Come Everyone Who Thirsts (Isaiah 55:1-7)
If the world we live in were a river, which way is the current flowing, toward Jesus or away from Him? I think we would all answer quickly, “The current of the world is flowing away from Jesus.” If this is true what is a great danger that we all face? The danger of drifting with the current of the world away from Jesus. Drifting is a great danger and is something we see happening with God’s people throughout the Bible. Hebrews 2:1 -Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. What is it that we are called to pay much greater attention to? I strongly believe that it is Jesus. The book of Hebrews is written to show the supremacy of Jesus. I think that drifting happens when we don’t pay much closer attention to who God is, to what He has done and promised to do, and who He says we are; when we don’t pay much closer attention to who Jesus is, what He has done, what He has done for us, and who we are in Him.
Isaiah 55
The book of Isaiah is about people who have forgotten, they have drifted, they have forgotten who God is and who they really are. This passage is written to people who are in exile, who are called to remember who they are, called to remember who God is, called to remember what they have been given in the free offer of His grace and the transforming power of His Word.
Everyone is Spiritually Thirsty and Spiritually Hungry
Isaiah 55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isaiah is not implying that there are some people who are thirsty and some who are not. There may be some who recognize their heart thirst and some who do not, but all people are spiritually thirsty. God has built spiritual thirst and hunger into the heart of every human being. Whether people know it or not, there is a void in their hearts that can only be filled by God. Every person seeks fulfillment; hope; meaning; security; purpose; rest; life. The Creator hardwired us with a desire for Him.
Now, that thirst and hunger is a grace and a danger. It’s a grace because that hunger is meant to draw me to God because it’s only in relationship with God that I will ever know the peace and rest and hope and life that I was created to enjoy. It’s a danger because, in a fallen world, I’m tempted to satisfy that hunger somewhere outside of the Creator and feed myself on things that can never, ever satisfy me. You were spiritually hungry this week, and somehow, some way, you fed that hunger. How are you feeding that hunger? How are you quenching that thirst?
There are only two kinds of spiritual drink and food
Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
We are all spiritually thirsty and hungry and there are only two options on the menu. “Eat what is good and delight yourself in rich food,” or “that which is not bread and that which does not satisfy.” We can choose rich food or food that is not bread. The rhetorical question is, “Why would you eat a meal that you know wouldn’t fill you?” It’s a lie that somehow life can be found outside of the Creator, that somehow, I can go to creation, and I can find that satisfaction for my hungry, thirsty heart. It’s all a lie because the creation has no capacity whatsoever to satisfy your heart. It can’t. If we’ve been given a free offer of food that satisfies, why would we feed ourselves somewhere else? But too often we do!
Jesus is the drink and the food that satisfies.
Isaiah 55:3-5 – Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
You may look at Isaiah 55 and say, “Where did you see Jesus in this passage?” This passage is referenced by the apostle Paul in Acts 13 when he’s preaching a sermon on the death and resurrection of Jesus. This everlasting covenant is fulfilled; those promises are fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Son of David who sits on the throne of David forever. These promises are fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the light of the Gentiles, and in His grace, the gospel comes to people everywhere.
Jesus is the only drink that can satisfy; Jesus is the only food that can give you life. Are you feeding on and drinking Jesus? Let me ask the question this way, when you’re discouraged, when your heart is not at rest, when circumstances or people have disappointed you, when you are facing temptation and you just feel exhausted, when experiences have come your way that you thought you’d never experience, where do you run? Do you run to Jesus? When your heart is not at rest, broken and grieved and fearful, do you run to Jesus?
Jesus is not something we just study; He’s not something that we just exegete. He is a person that we’re called to abide in, to love Him and be loved by Him, and in loving Jesus, there is life. Do you run to Jesus? Do you feed on Jesus? Do you drink Jesus? Jesus is the only drink that will ever satisfy. It is such an amazing thing to be able say; “God’s answer to my hungry heart is Himself.”
You feed on and drink Jesus by faith.
There are 4 words here that I think help us better understand what faith looks like. Come, buy, eat, delight (be satisfied). ‘Come’ means move toward Christ, put yourself in the place where the grace of Christ and the love of Christ is taught, encouraged, and worshipped. Do you love God’s Word? You don’t read the Bible in the morning just so you can complete your yearly Bible reading and hit Revelation by December. That’s a wonderful thing, but it’s not a wonderful thing if you don’t see Jesus in the pages, if that process doesn’t make you hunger for more of your Savior. Do you love to be with God’s people? Do you love the fellowship of people who love Jesus too. Do you love to be around people who remind you of your need of Jesus and teach you things about Jesus, and when God’s people are gathered, you’re there? Why…because you love Jesus.
Second word is ‘buy’. Buy is a word of commitment; I’m going to buy-in. This does not mean we need to have something good of our own to make a transaction with God. The only transaction that happens is our sin for His righteousness. We receive or take what Jesus is offering. Receive the grace you need. We buy what is free, in other words we receive, we take what He is offering. Committing to His way.
‘Eat’ means I consume Him by faith. I take it in. I long for the truth of Jesus Christ and the Person of Jesus Christ to do His work in me. Take it in and meditate on it, chew on it, get it in you. It means obedience, doing what the Word says. James 2:17 – So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 1:22 – But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. It makes no sense to choose Jesus, to say I’m a Christian, then not consume His truth, His love, His grace, His wisdom, His kindness, His compassion, His forgiveness. Are you feeding on Christ, taking it in, acting upon it by faith?
Final word ’delight’. Has your heart experienced delight in Jesus? A satisfied person comes repeatedly. You come to Jesus, receive from Jesus, consume and obey what He offered, then your heart delights and wants to go back to Jesus for more.
Now is the time to come.
Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Why must we respond now? Because you don’t know if you have later, because you don’t write your story. You aren’t in control of the sovereign operation of God’s grace, and so you respond immediately whenever the appeal is made. We respond now because it’s God’s grace to us, if you don’t respond now you will drift. If you don’t pay much closer attention to what God says to you, you will forget and drift.
This passage tells us how to respond, what it means to feed on God by faith. We see a beautiful definition of repentance. Listen to this. “…let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord.” First thing we need to accept is that when we go anywhere but to Jesus, we are acting wickedly and unrighteously. There’s a turn of behavior and a turn of heart in those words. Repentance is a definitive change in my heart, that leads to a change in the direction of my life. What you have here is a call to repentance, and that call is not a one-time call; that call is a daily call, that because sin still exists inside of me every day, I come once again to Jesus.
That’s what faith looks like. If you’re not doing that, if your life is not a daily life of confession and repentance, then you’re going to grow accustomed to your sin; you’re able to grow comfortable with it; you’re able to live with things that God calls you to forsake. This is an amazing promise: Pardon, that every wrong thought, that every wrong desire, every wrong word, every action will be forgiven because the One who calls you to come is full of compassion and promise to abundantly pardon.
Living Hope Ministries 