The Gracious Invitations Of Our Lord

A Sermon By Mr. A. E. Realff

“Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”—Isaiah 55:3

In this chapter we have set forth God’s call to Gentile nations, as is evident from the fifth verse. In opening our text, may the Lord grant us His manifest presence and aid, while we consider—

I. THE CHARACTER ADDRESSED.—All Scripture invitations are to character. It is not everybody indiscriminately who is invited to partake of Gospel privileges; but certain individuals are, whose characters are described in the invitation. Thus, when the Saviour says, “Come unto Me,” He addresses the weary and heavy laden; and, when He describes those He came to call, He says, “Not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance”—

“Not the righteous, not the righteous;

Sinners Jesus came to call.”

Now, who is in our text exhorted to “incline the ear”? We find it is “every one that thirsteth.” This, then, evidently is—

1.—A person in want. A thirsty person is one who wants water. He is evidently a needy person. There is a felt emptiness within that craves satisfaction. Such is the person to whom this loving and pressing invitation is addressed. It is a person spiritually in want.

Now, we may meet with many in want, who are not in want spiritually. Some thirst for money, some for pleasure, some for learning, some for reputation among men; some sick ones for health; and young persons for happiness, lovers, and friends. But this is not the thirst intended.

Again, a person may be in want of nothing this world can give. He may be providentially blessed with means, and friends, and every earthly comfort, and yet suffer from soul-thirst. Thus David, though a king, said, “My soul thirsteth for God,” &c. There is a need, a craving, an emptiness, which the possession of the whole world would not satisfy.

My hearers, I wonder how many of us know what it is (or did know some time back) to thirst for pardon, to thirst for peace with God, to thirst for salvation, to thirst for cleansing, for justification, for a new heart and a right spirit? Perhaps your soul has been thirsting for days for some sweet word from God, and you have come up to God’s house today crying and beseeching of the Lord to speak some word to your heart—

“And when my spirit takes her fill

At some sweet word of Thine,

Not warriors who divide the spoil

Have joys compared with mine.”

A thirsty person is—

2.—Unhappy. Who that is thirsty can possibly feel happy in that state? Such are restless, uneasy, discontented, dissatisfied. How can they be anything else? Nor can a thirsty man be satisfied with anything short of drink. Look at Hagar and Ishmael in the burning desert. All the water in their bottle is spent. They walk along, hand in hand, for many a weary mile, seeking water, but finding none. The poor boy now is too weary and faint to take another step. I think I see the unhappy mother try to carry him; but he is heavy, and she is almost exhausted. Meanwhile the sun pours down still upon them his tormenting beams. She carries Ishmael some distance, but at length is obliged to put him down. His poor eyes are ready to start from their sockets; his nostrils dilate; his mouth opens wide; he pants for breath. “My poor child is dying!” the wretched mother exclaims; and, half delirious, she moves away from the bush beneath which she has tenderly placed her offspring. She withdraws about a bow-shot, saying, “Let me not see the death of the child.” So “she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept;” and well she might.

Now, have you any such feeling as this, as regards spiritual things? Do you feel unhappy today because God has withdrawn Himself, and seems to have “forgotten to be gracious”? Or are you restless, uneasy in mind, unhappy, unsettled, because you have recently been pricked in your heart, and made to feel yourself a sinner? Then, my brother or sister, you are certainly one of those whose character is described, and who are most affectionately addressed in my text.

Again, a thirsty person is one—

3.—In actual pain. Thirst, especially in a hot climate, produces most distressing feelings. Mr. J. B. M’Cure, late of Cambridge, informs us, in his published “Life in England and Australia,” that, on one occasion, he had to ride many miles in the heat of the burning sun, till his thirst became so intense that he would have drunk even poison itself! Presently he came to a pond of stagnant water, in which dead animals and other filth had been cast. But drink he must; so he alighted, and quenched his thirst with the putrid water. But he had not long resumed his place in the saddle, before he found that the remedy was worse than the disease, for the foul liquid bred a fever, accompanied with dysentery, which nearly cost him his life. We do not know, in this highly-favoured land, what it is to feel the agony of thirst. The throat becomes parched, the tongue cleaves to the mouth, all the moisture in the body appears dried up, the heart faints, the pulse throbs, and the entire man is ready to perish—aye, and perish he must, if help come not soon! The pains are excruciating, and, if not relieved, end at length in a lingering and dreadful death.

Do you know what it is to feel something like that on account of sin? Do you know what it is to groan and sigh, perhaps to weep, because of your iniquities? Are you seeking God, and exclaiming, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him”? I have been in that place, and my soul remembers it; well—the want, the misery, the anguish! “Oh,” I cried, “what shall I do?” I tried everything I knew to get relief—prayer, reading, constant church-going, the Sacrament. I rose sometimes in the middle of the night, lit my candle, read the Psalms, and cried with bitter tears unto God. But all my exercises, all my forms, all my superstitious observances, failed to bring me more than a temporary relief. They quieted the voice of conscience for a little space; but the agony returned, and grew worse and worse, until I was driven to the very verge of desperation.

You notice also that this person is described as—

4.—Poor. He has “no money.” Now, a thirsty person in a desert place might be very rich, or at least have money with him, to purchase drink even at a high rate, if it could be so procured. But this man cannot. His having “no money” gives an additional touch of misery to the forlorn picture. But even this is not all. He is likewise—

5.—Hungry. He had money once, but has spent it all “upon that which is not bread.” We have read of starving people eating roots, bark of trees, and even their own clothes and shoes. But these things satisfied not.

A few years ago, two Australian explorers named Burke and Wills, having consumed all they had, began to eat the seeds of a clover-like plant, which grew abundantly in the desert, called “nardoo.” It stayed the pangs of hunger, and the natives could live upon it for a time. But these men grew weaker and weaker, until at length they died from inanition. And we have, more recently, been horrified by reading in the newspapers that “terrible tale of the sea” in which three men, rendered frantic with hunger and thirst, at length devoured the flesh and blood of the lad Parker to save their lives!

Oh, do you know what it is to be driven almost frantic because convicted of sin? So was poor Bunyan; so was William Huntington, and many more. So was David—read Psalm 6:1-6, &c. Take courage, friend! I have been where you now are; and, indeed, all God’s saved people have felt these pangs, less or more. Are you in want of an indescribable something which this world at its very best cannot give? Perhaps you have tried to satisfy those cravings with music, or novels, or the theatre; with company, pleasure, or sin. But you found these would not satisfy. And do you feel poor? Have not you anything to pay? Are you like that poor woman who spent all her living upon physicians, but was in nothing bettered, and rather grew worse?

“Ah!” says one, “I thought I could pay once. I told the Lord, if He would only forgive me the past, I would be so good in the future, and make it all up that way. But I have learnt that I cannot be good enough to make up for my sins. I am a wretched, lost, ruined, undone, bankrupt sinner, without a farthing to pay; and—

“‘Should sudden vengeance seize my breath,

I must pronounce Him just in death;

And if my soul were sent to hell,

His righteous law approves it well.”‘

Oh, poor soul, you shall never perish! You are the very character described in my text—

“Blest are the men of broken heart,

Who mourn for sin with inward smart;

The Saviour’s blood divinely flows—

A healing balm for all their woes.”

I invite your earnest attention to—

ll. THE DIRECTIONS GIVEN.—What are these? We shall find they are three in number—

1.—Hearken. Our chapter commences with an exclamation—“Ho, every one that thirsteth!” To such a person the first direction is, Listen! “Incline your ear” unto the Word of the Lord, for “man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” “Hear, and your soul shall live;” for saving faith “cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” since “it hath pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” And “the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above;) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the Word of faith, which we preach; that, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed” (Rom. 10:6-11). And, as it is “with the heart man believeth,” so it is with the ear man heareth; therefore saith the Lord Jesus, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” and “Take heed what and how ye hear.” To hear the Gospel of God’s grace shall (if He will bless it) eventually save from the terrible death which that soul-thirst threatens to bring you to. You are not, in such a case, as rich Dives, who is thirsty in hell. Therefore, “Ho, every one that thirsteth; ” “Hearken unto Me, ye that follow after righteousness;” “Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.”

But it is not enough merely to hearken; therefore—

2.—Come. “Come ye to the waters”—not “water,” but “waters.” There is abundance to slake your burning thirst, to cleanse your sins, and for all other Gospel purposes. “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” Therefore “the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

Oh, poor sinner, is your soul made willing in the day of God’s power? Then you may certainly come; and it is written, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”—

“Come, then, repenting sinner, come;

Approach with humble faith;

Owe what thou wilt, the total sum

Is cancelled by His death.”

But you must actually come in your own proper person. No one else can come for you; and even God, although He gives the desire to come, and the grace and power to come, does not come for you. The Holy Spirit is poured out unto you (Prov. 1:23), but the Holy Spirit does not repent for the sinner, nor believe for him. That must be your own act and deed. When the angel opened the eyes of Hagar, and showed her the well, he did that for her which she could not do. She had strained and strained her eyes to their utmost tension for the discovery of a well of water, and now they were dim with fainting and with tears. But, when the angel enabled her to see the well, we are told that she herself “went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink”—

“Fly, then, awakened sinner, fly!

Your case admits no stay;

The fountain’s opened now for sin;

Come, wash your guilt away.”

But even this is not all; therefore God calls you also to—

3.—Partake. “Buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk,” &c. “Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” But how can a person “buy” who has “no money“? The meaning must be, “Come and possess Gospel blessings for yourself, and part with all you have for them. Accept My salvation for yourself, by a personal and experimental participation and enjoyment thereof.” “Let him take hold of My strength,” says the Almighty, “that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me” (Isa. 27:5). This expression is often perverted by free-will teachers, but Hart understood it rightly when he wrote—

“See how from Jesus’ wounded side

The water flows, and blood;

If you but touch that purple tide,

You make your peace with God.”

And, again—

“The sinner that truly believes,

And trusts in his crucified God,

His justification receives,

Redemption in full through His blood.”

Awakened sinner, you are invited—yea, bidden—to prove salvation to be your own, by a personal application to Christ; and this is here called a buying. The foolish virgins said unto the wise, “Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.” But no one ever has grace enough to share with another—not even with a beloved wife or child. Each must have a personal experience of it for him or her self. Therefore these wise ones said, “Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.”

“Come, ye, buy, and eat.” That means also, part with everything for it. Though you have nothing that can really buy salvation, yet you have much that you can part with—yea, and must part with—for it. All your sinful habits, associations, books, and companions must go; all your pride and self-righteousness also. None of your goodness will bear comparison with the goodness of a lovely Jesus. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” unto Him. So Paul felt when he wrote Philippians 3. He parted, when he came to Christ, with a better righteousness than many hope to be saved by.

Oh, you must not keep back any part of the price; for “what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’’ Right eye sins and right hand sins must be plucked out and cut off. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.”

“Yea, come, buy wine and milk.” Here is not only water, but milk to nourish and fatten, and wine for a reviving cordial to the fainting heart. “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.” Poor, fainting sinner, is that your case? “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more” (Prov. 31:6, 7). “O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him”—

“Oh, come, and with His children taste

The blessings of His love!

While hope attends the sweet repast

Of nobler joys above.”

Hear the dear voice of the Beloved of your soul—“I have drunk My wine with My milk; eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!” “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” You are, therefore, heartily welcome, poor sinner, to “eat the fat and drink the sweet.” Oh, the abundance, the fulness, the deliciousness of the provisions of God’s grace!

Let us now consider—

III. THE PROMISE APPENDED.—“I will make an everlasting covenant with you,” &c. Yes, blessed be God, the salvation He gives is not only full and free—it is everlasting also. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.” It is from everlasting—”Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” “I will betroth thee unto Me for ever.” “God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” And it is to everlasting, for He “hateth putting away”—

“Whom once He loves He never leaves,

But loves him to the end.”

Therefore said Jesus, “I give unto My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.” This is called “the covenant of grace,” for “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”

Now, why is this covenant said to comprise “the sure mercies of David”? It was made with David, as typical of the Messiah. See 2 Samuel 7:14, 15, where it is contrasted with that made with Saul, who was put upon his good behaviour. If he disobeyed, the kingdom should be taken out of his house, and God’s mercies should leave him. (See 1 Samuel 13:13, 14.) In Psalm 89, we have a full statement of this covenant. Though originally made with David, it is here said to refer to Christ and His spiritual children (ver. 19). And so our text is quoted in Acts 13:34, by Paul at Antioch. The Holy Ghost speaks of it again by Jeremiah (31:31, &c.). Here He promises to put His “law in the inward parts” of His children, “and write it in their hearts;” and He adds, “I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” The Apostle to the Hebrews twice quotes this passage in that Epistle, and explains that it signifies all new covenant mercies given to believers in Christ, i.e., all God’s elect, who are first awakened by the Holy Ghost, and made to “hunger and thirst” after God’s righteousness, and then are blessedly “filled” with the same. All such find the covenant to embrace them, when it is opened up in Christ to them.

Oh, hungering, thirsting soul, draw near! These blessings are all for thee. Thy hungering and thirsting prove thee at once to be interested therein—

“Ye wretched, hungry, starving poor,

Behold a royal feast,

Where Mercy spreads her bounteous store

For every humble guest!”

“I will make an everlasting covenant with you” i.e., in the Person of Jesus, as your Surety, Head, Representative, and Husband (ver. 4). The covenant is not made with us in person, or it would not contain “sure mercies”; for, some day or other, we should all break it, and so lose its benefits, as did Saul, and as did the “fathers” at Sinai. Rest assured, if Adam and Eve, in a state of innocence, could not keep God’s covenant, none born in sin and surrounded by all sorts of temptations would be able to keep it. But ours is on a better basis than those covenants were, and, therefore, its mercies are “sure mercies.” In the margin of Acts 13:34, it reads, “holy or just things.” Our great Surety and blessed Redeemer has already fulfilled in our behalf all its conditions. He came to “fulfil all righteousness,” and to “save His people from their sins.” He wrought out for us a perfectly justifying righteousness. God “hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Oh, blessed Redeemer! And, when all was perfectly accomplished, “that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,” He said, “I thirst.” Then He exclaimed, “It is finished!” and gave up the ghost. 

“‘It is finished!’ Oh, what pleasure 

Do these charming words afford!

Heavenly blessings, without measure, 

Flow to us from Christ the Lord:

‘It is :finished!’

Saints the dying words record.”

Look, then, poor sinner, thirsting for righteousness, look to Jesus. Hear His dying words; behold His bleeding hands and feet, His thorn-clad brow, His lacerated back, His pierced side; and hear the language of the Holy Ghost, speaking for the Church by Isaiah—“He is despised and rejected of men. Surely He hath borne our griefs. He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed: and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.” “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him” instead of thee and me! Oh, what wonderful love is this! Then, if God has punished Him for us, He will never punish us. That would not be justice at all. Therefore says the Evangelist John, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’’—aye, “faithful and just.” God cannot refuse to pardon thee, poor sinner, since He has already poured out His full vengeance for thy sins upon thy Surety’s head. He “died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” “Wherefore He is able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Alas! how many there are who, in spite of all God has said in His Gospel for the comfort of the hungry and thirsty sinner, will neither hearken, come, nor partake! Some will hearken, but no more. They say that it is a beautiful story, and sometimes may even weep under it; but they have no desire to come and partake. “He came unto His own [the Jewish people], and His own received Him not; but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” To the carnal Jews the Lord, therefore, said, “Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life.” Oh, no! They did not feel thirsty for Christ or His blessed Gospel. So, many now think they can do very well without Him—at least, for some time to come. Not so the thirsty soul, to whom all the streams of carnal pleasure are now dried up. If such is your case, God will, ere long, satisfy you with His mercy.