Chapter 53 of the book of Isaiah
has been called the Old Testament gospel. And that's not a bad
name for it. The entire Old Testament is the
gospel. The whole book of God is the
gospel because it concerns Christ. All of it. All of it. And Christ
is the gospel. Christ in Luke chapter 24 was
speaking with his disciples and it says, beginning at Moses and
all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. This book concerns the Lord Jesus
Christ from cover to cover. From cover to cover. And this
chapter 53 of Isaiah speaks so clearly and beautifully of the
substitutionary work of our Redeemer. It says He was wounded for our
transgressions. That's substitution. He was wounded
for my sins. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. You see that substitution with
His stripes. We're healed. And this chapter
foretells of the Savior. It speaks of His person, who
He is. and his work, what he did for
sinners. This is where the Ethiopian eunuch
was reading in the book of Acts when Philip came where he was
in the desert. Turn to Acts chapter 8. Let's
look at it. In Acts chapter 8, verse 26, it says, The angel
of the Lord spake unto Philip and said to him, Arise and go
toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went. And behold,
a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority under Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure,
and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and
sitting in his chariot. He read Isaiah the prophet, Then
the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to
this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him,
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except
some man should guide me? If you heard the gospel, you
heard it from some man, didn't you? Some man. That's God's way. And he desired, Philip, that
he should come up and sit with him. The place of the Scriptures
which he read was this. It's interesting that we're told
what passage of Scripture he was reading. He read this. He
was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his
shearer, so he opened not his mouth. It's speaking of a person,
isn't it? He. His. He read about somebody,
a person, in the Word of God. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation,
for his life was taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speakest the prophet
this? He realized he's talking about
somebody here. He's talking about somebody that's
taken sin upon himself. Who is this he's talking about?
Is he talking about himself or some other man? And then Philip
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached
unto him Jesus. If that's not the gospel, I don't
know what it is. It's the Old Testament gospel. And this chapter regarding the
Savior and his saving work for sinners is full of language that
shows that salvation is of the Lord. The words he, his, and
him are all through it. The only mention of you in chapter
53 is regarding your sin and your hatred of Christ. Is that
not right? It speaks of the iniquity of
us all. He was despised and rejected.
By who? By you. By me. For the transgression
of his people was he stricken. You see, the only mention of
us is our need of the salvation that he worked out when he took
our sins upon himself. But the work of salvation itself
has to do with he, his, and him. You look at how many times it's
used in that chapter. Forty some odd times. Chapter
54 of Isaiah is exactly the same way. Look at the language of
it. Look at verse 5 of chapter 54. For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, is declaring who he is. And thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall
he be called. I don't care who you are. He's
your God. He may not be your Savior, but
he's your God. The God of the whole earth, for
the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved
in spirit. The Lord called you. He said
to his disciple, you haven't chosen me, I've chosen you. I've
called you and a wife of youth when thou wast refused, saith
thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. You see,
it's about his doing something for sinners. That's what I want
to hear about. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, verse
8, for a moment. But with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. So you
see, all through. And then look at verse 17. He's
declaring His name, His work, His salvation, His blood, His
righteousness in these chapters. Verse 17, No weapon that is formed
against you shall prosper, he'll see to it, and every tongue that
shall rise against the injudgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord." You see that? No message could be
clearer than salvation is of the Lord, and he saved us by
taking our sins. himself and giving us his righteousness
making us the righteousness of God in that one that Isaiah wrote
about in chapter 53 and that eunuch said who's he talking
about I want to hear about him whoever he is he's taking sin
and I need my sin taken away and so he asked him he got an
answer didn't he preached unto him Jesus now chapter 55 is addressed
to you Look at chapter 55. This is God, the Savior, the
one spoken of in chapters 53 and 54, calling to you and commanding
you. And every word of this chapter
is directly, and this is not the prophet Isaiah speaking,
this is God Almighty, the Lord of glory, and the words directly
from His mouth spoken to sinners, spoken to you. Does that interest
you at all? This is the gospel call. This
general call goes out to every sinner from the Savior. Are you
listening? Look at 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. Look at that first word, ho!
It's a word of exhortation. It's meant to capture the attention. It's intended to cause those
who hear to stop what they're doing, stop what they're thinking,
stop what they're saying, and give ear, listen. What are sinners
doing by nature? By nature, we're going merrily
on our way to hell. Aren't we thinking all the while
that me and Jesus got a good thing going? That things are
fine with me and the man upstairs, you know? And we're going on
our way to hell. And that's all fine with us. We think we're serving God the
whole way. We go to church, after all, and we give a little money
every once in a while, and on Easter and Christmas, I'm there
every time. I even bring a visitor every
once in a while. There's a way that seems right to you, but
the end of that way, God said, is destruction. And so he calls to us, doesn't
he? Ho! Stop! Listen to the Master's
call! Saul of Tarsus was on his way
to serve the Lord by killing those damnable Christians. And
Christ had to get his attention, didn't he? Stop! He put the spotlight on him and
dropped him in the dust and said, Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting
me? That would get your attention,
wouldn't it? If God spoke to you from heaven.
That's exactly what he's doing this morning. Through his holy,
spotless, pure Word. Gospel. Through the means that
he has ordained to get the attention of sinners and teach him, he
said, Come, let us reason together, said the Lord. And he does that
by his gospel. And he's calling to all of us
this morning. Sometimes this whole comes in
the form of a terrible life changing trial that causes the sinner
to think of spiritual things. I've seen God get people's attention
that way, haven't you? And sometimes it's no more than
a still, small voice. But when that still, small voice
is the voice of God, it'll get your attention. But always, however, by whatever
means God gets your attention. He did it to Saul of Tarsus in
an unusual way, didn't he? But whatever he uses to call
your attention, he always calls your attention to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we're going to see that in
a moment. The prophet has just described in great detail, in
meticulous, glorious detail, the Lamb of God. and how he deals
with sin, his redemptive, sin-atoning cross work. And now the one that
he foretells of says, Drink you see that Moses said
when he lifted up that brazen serpent in the wilderness all
the camp of Israel had been bitten by the fiery serpents and they
were dying many were already dead and God said to Moses put
make a serpent out of brass and lift it up on a wooden pole and
set it in the camp and say look and look Look, that's that word. Ho look Put your attention right
here. I And he called their attention
to that brazen serpent, because Christ said, as that brazen serpent
was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. That's Christ. In the likeness of sinful flesh,
hanging on a cross, look, ho, everyone, everyone, everyone. The gospel call is a general
call. Ho, everyone! The Lord Jesus
Christ said to his disciples in Mark 16, 15, go ye into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Everything
that's moving, preach the gospel to everybody that will listen. Every creature. I want everybody
in this town. I want everybody in this community
to hear this call. You know why? Because I believe
somebody out there is thirsty. Don't you? I reckon there's somebody. out there that's thirsty. Ho,
everyone that thirsteth. This call goes out to all creatures,
but it's also a distinguishing call. It's to particular people,
isn't it? This call distinguishes between
those who are thirsty and those who are not thirsty. Are you
one of the thirsty ones? Ho, come. Come, this is not a
natural thirst, but a spiritual thirst. Matthew 5, 6, the Lord
Jesus Christ opened His mouth, it says at the beginning of that
chapter, and He began to teach them. And He said this in verse
6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst, not after
this, after righteousness. They hunger and thirst to be
right with God. They hunger and thirst to have
their sins put away. They hunger and thirst to please
God, to be right before God, to have God be able to look at
them and say, Welcome, come thou good and faithful servant, to
stand spotless in his sight. They hunger and thirst after
the righteousness of Christ. They're not hungering and thirsting
after establishing their own righteousness before God. They're
hungering and thirsting after His righteousness, as Paul said
in Romans, to declare at this time His righteousness. That's
the gospel call. It declares His righteousness
in those that are hungry, those that are interested in that.
How can God be just and justify me? I'm hungering after that.
Are you? I want to know how I can be righteous
in the sight of God. I want to know about that blood
that washes sin away. I want to know about that spotless,
perfect righteousness wherein I can stand holy and accepted
in the sight of God Almighty. Are you hungry and thirsty after
that? Christ said if you are, you're
blessed. You're blessed. You know why? Because you'll
be filled. If you have a hunger and a thirst
for Him, you'll be filled. There's no question about it.
Do you have a need? Christ said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This call is going
to fall on the ears of some this morning that are not thirsty.
But the benefit, the blessing of the call is to those who are
thirsty. And Christ didn't say here in
chapter five of Matthew, he didn't say you will be blessed if you
hunger and thirst after righteousness. He said, if you're hungry and
thirsty, you're blessed of God. That's what he said we talked
about last week to Peter. Christ said to Peter, not blessed
are you if you believe that I'm the Christ, but since you said
I'm the Christ, blessed are you, Peter, because flesh and blood
didn't reveal that to you. You were blessed of God to know
that, to know me, who is life everlasting. Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness. And this call
is particularly to you. if you're thirsty. To what are
these thirsty ones called? What does a thirsty man need?
Come to the waters. There's one thing that a thirsty
man needs, and that's water. Thirsty people will drink. I
guarantee you they'll drink. Notice the language of Matthew
5 verse 6 again. They shall be filled. It's not,
it'd be nice if you'd drink. Drink, and thirsty people will
drink. That's what thirst is. It's a need for water. Matthew Henry said this about
this passage. All are welcome to the blessings
of salvation to whom those blessings are welcome. Did you hear that? Are you thirsty? Is it a welcome
call to you to hear God calling those that are thirsty? for his
righteousness in Christ, then you're welcome. All are welcome
to the blessings of salvation to whom those blessings are welcome. In Christ there is enough for
all and enough for each. Those satisfied with the world
that see no need of Christ do not thirst. They are in no uneasiness
about their souls, but where God gives grace He gives a thirst
after it. Does he not? If he gives you
grace, he'll cause you to thirst after grace. And where he has
given a thirst after it, he will give it. If he gives you a thirst
for it, you'll be filled. You'll be filled. Come to Christ,
for he is the fountain opened. He is the rock smitten. Isn't
that true? But if you're not thirsty, then
this call doesn't mean anything to you, does it? Well, I'm not
thirsty for those things. I'm not interested in Christ
and his righteousness. Then he's not talking to you.
He's not talking to you. Although the call goes out to
you, he's talking to thirsty people. Water is for thirsty. Bread is for the hungry. Life
is for the dead. And the gospel is for sinners. The hymn writer wrote this, I
came to Jesus and I drank of this life-giving stream, and
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him. Is that you? And then he said
this, come ye to the water. What does a thirsty man need?
Water. And the sinners are characterized
here as thirsty people and Christ as waters to show that Christ
is all you need as a sinner. He's everything. A thirsty person
needs nothing more or nothing less than water. Is that right? That's what defines thirst. I
need some water. That's why we were determined
with Paul. To know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He's everything the sinner needs. You're dying of thirst, and you
don't need somebody to give you an educational seminar on the
process of water treatment. You need a drink. You don't need
an hour dissertation on the chemical and molecular structure of water.
That's all very interesting, but will somebody just give me
a drink? I'm thirsty! And I don't only want to preach
to you about the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to preach Christ to you.
You see the difference? I can't explain that to you,
but if you know Him, you know the difference. Our Lord referred
to this passage in Isaiah, in John 7, 37. It says, In the last
day, that great day of the feast, the Jews would all come to Jerusalem
to observe the feast. They're keeping the law. And
there in their midst was the one who fulfilled God's law in
every jot and tittle on behalf of sinners. And they didn't even
know who he was. But he called. He told them who
he was. He said, In that last great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, Is anybody thirsty? Who? Come to the waters. Does any man thirst? Is there
any thirsty people here? Let him come unto me and drink."
You see who the water is? Can there be any question about
it? Come to me and drink. The water is Christ. Waters are plural here, not to
signify more than one, but to signify abundance. If you ever
start drinking, cry, and you'll just keep on drinking. And there's
a vast supply. He said, If you drink this water,
your belly will be full of living water just springing up all the
time. You'll never thirst again. Never.
He told that woman at the well in John 4.13, he said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water in this well here, you'll have
to come back and drink some more. You'll be thirsty again. But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall
never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. You'll never want or lack anything
ever again. And it's not just to join a church.
Don't come just to a church. Don't come to a religious, don't
come down an aisle, but come to the source of satisfaction.
There's one thing that can quench a thirsty man's thirst, and that's
water. Come ye to the waters. Come to Him who alone is the
fulfillment of the sinner's need. Christ, Jesus Christ, is made
to me all I need. All I need. Wisdom, righteousness,
and power. Holiness forevermore. My redemption,
full and sure. He's all I need. And that's where
you come. Find out where He's preached,
where He's exalted, where He's worshiped, where He's honored,
where He meets. where two or three are gathering in His name.
He said, I'm there. Come there. Come. And most of all, come to Him
by faith and rest your soul in Him. Lay hold of Christ. Drink. Drink. You can talk about water
all day, and you can look at it. It looks beautiful. It looks
real good to a thirsty man. But until you drink it, you won't
be satisfied. Take Christ. Lay hold of Him
by faith. Believe on Him. Rest in Him as
your righteousness. and you see an offering before
God. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. He is the Lord,
our righteousness. There's one other thing that
distinguishes these who are called. He's calling to thirsty people,
and there's one other thing that distinguishes them. If they are
to answer the call, if they're to benefit from this call, they've
got to have no money. No money. No money. He that hath no You can't buy
this water, this wine, this milk, as it's described later in the
verse, with anything of worth that you possess. And this lets
me... I'm glad to hear that, aren't
you? Because I don't have any money. In a spiritual sense,
I've got nothing. Nothing in my hands I bring.
Simply to that cross I cling. So that's a word of grace right
there. The ones that got no money in
their pockets come. You might say, I'm thirsty. And
I need this water. This wine looks so refreshing
and good. And this milk, it looks so wholesome
and satisfying. I'd give anything. I'd give everything
for a drink of him. But I don't have anything to
pay. You're the one he's calling out there. You're the very one
to whom the Master calls and says, come and drink. You got
no money. Not only is it okay to come if
you're a bankrupt beggar, But it's only okay to come if you're
a bankrupt beggar. Is that right? Only bankrupt beggars are included
in this call. How about you? Come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come ye to the waters. But don't
bring your works. Don't bring your merit. Don't
bring your decisions. Don't bring your imagined goodness.
The hymn writer wrote this, not the labor of my hands can fulfill
thy law's demands, could my zeal no respite know, could my tears
forever flow, all for sin could not atone, thou must save and
thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply
to the cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, helpless look
to thee. for grace. Are you helpless?
Are you naked? Are you destitute? Are you a
beggar? Foul eye to the fountain fly.
Wash me, Savior, or I die. If you come like that, you'll
be filled. You'll be filled on the authority
of the Word of God. You'll be filled. The only way
you can drink of this fountain is freely. freely. Revelation 22, 17, the Spirit
and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come,
and let him that is athirst come. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? And whosoever will, whosoever
is thirsty, whosoever wants the water, whosoever needs it, let
him take the water of life freely. It's the only way you can have
it freely. Look at verse 2. Wherefore do
you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfy not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? For that which can't satisfy
your need. That woman with the issue of
blood, when she had spent all of her living, it said, she had
a terrible disease. It was killing her. And she spent
all of her living on doctors, and it says she wasn't any better,
but rather grew worse. And then she came to the Lord
Jesus Christ. She said, if I could just touch
the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. Why do you spend
and work and labor for that which cannot solve your problem? Why? Why will you labor under the
yoke of the bondage of the law, when, as Paul said, by the works
of the law, by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified
in his sight? So why are you trying to please
God that way? Why are you trying to work your
way to heaven that way? You need mercy. The law, God's
law is holy and good and right, but his law can't give you what
you need. You need the mercy of God in
Christ. So quit trying to work your way
to heaven and come without money to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse three. We'll be through. 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." That's not talking about King David that wrote the
Psalms. That's talking about David's son and David's Lord. He's referred to as David many
times in the Scripture. The sure mercies of Christ. How
do I come to Christ? Well, here's how it starts. Here. Is that what he said? In verse
3 there, incline your ear and come unto me, hear, hear. I'm afraid that my children are
not God's elect. Have you ever thought about that?
You know what we ought to be concerned about? Making sure
that they hear. At least with these ears of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here. Take heed. Give, incline your ear. You eat physical bread with your
mouth, and you drink water, earthly water, physical water with your
mouth. You eat and drink spiritually
through these ears right here. That's what he's saying here.
Come and drink. How? With your ears. Here. What God said, hear the truth
of God, hear the gospel, hear God's message concerning His
Son. Christ is called the Word in
John chapter 1. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. What's a word? It's a communication. God has expressed and communicated
Himself to us in the person of His Son, revealed us, revealed
to us Himself. He who is the brightness of His
glory and the expressed image of His person came to this earth. And He said, if you've seen Me,
you've seen God Almighty. That's what He's talking about.
He's the Word. Hear the Word, the Word incarnate,
the written Word, the Word of God, the Gospel. of His grace
in Christ. Here, incline your ear. Blessed
are your ears, Christ said. Why? Highly favored of God are
your ears, because they hear. Have you heard the message of
God? Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed unto him for righteous. Didn't say he believed in God.
He believed God. You know what that means? God
had something to say to Abraham. and Abraham heard it, and he
said, that's right, I believe it. Take heed, the word of God says,
how you hear. Don't just hear casually and
flippantly. God said, incline your ear, apply
your ear to what God said. That's the best advice you've
heard today. I guarantee you that. How shall I believe on
him in whom I have not If you ever truly hear, if your ears
are blessed to hear, your soul shall live. Is that what he said? Thy soul shall live. Do you know that's what you need?
You don't need to turn over a new leaf. You don't need to join
a church. I'm glad if you join this church for the right reason,
but that's not going to solve your problem. Joining a church,
getting involved with a religious organization of some kind. What
you need is life. And only Christ, he said, I'm
the way, the truth and the life. Your soul is dead by nature. Do you realize that? Your soul
is dead by one man's sin. Death passed upon all men, God
said. And that's you. Death passed
upon you, but you come to Christ. You hear the voice of the master. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. And your soul will live. Your soul will live. And
then he said, I'll make an everlasting covenant with you. This covenant's
already been made between the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. This is an everlasting covenant. This is a covenant
that doesn't take place in time. It's an eternal covenant. And
by the blood of that everlasting covenant, Paul said in the book
of Hebrews, Christ has sealed us. Christ has bought us. Our salvation and redemption
and security are sure and unmovable because of the blood of that
everlasting covenant. But God says here, you'll get
in on it when you come to Christ. I make this covenant with you.
You'll hear of it and you'll rejoice because the mercies of
this covenant are sure. They don't depend upon the whims
of men. They don't depend upon you making
a decision. The mercies of this covenant,
the benefits of it, depend upon the very honor and faithfulness
of God Almighty. They're sure mercies. David said
when he was dying, the one mentioned here, his son particularly, his
Lord mentioned here, but King David said when he died, although
it be not so with my house, the Lord made with me. He didn't
make a covenant with everybody. But by his almighty, sovereign,
electing, distinguishing grace, he called to me, said, Ho, everyone
that thirsteth come. And I did. And he made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And he said, This is my hope.
This is my salvation. This is my joy. And he died. with that declaration on his
lips. Can you say that? What is your joy? What is your
hope? What is your salvation? Is it that you did something
when you was a child? You walked down an aisle and
quoted a prayer that somebody else wrote? Or is your hope and
salvation this? That God made a covenant with
me and His Son. And that covenant is sealed with
the blood of Christ the Lord. And it's ordered in all things
by God, and it's sure, it's sure. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, thank you for this gospel
call. Thank you for the grace, the
pure, free, sovereign grace that would call such as us to come
to thyself and to reason with you about our sins, that though
they be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, washed in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own precious blood, be glory and honor both
now and forever. Help us to worship him in our
hearts this morning. exalt Him in our hearts and cause
us to bow and embrace and love and rejoice in this precious
Lamb. Thank you for this time that
we have together, Lord, and for meeting with us, for granting
us the high favor of having your gospel, of hearing of this Redeemer
that actually redeems sinners with His blood, of hearing of
that blood that's effectual, that accomplishes the purpose
that He shed it for. Thank you for that privilege.
Thank you for opening our understanding that we might see. Thank you
for giving us a thirst and a hunger after your righteousness in Christ.
And thank you for filling us. He is the fullness. He is He
that filleth all in all. And He's all that we need. Thank
you for Him. Bless us together in Christ,
in his precious name we pray. Amen.