Isaiah chapter 55. I've entitled the message for this morning, Ho, Everyone That Thirsts. There was a popular song in the late 60s, some of you might have heard it, but it had in it this line. Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. Would you not say that describes me and you quite often? A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. Hearing only what we want to hear and disregarding the rest of what has been said. Partial hearing. In this passage, God himself is speaking and he says, ho. That's interjection. Listen carefully to what is being said. Now there will be nothing hard to understand about this. And as far as that goes, there's nothing hard to understand about the truth. You might not believe it, but it's not hard to understand. For instance, when I say God elected who would be saved before time began, somebody says, I don't understand that. Yeah, you do. You might not believe it. but it's not hard to understand. God chose who would be saved before time began. Now, what I think is very interesting about this passage of scripture, God says, ho. Look in verse two. The latter part of the verse, hearken, diligently unto me. Verse three, incline your ear. You know when you incline, you have to be low to hear. If you can't hear, it's because you're up too high. Incline your ear. Hear, verse three, hear, and your soul shall live." Now, four times in these first three verses, there is a reference to hearing. Ho! You know, that is an interjection like a drill sergeant coming in and saying, attention! You're gonna listen. That's what the Lord's saying. Ho! Hearken diligently, listen carefully, incline, bend down your ear. You can only hear from the ground. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Would to God that you and I will hear. Not just what we want to hear, but we will hear. Hear! God says, and your soul shall live. Verse one, Isaiah 55. Ho! What a condescension on God's part to use this kind of language with us. Listen up. Ho! Don't let my words fall to the ground. Listen, there's nothing more important than what is being said by God in this passage of scripture. Using language like this to us, what condescension. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Now I like the word everyone. Wide. And I'll have the word one. Here we have the width and the narrowness of the gospel. In this word, everyone. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Who's called upon to listen so carefully? Everyone that thirsteth. What is thirst? It's a felt absence of what is needed to quench your thirst. Absence. You don't have it. That's why you're thirsty. And you can't produce it. That thirst cannot be quenched from something in you. It must come from outside of you. And you understand that. That's what it means to thirst. It's the felt absence of what you need and cannot produce. Now, let's look at this from the scriptures. I mean, the scriptures are the best commentary on the scriptures. The Lord said, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after what? Righteousness. There's a felt absence of that in you. And you know it can't come from you. And you know that it's gonna have to come from somewhere other than you. Righteousness, a hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now look in verse 17 of Isaiah 54, the verse preceding chapter 55. Look at this verse. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their righteousness, their personal righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Now here's something I'm thirsting for. I'm thirsting that every tone that rises up against me is going to be condemned because I'm not gonna have anything to be condemned for. And here's why, I have a righteousness, a perfect righteousness that's acceptable to God because it's His righteousness. And I'm thirsting to be saved by His righteousness. I don't wanna have anything to do with anything that has my fingerprint on it. I want to have His righteousness only. Now that's what Paul said in Philippians chapter three. He says, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Now, when God comes looking for me, there's only one place I want to be found, in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that all that he sees when he sees me is his son. He doesn't see anything else. Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness. Do you hear that? Do you hear that? Not having. my own righteousness, which is of the law, which is according to my personal works, but the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's what I want. That's what I thirst after. Oh, everyone that thirsteth after what he's speaking of in verse 17. Having a righteousness which is of God. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Not go and do. Not examine how thirsty you are. Not think about what first must be done before you can come. The command to that one who thirsts, come ye to the waters. The Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that's a thirst, come. Don't think about what you need to do first. Don't need to think about what you need to understand first. Don't think about what sin you need to get rid of before you can come. The command is come to Christ right now. Don't wait for anything. If you're waiting for something, that's works. You're thinking about what you need to do. If you're trying to look back, that's works. You're thinking about what you did. Right now, present tense, and this is a call to everybody right now. Everybody in this room, everybody outside of this room, come. Everyone that thirsts, That's who's called. Somebody says, I'm not thirsty. Well, he's not talking to you then. Everyone that thirsts, let him come. Now, knowing how works and merit are so into our thinking, he further qualifies this. Verse one, ho, everyone that thirsteth, that's that Absence of righteousness. No one, you can't produce it. It must come from outside of you. And you thirst for this righteousness. You will not be satisfied without his righteousness. Come ye to the waters, he that hath no money. He that hath no money. Come ye, buy and eat. Do you know you disqualify yourself if you have anything to pay? Do you hear? You disqualify yourself if you have anything to pay. He that hath no money. If you have anything that would recommend you to God or obligate Him to do something on your behalf, There's nothing for you. It's only the person who has nothing. Do you hear? Only the person who has nothing. Do you know that this is the only thing there is that's truly free? Nothing else is. This is the only thing there is that is truly free Free grace. The only currency that is accepted in the kingdom of heaven is to have nothing. How do you fit in there? Are you someone without money? Without anything, with no good thing to recommend you? You have nothing. You are the one. who is called upon to come. Notice what he says. Come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price, water to quench your thirst, wine for joy, milk for strength. That's everything you need. Come buy without money and without price. Do we hear that? No one can say, well, I don't have what it takes. You don't need anything. Verse two. Now there's a question that deals with our spiritual stupidity. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not? Now why are you doing that? Why do you spend your money on that which doesn't do you any good and your labor for that which provides no satisfaction? Why are you doing that? Are you hearing? This is a question. Why? Are you doing that? Satisfaction. Satisfaction. What is the one thing God's satisfied with? Jesus Christ, His Son. His person, His life, His death, His resurrection. God is satisfied with what Jesus Christ did and He's satisfied with everybody that Jesus Christ did that for. You know if Jesus Christ died for you, God is completely satisfied with you. He's not looking for anything else. Do you hear that? Are you hearing? You know, the only thing that you can find satisfaction in is what God is satisfied with. Anything else, you're going to feel shaky. You're not going to feel any satisfaction. But can you be satisfied with the satisfaction of His death? God being satisfied with Jesus Christ? I'm satisfied with Him, too. I'm satisfied with the same thing God is satisfied with. That's my satisfaction. Now, why would you spend your money on something that's not that? It's crazy. It's insane. Look to Christ only and find your satisfaction in what God finds his satisfaction in, his blessed son. What Jesus Christ did on Calvary's tree satisfied God. All sin was put away. You're complete in him. Why look for anything else? Do you hear? Hope, do you hear? Hearken, verse two. Hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, the gospel, and let your soul delight itself in fatness, the plenty of the gospel. There's plenteous redemption. You don't have to be scrounging, scraping for anything else. This is the whole gospel. Verse three. Incline your ear. Bend down. Bend down. The reason you don't hear is because you've got too high an opinion of yourself. If you don't hear, the problem's not with what's being said. The problem's with you. Bend your ear down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a good place to be, isn't it? Bend down to hear. Now, if you don't hear, it's not because what's being said is hard to understand. You're just too high. You're just too high. If you bend down and hear as a sinner, you will hear in such simplicity. Incline your ear and come unto me. The Lord said, come to me. And this is a command. This is not an offer. The gospel is not an offer. Somebody says, God offers you forgiveness. No, he doesn't. He forgives. There's no such thing as offering forgiveness. I'm going to offer you forgiveness. Wow, that's ridiculous. He forgives. Everybody he forgives. He saves everybody he saves. He doesn't offer salvation. The Lord says, come to me. Come to me. This is a command. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, laboring under a burden of sin, heavy laden with this burden of sin. Come to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. This is a promise of the Savior. I will give you rest. He can give you rest. Now what is rest? It's not doing anything. He that's entered into his rest hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. To rest in Christ is to cease from your own works. Have you ever done that? Do you hear? What are all your works worth? Nothing. Filthy rags, every one of them. Well, what about my good works? Show me which ones they are. Pour them out. Show us all. All of our works are filthy rags in God's sight. But yet the Lord says, come to me and I'll give you rest. The rest of believing that Jesus Christ is my righteousness before God. Hear and live. Faith cometh by hearing. You know, it's not something you're figuring out. I gotta figure this out. No, you can't figure it out, neither can I. Hear what's being said. Hear what's being said. Incline your ear and come unto me, here in your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Now what are those? This is a promise from God in hearing the gospel. He says, I will make this everlasting covenant with you. And notice he called it an everlasting covenant. What's that? That's one that never had a beginning. That's one that'll never have an ending. It's eternal. It's not like he made this covenant when I heard. When you hear, you're gonna find out this covenant is an everlasting covenant that was always made with you. The sure mercies of David. Now what are these sure mercies of David? I'm sure you know where I'm going, but turn to 2 Samuel chapter 23. Verse one, now these be the last words of David. David's getting ready to die. What all must have been on his mind. He was 70 years old when he died. And David knew that he was God's anointed. He knew that he was a type of Christ. He knew that he was the greatest king Israel had ever had. He knew that he was a great sinner. Don't think he didn't know that. He was painfully aware of it. And now here he is dying. What are his last words? Look in verse five. Although my house be not so with God. And that has a twofold application. His house was a mess. His family was a mess. And he knew it was all his fault. You remember how the Lord told him after that issue with Bathsheba, the sword's not going to depart from your house. And he had all kinds of problems. And he was aware of that. And I have no doubt that he was talking about this house, this body of death, this sinful person that he was in and of himself. My house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me. These are the sure mercies of David. An everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. You know what my hope of salvation is? That God, before time began, entered into covenant with His Son, and He gave me to His Son, and His Son took complete responsibility for my salvation, and my salvation was ordered in all things, and sure. Do you hear? Do you hear? These are the sure mercies of David. A covenant, ordered. In all things ensure. And David said, this is all my salvation. It's all my salvation. All my desire, I don't want anything else. Do you hear? The sure mercies of David. This is God's promise. Although he makes it not to grow. Now, the reason it doesn't grow is because it's complete. If something grows, it's not complete. This is the complete ordered in all things and sure. Here, and I'll make an everlasting covenant with you. Turn back to Isaiah 55. Behold, verse four. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader, and a commander to the people. Now three things are said of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a witness, he's a leader, and he's a commander. Now listen real carefully. Jesus Christ is the witness of who God is. He said, he that has seen me has seen the Father. Jesus Christ is the one who bears witness to every attribute of God. That's what he did on the cross. Listen, listen. On the cross, he made known who God is. He is the witness. Every attribute of God, his holiness, his justice, his sovereignty, his mercy, his power, his wisdom, every attribute of God was manifested in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the witness. He's the witness concerning who we really are. Nothing but sin in and of ourselves. He's the witness of that. He's the witness of salvation. He says, I am salvation. He's the witness and the scripture says, he's the leader. Now, what do you do with the leader? You follow the leader. He said, follow me. Now here's what we hear when we hear that command, imitate him. Well, I'd imitate him. Am I saying anything against that? No, I mean, no, but follow doesn't mean imitate. Follow means keep your eyes on him only. If you don't look to him only, if you look down at your feet, your walk, if you look over here at somebody else, if you look backwards to trying to look for some kind of evidence from the past, you're not gonna follow him. Follow me, he says. And he's the commander too. He gives commandments. He commands you to follow him and that's what you do. We're dependent on him at all. He's the witness. He's the leader we follow. He's the commander who causes us to do that. And that is exactly what we need. A witness, a leader, and a commander. Verse five, behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not. and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel. Now this is spoken of the one who commands us to come. When he commands you, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna run to him. You're gonna run to him. You're not gonna wait for something to happen. When you hear his command, The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe. Running to Him. Now, why? Because of what He's done, God has glorified Him. In what He's done, therefore we run to Him, the Holy One of Israel. the one who is glorified in salvation. This is the God's call of irresistible grace. When he calls, you'll come running. Verse six. Seek ye the Lord. And here's another command. Don't let this run off your back. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him. while he's near. Seek the Lord while he may be found. When's that? Right now. Right now. As you're hearing this word. Right now. Don't hide in tomorrow. Boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Behold now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. When can it be found? Right now. Tomorrow is works. I'm going to get this thing straightened out tomorrow. I'll do better tomorrow. That's the problem. It's what you will do. That's not going to do you any good at all. Make a false reference of yesterday. Yesterday I did this, I experienced that. No, the day of salvation is always right now. The time to believe the gospel is right now. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. The word is nigh thee. That's what Paul said in Romans 10, the word's nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus. Do you believe that he is Lord? He's not somebody you make Lord of your life, he is the Lord of your life because he's the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. That's who he is. He's the Lord Jesus, Savior. If thou shalt Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead. Now this is not just talking about believing that the resurrection took place. You believe it took place because he completely satisfied God by what he did. Sin was put away and he was raised from the dead. Oh, the words deny you. Even in your mouth, your heart, the word of faith which we preach. Verse seven, let the wicked forsake his way. Now listen to what's being said. Listen, ho, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he'll have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Let the wicked forsake his way. What is that way? That's the way of salvation by works. Do you hear? Forsake that way. Forget it. It's no good. It won't help you. Let the wicked forsake his way, the way of trying to please God by what I do or what I don't do. Forsake that. That's the way of the wicked. Turn with me for a moment to Proverbs 28. Proverbs 28. Verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. Does that mean you are trying to cover up so people don't find out what you're doing? That's not really what that means. Who tried to cover their sins? Adam and Eve, remember? They tried to cover their nakedness with that fig leaf of their own righteousness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh. Now I want you to notice them is in the italics. I've heard people use this verse of scripture to say, if you're really sincere, you will forsake your sins and not commit them anymore. Now, we ought to forsake our sins and we ought not ever commit another sin again. I believe that with all my heart, but that's not saying you're not going to find mercy until you confess and forsake your sins. If that's the case, nobody in this room will be saved. Nobody outside of this room will be saved. Confess, let's look at it. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth, you confess your sin before God. What's that mean? You take sides with God against yourself. That's what it is to confess sin. You're on God's side. You confess your sin, you take sides with God against yourself, and you forsake this way of trying to cover them with your own works, with your own fig leaves. You forsake that, you do that, you'll find mercy. That is God's promise. Now back to Isaiah 55. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Have you ever realized that all your thoughts are wrong? Have you ever come to grip with that? All your natural thoughts of God are wrong. They're man-made. Forsake those. wrong thoughts, those ignoble thoughts of God. I think of that scripture, thou thought where the Lord said in Psalm 50, thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one yourself. There's our problem. We think God's like we are. He's not. He's not like us in any way to any degree. Let the unrighteous man his thoughts forsake him, and let him return unto the Lord, and he'll have mercy upon him. And to our God, for look at this word, he'll abundantly pardon. Isn't there some kind of probationary period where he's going to watch me and see if I'm going to... No! Quit thinking that way. Well, don't I need to do something? Don't I need to feel more sorry? No! He will abundantly pardon. There's plenty of redemption In him. Verse eight, true words have never been spoken, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. I think of Naaman, behold I thought. Remember that story, Naaman? When he came to hopefully be healed. He came with all of his chariots and horsemen. He stood at the door of Elisha's house waiting for Elisha to come out. Elisha knew how proud and arrogant he was. So he just sent his servant out. He didn't even come out. He just sent his servant. And Naaman was offended by it. His servant said, you go wash in the Jordan seven times and you'll be clean. And he was mad. He said, behold, I thought he'd come out and wave his hand over the place and do all these glorious, great things. He tells me to just go wash in the river, Jordan. He went away in a rage. And his servant said, if the prophet bid thee do something great, you would have done it. But if he just says wash and be clean. Behold, I thought, my thoughts are wrong. My thoughts are not his thoughts. You know, we just can't, naturally, we just can't conceive of grace, can we? Behold, my thoughts, though God says are not your thoughts, neither your ways my ways, saith the Lord. Four, verse nine. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Believe that. His thoughts are so glorious, He said, I know the thoughts I have of you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to bring you to an unexpected end. We don't think that way. We think he's going to get me. He's going to get me. And we don't understand this thing of grace. Oh, his thoughts are so high and glorious. Verse 10. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and turneth 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, 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, usually when people use that verse of scripture, and this is true, the preaching of the gospel is never in vain. God's word is always going to do what God intends for it to do. Whenever the gospel is preached, whenever the truth is preached, God blesses it according to His will. He's doing that right now. And it doesn't have anything to do with me. It doesn't have anything to do with you. It's His word. He said, my word is not going to return void to me. But what that's talking about, I believe, even more than that, is who is the word of God? Jesus Christ in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. Now he's the Word that comes out of God's mouth. When God speaks, what's he say? Jesus Christ my son, this is my beloved son, hear ye him. Now he says my Word will prosper in the thing I sent it. Isn't Christ the sent one? This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Now listen real carefully. All of my salvation is predicated on the truthfulness of what the Lord said, I'll lose nothing. All my salvation is predicated on Him coming for me and satisfying God's law for me and dying for me and putting away my sins and making sure He doesn't lose me because He said, I lose nothing. Not I lost Todd, I got everyone but him. That'd make him a failure if he intended on saving me. If he was sent for me, he will lose nothing. He said, listen to these words, it is finished. That doesn't mean my part's finished, now you need to do your part. It means it's finished. Do you hear? He said, my word will not return unto me void, but it will accomplish the thing wherein to I sinned. He's gonna prosper. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12. For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. Now notice, you'll go out and you'll be led. You know the reason you go out? Because you're led. And when you're laid, guess what happens? You go forth. And how? With joy and with peace. Now, what's the scripture that corresponds to that? Romans chapter 15, verse 13, the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Oh, you'll go forth with joy. You know, you believe the gospel. Does it give you joy that Christ is all in salvation? Does it give you peace that everything God requires of you, He looks to the Son for? Oh, you'll go out with joy and with peace. For you 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. All of creation is gonna clap their hands at the new creation of joy and peace. Don't you love the language of this? Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, verse 13. And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree. Now the thorn and the brier, from what? The curse. The curse on the ground. The curse is reversed. And you now stand before God. without guilt, without sin, perfect in his sight. And it shall be to the Lord for a name. This is for the glory of Jesus Christ. His name. Oh, how his name is glorified in our salvation. His name shall endure forever. It shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Now, that word sign is the word that's also translated token. Token, sign, something we can see. The Lord said, the blood shall be a token, a sign. for you. When I see the blood. This is God speaking. This is his everlasting token. When I see the blood. Not when you see it. When I see it. What was God looking for? The blood. The blood of his dear son. This is the gospel. Here's the everlasting token. When I see the blood of my dear son, oh, the precious blood of Christ that put away all sin, the precious blood of Christ, the ultimate act of obedience to his father, the accomplishments of his blood. I love that scripture. They speak of the deceased, which he should accomplish. My death says I'm a failure, says I'm a sinner. His death says accomplishment, the accomplishment of his blood. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And that is an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. What if that person was just really extra bad? Extra sinful? Is it true for them too? This is an everlasting sign that shall never be cut off. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Listen to what's being said. Now what I've said, it's not hard to understand. You might not believe it. I can't do anything about that. But it's not hard to understand. Somebody says, I don't understand. It's because your ear's too high. You get down and hear as a sinner, and you'll understand everything that is said. Aren't you glad this promise is for those who have no money? Let's pray. Lord, would you give us the grace to come to the waters without our money knowing we have nothing, and to come and buy wine and milk without money and without price. Lord, enable each person here, even now by your grace, to come to your son and find their complete salvation in him. In his name we pray. We're going to have a baptism now.