What is God's Disposition of Heart?

Recap: The Bible's Message of Sin and Salvation

0:03 Last Lord's Day morning, I introduced our study in the Word of God by asking and then answering two very basic questions. Question number one was this, what is the Bible? When we hold this book in our hands that we call the Bible, what is it? This book, comprised of 66 different books, written over a period of 1,500 years by more than 40 different authors, what in the world is the Bible?

0:45 And I answered by saying the Bible itself gives us the answer to the question, it is the Word of God written. It is God's words conveying the mind. The mind of God in the language of men. Scripture says of itself, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is therefore profitable.

1:12 But then that led us to the second very basic question, why was the Bible given to us? Why did Almighty God superintend more than 40 men over a period of 1,500 years? Writing out of the matrix of several different cultures in three different languages to give us this book that is His words in the language of men. And I said the Bible answers that question with equal clarity, that the Bible was given

1:53 to us to tell us what we need to know and believe about ourselves. The Bible tells us about God and about the only way of salvation in order that we may be fit to live, ready to die, and prepared to go to judgment. In 2 Timothy 3.15 the Apostle Paul says, speaking to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3.15 From a little babe you have known the holy scriptures which are able to

2:27 make you wise unto salvation. Through faith which is in Christ Jesus. I then went on to assert that although the central message of the Bible is found from the beginning to the end, that there are places along the way where in guiding the minds and the pens of the various authors, God chose to give us in very short compass like the distilled essence of a very expensive perfume. 2 Timothy 3.15 The very heart of the Bible is a very precious thing.

3:00 The very heart, the very pith, the very marrow of the message that is found from beginning to end. And one such passage is Isaiah 53 and verse 6. And so we turned to that passage and parked on it for an hour. And in that passage in which the prophet Isaiah said, 2 Timothy 3.15 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one of us to

3:29 his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. We saw that there are two very fundamental units of thought which contain the very distilled essence of the message of the Bible. We have on the one hand this description of our desperate condition in sin.

3:53 The bad news of our desperate condition in sin. 2 Timothy 3.15 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one of us to his own way. And the second sort of bad news in sin is that there is these good news of a gracious provision for sin and the Lord.

4:07 The good news it tells us what the offended God has done to rectify this desperate condition and the Lord has done something. And what he has done focuses upon the sin-bearing of the suffering servant of sin. But thank God for that. 2 John 3.5 2 Timothy 3.15 The earth ofAtonement ordained for our Another Us.

4:29 What did the poor man do to thisミ آי tunes? of Jehovah, the Lord has laid or made to strike, made to land upon him. That is Jesus, the iniquity of us all. Now, in opening up that text over the course of an hour, we were confronted with the raw, bare facts of human depravity and guilt on the one hand, and the glorious, gracious provisions of God's saving mercy on the other. And we had only time to lay out

The Unanswered Question: God's Disposition Towards Our Response

5:05 those bare facts of our condition in sin and God's provision for sin. However, there is another profoundly important question which Isaiah 53.6 does not answer, a question that I want to address from another portion of the same prophet Isaiah in our study of the word of God this morning. And the question is this, when God confronts us with the facts of our sin and our guilt, and the facts of his gracious

5:43 provision for our sin and guilt, what is his disposition and his desire with respect to how we react to those facts? You see my question? God confronts us with the facts of our sin and our guilt.

5:59 God confronts us in Isaiah 53.6 with the bare facts. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one of us to his own way. The fact of our desperate condition, the bad news. Then he confronts us with the good news of his gracious provision. And the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Now the question is this, when God has confronted us with those facts, what is the disposition of his heart concerning how we respond to those facts?

6:30 Does he present them to us in a take it or leave it disposition? Here are the facts, folks. All we like sheep have gone astray. You've turned to your own way. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Take it or leave it, those are the facts. Is that the disposition of God's heart? Is it? We want to answer that question by studying another portion in the prophecy of Isaiah. And to lead us into that study without telling you where the portion is yet, I want you to think about it.

The Most Hungry and Thirsty Thing in the World: The Human Soul

7:03 With me, about a very basic, and again, simple question. Boys, girls, junior age, teenagers, young people, old folks, here's my question. You listening? You ready to think? Here's my question. What is the most hungry and the most thirsty thing in all the world? What is the most hungry and the most thirsty thing in all of God's world?

7:37 Well, some of you have got teenage boys. You say, Pastor, that's a no-brainer. The most hungry thing in all the world is a teenage boy. My parents used to say, Albert, you've got a hollow leg. Could never get filled up. Couldn't eat enough. But that's not the most hungry thing in all the world.

7:59 Someone who's seen some of the National Geographic films of animals in the wild would say, well, maybe it's a bear just coming out of hibernation. Or perhaps a lion or a lioness that's gone three-wheeled. Maybe that's the most hungry thing in all the world. What's the most thirsty thing in all the world?

8:21 Well, David might answer us and say, well, it's a deer that's been chased by hunters and finally finds a cool stream and plunges its muzzle in that stream as the deer pants after the water brooks, David wrote. Someone else might say, no, it's a camel that's come across a parched, barren desert for two weeks. Without a drop of water to drink and now it comes to a water hole and it's going to fill its hump again. That's the most thirsty thing in all the world.

8:53 Some would say, no, I've seen pictures of the cracked deserts where no rain has fallen for months. And every crack in that desert, causing it to be spidered to the eye, is drying up for heaven in thirst. That's the most hungry and thirsty thing in all the world. How would you answer?

9:20 You know what the answer of the Bible is?

9:23 The most hungry and the most thirsty thing in all the world is the human soul.

9:32 It is the human soul. It is your soul. Your inner being with its inherent, inescapable yearning for love, for identity, for acceptance, for meaning, for purpose. For certainty as to what you're here for and what will happen to you when you're gone.

10:04 That's the human soul. The most hungry, the most thirsty thing in all the world. This is so because you and I were made with a capacity to know God and to commune with God and to love God and to fellowship with God. And therefore, we have souls that are made with a great capacity.

10:30 And though we have turned from God and we have forced God, as it were, out of our souls, we have not killed the hunger and the thirst of the soul any more than the prodigal son. When he left the father's table, he didn't leave his hunger at the table. He took it with him into the far country. Amen.

11:01 both physically and spiritually.

11:05 And he thought he could fill the hunger of his soul in the harlot's bed. And he thought he could fill the hunger of his soul for acceptance by bending his elbow with his buddies in the local bar. And so he wasted his substance with harlots and riotous living. But the aching, hungry, thirsty soul was mirrored in the very physical hunger that drove him to envy the pigs and the husks that they ate when he threw them at their feet when working for the farmer.

11:42 The human soul is the most hungry, the most thirsty, the most yearning thing in all of the world. And I want us this morning to look at God's invitation to hungry, thirsty souls and as we do, we're going to see that God is not a take-it-or-leave-it God when He confronts you with the truth of Isaiah 53, 6 and sets before you the facts of the bad news of your condition in sin and the good news of His gracious provision for sin.

God's Passionate Invitation: Isaiah 55:1-3

12:27 This God now comes passionately engaged with you and says in the language of our text, turn to it please, Isaiah 55, verses 1 to 3.

12:43 Isaiah 55, the God of chapter 53, now speaks. And we know it is God speaking for the last verse of the previous chapter. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness which is of me, says Jehovah. And now Jehovah says, Oh, listen up, everyone that thirsts.

13:13 Come to the waters. He that has no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

13:35 Harken diligently. Be unto me and eat that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear. Come unto me here and your soul shall live.

13:51 I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Here is God's passionate desire that the good news of His provision in the sight of the Lord, in the sight of the Lord, in the sight of the Lord, in the sight of the Lord, in the sight of the Lord, in the sight of the Lord, offering servant of Jehovah, likened here under the imagery of wine and milk and bread that we take of this gospel provision. And it's as though God says, I won't go home with my wares in my hand until you take it. This passage comes to us

14:35 in the imagery of a street hawker, a man who, goes out into the streets, to the highways and byways to sell his goods. And each day when he goes forth with his goods in his baskets and in his buckets, he's determined his baskets will be empty when he returns. His buckets will be empty when he returns. His skins of water and wine will be empty when he returns.

15:08 And he is passionate that there'll be takers wherever he goes. You can't understand these verses in any other way. And so let us draw near and listen to this passionate God. As under three headings, we analyze this text.

The Initial Invitation: How, To Whom, and What is Promised

15:31 We're going to look at the initial invitation in verse 1, the searching interrogation, verse 2a, and then the crowning. Crowning, imploration, to be, and verse 3. Number one, the initial invitation. The initial invitation, O everyone that thirsts, come to the waters.

15:56 He that has no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. We're going to ask three questions of this initial invitation in verse 1. Question 1.

16:10 How? Is this initial invitation given? How is it given? Well, note these two things.

16:17 It is given with a solemn and serious desire that it be really heard and heeded. And how do we know that? Look at that opening word. Ho.

16:31 Ho. The Hebrew word is a word that is used when one is desperate to get the attention of another. It is an attention. It is an attention-getting word.

16:45 It's the coach coming into the locker room where all the guys are milling and chatting and carrying on various conversations. And he says, Hey guys, listen up. Suddenly all the conversation stops. Everyone gathers in the circle.

17:01 The coach steps into the center. They know he's got important words to speak to them. It's the word that you would use in a Hebrew context if you happen to be a Hebrew sergeant. And you're going into barracks.

17:16 Some of the guys were half-awake, half-sleep, half-dressed. You walk in the front door and you've got important news to get to them and you say, Attention!

17:27 The half-guys, the guys half-awake, suddenly eyeballs big as saucers. Guys half-dressed pull the towel around them. They know that the sergeant has something important to say. Almighty God coming in the imagery of a street hawker.

17:42 Before he sets out his wares, he says, He is showing us that this invitation comes with a solemn and serious desire that it be really heard and heeded. And some of the Hebrew scholars tell us that in certain contexts this word has the tinge of pity. It is translated, Alas! Alas!

18:13 In other words, God means business. In this invitation, God is showing you, He's no take-it-or-leave-it God. He's saying to you, every single one of you, young and old alike, He's saying to the preacher in this pulpit as he's about to give this invitation and we ask, How is it given, God? God says it is given with solemn and serious desire that it be really heard and be heeded.

18:41 And that's why every ounce of my 69-year-old body, soul, and spirit is engaged in preaching it. I have a solemn obligation to reflect the heart of God in the way I preach the heart of God. And the day I can't do that, may God shut my mouth. Take me home.

19:10 Second thing, when we ask, How is it given? It is not only given with a solemn and serious desire that it be heard and heeded. Oh! It is given with an unmistakable earnestness and passion.

19:23 It's in the singular when he says, Oh! Everyone that thirsts, God says, I'm talking to you individually. But then there follows six verbs in the plural. Look at them.

19:38 Oh! Everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. He that has no money, come, buy, eat, come.

19:52 You see, God's getting the message across. Six imperatives. God's saying, I'm dead in earnest. Reading the words, you kept the idea that, this hawker is out to get rid of his goods.

20:07 Come, come, buy, buy, eat.

20:12 You're not just going to the streets. Oh, I've got a few things here. Hey, hey, will you like to take a thing here? Oh, hey, hey, hey, buddy, over there, you'll like.

20:19 No. He's going through the streets. He's causing a general disturbance.

20:27 I've got good I believe you need. And I'm set upon dispensing with my goods. And so he says, come, come, come by, by, come eat God's dead in earnest. And I can never think of the imagery of this passage without going back.

20:53 Hey kids, this is ancient history. The summer of 1954. That's in your books on ancient American history.

21:04 1954. And I was in a part of Augusta, Georgia. It was called the white trash section. Dirt roads, houses, hovels that people lived in.

21:16 You wouldn't believe not even two by fours, just two by threes vertical and then shrunk in clapboards that you could see through to the outside. No insulation cockroaches running up and down the walls in the home. I was staying. I had one room pin roof above me, no insulation, one stretch for two to three weeks with the temperature didn't go down under a hundred.

21:41 You get on that bed was like getting on a hot plate at night, seeking to make, to minister to these people whose bodies were dull and minds were dull because of poor diet who'd been spiritually raped by charlatans who'd run out of them decisions and other things to parade their own importance. Seeking to pour my life into those people for the summer months and more than one morning I was awakened and I can still see her in my mind's eye. She had the bandana on her head. She had long willowing legs.

22:15 Took a stride that equaled or exceeded mine when she walked. And she would come through those dirt roads and she would cry this willowy black lady, okra, okra, fresh okra, here gets your okra. She made it plain. She was determined to go home with an empty basket with no okra in it.

22:35 She didn't care if somebody had a night shift. She gonna wake them up. I got okra and I want you to buy my okra. Okra.

22:48 This is God. With his basket and his wineskin. Okra. Tins full of that which he knows we need.

22:58 And he's determined not to go home until his basket's empty and his wineskins are dry. That's the God of the Bible. He's not a take it or leave it God. You're a sinner.

23:12 Christ died. Take it or leave it. No. He's the street hawker God.

23:18 He's the street hawker God supremely revealed in Jesus who said I'm a mother hen God. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, would I have gathered you under my wings as a hen gathers her chicks and you would not. That's the God of the Bible. No, take it or leave it.

23:51 This passionate deity. That's Allah. That's not Jehovah manifested supremely in the Lord Jehovah Jesus. So this initial invitation, we asked the first question, how is it given?

24:11 The text answers it's given with a solemn and serious desire that if he really heard and he did, oh, it's given with an unmistakable earnestness and passion. Six imperatives God's determined to dispense with his goods. Second question to whom is this initial invitation given? Look at the text.

24:33 Oh, everyone that thirsts, it is given to everyone that thirsts. Now what kind of thirst does the prophet have in mind as he speaks in Jehovah's name? Is it mere physical thirst? Of course not.

24:54 You'll notice in 2b, he says, eat that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3a, incline your ear. Come unto me here. And your soul shall live.

25:09 He's speaking of soul thirst. He's speaking of that thirst, which is a part of who and what we are as creatures made in the image of God. Some would say, oh, yes, but pastor, isn't there a thirst of someone awakened to his or her need? That is a distinctive thirst.

25:32 And isn't the promise of the gospel made to such? And I answer. There is a soul thirst unique to the people of God and unique to those whom God is already drawing to himself. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew five, six blessed are those who what hunger and thirst after righteousness for they should be filled.

25:56 That's a distinctive grace produced hunger and thirst. But I contended here. God is not speaking to those who have begun. To be spiritually awakened to those who have a grace produced thirst.

26:13 Because as we shall see, he's speaking to people who are trying to fill the thirst of their soul in every way. But God's way. They are just plain old straying sheep. People who have turned to their own ways.

26:30 He is speaking to man as man man as image of God. Made with that capacity for God himself. When God made man, God himself was the true and only satisfying refreshment. He was the meat and the drink and the water and the wine of the soul of Adam and Eve.

26:52 But when man turned from his God, his thirst, as I said earlier, was not annihilated. He still thirsts for joy, for happiness, fulfillment, the sense of worth and identity. And he seeks it all in the wrong places. Jeremiah chapter 2 is the most classic statement in my judgment of this reality.

27:16 Jeremiah chapter 2 verses 12 and 13. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid and be desolate, says the Lord. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.

27:38 And what have they done? Because they're still thirsty and their souls want water. What do they do? They have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

27:53 But the point is, when they forsake God as a living spring, they don't kill their thirst. If they have no thirst, why make a cistern to catch water? There's the picture of unregenerate, unconverted, sinners digging a little cistern over here, hoping to catch a little water from this relationship, this pleasure, this pursuit, this thing, that thing. They have thrown away living water, but the thirst still gnaws in the soul.

28:31 And so they make their broken cisterns. Who is being addressed in this invitation? Every single one of us, as the straying sheep, as those who have turned to our own way. God addresses us in this passage not as awakened sinners, not as seeking sinners.

28:55 He just addresses us as plain old sinners. And He says to us as sinners, Ho, every sinner, everyone who thirsts. Ho. Everyone.

29:10 Without exception. And then the second thing we learn in answer to the question, To whom is this invitation given? It is addressed to the thirsting. But now notice, it is addressed to the impoverished and the destitute.

29:25 Look at the text. We read very clearly that they are destitute. He who has no money. He who has no money.

29:41 You think you have, as we will see later on in the exposition. Why do you spend your money? But there is no true money. There is no commodity with which to purchase that which will satisfy the soul.

29:57 We are impoverished and we are destitute. He who has no money. Utterly destitute. The New Testament in Romans 5 says, When we were without strength.

30:19 When we were sinners. When we were ungodly. When we were enemies. Five descriptions in one brief chapter of the New Testament.

30:30 That is what we are. Utterly destitute of any spiritual strength to raise ourselves to a fountain of life. We are sinners incapable of changing ourselves. We are ungodly.

30:42 We are enemies. And this is addressed to us. Not only as thirsty. But impoverished.

30:53 And then the third thing about those to whom it is addressed is this. It is addressed to each one of the thirsty. And each one of the impoverished individually. Oh, every one that thirsts.

31:08 Without exception. You see that is the wonder of the gospel. Just as surely. Just as surely.

31:16 Just as surely. As each one of us is part of that vast flock of sheep that has strayed. Each one of us has turned to his own way. God in the gospel comes to us individually.

31:31 And he says, Oh, every one that thirsts, come. You were born in a crass act of individualism. You were born. Even if you were one of quintuplets.

31:47 You would be born as an individual. You will die individually. No one will be able to go through the valley of the shadow of death for you or with you. You are going through a moon.

32:02 And you will go to judgment individually. Each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Mama can't stand with you. Papa can't stand with you.

32:13 Brother can't stand with you. Your drinking buddies can't stand with you. Your whoring friends can't stand with you. You were born individually.

32:21 You'll die as an individual. You'll go to judgment as an individual. But blessed be God. God comes to you in the gospel individually.

32:32 And he says, Oh, every one of you that thirsts. Without exception. Without exception. I come to you.

32:41 And I speak to you. And I entreat you. May I say it's biblical. I say it's biblical to say I beg you.

32:49 Take my gospel goods. My water. My wine. My bread.

32:57 Take it. Come to dispense it. I want to go home tonight. With empty wine skins.

33:06 Empty buckets. And empty baskets. Oh, every one that thirsts. So as we've looked at this initial invitation.

33:17 How is it given? Given with solemn, serious desire that it be heard. Given with unmistakable earnestness and passion. Then we've asked to whom is it given?

33:28 It's addressed to the thirsting. Addressed to the impoverished and destitute. Addressed to each one of the thirsty and impoverished individually. But then the third question we ask is, What is promised in this initial invitation?

33:42 What has God promised to the thirsty? To the impoverished individual? Well, look at the commodities. The commodities that are held out.

33:50 Oh, every one that thirsts. Come to the waters. A full supply. He calls it waters.

34:00 Probably likening it to streams of waters. A plentitude of water. He that hath no money, come buy and eat. A veiled reference to bread.

34:12 And we know that later on he speaks of bread in the text. And then he says, Come buy wine and milk without money, without price. So what is God hawking today as he goes out into the marketplace to dispense with gospel goods? He is promising an abundant supply of water, of wine, of milk, and of bread.

34:40 Water. The symbol of refreshment that sustains life. Isaiah had spoken in chapter 12 of this prophecy. With joy shall you draw waters out of the well of salvation.

34:55 The last gospel promise in the Bible. Revelation 22, 17. Whosoever will, let him drink of the water of what? The water of life freely.

35:08 The symbol of life. Wine used as the symbol of exhilaration and cheerfulness. Psalm 104, one of God's gifts. Wine that makes glad the heart of man.

35:22 God's not interested in just sustaining you with a modicum of life. He wants you to be cheerful in that life that he offers. This is the Old Testament counterpart of the words of Jesus. I'm come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.

35:39 And in Isaiah 25, 6, God likens the blessings of gospel days. Wine upon the leaves. You know what that is? Well refined, good stuff.

35:49 That sat in the oak barrels for a year. God says, I'm not just giving you cheap wine. I ain't giving you a bottle of Ripple. I'm giving you the good stuff.

36:00 The kind of stuff, remember at the feast, they knew the difference. After Jesus turned the water into wine, they came to the ruler of the feast and said, Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What's going on here? You got things backwards.

36:12 Usually you put out the good stuff in the beginning when people's taste buds are still alive. But you saved the best stuff till last. You gave us the Ripple in the beginning. You gave us Sonoma Valley.

36:23 Aged for a year in oak barrels. 1999 vintage. You gave us the good stuff. This is what God says.

36:33 God doesn't scruple, you see, to try to entice us with the good stuff. Water. Wine. And then he says milk.

36:44 Pointing to that which would sustain and strengthen and nourish. And then notice he says in verse 2a. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? So bread is in the back of God's mind.

36:59 The staff of life. And this is what God is hawking today in the gospel marketplace. He's saying I'm coming with water, with wine, with milk and bread. Water to refresh and sustain life.

37:13 Wine to give you exhilaration in life. Milk to nourish and bread to sustain. All that is needed and suited to you. All that is needed and suited to furnish the soul with refreshment, exhilaration, nourishment and sustenance.

37:30 And God says I hold it all out to you. That's what is promised in this initial invitation. Do you hear overtones of the New Testament here? Jesus says to the woman at the well, if you only knew who was talking to you.

37:47 You would have asked of him and he would have given you living water. He said. He that believes on me. I will give this one water that springs up to everlasting life.

37:58 John 7 and the great day of the feast. Jesus stood and cried saying if any men thirst let him come unto me and drink. As the scripture says how to this innermost being will flow rivers of living water. John 6 I am the bread of life.

38:14 I am the bread which came down from heaven. Which if a man eat he shall live forever. God in the gospel of the servant of Jehovah comes and says. There is water.

38:28 There is wine. There is milk. There is bread. But then notice with me secondly from the initial invitation.

The Searching Interrogation: Why Pursue Futility?

38:36 What I'm calling the searching interrogation. God's got the attention of people in the marketplace. They've stopped from all of their preoccupation with this booth in the bazaar and that booth in the bazaar. And they're listening to him in his passionate earnest presentation of these gospel commodities.

38:59 And now God says I've got you here. I want to ask you a couple of searching questions. There are two of them. Look at them.

39:05 Verse 2. Wherefore why do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not. God says I want to ask you here in the marketplace two things. What in the world are you doing.

39:26 To spend your money for that which is not bread. And your labor for that which does not satisfy. Let's break these down for a moment. Why literally do you weigh out money for that which is not bread.

39:43 Back when you had scales and you had to weigh out the amount of money. It's the picture of someone weighing out a given amount. And you watch the man in Jesus. And what do you do?

39:53 You're weighing out money for that which is not bread. For that which cannot nourish your soul. That's what God is saying. You're in reality impoverished.

40:05 You have no real money to purchase any true commodities. You're utterly destitute. There is nothing of worth that you can purchase with what you have. And all that I offer to you is without money and without price.

40:19 Yet you do in a sense have money. And what is your money? Your commodity that you weigh out is the energy of your mind. Your time.

40:29 The use of your bodily faculties. Your capacities. Your interest. All that make you this amazing creature called a human being.

40:39 That's a stock of money that is to be laid out for something. And he said why are you weighing it out for that which is not bread. You think. You think that by spending your energies.

40:52 Your interest. And your time. And your relationships. For what you're doing.

40:56 You're going to be satisfied. And nourished. But it's not bread. It's not bread.

41:04 God didn't make you to have the ache and the hunger of your soul fed on sex. And silliness. And stupidity. And human relationships as your ultimate satisfaction.

41:22 God never made the human. Gut. To be filled. And nourished.

41:27 With that stuff. So he says. Why do you lay out. Weigh out.

41:32 Your money. For that which is not bread. It cannot nourish you. And why do you weigh out the fruit of your labor for that which can never satisfy.

41:44 You see how God ties the two together. Why do you spend for money. That is not bread. Never was intended to fill the ache and the swage.

41:53 And quench the thirst. Quench the thirst of the soul. And your labor for that which doesn't satisfy. That's why you're so restless my unconverted friend.

42:06 It's like the carrot. In front of that animal. That they want to draw on in the race. He never gets his mouth in it.

42:14 It's always out there. If I run a little faster. A little harder. But my friend.

42:18 That's what you are. Get honest. Get honest. What you've been pursuing.

42:25 Has brought no truth. Satisfaction of soul. You know it. God knows it.

42:30 And that's why he says. When he's trying to persuade you. My water. My wine.

42:37 My bread. My stuff. Truly satisfies. Why in the world do you weigh out your money.

42:47 For that which is not bread. And for that which can never satisfy. You see what God's doing. He's trying to get you.

42:56 To think about yourself. And what stupidity you're engaged in. Now if God condescends to ask you these questions. To get you to think.

43:01 Don't you have enough concern for your soul. To think. And not just blow it all off. Oh there goes the preacher again.

43:06 Trying to get inside me. You bet your boots. I'm trying to get inside you. I read in my devotions this morning.

43:11 Where Paul said. Knowing. The terror of the Lord. We persuade men.

43:15 And I swear to God. I'm going to get inside you. I'm going to get inside you. I'm going to get inside you.

43:19 I'm going to get inside you. I'm going to get inside you. I'm going to get inside you. I'm going to get inside you.

43:24 And where Paul said. Knowing. The terror of the Lord. We persuade men.

43:28 And I said. Oh God. I offer up to you. My mind.

43:32 My heart. My hands. My being. Oh God.

43:36 Persuade through me. I'm trying to persuade you. To stop on your way to hell. And think.

43:40 What in the world are you doing. Spending all God's given you. For that which is not bread. It was never intended.

43:45 To satisfy. You. You. You.

43:49 You. You. You. You.

43:53 You. You. You. You.

43:57 You. You. You. Why.

44:04 Why. It's madness. At this point I want to use. A little parable.

44:10 I have constructed. To try to drive. Home the madness. And cause you to.

44:14 Sit and judge yourself. And say. If I go out of here. And tell the divine hawker.

44:18 No water for me God. No. Wine for me God. No bread for me.

44:25 God. He'll go out. Saying. I'm fool.

The Parable of the Mad Retirees: The Folly of Rejecting God's Offer

44:31 And. Judge. Trudge yourself. Imagine with me, a group of retirees can't find anything else to do.

44:40 They hop in their buses and go down to Atlantic City and spend their Social Security money pulling the one-armed bandit. Some of them have a little more elevated taste and they go on tours. They take cruises and they go on tours. Here's a group of people touring one of those areas out in the southwest.

44:59 You can drive for miles in the Badlands. And they're on the secondary or tertiary road that people don't travel. Cars may not pass there for hours. And lo and behold, 30 of these old retirees, my age bracket, bus breaks down on one of those lonely roads.

45:21 The bus driver says, I don't know what we're going to do. Sometimes hours pass, nobody comes by here. But according to my map and my calculations from how many miles we've come from the last town, we're about five miles. And the next town.

45:35 And there in that town, there are a couple of crossroads with some primary roads. And I understand there's a, I've passed it in previous trips, that there's a nice little mom and pop restaurant there. But we're five miles away, folks. We can sit in this bus and roast.

45:51 We can get out and start hoofing it. So 30 old people get out with their arthritic knees.

46:01 I'm picking on my own, folks, so don't get angry with me. And so they start hoofing it. And it's hot. It's burning hot.

46:11 And their mouths are dry and parched. And they're hungry and their stomachs are gnawing at them. And they're trudging on their way to do the five miles. And they get about two and a half miles.

46:23 And lo and behold, down the road comes someone who's got some kind of a farming business out in that area. And he's got a flatbed truck with the rack sides. And he pulls over the side of the road and said, what in the world is this? You don't look like a troop of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

46:38 What did you all do? And he finds out their plight. And he says, look, hop in the back of my truck and I'll take you up to that town. In fact, I've got my cell phone and I'll call ahead.

46:48 Man and a woman that run that place, they're deep, close, personal friends. I'll tell them that in a short time, we're going to have some very hungry, thirsty people coming. Pick something quick. Pick something good for them.

47:01 And so he calls and they tell him, look, we'll get everyone around here to work. We're going to have jugs of cool, refreshing ice water. We're going to have some ice tea. We're going to hustle together some sandwiches.

47:14 We're going to treat them good. And it's all going to be on the house.

47:18 So sure enough, after he gets everybody piled in, tells them how to sit. No seatbelts, you know, in the back of that truck. So that it's safe. And so he drives very carefully and very slowly.

47:28 And sure enough, he makes up his way to the mom and pop rest stop. And when they get out, there they have several folding tables that have been unfolded like tables we use. In our multi-purpose room. And spread on those tables are these jugs of clear ice water.

47:50 Sweat all on the side, you know, the hot water. Am I making you thirsty? I'm sorry.

47:58 There are a few advantages of being up here, okay?

48:02 Likewise.

48:05 All right.

48:09 There's the jugs of water. The ice tea. Lovely sandwiches. Everything that could quench the thirst.

48:17 Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction.

48:18 Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction.

48:18 Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction.

48:18 Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction. Satisfaction.

48:21 And send them on their way when they get the bus fixed. A bunch of happy old campers. But a strange thing happens. When they pile out of the buses, one by one, they walk by that table.

48:36 And they walk down about a hundred feet. Where there's another table. And on that table, a guy's got some plastic cups.

48:50 Half of them are filled with sand. And the other half was sawdust. And the people, one by one, Look at the lovely water and iced tea and sandwiches laid out by these kind people. Sniff at it for a moment and walk right by.

49:10 One or two stop and begin to take this fare. And they go to that table and they say, What are you charging for your sand and sawdust? Oh, five bucks for a cup of sawdust. Plenty bucks for a cup of sand.

49:28 You see people reaching in their wallets and into their pocketbooks. And paying five dollars for a cup of sawdust. Twenty bucks for a cup of sand. And here they are with parched lips trying to quench their thirst with sand.

49:47 And stuffing sawdust into their dry mouths to satisfy their hunger with sawdust. I ask you, if you saw this, knowing they pass by refreshing water and iced tea and saying, What would you say of those people?

50:10 You'd say they are mad.

50:14 The burning sun has blasted their brains and stripped them of rationality.

50:25 Because sand was never made to quench thirst. And sawdust was never made to satisfy hunger.

50:37 You got the point of my parable? Once again this morning, God said, God says to thirsty souls,

50:48 Here's the sweaty jugs of ice water, and of iced tea, and the sandwiches of my grace, forgiveness, pardon, eternal life, peace with God, adoption, sanctification, all of the blessings of my grace, and they're free!

51:15 Take and eat! Take and drink! You go over and plunk out your money. For sand and for sawdust.

51:28 And this is what God says to you this morning. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? Why do you spend your money for sawdust and your labor for that which satisfies not for sand?

51:48 Sawdust and sand! And God says water, wine, milk, and bread. And it's all for free.

52:03 That's the searching interrogation that God makes.

52:10 What do you do with it, my unconverted friend? What do you do with it? Are you ready to think on the madness of what you're doing?

52:22 Because hell is sawdust and sand forever.

52:33 Just a drop of water upon my parched tongue. No. You chose sand in life. You'll have sand forever.

52:48 In your life, you had your...

52:54 You tried to fill your soul with stuff that was never intended to fill your soul.

53:05 Refuse the water of life in life. There is no water in death and in hell.

53:17 That's the searching interrogation that God makes. Why? Why do you spend money? For that which is not bread.

The Crowning Imploration: Gracious Commands and Promises

53:29 And your labor for that which satisfies not. Then we come, in closing, to the third head.

53:37 From the initial invitation to the searching interrogation, we come to the crowning imploration. And I'm choosing that word not just for homiletical neatness. Originally, I had the crowning invitation. But you see, this is more than invitation.

53:56 To implore. The very root of the crowning invitation. The word implore means to cry out or to weep. Its formal definition is to ask or plead earnestly.

54:08 And this is the crowning imploration in verse 2b and verse 3. Look at it. After God makes the interrogation, why do you spend for that which is not bread? Your labor for that which satisfies not.

54:23 Now look at this imploring of God. Hearken. Hearken diligently unto me. Eat that which is good.

54:34 Let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear. Come unto me. Hear and your soul shall live.

54:45 I will make an everlasting covenant with you. Do you sense the imploring heart of God? Hoping that the interrogation will stun those in the market. I place the saying.

54:59 This foolishness has got to stop. I'm weighing out money for that which is not bread. And the fruit of my earnings for that which can never satisfy. And God says, I hope I've broken through the veil of your moral madness.

55:15 Now hear me as I lay my heart next to yours in my crowning imploration. And notice that that imploring breaks down into two categories. Gracious commands. And then gracious promises.

55:32 Look at the gracious commands. Incline. I'm sorry. Hearken diligently unto me.

55:39 The Hebrew has a common root. And some have translated it. Hear, hear. God says, listen to me.

55:46 Listen to me. Stop sticking the fingers of your soul in your ears. And listen. Listen, listen, listen.

55:55 Incline. Incline. Hearken diligently. Eat what is good.

56:00 Let your soul delight in fatness. Now here's the second command. Incline your ear. That's a beautiful picture.

56:08 Someone a little hard of hearing. That's me too. Incline your ear. Often in prayer meeting I turn around in the direction of whoever is praying.

56:18 And I cut my hand here. I incline my ear to pick up every word. God says, I'm speaking words of grace. Incline your ear.

56:28 Don't turn your ear away. Don't stop your fingers in your ears.

56:33 Incline your ear. Listen to what I'm saying. And then he says, come to me. That's beautiful.

56:41 Jehovah says, it's your person engaging my person. It's not just stopping by the table and saying I'll have something of the refreshing water of forgiveness. I think I'll take a little bit of the iced tea of peace with God. And a little bit of the bread of pardon.

56:56 No, no. It's engagement with a person. In whom all the water and all the bread and all the wine and the milk are to be found. For the scripture says, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.

57:12 In Christ. Christ says, if you thirst, come to me and drink. If you're hungry, I'm the bread. Labor for the bread which does not perish.

57:24 The gracious commands are, hearken diligently. Eat what is good. Incline your ear. Come to me.

57:35 That's the voice of Christ calling out in the gospel. Do you hear it this morning? Beyond the preachers pleading and explaining and illustrating. Do you hear the voice of the great shepherd?

57:51 Other sheep I have, he said, they are not of this fold. Them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice. This is the wonder of preaching. That people through the frail instrumentality of a redeemed sinner, Christ speaks.

58:08 Oh, if he would speak this morning and you'd hear his voice calling you from your moral madness to take of his water, his wine, his milk, and his bread. And what is graciously promised, look again at the text. Two things are promised. Your soul will be delighted with the best.

58:32 In abundance. Look at the text again. Eat that which is good. The end of verse two.

58:38 Let your soul delight itself in fatness. Fatness is not blubber on the belly. Fatness is profusion of the best of fare. That's what fatness is.

58:55 And God says, if you hear and if you come and if you take what you will have, is a soul no longer seeking to be satisfied with sand and sawdust, but a soul that knows the best of luxuriant food and drink in contrast to the disappointment of that which is not bread. Let your soul delight itself in fatness. And then look at the end of verse three. Incline your ears.

59:34 Come unto me here, the middle of verse three, and your soul shall live.

59:41 The soul has its hunger and thirst apart from Christ, but it has no life.

59:48 It's the hunger and thirst of death that leads to death. But Christ says, your soul will live. Again, do you hear the echoes of John 10.10?

60:00 I am come, he says, that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Your soul will. Truly live. Here is the crowning imploring of God.

The Basis of the Offer: The Everlasting Covenant in Christ

60:14 God graciously commanding, hearken diligently, eat the good, incline your ear, come to me. The promise, your soul shall have abundance. Your soul will truly live. And when you ask the $64 question, on what basis can God do that to the likes of me?

60:31 How can God come like a street hawker and offer all this to me without money, without price, and say it's yours? If you will have my son. Well, look at verse three. The end of verse three gives us the answer.

60:47 Incline your ear, come to me here, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I've given him for a witness and a leader. And then we are brought back to the suffering servant.

61:09 The covenant of chapter 52, 13 through chapter 53. When we turn to the New Testament, Acts chapter 13, Luke chapter 1, the promise made to Mary. This is a messianic promise. This points to the Lord Jesus Christ.

61:27 And God says that in connection with Christ, there is an everlasting covenant that undergirds all that I provide and all that I promise. Tonight. At this table, we will remember the one who said, This is the new covenant in my blood. And all of the water and the wine and the bread and the milk of grace.

61:58 May I say it's all tinged with blood. The blood of the suffering servant. And it comes to us because of what Christ has done. And because of who Christ is.

62:11 And it is only because of him that God can come, as it were, in the posture of the street hawker. And say to you and to me this morning, Oh, listen up, everyone who thirsts. Come. Come to the waters.

62:32 He that has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money, without price. May God grant that some of you. Sitting here this morning will have already said, Oh, God, I see it.

62:47 I've been guilty of this moral madness. I've been walking by the table to spend my money for sand and sawdust. God, no more. I'm done with it.

63:01 Here, not in this place. Today, I will prove the validity of Christ's promise. If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He that believes on me.

63:15 He that believes on me. He that believes on me. He that believes on me shall have a well of water springing up unto everlasting.

Final Invitation and Call to Action

63:25 Do you know what the last invitation of the Bible is? I already alluded to it. I give it to you in closing. The last invitation in the Bible gathers up everything I've sought to preach this morning.

63:42 Verse 17 of Revelation 22. The spirit and the bride say, Come. He that hears, let him say, Come. He that is a thirst, let him come.

63:58 He that will, let him take the water of life freely. Freely. He that will. You sit there and say, Oh, Pastor, you believe in free will?

64:12 No.

64:14 But I believe if anyone sits here and wills to take the water of life, it's his. It's yours.

64:25 Why will you not have it?

64:28 It's freely offered. It's offered in Christ. It's offered to you passionately, sincerely, earnestly, entreatingly.

64:41 My friend, when you meet this God in judgment who stooped this morning to come to you in the role of a street hawker because he was determined to go home today with empty baskets and empty wineskins, what will you tell him? What will you tell him? Well, the preacher presented it in silence. In such a way that it was really not believable.

65:07 You can tell him that. Your conscience is witness. That will not cut it in the day of judgment.

65:16 Lord, I never had it made plain enough. It won't cut it. Well, I was troubled with the doctrine of election. That won't cut it.

65:25 You are told in this place this morning, this is all yours as you will have it. And the only reason you will not have it is that you will not to have it. And Jesus says to you, you will not come to me that you may have life. And he holds you.

65:39 You are too culpable for your willingness not to have him. Oh, my friend, go to him. And child of God, what better preparation for the table tonight than to think that when we come to that table to take the emblems of bread and of the fruit of the vine, we sit here with spiritual stuff because Jesus died. Jesus died.

66:10 And because he died for us, he was determined to win us. And he subdued our moral madness, opened our eyes, sweetly, graciously, powerfully drew us so that we've drunk of that water and of that milk and of that wine and we've eaten of that bread. And if you're like me, I can't think of these things without saying, Oh, God, stretch my appetite and my capacity to drink more, to eat more, to assimilate more of all that is mine. In Christ, let's pray.

66:55 Our Father, together we have looked into your word. Your servant is sought to be honest with the text, to be earnest in the proclamation of it. And now, Lord, we can only pray. Do your work.

67:13 Oh, God, do your work. Do your work that even before the last day, it will be evident that some in this place, this day,

67:27 came. And drank and ate, turned from their moral madness, embraced the earnest, sincere offer of gospel, water, wine, milk, and bread.

67:45 Seal your word. Do your work. For your praise we ask it. Amen.