Okay, our text is Isaiah 55 and verse 1. Ho, everyone that thirsts, 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. Now go down to verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. 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." Now down to verse eleven, "...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 whereunto I sent it." Now shall we pray? I pray that you'd help us to preach clearly the Word of God to rightly divide if there is one in this auditorium today that does not know that they died today that Heaven's their home. I pray that today be the day they come to receive Christ as their Savior. We ask this in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Some young person's heart began to pound and flutter because for the first time in his young life He was giving a valentine's card to a girl and this time it was serious. And it wasn't just a regular card. It was a hallmark. Now, when one says be my valentine, he's saying be my sweetheart. Now, it's interesting when we say valentine, valentine was actually a third century Catholic monk. He had a great love for birds and did a great study on birds. You might say Valentine's Day is for the birds. But nonetheless, I'm not saying that because I want to eat this afternoon. But nonetheless, some might say that. Now, most of the stories that we read of Mr. Valentine are fiction, of course. But he was an actual man. He did do those studies on birds. And his study of birds did show some things that humans ought to emulate. For example, his study revealed that birds select only one mate for life. They had something over humans. They're not wondering who their dad is on Father's Day. They observed February 14th at first because Valentine noticed that right around that time was a time that these birds had chosen their mates. It was on or near that date. And he had hoped to use it as an exhortation for human marriage. Now, we don't mean the same thing as they meant back in that day in our customs today. For example, back in that day. They tried to develop this so that young people would meet. And then make a choice that I'm going to just devote myself. I want to choose this person for a year of acquaintance. if they felt they were fit for one another at the end of the year on February the fourteenth they would be married. Now understand they didn't move in and just live together to see if they're compatible. OK. That was sin is still sin today by the way. And let me go on and say this. You've been married before and your marriage has ended in divorce or death or some other way. That doesn't mean that it's alright for you to have these relationships. It is still sin, it's still wrong. By the way, the marriage bed is undefiled, but outside that it is always low down, filthy, and rotten. God views it as badly as he does homosexuality, as he does child predators. He views it just on that level. And I would say, if you're moved in and living with someone and you're not married, I'd say break that up right now or this week you decide to go ahead and get the license and get married. Do the right thing. You can either be right and moral or you can be wrong and immoral. But one way or the other. Now, one can plainly see that in that day, asking someone to be your valentine had a far more reaching meaning than it does today. They were no longer living for self. They were choosing to love, to like that person, to have a commitment to them. So it was serious business back in that day. And there was in their mind a need for another person. Now, if you want to belong to God. You need to see that you do have a true need, and that need is the forgiveness of sin. Now, forgiveness carries the idea of subtraction. There's a debt we owe. A debt that's bigger than we can pay, and it is completely subtracted. By the way, That's behind the word forgiveness. It means removal. Repentance wants the sin removed and no longer hanging over our head to condemn us. Now, let me say this. Repentance does not cleanse us. The blood of Jesus Christ does. Faith does not save us. Jesus saves. However, that salvation and that cleansing is appropriate. The blood is appropriated and Jesus saves through repentance and faith. And that's why our campaign is X 2021 there of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But to have forgiveness from God. It's important that the payment be made for every obligation to the injured holiness of God. You see, every one of us have injured. That obligation, we've injured. The holiness. Romans 310 says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Romans 323 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That includes me. That includes you. None of us deserve to go to heaven. None of us earn our way to heaven. None of us can do the work adequate to go to heaven. We need a Savior who does it all. And when you come to the judgment, it'll show that each person has injured the holiness of God. In Matthew chapter 12, verse 36, the Lord Jesus Christ said, But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Every idle word. Now, by the way, let me say this. Cussing is still evil in God's sight. Now, it permeates your television, even the news, you can't watch the news anymore with it just permeating the news. Even in schools, the finding that those words get used from time to time in different places. Coaches seem not to know how to coach without. And what I think is interesting, though. Some people will get really bent out of shape and they'll say so, they'll get in your face if you'll say. Don't be so stupid or shut up. And they take those as the cuss words. You said stupid. I can't believe you said shut up. But then they can sit through and hear God's name taken in vain and they do nothing. They can hear all every cuss word in the book and they do nothing. Why is that? It's because the world has dictated to you your new morals and principles. By the way, some people are stupid and they do need to be told to shut up before they prove their stupid. In John chapter 12 verse 48, Jesus said, He that rejected me and received not my words, hath one that judges him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day. Jesus said, My words, not your words, my words, the word of God is going to be the basis of judgment. It's not what we think is acceptable. It's not what we think should be God's standard. Note the Bible already lays out the standard. Every idle word. By the word of God, but we go further. Hebrews chapter 4 verses 12 and 13 for the word of God is quick. and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and the marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked. and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do not understand not only those idle words, not only by the Word of God, but using the Word of God. He's going to measure the thoughts and intents of your heart. And it's all naked, other words, nothing is hidden in your heart from him. It's all open for him to plainly see. The Bible says in Romans 623, the wages of sin is that final, complete separation from God forever in the lake of fire. Where there's no ceasing to exist and where there's no escape that is the wages of sin and isn't it interesting, he doesn't say for the wages of a big sin. He doesn't say for the wages of certain kind of sin. For the wages of sin is the Adam and Eve in the garden. The eight of the fruit of the tree. And they were told of the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die, and they did. You put out a candy in a bowl. And you tell your children, don't eat of that. If you take a bite of that before supper, you're going to die. Now, you don't kill them. You may do all kind of things, but you don't kill them. But nonetheless, we don't think of it as what they took a piece of candy. They ought to be put to death. However, God's standard is not our standard and the wages of sin is death. and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and God is the judge. He is the one that makes the determination. Look at verses 8 and 9 of this chapter that we've looked at here in Isaiah 55. God says, 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, and my thoughts than your thoughts. His thoughts, His ways are higher and they are holy. And no one will be able to reason with God or con God into letting them in without the way of Jesus Christ. This debt, you'll never be free of it if you try to pay it yourself, because hell is forever. If you decide to pay this debt yourself, You'll forever be making payments on it. In the Lake of fire. A place where you'll never cease to exist or escape. Now understand, you're going to stand before God one day. We don't know what goes on in your home. You've got one of the children there. They're hard to wake up in the morning. It takes a resurrection. Every day. But then you have another child, same home, same parents. They get up. They get a shower. Get dressed, eat their breakfast, and they're walking out the door, and that other one is just now getting their sock on. In other words, there's something different about them, but that's what the home knows. Child stands up here and says, boy, my mama can belch with the best of them. Daddy picks his nose. Brother sister do this they do that well those are things that was told publicly. There's going to be a war. There's going to be a battle like your family's never had. Those are the hidden things of the whole. And the hidden things of the heart are made known. First Corinthians four five says therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then show every man have praise of God. That scene scene at the great white throne judgment will prove that no one is worthy of salvation and that each person without Christ Is cast into the eternal lake of fire justly. Now again, we look at our text versus six and seven. He says, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call you upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. The unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy on upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. You can't pay the debt. and be free and clear of it ever of your own. But there is one who can pay it for you. Not that we deserve it. But we can be cleansed. We can be forgiven of all our unrighteousness is 1 John chapter 1 verse 7 says it this way. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. And notice the steps. You seek the only one who can save in John 14, verse six, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes into the father. In other words, nobody goes to heaven. He says, but by me in Acts four, 12, speaking of Jesus again, it says there is none other name given among men whereby you must be saved. There are not many roads to heaven. There's only one way. And that is through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And what must you do? Well, you must call upon him. Romans 10, 13. That's one of the things you do. But there is a time. When it will be simply too late, and that's why our text says, call upon him now while he may be found and while he's near. Now's the time we read in Proverbs chapter one, verses 27 through 29 of the man who's gone into hell just one second into hell. And it says of him. when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Well, what a way to describe hell. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, one second into hell they'll be seeking him, but they shall not find me. for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord." They chose not Jesus Christ. Now, you must realize in verse 7, when you seek Him, you're coming to Him as a sinner condemned, but you're ready for Him and willing for Him to cleanse you of your sin. You say, look, I want Jesus to save me, but I want to continue to live in my sin. My friend, that's not forgiveness and that won't be cleansing. Therefore, that will not be salvation. You say, but hey, I believe that Jesus died for my sin and rose from the dead. I believe that very sincerely. You do. James says the devils believe and even tremble, but they're not saved. God does the forgiveness and the removal of the penalty, but it is man that must have the repentant heart. To forgive us, the debt had to be paid. As Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness or no remission of sins. Jesus Christ made the payment for all the injured holiness of God. for all sin, for all time. When he died on the cross, shedding his blood for us, he was dying for every idle word. He was dying for every evil intent and thought of the heart. Yes, he was dying for the homosexual, he was dying for the sexual predator, he was dying for the murderer, he was dying for the thief, but he was dying for us too. He was dying for us. We're sinners saved by grace if you're saved. The resurrection, three days later, is as important as the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. And if you want to try to go another way besides repentance and faith in Christ Jesus, what must you do? You must be able to die, your spirit go down into hell, and then after three days let your spirit re-enter your body. Raise it up, make it eternal. And if you can't do that by yourself, you can't do that, then you need a Savior. And let me tell you right now, you can't do it. You need a Savior. That is why we say you cannot pay the debt. However, our text said, yes, everyone that's thirsty come to the water. And he that hath no money, come, buy, eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why? Because the payment has already been provided. But understand, the payment is given, it's not earned. Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You're not going to earn it. You can't earn it. But one thing you must understand, if you're going to receive salvation, it must be in this lifetime. But when you receive Jesus Christ, his blood cleanses you from all your sin. Isaiah chapter 43, verse 25 says it this way, I, even I, this is God speaking, I, even I, am he that blotted out thy transgressions for my own sake. and will not remember thy sins." Now, that's pretty good. When he'll cleanse me of all my sin, that's great. And the great thing about it all is that the payment is irrevocable. That's why he said in verse 11, my word does not return unto me void. It accomplishes the thing whereinto I sent it. in Scotland, the story told the position that had died and when they examine the books they found written in red on several of the accounts that said, forgiven to poor to pay and they found that was on several accounts. His wife didn't have the same benevolent attitude is that he had and so she got all these together, the people that could not pay and decided to take them to court. And as they stood before the judge and they showed the book, the judge asked her, Is this your husband's handwriting? She said, Yes, sir, it is. Then the judge replied, Then no tribunal in the land can change it. My friend, Satan can make many accusations against you. Once you're in Christ Jesus, he can make all the accusations, and most of them can be true, if not all of them. But our forgiveness is written in the rich red blood of the Lamb of God. It's written in the Book of Life to never be blotted out. But you must realize you've got to act in this lifetime. you must act now. 2 Corinthians 6 says, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the time of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. You remember the name John Spinkalink? Just to remind you, John Spinkalink was the first man executed in the Florida electric chair after the Supreme Court reversed the death penalty decision, and it was once again open. Now, imagine John Spinkalink being offered a pardon and refusing it. I mean, just imagine he says, no, I want to sit in that chair and get a charge, you know. Well, you got a charge. Kind of like people say, he's ass foolish, but he wouldn't say that. Some people say, and we'll go to hell and have a friend with all my have a part of all my friends. Boy, we're just going to party together all through hell. No, you're not. Hell is a place of separation. There's no party, whatever. We thought he's foolish. To refuse a pardon. Proverbs, Chapter 29, verse 1 states it this way. He that been often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Don't be so foolish. They're saying, well, I've got time to get saved. I'm going to put it off. I'm not going to get saved right now. And you might be waiting until 1130 to get saved, and you'll find that Jesus takes you home at 11 o'clock, and it's too late. He wants to save you, and it's a gift. You see, we read to you, the wages of sin is death. Wages. What every one of us have earned, what every one of us have coming, is final, complete separation forever from God in the lake of fire. However, the gift, not earned, but the gift of God is eternal life But how is that? It's only through Jesus Christ our Lord. And you're invited to come to him while he may be found. And he will not only pardon you, our text said he will abundantly pardon you. And he'll never break that word. And you know the word says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. And yes, my friend, today, the Lord Jesus Christ says to you, would you be mine? Let's bow our heads, please. Father, as we prepare to sing hymn 196, There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. I pray, Lord, that for each of these that raise their hands and says, oh, I'm not saved. I pray that today be the day they receive Christ as Savior. For that one that's backslidden out of fellowship with you, I pray that they might come. May that one, Lord, that maybe is immoral, maybe something with their language, they'd get it taken care of. And then, Lord, for those that have a burden for a lost soul that they want to pray for, I pray that they also might come. and pray for that lost soul. And whatever the spiritual need is, I pray it be met in this invitation. In Jesus Christ's precious and holy name, amen.