Good evening. We're continuing in Isaiah chapter 55 and the Bible reads
Oh everyone that thirsteth come eat to the waters and he that hath no money come ye by and eat
Yet he come by wine and milk without money and without price
Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not?
Hark indiligently unto me, and ee, that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come on 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 have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run into thee,
because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my way saith 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 comeeth down and the snow from heaven and returneth
not to the other, but water of the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it
may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth
out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
and shall prosper in a thing where two ice ended.
For he shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you
into singing, and the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorns shall come up the fir tree,
and instead of the briars shall come up the myrtle tree,
and it shall be.
be to the Lord for a name for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut
off. Let's pray. Father we thank you dear Lord for the Holy Bible you have
preserved for us dear God we thank you for our church you have given us your
Lord and thank you for our pastor dear Lord please bless him as he preaches
your word unto us in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Okay, we're in Isaiah chapter 55 this evening and it's a very short chapter here but it's
a powerful chapter and it's a really great passage of scripture that we find here in
verse 11 that says, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not
return into me void.
But it shall accomplish that which I please and I love that verse there because it really talks about and accentuates how powerful the word of God is and it helps us to place our faith in the fact that when the word of God goes out of our mouth, when it comes, goes out of the pulpit, when we're preaching the word of God, even if we feel people are unreceptive to the word of God, we know that it's going to accomplish that which God is sending it to do.
So it's a powerful verse there and we're going to go over that in just a bit.
But the first thing I want to mention here is the fact that this chapter spends a lot of time on talking about or should I say explaining that, you know, God's invitations are time sensitive.
In other words, sometimes God gives out a call, he gives out a command, and really we see here that we only have a short period of time in order to respond to that.
We're going to look at that in just a bit, but look at verse number one.
We're going to see first the invitation to be satiated.
It says in verse number one,
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money, come ye by and eat,
ye come by wine and milk without money and without price."
Now let's explain a couple of things here.
First and foremost,
you may not be familiar with that word there, Ho, okay?
Now, Ho is not what you might think it means.
It's not referring to the horse woman who's dressed with the attire of a harlot
that you would look at and say, oh, that's a hoe.
Okay, that's not what it's referring to.
Although, you know, we could use that in today's terminology, of course, to describe such a woman.
When it says hoe, it's referring to the fact that it's another way of saying, listen, right?
It's saying, give he to the declaration.
Ho is what he's saying there, right?
So obviously the preceding verses or what he's talking about here is of great importance.
He wants people to listen.
He wants them to give he to the declaration that he is about to give.
And what is the declaration?
What's the invitation?
to come and buy and eat without money, okay?
Because he says there, you know,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat,
ye come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Now you may think to yourself,
well that sounds kind of contradictory
because it's saying, you know,
come and buy even if you don't have money, right?
Like, how am I gonna buy this?
How am I gonna buy these resources?
the milk, the honey, the food, the water,
how am I going to be satiated?
Why is he commanding to come and eat and purchase
if we have no money?
What is he referring to here?
Well, I believe what he's talking about here
is the fact that he wants them as a nation
to come and be satiated.
And not without a price,
it just means that God has already paid the price.
So he's saying come and buy,
but really what he's saying is that you have no money to buy,
but don't worry, it's already been paid for.
That's what it's talking about here.
So the idea here is that God is inviting all to be satiated with salvation that has already been purchased by Jesus Christ.
It's a beautiful picture there, and we obviously see in the New Testament how this is described
when it comes to this matter of salvation is the fact that Jesus Christ purchased our
salvation with his sacrifice, with his blood.
Let me read to you a couple of verses from the New Testament.
It says in Acts 20 verse 28, take he therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over
the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
The Bible also says in Revelation 22 verse 17 that the Spirit and the bride say come and let him that hear it say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.
Jesus also says in John chapter 7 verse 37, in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.
It goes on to say in John chapter 6 and verse 27,
labor not for the meat which perisheth,
but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you,
for him hath God the Father sealed.
Then say they unto him, what shall we do,
that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them,
this is the work of God,
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Really, just driving in the point
that when it comes to this matter of salvation,
It doesn't matter how much money you have.
It doesn't matter how much good you do.
It doesn't matter how much integrity, morality you possess.
It doesn't matter how much righteousness you think you have.
You don't have enough to purchase salvation.
So therefore come and buy ye that have no money right come and drink of the water of life freely
Come and eat and be satiated with the fatness of salvation
Come and taste of the wine and of the honey. Why because it's free
You cannot purchase this with your own money with your own righteousness
You know what this is a continuous thought that we see in the New Testament when it comes to salvation and the Bible says
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God and I want to emphasize not of yourselves
Not of works. It's just over and over again not by the works of the law, right?
Over and over again the Bible is constantly emphasizing this fact and why is that?
Why does this just have to constantly be reiterated in the New Testament that salvation does now require our works?
Well because for some stinking reason
Humans think that they can participate in their own salvation and they well
Are you just saying that I could just be saved just live however?
I want and that's code for we have to do works in order to be saved, okay?
And people don't realize how blasphemous and heretical that statement really is
You said, nah, it's not blasphemous, that's not heretical.
Well, what are you saying by stating
that you have to participate or do something
to merit eternal life, even though obviously
you're not paying for it?
Even though you believe that Jesus is the one who paid for it,
but somehow you have to do something.
This is what you're saying is that the payment
of Jesus Christ is not enough.
It's just not enough. You have to do something as well. No, that's not what we know the salvation is by grace to fit
Of course it is
But you know what genuine faith though
And this is I hear this all the time genuine faith real faith works
But here's the thing no genuine faith is placed in Jesus Christ
It's it genuine faith only believes on Jesus Christ for salvation
plain and simple and
You know obviously I hear this a lot where people are just well, you know saving faith though works
You know what saving faith does work because it worked for me because I just have to place my faith on Jesus Christ
And it saved me so yeah saving faith does work
Because all I have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I got saved and I have to do anything else
Now here's a really good passage to answer, obviously there's plenty of passages in the New Testament that reinforce this teaching but I was talking to someone today and they're like you're saying that you know you could just believe on Jesus Christ and just sin and not keep the commandments of God and yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda.
You know, are you saying that if someone breaks the commandments and
teaches other people to break the commandments and they claim to believe in Jesus that they're not saved they're gonna go to hell
Like of course I said, but is that what the Bible says?
Because the Bible says that if someone breaks the commandments of God and teaches others to do likewise
That he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven
Notice it doesn't say they shall be called unsaved
They shall be called a person who never really believed to begin with no in fact
He's just the least in the kingdom of heaven
Now did he just you know, did Jesus slip up or something?
Jesus you got it wrong
No, he is the least in hell. No, no, no not the least in hell. He's the least in the kingdom of heaven
And the implication there is that he made it to heaven because he believed on Jesus Christ
But it's reinforcing the fact that to him that work is not but believe it's on him to justify it the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness
but you know you have people who just want to pay for salvation and
Part of that is pride. You know, that's really what it is
It's pride and obviously I think there's people out there that are that are genuinely deceived
And they do think that they have to do something to confirm that they're saved or, you know, saving faith works or what not.
And I think that they're genuinely just deceived.
They've just been hearing the lie, regurgitated so much that it's just they parrot that, it's already ingrained in them.
You have to understand that people have these doctrinal strongholds in their mind that, you know, social media has given them.
their liberal church has given them,
their false prophet, pastor has given them.
And so they're just, they're constantly listening to that.
Well, they got that ingrained in them.
And obviously they need to be renewed.
They need to be taught what the Bible says.
But you know, there's just other people
that are just prideful and arrogant,
who, you know, they try to pontificate
and act like they're humble.
You know, and the pontificating,
even though they're trying to act
like they're humbles is what I'm saying.
And they're saying, you know,
I just think if you really love the Lord though.
You know that you're you're you're just gonna do what he says and you're gonna serve him and all this stuff
And it's just like I agree with you, but that's a separate issue from salvation
It's a separate complete separate issue
You know what the Bible is teaching us here is that the payment has already been made through Jesus Christ
And what you're saying is that your payment means something
But sorry God doesn't take American Express, you know, this is not accepted here. Your payment is not accepted
You're righteous. This are filthy rags in the eyes of God. You're worthless deeds mean nothing to God
Prior to salvation. They mean nothing
You know Matthew 7 the guy's talking about doing many wonderful works and that just didn't earn him salvation at all
And it wasn't even confirmation of his salvation
They didn't even confirm, it was just like,
oh you did all this, oh yeah, then you're obviously safe.
No, because obviously the person was depending on his works.
And so the idea here is that God is saying,
come and drink of the water freely.
Come and eat freely.
Come and take of the milk and honey freely.
Because the water and the food is basic necessities, right?
And God says, take of that, it's free.
But then you think of the milk and the honey,
that's like luxury.
those luxurious things, right?
And I think of what Jesus said that he came to give life
and to give life more abundantly.
And I think each of us could attest to the fact that,
aside from the fact that we just got salvation,
we're justified by faith, we have eternal life.
You know, we've gotten more than that too.
There's so many other things that we received of the Lord,
who has given us all things richly to enjoy.
He's blessed us beyond measure, our cup runneth over.
He's loading us daily with benefits,
giving us things that we don't deserve.
And so what is that?
That is the milk and honey.
And sometimes we just need to think upon the fact
that we not only have that water that we drank out of,
whereby we're never thirsting again for salvation,
That food that we ate of whereby we're never hungry again for salvation, but we also got the milk and honey as well
Right. We got a great church. You have the word of God and the English language
You have brothers and sisters in Christ. You have the earnest of our inheritance, which is the Holy Spirit dwelling within you
You have dark. I mean there's milk and honey all around you
And so we see here that God is very generous
when it comes to salvation.
He pays for it in full, and that is the gospel message.
Now let me explain something, you know,
it's interesting that people always bring up
this whole narrative of, you know,
well, you know, if you're just gonna say that
you're giving people a license to sin,
and you're basically telling people
they just could live in sin and believe,
well that's interesting,
because we have a church filled with people
who believe exactly what I'm saying right now,
In fact, a lot of people, hopefully most of you,
hate sin.
You say, well, you said hopefully, well, because, you know,
if I knew that you're involved in sin,
you probably wouldn't be here.
You know, if you're involved in a particular sin
that merits excommunication from the church,
then you wouldn't be here.
But, you know, the vast majority,
I would say 99% of our church members
are not involved in sin.
They hate sin, and they serve God,
not out of fear that they're gonna lose their salvation
because they already know that they're safe.
They've been satiated.
Their thirst has been quenched.
They've been filled with salvation.
They've moved on to bigger and better things.
And they love the Bible.
They love preaching.
They're here on a Thursday night to hear a Bible study
on Isaiah chapter 55.
Well, it looks like that narrative
that you're pushing is not really true.
Because according to that narrative, I should be producing a bunch of carnal wicked church members who are just involved in fornication and
drunkenness and
Revilings and railings and extortion and gambling not it's not so
So obviously a group of people who love righteousness
Because you know what a
Biblical gospel produces righteousness, right?
And here's the thing is that, you know, obviously we teach that you should live a righteous life.
And there's nothing wrong with preaching against sin and in fact our church does preach against sin explicitly.
And sometimes I just get a little too explicit.
You know, we preach against sin by name.
We preach against heresy.
We preach about righteous living, godly living,
but here's the reason why I'm not afraid
to preach those things is because our church collectively
already knows that this is a separate issue from salvation.
We're doctrinally grounded in the doctrine
of eternal life of the gospel
and we know not to mix the two, okay?
And so, he's saying here,
come and eat, he's given this invitation.
Look at verse number two.
Wherefore, do you spend money for that which is not bread?
And your labor for that which satisfies not.
Harken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness
And you know the way we could compare this verse to as far as today's concern, you know a lot of people are
Spending their spiritual money on things that just don't matter on vain things you say how so you know
How about just religious activity in order to be saved because what is he's talking about he's saying you're spending money for that
Which is not bread
Instead of actually looking for the bread of life, right, to satiate their hunger for salvation,
they go to the, you know, the keto bread or whatever, you know, whatever nasty bread there's out there that does not save.
Or how about Catholics?
Instead of going to the bread of life, they can save them by them believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
They essentially
Breakdown this doctrine is saying well. No, we have to eat actual like you know a little wait for a little cracker in order to be saved
You're spending money on that which is not bread
You're spending on that your money on things that are not going to save you and look you know
There's a lot of Catholic apologists out there right now
Who can make a great argument for Catholicism?
But but let me just tell you something each and every one of them if you ask them if they're saved they don't know
They always say, you know, I hope so.
I mean, what a horrific answer.
So you try to tell me,
you've been spending your whole life savings
investing in the Catholic religion,
going to Mass, eating the Eucharist,
and just doing it over and over and over and over again,
only to just not know.
Well, I know that I'm saved,
but really, I really don't know though.
I hope so.
Man, that's a gamble right there.
You're spending your money on that which is not bread your labor for that which satisfies not because folks if the mass can save you
Then why do you keep going back to the mass to save you?
I'll tell you why because it doesn't satisfy
You know the gospel message satisfies
The gospel message that you may know that you have eternal life and he may believe on the name of the Son of God
You know God's not about flip-flopping on salvation
He's not about oh, you know, you might be saved this time, but not tomorrow. No, there's confirmation. There is assurance
Well, I just think one saved always saved his heresy then you're not saved
You know and any person who questions and doesn't believe in one saved always saved
I mean you're you're two steps away from hell
two steps
Because one saved always saved mark it down is the gospel
Once saved, always saved is the gospel.
Why? Because the gospel is eternal life,
meaning that it lasts forever and never stops.
You could never lose it for any reason whatsoever.
You know, we don't, we never want to promote
or be mixed up with a doctrine
that is spending money for not.
For a bread that cannot satisfy labor for that which you know cannot satiate the spiritual hunger for eternal life
But there's people who do that and you know what let's just get away from the spiritual aspect of it
There's people out there that live for things in order to fill the void in their heart and
They realize you know, I don't have anything
They spend their money on to get possessions,
they chase women, drugs, alcohol,
things that don't matter, why?
Because they're trying to fill their heart,
that hole in their heart,
that only the Lord Jesus Christ through salvation can fill.
And look, I've talked to many wealthy people
before and after salvation, they all say the same thing.
They're like, it doesn't make me happy.
Money does not make me happy.
You know money does not satisfy my spiritual need
Why because at the end of the day blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled
And we could apply that as in the righteousness with it, which is through Jesus Christ the righteousness that we need to be imputed upon
Is for salvation, but we could also say just the righteousness of righteous living because they both feel
You know money cannot satisfy you
Drugs cannot satisfy you
Fornication will not satisfy you the vain things of this world will not satisfy that hole in your heart
You say well, you know, can I have money and the Lord well?
Here's the thing is that if you're saved and you your heart's in the right place
You're seeking after the things of God and you're making money
That's actually right in the eyes of God and in fact in their certain instances where that's like a sign of God's blessing on your life
When you have those possessions and you have money the problem is that most of the time Christians don't know how to handle that
Instead of them owning possessions possessions on them and they begin to serve Baman instead of God
But if you could discipline yourself to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and allow him to have the preeminence in your life
Make sure that you set your affections on things above none of the things of this earth
Yeah, you can have probably all the money that God will allow you to have and I know some wealthy people who love the Lord Jesus Christ
They're out soul-winning they preach the gospel. They read the Bible. They're in church
These are people to have a good handle on their spiritual life
the point that I'm making here is that there is a danger in spending your spiritual money on that which cannot satisfy and
You know what better is a dinner of herbs and a stalled ox and hatred therewith
And I hate herbs
Vegetarian diet, but you know what according to the Bible it's better to have a vegetarian diet
Can't believe I just said that you know a vegetarian diet, but there's love there
Then a stalled ox a ribeye. Oh, man
But there's hatred there with the point that it's making is that you know the spiritual things are better
Than what this world has to offer
And thankfully, in most instances,
you can actually have both,
as long as the spiritual has its place in your life
and has the preeminence in your life,
you could actually end up enjoying both.
But the vast majority of people in this world cannot.
And God is inviting people.
He's saying, like, delight yourself in fatness.
Delight, what is the fatness?
When you think of a steak, you know,
I don't know about you, but I like the fat.
It's juicy, you know, it's,
It's just delicious.
Lean meat is great, but when you got some fat in there,
it's really good, especially if it's just,
you know, you just squeeze it and you just use it.
That's great.
What is that?
That's like the extra stuff right there.
The meat is the necessity.
The fatness is like the extra, the abundance.
And what does God say?
Delight yourself in the fatness.
You know, we're satiated by salvation,
but God says delight yourself in the fatness also,
the overabundance of things
that you get in the Christian life.
Folks, the Christian life is awesome.
You don't need to go drink alcohol to have fun.
You don't need to be involved in alcohol and drugs
and things that were just completed to destroy your life.
You don't need to sleep around and fornicate
and commit adultery.
You don't need to win the lottery or play the lottery.
in order to be satiated.
You don't need any of those things.
Why?
Because the love of money is the root of all evil,
which while some coveted after,
have heirs from the faith,
pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
You don't need the boyfriend or the girlfriend that is gonna lead you astray and not that boyfriend or girlfriends are bad as long as you
Both are working towards the same goal, which is getting married in the Lord doing it the right way
But you know what you don't need those things in order to be satisfied in order to be happy
What do you need? Delight yourself in the fatness of the Lord
Taste and see that the Lord is good
Taste and see that the Lord is gracious
You as a Christian
As a Christian living the Christian life obeying the principles of God you'll find yourself actually delighting yourself in just the normal things in life
Soda
Red Bull
Cake
Just normal things food in and out
You know it's just you're happy with that
You know, it's just always funny.
He's like, what do you mean?
Oh, you can't drink alcohol?
What kind of wedding doesn't have alcohol?
You know, a wedding that doesn't have winos.
How about that?
You know, it's so funny when people criticize us
for not having alcohol at our weddings.
He's like, what kind of wedding doesn't have alcohol?
Our weddings!
We've done like 11 of them, not a single one
had a drop of liquor in it.
What did you have?
I'll tell you what we had.
We had a sparkling cider.
Oh, you guys are so wild.
Yeah, we got a little wild.
Yeah.
We did get a little wild.
We got a little sugar hangover also.
Well, that's corny.
No, you're corny because you're the one who
has to drink yourself stupid to drown your sorrows, wake up
with an actual hangover, not remember
anything that happened the previous day,
and then do it again over and over again.
Just destroy your body.
Or as we can just gather with the brethren,
have sparkling cider, eat a decent meal, a delicious meal,
make fun of each other for a couple of hours,
you know, cook our church members for a little bit,
laugh, be merry, and then go home,
put our head on a pillow with a clean conscience,
knowing that we're just serving the Lord.
What it's called, it's called
Delighting Yourself in the Fattiness of the Lord.
And so this is the invitation that he's giving here,
that come and take of salvation,
come and take of the fatness that he has to offer
through the Christian life.
Look at verse number three.
It says,
Incline your ear in coming to me,
here in your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
even the sure mercies of David.
Behold, I have given him for witness to the people,
a leader and a commander to the people.
Behold, thou shall call a nation
that thou knowest not.
Nations that not these shall run into thee because of the Lord thy God and for the holy one of Israel for he hath glorified thee
These are pretty self-explanatory verses here
Obviously the everlasting covenant is referring to that New Testament because the New Testament is actually an everlasting covenant
Meaning, it's a covenant that will never end, that will never cease.
You say, well, it says the sure mercies of David.
Well, anytime you hear about David in the Old Testament, it could be referring to actual
King David, but it also symbolically represents Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ, or David
is a picture of the Lord there.
And in verse number five, it talks about the fact that Israel, the nation, or should I
will hear of a nation that they previously did not know and were not known of.
And it says, nations that knew not these shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God.
In other words, he's referring to the Gentiles.
that will come to Israel, that will come to Judah
in order to hear of the Lord.
And we actually see this in the gospels
where prior to the crucifixion,
you had Gentiles, Greeks who were coming,
wanting to hear of Jesus Christ.
And it was like an indicator to the Lord,
all right, now it's time, my time has now come
or he's to be delivered and so forth
because now the Gentiles were hearing of this.
So this was fulfilled in the gospels.
Look at verse number six.
So he talks about an invitation to be satiated through salvation and the abundance of fatness that he provides
But then we also see an invitation to seek in verse number six. It says seek ye the Lord now
Here's the kicker while he may be found
Call ye upon him while he is near
Now let's apply this first to unsay people and it's very applicable to unsay people
You know why because if that person dies the Lord is no longer near in the sense that salvation is no longer available to you
So while people are alive, they need to seek the Lord now obviously when it comes to us
We need to seek into saving that which is lost, right?
We need to seek out those who are unregenerated. That's why we go souling. That's why we go and preach the gospel
But you know what God is also commanding people on this world in this world to seek after the Lord as well
Wow, he may be found
And you know what obviously we know that a person can seek all they want
They will never come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ unless someone who has the gospel gives it to them
But seeking out the Lord
will position them
To hear the gospel from someone it'll position them so that God does send a soul into that person and gives them the truth
And you know what each and every one of us sought the truth
We sought the Lord while he may be found, you know
There's a time in our lives or maybe it was a YouTube video
Maybe it was a book that we were reading. Maybe it was the thoughts that we were having
Maybe it was a friend that we had
Questioning certain things we were seeking the Lord as best as we could
I mean, I just think about the fact that you know prior to me getting saved a couple months prior to me getting saved
I remember I was going on a trip to go see my family in Guatemala
And no, I wasn't born there, by the way,
so just throw that out there.
When did you come?
I was born here and I went to go visit over there.
So I went to go see them and I remember thinking to myself,
because I was gonna be there for like a month.
And I remember thinking to myself,
and I didn't know this before, but I made an oath to God.
I didn't know I shouldn't do this, but I wasn't saved.
But I made an oath to God, because I thought to myself,
man, I'm gonna be there for a long time.
What if something happens to me?
and I die and I go to hell.
Like I had that thought in my mind
because I'd already been thinking about salvation
and I was thinking about heaven, I was thinking about hell.
And I remember like praying quietly and saying,
Lord, if you bring me back safely from Guatemala,
I will seek you out.
Please bring me back safely
because like the area where my dad's from
was very dangerous.
And in fact, when we were there,
people were like dying, they're getting shot.
There's like dead bodies in those areas,
just like out in the open.
And so I had a little bit of fear in me
that something could possibly happen to me
and I didn't want to go to hell.
So then I came back a month later
and I remember thinking to myself,
I made an oath to God that I need to seek Him out.
So then I told my mom, I need to start going to church.
I gotta go look for a church.
And I went to a lot of different churches.
I went to Pentecostal churches.
They were doing some crazy stuff there.
I took my mom to Pentecostal churches.
I went to Calvary Chapel.
I went to apostolic churches.
I went everywhere.
Why?
Because I was seeking the Lord.
And obviously, those areas did not have the Lord, right?
Except for Calvary Chapel.
You know, there's some safe people there.
But even then, I remember Calvary Chapel
was probably one of the last churches I went to.
And you know, someone had given me like a brochure
of Calvary Chapel and this is like after I had gone
to the charismatic churches, the weird churches,
the tongue speaking churches, all these other weird churches.
And I was like, well, this seems like the most normal one
out of all those.
Because you know, we know what Calvary Chapel is,
but like compared to the other ones,
it's almost like a fundamental Baptist church
compared to like the Catholic church,
or not the Catholic, yeah, the Catholic church,
or the charismatic churches, right?
So I was like, oh, so I went there
and it was like a theater
and no one really talked to me
and I just sat there
and I didn't really remember what the sermon was about.
And I remember thinking to myself,
well, I guess this is what church is,
you know, I'm just gonna keep coming here.
But I just remember like seeking the Lord
and I had a new King James Bible.
I mean, I'm trying.
You see what we're doing?
I was seeking the Lord
and then I had a little new King James
and I would read it.
Didn't understand a look of it.
But I would read it and he'd say,
what were you doing?
I was seeking.
I was searching.
And I remember even praying every single day,
Lord, save me.
Before I would go to bed,
or I would lay down in my bed,
and then right before I would go to sleep,
I would just say, please forgive me and save me.
I'd just pray that every night.
Because I wanted to be saved.
And not a single person around me knew the gospel.
I didn't have like safe friends or anything like that
So then one day, you know, I'm working. I was working as a supervisor and I had this charismatic
Friend and we're talking about the Lord and things of that nature and looking back. He might have been saved
I'm not 100% sure he did believe in eternal security. You didn't believe you could lose your salvation. I do remember that
But there's this there's this older white lady there
She was like white like miss French iskinaw I mean like
Anglo-Saxon, you know, and you know, she overheard us talking about Lord and then she just came up to me
She's just like hey, I heard you're talking about Jesus and you've been going all these churches and stuff
And just want to give you an invitation to my church. It's a Baptist church. I was like you go to a Baptist church
She's like, yeah, I'm like, but you're white
And she's like, yeah, I'm like,
aren't Baptist churches filled with black people?
I thought those were black churches.
She's like, no, all right.
She's like, my pastor's white.
I was like, your pastor's white?
I was like, how's your pastor white?
That's, we, I've never heard of a white pastor
of a Baptist church.
She's like, we're fundamental Baptists.
I was like, I don't know what that is.
I was like, yeah, I'll check it out, you know?
And then through a series of events,
I ended up going, I ended up getting saved there.
That's where I got saved.
And I can't describe how it was when I got saved,
but looking back, it was kind of like the scales
are just removed and the messes were so clear.
Cause you gotta keep in mind,
like I went through so many different churches
and I asked these churches about salvation,
they just could not give me a straight answer.
I just didn't understand what they were talking about.
But when I went to this Baptist church
It was just like you know because a lot of people are just like well
You know the Bible says and you know this is what and then they just kind of tiptoe around the tulip
Baptists are just straightforward
They're just like you just got to believe on Jesus Christ trust in him
And then my father-in-law is just like yeah eternal security
You could never lose your salvation because the Bible says and he's just like spitting verses and then his pastoral staff is spitting verses
and I'm like
And I think that's one of the reasons why
I just ended up getting saved
was because of the confidence of the messenger.
The confidence of the messenger, I was just like,
like, dang, these people know what they're talking about
and they don't flinch.
You know, they're not like flinchers.
They're not just like, well, they're just like,
no, this is how you get saved.
This is what you do.
And they're not like,
It's they have boldness and that really made a difference, right?
But you know looking back, you know, I sought the Lord
And not everyone has a testimony like that, but some of you can testify to the fact that you sought the Lord
You want it, you know, you you found out about the Jews
Like they're running the world
And then you're like, you know, coin clipping, and you're just like, whoa, children of the devil,
if there's a devil, there must be a God, and then boom, it's just like, and then the man in the big suit showed up on YouTube.
And then you just, then you hear the truth.
You can see how God just kind of like sees your effort in seeking after the truth.
But let me just say something, though, is just like the phrase,
You know, while he may be found,
implying that there will be a time for people where he will no longer be found.
Call you upon him while he is near.
What did the Bible say about salvation? It says the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart.
That is the word of faith that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart
they got to raise them from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
But you know what? There's going to be a time where people would want to call upon the name of the Lord, but he's no longer near.
Salvation is no longer available.
This is essentially talking about the urgency, the sense of urgency that people should have seeking after salvation.
You know, that's why when people say, oh, you know, what if the person is just really seeking though?
Well, if they're really seeking, they're going to find the truth.
not because of them but because God obviously views the effort they're
putting into wanting the truth and he'll send any one of us to go give the
gospel to that person you know what if you've been faithfully so winning for a
long period of time you know that you've been used for like divine
appointments where you're just in the right place at the right time
And you just go and people are just like,
this is so weird, I was just thinking about this.
I mean, I had an experience like that probably
like two weeks ago where I knocked on the door
and I got this girl saved.
And she said, this is so weird, you're bringing this up.
Cause I was literally like praying to God this week,
like, what if I'm not saved?
And she like had this fear in her heart
that she would die and go to hell.
She's just thinking about those things.
And she said, but then like you come and you're like telling me these things. It's like you've made it so clear
And it just confirms to me that like, you know, we labor, but God is just always out and about
Searching the hearts of men for those who want salvation
And you know what we need to pray we just need to pray Lord like lead me to those people
Like I need to make sure that I'm not filled with pride
Then I'm not so fleshly all the time and I'm not carnal that I need to make sure that I'm walking in a spirit
Because I need to be like sensitive
To like the leading of the Lord, right?
An obedient to the command to go out because we're just like oh
But you don't even know you're about to like change someone's life
Oh, why the leases put me in this neighborhood again.
You know, no, no, no, the Lord put you in that neighborhood.
Brother, how about that?
You're like, oh man, we just got this unreceptive place.
Well, you don't want to pray that God leads you
to a person that is seeking the truth.
You know what, I'm guilty of not praying that enough.
I am guilty of that.
And as of recent, I will admit to you
that I've been praying that more consistently.
Lord, lead me to the people who wanna hear the truth.
Help me to get someone saved.
And even this past Tuesday, you know,
we were out souling in the very first door.
I knock on this door and you know,
I was praying like, Lord, please,
help me to get someone saved this week.
Please, lead me to someone who wants to hear the truth.
I knock on this door and I kid you not,
you know, five kids like all open the door
It was kind of creepy at first, you know what I mean?
Like, why did you answer the door like that, you know?
But there are just five of them.
And they're just like, hi.
And I'm just like, how's it going?
And I give them all invites.
All five got saved.
Low hanging fruit.
You know, extremely receptive.
Just very sharp.
And wanting the truth.
And here's the great thing about that experience.
because I'm thinking of myself my son was with me and we're just like whoa like this is just like
it's so easy and but here's the best part though okay and this is my favorite part of the story
is that I lead him to the Lord in prayer right they call upon the name of the Lord
And you know, I'm kind of peeking to see if they're praying.
You know, I can do both because I'm already saved.
You know, so I was just like, I'm just, you know,
but I'm looking, and then, because it was like 15
and I think the youngest might've been like eight years old
or something like that, or like seven.
And the little seven year old was just like,
you know, she's like praying
and she's just kind of like, please save me, you know.
And then after they're done praying,
the mom pops her head out and she says,
ah, no thank you.
And I'm just like no problem
No problem, you know because that we're already done pray I already got him saved
And she's like no, thank you. We're good. I'm like all right. No worries. There's the invites
I was like God bless you guys and I'm like, thank you and you know, they're really happy about it
They saw the Lord
They called upon him while he was near and you know again the implication here is that there's some people that that's not gonna happen
They're gonna miss out on salvation because they're not seeking the Lord and those people that put off salvation
Did you know that?
People that put it off
Maybe when I'm older, maybe later. I'll get serious about the things of God later
I'll get serious about salvation later, but you know there may not be no later for you. Oh
And we're not gonna go through the passage in Proverbs chapter one. It's probably one of the most scariest passages for an unsafe person
Or God specifically says one day you're gonna call upon me and I'm not gonna answer
I'm gonna laugh at your calamity when your fear cometh as a desolation when it comes as a whirlwind
Why because God is putting all this effort and and churches and people I mean he's putting you through trial and tribulation
He's moving you. He's working on you to get people saved. He's working on his people
He's motivating them and mobilizing them and then there's people out there who don't want the truth
They mock at it, they scoff at it, and God says,
okay, then I'm gonna laugh when your fear
comes as a desolation.
It's powerful.
Look at verse number seven.
He says, let the wicked forsake his way
in the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways say at 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 now
What is he saying here? You know and obviously we could say that he's addressing believers here
Get obviously be referring to unbelievers, but he's addressing the nation of Judah
And he's saying you know Judah you guys need to get right with God repent
Forsake your wicked ways your unrighteous thoughts, and you need to realize that the way you're thinking is a lot different from how
I think is what he's saying in other words
There's a huge gap right and
This is often the case with Christians too
Where sometimes Christians are offended at what the Bible says
You know why Christians get offended at biblical truths because the gap is really large there
Their thoughts are not God's thoughts.
You know, I preached on Sunday about the biblical roles, right?
And anytime I preach about wives submitting
unto your husbands, there's always gonna be some wife
out there that just doesn't like that.
I'm gonna tell you why,
because her thoughts are not God's thoughts.
So this is what it is.
You know, his ways are higher than her ways.
Any time I preach on sins and how to live the Christian life
and provide for your family and man up,
there's gonna be someone who's offended at the message.
But I'm gonna tell you why they're offended
is because their thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Instead of trying to excuse and interpret the passage
to fit your little ideology or your little agenda,
why don't you just bring yourself up to where God is?
And when you don't when you when something offends you in the Bible
And you're just I don't know about that. Why don't you just say Lord forgive me?
Help my help me to think like you
Help me to have the mind of Christ
Well, something rubs you the wrong way. It's an indicator to you that you're down here, and you're thinking and
He's up here, and the gap is really wide and
We as Christians need to work on
Closing that gap to the preaching of God's Word, to the reading of the Scriptures, to the point where we can align ourselves with the thinking of Christ and rejoice in Biblical truths.
But it starts off with forsaking your way, forsaking your thoughts, bringing them into alignment with what the Bible says.
Change how you act, change the way you think. You know, this is something that we see in the New Testament a lot.
You know, because look, when you first get saved,
you don't come with batteries included.
You know, we're not like the, what do you call it?
You know, that Chinese video of the kid studying,
he's just like, you know, he's like,
putting the information in his, it doesn't work that way.
Christianity is not by osmosis.
Don't get offended if you're offended,
you can close that gap, amen.
You know, Christianity is not by osmosis.
You can't put this under your pillow at night
It's not gonna happen and especially if you grew if you didn't grow up in a Christian home
You didn't grow up a biblical preaching. You're gonna hear some stuff. There's just gonna be like dang
I know that the Bible says that oh man
that seems a little extreme and
This is what you need to do. You need to change your attitude about the Bible
You know the Bible talks about being renewed in the spirit of your mind
Putting off the old man putting on the new man being renewed in the spirit of your mind be not conformed to this world
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind just because it rubs you the wrong way doesn't mean it's wrong
It means you're wrong
When you get when something bothers you from the Bible from the preaching just mark it down. It's not me. It's you
I'm not trying to gaslight you here. It's just fact. It's just like it's not me
It's what the Bible says and you just need to change your mind about these things
Because not everything in the Christian life is going to sit well with you.
It's not.
Because the Bible goes against our human nature.
It goes against our human desires.
It goes against our natural inclination.
So I don't know if you know this, God expects you to change.
Now thankfully, you know, he doesn't expect you to change in a sprint.
The change comes as a marathon.
Over time.
Just keep coming to church, keep hearing preaching,
keep reading the Bible.
And little by little, you will have your brain washed.
You'll wash your brain from all the filthiness of the flesh,
from the filthiness of the world,
from the course of this world,
from the fleshly things that the world has taught you,
your family has raised you on.
You know, you need to make sure
that you receive the engrafted word.
Change and this is you know the people talk about the power of positive thinking. I got a better one the power of biblical thinking
Thinking like the Bible where when situations arise in your life, you're like, what does the Bible say about it though?
That's always a great question to ask and obviously you're not always gonna get a clear-cut answer for every little nook and cranny of your life
But the Bible in general has principles for everything in your life
And it's always good that when you make a decision or when you just live your life
You say what does the Bible have to say about this now?
Thankfully, you know, you don't have to necessarily read the entire Bible to find that out if you're a new Christian
You could just ask an older more mature Christian about it
Just go to anyone any Christian in here and say what does the Bible say about this? I don't know and
You know, I have confidence that people will either give you the right answer or point you to the person who has the right answer
But it's the power of biblical thinking
Okay, and so it's important for us to do that and you know one of the reasons Christians fizzle out
They have a hard time being a Christian. It's because they're not really putting in the work to cleanse their mind
They're maintaining worldly thoughts. They're maintaining worldly behavior
You need to not just change your conduct not only change your conduct, but also change your thinking as well
You know it all starts with prayer
Lord help me
To think differently
Help me to bring myself into alignment with what the Bible says
Help me to receive with meekness the engrafted word help me to change little by little and you know what God will help you
God will definitely help you and again
Change doesn't need to happen overnight
For some people it has
Those people who get saved and they just like jump right in right?
There's certain people that just don't waste any time whatsoever.
They didn't check to see if the pool was cold, if it was hot,
if there's even any water in there.
They're just cannonball right into it.
That's just how they operate.
Yeah, Adrian is one of them.
Amen.
But not everyone is like that.
And you know what?
I would say that maybe I was someone like that when I first got saved.
I just kind of went ahead at first.
And we need to make sure if that's if you're that kind of person don't have that expectation for everyone
Because not everyone operates like that
Some people get saved and they just never serve God for like 10 years and all of a sudden they start serving God
That's just how people are sometimes
You know we got to take people where they're at
The point that I'm making here is that once you get saved,
you just need to start slowly, progressively introducing
to yourself these biblical concepts, renewing your mind,
start thinking like a Christian.
Think success, amen.
And what is success?
Success is finding the will of God and doing it.
How?
We'll look at verse 10.
For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven
and returneth not thither,
but water of the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud,
that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper, and the thing where too, I sent it."
So he's given this analogy here of rain, snow,
and he says, you know, think about rain and snow
when it comes down from heaven.
It feeds the ground, it produces fruit,
It gives seed to the sower, bread to the eater.
Well, you know, it's the same thing with the Word of God.
When the Word of God goes forth either from a preacher
or from literally your own Bible reading,
it's not going to return void.
In other words, you know, it's not going to return back.
It's not just going to fizzle out and not accomplish anything at all.
And you know, this is something I have to remind myself of as a preacher.
Because sometimes it feels let me just be honest with you as though preaching falls upon deaf ears not all the time
But sometimes and there could be a temptation to think like is anybody even paying attention is anybody does anybody even care?
Okay, that could be a temptation to think that, you know, but you know, I have faith in the word of God
that when it goes forth
Regardless of you know, my lack of giftedness of speaking
Regardless of my oration at the end of the day. I know that if the Bible's being preached, it's gonna accomplish something
When it goes forth it will get to the heart of the matter God will use it in someone's life
Whether here on the internet to your kids,
it's gonna affect someone.
Not because of me, I'm telling you why,
because of God's word.
It's like rain coming down upon the earth of your ears,
and it's gonna produce seed to the sower,
bread to the eater, it has the power to accomplish much.
You know, we need to keep that in mind
when we're out there preaching the gospel as well, right?
When we're knocking on doors,
you know as well as I do,
sometimes it feels like we're just spinning our wheels.
No one's listening, but but I don't know I don't know about that though
You may not think no one's listening
But you know what the word of God has power
And that's why I'm a firm believer in sowing seeds if no one wants to listen to the gospel
I always tell him can I leave it with one verse to think about?
You say why because Roman 623 has power
That's a fat seed
John 3 16 has power
It's a fat seed.
Yeah, but they're kind of just not really caring.
I know, I know.
But I also know that the word of God,
I just sowed a little seed into that heart right there.
And it's gonna do something.
And you say, well, I don't know.
Well, let me prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt
that it does something every single time.
Every person that you've led to the Lord,
someone sowed that seed there before you came.
Every single person.
Those five kids that I led to the Lord someone did the work prior to me going there
And they so see and you know what there's probably someone who sowed a seed into the heart of the person
Do you want to the Lord last week and that person who sowed that seed probably discouraged?
They're like I've been working on this person for so long. They don't want to get sick and they probably don't even know
They probably don't even know
And here you come, I'm just kidding, you know,
here you come and you just reap where other men labor,
right, that's the biblical model.
Point that I'm making here is the fact that
seeds do something, preaching does something,
the word of God does something,
when you're reading the Bible every single day,
even if you feel you're not really getting anything
out of it, I'm just telling you right now,
it does something.
You say, what, I don't know.
I just know this is that it's gonna accomplish
what he pleases and it's gonna prosper
in the thing where too he sends it.
The word of God has power.
You know, listening to the word of God,
reading the word of God.
Hey, reading the word of God to your children has power.
Don't think, oh man, they just have a hard time
paying attention.
Folks, don't undermine the power of the Bible.
Even to the little ones.
And let me just say this,
sometimes little ones pay better attention than you.
Talk about your kids pay better attention than you sometimes that's true
I'm just being honest. I've had conversations like with my kids and I'm they remind me of things that I forgot about it that I preach
I'm like, yeah, I gotta be careful what I preach
because they remember everything and
I
Don't give them enough credit
But you know all the kids are like that though and
Don't think they're just sitting there. Just kind of you know, tune it into now
You know a lot of them are just listening to like what's being said
You know and and and God is working in their hearts through that preaching
He's working in their hearts the reading of the scriptures. Don't undermine the power of the Bible
You know the word of God is quick and powerful sharpened in any two-edged sword
Pierces even to the dividing of thunder of soul and spirit joints of the marrow is a discerner of the thoughts of the intense of the heart
Hey, if you're memorizing scripture, don't undermine the power that memorizing scripture will have in your life the impact
It'll have in your life. Oh, it's just tedious. Yeah, of course. It's tedious, but you know what? It's doing something though
And that's that's something that it's doing it's not something that's minimal it's big
You have to understand that and in like manner don't don't undermine the power of preaching
You know when you come to church, let me let me tell you something be ready to hear
Be ready to listen, you know put you've allocated an hour to hear me yell at you
To code scripture to study the Bible
Recognize it's gonna do something in your life
You know the sermon that I'm preaching tonight may not have relevance to you today. Oh, but I promise you I promise you it will one day
I promise you that.
So how do you know?
Because there's sermons that preachers before me
that I've heard, I listened to,
and I thought to myself, this is not applicable to me.
And here I am, 15 years later, I'm like,
oh man, now I know why he said that.
That means something to me now.
I needed that now.
Every single sermon applies.
I mean, I apply to you right now at this very moment,
but just file it away.
Because it will apply one day. I promise you that
The Bible has power and so let's finish up here. Look at verse 12
It says, for ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace.
This is the blessing of being restored.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you,
and to sing in all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorns shall come up the fir tree.
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.
And basically what he's saying here is that once the word of God
thunders forth, once those seeds are sown,
You know, the nation of Judah doesn't have to worry about thorns and thistles.
They don't have to worry about briars.
Now they know that the Word of God is going to produce those myrtle trees.
It's going to produce fruit.
It's going to produce blessings.
And really what we can apply this to ourselves is that
The reading of God's word the digesting of God's word whether through preaching or your personal Bible reading
You know, it's gonna produce fruit whether in the immediate or in the long term
And so, you know, don't allow your Bible reading to be a drudgery to you
Oh, man, I just gotta read my Bible. No, you're actually making an investment for the future
Reading the Bible over and over and over and over
and over and over again is one of the greatest investments
that you could ever make in your life.
And in fact, let me just say it is the single most important
investment that you will make in your life.
Reading it, oh, but I already know this story,
know it again.
Hard to read this, read it again.
Because you just don't know the type of fruit
that will produce in your life in the long term.
And here's the thing is that that's time-sensitive too.
You know, there's going to be a time when you can no longer read the Word of God.
It's going to be a time when you're no longer be able to read the Word of God, walk with
God this side of eternity.
It's like the song says, the sweet hour of prayer, right?
When the rapture takes place, I don't remember the line exactly, you know, when we're going
up in the clouds, it's like goodbye, sweet hour of prayer, meaning that window of time
is over with.
Take advantage now.
Like my father-in-law, for example,
that window is over.
He can't just crack open his Bible and just read it anymore.
There could be an instance for you like that as well.
And you know what's the sad thing is that there's people out there
who maybe disregarded their Bible reading,
disregarded the importance of Bible consumption,
and then they go through the season where they just are completely incapacitated,
they can no longer read it, no longer memorize it,
and they wish, they wish they would have when they had a chance to do it.
Don't be that person. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the time time sensitive invitations
That you've given to us Lord, and I'm thankful that we here our first works about this church. We met the deadline
For salvation we're saved
And I pray that we would
Give heed to the warnings Lord even when it comes to the service of the Lord
We have a small window of time the night cometh when no man can work
Lord help us to give heat to that to redeem the time for the days are evil and I pray that Lord you'd help us to
Continuously have faith in the word of God and recognize the power that it has to change lives not just our own
But those around us as well, and I pray that you'd bless us as we go on our way
Give us a great weekend to follow. We love you. We thank you pray this things in Jesus name