Isaiah 55 verses 1 through 5. I need a voice command on that
thing or when I start talking it goes on. Anyway, you remember
last Sunday we ventured into this 55th chapter of Isaiah and
we studied the first two verses. Today we're going to advance
forward into this chapter and try to get to the fifth verse.
Verses 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I'm going to read them and then
we're going to look at them all together. The first two verses
are going to be review, but it's those first two verses in Isaiah
55 are so precious. And plus I did some more reading
on it and looking over some different things. Isaiah 55, he says, Ho, everyone
that thirsts, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money, without price. Wherefore 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. Incline your ear, and come unto
me, here, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have
given him for witness to the people, a leader. a 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." Verse 1, As I said, we looked
over verses 1 and 2 of this chapter in more detail. We're going to
kind of summarize. But he says in verse 1, he says,
Ho, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. That is, hey, anybody, everyone that is thirsty, we noted last week, that those,
by Holy Spirit convincing, who see that there is no satisfaction
in religion, works, or free will. Holy Spirit convincing shows
us that we're not satisfied by tradition and form, we are not
satisfied by self and legalism, but we are made thirsty to see
our own sin, our corruption, and our loss of state. You're thirsty. You've been made
thirsty. The invitation is always the
same. Come. Come. We noticed in verse two
that by nature, we're always trying to do something that we
think God would accept us, and yet we know that he will not.
By God's grace, we are made to see, thirsty, how by nature we
all try to work or buy our way to heaven, to God, and to get
to his favor. If God shows you these things,
you are blessed indeed, because most religious people are still
laboring for that which does not satisfy. Most people come
to God with something in their hand. You know, we sing that
hymn. You know, I come to God and nothing in my hand I bring.
Simply to thy cross or to Christ I cling. Don't bring anything
in my hands. Nothing. Because God's not going to accept.
the best that we have. He's not going to accept our
religious traditions passed down from generation to generation.
He's not going to accept us based on our prayers or repentance.
He's going to accept us based on the worth and work and the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, ho, hey, is there anybody
listening? Everyone that thirsts, come to
the waters. Come, even if you don't have
any money. In this country, as in most countries,
money is, you know, everything centers around it. How much is
this? You know, somebody says there's
nothing for free. Well, this is free. There's nothing
that's free. Something, you know, something
costs something. But he says come. You who know
now God has made you willing in the day of his power, come
to Christ, the living and eternal soul-refreshing water of life. Come without money, come without
price. Salvation is by the free sovereign
grace of God in the person and worth of Emmanuel. So then he says in verse 2, Harkin, Digital diligently unto me and
eat that which is good and let your soul to light itself and
fatness so we have these Three calls as it were these three
attention-getters hope So anybody out there listening Hey you there
on the street. Hey you there in the pulpit Hey
you there in the pew you cannot please God by your own Works
or your own religion or your tradition or doctrine? And only
by the blood. Of Christ, who purchased redemption
for his people, then he says in a second, he says, incline
or says Harkin verse two. He says, oh, and now he says
Harkin in Hebrew, that means listen up, pay attention. Eat. Eat. that which is good and we
saw a little bit last week eat that is by faith which obviously
is given by grace lay hold of the bread of life and feast upon
him only always and forever which incidentally if he redeems you
and you come to him and you call upon him and you hearken to him
he says let your soul delight itself in fatness faith in Christ whether it's
as we come unto him and faith is not a one-time act it's not
as though people say well I got saved this day and then nothing
you know no faith we keep unto whom coming we keep coming to
Christ all the days of our lives until he takes us when faith
is we won't give way to sight but every time faith is I don't want to say used, operated. Every time faith works in us,
our soul is fat. Sometimes the other side of that
is why sometimes we are so lean and we struggle so often and
we eat all these different things. Oftentimes it traces down to
not God, it's to our unbelief. All those passages that Matt
read in Psalms. Continually, the psalmist states
his struggles and trials and difficulties and hardships. But
he kept saying, but you're my God. I'm trusting you. You can
deliver me. You're going to help me. You're going to be there.
Oh, how we struggle with the things of this world and how
often we are so lean. We've got none to blame but ourselves.
It's usually through unbelief. But thirdly, he says in verse
three, this this word, of emphasis. He said, incline. So we first
saw, ho, hey there. And then he says, hearken, is
there anyone listening? And he says, incline your ear
and come unto me here and your soul shall live. And I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. Incline. That word in the Hebrew has a
has a mean of lean forward and stretch that ear. Zero in on
what's being said, what's being commanded, what's being called
upon for us to do. Lean and stretch that ear that
has been opened by blood, purged by the Redeemer, and purified
by the substitute. Incline. He's basically saying,
hear this. Hear this. Three things. God, His covenant, and His elect. Incline your ear and come unto
me Here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you even the sure mercies of David If the covenant which does has
to do with God the Father God the Son of God the Spirit We
happen to be involved with it as the recipients of this glorious
covenant of free grace It means because it comes from God, it's
sealed by blood, it's guaranteed by the Spirit, it is irreversible,
it's a full covenant, it's a free covenant, it's unalterable, it's
grand and glorious. Robert Hawker said concerning
this, this covenant promise is given to us by the Father and
through the Son, he said this covenant promises, they are Incapable
of being lost or taken away because they are called the sure mercies
of David. The sure mercies of David. Incline. Incline your ear. Stretch it
out. Take it all in. Catch everything
that's being said concerning this promise. Hear and your soul
shall live. And the reason why our soul lives
is because from before the foundation of the world God the Father and
the Son and the Spirit convened struck an agreement that not
one single sheep would be lost and if that doesn't encourage
you or cause you to have hope You're not looking at the promise
correctly. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 23. Turn back. We've seen this
before. Turn back to 2 Samuel 23. I made
a comment a couple of Wednesdays ago that the only thing that
was on my gravestone was the same thing that was said about
our brother Enoch. Enoch walked with God. That would
be fine with me. Drew, Dease. Like Enoch. Walk with God. If that's all
it said, that would be fine. But this would be fine, too.
2 Samuel 23, because David's dying. These are his last words. So when you come and visit me, it'd probably be John or Betty.
They don't outlive everybody here. When y'all come and visit me,
if this is the last words that I say, that'll be fine. Because
look at what David's last words, look at what his hope is. It
says in verse 1, now these be the last words of David. David
the son of Jesse, the man who was raised on high, the anointing
of God of Jacob, and the sweet solace of Israel. Look at what
he says. Verse 3, and God of Israel said,
The rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light
in the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds,
as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. And here it is, verse 5. Although
my house, David, this is David's last words, although my house
be not so with God, There's a lot of things, you know, you look
back on and as a father, as a parent, you look back on these things
and you say, well, you know, maybe I should have done this.
Maybe I should have done that. I would have, you know, is this
that human nature? But he says, yeah. God hath made with me that
is through my substitute, because we can't keep any in covenant,
we can't keep any agreement. He's made with me through a substitute,
through a pure, perfect, righteous sacrifice, the Lamb of God. He's
made with me an everlasting covenant. That's what Isaiah is talking
about, the sure mercies of David, our spiritual David, the Lord
Jesus Christ, but made to all of his elect throughout all time.
He's made with me an everlasting covenant, and this covenant is
ordered from before the foundation of the world. The believer does
not shrink back from election. He embraces it. He loves it. Predestination? We rejoice in
it. Sovereign, particular redemption?
It guarantees that that which God said and Christ did is going
to happen. Ordered in all things. And look
at this. And sure. And sure. For this, David says, is all
my salvation. and all my desire. Although He
make it not to grow, although I don't see it maybe coming to
fruition, I know that what God told me, that's all I need. That's all I need. This is all
my salvation. Are you inclined in your ear?
Has God bore that ear? Are you His servant? Are you
hearing? Are you listening this morning? The only thing sure
and steadfast for sinners is the work of Jesus Christ that
was set long before this world began, and in time, in the fullness
of time, he came among us, emptied himself, completely humbled himself,
subservient to men voluntarily laid down his life, took it again,
rose on the third day. Why? Because of this everlasting
covenant, which Isaiah says, listen, look upon him, the mediator
of the covenant, and you'll live. I will make
with you an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David. It's the same covenant. It's not one covenant here, in
the Old Testament, another covenant in the New Testament. It's the
covenant of God's grace that is the scarlet thread throughout
this whole book. Incline your ear. Incline your ear. Turn to Acts chapter 13. You
don't think of Paul? Paul's hope is the same as David's
hope, which is the same as Isaiah's hope, which is the same as your
hope and my hope. Paul brings it up in his message in Acts
chapter 13. He's preaching at Antioch about
the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 13. In verse starting verse 16, then
Paul stood up beckoning with his hand said men of Israel and
ye that fear God Give audience so he's standing up and he's
gonna preach this gospel. And of course, it's centered
around a person and that covenant relationship between God the
Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit and his people and look
at what he says in verse 32 and We declare unto you glad
tidings of Incline your ear and you'll live. how that the promise
which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto
us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus again, as it
was also written in the second psalm, Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee, and as of concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies. I'm David. That's why preaching,
which we heard yesterday, you know, we heard something yesterday
about, you know, Christ being an example, and he is an example,
but he's more than an example. If that's all he is, then you
don't have much. He is the foundation. He is the rock. Of which we,
everything about us is. You see how Paul argues and ties
all our hope and all our peace, nay the whole believer's life
with these sure covenant mercies. He saw what Abraham saw and rejoiced.
Paul saw what Moses saw and he rejoiced. He saw what Isaiah
saw and he rejoiced. And that's what we see. And preaching
does not center around the Lord Jesus Christ, but is either doctrinally
correct, it doesn't matter, but if it's just doctrinally correct,
now he's crossing the T's, Calvinistic, whatever you want to call it,
if it's accurate, but if it does not show forth the glories and
the beauties of Christ, who is our sure mercies of David. All we've got is head knowledge.
And then a bunch of rules and regulations will follow. I know
that from fact. I know that from experience.
What folly, going back to our text in Isaiah, knowing all this
and inclining your ear, coming unto Him, here in your soul shall
live. He's made an everlasting covenant
in the heavens, ordered in all things and sure with His people.
They're called the sure verses of David. Knowing all that, what
folly then is it to seek God and His salvation in anything
or on any conditions other than the rock-solid Redeemer, the
God-man, the only man, the Christ." It's foolish. It's just foolish.
It's just foolish. I was telling Debbie I trained
all week because I had to. I didn't have a band to work
out of. And one of two of the people
that I was up there with, every time I'm with them, they said,
boy, I always do, you know, I get me business or something, or
something good happens. And they go, I want you to ride
with me more often. And I just thought, that's just superstition.
That's superstition. Get out the shoemake socks, you
know, get out the, you know, whatever, you know, get out,
whatever it might be. That sports is real, really bad
about that. But people get that way too.
They think, well, I can do this or that was successful or any
kind of an edge. Come what may. The storms. Or the sun, the peaks of the
valley. I'll tell you your happiness
and your soul's livelihood. Your anchor is Christ and him
crucified. Look at verses four and five.
He's had these three words of highlight. He's command as it
were, his invitation, hold. And in verse two he said, hearken.
And in verse three he said, incline. Now he says, behold Christ. Behold him in awe and wonder. Now the next few verses, he speaks
about Christ. And verse five, if you're not
careful, you'll say, well who's he talking to? It's God talking
to Christ. But he says, behold, now he's
had these calls, these words of alarm, these words of emphasis. And now he says, behold, behold
him, Christ. First, he says he's the faithful
witness. Look at verse four. Behold, I
have given him. It's not the preacher. That's not the pope. That's not
the deacon. That's not the elder. It's Christ
for a witness to the people. If you have a man as a witness
and a leader and a commander, you're going to be like that
man. You're only going to be able to do what he can. And when he
gets old and gray and goes and somebody else comes up, it's
ever-changing. But not the Christ. Behold Him. God says, I've given Him. There's the authority. That's
all we need. For a witness to the people.
A leader and a commander to the people. Turn to Revelations chapter
1. Revelation chapter 1, he says, Behold, I have given him for
a witness. What is he talking about? He's
talking about Christ. Revelation chapter 1 and look at verse 5. Let's start in verse 4 in Revelation
chapter 1 John to the seven churches which are in Asia grace be unto
you peace from him which is Which was and which is to come and
from the seven spirits which are before his throne and from
Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness He's a faithful witness
faithful He faithfully spoke and bore witness to several things.
One, to God's nature and God's character. God is holy and just
and sovereign. He's full of grace. He's full
of love. He's full of long-suffering.
And He's a God of wrath. Christ bore witness, the true
witness, to God the Father. Everybody thought today, everybody
thinks God is love. He's got no justice. He's got
no wrath. Well, Christ bore witness otherwise. Because there were those that
walked away from Him and He let them walk away. And there were
those that sought Him because He gave them a heart to seek
Him and He healed them as He always does. There are those
that He showed mercy to and there are those that He showed His
anger and wrath to. There are those who will be on
His right hand and there will be those who will be on His left
hand. So if He's a God of love and loves everybody, everybody's
got to be on His right hand. But He said it's not the way it is.
So either the preachers are lying or there's something wrong with
this book. Because Christ is the faithful witness. He bore
witness of God and who he is. He bore witness to his work and
his own accomplishment. That which is right and that
which he did was honorable. He saved his elect. He saved
his church. He's given that were given to
him before the foundation of the world. Christ satisfied God's
law. He satisfied all the decrees
and handwritings and ordinances that were against us, making
peace by the shedding of his blood. And then he rose from
the dead on the third day. He gave witness to what the law
and the prophet said would happen. Even the religious people today,
when those wise men when they came and they said there's we've
seen a star this one born king of kings they looked in the scriptures
and they said hmm he's over here in Bethlehem. And then they knew
the scriptures, but they didn't know the Christ of the scriptures.
That's what's amazing. And it's no different in most
places today. People got their Bibles with
them. They carry them around. The seams are all ragged and
all worn. And boy, that guy must be able
to read his Bible. He can read it all day long.
But if God doesn't do something for us, it's just a book. Christ
bore witness of God and who He was. He bore witness of His own
work and His own accomplishment. And He bore witness throughout
His messages and sermons of our miserable condition. Born in
sin, practice and desire, or practice, and we drink up iniquity
like water. We're hopeless, helpless, and
corrupt, and need salvation. There's still people you talk
to that say, yeah, I'm not so bad. I'm not as good as this
person. But I don't really need salvation. No. He came to seek and to save the
lost. You know, I keep putting it off.
Going to see an eye doctor. You know, because I'm doing the
trombone thing. Trying to reach stuff. So one
day I'll be convinced. It'll probably be as proud as
we are I'll be up here and I'll be just missing reading stuff
and I'll finally start looking at you and you'll be looking
at one another and I guess I better go get glasses. Linda thinks
I need a hearing aid already. And it might be selective hearing
loss but we just put it off. We put it off. Why? Because we just don't really
think we have a need. We want to live forever and you
know, Melinda and I, we talk about this a lot lately. We want
to, what it comes down to is we don't want to admit it. We
want to live forever and we want to live forever, probably feel
like we did from ages 20 to 30. You know, everybody's telling
me 50, when you hit 50, it's really starting, I'm thinking,
I got two years. I got two years. What can I do?
What gym can I join to just start to slow that thing down? I start running, I start doing
this. I'll give you a heel spur and
you can't run. Now, what are you going to do? Hmm. Well, I
get that taken care of. And so it's always something.
But see, Christ faithfully bore witness of what we are. We're
nothing. He says, without me, you can
do nothing from him is our fruit found. And that's that struggle
of faith, that's that fight of faith is to realize all things
are in his hand based on the sure mercies of David. Based on what Matt read in Psalms,
he's going to take care of us. He's going to take care of us.
He is our father and. He knows best. We think we know
best. Our children thought they knew
best. When we were children, we thought we knew best. Wait
till I get a little older, I'll show mom and dad. And then you
start falling into the same thing. I love it when Matt starts saying
something out of the blue. There's Bruce, little Bruce.
He's like, no. And we pick up those things which
we haven't had them. And none of it's good. But that's
why we behold him. Not ourselves, not our abilities. But God says, I'm telling you,
behold him. The witness to the people, to
the world. No, the people. His people. The elect. And secondly, he says,
I've given him for a witness, but a leader and a commander.
Lord Christ, look to him, our witness. Look to him, our leader
and commander. Not as an example. I'm not saying
that. As our sovereign, our captain, the firstborn among many, to
guide his people, directing, strengthening his church, making
us, the scripture says, more than conquerors through him that
loved us. The song says we're marching as I am. That's what
we're doing. And he's leading us. He's leading us and we are willing
subjects and willing servants of the Most High. Identify with
them. Identify with them. That's. Scotty and I have talked about
a few things, but believers, baptism, that's what that is.
And identifying with the people of God. Now, first is the command.
For all who come to know Him, unless you're the thief hanging
on a cross and you can't get down, other than that, everybody...
It's just, what can I do? You know, when Isaiah, we looked
over, you know, who shall I send? The prophet says, send me. That's
what you do. You know, I'm willing to do it.
He makes us willing to do it. And baptism is believers identify
we are willing subjects in service of the Most High God. It's just
part of it. And sprinkle the baby? What does
that signify? It signifies blasphemy and heresy. It's not in this book. And that
child's not identified because the child doesn't have faith.
The child doesn't say, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you say, well, that's not salvation. We don't, you know, I know a
lot of people that do that. And that's not salvation. Well,
let me ask you this. Refuse it. Refuse to have that child in
those places. Refuse to have that child baptized.
See what happens. Catholics? Mary doesn't mean
anything to us. We know salvation is in Jesus
Christ. Take that statue down. Let me just kick it over. Oh
boy, you're making me mad now. I'm not going to baptize. I'm
refusing to do this. Now you're going to be subject to church
discipline. Which is what? Tied into the gospel. Now you've
just tied it all together. It works. But he's our leader. He's our
leader. Behold him, our witness. The things he witnessed, that
bears witness and his record is true. to the people, these same people,
he's our leader, he's our commander. We'll follow him in the war,
we'll follow him in the battle, we'll follow him, you know, Jean
Claude, we'll follow him to the places, the plains of Africa.
Because he's our leader and commander there. And in closing, In verse
5, now the father speaking to Christ, he was speaking about
Christ, now he's speaking to Christ. He says, Behold thou
shalt, the Lord Christ, behold thou shalt call a nation that
thou knewest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
after thee. He's calling of his elect church
throughout all, and they're going to come, they'll run unto thee,
to Christ, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One
of Israel. Christ calls his people wherever And it's for our benefit for
our benefit Because this all ties in this is all part of the
covenant of God's grace is that Christ would call his people
call his church out and Lastly it will always be said of Christ
the last statement in verse 5 for he and Christ hath glorified
thee, the Father. He said, I didn't come into this
world to do my will, but him that sent me. Father, glorify
thy name as I have glorified thee. And in John 17, those things
that Christ, everything that Christ did. I know sometimes
I don't like to put orders in things, but you know, everything
Christ did, he did for his people, and that's true. All that he
did, he did for the salvation of his elect, and that's true.
But first and foremost, that which he does, he does to glorify
his Father. He glorifies His Father. And I know we try, and
we struggle, but one day, one day everything we do will glorify
the Father. You know, really, it's hard to
get a hold of, but I tell you to believe it, I tell myself
to. Right now, you who are in Christ, God's glorified. That's something you've got to
do. It's something done in you by Christ. Oh, for he hath glorified
thee. After all that's said and done,
we're going to look next week. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the
Lord. John, would you close us please?