I'm so blessed and thrilled and inspired, it
makes my heart beat faster. These songs here on earth, sung
by our brothers and sisters, they bless us like this. Think
what it's going to be when we hear the song of Moses and the
Lamb in glory. Everybody talks about what they're
going to say and do when they get to heaven. I'm going to sit
still and listen, aren't you? Oh, just listen. It's just such
a blessing. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Now, I believe that I value all
scripture, and I believe I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that
all scripture is God-breathed, God-given. God inspired. But this text this morning that
I have chosen is not our Lord speaking by the mouth of a prophet,
or by the pen of an apostle, but this is the Lord himself
speaking. This entire 55th chapter is God
himself speaking. Charles Spurgeon once said about
this 55th chapter, we need to forget about Isaiah, the prophet,
and think only of Jehovah who speaks. He said, I suppose it's
not essential that I preach at all, but only read the words
in this chapter which our Lord speaks. So we'll read them, but
I'm going to make a comment or two that I believe will be glorifying
to his name and maybe help us a little bit on this scripture.
It begins in this way, the Lord says, Ho, ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. If you read the Bible, the scriptures
carefully, you'll find that every call of God Every promise of
God has an assumed condition, an
assumed condition, one that he creates, but it's a condition.
Our Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden. If you're not labored and heavy
laden, no need to come. Our Lord said, If any man thirsts,
that's an assumed condition. let him come to me. Oh, everyone
that thirsteth, come to me, and out of your belly will flow rivers
of living water." John wrote, if we confess our
sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sin. So Moses
says, God forgives sin to those who confess their sins, those
who own their sin, those who admit their sin. Our Lord Jesus
was eating with sinners, publicans one day, and the Pharisees, observing
the fact that he ate and drank with these sinners, said to his
disciples, why does your master eat and drink with sinners? Our
Lord knew what they said, and he turned and said to them, the
well have no need of a physician. To come to a physician there
must be a condition. The world don't need a position,
but they've got a say. I didn't come to call the righteous
to repentance. I came to call sinners. So the Lord says here, Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye. Are you thirsting? What kind
of thirst is this? It's a spiritual thirst. It's
a spiritual thirst. It's a spiritual hunger. Blessed
are they that hunger. And I've never known hunger. I've never known what it is to
be totally without food. But that must be some experience
to be hungry. I've never really been, I've
been thirsty, you know, but not thirsty. That must really be
some experience to be thirsty. And no water available, like
those people out on the raft in the ocean. Water, water everywhere,
not a drop to drain. Thirsty. This is what Paul is
talking about over in Philippians. Don't turn to it. Paul was a
successful man, prosperous man, educated man, well-known person,
leader of men. And yet he had nothing. And then
he came to this place. I count everything but dogs.
that I may win Christ and be found in him. Oh, that I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings. Oh, that I may attain unto the
resurrection of the dead. That spiritual thirsting, thirsting
for Christ, for knowledge of the Savior, for the righteousness
of Christ. Well, he said, if you do, everyone that thirsteth, come
ye that thirst to the waters." Did you notice that's plural?
An abundance. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, he leadeth me by the still waters. Jeremiah 2.13 says he's the fountain
of living waters. Come to me, all ye that thirsty,
and out of your belly shall flow rivers of waters." He's the waters. It's abundant, a fountain of
living waters, plenty, plenty. But he not only mentions the
waters, but he talks about four things here. Let me read it to
you. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters. He that hath
no money, come ye buy and eat, and milk without money, without
price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? Here are four things. Our Lord
identifies with himself. He is the waters, he is the wine,
he is the milk, and he is the bread. Now, how are we involved
with these things? Well, let me just talk about
them a little bit. Number one, waters. It used to
be over in the country where the Lord and the disciples were,
that water was such a precious, precious item, that they called
it the gift of God. They used to carry those skins
around with water in the skins for sale, and they'd walk down
the street crying, the gift of God, the gift of God, the gift
of God. Water. Water to cleanse. Water to purify. Water to quench
daily thirst. He's the fountain of living waters. Come to him. Then the wines. I wondered about this. Why does
they come by wine? Wine. Most of us through our
early raising came to look on wine as detrimental rather than
profitable. But wine in the scripture speaks
of several things. Number one, wine speaks of prosperity. Proverbs 3.10, the wise man Solomon
says, Come to the Lord, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. The man that has
an abundance of new wine is a prosperous man. Then in Psalm 104, verse
15, The scripture says, David wrote, he giveth wine that maketh
glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine. Wine
is an element of gladness and joy, feasting. And then in Isaiah 25, it talks
about the fellowship and the feasting. It says, the Lord of
hosts shall make for us a feast of fat things. a feast of wine
on the leaves, well refined. Preacher, I've never made wine.
What's the leaves? Well, that's the rudiments. I
never make it either, my friends, but I looked it up. And it said
wine left on the leaves is better because it's well refined. And
that's prosperity and plenty and gladness and joy and feasting
and fellowship. Where is it found? In a bottle,
in a person. He's the waters. He's the gladness,
the fellowship, the feasting, prosperity, all found in him. Then milk. Well, milk speaks
of health and life. It means babies start on milk. But don't just look at this milk
as a source of physical health. Throughout the scriptures, and
I was amazed when I looked this up, Throughout the Old Testament,
the phrase, a land of milk and honey, a land of milk and honey,
a land of milk and honey, how many times have you read, a land
of milk and honey? I'm going to give you a land
of milk and honey. It means this, unity, plenty, sweetness. The good life, a land of milk
and honey. And when you come to Him, if
you thirst for the waters, If you're thirsty for the gladness
and joy and fellowship and prosperity, if you're thirsty for the life
of unity and plenty and sweetness, come to him. He's the milk and
he's the honey. That manor tasted a lot like
honey, didn't it? Talked about honey, sweetness. Sweeter as the years go by, too,
he is. And then he mentions bread. Come
buy bread without money, without price. Somebody said one time,
said, how can you go to the store and buy like that without any
money? It's called who's store it is. My granddad used to run
a store. I used to love to go to Georgia
with poor folks. He wasn't rich, but he had a
store. And I could go in there and get the pop or candy without
a dime. I'd have a dime in my pocket,
but my grandpa owned the store. And that's what we're talking
about here. We're talking about our Lord owns the store. He is
all these things. And bread, when you come on bread,
upon bread, we know what bread is. Give us this day our daily
bread. But the true bread from heaven is Christ, but most often
bread is referred to the whole meal. They met together and break
bread. They didn't just meet together
and break bread, they met and ate. Christ is the whole meal. He's not only the waters and
the wine and the milk and the honey, he's the whole meal. In
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and we're
complete in him. Come to the waters and buy the
wine and the milk and the honey and the whole meal without a
dime. Without a dime. That's what he
said, he that hath no money. What does this mean? It means
the grace of God is free. If you come to the banquet of
mercy, don't you bring anything? He even furnishes the wedding
garment. Don't bring any works, any deeds, any gifts. Don't bring
any resolutions. Don't bring any price. All you
need is a need. Did you hear what I said? All
you need is a need. You need him. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requires is to feel your need of him. Everybody who came to
him in New Testament days and were healed and blessed by him
brought nothing but a disease, a crippled leg, blind eyes, deaf
ears, and a hump back. They came and they went away. Charlotte Elliott. And I know
that we use this song back in years gone by, and Billy Graham's
worn it out trying to get people to walk down an aisle, but just
as I am. Have you ever looked at those
words carefully? Charlotte Elliott wrote this
back in the last two centuries ago. Just as I am, without one
plea. but that thy blood was shed for
me, Lamb of God, I come to thee. Just as I am, and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot, but that thy blood can cleanse
each spot, Lamb of God, I come. Just as I am poor, wretched,
blind, sight, riches, healing of the mind, all I need in thee
to find, Lamb of God, I come. Just as I am, thou wilt receive. Thou wilt receive. That's the
only way he'll receive me, too. Just as I am, thou wilt receive.
Welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because thy promise I believe. Lamb of God, I come. That's all
Abraham had was a promise, but he bleeped it. And that's all
you need is a promise, if the promise is Christ. Verse 2 is
a powerful question, listen to it. Why do you spend money for
that which is not bread? We've used the word money here,
buying money. Peter used that too, we're not
redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold. But what
the Lord is saying here, why do you spend your time? We have
a saying, time's money, all right. Time, your strength, your possessions,
your efforts. on that which is not bread. We're
talking about on religious activities and socializing and works. Why do you spend these things
on that which is not bread, that which gives no peace, no satisfaction,
no hope? False religion is not bread,
it's False religion in ceremonies
and traditions can give no peace. Christ said to that woman at
the well, you drink of this water, you're thirst again and again
and again and again. You've got to keep coming. You've
got to keep getting pumped up. You've got to keep getting rededicated.
You've got to keep getting re-consecrated, re-created. Re-something regenerates
what we need. Keep getting re-something enough. Why do you do that? He said in
Isaiah 45, why do you pray to a God that can't save? I hear them all the time praying
to a God who can't save. I listen to their message and
they say, well, God's done all He can do, now it's up to you.
Well, why pray? They said He died on the cross
to pay for your sins. That's paid for. It's up to you. God can't save you unless you
let Him. He can and He will if we let
Him. Well, if he can't save, why ask him to? Why pray to a
God who can't save? My God can. This God can. His arm's not short that he can't
save. His ear's not heavy, he can't hear. Is anything too hard
for God? If he can call a 75-year-old
Abraham out of the land of idolatry and make him the father of nations,
he can sure call you out of wherever you are. if he's pleased to. He's able. He's able to save them that come
to God by him. He's able to do all that he promised. He's able to keep us from falling. He's able to raise up our bodies,
and he's able to make them like his own. God is able. And he gives us some instructions
here. He says, why do you spend money for that which is not bread,
your labor for that which never satisfies? Pray to a God that
can't say. Now let me tell you what to do.
Tell me what to do. All right, I'll tell you what
to do. The Lord says here in verse 3, listen to the Master.
Incline your ear. These are his instructions. Incline
your ear now. If you're thirsty, weary, heavily,
incline your ear. He didn't say walk this aisle.
He didn't say come down here and shake hands with me. He didn't
say come to an old-fashioned mourner's bench. He didn't say,
join the Church, he didn't say, wash, work, or walk. He said,
listen, turn your ear this way. You don't
even have to move to do that. Most folks aren't listening.
One reason is nobody is saying anything about anything out there. Listen. Secondly, incline your
ear. come to me. Not to the law, not
to a man, not to a human counselor, not to an altar, not to a religion.
Come to me. We have an altar. It's not down
here. It's not made of wood. It doesn't
have a satin cover. Our altar is Christ. And this
altar They don't come to this altar who serve the tabernacle,
who serve the law, who serve works religion. They come who
have nowhere else to go, nothing to bring. In my hands no price
I bring to the cross I claim. Christ is our altar. We have
a priest. There are a lot of people down here on earth acting
the part of priest, but we have a great high priest who is at
the right hand of God, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have
a priest. We have a mediator. We have a sacrament, a sacrifice. It's not earthly element or earthly representation
or a visual aid. It's Christ. He's our sacrifice,
a better sacrifice, with better promises, from a better covenant.
We have an altar, Christ. We have a priest, it's Christ.
We have a sacrifice, it's Christ. And we have a counselor. His name is Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. I always worry about
these folks that say, call us and we'll put a counselor on
the line. You come to me, incline your ear and come to me. Now
listen to the next one, hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. I looked over here at Lydia in Acts 16. I want you
to turn to that a moment, in Acts 16. Now, she was with that
group of women down by the river. Back in those days, you had to
have 12 families, I believe families, 12 men and their wives, in a
little town or a city to have a synagogue. You had to have
at least 12. Well, this place didn't have that many. If Philippi
was a military base, they didn't have a a synagogue or a temple. So these women went down by the
river and met down there to pray, met down there to worship God,
according to their Old Testament teaching. And Paul came. God sent Paul down there where
these women were. And it says in verse 13 of Acts
16, on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where
prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and spake unto
the women which resorted thither. Well, he preached the gospel,
preached Christ. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, of another city of Thyatira, which worshiped
God, she was there in Philippi on business, she heard us. Here, incline your ear, come
to me. He's the Word of God, the living
Word of God. And hear, hear, and your soul
will live. Very, very I say unto you, he
that heareth my word, and believeth on them that sent me, hath everlasting
life. You must hear the gospel. What
is the word of faith? It's in your mouth and in your
heart. It's the word that we preach.
that if thou shalt confess with our mouth Jesus to be Lord, and
believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead." You must
say, hear your soul and live! Hear it! It's the word of life. But how can they hear without
a preacher? How are they going to call on him whom they've not
believed? How shall they believe in him whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? So Lydia, down there by the river,
in religion, doing what she had been taught to do by her forefathers,
with no knowledge of the gospel of Christ, worshiping God, and
man came with a message, Christ, salvation, redemption, the blood
of the cross. She heard us. What did she do? She heard us and the Lord opened
her heart, and she attended to the words spoken by Paul. Come to Christ now. He's the
truth. Truth will make you free. Christ is the truth. And hear
it. And your soul will live, too.
She heard us, and God opened her heart. See, God's the Savior. Of his own will begat he us,
but with the word of truth. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed. We're born that way the first
time of the flesh. We're born of incorruptible seed
by the word of God. God's a regenerator, but the
seed is the Word. It has to be, it has to be, it
has to be. Let me incline you here. Come to me, my gospel, here,
and your soul will live. And listen to this, and I'll
make with you, I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. Now listen to me for a few moments.
I'll make with you. Now this everlasting covenant,
I'll make with you an everlasting covenant, so it's not something
made this morning. It wouldn't be everlasting, would
it? I'll make it with you, an everlasting covenant. This everlasting
covenant is from everlasting. It was founded and established
in the everlasting love of God. Properly speaking, it was made
with the everlasting Christ, Son of God. and made with us
in him. And it's made manifest to us
when he opens our eyes. Lydia, he made with her an everlasting
covenant back in Christ, but he made it manifest to her when
he opened her eyes, and opened her eyes, and opened her ears.
See that? That's what David was praying
when he died. He said, God has made with me
an everlasting covenant. God made that covenant with Christ
on your behalf, but he made it known to you, made it manifest
to you, made it open and revealed to you when he opened your eyes.
You don't see something until you see it. You don't possess
something until it's given to you in your heart, then it's
yours. And that's what he's saying here. And it's the sure mercies
of David. Who is this David? that David who is in the grave. This is the son of David. Then
he describes him, listen. He says in verse 4, I have given
him, I have given him, the Father gave the Son. It's an eternal
act. I have given him, already purposed,
already decreed, already done. I have given him. It's an act
of love. I've given him. I didn't sell him, didn't bargain
him, gave him. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift, for God so loved the world that he gave his son. I've given
him. I gave him. And I gave him. The one and only
him. The him and his and he of Isaiah
53. I gave him. And I gave him as
a witness. A witness to the people. Pilate
said to Christ, Are you a king? Our Lord answered and said, Thou
sayest I'm a king. to this end was I born. And for
this cause came I into the world, that I should be a witness to
the truth, and everyone that is of the truth will hear my
voice." Now, memorize that. Pilate said, Are you a king?
Well, you said, I am. And for this cause was I born,
and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness I've given him a witness. God spake to our fathers with
the prophets and spoken to us by his Son. A witness to the
truth and everyone that is of the truth will hear my voice. They will do it. And I'm a leader. I'm a leader. I've given him a witness, a leader. He's the shepherd. David said he's my shepherd and
he leads me. Paul called him the great shepherd
of the sheep. Peter called him the cheap shepherd
of the sheep. He called himself the good shepherd.
I'm the good shepherd. I give my life for the sheep.
And he leads us in green pastures, by still waters, in paths of
righteousness. He leads us out of our way. We've
turned everyone to his own way. He leads us out of our way into
his way, paths of righteousness. And he leads us by the right
way, that we may go, David said, to the city of habitation. He's our leader. He's our commander. He's our king. He goes before
us and prepares a place. Now verse 5, And thou shalt call
a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that know not thee
shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, for the
Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. It's one thing wrong with some
of the newer translations. I'm not declaring war on translations,
I use some. But I read this in the Amplified
and it's all wrong. They apply this to Israel. Israel
shall call a nation that know not nations that knew not Israel
shall run to Israel because of the Lord thy God, for he's glorified
Israel. That's not so. This is Christ. Let me show you, this is Christ.
Thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not. Now, call,
this call is not an external call, it's an effectual call.
He's the only one who can call. Whom he predestinated, he called.
Whom he called, he justified. Thou shalt call, number two,
nations that knew not thee. nations that thou knowest not."
Here's what he said, nations to whom God gave no indication
that he knew them, and nations certainly that did not know him.
Let me show you that in Romans 9. Turn to Romans 9, verse 25. This is one of the reasons that
I really buck against changing translations in a church, or
even bringing other translations as you're preaching the gospel.
This is proven through the years, the King James Bible is proven
through the years to be the best translation of the scriptures,
the Old and New Testament Hebrew and Greek there is. Now in Romans
9, verse 25, listen. He said in Osair, I will call
them my people which were not my people, and beloved which
was not beloved. He's talking about the Gentiles.
To whom did God give the covenant? Israel. To whom did he give the
tabernacle? Israel. To whom did he give the priesthood?
Israel. To whom did he give the promises? Israel. To whom did
he give the Savior? Israel. Looks like he doesn't
even know them. But they are a people among the
Gentiles. They didn't know him, and it
looked like he didn't know them. And that's what he's saying here.
It was said, You are not my people, they shall be called the Look
at verse 26, it shall come to pass that in the place where
it was said unto them, You are not my people, they shall be
called the children of the living God. I'm sure you know the scripture
Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2, verses 11 through 13. Listen to this.
Wherefore remember that you being in times past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
of flesh made by hands. At that time, you were without
Christ. Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope without God in this world.
That's people who knew not God, and it looked like God didn't
know them. But now in Christ Jesus, you who are sometimes
far from maiden eye. One other verse, Isaiah 52, let's
look at that for a moment. Isaiah 52.15. So shall he sprinkle many nations
blood of sprinkling. Kings shall shut their mouths
at him, for that which had not been told them shall they see,
and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Nations
that knew not thee, and for all practical purposes It looked
like you didn't know them. That's what it's saying. Behold, thou shalt call a nation,
nations of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven,
that thou knowest not, and knew not thee, they shall run to thee. Run to Israel? No, run to Christ! We don't invite anybody to come
to a nation or to a people or to to a religion or to a culture,
they are going to run to Christ. Our people shall be willing in
the day of our power, whether they are Gentiles or Jews, they
will be willing to come to Christ. He makes us willing. And whom
the Lord calls by his Spirit and his Word, he quickens from
the dead. And strength is given to them, and they rise and stand
to their feet. And what do they do? They run
to Christ. They run to Christ as that great
city of refuge from the man-slayer. They run to Christ as the rock.
They run to Christ as the fountain of living waters. They run willingly
and lovingly, run to Christ. They make haste because they
are fleeing from their adversaries. Thou shalt call a nation whom
thou knowest not, and nations it knew not, they shall run to
thee. They'll run to you. Why would they do that? Because. All right. Here's my becauses. Number one, because of the Lord
thy God, because of the love of God by which they're drawn.
That's the reason they run to Christ, because of the love of
God by which they're drawn. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him. They're drawn to Christ. by the love of God. Secondly,
by the grace of God revealed to them. They are made alive
by the grace of God. They hunger and pant after righteousness,
and they come to him who is our righteousness. Why do they come? Because whosoever believeth on
him hath everlasting life. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. So I run to him. Because, look next, he is the
Holy One of Israel. He is the righteousness and the
blood. God set him forth to be a propitiation,
to declare his righteousness. And we run to him. We run to
him because there's no coming to God but by him. He's the Holy
One of God, the only Holy One of God. And we run to him. And
here's the last reason. Why do we run to him? Because
he hath glorified God. He said, The hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
may glorify thee. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work you gave me to do. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which you gave me. I have given them thy
word, and they have received it, and they have embraced it,
and they believe that I came from thee. And I pray for them."
I don't pray for the world, I pray for them which you've given me.
And I'm going to run to him, because he's the only one who
can say that. The only one. See how that can't
be talking about Israel? Israel never glorified God. Nations
don't run to Israel. They're not the Holy One of God,
are they? Now, I'm not being contentious. I'm just saying
you've just got to show some care about what you read and
what you believe. I'll tell you one clue, one key. If it glorifies Christ, it's
of God. If it glorifies anybody, anything,
anywhere, it's not of God.