dissatisfaction. That's what it causes. But when
God creates spiritual life in a man, or a woman, for the first
time, for the first time, he begins to thirst. You know what
thirst is. When you're thirsty, you've got
to have a drink. You have to have it. You have to have it
to live. When God creates life in a man, for the first time,
that man really hungers and thirsts after God. God becomes real to
him. He's not just someone upstairs.
God Almighty becomes real. And he thirsts for the first
time to know Him. For the first time, he begins
to thirst after forgiveness. He begins to thirst after righteousness. He begins to thirst after pardon. He begins to thirst after divine
favor. To have God's favor. As it says
in Romans, if God's before me, if He's before us, Who can be
against us? You thirst for that. You thirst
for God's favor. There was a time when we thought
nothing of God's favor. Now it means everything. God's favor now means everything. He can take away what He will,
but not His favor. Lord, don't take Your favor away
from us. It means everything. And then for the first time,
we thirst for reconciliation. Reconcile to God. And we find,
we find this reconciliation. We find it when we drink of Christ. When He enables us to drink of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we find that reconciliation that He gives
us a thirst for. And we are joined to that fountain
of water. The only way this thirst can be quenched is being joined
to Christ, united to the Lord Jesus Christ, united to that
fountain of living water. That's the only way this thirst
can be quenched. When by faith He enables us to
drink of that fountain filled with blood. Here's something else we thirst
for. To have the power of sin conquered in me. You thirst for
that? You struggle with that? You struggle
with indwelling sin? There is a thirst to have this
power of sin, this raging animal in me conquered. Conquered. No more to be a captive dog to
my lust. No more to be a captive dog to
my fallen will. No more. Unchained. We looked at Acts here a few
weeks ago. Peter was sitting between those two guards and
all three were asleep. That angel came in and the chains
dropped off. That he would unchain us from
the lust of this flesh and the power of indwelling sin. And when it whistles for me,
I don't go running back to it no more. Like a dog runs to its
master. When it whistles, you don't have
to run back to it. Because He's giving you power
over that. The Scripture says, Sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, you're
under grace. But sin will not have dominion over you anymore.
It'll not take you captive anymore. I know this. Believers sin more
than they want to. Everyone here that believes the
Gospel, you sin far more than you want to. You would to God
you didn't. And at times it feels like you're
not going to make it. There's times I've felt like
and wondered, am I going to make it? Am I going to make it? Well,
I thank God that my feelings are not my salvation. Feelings
are not salvation at all. Christ is my salvation and He
has already made it. He is seated at God's right hand
making intercession for His people. He's already made it. I cannot
fail because my substitute did not fail. Oh, I tell you. He came to conquer
the power of sin, the power of Satan, the curse of the law,
to set the captives free. And that's why Paul said, Oh,
that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection. Paul
said, Oh, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrected
life in me. Lord, to know that, to know the
power of Christ in me. As that song goes, we're going
to sing it at the end of it. More about Jesus would I know. More of His divine person. More of His righteousness. More
of His saving grace. More of Him. He said, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me. If I would have more comfort,
If I would have more joy, if I would have more peace, I will
have it knowing more of Him. That's how you have it. You have
it by knowing more of Him, who is the embodiment of these things.
Now, He says, O everyone that thirsteth, thirsteth, come ye
to the waters. Come to the waters. If any man
thirsts, let him come, He says, and drink. Let him come to Me
and drink. You know, men shut themselves
out, don't they? Election doesn't shut any person
out. It brings people in. We were
shut out by sin. We were shut out by hatred of
God. We were shut out by enmity. Election shuts no one out. Election
brings people in. He says here, if any man thirsts,
let him come and drink. There it is. And I say that to
anyone that's listening to my voice. If you're thirsty, then
come and drink. Men go to hell, but it's their
fault. Men perish because it's their
fault. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. But there's going to be some
who's going to come because he's going to see to it. He's going
to see to it that it's not a failure, that it's not a total wipeout.
He's going to save some. Any man, black, white, rich,
poor, come and drink, he says, if you're thirsty. Come and drink
if you're thirsty. The gospel knows no color. The gospel knows no class distinction. It recognizes this, needy centers. Centers, that's what the gospel
sees. Centers in need of mercy. I thought of this today. Why
will you die when the water is so close by? Why will you go
thirsty when the water is so close by? Here it is. He says, drink. Drink. There's nothing more purifying
and refreshing than water, isn't there? I know we've tried to
come up with all kinds of sports drinks All kinds of things to
quench our thirst. But I'm telling you this, I have
never yet, ever, drank anything that quenched my thirst like
just water. Simple, simple, clear, plain
water. And nothing will satisfy the
thirst of a sinner but a simple preaching of the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified. We don't have to complicate it.
Just leave it as it is. Pure, clean water. Drink, he
said, drink. Receive him by faith. That's
what drinking is. Drinking Christ, it's receiving
him by faith. And notice to whom he's speaking
here. He that hath no money. I know this. He that hath no
money. I'm not preaching over anyone's
head here now, am I? He that hath no money. That lets us all in there. He that hath no money. This is
for those who are spiritually bankrupt and they know it. God
made you to know that. You believe the gospel, you know
Christ. He made you to know that you are nothing and have nothing. Christ said without me you can
do nothing. Spiritually bankrupt, poor and needy, David the king.
He said, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Those are the ones He thinks upon. Poor and needy. Come one, come all, for there's
plenty. He says, waters, waters. We are talking here about an
ocean of grace. An ocean of mercy. You know, when you look out at
the ocean, and you look at that vast body of water that's out
there, Oh man, first time when I was a kid, I saw the ocean.
I was just dumbfounded. That it was scary too. Looked
like that water could just anytime just... You know, I'm just looking
at the top of it. That's all I was looking at.
The surface. Can you imagine? You know, we've
been on this earth, what, 6,000 years or so? And we've not yet
plumbed the depth of the ocean? We've not yet been able to get
down to the very depth of the ocean. How much deeper is God's grace?
How much deeper is God's mercy? We can't even begin with these
little old minds to comprehend grace. Mercy. We can't even begin to
comprehend it. It's so deep and infinite. Oh my, it's an ocean. Roland
Hill said this. I like this. Roland Hill said,
when you go to an auction, the auctioneer's job is to get people
up to the price. He said, when we preach the gospel,
we have to get them down to the price without money. You've got
to get them down. Instead of up, you've got to
come down. He says, he that hath no money. Oh, we could preach
this. We can preach this anywhere.
This will fit anywhere, won't it? Come ye, he says, buy and
eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. By faith, eat of Christ, who
is the wine and milk of the gospel. He is. He's the wine and milk of the
gospel. Christ is the one who makes the heart glad. He's the
one who makes the heart glad. Really, if you have Him, you
know Him, you know He's the One who makes us glad. He's the One
who makes the heart glad and He's the One who satisfies the
hungry soul. He is. Those who eat His flesh
and drink His blood by faith are made glad in the inner man.
You're really made glad. Now seeing that Christ is free,
His salvation is free, Forgiveness is free. Pardon is free. Righteousness is free. Then why
do you spend money? This is God asking this question.
He says, wherefore, why do you spend money for that which is
not bread? That's a good question, isn't
it? Why do you spend money for that which is not bread. Why do we do such things? Why
do we spend hard-earned money? Money's hard to come by. I mean,
we work hard to get money. And he says, why do you spend
that hard-earned money for that which doesn't satisfy? Why do you go after things that
are vain and they don't give you any satisfaction whatsoever?
Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? He said.
There is no value and there is no nourishment in a Christless
religion, even though they use his name. There's no value. There is no nourishment in a
religion, a false religion that lies on God. He said there's
nothing in it. There's no value in it. There's no bread in it.
There's no nourishment in it. There is no satisfaction in it.
You go around and you meet a lot of, I've met several religious
people. They're not satisfied with anything.
It's just like the world. Everything's got to be bigger
and bigger and more and more. God asked this question. Why
do you do this? You know it doesn't satisfy. Nothing. I thought about this
today. Nothing truly satisfies the soul
but Christ. It's that union to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the only one, now listen,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can make you truly
content with what you have. He's the only one who can make
you sit in a small house, content with it, while everybody else
is building the business. Christ is the only one that can
make you content. He's the only one. If I have Him, truly, I
have it all. Really, don't we? We're going
to be shocked. We are going to be shocked when
this life is over and we see what we have in Him. When we
see what God has prepared for them that love Him, it's going
to be shocking. And we're going to see and we're
going to realize how rich we really are. Oh, I tell you, Christ is the
only one who can make us content. Salvation by works has never
made anybody content, and it's never satisfied. If Christ is
not a priest, I say this, if Christ is not a priest, we're
better off to stay home. If Christ is not preached, if
it's at this place or any other place, I'm telling you, you're
better off to stay home than to come and listen to a lie.
Going to church, just as we go to church, sometimes can be daily
if we're not preaching the gospel. Of course, that's not the church
if we're not preaching the gospel. I tell you what, the best and
the wisest thing that a person can do is move to where the gospel
is. If there was no food in Ashland,
if there was no food here, I guarantee you, you would pack your family
up and you would move. Jacob went down to Egypt. Why? Because there was corn in
Egypt. They was in a famine. There was
no food where Jacob and his family was at. There was about 70 people
there. And they were like, we're going to starve to death here.
So they packed their bags, packed up their tent, and they went
down to where the corn was, down in Egypt. And I would say this,
if the gospel, if the gospel was to ever leave here, pack
your bags and go where it is. Don't stay here. Don't stay where
the gospel is not. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. You know,
I heard the Gospel back years ago. We heard Henry preaching
on television. Me and Vicki both decided this
is where home was at. Home is where the Gospel is.
You know, you'd think home is where the heart is. Home is where
the Gospel is. Home is where Christ is. That's
where home is. And we packed it up and we moved
here to Ashland. And it took a while. It took a little while
for this to feel like home, living down here, because it was different. It was away from the family.
It was away from the Fleshly family. But I'm telling you this,
I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't go back and change
it for nothing. Because this is where the Gospel is. And you
need to be close to the Gospel. You need to raise your children
under the Gospel. That's so important. I wanted to raise my boys around
children who were raised up around the gospel. If it wasn't here, I'd pack up
and move. Then he says this, hearken diligently
unto me and eat that which is good and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Fatness, gospel promises and
gospel mercy. Oh, what fatness we have in the
gospel. This is one time I'm glad there
is fatness. Fatness of promises. Fatness of mercy. All that we need is Christ. That's all we need. He's everything. Now listen. He's everything that
is good. Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is everything that is good. And He says give diligence to
this. Give diligence. It's good for you. It's for your
good. Incline your ear and come unto
me." He says, come, come. I'll tell you this, not to is
disobedience, isn't it? To not come is disobedience.
But He says, come. And this also gives us the right
to come because He said to. I have a right to come to Him. I have a right to come to the
throne of grace because He said to. He said, come. And don't
let anyone tell you you have no right because he said to come.
He said so. And incline, bend your ear as
if to catch every word he has to say. I wish, I wish that I would do this.
That I could be on the edge of my seat. And there's been a few
times, there has been a few times over the years that I have been
on the edge of the seat I mean, just listening. I mean, the Lord
had my attention. There have been a few times.
There have been times when I've heard Henry preaching. I'm telling
you, I was on the edge of the seat listening, hanging on every
word. And it wasn't because Henry was
preaching. God had my attention. We ought to do that. Oh, we ought
to bend our ear. We ought to be on the edge of
the seat. We ought to be on the edge of the seat when the Word
of God is being read. When just the Word of God, when I read
chapter 55 here, this is God Almighty speaking. We should
have been up on the edge of the seat catching every word he had
to say. Something might be said to me. He might say something
to me. Incline your ear. And I'd say
this too, is that asking too much for beggars? If a beggar came in here right
now, would it be asking too much of him to just sit here for a
minute and listen to me? That's all we are, beggars. We
are beggars. Every one of us. Mercy beggars.
Cecil Roach called us mercy beggars. That's what we are. And it's not asking too much
for beggars to listen. And here's the promise. shall live. Is this not what we want? To live? We do everything we can. Men
do everything they can, and we do it too, to live. We go through a lot of things
just to live. This is what we want, to live.
And this is really what we want right here, to live eternally
with the Lord. To be like Him, and to be with
Him. That's what we want. He says, "...and your soul shall
live." All that God has for sinners is in His Son. And He says, come
and drink of Him. Hear! He said, hear! That is
the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And union with Christ comes by
faith, and the blessings come with that union. Oh, here, he
said, your soul shall live. And I'll make with you an everlasting
covenant, even the sure mercies of David. You can find them over
in Jeremiah 31, but I'll read them to you. He said, I'll be
their God. They shall know me. I will forgive
their iniquity and remember their sins no more. I will give them one heart to
know me." He said, I will not turn away from them and they
shall not turn away from me. These are the sure mercies, he
said, I'll give you. I'll make a covenant with you.
God has made that covenant with us in Christ. That covenant,
that eternal covenant, God has made it with us in Christ. Then he says here in verse, let
me see where I'm at. Verse 4, behold, he said, I have
given him for a witness, a prophet. He's given us a prophet, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world and revealed the Father
to us. And a leader and commander to
the people. You know, over the years, I've
studied and read a lot of books on leadership in the business.
It had to do with business. And I've read a lot of them.
I mean, on Lincoln and Attila the Hun. I mean, you'll believe
some of the books I've read on leadership. The best leader and
the only one that we need to study is the one God gave us,
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you really want to know and
study a leader, look and study him. He's the perfect example. And a commander. Our commander-in-chief
is God's Son. Now that's a commander-in-chief
to have, infallible, infallible. And he said, Behold, thou shalt
call a nation that thou knowest not. He's successful. He's going
to call a nation that didn't know him. And nations that knew
not thee shall run unto thee, because the Lord thy God, and
for the Holy One of Israel, for He, that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall glorify thee, the Father. that has been said and done by
Christ is to glorify His Father. He has glorified His Father and
our Father. Now it says, Seek ye the Lord
while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Call upon Him. Seek Him. Look
for Him. Seek Him in His Word. Seek Him
under the Gospel. Seek Him in prayer. Run after
Him. Don't let Him go. And look, here's grace. Here's
grace. Let the wicked forsake his way,
that God would even speak to the wicked. Here's grace that
God would even warn the wicked. You know, He could let a man
just live and die and never say a word to him and face him in
judgment. But God says, let the wicked. Let the wicked. forsake his way. And the unrighteous
man, his thoughts, his thoughts about God, his thoughts about
the way God saves sinners, let him forsake those things and
let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon him. That's grace, my
friends, that's grace. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. God's
thoughts are so high above our thoughts that it can't even be
comparable. There's nothing to even compare
it to. I was going to compare it to my thoughts to a dog's
thoughts, but that's... I mean, the dog is a lot closer to my
thoughts than my thoughts to God. Really. You said, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways. The way you would save and the
way God saves It's totally different. I like the way God says. There's
no flaw in it. There's no flaw in it. For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the
rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returns not thither,
but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud, that
it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall
my word be that goes forth out of my mouth." You know, when
the rain comes down and the snow, they serve God's purpose. Now
you and I can complain about it. We can complain that it snowed
six inches and God's purpose fulfilled in that
snow. Instead of one book of Job, have you entered into the
treasuries of the snow? Have you ever done that? Well,
God said, just as surely as they accomplish my purpose, my word,
the gospel, that goes forth out of my mouth, will accomplish
the purpose that I've sent it to accomplish. You know what
that is? The saving of his sheep. The saving of you who believe
the gospel. And look at verse 12, where you
shall go out with joy. This is how you're going to go
out of captivity. You're going to go out with joy.
You're going to be led forth with peace. And listen. Can you
just get this imagination, this picture in your mind? The mountains
and the hills are going to break forth into singing. Could you
imagine walking down the road in the hills, in the mountains,
singing? Creation. Can you imagine creation
rejoicing? Can you imagine the trees, it
says here, clapping their hands? Can you imagine trees doing that
as you walk by? God has redeemed. God has redeemed
us. God has put away sin. You know,
creation is groaning right now under sin. Every time I hear
of an earthquake or a volcano erupting, I think of creation
groaning. Groaning. That earthquake blowing
that out. Like an upset stomach. That's
what it's like. Acid reflux. That's what that
is. You see a volcano, that's just acid reflux coming out of
it because of sin. That's what it is because of
sin. But the tree, he said, when this
happens, creation is going to rejoice. The hills and the mountains
are going to sing and clap and the trees are going to clap their
hands. And instead of the thorn, it's going to come up the fir
tree. That which was cursed God said, Cursed is the ground. It's
going to bring up thorns and thistles. That curse is gone. That curse was laid on Christ.
He put it away. And now, good things are going
to grow up. Good things are going to grow
up. Instead of wicked men, believers are going to grow up. And they
shall come up, and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir
tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree.
And it shall be to the Lord for a name, a glorious name. Oh, what a name. What a name. And you and I are going to sing
praises and we will give honor and glory
someday to that name forever and ever and ever. Now, if you're
thirsty, he said, drink. Come and drink.