Series: Isaiah
Title: God’s Call to the Thirsty
Text: Isaiah 55: 1-3
Date: May 4, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Turn
with me in your bibles to Isaiah 55. Our
text this morning is not Isaiah the prophet speaking. It is God speaking. As we read these words,
try to ignore my voice speaking. Instead, concentrate on God speaking. These
are God’s words.
I. FIRST, GOD ISSUES A CALL WITH A CONDITION—Isaiah
55: 1: Ho,…
It
means give God your undivided attention. Set aside every thought. Focus all
your attention on what God is about to say.
We Must Be Thirsty
He does
not issue this call to everyone. He
says, “Ho, Every one that thirsteth.”
God is
not forbidding anyone from coming. He says “Every one.” The problem is that sinners are not thirsty. Do you genuinely desire to be satisfied?
Satisfied that you have found the true and living God? Satisfied that all is
right between you and God? Satisfied that God himself has put away all your sin
and fulfilled the law just for you? Do you genuinely desire to find true,
lasting delight for your soul? Spiritual meat which fills the soul? Are you thirsty for everlasting life and to
be sure that you have life everlasting? Do
you thirst for full assurance—to be sure—that God will show you sure,
everlasting mercies? This call is only
to those who thirst! God is not forbidding anyone. The problem is that men are not thirsty by
nature. You do not have to talk a thirsty man into taking a drink of cool,
clean water.
Matthew 5: 6: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
God’s Command
If you
meet this first condition, then hear the LORD’s command—Isaiah 54: 1:…come ye to the waters.
If a
man is thirsty, where does he go? A
thirsty man does not go to a dry place; to a dry desert; to a dry fountain? A
dry place will not satisfy your thirst; a dry place will not delight the thirsty;
a dry fountain won’t provide the water of life.
Sinner,
looking to ourselves in any regard—for righteousness or holiness, for
edification, for preservation—is trying to quench our thirst with a cup of
sand. Those who are dying of thirst must come to the fountain of living waters. God says, “Come ye to the waters?” Come to
where full provision for all your need may be found—Come ye to Christ!
Christ is the Fountain of Living Waters
Our triune
God in Christ Jesus the Son of God is the fountain of living waters. To the
woman at the well…
John 4: 10: Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink;
thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11:
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12: Art thou greater than
our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his
children, and his cattle? 13: Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14: But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 7:37: In the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink. 38: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Our
text speaks of Water, Wine, Milk, and Bread—they represent Christ—the fountain
of living Waters is Christ, whose sin-purging blood is the wine that rejoices
the heart, whose gospel is the sincere milk of the word, who is the Bread of
Life given by God the Father. Notice the text commands us to hear and come to
him: verse 2: hearken diligently unto ME, and eat ye that which is good; verse
3: Incline your ear, and come unto ME. The
blessings Christ promises are spiritual: spiritual life, spiritual nourishment—true
soul food: verse 2: let your soul delight itself in fatness; verse 2:…hear, and
your soul shall live;
Sinner,
can you just for a moment, take off your blinders and look at the horizon. There is more than this little life with all
its trinkets of dust and its desert mirages!
You have an eternity to spend somewhere. You have a need for acceptance
with God. You have sin which needs to be put away. You need righteousness which
you don’t have and can’t produce. Oh that God would make you thirsty
today! God says, “Ho, everyone that is
thirsty, come ye to the waters. Come ye to Christ!”
II. THEN GOD ISSUES A SECOND CONDITION AND A
CALL—Isaiah
55: 1:…and he that hath no money;
We Must Have Nothing with Which to Pay
Not only
must you have a genuine thirst, you must have no way of paying for that which
you need--“he that hath no money.”
Christ
the Master declared, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Mt 19: 24) The
way is too straight and too narrow, my friends.
You must come with no merit in you, no worthiness in you, no
righteousness of your own, no works of your own, no wisdom of your own.
Why is
this a vital necessity? If you come with anything at all, then Christ will not
be your All and in all! One who thinks he has wisdom of his own—will not trust
Christ to be all his Wisdom; one who thinks he has righteousness of his
own—will not rest in Christ to be all his Righteousness; one who imagines he
has holiness of his own—will not have a heart for Christ to be all his
Sanctification; one who imagines he can redeem himself from the curse of the
law—will not look to Christ to pay all the debt he owes to God and his justice.
“In my hand no price I bring
Simply to Christ I cling”
Illustration: I went on vacation once, and ran out of money. I went to a restaurant between breakfast and
lunch and begged for a leftover pancake. I begged for water at a convenient
store. When you have nothing and are nothing you are forced to come to Christ
begging for mercy. Christ said,
Luke 5:32: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance.
Illustration: A man at a convenient store in Houston Texas said to me,
“No, I will not give you a cup of water. But I will give you
something—advice—get a job because nothing in this life is free.” He was right!
The world is not like God and God is not like this world. It is just the opposite with God. Isaiah 55: 1:…he that hath no money; come
ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Man-made religion is trying to get you up to their price. God says we must come down to his—salvation
is free!
Illustration: Melinda and I
were at a restaurant back home one summer eating dinner. My cousin, Tim, was there with his
family. He left before we did. When I asked the server for my bill, she
said, “It is already paid!”
Sinner,
when you come to Christ you find out everything is already paid in full. Redemption
from the curse of the law is already accomplished for all those God
everlastingly loved! Righteousness is
already established and sins have already been purged for all for whom Christ
died! All, all, all was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ when he cried,
“It is finished!” Salvation is free to those who come because it cost the
precious blood of God’s only begotten Son.
Jesus paid it all
All the debt I owed
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
How do
I know Christ accomplished this for me? Are
you thirsty? Have you no price to bring? Then come, feast upon the wine of
Christ’s blood and the sincere milk of the word, without money and without
price.
III. THIRDLY, GOD ASKS A QUESTION—Isaiah 55:
2: Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your
labour for that which satisfieth not?
Remember
this is God speaking. What condescension! God comes down to our feeble reason
and says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.” (Is 1: 18)
Vain Spending and Vain Laboring
The
vain imagination of every carnal mind and of all false religion calls you to
the field and to the kitchen. They bid you plant and cultivate and pick your
own grapes, crush them yourself, strain them yourself, make your own wine; yet
you never get to drink the soul-refreshing wine of Christ’s blood with all the
he accomplished so freely for his people. They are too busy telling you how to
earn a righteousness for yourself.
They
bid you raise your own cow, milk it yourself, strain it yourself; yet you never
get to drink the sincere milk of the word. They’re too busy using the
scriptures to tell you their is life by the work of your hands.
John 5:39: Search
the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they
are they which testify of me.
They
bid you raise your own wheat, harvest it yourself, prepare it and bake it
yourself; yet you never get to eat Christ the Living Bread. They are too busy
telling you the lie that the work of God is for you to work rather than the
truth, “this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent!”
God
says, “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your
labour for that which satisfieth not?” Works religion takes all from you—but
it can never give you what only Christ the living Bread gives to his people. You labor, labor, labor but it will never
satisfy God, nor will it give you the satisfaction that only God gives in
Christ.
Christ’s Yoke and Burden is Light
Matthew 11: 28: Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29: Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. 30: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Why is
Christ’s burden so light? Scripture says two things are on Christ’s shoulder: the
government is on Christ’s shoulder. And when he finds his lost sheep—you
believer—he carries it on his shoulder. His burden is light to us who rest in
him because we, along with everything necessary to make us accepted with God,
is all on Christ’s shoulders. Sinner, “Wherefore do ye spend money for that
which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?”
IV. BUT HOW DO I COME TO CHRIST? NEXT, WE SEE
THAT ONLY GOD CAN MAKE US WILLING TO COME TO CHRIST—Isaiah 55: 2: hearken
diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness.
Dead Men Eating and Drinking and Getting Life
“How
can a dead man hearken and eat?” It
sounds contradictory to tell dead sinners to do these things then tell them if
they do their “soul shall live.” Remember, the valley of dry bones? God told
his preacher, “Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the LORD.” God said, “Tell them they are dead.” Sinners will
not be given life by God through the message that tells them they have a little
spark of life in them. God says, “Tell them they are dead!” God did not tell
his preacher to give the bones a step-by-step guide on how to be born again. A
dead man can do nothing! God said,
Declare to them how I will give life to these dry bones through this
gospel.—“Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath
to enter into you, and ye shall live:”
Sinner,
you are a dry, dead bone in yourself. No ability, no will, no spiritual discernment
in you whereby you can hearken to God’s command. But the words “Hearken” and “diligently” are
the exact same verb. They both mean “hear with spiritual discernment.” The
first word is spoken in the “imperative”—it is God’s command. The second verb
is in the “infinitive absolute”—like an adverb—it teaches us how to hearken.
As the
call of this good news goes out—God gives the command effectually in the
heart—“hearken!” By his command he gives life and spiritual discernment in the new
heart. The gospel cannot be understood any other way.
1 Corinthians 2: 14: the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15: But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things,
Likewise,
by the same command, God gives us “thirst”, making us hearken—“diligently.”
Illustration:
When your favorite band drops their latest
record—you listen to them over and over and over again. You hearken diligently
to them.
When God makes his holy law come alive to his lost child,
he empties our hands of all our vanity, when God makes us see our sin he dries
us up and makes us thirsty for righteousness from another. That is how God alone makes the sinner hearken
diligently unto God!
Who Do We Hearken Unto and How?
Further, by this same command, God tells his child who to
hearken unto, “Hearken diligently UNTO
ME!” In the preaching of the gospel, in the holy scriptures: both as the
gospel is being preached, then at home as you study the things you have heard.
Likewise,
by this same command, it is God who teaches us how to come and how to eat—Isaiah 54: 3: Incline your ear, and come
unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; God teaches his child to come to Christ through our ear,
hearing the gospel that declares Christ; we come to Christ in our heart,
believing on him; we come to Christ,
coming to his throne of grace to beg mercy from him; we continue coming to Christ all our days the same way—“to whom
coming!” It is by God’s effectual
command through the hearing of the gospel of Christ that God gives faith in the
heart!
Romans 10:17: faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God.
It is
by God’s same effectual command through the hearing of the same gospel of
Christ that God continues to grow believers in the new man.
Galatians 3: 2: This only would I learn of you, Received
ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3: Are ye so
foolish? having begun in the Spirit, [by the hearing of faith] are ye now made
perfect by the flesh? [by the works of the law?]
Believers
continue and grow, the same way we began, by the hearing of the faithfulness of
our triune God in Christ Jesus!
But
notice, this general call has gone out this morning so that every one hears the
same message. God has hid nothing from any
sinner here today. So sinner you can stop blaming God for not believing on God.
No sinner here can plead ignorance for refusing to bow to Christ. Flee to
Christ today!
V. LASTLY, FOR THOSE TO WHOM THIS WORD COMES
IN POWER, WHO OBEY AND BELIEVE ON CHRIST, GOD MAKES A PROMISE—Isaiah 55: 3:…and
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David.
Note,
God says, “I will make”—It God’s
prerogative alone to make covenant with whom he will. God alone can write the
law of his covenant on our hearts.
Note,
it is an “everlasting covenant.” It
is from everlasting to everlasting—eternity to eternity. It is God’s covenant
of free grace given to his people in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Founded on nothing but the goodness and grace of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore,
it cannot be undone—it is an everlasting covenant
Note,
God says, I will make this everlasting covenant “with you.” With you who
look for salvation in no other but Christ; with you who look for righteousness
in no other but Christ; with you who come to Christ through faith, thirsty,
without money and without price—“ye shall be filled.”
Note,
God calls his covenant, “the sure
mercies of David.” Sure—because every stipulation of this covenant is
accomplished by God in Christ Jesus—it is all finished, nothing remains for the
sinner to pollute by the work of our hands.
Mercies—because we need abundant mercies. God gives mercy after mercy after
mercy. Of David—because David, as a king
and mediator, typified Christ, who came through the house of David, the
covenant God makes with us is the Son of David, Christ Jesus; the same
inheritance God gives to Christ, he promises to each believer.
Romans 8: 16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God: 17: And if children, then heirs; heirs
of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we
may be also glorified together. with Christ.
Let’s end by dropping down to verse 6 and just
reading God’s command.
Isaiah
55: 6: Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is
near: 7: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our
God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8: For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9: For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10: For as the rain cometh down, and the
snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh
it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the
eater: 11: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12: For ye shall go out with
joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth
before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands. 13: Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
I pray God make his word effectual in our hearts.
Amen!