Now, Isaiah 55, I suppose, is
a whole lot like Isaiah 53. Isaiah 55 tells us about God's
gospel call. Charles Spurgeon called this
chapter that, God's own gospel call. And it is. It is. Oh, he says, everyone that is
thirsting, It's like the Lord saying, whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely. Everyone that is thirsty, he
doesn't say stay away. Everyone that is thirsty for
salvation, thirsty for forgiveness, thirsty for reconciliation, where
would you have your thirst satisfied? Satisfied completely, totally. Everyone that is thirsty, the
Lord said, come. He said, come to me, all ye that
labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Come ye to the waters. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
very fountain of living waters. And the well is deep. The well
is very deep. He that hath no money, come,
buy. How do you buy without money?
Must be a free gift. You remember what the Lord said
to that woman, if you knew who you're talking to and who the
gift of God is, you would ask of him. He'd have no money. Come, buy, and eat. partake of
Him freely. Yea, come wine and milk without
money and without price. Now how do you buy without money?
Strange economics, is it not? This is the way God lays out
salvation as the gift of God. I'm titling the message from
WHAT IS SAID IN THESE VERSES, ISAIAH 55, AND IN REALITY IT
IS THE THEME OF ALL THE WORD OF GOD. IT IS THE THEME, THE
CENTER THEME, THE CENTRAL THEME, THE HEARTBEAT OF THE GOSPEL,
AND THAT IS SALVATION IS FULL AND FREE. WE CAN PUT IT THIS
WAY AS THE WORD OF GOD THAT SALVATION IS because God is, it's of the
Lord and of Him only. And the Lord says here, come,
come just as you are, come without your merit, come without your
works, come without your righteousness, come without your money, Come
without price, come unto me. Now, knowing and understanding
and believing the Lord Jesus Christ purchased salvation for
us, and he did. He bought us with his own blood. God bought the church, his elect,
with his own blood. And knowing and understanding
and believing the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished all that
God required of us. Everything God demanded of us,
the Lord Jesus Christ fully provided. That's his name, Jehovah Jireh,
the Lord will provide. God demands righteousness, Christ
is our righteousness. GOD DEMANDS FULL PAYMENT FOR
SIN AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, HE IS THE ATONEMENT FOR OUR SIN. AND THIS MAKES SALVATION TO EVERYONE
WHO IS IN NEED and all who believe the gospel, to them salvation
is certain and sure as God is certain and sure." Now, don't
turn to this verse because you're familiar with this portion of
Scripture, but let me just turn and read it to you. In Romans
chapter 4, therefore he says, verse 16, it is of faith, that
it might be by grace, to the end, the promise might be sure. God's promise, His exceeding
great and precious promises, and all the promises of God in
Him are yes, and in Him, amen, and to the glory of God, all
the promises of God are certain and sure, as sure as God is sure. He calls them down here the sure
mercies of David. His mercies are sure. I've never
read one time in scripture where a mercy beggar came to the Lord
Jesus Christ seeking mercy and went away empty. That ought to
encourage every one of us to seek mercy where it's found.
in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The promise of God to every sinner
that is in need, he says, look unto me, and be ye saved. Saved from sin, saved from condemnation,
saved from the curse of the law, for Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Isaiah 53, everybody's familiar
with that, and we see in Isaiah 53 the gospel provided through
a covenant sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
covenant sacrifice. God said, here in his love, not
that you love me, but that I loved you, and gave my son as a sacrifice
for sin. Isaiah 53 tells us about that
substitutionary, satisfying sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
was wounded, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are, what? Healed. Healed. Isaiah 53, the
covenant sacrifice. Isaiah 54, we see the promise
of the covenant mercies in Christ Jesus. Look at Isaiah 54 verse
10. For the mountain shall depart,
The hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Our God is a covenant God. The
mercies we enjoy are covenant mercies because of the covenant
of my peace. Christ made peace for us with
his own blood. And then in Isaiah 55, we see
the gospel promise of the covenant call. God's call to his covenant
people is the irresistible and effectual call. The gospel of
Christ is not a mere invitation. It's a declaration of the call
and command of God, and it is to be preached, as our Lord said
to those apostles, go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. And that's the charge that God
has given unto us to proclaim the gospel, but the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is that general call that
goes out when it's preached, but there is that effectual and
irresistible and invincible call of God the Holy Spirit that comes
to the heart of God's elect THAT CANNOT BE SUCCESSFULLY RESISTED. OH, YOU MIGHT KICK AGAINST IT
FOR A LITTLE BIT, BUT YOU WON'T KICK LONG. YOU WON'T KICK LONG.
GOD WILL BREAK YOUR HEART AND CONQUER YOU AND DECLARE UNTO
YOU HIS LORDSHIP AND MAKE YOU WILLING IN A DAY OF HIS POWER. IT IS THE EFFECTIVE, IRRESISTIBLE
CALL OF GOD TO HIS SHEEP, WHERE HE SAID, MY SHEEP, THEY HEAR
MY VOICE, I KNOW THEM, AND THEY DO FOLLOW ME, AND I GIVE UNTO
THEM. WHAT DO THE SHEEP NEED? I GIVE
UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER, NEVER PERISH. NOW, LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT VERSE
1. THE LORD SAYS HERE, AND I LOOK THIS WORD UP, H-O, AND IN THE
HEBREW, THE ORIGINAL WORD IS H-O-W-Y, AND IT CARRIES THE INDICATION
OF BEHOLD OR HEY, AND WE WOULD SAY IN OUR LANGUAGE, HEY YOU,
When someone says to you, hey you, that kind of gets your attention,
doesn't it? He's directing his comments to
you. And this is what this word ho
here means, hey you. Everyone, everyone that is thirsty,
the Lord says, come. Now by nature, men don't have
any spiritual thirst, do they? Spiritual thirst. Now, the scriptures
talk about man who drinks iniquity like the water. We have a natural
thirst, the old fallen rotten out of nature for sinful things. But if any man truly desires
a water of life and salvation in Christ, being thirsty, made
so by God, the Holy Spirit, and convicting us in our sin, that's
this spiritual thirst that God gives to the heart of His people.
And when they're so thirsty, and they need water so desperately,
and then they see the Lord Jesus Christ, to quench their thirst,
to satisfy every need. What do they do? Well, they come
to Him. You see, He's irresistible. He's irresistible. How many times
have you seen these old westerns and these people, them old pioneers?
They got across the desert country, out there in the middle of the
plains, or the high desert, and the water is sparse. The water
is sparse and hard to come by. And when you find that water
hole, boy, they make a beeline for that water hole because it
quenches the thirst. It meets the need of those who
are thirsty. Everyone that is thirsty, the
Lord says, come, come, come. Our Lord said this in John 7,
37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, the Lord Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. It's the same Lord that's speaking
in Isaiah 55. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Now this thirst spoken of here
is not a natural thirst for water, but rather a spiritual thirst
for the water of life in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing
that can satisfy that spiritual thirst. but the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. You remember that scripture from
Proverbs 25, 25? As cold waters to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country. Cold water to a thirsty soul. Remember that old song the sons
of the pioneers used to sing going back to my rodeo days when
I was a rodeo bum? Back where I grew up all summer
long, I spent down there on the rodeo with the cowboys and the
cows. And they always used to put on
the PA speaker system before the rodeo started. They put that
song, cold, clear water. Water, water, I think. You ever heard that song? Oh,
I just, it just, and it made you want, it made you want to
drink. That's what the gospel does.
When you hear that good news, water, water. Oh, give me some
of that water. Now, what's the remedy for this
spiritual thirst? The Lord said, come unto me and
drink. That is, come to Christ. Now,
he says here several times in these three verses, come to the
waters. Come ye by and eat. And then
down here in verse three, incline your ear and come. Come to me. Now, how do we come to Christ? I love
what my pastor used to say. He said, come to Christ, don't
move a muscle. Come to Christ. It's not something
we do physically. We come to Christ by faith. The
Lord said, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. Coming
and believing are synonymous. We come to him by faith. A God-given
faith always comes to Christ, looking, looking, looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher, the
author and finisher of our faith. Believe on him. He said, come
to the Lord Jesus Christ, come eat to the waters, he that
hath no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk
without money and without price. The gospel is free. Come to Christ
without money, without price. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and trust Him. Someone said F-A-I-T-H. What does that spell? F-A-I-T-H. Faith, right? Forsaking all,
I take Him. I believe it could stand for
that. Forsaking all, I trust Him. Trust nothing less. Trust nothing else but the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come to Him. Leave your merit,
your morality, your righteousness, which is nothing but filthy rags.
Leave your feelings, your tradition, your experience, your ceremony. Leave everything behind. Forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. Come to Christ, when? Right now. Right now. Saving faith. You see, faith is not an isolated
experience. Faith is God-given and is alive
and is real, and it is always in our heart, coming, looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We sang a moment ago, Top Lady's
Song. Augustus Top Lady. And this song
has been around since the 1700s, but I found a verse that's not
in our songbook that goes this way. Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to the cross I cling. Helpless, look to thee for grace. Naked, come to thee for dress. I to the dear fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, else I die. That's pretty good. I don't know
why some of those good verses have been left out of them old
songs. I guess to make them shorter, so we don't take up so much time
in singing songs. So, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But now wait a minute. Man in
and of himself has absolutely no ability to believe the gospel
and come to him. Remember our Lord said, no man
can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him. Impossible
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation except by
God's sovereign grace. He must draw us. He must keep
us. We believe the gospel only according
to the working of His mighty power. We have no more ability to believe
the gospel. Then we have the ability to keep
the law. We don't have any ability to
keep the law, nor do we have any ability to come to Christ.
Believe on Him. He must give us faith. He must draw us. That's not to
say that men are not religious. You can go to any country in
the world Wherever you find men, fallen, sinful, wicked men, doesn't
matter where you go, you'll find some sort of religion. Man's religion, false religion,
When this European, the Europeans invaded this country, or this
North America, we'll call it. It wasn't a country then. But
when the Europeans came here and they found those Native Americans,
why were they dancing around those totem poles? That was their
religion. They had religion. They didn't
know Christ. They didn't have salvation, but
they were religious even in their ignorance. Notice the economics
of salvation. Buy wine and milk without money
and without price. Your gold is no good. Your money,
your dollars are no good. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
priceless, precious gift and he's free for the taking. He
is what the Apostle Paul said, the unspeakable gift of God. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life. Wine and milk without money. Salvation in Christ cannot be
bought because it is the free gift of God's grace being justified
freely through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. God who spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely, freely give us all things? Thinking of another scripture
over here from our Bible study in 1 Corinthians, don't turn,
let me just read it to you. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely freely given to us
of God. And he gives us all things. He
gives us all things. How shall he not with him also? I quoted that a moment ago. How
shall he not with him also freely give us all things? My God shall supply all your
need, singular, according to his riches in glory through the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is a water
of life to the thirsty, as he said to that woman at the well.
You drink of that water, you'll thirst again. But if you drink
of that water that I give you, there'll be a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. Christ is a water of life to
the thirsty. He's the bread of life to the
hungry. He's the wine of joy to the mourner. being justified
by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
wherein we rejoice in Him. and have no confidence in the
flesh. He's the wine of our joy. He's
the milk of our strength. I used to have that commercial,
remember years ago? I guess they don't show it anymore.
Everybody now, the doctors tell you not to drink milk, but I
don't know if that's a good thing or not. But you remember years
ago, the advertisement about milk, it builds healthy bones. Milk will do a body good. Well,
the milk of his word will certainly do a body good. He said, desire
the sincere milk of the word that you might grow thereby. He's a wine of our joy. He's
the milk of our strength, and he's the light and light of our
salvation. I jotted this down. I am, he
says in John 8, 12, the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. In the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's son cleanses us from all our sins. Notice what he says here in verse
one, buy and eat. He said down here in verse two,
eat that which is good. You see that? Yeah, buy and eat. Come buy wine
and milk without money, without price. Eat that which is good. Remember our Lord said to that
young man who was trying to seek salvation by the deeds of the
law. He said there's none good but
God. Eat that which is good. There's none good None good but
Christ who is a bread of life. God is good food. Feed upon him. Feast upon him. Eat up Christ. Meditate upon
the Lord Jesus Christ as he's revealed in the word. Now, verse
2, Isaiah 55, verse 2. Wherefore, he asks two questions. Why do you spend money? for that
which is not bread, for that which is not nourishing to your
soul? And why do you labor for that
which does not satisfy? Now, what does it take to satisfy
God? It must be perfect to be accepted.
God demands perfection. We can't satisfy the demands
of God's holy law. But my friend, the good news
of the gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied God in every
aspect of the law of God. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? Why do you labor for that which
does not satisfy? He said, hearken diligently I
just don't casually listen, but hearken diligently unto me, unto
me. You remember what James said about
the word, let everyone be swift to hear, swift to hear him, slow
to speak, and eat that which is good. Let your soul delight
itself in the fatness of his word. Now, two questions. Why spend your money, that is,
your labor, your time, your energy, your strength, for that which
is not bread, that is, that which is not salvation, that will not
satisfy nor honor God, will not satisfy His law nor His justice,
will not bring salvation or put away sin. Why do sinners seek
salvation by the deeds of the law or works of righteousness
instead of resting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, faith alone,
grace alone? Now you think about that. Why
would a sinner go about to establish a righteousness of his own to
try to satisfy Christ's holy God? Why would he do that? because
the ignorant of the righteousness of God provided and revealed
in the gospel. You remember that all the way
through our study in the book of Romans. The righteousness
which is of God, which is of God. They had not submitted themselves
to the righteousness which is of God, Romans 10, 3 and 4. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth, come to the Lord
Jesus Christ." Those who go about to establish their own righteousness
have never seen Christ, have they? You see, he is Now think
about this, how insane and it's a monument to the total depravity
of sinners that they would go about to establish a righteousness
by their own doing and ignore the true righteousness that's
provided of God. Ignore the Lord Jesus Christ,
blessed is that man to whom the Lord would impute righteousness
without works. and so ignorant and dead and
totally depraved and go about to establish their righteousness
of their own. Boy, what a vast difference.
Aren't you glad that he gives us faith to come to Christ and
rest in him? What is the cure for the remedy
and for this ignorance? Look what it says there. Hearken
diligently unto me. Listen to His Word. Hear His
Word. Hear His truth. Hear His Gospel. Hear Him as He speaks in His
Word. Rock Barnard came to Ashland
in 1950. My goodness, how many years ago
has that been? Almost 70 years ago. 70 years
ago. And he said, one of the things
he said that was well noted, he said, if my
voice is the only voice you hear, you will not hear from God. If my voice is the only voice
you hear, you need to hear God who speaks in His Word by God
the Holy Spirit. Hear His Word, hear His truth,
hear His gospel. I want you to listen to the Word
of God that I preach, but I want you to hear Him." Now, there's
a difference between just listening to a preacher and hearing God
speak in the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. The Word of God is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, eat that which is good.
Eat it. Eat it. How many times has your
wife fixed your favorite meal? What do you do? You eat it. We
had spaghetti this evening. Spaghetti with vegetables. No meat. Spaghetti with vegetables. And it's good, and we eat it
all the time. I'm going to be eating on that
spaghetti for the next three or four days. My wife said, don't
you get tired of spaghetti? No. I eat that which is good. I like it. I eat it. And that's
the way it is with the gospel. We eat that which is good. His word is good to feast upon
and we meditate upon him in the word. And then he says, let your
soul delight itself in its fatness. What is the fatness of the word?
I mean, this book. It's a big book, but what's the
fatness? What is the oozing nourishment
and sap and life of the written word of God? It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I am the word of life. The Word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. He is the Word that was
with God and the Word that is God. Let yourself delight itself
in its fatness, in its fullness. Remember the Lord said in John
chapter 1, of His fullness. HAVE WE ALL RECEIVED GRACE FOR
GRACE? DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE FATNESS
OF HIS WORD, AND EAT IT UP. VERSE 3, I LET YOU GO. INCLINE YOUR EAR, INCLINE YOUR
EAR, HEARKEN DILIGENTLY UNTO ME. FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, THE
OLD POLITICIAN USED TO SAY ON THE STUMP, LEND ME YOUR EAR. incline your ear and listen to
the Word. And when that happens, when you
hearken diligently, when you incline your ear, when you eat
that which is good, when you delight in the fatness of Christ,
the fullness of Christ, in Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. And when you incline
your ear You know what'll happen? You'll come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, come unto me. Come unto
me and hear. And your soul, your soul shall
live. You know why we're here? Because
God's given us life. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And then he says, I'll make,
I'll make an everlasting covenant with you even even the sure mercies
of David. This everlasting covenant He
is as old as God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
surety of that everlasting covenant. You remember our study from the
book of Hebrews? He is the surety of that everlasting covenant.
He is the mediator of that everlasting covenant. One God, one mediator
between God and men. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead that Lord Jesus Christ through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews chapter 13. He is the
everlasting covenant. And I love what David said. You
remember his last words? Although he said it be not so
with my house. Yet God hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and is sure. This is all my hope and all my
salvation. I'll make with you an everlasting
covenant, The sure mercies of David. Now, David was a great
king, but David, the king of Israel, couldn't give me salvation. This David here, the sure mercies
of David, is the sure mercies of the greater David, the son
of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation in him. is certain
and sure because he completed salvation for us to the satisfaction
of God and to the complete glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to turn with me,
you can. I'll close by reading this. The covenant language of
that everlasting covenant of grace in Jeremiah 32, 38. Jeremiah
32, 38. They shall be my people, they
shall be, and I will be their God. I will and they shall. I will
give them one heart and one way." That one heart is a new heart
we have in Christ. He said, I'll take away that
stony heart and I'll give them a soft heart. I'll give them
one heart, one way. We know that Christ is that way,
that they may fear me, worship me forever for the good of them
and the good of their children. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with them. I will not turn away from them.
God said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, I'll
never turn away from them to do them good, I'll put my fear
in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me. I will, they
shall, I'll keep them, God preserves us, and we persevere in faith. And they shall not depart from
me.