Isaiah 53, 53 is our Savior's sin offering.
You're familiar with it. The word He has Him occurs about 43 times. Verse
4 says, He, surely He, hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we're healed. Our Savior substitutes sin offering,
sacrifice. Chapter 54 is our Savior's promises
Verse 17 sums it up, the last verse of chapter 54. No weapon that's formed against
thee shall prosper. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? And in every tongue that shall
rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. There's no
judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. This is the heritage. of the servants of the Lord.
Now watch this verse, this phrase. Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. That's the reason nobody can
charge you or condemn you or no judgment against you because
he's our righteousness. His blood, chapter 53, cleanses,
justifies. His righteousness, chapter 54,
sanctifies. Please the Father that in him
should all fullness dwell. You're complete in him. Now chapter 55 is our Savior's
call. Ho! Everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water. It's the Savior's call. I know the call of our Lord is
most often sent forth by the mouth of his servants, his prophets,
his preachers, his pastors, missionaries. But this chapter 55 here that
we're reading this morning is a call from the Lord himself. Every word in chapter 5 is Jehovah
speaking. This is not Isaiah speaking.
Charles Spurgeon called Isaiah 55 God's own gospel call. God's own gospel call. He said forget Isaiah and think
only of Jehovah who speaks every word in this chapter. The hymn writer said, oh everyone
that thirsteth draw nigh. It is God who calls his fallen
race. To the living waters come and
leave all you have and are behind is the call of grace. Leave all
you are and have behind is the call of grace. So let's look
at it. Chapter 55, verse 1. Ho! Ho! It's like one standing in
the desert calling to the caravan that passes by. Ho! Wait! Hold on! Listen! Stand still! Ho! Be still! Here's good news. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. It's the master who speaks. Oh, stop. Stand still and wait. The master speaks. Everyone that
thirsted. Now this is not a natural thirst.
As the woman at the well first thought. She said, give me this water
that I come not here to draw. anymore. Our Lord said you drink
from this water you'll thirst again and again and again and
no matter how often you drink you'll still thirst. But he that
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst again. So hold everyone that thirsteth
for what? For fellowship with God. Paul
said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. My soul
thirsteth for thee, the living God, in a dry and thirsty land,
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. That's my
thirst. I thirst for the forgiveness of sin. David said, My sins are
ever before me. Lord, purge me with hyssop. Be
merciful to me according to thy loving kindness. Blot out my
transgressions. Thirsty. I thirst for the fountain
of life. I thirst for his mercy and his
grace. I thirst. Oh, everyone that thirsts. And I'm not interested in those
things when I'm not talking to you. That's what the Lord said. I'm not talking to you. But I'm
not interested. Not talking to you. Water's for
the thirsty, bread's for the hungry, life is for the dead,
salvation for sinners. Ho! If you're thirsty, stand
still. Hear me. And come to the waters. You know, I looked at that word
waters. It's plural. Now I know the water's Christ,
the living water's Christ. Christ is the water. talking
about himself, he that drinketh of this well shall thirst, whosoever
drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. He
stood one day at the end of that great feast and he cried, if
any man thirst, let him come to me and out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. That's Christ himself, but this
says waters Some of the best writers agree
that it's this. Are you thirsty for fellowship
with God, for forgiveness of sins, for the fountain of life,
for mercy and grace? Then come to the waters. Come
to the house of God, where prayer is wont to be made. When Paul
went down to the riverside, there was a group of women there who
assembled because of one thing. That's where prayer was wont
to be made. They assembled there. And Lydia
was there. She came to the place. You see, they didn't have a synagogue
in that town because you had to have so many families to have
a synagogue, and there weren't that many Jews there. But these
women met down by the river with one another, and where two or
three are met in my name, I'll be in their midst. So come to
the house of God, where men meet for prayer and preaching and
praise. And then come to the word of
God. Come to the word preached. Are you thirsty? Come to the
waters. Come to the word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. And how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how are they going to believe
in him in whom they have not heard? And how are they going to hear
without preaching? God has chosen with the foolishness of preaching,
preaching, preaching to save them that believe. Preach the
word. Go into all the world, preach the gospel, and he that
believes the gospel shall be saved. He that believeth not
will be damned. So come to the waters, the place
where prayer is wont to be made, the place where the gospel is
preached, where the message of Christ is preached to the people
who meet in his name. I didn't say go to church. I said find out where the gospel
where the truth is preached, where people meet to worship
God. Not to show off their clothes,
and show off their finery, and show off their religion, but
they meet to worship God. And the preacher is not man's
servant, God's servant, preaching God's word. Come to the waters,
come to the waters, and come to Christ. Moses smoked the rock,
and out of the rock came the water, and that rock is So that's,
you see the scriptures are bifocal. Somebody said it means this,
it doesn't mean that too. As long as it honors Christ. As long as it honors Christ.
You tell a man to come to Christ, well where is he, you say? Well
he's not in Jerusalem. Go to the Holy Land a hundred
times and not meet Christ. He's not on this mountain or
that mountain or this denomination or that denomination. He's where
his people meet in his name and his gospel is preached. That's
where he is. He said the word. He said if
you meet in my name, I'll be in your midst. So you come to
the waters and come to Christ. Come to Christ. When he was crucified,
they drove a spear into his side and out from his side came blood
and water, blood to sanctify, to justify, water to sanctify,
come to the waters. And listen, he that hath no money coming by, it's free, free, come
without money, without price, freely given. You know, when
our Lord was in the home of Simon, the Pharisee, He said to him,
he said, a man had two debtors. One owed him a great sum of money,
and the other owed him a small sum of money. And when they had
nothing to pay, he freely forgave them both. He frankly, freely
forgave them both. It doesn't matter how much a
man owes, how much or how little, salvation's first. Spurgeon preached one time before
the Parliament. He preached a message on God-forgiving
sinners, Matthew 9, where he said, I didn't come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. And when he finished his message,
he said that one of the members of Parliament came to him and
said, that sermon would have better suited Newgate. Newgate
was the prison. That sermon, Mr. Spurgeon, would
have better suited Newgate than Parliament. And Spurgeon said, it suits all
men, high and low, rich and poor, old and young, white and black. It's free. It's a free gospel. When they both had nothing to
pay. In 1 Corinthians 2.12 says that we may know the things that
are freely given to us of God, free. Revelation 21.6 says I'm
Alpha and Omega, I give unto him that is a thirst the fountain
of the water of life freely, freely. Revelation 22.17 says
the Spirit and the bride say come, let him that hear it say
come, let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. Don't bring anything. That poem
I read a while ago said, leave all that you have and all that
you are and come without money, without price. You see that?
He that hath no money Come, yeah, come buy wine and milk without
money, without price, without promises. Oh, Lord, if you save
me, I promise to do this. Don't you dare say that. In my hands, no price I bring. No price. I can borrow money
from you based on that. I promise to pay you later. That's
no gift, that's a loan. That's a no. You know what a
cult is? Somebody says, somebody says
they're a member of a cult. You know what a cult is? A cult is any religion. Catholic,
Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Mormonism, Buddhism,
Confucianism, whatever. Jim Jones, the House of David,
Alexander Burns, a cult is any religion. any salvation or any
hope for heaven that requires anything from you. That's a cult. There's cults meeting all over
this town in great big churches this morning. That's a cult,
isn't it? That's true, isn't it, Walter?
That's a cult. Anything is a cult. It's a false religion that requires
anything from you and from your hand in order to obtain eternal
life. The gift of God is eternal life. Today is Darcy's birthday. I'm
not going to tell you how old she is, but it's her birthday. And last night her family met
together and gave her gifts. Free. She didn't bring anything. She
didn't pick the supper. All she brought was an appetite. That's all. Everything that she
received in that glorious feast is freely given. That's where
you come to the Lord to. Empty, needy, a mercy beggar,
a mercy beggar. Have nothing, know nothing, am
nothing, can do nothing. In my hands no price I bring,
sent me to the cross of Christ. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal know respite? No, these for sin cannot atone. Christ must save and Christ alone.
I'm telling you, the Lord, I'm going to do this. You're not
going to do anything but singing. That's right. Grace is a gift. Repentance is
a gift. Faith is a gift. Life is a gift. Redemption is a gift. Oh, we
do serve him lovingly and willingly and thankfully. We do give, we
do labor, works of faith, labor of love, but not to be saved
or to be accepted. It's because we're his children.
Come, ye needy, come, welcome, God's free bounty glorify. True belief, true repentance,
every grace that brings you night, this he giveth. Yes, he gives
it. It is the Lord that calls you
now. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is
to feel your need of him. Come. Come and welcome. Come
and welcome. God's free bounty. Glorify. Why? Verse 2. Why? Do you spend money for that which
is not bread? Why do men and women spend time
and money in all these religious great programs? I mean, they
spend fortunes supporting these television evangelists. Why do
they do that? Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? It's not bread, it's chaff. It's not bread, it's dry husk,
it's the husk that the prodigal son ate in the pig pen. Why do
you spend your money for that which is not bread? It doesn't nourish the soul,
it destroys the soul. It doesn't, listen, your labor,
your striving and labor, your ceremonies and traditions, all
these things. You labor for that which never
satisfies, never satisfies, never gives peace. Always like the
troubled sea. He said, hearken unto me and
eat that which is good. Ask of me, I'll give you living
water. Come to me, I'll give you rest. Hearken to me. Eat that which is good. Let your
soul delight itself in spiritual fatness in Christ. You can't have peace without
the Prince of Peace. You can't have rest without Him
who ceased from His labor, it finished, and entered His rest
and took you with Him. You can't have comfort and assurance
unless you've got an intercessor. a mediator, a high priest interceding
for you. Christ. Turn to Luke 8 a moment. Let
me show you something over here. Luke chapter 8. This is what
I thought of when I read that. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? support these big programs and
organizations and build these huge impressive buildings with
their gyms and cafeterias and activities and social world. Why do you spend your money for?
And you labor for that which doesn't satisfy. It's like this
woman here in Luke 8, verse 43, and a woman having an issue of
blood. Twelve years she'd been hemorrhaging,
twelve years, weak, pale, warm, dying. She spent all her living
on physicians. Brother Shank said she'd spent
her money on Dr. You Be Good, Dr. See You Down Front, Dr. Will Duncombe. She tried them all. And when Matthew wrote about
it, he said she was no better, but only worse. Worse, worse,
worse. Twofold more the child in hell. When she came behind him, she
said in Matthew's account, if I can but touch the hem of his Not the Pope's garment, or ring,
or rub the stone, or kiss the big toe, or go to the Holy Land. She said, if I can just touch
his garment, I'll be whole. So she came behind him and touched
the border of his garment, and immediately the issue of blood
stopped. She got strength. He said, strength's
gone out of me into her. His strength, his power, his
blood, his healing, his rest. Why do you spend your money for
that which is not brilliant? It never has satisfied anybody. Religion never solved anybody's
problem. It adds to them. It's expensive. And labor for that was never
satisfied. Come to me. Come to me. Mr. Spurgeon was invited by one
of the widows of his church to come for tea. You people who've
been to England know when you come for tea, you come to eat
too. Tea's like supper. They don't just serve tea. They
serve cookies and pastry and things like that. Well, he knew
how poor she was. This is from his own writing. So when he left home, he got
his wife Susanna to give him some tea cakes to take along. This is the great Spurgeon. And
he went to her house and he sat down and she said, I'll prepare
the tea. He said, I brought along some
cookies. She took them out of his hand
and threw them in the waste can. She said, I didn't invite you
to bring tea, I invited you to take tea. So I'm telling you,
God doesn't invite you to bring tea or anything else. Come hungry, thirsty, weary,
and He is our feast, bread and water, wine and milk. Here in verse 3 is two precepts
and two promises. I want you to listen to this.
Now remember the two precepts and two promises. What are the
precepts, Pastor? Verse 3, incline your ear. Here. You see that? Incline your
ear. Come unto me and hear. He said
in here, not walk. Not wash, not work. Here. Brother Muse used to say, don't
move a hand or a hair. Don't you walk down this aisle.
You sit still in here. Here. Don't walk, don't work,
don't wash. Listen, is that too much to ask
of a beggar? Is that too much to ask of a
guilty sinner? Is that too much to ask of a
condemned criminal who's waiting to be hung? Here! Incline your
ear. The body is fed one way, through
the mouth. Somebody said you are what you
eat. In a sense, that's so. You won't be if you don't eat.
I'll tell you that. The body's fed through the mouth.
Listen, listen. The soul is fed through the ear. That's right. He that heareth
my word and believeth. But you've got to hear. How shall
they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And I'll tell you,
you listen to this religious world, listen to the poet. You eat poison, it'll kill you.
Eventually, it may not kill you right now, but you keep eating
it. You keep eating it and you'll die. And you keep listening to
the voices of this world and the reasoning of men and the
arguments of men and the doctrines of men, it will destroy you.
But if you can hear Him speak who speaks from heaven, you know
the truth and the truth will make you free. It will free you
from the bondage of sin, from the dominion of sin, from the
penalty of sin, and someday from the grave. Son sets you free,
you're free indeed, but you're hearing. He that hath an ear to hear,
let him hear. That's the first precept, hear. I'm saying now this to any able
body, you better be hearing the Word. I don't have a place to
go and hear the Word, you better find one there. That's just so. Faith comes by hearing. Comfort
comes by hearing. the word, hear the word. Now
here's the second precept, and come to me. Incline your ear
and come to me. Don't come to religion, don't
come to the law. Don't come to men, don't come
to preachers. Don't come to the altar. A man
wrote me just a couple weeks ago, three
weeks ago. He's very educated. He's got
several degrees. I believe he's a doctor of philosophy
and religion. But he said, I saw on the 13th
Street Baptist Church website an article by you on what's wrong
with the invitation. He said, it impressed me. It
interests me because I'm writing a book on altars, on coming to
the altar. And he gave me the chapter headings
about coming to the altar, who meets you at the altar, and the
words spoken at the altar, and the dedication of the altar,
and all that. And he said, I want you to let
me know your thoughts about this outline, this book. I wrote him, usually most questions
have a pretty simple answer when they have to do with Christ.
I said, open your Bible to Hebrews 13. Open your Bible and find out
what this means in Hebrews 13. He's a student. He's a scholar. He's a Ph.D. He ought to be able
to find out what it means. In Hebrews 13, verse 8, Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, today, and forever, be not carried about with different
and strange doctrines. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein." Four words, we have
an altar. We have an altar. Believers have
an altar. Children of God have an altar.
Well, they have no right to eat or to come who serve the Lord.
circumcision, Sabbath days, holy days, tithes, feast days, they
have no right to come. They've got altars. We have an
altar, it's Christ. Christ is our altar. I said,
you find out who that is and where he is and what he did,
you'll have your answer. We have an altar, it's Christ.
And here he gives these two precepts, hear and come to me. He that heareth my word believeth
on me. Don't come down. These things come to Christ.
Salvation is not moving your feet. It's not moving your head. It's not moving your hands. It's
looking to Christ. We have a doctrine, it's Christ,
the doctrine of Christ. We have a church, it's his body. This is just a meeting place,
this is a building where we meet. His church is his body, he's
the head with the body. We have a creed, it's Christ.
We don't need a constitution and bylaws, we have Christ. We have a hope, it's Christ in
you. We have a priest. We have a high priest. We have
such a high priest who's entered into the holiest. Jesus Christ,
the righteous, at the right hand of God. He's our high priest. Preacher, you're just simplifying
too much. No, Paul said, I got one fear,
that Satan, like he deceived Eve, will deceive you and take
you away from the simplicity that's in Christ. The simplicity
that's in Christ. Some theologians, it takes them
a week to tell a man how to be saved. If a man's lost, I can
tell him how to be saved in one word, two letters, just like,
look. L-O-O-K. That's what Moses said when he
lifted up the brazen serpent. Hey, look! Look unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith. Don't look to your brethren,
the best of them or the worst of them. Don't look to your faith,
faith didn't die for you. Don't look to the experience
of Christ. I see. I see. And here's the two promises,
and I'll quit. He said, incline your ear, come
to me, hear, and your soul will live. I know something about death. Spiritual death, in Adam all
die. By one man, sin entered the world
and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. We're dead by nature,
by birth and trespasses and sin. I know something about physical
death. It's appointed unto me and wants to die. I've watched
my dad die, my mother die, my oldest son die, and my only daughter
die. And I'm dying. Teach us to number our days that
we may apply our hearts to wisdom. God said, Adam, you came from
the dust and you're going back to it. But there's another death
that I fear. above all things, and that's
the second death. I'll read it to you over here
in Revelation 20. You don't need to turn if you
don't want to, but I'll read it to you. Death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. This
is the second. This is eternal. Man died in
trespasses and sin and died physically because of that. He's going to
die again if he doesn't believe on Christ and die forever. Hell
is an eternal grave. Well, where is eternal life?
Well, he said, you incline your ear and come to me and your soul
will live. Never die. He that believeth
on me shall never die. Lazarus asleep. I go to wake him. I'm the resurrection and the
life. And then he said, I'll make an eternal covenant with
you. Two promises. Hear me, come to
me, and your soul will live, and I'll make a promise. I'll
make a covenant that cannot be broken. An everlasting covenant
with you. Even, listen, even the sure,
sure mercies. There's only one in whom you
can have sure mercies, and that's Him who lives forever. Who cannot
lie. Sure. Certain, unchangeable,
immutable, immutable. He'll never die. I'll never leave
you. Never forsake you. For sure. And their mercies, not merit,
mercies. Undeserved mercies. Mercies of
God. Mercy for the sinner, the miserable.
And the sure mercies of David. And that's not David who wrote
the Psalm 23. This is the Son of David, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Those are His mercies. God made
David the king over Israel, and boy, they partook of the mercies
of God because David was their king, but they were all temporal. God has made Christ the Son of
David, our king. He's our witness prophet, he's
our leader priest, he's our commander king, and God's going to bless
us because of him. Our King is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'll tell you, the very gateway of the glory
and kingdom of God is the Lordship of Christ. If you shall believe in your
heart, Whoso shall confess with his mouth Jesus to be Lord, King,
and believe in Yahi. God raised him from the dead,
you could say. But it's bowing to Christ.