Isaiah 55:1-5

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Fahd bin Saud al-Kabir is a real live Prince in Saudi Arabia. Can you imagine what that must be like—to be a Prince in Saudi Arabia? You would literally live in a mansion—a palace! You would literally have people to peel grapes for you—literally to stand with those huge feather things to fan you. You could have a Rolls Royce—and a guy in a uniform to open the door for you and drive you wherever you wanted to go whenever you wanted to go. You could have a walk in closet full of suits—all tailor-made—drawers full of beautiful silk ties. You could wear a Rolex watch. You could have an indoor swimming pool. You could have your own personal physician—your own chef—to prepare whatever food you wanted whenever you wanted. You could have your own jet to fly you wherever you wanted to go—no standing in line with luggage and ticket. Fahd bin Saud al-Kabir went for a ride the other day—along with 5 of his closest friends. They went for a ride through the desert when their very very expensive car broke down in the heat. The Prince and two of his friends decided to walk for help. They could do it! They started across the sand. They knew where they were going. They knew what they were doing! They got lost. They lost their way—and in the 122-degree heat the Prince died. He died of thirst! For lack of a small glass of cool water—the Prince died. He lost his life—for lack of pennies worth of tap water. He died! There are people right here in Watertown who are dying of thirst. Not for lack of tap water—but for lack of spiritual living water—water for their faith—water for their immortal soul!

Are You Thirsty?

1. Jesus has living water for you

2. Share Jesus with everyone!

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today is part of the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. If you have The People’s Bible—those very practical paperback Bible commentaries—Bible study books—you will notice there are two volumes for the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. There is one book for Isaiah chapters 1-39 and one for chapters 40-66. That is not by accident—not because they divided the explanations in half. There is a division in the material—chapters 1-39 and 40-66. Still—throughout God’s Word—from Moses and Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy to 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John, Jude and Revelation—the message remains law and gospel! Isaiah 40 begins, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:1,2 and Isaiah chapter 66 ends with a severe warning to those who stubbornly remain in their sins and unbelief! “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Isaiah 66:24 Those who stubbornly reject Jesus’ forgiveness—those who just don’t care! Those who simply spend their Sunday mornings sleeping late—reading the Sunday comics—drinking fresh brewed gourmet coffee in their jammies—then go out for brunch and mow their lawn. Those who spend Sunday washing and waxing their car and watching ball games and rented videos and DVDs—pretending Jesus doesn’t even exist—will spend forever painfully aware of the Heaven they have missed! How horribly tragic and painfully sad!

Jesus doesn’t want anyone to be lost. Jesus doesn’t want anyone to spend forever in Hell. And so the LORD—the I AM—the Holy One of Israel invites everyone. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Sin makes you thirsty! It makes you parched—a burning aching hard to swallow—dry cracked blistered lips—thirsty in your soul. Sin makes you thirsty—guilt and regret and remorse! Do you know what that feels like? To have guilt and regret over something that went painfully horribly wrong long long ago? It’s like a sore that you keep scratching and picking at—tearing off the scab so that it cannot heal. Eventually you get this terrible scar and even that won’t heal—because you can’t seem to leave it alone! The Gospel heals when nothing else can help! Remember that ice tea commercial they used to have—where you took a drink of that tea—and the guy fell backwards into a swimming pool? Kabloosh! That’s refreshing! That’s all over refreshment! That’s the forgiveness that Jesus won for you. It washes away all your sins! The Savior the LORD—the Holy One of Israel promised to David was born in David’s city! The baby born in a stable because there was no room in the inn—will find a room in our heart! The Carpenter from Nazareth would die on a wooden cross to pay for the sins of the world! We are rescued—for Jesus’ sake! I read in USA Today about the coal miners who were rescued. The article said, “Men short on air, food, sleep during ’77 hours of hell’” It must have been horrible trapped in that coal mine in the cold and in the dark—but it wasn’t hell—not the forever hell that is unquenchable fire, endless tears and pain that makes you grind your teeth down to nothing. There is nothing in this world that can compare to the forever horror of hell. It is by grace alone that we are rescued from the very real torment of hell—to live forever in heaven. We have the living water—the sweet wine and nourishing bread that only Jesus can supply. He paid—and we feast!

Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? It seems to be part of the American Dream—if you work very very hard at something—any thing—you can become rich—very rich. And if you are very very rich—then you must be successful. And if you are successful—then you must be happy! We live in a country where—if you can roll a little white ball with how many dimples—into a hole cut into the soil of some very very short green grass 18 times with less whacks than anyone else—past hazard of sand and water—that that is worth the better part of 1 million dollars. We live in a country where if you can throw an orange ball through a rim and net approximately the size of a peach bushel this is worth several million dollars. You wear short pants that are exceedingly baggy—a tank top and sneakers that cost the better part of $100 per shoe—and this is worth millions of dollars. If you can break an invisible plane with a pigskin bladder that is pointed on both ends so you cannot predict how it will bounce—and this too is worth millions of dollars. We live in a country where if you can play the piano—and at the same time sing love songs—this too can be worth millions of dollars. And yet I heard just the other day—one of the most successful people at that—a man who was not only a multimillion dollar musician—but also married to a super model was not only divorced—but just recently released from a mental hospital because he was suffering from drug and alcohol abuse and severe depression. How can that be? How can it be that some one rich and famous and talented and handsome—a person who has all the things and stuff that you could possible want—and so incredibly successful by every earthly measure is not only not happy! He is painfully miserable! How can that be? It’s because the things and stuff of this world cannot satisfy that essential thirst that is deep within our heart and soul! I was driving a neat little white convertible the other day. It’s a little car with a really big engine. I looked at the speedometer and realized that engine is capable of going 150 miles per hour. That means when I am driving to Madison and the speed limit is 65 mph that car isn’t even going half—not even half as fast as it’s capable of going! So—where can I drive 150 mph? Nowhere between here and Ixonia that I know of. That’s the way it is with so many things in this world. My computer can do literally thousands of things that I don’t know how to tell it to! The average human being uses the average human brain nowhere near to capacity! Again and again we need to stop and ask ourselves—what am I spending my time, my energy, my money, my effort on? Am I a good steward of all that God has given me—or will I come to the end of my life—only to realize I have all the things and stuff I ever wanted—and none of those things has quenched my eternal thirst?

Surely you will summon nations you know not and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel… This September—with Jesus’ permission I will go to Benin—the country just to the west of Nigeria—and from Benin—maybe into Togo—what used to be French Togoland! I will tell you the truth—I never even heard of those places before—and now I will live there for a week or more. I looked up on the Internet—and it sounds like the coasts of both of these countries are marsh, swamp and lagoons. I wonder if it’s like Viet Nam? They say one of the problems in Togo is the fact it is part of the Nigerian cocaine traffic. That’s bad. People half a world away are growing drugs that will do hurt and harm to people here in the United States. What those people need—half a world away is law and gospel. They need to know that drug trafficking is a sin. They need to know that all the hugs and kisses that are spreading AIDS so that there is ½ the population from birth to 14 and ½ the population from 14 to 65 and only 2% of the population over 65 is a sin. They need to know that when the life expectancy is only 54 it’s because the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus! It is only because of Jesus’ kindness and goodness that there is a pastor named Daniel Robert—the widowed father of two sons named David and Precious—who is part of God’s promise to King David. The Gospel is coming to people and nations that we didn’t even know. Your thank offerings—your mission offerings—your patience and your sacrifice make it possible for people so far away—to hear God’s Word! Some day you will meet these people whose lives you have touched. You will meet them when we all come home to Heaven!

Because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel! There is a man named Kenny—40 years old—a day laborer in New Jersey. Kenny was fast asleep in his own home—in his own bed when the police called. They told Kenny that his friend—his best friend Michael was in jail. That his best friend Michael had been arrested for drunk driving. That Kenny should come down to the jail and pick up his friend. Kenny did. He picked up his friend—drove him to his vehicle—parked where he had been arrested—handed Michael back his car keys—and went back home to bed—to sleep. Michael—still drunk—drove his SUV into the car of a young sailor named John and killed him! Now Kenny is being charged with the crime of letting his best friend drive drunk! Some people say—is Kenny his best friend’s keeper? What was Kenny supposed to do—grab hold of his friend—take hold of him and do whatever he had to do to keep him from driving? Yes! Yes! Kenny needed to do anything and everything he possibly could—to stop his friend from driving drunk. He didn’t and John paid with his life! We are our brother’s keeper—our sister’s keeper—the keeper of our parents and our children and our neighbor—in the richest deepest meaning of that word neighbor. We need to do everything we possibly can—to help our neighbor—to help them know that Jesus is their only Savior from sin. Immortal souls are in the balance. Where the people we love will spend eternity hangs in the balance. We need to do everything humanly possible to share the precious Gospel because we love Jesus and because we love our neighbor. Amen!

To God alone all glory!