1. One of life’s great mysteries is why seemingly intelligent, seemingly decent, seemingly well-educated people turn their backs on God. My message today is from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, and I’d like to focus particularly on verses 6 and 7.
2. I think one of the reasons many people are lost is that they are confused as to what it means to be saved – like the Romish priests who flog themselves with whips.
3. Houdini, the famous escape artist, was able to climb out of a locked trunk, wrapped around tightly with a heavy, thick chain, dropped deep into the ocean. He could wriggle out of any set of handcuffs in seconds, climb out of any strait jacket – but there was one little jail in the British Isles that he could not escape from. He worked at the cell-door lock for over 2 hours. He was greatly frustrated because it normally only took him 3 seconds to pick a lock! But this lock would not spring and so, finally, after two exhausting and frustrating hours, Houdini fell against the door and it swung open – it had not been locked!
4. That’s the way salvation is for many people – God says to "come" (three times in 55:1) to Him and He will save you.
5. Concerning this great doctrine of salvation, I would like to ask three questions today;

I.        ARE YOU THIRSTY?

III.   IS THE WORD OF GOD WORKING IN YOUR LIFE?

I. ARE YOU THIRSTY? (ISA. 55: 1-5)

1. The only prerequisite for coming to Christ is a sincere thirst (cf. Ps. 42: 1,2; 63:1; 143:6; Isa. 41:17; John 4:14; 7:37; Rev.22:17).
2. One of the most wonderful words in the Bible is "come" (55:1; cf. Gen.7:1; Matt.11:28-30; John 7:37).
3. Here, in Isaiah 55, "everyone that thirsteth" is invited to come (55:1); but this is no ordinary thirst –it is for those that "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matt.5;6).
4. The Bible often uses symbolic language and here the water, wine and milk represent salvation. Notice that it is "without money and without price" (cf. Eph.2:8,9; Isa.64:6).
5. There was an artist who wanted to paint a picture of the Prodigal Son. He searched throughout all the madhouses, the poorhouses, and the prisons, to find some wretched man scurvy enough to represent the Prodigal Son, but he could not find the right one.
6. Then one day he was walking down the street and met a man whom he thought would be suitable and so he told him he would pay him well if he came to his studio and sat for his portrait. The beggar agreed, and the day was appointed for him to come.
7. The day came, and a man arrived at the artist’s studio but the artist did not recognize him. "I never saw you before," he said; but the man insisted, "Yes, you agreed to meet me here at 10:00 a.m." "You must be mistaken," said the artist. "The man I agreed to paint was a scurvy-looking beggar." "Well," said the man, "I am he. I thought since you were going to paint my portrait and pay me so much money, that I would shave and take a bath and put on some nice clothes." "Then I do not want you," said the artist. "I wanted you the way you were before; now, you are of no use to me."
8. That is the way salvation is: "Just as I am without one plea" (Isa. 55:1).

Are you dissatisfied with the life you are living? Then "come ye to the waters."

9. Are you dissatisfied with your second-rate, wishy-washy type of religion? Then "come ye to the waters."
10. Are you dissatisfied with what the world has to offer? Then "come ye to the waters."

Come to Christ now while God is still dealing with you. Don’t put off getting things right with God – some day it could be too late. Jay Gould was a famous 19th century American millionaire. At the end of his life he said: "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth." Lord Byron, the English poet, had everything this world has to offer – fortune and fame, genius and tremendous talent but after wasting his life on sin and worldly pleasures, he wrote a poem called "On My Thirty-Sixth Year." He wrote these last words and then died: "The worm, the canker, and the grief are mine alone." The English prime minister Disraeli said: "Youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle, old age a regret."

Notice the waters are plural (55:1). Water in the Bible represents the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the salvation that God provides when the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and we are transformed into the children of God. Have you experienced this transformation?

Wine (unfermented) in the Bible symbolizes joy (Judges 9:12, 13). Milk symbolizes the Word of God, necessary for spiritual growth (I Peter 2:2).

2. DO YOU SENSE THE NEED TO REPENT? (55:6-9)

1. "LET THE WICKED FORSAKE HIS WAY…" (55:7). The Bible teaches repentance.
2. Repentance from:

1. lack of faithfulness to the local church
2. not reading the Bible
3. not praying
4. no zeal for God
5. not saved

3. I don’t even have to start preaching against the real vile sins: adultery, fornication, drunkenness, drugs, etc. There are plenty of sins we need to repent of.
4. The #1 thing that keeps people from God is SIN (Isa. 55:6,7). People refuse to get right with God, they refuse to give up their favorite sins – they need to "seek the Lord" (55:6) and "forsake" their wicked ways (55:7). They need to call upon Him "while He is near" (55:6) — tomorrow may be too late!
5. Some people cannot understand 55:6 – they do not understand how a lost sinner, blinded by the devil, can seek the Lord – they point out that it is God who seeks after the sinner; that man does not seek after God. However, God seeks men by leading them to seek Him (cf. John 6:37).
6. God’s ways are so much higher than our ways that we can never really understand the deep things of God (55:8,9) – they are beyond our comprehension – God thinks and acts in ways that transcend anything man could ever imagine. For example, man could never in a million years come up with plan of salvation. The great poet and hymn writer William Cowper wrote a beautiful poem called "Truth":

• O how unlike the complex works of man,
• Heav’n’s easy, artless, unencumbered plan;
• No meretricious grace to beguile,
• No clustering ornaments to clog the pile;
• From ostentation, as from weakness, free,
• It stands like the cerulian arch we see,
• Majestic in its own simplicity.
• Inscribed above the portal, from afar
• Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,
• Legible only by the light they give,
• Stand the soul-quickening words – Believe, and live.

3. IS THE WORD OF GOD WORKING IN YOUR LIFE? (55:10-13)

1. Just as the rain and snow fall on the thirsty earth, so the Word of God falls on man’s dry and thirsty spirit (55:10).
2. "Rain falls indifferently on mountain and on valley, but the hard, lofty mountain casts it off, and the valleys receive and profit by it. So the Word of God is for all; but the lofty and proud cast it off, and the lowly and repentant take it in" (F.C. Jennings). Are you taking it in? Or are you casting it off, or ignoring it, disobeying it, mocking it, denying it?
3. Rain fall "watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth the bud…" (55:10), resulting in abundant vegetable life, green grass, and every form of herb and tree. Likewise, where the Word of God is received there is the fruit of love, joy, and peace (55:11,12).
4. Is the Word of God working in your life? Has the Word of God convinced you that you are a hopeless, lost sinner, on your way to the fires of eternal hell?
5. Has the Word of God revealed Christ to you? The only way to know the Lord Jesus Christ is through reading the Word of God. Have you trusted Him? Are you saved? Is He your Lord and Saviour?
6. Has the Word of God transformed your life? Are you going out with joy, and being led with peace" (55:12)? Has the Word of God changed your life? Have you been born again?
7. George Washington Carver was a great botanist who knew the Word of God. He testified before the United States Senate Agricultural Committee that he got his great knowledge of peanuts from the Bible. Asked what the Bible said about peanuts, he replied, "The Bible does not teach anything regarding the peanut. But it told me about God, and God told me about the peanut."

CONCLUSION: