Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. We're just
going to look at the first two verses. And my thought and or title for
this section is Just How Free Is Salvation? Just how free is
salvation? Let's look at these two verses,
and actually I'm going to look at the second verse first, and
then we'll close with verse one. Ho, everyone that thirsts, come
ye to the waters, and he that has no money, come ye buy and
eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and 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. Let's look at verse 2 first.
Those things which satisfy not. Those things which satisfy not. He says, why do you spend money
for that which is not bread and why do you labor for that which
satisfies not? Now this is what we do by nature,
from birth. This is what mankind does, what
you do, this is what I do. If you don't know Christ this
morning, this is what you're still doing. Because the things of
this world, whether you're spending money for it, whether you are
laboring for it, will never satisfy the soul. It won't do it. It won't do it. The things of
this world, the things of the flesh, just will never satisfy
the soul. Look with me at Mark chapter
8. Mark chapter 8 and verse 36. Mark 8 and verse
36. For what shall it profit a man, a woman, a boy, a girl? What
shall it profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Turn to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. I see it every day when I work. I'm sure you see it every day
where you work. People who are under the illusion
and the delusion that if they only had a little more of something
that would satisfy them. If they only had a few more accounts.
If we only had a larger budget, if we only had made more sales,
if we only had more money, if we only didn't have a competitor,
there's always something around the corner. Never satisfies the soul. Luke 16. starting in verse 20. And there was a certain beggar,
named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and
desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it
came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was
buried. And in hell he lifted up his
eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham far off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he might dip
the tip of his finger in the water, and cool my tongue, for
I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art
tormented. He had everything this life could
afford. He had all the things that we,
for some reason, think are so important. And it didn't matter. Because we're talking about spiritual
things and things of eternity. It doesn't matter. Religion,
without Christ, Is just like here, why do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfies not? You and I, most of us, were in
religion before, without Christ, without understanding the gospel,
and we went Wednesday, or in my case it was Sunday and Sunday,
and it didn't make any sense. We never brought our Bibles anyway.
But religion without Christ will not satisfy the soul. All it will do is usually put
you into more bondage or give you a false sense of security.
Turn to Romans chapter 10. Paul said the same thing of his
brethren or his kindled according to the other Jews, not his brethren
in the Lord. He says, chapter 10, verse 1,
Brother, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, my
fellow Jews, is that they might be saved. That's a pretty bold
statement. He says they don't know the gospel. They have religion. Because he says, for I bear them
records. I'll tell you about them that they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge They're ignorant of God's righteousness
and they're going about to establish their own righteousness and therefore
haven't submitted themselves under the righteousness of God
Every corner especially this weekend. This is Easter weekend
My brother asked me when we were down at the lake. Are you going
to have Easter services? I says we're going to have regular
services and We rejoice and celebrate and find comfort in the fact
that every Wednesday and every Sunday we meet when the Gospels
preach of the substitutionary blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
for me, for you, for his church. I rejoice and he rose from the
dead. But today is a religious day
for most people. People who haven't went to church
for a long time, they get dressed up, and they've gone. But you
know what? Religion without Christ. He says, why do you spend money
for that which satisfies, which is not bread, and labor for that
which satisfies not? People are going to give a lot
of money today, they're going to put it in a plate. They haven't
put it in in a whole year, they're going to put it in today. They
feel good for a while. And like Bruce said, when he
was raised in his religion, he'd feel good for a while and then
he'd wake up Monday morning and he's like, there's nothing different.
Nothing's changed. Well, what about our works? Surely
we have good works and good intentions. Well, look at Romans chapter
9. Romans chapter 9. Verse 15 and 16, for he saith
to Moses, God said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, if salvation, satisfaction, peace of heart, peace of mind,
is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but God
that shows mercy. So no matter how hard you will,
for religious ceremonies to satisfy you and how hard you work, and how good your intentions are,
my intentions are, it will not satisfy. This prophecy by Isaiah,
given to him by inspiration of God, is true back then, is true
today. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and you labor for that which
satisfies none? This, I say, then, is our trouble
and our problem from birth. That is, we try to gain acceptance
with God by our fruitless and puny works, religious or other. God will not accept any work
that he hasn't created or performed in us and for us. We can see that in Ephesians
2, 8, 9, for by grace you're saved through faith. That's not
of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, not of works. In 2 Timothy 1, 9, it's not according
to our works. It never has been and it never
will be. So in the end, of all things
spiritual, money will not be accepted. God will not accept
money. Labor will not satisfy him. And
then as he closes in verse 2, he says, eat that which is good
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Salvation by works
or by our merit or any other thing other than the grace of
God will lead to soul leanness and worse yet, damnation. So
my question at the first part of the Introduction, I asked
again, how free is God's salvation? Look at verse one. Ho, everyone
that thirsts, come to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat, ye come buy wine and milk without money and without
price. What's he saying? To a religious
person, that makes no sense. To the person who's trying to
gain favor or access to God by his own worth, or our own worth,
or based on what mom did for me, or what dad did for me, or
what the denomination, the church did for me. They look at that
and they're saying, I've got to come and I've got
to bring something. You know, you don't go to the wedding.
You know, don't come to Kara's wedding with no gifts. Oh, but
this is not according to our understanding. With men, it's
impossible. With God, it's possible. How
free is God's salvation? This passage right here, I looked
at it. Oh, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. Yea, he that
hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk
without money, without price. This is strikingly similar to
Matthew. You don't have to turn to it,
but Matthew chapter 11. We've seen this time and time again.
This verse right here is strikingly similar to Matthew 11. and verses 29 where he says Christ
himself says God is speaking in this text in Isaiah Christ
himself is speaking in verse 28 of Matthew 11 come unto me
all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart, and you shall find rest on your souls, for my yoke
is easy and my burden light. An easy yoke? Have you ever heard
of such a thing? A burden? That's just the definition
of the word. It's not light. But in this thing
of the gospel, that which is up We must be brought down. In order to be near to Him, we've
got to be shown how far we are from Him. It doesn't make any
sense. It doesn't make any sense to the natural man. It doesn't
make any sense to the mere religious man. It makes no sense to the
legalist, to the formalist, the ritualist. But thanks be to God,
when He begins to do a work in you and a work in me, we come
with nothing. We come with nothing in our hands.
Are you thirsty for true heart and soul forgiveness? Has the
Holy Spirit made you willing in the day of his sovereign convicting
power? Do you feel, sense, and now know
your real and true one need to buy as it were the pardon and
forgiveness of God in his perfect and pure substitute, Jesus the
Christ. He says, Come. Come with no money. Come and buy. Buy. And eat. Come buy wine and milk
without money and without price. You know from experience that
you nor I have what it takes to honor God and satisfy His
claims against us. Buy something with no money? What in the world is God asking?
What in the world is He demanding? He says, come by and eat. Come. Come as you are. A dead dog sinner. Come as you are. Too many come
with something. I have to come with my supposed
righteousness or false humility, or I'm so sinful I can't come.
All these conditions that we put He says, come. He says, hold. It's just like
a, it's a call. Everyone that thirsts, come to
the water. You know, a basic, you know,
just basic need. You know, when I was in school
and it was, you know, in junior, in grade school and stuff, we,
I'd hear that bell, we'd come in from recess, and then we'd
go in the room and raise your hand, and what do you want? Well,
I'm thirsty. Well, you know, the water fountains,
you know, they were always out in the hall. And you'd raise
your hand, I'm thirsty, you went to the water fountain. You didn't
go up to the front of the room in the chalkboard. You went to
where your need could be satisfied. He says come come as you are
dead dog sinner. He says by By that is to God
for redeeming mercy in his son the Christ We've got nothing
in our hands. We've got nothing to bring by
Sue him for mercy Eat Not just a taste but feast upon Christ's
meritorious grace poured out on Calvary's tree. Oh, everyone that thirsts, come
to the waters. Drink of the water of life. Turn to John chapter
4. This is exactly what Christ was saying to this woman when
he was talking to her. John chapter 4. He's talking to this woman, woman
of Samaria. They met at this well, and pick
it up in verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew
the gift of God, and who it is that said to thee, Give me to
drink, thou wouldst have asked him, and he would have given
thee living water. Isaiah says, Are you thirsty?
Drink. The woman said unto him, Sir,
still not knowing who he was, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that
living water? Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? She's still got something. She's
still got a little bit of money in her pocket. You hear it jingling?
It's called tradition. Jacob. Well, my dad was a sovereign
great preacher. My dad was a Calvinist. My mom
was a lady auxiliary to the church. Raised money to help build this
building. All these different things that you hear. I hear
something jingling. It's not this. There's something in there. Got
a little bit of something in there. Art thou greater than our father
Jacob? He said unto her, whosoever drinks this water shall thirst
again. You keep coming to church for mere religion. You keep coming.
You keep coming for that guy who can stick that wafer in your
mouth. You keep coming in that little booth and confess. You
keep coming to bring your children to have them sprinkled and feel
good about your children and feel good about yourself as you
do it. You keep coming like that, you're going to never be satisfied. But whosoever drinks of the water
that I give them shall never thirst. But the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up
unto everlasting life. And then look at verse 26. And
Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. She's saying, Lord, we know that
this prophet's coming. And he says, I'm him. I'm Him. And all that money just left. All that jingling just left.
All her self-righteousness just left. And she left the water
pot and she said, verse 29, Come see a man which told me all things
that ever I did is not this to Christ. He didn't tell her. I preached the message on that
years and years ago. He told me He told me everything I did. He didn't tell her everything.
He told her what she needed to know. We don't know everything
about God. We don't know everything there
is to know about Him, but He reveals to us that which is needful. And when He gives this call by
His Holy Spirit, He supplies the need. You don't know if it's
how pure, you know, you don't, we don't know when we're drinking
that water, everything about the qualities of that water.
We know that it's water and we have a need. He says, drink of that water
of life, and Christ is that water of everlasting life. Come to
him, not to religion, not to yourself, not to doctrine. Come
to Him. Yet there's more in this passage.
Look again with me at the first verse. Come, buy, eat, yea, buy
wine and milk. Without money, without price.
Come buy wine and milk. Wine. We take the wine in the Lord's
Supper, do this in remembrance of Him, His blood poured out,
His body broken for His elect. Psalms 104 tells us that wine
makes glad the heart. Nothing in this life or the afterlife
is more filled with gladness and joy than a good and proper
understanding and experiencing of reconciliation by the blood
of Christ. Come buy wine. Christ. We take that wine in
remembrance of him, his blood which was shed to redeem us from
all our iniquities. And David understood right well,
wine makes glad the heart. And he says, milk, buy wine,
buy milk. Milk is that which is common
and ordinary, is wholesome and good for you. Isn't it? Kind of. I was talking to somebody
the other day. Who would have thought in this
country would ever have a recall on peanut butter? And now dog
food. Common things. Milk. Our gospel is not high-falutin. Our gospel is not filled with
oratorical splendor. Paul says, on the contrary, I
wasn't one among you with fancy speeches. The gospel that we
preach, this gospel of the milk of the grace of God is common. And I don't mean it's common
as in a negative sense. I mean, it's the simplicity that's
in Christ. You know, I've heard preachers
before on tape and CDs years ago that I only understood an
hour long. I understood about half of what
they said, you know, and I understood the gospel. But they were so
and they were Calvinistic, but they were very legalistic, but
they were so complicated. And I had one man tell you, and
I've told this time again, when I were up there years ago in
St. Louis, and he said that the gospel was mainly, if not exclusively. For white collar people. I remember where he was sitting.
I remember him saying that. And I said, well, that's I said,
that just shuts the door. That's adorable. People like
me. He went into the highways, into
the highways and said, come. Those who were epony and those
who were self-righteous in their own eyes were usually the educated
religion Religionists of the day. Is that not true? Our gospel
is not fancy or highfalutin, but for the plain old sinner. Now, in order for you to come,
you've got to do this and document your sinner, but you've got to
have all these qualifications. No, you're a sinner. You need
saving. Come. How free is this gospel? Can Christ mend all the conditions? It's God's good news for sinners. Sinners. He says, Ho. Ho. Am I talking to you this morning?
Ho! Is anyone listening? Remember,
come to Christ without money, without price. I told you years
ago that I talked to one of my brothers and he says, when I
think I need to come, I'll come. And I said, then you'll never
come. Bring nothing Quit working for
salvation. Our repentance will not save
us. Our feelings will not save us. Faith won't save us. Christ
saves us through faith. You can't, I can't buy it. We can't be good enough for it.
Thank God, you're not bad enough for it. Sinners. It has been paid for already. Oh, 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 and without price. Come to Christ for everything. For everything. Because this
world is fleeting. I was talking to Scotty yesterday
and what hit him about what he did yesterday is he said he was
helping his dad and he said this man his whole life working and
as soon as he was talking about it I understood exactly what
you're saying because I think the same way I think it's along the same lines
he worked his whole life Monday through Friday probably
longer many hours Everything he had. Two trailers. Forty bucks. Work our whole life. Labor. Buy that which we cannot purchase. It all comes down to naught. There's nothing in this life
that is sure and certain. But Christ never changes. Come
to Him for hope, peace, and salvation. Do you see how beautiful that
is? Without money and without price. To me, that is just... For years and years, I look at
that passage and wonder. It just amazes me and it's so
wonderful because that's a gospel and salvation that I can have
interest in. And that door is not shut for
a sinner like me, a sinner like you. Bruce, would you close this,
please? And Father, we are thankful that
You set Yourself open this way for us.