(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good evening, we're continuing in Isaiah chapter 55, and the Bible reads, O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye by and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not, hearken diligently unto me, and ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sheer mercies of David. Behold, I have given them for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation 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 cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in blood, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So it 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 shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For it 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 thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. 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 dear Lord, and we thank you for our pastor dear Lord, please bless him as he preaches your word unto us, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 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 unto 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 and we're going to look at that in just a bit, but look at verse number 1, we're going to see first the invitation to be satiated, it says in verse number 1 hoe everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat, yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price, now let's explain a couple things here, first and foremost you may not be familiar with that word there, hoe, now hoe is not what you might think it means, it's not referring to the whorish woman who's dressed with the attire of a harlot that you would look at and say oh that's a hoe, that's not what it's referring to, although 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, it's saying give heed to the declaration, hoe is what he's saying there, 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 heed 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, because he says there, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat, yea 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 come and buy even if you don't have money, how am I going to buy this, how am I going to 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, okay, that's what he'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 verses from the New Testament, it says in Acts chapter 20 verse 28, take heed 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 with his own blood, 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 athirst 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 verse 27, labor not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of Man shall given to you for him hath God the Father sealed, then said 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 you 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 not require our works, well because for some stinking reason, humans think that they can participate in their own salvation, well are you just saying that I can 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, say that'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, we know that salvation is by grace through faith, of course it is but you know what, genuine faith though and I hear this all the time, genuine faith, real faith works but here's the thing, no genuine faith is placed in Jesus Christ, that'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 had 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 didn't 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 yada yada yada yada yada, we've heard it all before right and I set them up and I said look 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 going to 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 believeth on him to justify it the ungodliest 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 whatnot and I think that they're genuinely just deceived they 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 they end up pontificating even though they're trying to act like they're humble is what I'm saying and they're saying you know you know I just think if you really love the Lord though you know that 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 your righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God your worthless deeds mean nothing to God prior to salvation they mean nothing you know Matthew 7 the guy is talking about doing many wonderful works and that just didn't earn him salvation at all and about it wasn't even confirmation of his salvation they didn't even confirm it's just like oh you did all the oh yeah then you're obviously saved no because obviously that 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 like basic necessities right and God says take of that it's free but then you think of like 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 you know 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 in 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 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 going to 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 and they're not just living a life of sin 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 you know what they serve God not out of fear that they're going to lose their salvation because they already know that they're safe they've been satiated they've been 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 reviling and railings and extortion and gambling not it's not so it's 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 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 giving this invitation look at verse number two wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfieth not hearken 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 is concerned 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 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 break down this doctrine and saying well no we have to eat actual like you know a little wafer 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 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 what a horrific answer so you're trying 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 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 satisfieth 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 ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye 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 once saved always saved is heresy then you're not saved you know and any person who questions and doesn't believe in once saved always saved I mean you're you're two steps away from hell two steps because once 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 it 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 like I just 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 bless are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled and we can apply that as in the righteousness with it which is through Jesus Christ the righteousness that we need to be imputed upon us for salvation but we could also say it's just the righteousness of righteous living because they both fill 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 there's 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 not on 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 sowing they preach the gospel they read the Bible they're in church these are people that 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 that's a vegetarian diet that's a 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 than a stalled ox a ribeye oh man but there's hatred therewith 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 a 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 well 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 it's delicious lean meat is great but when you got some fat in there it's really good especially if it's it's just you know you're just squeezing the juices 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 is God saying delight yourself in the fatness you know we 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 will just completely 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 pierced have erred from the faith pierced themselves through with many sorrows you don't need the boyfriend or the girlfriend that is going to lead you astray 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 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 know 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 a little bit of the normal things food in and out you know it's just you're happy with that you know it's always funny it'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 it'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 whereas 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 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 fatness 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 says incline your ear and come unto 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 leader and a commander to the people behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not nations that knew 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 will never cease he said what 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 is our 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 say the nation of Judah 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 into thee because of the whole 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 that 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 unsafe people and it's very applicable to unsafe 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 and to save in that which is lost right we need to seek out those who are unregenerated that's why we go sowing 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 while 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 winner to 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 where maybe it was a YouTube video maybe it was a book that we were reading maybe it was 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 going to 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 you know I wasn't saved but I made an oath to God because I thought to myself man I'm going to 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 had 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 in fact when we were there people were like dying they were getting shot there's like dead bodies in those areas just like out in the open and so like I had a little bit of fear in me that something could possibly happen to me and you know I didn't want to go to hell so then I came you know I came back a month later and I remember thinking to myself like I made an oath to God that I need to seek him out so then I told my mom I was like 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 like Apostolic churches I went everywhere why because I was like 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 like I remember like 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 the tongue speaking churches all these other weird churches and I was like well these 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 all right so I went there and it was like a theater and you know 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 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 he said what were you doing I was seeking the Lord and then I had a little new King James and I would read it didn't understand the look of it but I would read it and he said what were you doing I was seeking I was searching and I remember even like praying every single day Lord save me before I would go to bed or I would lay down in my bed and then you know right before I would go to sleep I would just say please forgive me and save me I just pray that every night because I was just I wanted to be saved and not a not a not a single person around me knew the gospel you know 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 were 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 he didn't believe you could lose your salvation I do remember that but there's this older white lady there she was like white like Miss Francescino right you know what I mean like Anglo-Saxon you know and you know she overheard us talking about the Lord and then she just came up to me she's just like hey I heard you talking about Jesus and you've been going to 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 are 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 weird 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 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 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 message was so clear because you got to 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 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 to you know you found out about the Jews like they're running the world and then you're like 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 but you can see how God just kind of like sees your effort and seeking after the truth but let me 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 shall 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 gonna 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's just really seeking though well if they're really seeking they're gonna 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 soul 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 this girl saved and she said this is so weird you're bringing this up because 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 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 that I'm not so fleshly all the time and I'm not carnal that I need to make sure that I'm walking in the spirit because I need to be like sensitive to like the leading of the Lord right and obedient to the command to go out because we're just like oh we're doing so well but you don't even know you're about to like change someone's life oh brother Elise has put me in this neighborhood again you know 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 know why don't you 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 want to hear the truth help me to get someone safe and even this this past Tuesday you know we were out sowing and the very first door I knocked 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 and they're just like it was kind of creepy at first you know like why did you answer the door like that you know but they're 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 of them got 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 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 them 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 if they're praying you know I can do both because I'm already saved you know I'm just you know but I'm and then because it was like 15 and I think the youngest might have been like eight years old or something like that or like seven and the little seven year old 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 on she says uh no thank you and I'm just like no problem no problem you know because we're already done praying 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 you know they're really happy about it they sought 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 going to happen they're going to miss out on salvation because they're not seeking the Lord and there's people that put off salvation did you know that there's 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 pal and we're not going to go through the passage in Proverbs chapter one it's probably one of the most scariest passages for an unsafe person where God specifically says one day you're going to call upon me and I'm not going to answer I'm going to 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 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 going to I'm going to laugh when your fear cometh 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 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 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 now what is he saying here you know and obviously we could say that he's addressing believers here you could 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 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 cuz her thoughts are not God's thoughts so it's what it is you know his ways are higher than her ways anytime I preach on you know sins and how to live the Christian life and provide for your family and man up you know 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 and you know 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 like I don't know about that why don't you just say Lord forgive me help me to think like you help me to have the mind of Christ when 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 the what do you call the you know the Chinese video of the kids studying he's just like you know he's like putting the information and it doesn't work that way Christianity is not by osmosis don't get offended if you're offended close that gap amen you know Christianity is not by osmosis you can't put this under your pillow at night and then it just like absorbs the information 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 with biblical preaching you're gonna hear some stuff that's just gonna be like dang what I didn't 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 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 gonna 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 people talk about the power of positive thinking I got a better on 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 is 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 and 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 there's 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 they just cannonball right into it that's just how they operate yeah Adrian's one of them amen but not everyone's like that and and 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 you know 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 well look at verse 10 for as the rain cometh down in 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 in a thing whereto 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 when the word 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 gonna return void in other words you know it's gonna it's not gonna return back it's not just gonna 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 does anybody even care 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 is 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 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 them can I leave you with one verse to think about you say why because Romans 6 23 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 still see and you know what there's probably someone who sowed a seed into the heart of the person that you went to the Lord last week and that person who sowed that seed probably discouraged probably like man 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 you just 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 it 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 well 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 to 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 how 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 preached 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 tuning 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 sharper than any two-edged sword it pierces even to the dividing of sunder of soul and spirit joints in 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 they'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 it 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 you know 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 into singing all the trees of the field shall clap their hands instead of the thorn 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 you know once the Word of God thunders forth once those seeds are sown you never you know the nation of Judah doesn't have to worry about thorns and thistles they don't have to worry about briars now we 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 going to 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 oh but I already know this story know it again already 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 to you know there's gonna be a time when you can no longer read the Word of God it's gonna be a time where you no longer be able to read the Word of God walk with God this side of eternity it's like the song says the the sweet hour of prayer right the rapture takes place I don't remember the line exactly you know when you'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 folks there's people 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 this 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 at First Works Baptist 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 heed 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 bless us as we go on our way give us a great weekend to follow we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name come in