Most of you would count it a great privilege to be invited to a party or a banquet, particularly if the host of the banquet was a very wealthy person or a group of people or a company which had a very large budget. First, that would mean that the location of the banquet would be in a place that you probably weren't used to or accustomed to seeing, maybe a mansion. or all the rooms are spectacular and exquisitely decorated, or a ballroom of sorts in a particular location that you just don't see every day. But even greater than that is the banquet itself. Now, if someone has no limitations on the budget like you have with your menu at home, you know, first of all, the variety would be unparalleled. the kinds of foods on the banqueting table. There would be something for everyone. The choices would be myriad. Then there's not only the variety, but the courses would all be represented. I don't know about your house, but we typically don't have appetizers unless you grab a few chips and salsa. But at this banquet, because of this host, appetizers, just to whet your appetite for what's coming. Salad, not just iceberg lettuce, but every kind of salad, every kind of topping, everything you could want there on the table just for the taking. And then the quality of the food. would be far greater than any food you and I would be accustomed to at home. And of course, those courses would include that dessert, so often your parents say, not tonight, but at this banquet, every course, every main dish imaginable, every side item with dessert of your choice. And the quality, because of the chefs who are top-notch preparing the food, would know just how to meet every palate with the kind of food that you just love to feast on. And perhaps the greatest of all is the quantity. No problem like at home when there's only one roll left. And there's nine people that want the roll. You can either get the knife out, as Dad does, and start dividing it into pieces that you can't even see, or you just kind of throw it up and get out of the way, and people come in and fight over the roll. No, that doesn't happen in my house, right? But at this banquet, you're in line, and as soon as you see the man carving the last piece of meat off of the prime rib, somebody comes in with another one and plops it right down beside it, and it just goes on and on. And the beverages! Water is your thing? Water. Soft drinks? Myriad? Wine, perhaps? All kinds of beverages at this banquet. But what if God hosted a banquet? And He called you to come. That would be an unparalleled, unrivaled banquet. No problem with resources. No problem with know-how. No problem with wisdom. I wonder what these people like. He's God. He created you. Just a feast, as the Old Testament says, a fat thing of wine on the leaves. You open your Bible to Isaiah 55 verse 1, we'll find such a banquet, such a feast, and such a call to you today. Isaiah 55 verse 1, 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 and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." My title this morning is, Come and Dine. Come and Dine. First notice the call to come. Three times, this is God speaking, makes it very clear this is a call to come. Come ye. Come. Come by. Come. Come. And let your soul eat delight in fatness. Now this call is a call to dine in fullness. Now the banqueting of that day would include these beverages and this staple food in Palestine. Water to represent Refreshment, reviving. The body's thirst for water is its indication it needs energy, refreshing, reviving. There's water here. Wine is the beverage of gladness and rejoicing, as the Old Testament says over and over again. A banquet at a wedding in John chapter 2, where Jesus turned the water to wine, it was a time of feasting, banqueting. There was wine, representing gladness. And then there's milk. The milk represents strength, nourishment, vitamins for growth, all represented in these three categories. And then there's bread. Bread is that staple food. It's that substance. When you put it in your belly, you're full. It helps the appetite, fills you up, all represented. Notice that this call is an indiscriminate call. Ho, everyone, everyone. By indiscriminate, I mean without careful distinctive, unselective. There's nothing that we could look at a person and see, nothing about their lifestyle that we could say, well, that person really should not be called or bidden to come to this banquet. No outward distinction, no social class, no favorite in this call. No nationality favored over another. Even the Gentiles, which had not this status, will be included later in this passage concerning the nations. And so this is a call that went out to every Jew in the context of Isaiah, but this call would go out in the gospel to every Gentile. It's the call of the gospel. Jesus makes this clear in the parable of the Great Supper in Luke chapter 14 when He called the Jews. Now the great supper was ready. The host had sent out the call, but one by one they made excuse. I bought a piece of land. I can't be at your supper. One said, I bought five yoke of oxen. I've got to go test them. One said, I've married a wife. I cannot come. The host was angry, and he said to his servant, go out into the streets and the lanes, the alleys, places you don't go. Call the poor, the maimed, the haught, and the blind. Those are the people you overlook with your guest list. You typically may forget about those people. What's Jesus saying? Don't just call your friends and your relatives, call the poor, the maimed, the haunted, the blind, the people that you might tend to overlook. The host says, go call them. Then the servant does so and he says, but there's still room, master. He says, then go into the highways and the hedges, go out of the city, go to places you don't normally go, so that my house may be filled to the full. Now if the servant were to represent the church, than the church in calling with the gospel. When the gospel call goes out, it goes out indiscriminately to all. There is no person. There is no language. There is no color. There is no social status. There is no position or non-position for which we would say, probably shouldn't speak that to them. It is a call to fullness. There's every fruit represented here, and it is a call. It is an indiscriminate call. It's not preordained. selective with regard to the human view. In Luke 15, the Master says, compel them to come, urge them. This is a weighty call. This is an important call. This is an urgent call. I mean, if you treat it like it's urgent, a call to this banquet that the Master gives is an urgent call, and it's a call that goes out without distinction. But notice it's also a call with a cost attached to it. Have you ever wondered why it says in this text, buy, but buy without money and without price? How do you buy something without money? So this is a free banquet. The best kind of banquet is when the host fully pays for everything at the banquet. And certainly the grace of God has purchased paid, sealed the deal with regard to this banquet. So why does it say buy that which you cannot buy? Buy it without money, without price. There's no cost. And I think he means this. As we just stated, everything on the banqueting table has been purchased and bought, but in order to attend the banquet, you have to do what you do when you buy. You work, you labor, and you spend money, and you exchange what has value for something that has greater value. Isn't that what you do all the time? You assign, you shop, you look for objects of worth. And when they don't have worth, you say, I'm not spending money on that because it's not worth it. So to buy without money means everything has been purchased already for all the participants in this banquet, but you can't come to the banquet unless you depart with something that has value because the supper is of far greater value. You see, Jesus, beloved, speaks this way throughout the Scriptures. Is this banquet worthy? In Luke chapter 14, the great parable of the supper, Jesus says, as he unpacks this parable, he says, for those that would not come shall not taste of the supper. Who is that? The people making excuses. Got five yoke of oxen, I've just gotten married, or I've got land and real estate to take care of. Why won't they come? Because the land, the oxen, the marriage, and the things are far more valuable and what's on the table, and says they have no taste for the supper. Yes, it's free, grace is free, but if you don't give up things of lesser value, you cannot participate in the supper that's already been purchased, that's already been provided. The host has already spread the table. He invites you, come and dine. Which leads us to the next point in verse 2, the call qualified. See, while the call goes out to everyone indiscriminately, and you could say, well, everyone is thirsty, so it seemed like the call is for everyone, and everyone should be coming because every man's thirsty. But notice the qualification in verse 2. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not? See, this question presupposes a few things. One is, you must turn from that which is not good. Eat that which is good. Why are you spending money on that which is not bread? He doesn't say, you crazy people spending money on bread, why are you doing that? He says, on that which isn't bread and on that which will not satisfy. Come and eat that which is good. See, the presupposition is you cannot participate in the banquet if you don't turn from that which is not good to that which is good. This is like the question a parent may pose to their young son if they wake up in the morning to come to the kitchen and the son has a large bowl of chocolate ice cream and he's just digging in. And the parent says, Why are you eating ice cream for breakfast? Presupposing what? That's not good for you. Eat the eggs in the kitchen. I'll make you some. That's what the question presupposes. Next presupposition is what? Stop eating ice cream. She knows why she's eating ice cream. Don't do that anymore. That's the second presupposition. And the third one for the Son and for Israel is He's eating it because that is what He prefers. He'd eat ice cream three times a day. The context of this question and this qualification to this call in verse 2 is idolatry. Because Israel is consuming and eating the ice cream of idolatry perpetually. And the reason they won't come to the banquet to which they've been called is because they don't like the food of God. They'd rather have the food of their own choosing. Beloved, you cannot eat the food unless you do what Isaiah 55 verse 6 says. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while the Lord is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. You've got to stop eating that which is good or you don't. You don't. You cannot participate in the banquet. And let the unrighteous forsake his thoughts. What's the way of the young son in the kitchen? It's the way of ice cream. That's what I prefer. What's the way of Israel in the Old Testament? It's the way of idolatry, because that's what he feeds on. He does not like the wholesome, healthy food of God. Therefore, he cannot participate. until he's called. Isaiah 44 and about the 21st verse says this, give or take a few. He that is Israel feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul or say there's a lie in my right hand. You remember that text? I mean, who would eat ashes? But the ashes represent the result of idolatry. Erect an idol of wood and it's just going to be consumed and burned and turned to ashes. So when Israel's feeding on idolatry, they're really feeding on ashes because they prefer the taste of their own way over the wholesome food of God's banquet because their preferences are distorted by sin. Hosea 12.1, Ephraim, the northern ten tribes represented by Joseph's son Ephraim, a namesake. Ephraim feedeth on wind. Well, that'll fill you up. Try a big bowl of wind for breakfast. He feedeth on the east wind. He's carried away with lies and desolation. What's wrong? He's deceived. It tastes so good. This is what I want. This is what I prefer. I like the ice cream. He's deceived. He goes down to Assyria and takes oil into Egypt because he's having a love affair with Egypt and Assyria and he's forgotten God. Hosea 10.1, Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit to himself. What's the vine of Israel supposed to do? Bear fruit to the glory of God. He's just eating his own fruit. Because that's what he likes. So he's an empty vine. He's a worthless vine. He's a useless vine with regard to the purpose of God. For God to get glory out of this vine, then he needs to eat the food of God, not the food of idolatry. Ephraim is a cake not turned. These are all expressions of Israel's idolatry. Hosea, about the 5th or 6th chapter, maybe the 7th. I'll give you some study time to find that. Ephraim is a cake not turned. Well, at least it's half good, right? You want to eat a pancake like that? One side done, one side raw. Can you kind of slice it and eat one half? It's all ruined. Ephraim has a divided heart. A divided heart is not a heart where you're eating the good food and then eating the bad food. It's a heart wholly given to idolatry, but still is sacrificing, going to the solemn assemblies, observing the new moons and the Sabbaths, giving the burning offerings and the incense, stretching the hands to heaven. Isaiah 1, it's all there. And God says, I hate it. I hate your new moons. Don't stretch your hands to me in prayer. What was the problem? Isaiah 1-6. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot to the top of the head there is no soundness or health. What's a divided heart? It's not going two different ways. It's a whole heart that's sick and has no health in it. Why? Because Israel when called, when bidden, when told about the banquet says, please have me excused. I just don't prefer the food of the temple. I'd like to have my own food. Beloved, that is evil to God. What you're doing is saying, God, your taste buds are What you delight in, I think, is worthless. What you value, I don't value. And it's an insult to the holiness of God. And so the call qualified means you don't partake of the supper unless you forsake your way. Now let's look at this in the New Testament so we can see that this is what Jesus taught. John chapter 4. Jesus is going to make a statement that parallels the question in Isaiah 55 too. to a woman who's thirsty. She's a human. She doesn't prefer the water of God. And so Jesus is going to move her from water to worship. And let's look at the language of how He does so as we talk about the call qualified. You do have to buy, you do have to forsake something of lesser value to take of the banquet that is of far greater value. And here's a woman who has not yet done so. Verse 9, break into the context. Jesus has must needs go through Samaria. He's in the city of Sychar, which is part of the region of Samaria. The disciples have gone to buy food. He's there just exactly where he wants to be at the well of Jacob, which has been there for many, many generations. He speaks to the woman, and then in verse 9, the woman saith of him, that is of Samaria, says to him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, ask drink of me which are a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. So Jesus has said, give me to drink. I'd like some water. Jesus answered and said in verse 10, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living waters. Now by gift, that means what? No money, no price. You don't buy your own gift. It's given to you. So Jesus says, If you knew who it was that asked of you, and you knew the gift of God, which is free by sovereign grace, you would have asked him and He would have given you living waters. So there's the gift, and I want you to see how Jesus says it's free, but you've got to buy it with something. Free money or water, milk, wine, bread, free, but you've got to buy it when it's free. So let's keep reading. Verse 11, the woman saying to them, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with and the well is deep from whence then hast thou that living water. Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? Now, she took that as kind of an offense because Jacob was a great man and he dug the well very deep and it's been sufficient to water his cattle, his children, his family and all generations to this day, which was many, many generations. So you can dig a better well, right? Jesus answered and said in verse 13 of John 4, "'Whosoever drinketh that this water shall thirst again, 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 unto everlasting life.'" Now we understand what living water means. It means at least two things. Means living water, unlike the water you and I drink naturally, this water will make you to where you never thirst again. You drink the natural water, it's just temporary. This living water is everlasting. It is eternal. And the word never means you never thirst forever. If you have this gift of God, if you have this living water, this is what it means. So the woman in verse 15 says unto him, Sir, I'm on board. Give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Now we can tell she's not completely on board. She doesn't understand because she's thinking, I don't want to walk through this dusty street anymore and drink from this well. If you could just maybe have it gush up in my living room and I could just have a fountain there, that'd be wonderful. Give me this water. Now look at verse 16. Jesus said unto her, Go call your husband and come hither. All right, here's the cost. Now it's the gift of God. It's totally free. You cannot have it. without giving up something of lesser value. To find and discover something of far superior worth. So Jesus now makes a statement, which is the question of Isaiah 55 to write woman, why are you are you spending your money for that which is not bread? Why are you laboring so hard and it's not satisfying? Go call your husband. She said, I don't have one. He says, right. You've had five and one you have now. is not your husband. The question of Isaiah 55, too, is answered with living water. You see, beloved, she must turn from broken wells or she cannot. She will not. She will never drink from living waters. And that applies to us today. The water's free. But you've got to make an exchange. Why is that? Now, some Christians think today that what you can do is, you know, you can drink from this water of brokenness throughout the week called the whirl. Just come to church and drink a little of that water and you're okay. Why is it impossible to drink from both wells? Like Jesus says, you cannot serve God and mammon because where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. Worship, beloved, is defined as the experience of the spirit of the soul, which Jesus makes clear in just a few verses. It's an inner experience where the soul of man treasures God and begins to drink from the true well of living water. And the reason is you cannot drink from a well that you do not prefer, or you'll do what? Spit it out. The heart defines the worship. And so whatever you treasure, that's the well you drink from. Now, Jesus does not treat this woman as a victim. I mean, it looks like she is, like poor woman, these five guys, they're probably pitiful and worthless guy just mistreated her. Maybe Jesus won't go there and we shouldn't either. The woman's problem is sin. She's not a victim, she's drinking from the wrong well because she prefers to go from well to well to man to man to relationship to relationship. That's what she prefers. Even the stigma in that day of what she might have been experiencing as this kind of woman that maybe made her go outside, psych her to go to this well so nobody would see her, was not enough. for her to start drinking from a different well. Beloved, what wells do we drink from today? Wells that are polluted, wells that are broken, the wells of pornography, the wells of fornication without marriage. The wells of homosexuality, the wells of morality. That's a well, could be. The well of power, the well of money, the well of pursuit of pleasure. All broken wells she's drinking from. How can she drink this living water? She must buy. She must depart from broken wells in order to have the gift of God, the free gift of God. She has to buy without money, without price. She has to have a new taste for something she cannot have. apart from the grace of God. And you and I need it too, beloved. The heart defines worship and the heart cannot be divided. It will either serve God or it will drink from broken wells of this world and prefer it and move from well to well to well to well. What well are you drinking from? Interestingly, we live in the most prosperous, country in the world today, one of the top prosperous countries. And even scientific research has shown that we are the most unhappy people on the planet. It's kind of bizarre, isn't it? Got the most, most entertainment, most media, most prosperity, most unhappy, most dissatisfied, most discontent. Listen to some of the evidences of that that I just took off of Google. Some of this was last year. This is not a Christian that I understand, just a person observing these things. A scientific study that was just released, this was last year, that U.S. adults are becoming less happy over the years. Young people are also becoming increasingly depressed. Just check out one study conducted at San Diego State University, what it discovered. Americans are more depressed now than they have ever been in decades, a recent study has found. San Diego State University psychology professor, Jean Twinge, analyzed data from nearly seven million adolescents and adults from across the country and found that more people reported symptoms of depression, including sleeplessness and trouble concentrating compared to the 1980s. Teenagers in the 2010s experience memory trouble 38% more than their 1980 counterparts. Teen are also 70% more likely to have trouble sleeping and twice as likely to see a professional for mental health issues. Compared to children in Europe, children in the United States are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants. Three times more likely. Why the upswing? upswing in prosperity, upswing in entertainment, downswing in fulfillment. The number of Americans diagnosed with depression increases about 20 percent every year. According to The New York Times, more than 30 million Americans take antidepressants. Doctors in the United States write more than 250 million prescriptions a year. About 320 million Americans. In our country. Staggering. Right now, one out of every four women in their 40s and 50s is taking an antidepressant medication. One out of every four you meet on the street has it now. Listen carefully. It is clear that there are valid reasons to be on antidepressants, such as thyroids, or even foods you can eat that mess up things and need to be corrected. But will we be so naive as to think that one out of every four women should be on it in the country? And that young people, increasingly from their 1980 counterparts, should be on such a powerful drug? Even unbelievers admit two reasons for this is consumerism, desiring stuff that makes you feel empty. That's an unbeliever. Why are some people on antidepressants desiring stuff that makes you empty? Second, companies promoting depression. Companies who sell drugs for depression are motivated. They want people to recognize symptoms of depression. They give it a name and a package, a remedy, and they sell that remedy. That is documented proof. So be balanced. Valid? Yes. Not always valid. Why then the uptick in depression? emptiness, broken wells and disappointments. People unwilling to forsake the broken well, reject it, forsake it and turn to the fountains of living water. Here's a woman in that category and Jesus for her prescribes the soul problem and brings her from water to worship. Worship. Verse 21, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know not what, verse 22. We worship, we know, for we are of the Jews and salvation is of the Jews, verse 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is the Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. Translated, oh woman, you must. forsake your fountains or you'll never worship God. You must turn from your broken wells and worship God in spirit and in truth. What's that mean? A little less spirit means when you have the inner experience of worship in the soul and you see Jesus is greater water than broken wells because he is truth. You turn and you buy and you forsake something of lesser value Because you see, the wine, the milk, the water, and the bread is far greater. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread and labor for that which will not satisfy? Now, beloved, apart from grace, we're all in this category. By the grace of God, we can do as this woman who said, but when Messiah comes, which is called Christ, He will tell us all things. Jesus said, I that speak unto you am He. She drops the water pot. She forsakes the men. She turns from broken wells and begins to drink from a fountain gushing up into everlasting life. The gift of God, the gift of salvation, the gift of knowing Jesus. In Luke chapter 14, when Jesus speaks this great parable of the supper, after he says, they will not eat my supper because they didn't prefer it, Then a great multitude gathers around him, and he looks at them and says this, Whosoever be of you that forsake and hate not your father, mother, brother, sister, and your own life also cannot be my disciple." What's Jesus saying? The gift of the supper is free, but you've got to buy it. How do you buy it? You must prefer the taste of the banquet over the taste of your marriage, your mom, your dad, your children, and your own life. Or you cannot eat of my supper. Why? Because you don't prefer it. See, grace means that God so calls effectually the soul that we then prefer that which we did not prefer, but you cannot drink what you do not prefer unless you hate it. And that's why Paul says in Romans 8, 7, when he speaks of the carnal man, he says, because the carnal man is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither it can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. What is this enmity against God? This woman, who seems like a victim, is a sinner in John 4, and she's an enmity against God. What's her enmity? I mean, she seems like a nice person. Her enmity is that she doesn't prefer the water of God. Oh, how we need to be Bible people. She does not prefer the water of God. So let's take the nicest grandfatherly man you know on the earth. In fact, I used that text years ago and a woman got really upset with me because her father was not subject to Christ. He was just kind of indifferent, you know. I mean, you know, Christ is fine, but just not for me. She got really upset with me. Because it was saying something really not good about her father. Now, just apply that text of Romans 8. Take the nicest, grandfatherly man that you know that's good to his grandchildren, good to his children, is good to people, but he doesn't prefer the water. He is an enemy to the living God. Absolute enmity, Paul says. Does that trouble you? Because enmity is in the soul of what we prefer and what we don't prefer. If you reject the banquet of God, and you don't delight and like what He likes, it is infinitely, colossally insulting to His holiness. And atonement must be made for your preferences. And so, the call is qualified. It's free, but You can't follow unless you forsake, and the only way you forsake is if you love something better than what you've forsaken. Remember, beloved, self-denial is not a call first to forsaking, it's a call to a banquet. How do you say, Mom, I'm sorry, I mean, your food's okay, but I'm going to a banquet. See, I'm denying myself Mom's food, don't get offended, Moms, because I'm going to a banquet. So the call to a banquet is first, self-denial is second. You can't deny yourself what you don't prefer or what you prefer greater. So think of self-denial as Jesus saying, look, you must prefer the banquet. Come to the banquet, which means then you'll start buying and you'll start forsaking. You'll start turning from broken wells to wells that are so far superior and satisfying. Next, the call qualified, the call explained. Now look at how Isaiah explains the call. In verse 2, after the question, two questions, really synonymous, here's explaining the call. Hearken diligently unto me and eat that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me. Here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David. So to eat that which is good in verse two means to partake of the beverage, beverages represented in verse one and the bread in verse two. So he's saying, pointing back to that, come and eat that which is good and just get fat, get abundantly full on the food and the beverage of the banquet. But what does the beverages represent? And what does the bread represent? Notice very carefully verse 3, incline your ear and come to me. The call is explained as coming to God. Now, here's where we as Christians can lose track of this. See, the call to eat that which is good is not a call to eat the good gifts of God. The call to eat that which is good is not a call to eat the good works of God. It's a call to eat and feed on God, period. No end around here. And everything that God gives, everything that God does is a pointer to Him and Him alone. So the call is explained not to come into a banquet saying, thank you Jesus, I'll let you know what I need. It is Him. He is the banquet. And so if people don't want Him, they're not Christian. Because any man can want something Jesus does, as in John chapter six. Turn with me there. The call explained how we need to have this explained again and again and again. Because I tend to run around Jesus at times. Do you ever do that? It's so easy. It's so easy to exalt the gifts above the giver, and we are susceptible. So look at how Jesus confronts this attitude in John 6. He has given a great gift of food and it was like a banquet because they didn't have anything to eat and there was much left over and everybody got to eat until he was full. 12 baskets left over just of a few loaves and fishes. Now that's a man you want to follow. That's a company you want to work for right there. It's just nothing too hard. You can just turn almost nothing into something. So these people work, they labor, they row, they find, they go over to the Sea of Galilee and they find Jesus in verse 24. When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, where'd you go? Why'd you leave us? We're ready to make you king. We know who you are. You're a messiah that is to come and you fed us. We got full. It's a fit. That's my translation on the question. Verse 26, Jesus answered and said unto them, Truly, truly, verily, verily, I say unto you, you're not seeking me because you saw the miracles, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Now, wait a minute. That's what Isaiah is telling us to do. Come to the banquet, drink, eat that which is good and get filled. And now Jesus seems to be condemning the people. It just gets confusing. What's the problem? Verse 27, don't labor for the food or the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of God or Son of Man shall gift, given to you. For Him hath God the Father sealed. What's the problem? They're after the miracle and not the miracle worker. They're after bread for the belly and not bread for the soul. And Jesus calls them to account for it. I know why you're laboring so hard. It's not because you saw miracles that point to me. It's because you saw miracles and you stopped at the miracle and you want to have a relationship with a miracle rather than Jesus. You ever do that? I mean, God is good. Just look what He has given. Look what He has done for us. And so we move away from God to the gifts, to the miracles, to the works He does, which are all valid in Scripture. They become the priority that we labor for rather than Christ Himself. Now, notice again, verse 27, the statement, if it was reformed into a question, would be the same as Isaiah 55, verse 2. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not? Jesus says here, don't spend your money for that which is not bread, and don't labor for that which will not satisfy, because perishing food will not last forever. Is that the food we're after, beloved? Just a little temporary experience of joy? Jesus says, make the priority a kind of food that endures forever and ever and ever because it's my gift in verse 27. And, you know, it's the food that's authentic because God the Father has sealed me. He's authenticated me with my miracles, with my word and with my resurrection. Now, you'd think this is it. They got it. And so because everybody's thirsty, the call goes to everybody. So they're on board. They're not. Look at verse 28. Then said they unto him, OK, what do we do that? We work the works of God. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent." So the labor of verse 20 is the work of God through faith at the banqueting table that's spread for you so that by feeding on Jesus by faith, that's how you endure into everlasting life. But that's not what they prefer. They prefer a kind of food that is physical, tangible, and you can put in your belly. How do you know? Verse 30, they said therefore unto him, what sign showest thou then, that we may see and believe you? What do you work? And just in case you can't think of anything, we've got an illustration. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Well, that's nice. Forty years of no labor and just rain raining down food from heaven. Jesus said. Moses gave you not the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread for heaven, for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and give us life unto the world. Now, they're like the woman at the well, so give us the bread. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me as bread shall what? Never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that you have seen me and you don't believe. What's that mean? You don't prefer me. You just want a good meal. You just want a banquet of natural food. You don't prefer real bread. And they reject him outright. And every one of them leave Jesus. except for a few disciples. Why? Because they were interested in the gifts of the Messiah and the work of the Messiah. We just don't want the Messiah. Give us our broken wells. Deception, ashes, wind, no substance. Beloved, let us remember that coming to Christ means to keep coming by faith, to keep coming and drinking, to keep coming and eating because Jesus says in this chapter, my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. What's that mean? It will truly, truly satisfy forever. And so let us thank God for his gifts. Let us praise God for his wonderful and mighty works. Let us remember that Jesus is the bread of heaven and there's no other. Jesus is the bread that we must prefer or there's no banquet. Jesus is the food that we must need and relish and treasure and desire or there's no endurance. But thanks be to God, His covenant faithfulness and His grace means He bestows that very preference through the taste buds of the new birth that you and I could never have. Never have. And so the call is explained by a good, that is, a coming to God, and then lastly, is explained by a coming to hear God. Now, how do we put all that together? Okay, I'm on board. I'm ready to eat. I'm ready to feast. I'm ready to consume. I'm ready to have delight. How does it come? Hearing. Wait a minute, I thought I'd just do something, you know? No, just hear. That's a problem, isn't it? You mean you just want me to hear? Yeah, that's how you get fed. In a culture of Christianity, it does want to hear. A 50-minute sermon or read my Bible occasionally. You don't get fed without hearing. Be careful, beloved, ministering and serving is a byproduct of hearing. It's not the fatness. Oh, how many Christians are thinking, I want this to live, I just need to start serving. Okay, that's a byproduct. It is the completeness of the fatness, but it is not the fatness. Look carefully three times. Listen to me, pay attention to me, incline your ear to me, and come to me and listen, or you don't get the light. I know that's the last thing you want to do. You just want to do that. See, you're to come here on Sunday and feast on a banquet. Now, if you drink from broken wells all week and you never read your Bible, forget it. It ain't happening. That's why some of you are so empty. You'll never pick up a Bible. So I'm here to encourage you today. God's here to encourage you. Get back on track. The reason you're empty is because you're not hearing me. And the way to hear is by faith, and faith comes by hearing, preaching, and reading. And if you keep stuffing yourself on the white bread of the world, you get like I used to get. Repeated illustration, just a minute. I'm getting old, but I remember some of it, and I'll use it again. Come in, mom sees me. About 30 minutes before dinner, man, I'm just gorging on cookies. I like to really eat. I'm just like, not one, I want three of everything. Give me three cookies, three pieces of gum, three everything. If I'm going to do it, let's do it. She said, you're going to spoil your appetite. She was right. And all this good food, I don't want any of it. If you're just eating, what's in the world? And we have to be subject to some degree. We're around the world, we hear the world. Then you come in here, you're going to listen to a sermon. I don't care if it's 30 minutes long. I mean, I wish, just can't hear it. How fascinating God in the Bible over and over again says the way of delight, the way of fatness is not serving. Let's get up and get busy. OK. You're not hearing and eating, the service will eventually fail. He'll be so discontent. Have you ever experienced that? Surely we have. You know, I'm supposed to be joyful. Let's just get to work. Just not. Are you hearing? See, come, hear, delight, eat, feast, drink. I'm ready. Then hear. Of course, hearing comes by reading, too, and hearing the Word of God. There are things that we can do that dulls our appetite for the Word of God that comes through spiritual ears. Luke chapter 14, the end of the parable of the Great Supper as he transitions in to the tower, the builder, and the king. He says, likewise, whosoever does not forsake all that he hath cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt is lost, it is savored. Wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing, thrown out, trodden under the foot of men. If you have ears to hear, let him hear. All right, that's the ears of Isaiah 55. Salt that doesn't lose its savor is a kind of saltiness that's different than the world because it's finding its fulfillment in something other than broken wells. That's what makes you salt. While you're drinking from a different well, you're becoming salt. I love the next verse in the next chapter, Luke 15, verse one. Then drew publicans and sinners for to hear Jesus. What happened? Publicans are thieves, and sinners were usually harlots. What do thieves prefer? Well, they prefer money. That's why you're a Republican, because you're going to steal everything from hard-working, honest people, the Jews, and that's why they hated them. I prefer money. What does a harlot prefer? She prefers sex. That's what she prefers. That's why she does it. What has happened? Why are they drawing near to hear Jesus? Because they have found something they prefer now better than money, better than intimacy, better than morality, better than everything. And now they're drawing in to hear from the witness, the commander, the leader of Isaiah 55. because he's given a new set of ears on the soul so that they can taste and see that the Lord is good. Beloved, if you taste it, are you buying from the banquet that's free because you're counting everything loss for the excellency of the supremacy of Christ? That's a purchase, isn't it? It's lesser loss, superior. That's the message of Isaiah 55. That's the call explained. That's the well that we need to drink from. If you've never had this well, then Jesus says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and he that cometh to me, he won't cast you out. So if you have ears and you're longing to experience this delight, then hear Jesus and follow him. Let's pray.