Isaiah 55 Actually we'll look at Isaiah
54 in the last verse and then we'll go into 55 verses 1 & 2
for this morning. I'm going to read this to you.
The Lord God in Speaking to Isaiah the prophet prophesied this in
Isaiah 54 verse 17 no weapon that is formed against thee shall
prosper Every tongue that shall rise up Rise against thee in
judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord that their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. So
in one verse, a firm and solid declaration of the free and sovereign
grace of God in Christ Jesus. And then we see these next two
verses. This is what we do. This is what
the flesh does. This is what unbelievers do.
It's an asking, behold, alas, but he says, ho, in chapter 55,
verse one, ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters,
and he that hath no money, come ye by and eat, yea, come by wine
and milk, without money and without price, wherefore, Wherefore,
upon hearing the freeness of the gospel, upon hearing the
free invitation to come, 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. This, I believe,
especially verse one, is the definition, is the Old Testament
definition of the freeness of grace. This is the definition
of the freeness of grace. Come buy and eat, come buy wine
and milk without money and without price. It doesn't make any sense
when you look at it through natural humanistic eyes, through religious,
religion without Christ. It doesn't make any sense. How
can you charge us, ho, everyone Everyone here this morning, everyone
who is perhaps listening or will listen. Everyone. Everyone. One man said, one writer
said, this here in verse one is the free gospel and the glory
of God. It is the joy of the humble soul. It is the envy of malicious devils
and the contempt of proud, self-righteous Pharisees. That's what one man
said, and it's true. We have here milk, which is the
pure and sweet doctrines of the gospel of God, and we have wine. It's the generous and comforting
pardon of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. I just have
several points. First of all, the first thought
is, who is this for? Who is this, oh, everyone that
thirsts, who is it for? Well, before I answer that, I
have a statement. I will say this, to our shame,
not everyone is thirsty or hungry. That's who it's for. You're thirsty
and you're hungry. Ho, everyone that thirsts, come
to the waters. Come without money, without price. Come buy and eat. So it's this
is for who is it for? It's for those who are thirsty
and if we've come here this morning Out of obligation to check the
box You're probably not you're not probably not going to go
away satisfied, but if you've come here by the inspiration
of god the holy spirit and has Made you caused you to see your
need of Christ, then I hope I've, then I'll fulfill that obligation
is to preach Christ to you. Nathan said back there, you know,
may we hear of Christ. Christ is our, our bread and
butter. Christ is our blood and righteousness. Christ is everything to the believer,
not just a side thought, not just a side thought. I remember
I heard years ago, a man who I at one time highly esteemed,
He was a preacher out in the East Coast. And he made a comment
about Henry Mahan, whom I really knew and really loved. And he
said, yeah, he preaches the gospel. He does preach the gospel. But
what he was saying is that that was a side issue. That was a
side issue. And I told that to Henry, and
Henry goes, well, I'll take that compliment any day. Yeah, he
does a good job preaching the gospel. And this man had 12 or
13 lessons on repentance. And in there, he was talking,
he goes, well, you can just preach the gospel. And he had an easel,
because you could hear him slapping the paper. And he took five minutes
to preach the gospel. And then he says, anybody can
do that. And then he got back to his lesson. I thought, that's
not how we view this book. Christ is the center of it all. And if you miss Christ, I don't
care how religious you are or were, You've missed it all. So here's who this is for. Everyone that thirsts, come to
the waters. Even if you don't have any money,
come buy and eat. Yay, buy wine and milk without
money and without price. So a thirsty person, and I got
thinking about this in my earlier childhood, a boy, girl, a man
or woman does not need to be told how to drink. If you're
thirsty, you don't have to be told, now you gotta do this,
you don't have to be told, you just go for the water. And I
remember being, I don't know if they have them in the schools
anymore, grade schools, they used to have water fountains
throughout the school, specific stations. You went there, you
pushed a button, and you drank. You didn't have to be told, not
even kindergarten. I remember we lined up and just,
boom, boom, boom. Why? Because the need of thirst
will dictate the means, the method, and the action. If you're thirsty,
you're gonna find water. The second thing is those who
are hungry. Buy, eat. So it's those who are
thirsty, who this passage is for, and those who are hungry.
In Psalms 107, This is what this two verses
are for, it's for the thirsty, it's for the hungry. And I assure
you in Psalms 107 in verse nine, he says, for he, that is God,
satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. If you're hungry this morning,
I'm talking spiritually. If you're thirsty, spiritually. you're going to be filled. You
look in the book and you're going to be filled. Definitely. He says, ho, come. What a loving call. What a soulful
charge. Come, we who have been made aware
of the sins that separate us between us and our God. Come,
lepers. Come, fallen. come the prodigal,
come the blind, the lame, the halt. An old writer in the 1700s wrote
it this way, come ye sinners poor and needy, weak and wounded,
sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love,
and power, come ye thirsty, come and welcome, God's free bounty
glorify, true belief and true repentance, every grace that
brings you nigh. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream, all the fitness he requires is
to fill your need of him. Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
lost and ruined by the fall, if you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all. He just won't do it. He just
will not do it. This is the Lord's open house. It's his public market. We went
to a public market in Seattle one time, that big public, he
just walked in. There was no gate, there was
no, he just walked right in. Just walked right in. Come, drink,
dine, and rejoice. That's to whom it's for. What
does he say? He says, buy. Buy. Come ye buy. Ye, come buy. Buy. Don't come with what we
think merits our buying power, our ability. No, surely you will
be turned away. You know, when we go somewhere,
we always, you know, pull out the wallet or this or that. Can
you ever remember, I remember, I can remember when someone came, when someone said, come and buy,
and you knowing and feeling and understanding that you or I didn't
have what it took. Say, well, this costs $100 to
get in, and you're like, just turn around and walk away. Have
you ever been in a restaurant and look at the prices? Or some
places there's no prices. You just got up and left. It's
humiliating. It's sad. It breaks your heart. Sinner, this is okay. This is how you need to come.
See, in this country, we have surplus, a whole bunch of it.
And that's how we're used to living. We're used to going ordering
and getting what we want. No, this is just fine. Come with
your poverty, your nothingness, your old tattered clothes. He
says, come and buy. In Christ, we know that song
says he paid it all, all to him I owe. Come by, make no excuse,
do not delay, plead his blood, plead his righteousness, his
grace and his mercy. Not your riches, not my riches,
not my intellect or my worth or anything like that. Come by,
no money, without money and without price. Now, to the average American,
that doesn't make any sense. Oh, I've got, I can pay my way.
The Lord helps those that helps themselves. No, he doesn't. Oh, he doesn't. You can't help
yourself. That's the issue. And I was thinking about this.
Who did the Lord cast out of the temple in Matthew 21? What does it specifically say
they were doing? They were buying and selling. They had something. He said,
nope, get out of here. Get out of here. You're trying
to merit. One thing, in this context, trying
to merit to buy and to sell and to gain, what are we supposed
to say in James? If the Lord wills, this will
take place. Now, this is my own opinion of
seeing things over the years. Here's what I see as great hindrances
to coming to Christ for free pardon and free forgiveness. I'll just keep it simple. One,
our works. And we're born with works. We're
born, what do I do? Secondly, our past religiousness. When we come and hear the gospel,
no, I think I heard just a little bit of the truth. I think, you
know, even though I didn't understand, I didn't believe, and did this,
and then did all these things, and whatever. So I tell you this,
out of Hebrews, for the first thing, works, which we all are
born in and doing and trying to merit our salvation. In Hebrews
chapter 4, you don't have to turn there, but in 4 in verse
9, 10, and 11, there remaineth therefore a rest, sleep, repose,
rest. to the people of God. For he
that is entered into his rest, Christ, he also has ceased, stopped,
ended from his own works as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore,
to enter into the rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief." We're born in works. We're born, let me do this. I
can do this. No, you can't. You can't save
yourself. The second one is for people who are in a church and
think they heard the gospel before, but it wasn't the gospel. Past
religiousness, and I say it's better to be humbled now than
to trust in past religiousness and perish. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, repent, and be baptized. If what you held on
before is not the truth, get rid of it. You know, that's why
Christ was, he wasn't, was Christ amazed? He said, behold, in Israel
at whom there's no guile. You know, I heard Henry preach
a message. Everybody has been beguiled through a form of religious
religion. All of us, all of us. The third
point, how is salvation accomplished? Who is this for? It's for the
thirsty. It's for the hungry. What he
says, he says bye. I'm not gonna restrict it, I'm
gonna say bye. Everyone hear it, bye. But how
is this accomplished? It's accomplished without money,
without price. As we alluded to in the introduction,
he talks about milk. Milk is the true, life-giving,
sweet gospel of the grace of God, and wine is the blood and
perfections of the son of God. You're gonna hear the gospel,
the gospel concerning his son, You're going to believe it and
continue to walk in newness of life. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians
chapter 1 verses 13 and 14. How salvation
is accomplished. He's talking about who first
trusted in Christ. Verse 12. Look at verse 13. In whom? Ye who, those who are coming
to buy, also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth,
incidentally, that's called the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise. Verse 14, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession
unto the praise of his glory. After you heard the word, you're
going to, you've got to, you're going to hit the, hear the gospel.
And it may not be from this pulpit. It may be from your neighbor.
It may be, it's just from a believer, someone who has tasted that the
Lord is gracious and they're grace. They're concerned about
your soul and they tell you. Doesn't matter, you know Religious
or irreligious thinking this is the gospel. This is the gospel
Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter 10 and I there's
so many of these I've just got these two Romans chapter 10 starting
in verse 9 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
Christ and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. For the scripture sayeth, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference
between Jew and Greek. The same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him. That's what we're talking about
by call. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? I'm not, you know, some people,
oh, that's self-promotion. I'm just reading the scripture.
The Lord takes me out, brings somebody else out, it's his word. And how shall they preach, except
they be sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings
of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When I first looked at this,
you know, and up until here recently, thanks to, I think it was George
Whitfield, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
That's unto salvation. How important is hearing the
gospel? Every time you hear the gospel, if you're a believer, you increase in faith. What did
the apostles say? The disciples, Lord, increase
our faith. Is there anyone here that doesn't
need more faith? Well, there could be one thing,
the weak in faith, they may not, and I know there's several, there's
quite a few folks. Faith comes by hearing. Reading,
yes, but he says hearing. And the spirit can take the things
you read and make them unto you, but there's something precious
about gathering together. Gathering together. And I've been looking at Revelations,
got back onto that. And it's Revelation, I believe
it's chapter five. If you want to see what worship
is all about, look at that. Faith comes by hearing, how is
salvation accomplished? Everyone that thirsts could be
thirsty. You've got to be. That's what
he says. Lord, give us a hunger and thirst
after righteousness in the New Testament. Why? Because if you're
hungry and thirsty, even a little kid, you're going to find a food
cupboard. You're going to go in there and
open, get some cookies or something, but you're going to get something
to eat. If you're that hungry, if you're that thirsty, Do not
linger. Perhaps today is the day of salvation. Chapter 55, verse 2, wherefore
do you spend money for that which is not bread? Why do we do such
things? Because we're born in sin. And
we're born not seeking God, but relying on ourselves. I'll tell
you, self is a broken vessel unable to hold any water. And
self is a weak foundation unable to build anything. It's sinking
sand. That's why we do it. Wherefore
do you? Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? That would be a question for
the ages in every church that does not preach the gospel. Why
are you here? You know, in our belief, in our
trust in the Lord, it will endure questioning. And your kid, we
love, I love to have our kid, the kids ask questions. And our
faith, the faith of God's elect, it'll hold up under the most
intense questioning. Well, why is it, why is it different
than Joseph Smith? Why is it different than Muhammad?
Why is it? And we tell them, there's a difference. This, this
religion, Christianity is the only one that speaks and preaches
of a resurrected Christ, the living God. Don't trust in self. Why do you
spend money for that which is not bread? Why do you labor for
that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me or
whoever's telling you the truth in Christ. Eat ye that which
is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Trust in Christ. He has done everything necessary,
possible for your salvation. Hearken diligently unto me. Christ
is the only one good. Eat that which is good, Christ,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. He is the only one
good and is the only singular fatness. He's the Lord's. Talking
about that sacrifice? That's the Lord. Our souls must
have, we must have Him. Are you thirsty? And are you
hungry? May God give us a hunger and
thirst after Him. Not more ceremonies, not more
rituals, not more plain church, but for Him and Him alone. Bruce, would you close us please?