Now, Isaiah 55 is our study this
evening. I'm imparting the message from
the theme of these verses, Isaiah 55. And in reality, it's the
theme of all the word of God. It's a theme and heartbeat of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation full and free. Salvation full and free. He mentions there, come into
the waters and bring no money. And then he says, buy and eat,
yea, come buy wine and milk, without money, without price,
without your morality, without your works. And the message there
is salvation's free. Salvation's a free gift of God.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall we not with him also freely, you remember, freely
give us all things? Salvation is by the free grace
of God. Come, buy, and eat without money
and without price. That's the economics of grace.
Grace, free, free. People often say, well, there's
nothing free. Salvation is to us. It cost the Lord Jesus Christ
his life's blood, but it's free to us because he paid the price
for us. Knowing and understanding and
believing the Lord Jesus Christ purchased salvation for us with
his own blood, and that's exactly what he did. Knowing and understanding
and believing that Christ accomplished all that God required of his
covenant people, and he did, This makes salvation to everyone
that believes the gospel certain, sure, everlasting, and free. Justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is of faith that it might be by grace that the promise might
be sure to all the seed, the covenant people. The covenant
people. In Isaiah 53, everybody's familiar with Isaiah 53, we see
there the gospel provided through covenant sacrifice. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the sacrifice of the covenant, wounded for
our transgression, bruised for our iniquity. In Isaiah 54, we
see the gospel promise of the covenant mercies. Look right
across the page, Isaiah 54, verse 10. It's one of my favorite verses. For the mountain shall depart
and the hill be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that has mercy on thee." It's the covenant of
peace. He made peace for us with his own blood. In Isaiah 55, then, we see the
gospel promise of the covenant call. It's God's own gospel call. Oh, everyone that's thirsty,
come. Come to Christ. Come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ is to be
proclaimed and preached without reservation, without hesitation,
boldly and clearly unto all men everywhere. That's what our Lord
said to his apostles before he left. Remember? Go and preach
the gospel to every creature. But it's only effectual and irresistible. It's only an effectual and irresistible
call to his sheep, his elect. He's chosen as many as were ordained
to eternal life. They believe the gospel. Remember
our Lord said, my sheep, hear my voice and I know them and
they do follow. They do follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's given his sheep ears to
hear, eyes to see him, and a heart to believe the gospel. Now let's
take a look at verse one, two, three. And if we have time, verse
four and five. but want to spend most of the
time on verses 1, 2, and 3. Ho, everyone. Ho, everyone. That's like stop. Stop, look,
and listen. Ho, everyone that is thirsty.
Talking here not about a natural thirst. Men, because of their
sinful nature, They thirst after iniquity like the water. But
here he's talking about a spiritual thirst, a spiritual need, like
the deer that panted after the water brooks. David said, my
soul pants after thee. Oh, everyone that is thirsty,
come. Now, if you're naturally thirsty
and you have a parched, dried mouth in a hot, barren land and
you see water, what are you going to do? you're going to come to
the water. You're going to be driven there
to the water hole because of your need of thirst. I often
think of those pioneers that went out west 1830 and following
over half a million people out that Oregon Trail. When you get
west of the Missouri and Mississippi and get out in the arid, dry
land of the plains and the high desert and the mountains, boy,
when you see water, you better take advantage of it. You better
fill up the water barrels and water all the cows because there's
not much water there. But when you find that water
hole, boy, you better come. They tell me sometimes that I
heard A herd of horses or a herd of cows or cattle can smell that
water. And if you're not real careful,
they'll stampede to get to that water. They're anxious to get
there. That's the way it is when the Lord gives us a spiritual
thirst for him. He is the water of life. Come
ye to the waters. Come, come. Remember our Lord
said in Matthew 11, all ye that are laboring and heavy laden,
come unto me and rest. Come unto me and rest. He that
hath no money, no money. No money, no morality. No works. Come and buy. Eat. Buy it. and then consume it,
like you do your groceries. You buy your groceries and you
take them home and you eat them. Yeah, come, he says again, come,
come to me and I'll give you life. Buy wine, milk, water,
wine, milk, without money and without price. Without money
and without price. Now, all men naturally desire
to drink water, nothing is more satisfying to the flesh than
to quench our parched mouth with a cool drink of refreshing water."
That's just so good, isn't it? When you have that thirst and
you get that cold glass of water or just even wet water that's
cool. There's nothing that can satisfy
our spiritual thirst or our spiritual desire and quench our parched
soul but the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is the living water. He is the living water. Proverbs
25 says this, as cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good
news from a far country. Cold water to a thirsty soul,
that's good news to a sinner. The gospel is good news to those
who are guilty. It's good news to those who need
a savior. What is the remedy for our spiritual thirst? The
Lord said, come ye to the waters. Come ye to the waters. Come to the waters. Come and
buy. Come and buy. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, I was reading in the Revelation today, Revelation
21 verse 6, He said, it's done. I'm Alpha, Omega, salvation's
done. It's over. I've accomplished
it. I'm Alpha, Omega, the beginning, the end. I'll give unto him that
is a thirst of the fountain of life freely. A fountain of life
freely, freely, freely. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
without money and without price. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and trust nothing else, nothing more, nothing less. and nothing else but the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Come to me, he said. In John
chapter 7, our Lord said, in that last great day of the feast,
the Lord stood and cried, if any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture had said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living,
living water. That's what he said to that woman
at the well. You drink of that natural water, you're going to
thirst again. But if you drink of that water that I will give
you, shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting
life in him. Now, come to him. Come to him,
impossible without his grace, impossible without his calling,
impossible to do apart from the sovereign grace of God. No man
has the ability, even the want to or desire, to come to the
true and living God apart from his drawing, saving power. He said, no man can come to me
except the Father which sent me. Draw him. Oh, everyone that
is thirsty, what a blessing it is to have a thirst for the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the water of life, the living waters. Come
and buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without
price. That's good news, is it not?
This is the economics of grace. Salvation by his sovereign grace. Without money, without gold,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the unspeakable gift of God. Salvation
cannot be bought because it's free. It's free, free, justified
freely by his grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is made
to us. He's a water of life to the thirsty. He's a bread of life to the hungry,
isn't he? He said, I am the bread of life.
He's the wine of joy to the mourner. We rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Come to me. Come to me. He's
the milk of our strength. He's the milk of strength to
the weak. Desire the sincere milk of the word that you might
grow thereby. And then he says here in verse
1, buy and then he said buy it and then eat it. Eat it. Consume it. Experience it. You
remember Psalm 34? It said, taste and see that the
Lord is good. Taste and see the Lord is good.
Buy and eat. Buy and eat. Now, I want you
to hold your place there and turn to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Look at verse 51, John 6, 51.
I am the living bread. He's the living water. He's the
living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, remember what we read over here? He said, come
by and eat. Eat. I'm the living bread, which
came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I'll give
is my flesh. which I give for the life of
the world, Jew and Gentile, bond and free. The Jews therefore
strove among themselves saying, how can this man give us his
flesh to eat? Verse 53, verily, verily, I say
unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
his blood, You have no life in you, whosoever eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I'll raise him up at
the last day. Look at verse 55, John 6, 55. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink. Indeed, he that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him as a father,
a living father, hath sent me, and I live by the fathers of
he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." We feed upon the
Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified, eat my flesh and drink my blood.
We're consumed with Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Buy and eat,
we consume him. We experience and taste and see
that the Lord is good, the Lord is gracious. He is our wine,
our water, our milk that is free. Free, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is free to his people. Without money, without works,
without morality, without anything that you bring at all. All things
are provided freely, freely by his grace. Now, verse two, wherefore,
or why do you spend money for that which is not bread? And
why do you labor for that which does not satisfy? Good works
will never satisfy God, but the deeds of the law shall no flesh
be justified. Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good. Let your soul delight itself
in fatness." That is his fullness, his fatness. Now, two questions
asked and answered by the Lord. Why? Why do you spend your money,
your labor, your time, your energy, and your strength for that which
is not bread, for that which does not satisfy, which is not
salvation, that will not satisfy nor honor God, his law, or his
justice, nor bring salvation by the deeds of the law? How
many are going to be justified by the deeds of the law? None
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Why do
sinners seek salvation by deeds, morality, works of righteousness
instead of resting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, faith alone,
grace alone? Why do so many people spend their
time, money, and energy seeking salvation by what they do? I tell you why they do that.
They're lost, they don't know God, they're dead in sin, and
they're ignorant of God and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why people spin their wheels, religious people, lost
religious people, spin their wheels, spin their wheels, and
never get anywhere. Ignorant. spend their will to
go about to establish a righteousness of their own, but have not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God. Why would they do that?
They're ignorant. Let me read this to you in Romans
10. Remember, brethren, my heart,
desire, and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. He's talking about the religious
lost Jews. For I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being
ignorant of God's essential righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is what?
Christ, the gospel. For Christ is the end of the
law, for righteousness to everyone that believes the gospel. When you see people trying to
earn God's favor or merit God's grace by what they do to gain
His favor or remove His wrath by good works and good deeds
and church going and church giving and church ceremony. It's because
they're ignorant. It's because they're lost. It's
because they're dead in their sin. Now what is a cure and remedy
for ignorance? Is there one? Is there one a
cure for ignorance, deadness, and lostness? It's His Word. It's His Word. Eat that which
is good. His Word. His Word. His Word. Incline your ear and
come, verse 3, and hear. And hear. Hear who? Hear Him. Incline your ear and hear. and
your soul shall live, and I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. What is the cure and
remedy for ignorance? His word, his truth, his word,
his gospel. Hear his word. He says there,
eat that which is good. You see it in verse two? Eat
that which is good. His word is good to feast upon. His word is the word of truth
that exposes lives and errors, and let your soul delight itself
in his fatness, his fullness. You see the last part of verse
2, eat that which is good. Don't eat the briars of religion. Eat that which is good, the good
bread, the good water. Christ is all goodness. and let
your soul delight itself in His fullness. In Him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace. Now look at verse 3. Here's what
we need. His Word. His Word. Incline your
ear and come unto Me. Oh, to have ears to hear the
word of God. Not as the word of men, not as
the word of Isaiah, but the word of God. Incline your ear, and
then come to me, the Lord said. Hear, hear me, and your soul
shall live. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you. God, the God of covenant mercies. covenant mercies. I think that
word covenant is used more than 250 times in scripture if I remember
right. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you. Everlasting covenant with you,
even the sure mercies of David. Again the Lord tells us to hear
the word of God. Is this asking too much of a
guilty sinner to sit still, close his mouth, and listen to the
word of God? Is that asking too much? Not
at all, is it? Look what it says in verse 11,
Isaiah 55 verse 11. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void.
It shall accomplish that which I please. It shall prosper in
a thing wherein I send it. Oh, how we'd prosper if we'd
sit still and listen to the word of God. to hear the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Again, the Lord tells us to come,
incline your ear, listen to me. Remember your parents when you
were young, when they'd correct you, and one of the things they'd
say to you, are you listening to me? Incline your ear, And then come,
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear, hear him and your soul,
your soul shall live. Your soul shall live. Come to
me. Our Lord said, come unto him.
The same thing he's saying over here, look, turn over to Isaiah
45. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and don't move a muscle. He's not talking about a physical
coming. He's talking about coming to Him by faith. By faith. Looking unto Him. Isaiah 45. He says, I am God. Beside me
there is no other Savior. No other God beside me. Verse
21, the last part. Now verse 22, look unto me and
be saved. All the ends of the earth. I
am God and there is none else. Saving faith has one single object,
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Incline your ear and come and
come to me. True saving faith, the faith
of God's elect, is delighted to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ. To you who believe, he is precious. And then he gives us two promises
here, and here And your soul, verse three, incline
your ear, come unto me here, and your soul shall live, and
I will make an everlasting covenant. Now, two things. Here, as one must have physical
life to hear the words of men, so too one must have spiritual
life given of God to hear the eternal spiritual word of God. He that hath ears to hear, remember
our Lord said, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And then
he said to his disciples, blessed are your ears, blessed are your
eyes. Your ears, they hear, and your
eyes, for they see. They see me. Our Lord said this
in John 5. Let me read it to you. Verse
24, John 5, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath, right now, got
it, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. There is power and life
in the gospel. Spiritual life is given and granted
through the means that God has ordained, and that's the word
of life, the word that is quick and powerful and sharper than
any two-edged sword. That's the word of God that we
preach. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
living word and the word of God incarnate of his own will beget
he us with the word of truth. And then our Lord says, here
and your soul shall live and I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you. And I love this word, sure mercies. Sure mercies, sure mercies of
David. Now, turn to this scripture with
me. You remember in our study in
the book of Acts, turn to Acts 13. The Apostle Paul makes mention
of this over here in his first sermon in Acts chapter 13. The sure mercies of David. The sure mercies of David. Remember,
David said his last words, although it be not so with my house, God
hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and is sure, this is all my hope and all my desire and all my
salvation. The apostle Paul here quotes
this in Acts chapter 13. Verse 29, when they had fulfilled
all that was written of him, they took him down from a tree
and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead,
and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, who are witnesses unto his people. who
are his witnesses unto his people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise made, which was made to the fathers,
hath God fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
raised up Jesus again, as is also written in the second psalm,
thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and as concerning
verse 34 that he raised him up from the dead no more now no
more to return to corruption he saith on this wise i'll give
you the sure mercies of david the sure mercies of david based
upon the lord jesus christ crucified delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification I'll give you the sure mercies
of David, the sure mercies of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ
is a good shepherd who has never lost one of his covenant children. I will, God said, make an everlasting
covenant with you. Remember God said I will? and they shall. I will be their
God and they shall be my people. I will not depart from them and
they shall not depart from me. We're kept by the power of God.
Sure mercies of David, God had made with me that everlasting
covenant of grace. And it's a covenant of grace,
all of grace, grace alone. Now look at verse 4 and verse
5. We've got a couple minutes here.
Behold, verse 4 said, I've given him. Boy, what a gift. We have the sure mercies of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ because God has given him. He gave him
for a sacrifice for our sin. I've given him for a witness.
He is that true prophet of God that came as the faithful witness
as described in Revelation chapter 1. He's a faithful witness to
the people, to the people. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. He is a witness. He is a leader. The witness there is the prophet
of God. God raised up a prophet from among the brethren to tell
us the way of salvation. I've given him for a witness.
Boy, what a true and faithful witness we have. He's given to the people, for
witness to the people, and he's a leader. He's the shepherd of
the sheep. He's called the great shepherd,
the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, and he's a commander.
He's a commander in chief. King of kings and Lord of lords.
He's commander of all things. Without Him, nothing comes to
pass without His will, His decree and His purpose. He's the commander
of the people. He's the leader of the people.
He's a prophet to the people. He's the commander of the people.
Verse 5 says, Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knewest
not, and nations that knew not thee shall run. unto thee because
of the Lord thy God, and because He's the Holy One of Israel,
for He hath glorified God." And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for us. Behold thou shalt call. This
is a personal call, a powerful call, an intimate call, An irresistible
call, the foundation God stand assure the Lord knoweth them
that are his. Thou shalt call a nation out
of every, a people out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue. They didn't know the Lord, but
the Lord knew them. And they shall run, thy people
shall be willing in a day of God's power, run unto thee, run
to Christ, skedaddle to the Lord Jesus Christ, because of the
Lord thy God. He's the first cause and last
end. He's the alpha and the omega. He's the beginning and he's the
end. It's all because of the Lord thy God that we run to him,
that we thirst after him. It's all because of the Lord
thy God, because he's given us faith to believe in him. And
he is a holy one of Israel. for he hath glorified thee. That's the bottom line, and all
that God does is what? His glory. The grand design of
redemption is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek the Lord
while he may be found, verse 6. Call upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and turn to the Lord. Return
to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and to our God,
for he will abundantly, he will abundantly, abundantly pardon. It reminds me of this verse over
here. Isaiah 40, verse one. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people, sayeth your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
crying to her that her warfare is accomplished. that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sin. He will abundantly pardon. For Christ's sake, we have pardon,
forgiveness of sin.