Okay. What we're gonna look at is the great invitation here, the everlasting salvation of the Lord, it says in my Bible. I use a Scofield Bible, but we wanna read the scriptures as we get started this morning. And the Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 55, starting in verse one, it says, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, Come ye, buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me. Eat ye that which is good. Let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me. Here, it's very important, and we'll make a point on that in just a minute. And your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the people. Behold, Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and a nation that knewest not thee, shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, for the Holy One of Israel, for thou hast glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways, 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. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts than your thoughts. For the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither. But watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth, and bud, so it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. Some shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. It shall prosper in the things whereto I send it. We'll stop right there for right now and just bring a few thoughts out as we look at Isaiah chapter 55. We see here that we see a great invitation, and we're looking at studying this this morning. I had to go back and have some thoughts as far as what we're going to look at this morning. You know, there's been some grand occasions in this world that we've had witness to as far as invitations. Just by a show of hands this morning on a Sunday morning, has anybody ever been invited to a grand event? Maybe a wedding. You just had a wedding? Well, I want to talk to you about a wedding. One of the grandest and most lavish weddings in the world has ever seen was held on April 2011. Prince William married Catherine Middleton. Millions of people around the world watched on TV. But there were only 1,900 people that were actually invited to this wedding. The royal wedding invitation alone cost $32,000, $32 million. Those who received the invitation were the only ones allowed to enter this grand event in person. to observe this wedding in person. So you think about this. We're seeing this invitation here from the scriptures, and you say, well, this is the Old Testament. Well, I want to show you something that I found in studying this for you this morning. We're looking at the invitation, but we're also looking at a warning. It says, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye unto the waters. He that hath no money, come ye and buy. Eat, yea, come, buy wine, milk, without money and without price. The first we see here, we see the ho or woe in the very first verse of this as it starts out. It has the idea to announce something. I could make an announcement like this this morning. I could say, guess what, church family? Miss Gail and I are not gonna have any more children. Well, that's because I'm well stricken in years, brother. Remember the lesson from Sunday school? We're not well stricken in years, but we're not. But that would be a grand announcement. But we see here that Isaiah, the prophet of the Lord, is announcing what the Lord had told him to say in the scriptures. And he's given an invitation here. Now, this is addressing the Jews, but we're also thinking about this applies to us this morning also. So to announce, ho or wo is to announce. If you will, turn to Romans chapter 10, we see also it makes a reference to invitation. In Romans chapter 10, and my marker come out of my Bible, but we'll find it in just a second. Romans 10, we see here that this announcement is to both the Jews and the Gentiles, and it applies to us today. Look in Romans 10, and verses 12 and 13. It says, For there is no difference between the Jews and the Greeks. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. You see a repeating word there in Romans 10, verse 12. It says, All two times in the Scriptures. I was taught this many years ago. When you see repeating words in Scriptures, You should bring your attention to what the writer, what the Holy Spirit has led the writer to write this. When you see reappearing words in scriptures, it's trying to make a point. So we see here, it says, there's no difference between the Jews and the Greeks. So this invitation back in Isaiah 55 is inviting people to come to this grand event. What a grand event is? Well, the grand event is the new Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. But the grand event is he's coming back one day. And if you want to go to heaven, the Bible says the only way you can get to heaven is through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus said, I am the way, the way, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I didn't quote that verse exactly word for word, but you get the idea there. The only way to get to heaven is through Jesus Christ plus or minus nothing, okay? Only Jesus Christ. only Jesus Christ. So we need to see here that this grand invitation back in Isaiah 55 is just what it's talking about. It says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It doesn't say maybe be saved, possibly be saved. It says whosoever shall call. If y'all ever had an invitation to any type of a wedding, a lot of times there'll be what is a RSVP on there, an RSVP. That means you're supposed to respond, okay? I'm coming to the dinner engagement and I'm bringing three of my Rugrats with me. Not really, but I mean I'm just saying that, but the invitation is to all, okay? But the people want to know if you're coming or not. The Bible says that the devils believe and they tremble, but they're not saved, okay? So God is sending out an invitation, and while we're under the church age, the grace period, the opportunity to be saved is you must believe. You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that the devils believe and they tremble, but they're not saved, okay? So you have to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. So what am I believing? I believe that Jesus died for me, that He was buried for me, and He rose again the third day for me. And He satisfied God's perfect demands. So that's what you have to do to be saved. But you have to respond. The Bible says, in John 1, verse 12 says, but as many as receive him, who? Jesus Christ, he gives them the power to become the sons of God. So we must respond to the invitation. We must RSVP the invitation. And that's what we're talking about this morning. We see here as we break this down in Isaiah chapter 55, it says, wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? You know, as just adding to the lesson this morning and thinking about it, what I want to ask you this morning is, do you ever waste any money? Do we ever waste money? We spend money on, oh, he's pointing at his granddaughter. Okay, you waste, okay. No, but seriously, seriously. As I'm starting to think about retirement, and I've already committed, I've already signed my name on the bottom line, I'm out of my full-time job. Now, I could go get another full-time job, but I have to manage my money. I have to manage. But the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about the free gifts. The Bible says, where God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. I'm getting tongue-tied. But you got the idea of John 3, 16, where God so loved the world. It's a free gift. It's a free gift. But unless you never receive the free gift, it's not a gift. I mean, you haven't claimed it for your very own. But he's telling us in Isaiah 55 there, he's saying, you don't need to buy anything. He says, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye and buy. And eat ye, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. He's telling the people here that I'm offering you a free gift. I'm offering you a free gift. So we think about John 3, 16, that I tried to quote and my brain went dead. So I'm just, excuse me for saying that. But you've got the idea. It says, wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which is not satisfied? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, lest your soul delight itself in fatness. Have you ever diligently looked for a lost set of keys? I have. I wish I had like clapper on a set of my keys is what I actually wish. So I could say, Ms. Gail, what did I do with my keys? I've got to go. I mean, I'm late. I've got to go. I don't know what you did with your keys. but I've diligently sought for those keys." The idea here is to seek out and to look after with effort. Have you ever in your life desired the Lord with your effort? Not that we're working for any kind of salvation or for any kind of blessing, because God is the one that bestows blessings upon us. But what I'm trying to make you see here this morning is that we need to seek after the Lord. We need to seek after Him with faith in our hearts. So the first thing that we see in verses 1 is the invitation is an urgent request. The Lord is giving an urgent request. He says, ho, He's making an announcement. Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine, milk, without money and without price. Verse 2 there says, Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread?" Yes, we waste our time, we waste our food, we waste our money when God is offering us a free gift. We spend our time. So the idea there in verse 2 is unbelief is costly. Without making a profession of faith, you're going to go to a place that God never intended you to ever go. And the gift is out there, and it's to all that will believe. A lot of people, I've had an encounter with some Calvinists through my lifetime saying that God is an all-knowing God, and he has his elect people. Well, God is an all-knowing God, and he does know who will be saved and who won't be saved. But us as individuals, as church believers, as a preacher or a teacher, Sunday school teacher, that's not our choice. All we're told is to preach the Word of God, to teach the Word of God, and then it's up to them to believe the Word of God. But unbelief will be very costly for someone and unfulfilling one day, knowing that the Lord loves them. Verse 3 here says, Incline your ear and come unto me here, and your soul shall live. I just had a thought that just popped in my head. Guys, do y'all ever have selective hearing? Y'all can shake your head. It's okay in church. Y'all can agree. I'm telling you right now, when I'm watching a ball game and I like college football, I'm not going to tell you who I like, but anyway, I like college football. But Miss Gail can say, it's kind of like a commercial on tea. Supper's ready. And then he'll say, well, what are you having? Well, I've told you three times we're having chicken. But this verse right here is not something that we need to laugh about. God is telling us here that we need to hear. We need to listen. We need to listen to what he says. He says, incline your ear. Has the idea to bend. You ever saw those people used to have in the old days that had the horn that they would stick in their ear where they could help it before hearing aids come out? It was an early stage of hearing aids where they'd stick it in their ear? Has the idea of this. Terry, I'm trying to tell you something. Will you please listen to me? I love you and I died for you. All I'm asking you to do is believe that I died in your place. If you'll receive me for your very own, I will save your soul. That's what this invitation is about in Isaiah 55. It's saying that everyone, no matter if you've got any tangible things, if you need water, if you need whatever you need, God's saying, listen to me, son, I'll save your soul. All I'm asking you to do is to believe. That's what I'm asking you to do. So we see here, he says, incline your ear, come unto me, hear, and your soul shall live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. God's covenants and his promises are sure. This is an everlasting covenant, not only to the Jews, but unto all people. That's point number three. I can't believe I've got all these points this morning. I don't know that a pastor's supposed to have that many points, but sometimes we can have more points than we're supposed to, I guess. But it says, incline your ear and come unto me and hear. He says, behold, I will give him for a witness to all the people. This was talking about the sheer mercies of David, but it says a leader and a commander to all the people. It's talking about, it's also making a reference there to Jesus. He says, Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not. You remember that the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, he was commissioned to give the gospel out to the Gentiles, to us. So you see, this covenant is an everlasting covenant that God ordained in the everlasting before everything ever happened. He said, I'm the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. This covenant is God had a pre-planned, had a plan for every person that he was gonna send his son one day and buy them back from the fall. You know, and I had a pastor friend that always made this comment, God is good. And he's good all the time. And all the time, God is good. So we need to think about that God is so good to us. As we continue to look at this, he says in the scriptures there, seek ye the Lord while ye may be found. See, everybody just keeps thinking nowadays that I just got all the time in the world. I was so, so worried about Gil's daddy. His name was William Ray Maddox. And I witnessed to that man, and I witnessed to that man. And I was afraid that he was going to step off into eternity without Jesus Christ. And we cried, didn't we? And we worried, worries of sin. Her daddy was going to die without the Lord Jesus Christ. And I got a revelation about two weeks before that he actually passed away. And I felt like God told me, He said, Terry, you've done what I've asked you to do. You've told him about me. You've witnessed about me. It's his choice. It's his choice. And church family this morning, if you've never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I offer you Jesus Christ this morning. I know that I'm not the pastor of this church, but I can point you to the one that can save you. And his name is Jesus Christ. And if you've never publicly made a profession of faith, I encourage you to do that. I encourage you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be birthed into the family of God. And he says he will save your soul. And he is a promise keeper, and he will save your soul. We continue to look at this. It says, let the wicked, in verse seven, in verse Isaiah 55, verse seven, it says, let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord. I guess I'm gonna stop right here and just say something. I love our King James. It says capital L-O-R-D. That's the Lord God, Jehovah God, the creator God. And none of these other versions of the Bible point that out. Only our King James. Now, can people be saved by reading other versions of the Bible? Absolutely, they can. I've just as always been a King James guy, and I like that. He says, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, or he will, what, abundantly pardon. He didn't just say, I will pardon him. He says, I will abundantly. Has the idea of having a whole storehouse load of gifts. You remember when you were a kid at Christmas time? We used to, my grandmothers, we used to have, we would go down and we would have, all of us would get together and I used to, as a little boy, we would go to that house and I always thought that was the, Grandma's house is the biggest house in the world. And they had all this food and all everything. And there were so many packages and it was abundantly. I mean, we ate good, you know. And now when I go back as an adult, that little old house is just a little bitty old house. There's hardly enough room. You can't hardly, you can smell the other person's breath all the way across the other side of the, one side of the house to the other. And I'm thinking, My perception of the way that it was when I was little compared to why I am now is completely different. But my perception of what God is, it says that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. I might not be quoting that exactly right, but God owns everything. He created all things. He spoke all things into existence out of nothing, out of nothing. And this same God that created all things loves us. And He will abundantly pardon you if you trust Him through this invitation that we're talking about this morning. He says in verse 8, He says, So we see here that the Lord is great and he loves us so much. Psalms tells us this. Psalms 145 verse three says, great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Lord God is a great good God, but he will abundantly pardon us when we trust him by faith. What an invitation that we have this morning, and why we still have the grace period. He says, for as far as the heavens are higher than the earth, in verse nine there, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but it watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth bud, and may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. I'm so thankful that we're kind of getting out of, my profession was working at VDOT for so many years, and I would get nervous when it would snow. All it had to do was come a few snowdrops, a few snowflakes, and I would tell Miss Gayle, I gotta go to work. They haven't called you yet. They're getting ready to call me. Just like that. I can't even stand on my fingers. Anyway, they had called me into work. But snow would make me nervous. But God knows exactly what we need. God gives us rain and snow whenever we need that. And it does. It nourishes the ground. that we walk upon, and it makes the, I love springtime. When I see forsythia bushes in the springtime, it makes me think about Easter. It makes me think about a new life. And you know, Jesus resurrected right around that same time, you know, somewhere around in April there. And when I see the buds start, the flowers start to bloom, it reminds me of God. It reminds me that there's new beginnings with God, but here we see here, it says, for as far as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. For the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and the truth not hither. We don't see what happens to the rain and the snow, do we? We don't see it. We know that it goes in the ground, but it nourishes, but we don't see. We can't see faith either, can we? We can see the results thereof. There should be some, after a salvation experience, the book of James tells us this, he said we should be able to see people's works after salvation. We're not working for salvation, we should see a result thereof. Tucker was talking about knocking on people's doors, learning how to tell people. Brother, the biggest thing is if you're gonna get an opportunity to invite them to church, and then you tell them that God loves them. I know that Brandon's got more information than I'll ever have, but if we just get the opportunity just to share our faith, share your testimony with someone and say, you know, Jesus changed my life. He changed the way I think. He gave me a new song in my heart. He has changed the way I operate. And that's what it's talking about here with our thoughts. See, when Jesus moves into a sinner's life, He changes the way we are. Now, I'm still Terry. But Terry didn't want to do the things he used to do. And that's the assurance that I have, this offering, this invitation. See, one day, many, many years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ squeezed my heart, and I wanted to be saved. And I knew it was lost, and I trusted him by faith. And I didn't change myself, he changed me. And that's what salvation's all about, is that God comes in, he changes you. And if you can just share your testimony, brother, if you can just share your testimony with somebody, that's what it's all about. But as we continue to look at this this morning, look at verse 12 there. I don't know that we read that initially, but it says, where ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills break forth, for you into the singing, and the trees of the field shall clap their hands." You know, when Jesus moves in, he changes us. And we think about these questions this morning, so we go back and look, if you will, look at the first part of Isaiah there again. He says, well, I wrote down, well, who's invited? We look at this this morning, when we apply this this morning, we're thinking about this invitation. This invitation is to whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. This invitation is to all people. Prince William didn't invite me to their wedding. I didn't even watch it on TV, to be honest with you. I've been invited to a lot of things in life. I've been invited to races, the concerts, the different things like that in my life. But the greatest invitation that's ever been extended to a sinner boy like me is that Jesus said, believe on me. He said, if you believe on me, I'll take you to heaven one day. And I know for sure that I trusted him. Been so many years ago, 25 years ago or something like that. So who were invited? Everyone's invited. What are they offered? They're offered the free gift of salvation. When we look at this invitation in Isaiah 55, they're offered salvation. It said that you didn't have to have, don't have to have any money. That's a good thing. You don't have to have anything at all. He offers you, he's the bread of life. He's the water. He told the woman at the well, he said, you drank the water that I have to offer you. you'll never thirst again. So we see here in this invitation, what are they offered? They're offered salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. What are they told to do in order to get it? To believe. He doesn't come right out and say that. He says, incline your ear. Will you listen to me? That's what the writer in Isaiah 55 is telling us, that Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, directing this, the Holy Spirit directing his man, the prophet, to pin this down. Remember, I'm gonna give you a free thing here, Brandon, I don't know if he ever gave you this or not, but I'm gonna give you something free this morning. These are not just stories. This really happened. Everything from cover to cover, if it hasn't happened, it's gonna happen. It's a promise from God. A lot of times in Sunday school when somebody will read something like this, they'll say, oh, this is a story that happened in biblical times. It's a true event. It really happened. This book is real. This book is a living word. That's the verse that I copied down that I highlighted for him. The Bible says the word of God is quick. It is alive. It is a living word of God. It says, it shall not return unto him void. The idea here in Isaiah 55 there, it says, it says, for the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and it shall bring forth bud and it shall give seed. to the sower and bread to the eater. Verse 11, I got ahead of myself there. So shall my word that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void. The word of the Lord is constantly going out, it's constantly going out, it's constantly going out, and it's trying to draw people in. And Isaiah here in 55 says, incline your ear unto me, and listen unto me, because I love you, will you respond to the invitation? We'll finish with this this morning. We got more paper than Carter's got liver pills. Some of y'all that's older might know this. Get the right paper here, gonna mark down here. It's hard to picture Someone being invited to a special event like a royal wedding to decline to attend yet I Didn't I didn't get an invitation and I didn't watch it on TV So that's what I was telling you there yet each day many people refuse to listen to the voice of wisdom I'm talking about God here when we seek God's wisdom wisdom through his word. We are guaranteed to find it I've got something for you this morning. It's in Peter, I think it's 2 Peter, I didn't mark it down. And I know you've heard this word before. It says, cast all your care upon him for he careth for you. What I'm telling you this morning is if you have a salvation need, cast that care upon the Lord. Ask him, call upon him. and you shall be saved." If you have a care as far as you're going through a burden in life, you need to take that burden and give it to the Lord. Cast all your care upon Him. Him who? On the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, for He careth. I like the King James Version so much better. The th on the end of the word careth means He doesn't just care for you one time. He constantly cares for you. I've got to care today, and I take it to the Lord. I've got to care tomorrow, and I take it to the Lord. Because He continuously cares for us. See, right now, God is offering salvation to whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. When the rapture takes place, that's the end. That's the end. and the invitation is closed. Now, will there be people saved after that? Absolutely, there will be. But for us that have heard the gospel over and over and over and over, the Bible says He will send a strong delusion that we may believe a lie. I don't want anybody in here today, or anybody that I've ever had the opportunity to attempt to preach the Word of God to, to not hear what I'm saying. God loves you. And he wants you to be birthed into the family of God. And that's the invitation today. Many of us will never probably ever get to go to a royal wedding. But oh yes, we will. We'll go to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And it'll be a grand event. And we'll bow our heads and we'll say, how did I ever not believe you, Lord? because I know you love me. The invitation is this today as we finish. If you never trusted Jesus Christ, I offer you the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you're here this morning and you've never trusted Jesus, he loves you. If you'd like to talk to me after the service is over with, I'll be more than glad to open the Bible show you how that you know for sure and how you can trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're here this morning and you'd just like to come up and maybe pray, or you can pray in your seat there. I'm going to pray in just a minute. If you'd like just to pray about something,