We may turn in your Bibles to Isaiah the prophet, chapter 55. Last week we considered Isaiah 54. Both chapters grounded upon and based in the realities of Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, we are told that redemption is secured by the atoning death of the servant of the Lord, which is Jesus Christ.
Based on that glorious reality in Isaiah 53, the prophet then foretells or sets forth promises to Zion, promises to the Church of Jesus Christ in chapter 54. He promises increase or multiplication. He promises stability and blessing and security. And here in Isaiah 55, the prophet functions as an evangelist.
Based on the finished work of Christ, he calls sinners and invites them to come and to seek the Lord while he may be found. We'll pick up reading in Isaiah 55 at verse 1. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me.
Here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him. and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says 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. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.
It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that it shall not be cut off.
Amen. Well, let us pray. God, what a wonderful passage of Holy Scripture, and I pray it would serve as a great encouragement to us tonight. I pray, Father, for any who have not come to the Lord. that your word and your spirit would be at work in their hearts.
God, we don't trust in man. We don't trust in his ability. We don't trust in his decision making or free will. We trust in the power of a sovereign God who sends forth his word to accomplish his purpose by his spirit.
And we pray tonight, Father, to that end. We pray that you would receive glory and honor and exaltation, that, Father, you would be praised by people here. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction
As I said, Isaiah 53, 54, and 55 are intimately connected, all rooted upon and grounded in the finished atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we approach chapter 55 this evening, we'll look at three particulars. First, there is an invitation to participate in gospel blessings, verses 1 to 5. Secondly, there is instruction to assist the comer in verses 6 and 7.
And then there is information. to amaze us in verses 8 to 12. So we'll take up first of all this invitation to participate.
Invitation to Participate in Gospel Blessings
Notice the invitation proper. He says, Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. E.J.
Young comments on that introductory particle, that ho there. He says it's mainly an attention-getting device based on the atonement, based on the promises of God. He now issues this call to his audience. Ho!
He wants your attention. He wants you to listen. He wants you to respond to the glory of God Most High. He says it's mainly an attention-getting device, but it expresses a slight tone of pity.
The prophet is an evangelist with a concern for the souls of men and a realization of their desperate condition without the blessings that the servant has obtained. And as we consider this invitation, we note that it is universal. He says, Ho, everyone who thirsts. This isn't uniquely for the Jews.
It is for Jew and Gentile. It is for sinners. It is akin to what we see in Isaiah 45 at verse 22. In Isaiah 45, 22, it says, Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.
This gospel is to be preached, as Jesus said, to every creature under heaven. He says this in Mark chapter 16. He says it at the end of Matthew 28. He says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.
Preach to them the glorious truth. that through Christ is forgiveness of sins. So it is a universal invitation. We notice as well that it is a gracious invitation. He's addressing those who are bankrupt, those who have no money.
He doesn't mean physically. He's not talking about the money that's in your pocket. He's not talking about your credit card. It is obviously spiritual in nature, spiritual in import.
What He is saying is that you who have nothing, come. to the Lord God, and He will supply all your need. This is what grace is all about. We are not brought into the sphere of salvation because of our contribution, because of what we give or what we offer to the Lord. No, it is solely by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
Later on in the prophet, in Isaiah 66, verse 2, God says that heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool. But on this one will I look, to him who is lowly and contrite in spirit, and to the one who trembles at my word. God does not look for the righteous because there are none. God addresses sinners.
Jesus says this. It is a defining characteristic of his mission. He said, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And then we notice that it's a complete invitation.
All the various items that he highlights here, it's not for no reason or just for some filler, but it says here, he says, come to the waters. He says, come, buy wine and milk. When we compare Scripture, we see that water is that refreshing agent that sinners desperately need to hear. Remember Jesus on that last day of the great feast in John 7.
He said, if any man thirsts, let him come to me. The idea behind wine in the Psalms, in Psalm 104 specifically, it says it makes glad the heart of man. So the water refreshes. The wine exhilarates and the milk of the gospel nourishes the needy sinner.
So it is complete in its orientation. God deals with every need that a sinner has. And then the prophet moves on, after giving this invitation, to ask the question. Notice in verse 2, Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?
There is a sinful inclination in man. It's an unfortunate question. I'm sure that you've all thought about this as you look at unconverted people. You wonder why.
Why don't you believe the gospel? Why don't you come to the Lord? Why don't you go to that one who grants life and grants it abundantly? Why are you chasing shadows?
Why are you chasing after garbage cans? Why are you chasing after drugs or sex or rock and roll or whatever it is that you think satisfies? This is what the prophet is saying. Why do you spend money for what is not bread?
And why do you spend your wages for what does not satisfy? John Calvin said men are so enchanted by the devil that they choose rather to wander through deserts and to vex themselves in vain than to rely on the grace which God offers to them. C.S. Lewis said sinners are like people that want to play with mud pies in a gutter than enjoy a holiday at the seaside.
Why is what the prophet is saying? If you're here tonight, why are you not coming to the Lord Jesus? Why are you pursuing those things which cannot satisfy? Why are you looking to soulish comfort in things that cannot deliver?
This is what the prophet is saying. This is what our generation needs to hear. We live in an affluent society. We live in a place where people spend more money on cars than people in the third world have ever and will ever see.
I mean, we spend more money at Tim Hortons as a people in a given month than many people will ever make in the entirety of their lives. And in a fluent society where people are not hurting physically, we need to ask the question of them, why do you spend your money for what is not bread? Why do you pour out your wages for that which does not satisfy? Have you ever seen that?
A man who makes a lot of money, a man who has a lot of resources, It doesn't automatically bring soul comfort. Remember that man in Luke 12. He thought he had everything. He had many goods laid up for many years.
And then he tells himself, Saul, take thy knees. But God said, you fool, tonight your soul is required of you. This is a great passage to take an affluent society to, and to ask the question, is all what you're living for able to provide that satisfaction that the Bible says is to be found in God alone? That's the prophet's question.
Notice the incredulity in his voice. And your wages for what does not satisfy. It is folly to pursue idolatry. It is folly to turn away from the Lord God.
Notice how he goes on in verse 2. Listen carefully to me. Don't make the mistake that so many have made. Don't reject so great a salvation.
Later on, he's going to say, call upon the Lord while he is near. What's the implication? There's a day coming when he won't be near. There's a day coming when he's going to withdraw.
There's a day coming when you may die in your sin. You don't have forever. You're not eight foot tall and bulletproof. You can get into a car wreck.
You can drop dead. There are innumerable ways, as Edward said, of wicked men going out of this world. He says, listen carefully to me and eat what is good. Let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Don't reject these things. I know some of you have heard this message several times in your lives. I know you've heard it many, many times, both in this pulpit and probably at home, in your living rooms. Your fathers, your mothers have urged you to listen carefully to me.
Listen carefully and seek the Lord. Call upon Him while He is near. Don't reject this. Don't despise this.
Don't forsake this. Whatever it is that you are pursuing that is not Jesus Christ cannot satisfy you. It cannot bring peace. It cannot bring hope.
It cannot bring joy. It's no surprise that the chapter ends with the people of God rejoicing, and the people of God knowing peace, and the people of God knowing hope. They have responded by God's grace to this blessed invitation. They have tasted and they have seen that the Lord is good.
And
Blessings of the Invitation
notice the specific blessings highlighted in this invitation. The satisfying food. Again, verses 1 and 2. Water. wine, milk, everything that a sinner needs in order to have abundance and satisfaction.
The delight of the soul. Look at verse 2 at the end. And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Don't you hear Jesus in this statement?
I came that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. He doesn't come just to miserly apportion out some of the grace of God so that you can respond in kind and contribute your lot. No, He comes with abundance. He comes with everything that a sinner desperately needs.
He speaks of fellowship with God. Verse 3, Incline your ear and come to me. In Revelation 1, where is Jesus to be found? In the midst of the lampstand.
I hope that's your view of corporate worship. I hope that's how you understand this particular place. At times it may be dry. At times it may be difficult.
At times our minds might be wandering. But the New Covenant worshipper finds Christ corporately in the gathered church. That's what is so blessed about this activity. We're not here simply to encourage one another.
We're not here simply to get our batteries recharged. We are here to meet with the triune God. There is no greater privilege that a sinner can have than to meet with his God. He says the blessing of spiritual life, verse 3b, here and your soul shall live.
What's the implication? Until you hear, until you come, your soul is dead. Paul says this in Ephesians 2, he says, and you being dead in your trespasses and sins. So we need to understand that.
That's our spiritual condition. That's our plight. That's our lot. That's our position before regeneration.
We are dead in our trespasses and sins. But by God's grace, when we come to Him, He makes us alive together with Christ. According to Paul in Ephesians, we are seated with Christ at the right hand of God, Most High. And then notice the fifth blessing he highlights is this everlasting covenant.
Chapter 3, I'm sorry, chapter 55, verse 3. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you. You see this running through this section. This persistent covenant.
God's not going to let you go. Psalm 80 is based on God's covenantal mercies, God's dealings with his people. in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back for just a moment to see this persistent covenant in Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42 at verse 6.
It's the first servant song. Isaiah 42, verse 6. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles. speaking here to the servant of the Lord, even Jesus Christ.
Again, in Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49, verse 8. In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.
And then over in Isaiah 54, we saw it last week in our Sunday evening message. Isaiah 54, verse 10, For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you. This persistent covenant is the backbone of God's redemptive plan to save His people in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. This everlasting, or new covenant, confirms the promise made to Abraham.
Notice in verse 5 of Isaiah 55, Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you. So based on the finished work of the Lord Jesus, that promise made to Abraham that the nations of the earth would be Christ's, and so it is. That is an invitation to participate. And before we move on, I want you to consider that.
I want you to ask yourself the question, have I come? Notice that in the space of three verses, the prophet says, come. Come. Come.
Come. What's the point? I hope you say, to come. Right?
He says it three times in verse 1. Come! Come! Come!
He says it once again in verse 3. Come! Based on what the servant of the Lord has accomplished, based on the blessed prospect for the church in the future, Based on that reality, sinner, you need to come. You need to taste and see that the Lord is good.
You need to come to the one alone who is able to give you life. So ask yourself before we proceed in Isaiah 55, have I come? Am I alive? Do I know what abundance is?
Have I tasted the refreshment of the gospel? Have I been exhilarated by the gospel? Do you feel a certain sense of exhilaration as you're singing these hymns of praise unto God? Do you sense the nourishment of God's Word?
Can you echo what Jesus said and what was told to Israel in the wilderness? That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. If you don't read your Bible for a day or a few days, are you feeling it? Do you want that?
Do you want that nourishment and that satisfaction that God's Word provides? Have you come to the Savior? Have you come to the Lord Jesus? Do you know what gospel blessing truly is?
Can you say, He is mine and I am His? Can you rejoice in the forgiveness of sins? Can you rejoice in the imputation of righteousness? Do you have that blessed hope that one day you'll stand before God Most High clothed in a righteousness not your own?
You won't have filthy rags. You won't have filthy garments. but you'll have something that avails with God because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Have you come to this Savior? Notice, He instructs, or He gives us instruction to assist us.
Instruction to Assist the Comer
Notice in verses 6 to 7. You might hear those four words, come, come, come, come. You say, well, how? How do I come?
What does that mean? Do I go to church? Do I give? Do I participate?
Do I go to the youth night? Do I lead the youth night? Do I go to the confession class? Do I go on Wednesday night?
I want to come to the Lord. How do I come to the Lord? Faith. Faith.
That's the grand instrument. That's what God uses to bring us into living contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek the Lord, He says in verse 6, while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what the Bible everywhere sets forth. We call it justification by faith alone. It means to hear the gospel and to believe the gospel. That's how you seek.
That's how you call. It is by faith in the risen Savior, the one who was delivered up because of our offenses and who was raised up because of our justification. You need to believe. You need to believe the gospel.
It's not by words. It's not by your righteousness, because you have none. You need to cast your soul upon another. You need to cast yourself upon the Lord Jesus.
You need to look to His doing and His dying and His rising. It's all about Christ. Faith causes a man to look outside of himself to the Lord of glory. That is God's design.
It is to seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Again, don't leave that verse quickly without reflecting on the fact. He's near now.
He's near in gospel preaching. He's near while you're breathing. He's near while you're enjoying this current life. There's a time coming that He won't be near.
There's a time coming that He will withdraw. There is a time coming, the final judgment, when it will be too late. You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't tarry.
Don't wait. I love 393. What's it say? Venture on Him.
Venture holy. Isn't that beautiful? Venture on Him. Venture holy.
Throw yourself upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He says faith, but
Faith and Repentance Together
notice as well, repentance, verse 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. You need to repent. The ways of man are wicked.
The thoughts of man are wicked. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. Faith in the Lord, calling upon the Lord, looking unto the Lord necessarily involves leaving sin behind. You walk down that aisle to get married to your new bride, you don't bring a harlot on your arm.
What do you think your bride would say? What do you think the pastor would say? Hopefully the pastor would say, leave her outside. Actually, he'd probably say, we need to call this off.
You're obviously not ready for this transaction. You want to bring that girl along to your wedding day? You don't know what repentance is. You don't know what to forsake your way is.
You don't know how wicked your thoughts are. You don't bring your girlfriend to the altar when you marry your bride. You leave her. That's what repentance is.
It's leaving sin. It's first and foremost a change of mind. You see, very often we look at the fruits of repentance as repentance. Repentance is first in the head.
It is to change one's mind. And then the Bible envisages that when we change our mind about something, then the fruit will come. You change your mind about that girlfriend, and you leave her at the door. You change your mind about that sin, and then there are fruits.
Faith and repentance, two sides of one coin. It is believing repentance. It is repentant faith. These two things go hand in hand.
And by God's grace, and grace alone, Sinners can engage in these things. So the necessity of repentance. And then notice at the end of verse seven, in case we've forgotten how gracious and how glorious and how good God's invitation is. Notice at the end of verse seven, after highlighting the place of repentance, it says, let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
It's not good news. Abundant sinners need abundant pardon. Right? When you're weighed down with sin, you don't need a miserly God.
You need a God with abundant grace, a God with abundant mercy. That's what He's saying here. He's saying, let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Everything about you is sinful.
Everything about you is tainted. Everything about you is diseased and broken and bruised by the fall. But come to our God because He abundantly pardons. It's beautiful.
You bring your sin. See, this is the devil's logic out there. I've got to clean up my act before I come to Jesus. That's the devil's logic.
Go clean up your act and then come to Jesus. You know what you're going to ever think? Is that it was your act of cleaning up that secured your favor with God. That's not the case.
The Bible says, bring your sin, bring your wickedness, bring your vileness. Jesus gives you forgiveness. Jesus puts in you repentance so that you will leave that garbage. God abundantly pardons.
Notice the logic of the Gospel. Great sin brings great pardon. Do you ever meet somebody who says, oh, I'm too sinful for that Christianity? You tell him you're so sinful that Christianity alone is what you need.
I love Psalm 25, verse 11. The psalmist says, For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Isn't that beautiful? Pardon my iniquity, Lord.
Why? Because I've cleaned up my act? Because I've resolved not to do it again? Pardon my iniquity, O Lord.
Why? For it is great. If you don't pardon it, I will die in it. There is one to whom I can flee, and it is the Lord God Most High.
So that is instruction to assist the sinner. And then
Information to Amaze: God's Ways
thirdly and finally, notice this information set to amaze us, verses 8 and 9, the ways of God. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says 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. Unfortunately, these verses are oftentimes taken right out of the context and set forth to teach that we can't understand God.
His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We can't understand anything about God. That's not the point.
It's a gospel invitation. It's a call to come. What has He just said? The wicked has to get rid of His thoughts. has to get rid of his ways.
Why? Because God's thoughts and God's ways are different. And in order to be in God's camp, you need to forsake that sin, and you need to think His thoughts, and you need to engage in His ways. You need to leave all that muck and garbage behind by His grace, so that you will walk as He has called you to do.
This is not a promise or a statement concerning the unknowability of God. It is rather a contrast between the thinking process and the doing process of unregenerate, wicked men with God Himself. We need to forsake these things. We need to come to God.
We need to be taught by God. We need to be instructed by God. We need to learn God's thoughts. I believe it was Augustine that first sat or first coined the phrase, We need to think God's thoughts after Him.
And we do that by God's grace through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 2 says, for the Christian, we have the mind of Christ. It's a blessed, blessed statement. The sinner is to renounce his ways and thoughts and partake of God's ways and thoughts. And we ought to know and observe the kindness of the Lord.
The kindness of the Lord, He enables us to do this. It's His power and His grace. And
The Sovereign Efficacy of God's Word
I think that's what the prophet wants us to appreciate now in verses 10 and 11. Verses 10 and 11. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isn't that great?
Success with reference to gospel preaching depends not upon man, depends not upon the sinner, depends not upon your free will, but on the power of the sovereign God and upon His word. He accomplishes the salvation of His people by the preaching of His Word through the power of His Spirit as the glory of His Son is set forth in His Gospel. The necessity of the gospel is everywhere held up in the scripture. We must believe on Jesus as the Bible sets him forth.
We must understand those great redemptive events associated with the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus. We need to understand that he died for our sins, that he was buried and that he rose again. that He was brought up from the dead in order to secure the salvation of His people. We trust not in the free will of man, we trust not in the power of man, but we trust in the preaching of God's Word attended by God's Spirit. And we have that blessed statement of verse 11, So shall my Word be that goes forth from my mouth.
It shall not return to me void, it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.21, For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believed. Romans 10.17, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 13 necessitates belief in the gospel.
James 1.18, of His will, He brought us forth, by what? By the word of truth, that we might become the firstfruits among His creatures. And 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 22 and 23 highlight the necessity of belief in the gospel. That is God's power.
That is God's display. That is God's doing when sinners respond favorably to this blessed invitation of Isaiah 55.
Joy and Fruitfulness of Those Who Come
And it ends on that high note of joy and of praise and of peace. Verses 12 and 13, For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." Isn't that a beautiful picture? This is what happens when sinners repent, when they come to the Lord Jesus.
You go out with joy. You're let out with peace. The mountains, the hills, they break forth into singing. The trees of the field clap their hands.
Instead of the thorns shall come up the cypress tree. What's he saying here? That as believers, as those who have come, those who have sought the Lord, those who now think His thoughts, those who now engage in His ways, you're fruitful. You produce.
You bear. You do good works. Not because God demands it for your salvation. but because God calls you to as an expression of your salvation so that you can serve your fellow man. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Lots of gospel, lots of promises associated with the gospel of Jesus Christ here in Isaiah 55. There is a four-fold hum. Come, come, come, come. Take that away if you take nothing else tonight.
What did you hear tonight at church? I heard I need to come to Jesus. Then you've heard well. That's what you need to get.
There's several reasons based in the text on why we ought to come. Four of them are God's grace, God's mercy, God's power, God's blessing. Reasons to come. The agent of salvation.
Christ: The Agent of Salvation
Verses 3 to 5 is the linchpin in this invitation. Verses 3 to 5 is the linchpin in this invitation. Notice in verse 3, incline your ear and come to me. Hear and your soul shall live.
Do you see that? Justification by faith alone. It's not by you listen and do. It's by faith.
It's by listening. It's by hearing. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Now notice, Verse 3, And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David.
Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people. Who is he speaking about here? This is Jesus. Acts 13, the Apostle Paul is preaching in a synagogue in Pisidian, Antioch, and in Acts 13.34, he says of Christ, And God raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption.
He has spoken thus, I will give you the sure mercies of David. The linchpin in this gospel invitation is the one whom the gospel focuses upon, the Lord Jesus Christ. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. Indeed, I have given him, this is Christ, as a witness to the people.
Christ is our prophet. He speaks the truth in the name of the Lord God, Most High. Christ is a king, a leader and commander for the people. And we know from Isaiah 53 that Christ is a priest.
He offers up Himself for sins. And it is Christ as the agent of salvation who carries out the promise made to Abraham. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you. It's not a blessed image to the preaching of the Gospel.
Nations are running. They're being taught of God. They're coming to Zion to learn the law of the Lord. because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you." Verses 3 to 5 center in upon the agent of salvation, who is Jesus Christ the Lord. So, hope.
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Verse three, incline your ear and come to me.
Here in your soul shall live. Jesus sounds, or Jesus must have this in the backdrop when he says in Matthew 11, verses 25 to 30, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you did hide these things from the wise and prudent, but you revealed them unto days. He says based on that declaration of God's absolute sovereignty, come, come, come, come to me. all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The very one whom Isaiah prophesies concerning, the very one whom the prophet calls sinners to repentance and faith in, is the one who tells sinners in Matthew 11, come to me and I will give you rest. Praise God for the Lord.
Praise God for Jesus. Praise God for the gospel. And if you have not come, please take this message home, consider it and think and come to the Lord while he may be found. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for this passage of Holy Scripture. We thank you for the unity in these chapters, these several expressions of the servant of the Lord and the great work that he would do in his ministry. How we thank you, Father, that we have the entirety of the Word of God, how we see the promise and we see the fulfillment. And Father, how we thank you that you've opened our eyes, that you've given us new hearts, that you've given us faith and repentance, those graces, God, that are not inherent in man.
How we praise you that you have not dealt with us according to our sin, but you have granted us the ability, by your grace and for your glory, to come to the Lord Jesus. We pray for others. We pray that a multitude would turn unto Him and be saved. We ask now that you would go with us again, watch over the various people who have need.
We thank you for Ray Bolt and the fact that he's at home now. We pray, Father, for Stormy, that whatever is troubling her ears, they would be able to determine this. God, we pray for Ray and the girls. We pray for the Neufeld family.
Just ask God in heaven that you would watch over the saints of Christ in this local body, that you would cause your face to shine upon us, that you would grant us peace and joy and happiness in the things of the Lord. And we ask in his most blessed name. Amen.