124 The Call of Salvation – Part 1

Isaiah 55:1-13 (1-3a)

August 18, 2024

We are in a glorious section here in the book of Isaiah.

It’s a section that can easily be referred to as “THE INVITATION”

To be more specific and accurate, this section details for us

The offer God makes because of the cross.

Isaiah 53 is the hinge point of God’s dealing with humanity.

Before Isaiah 53

· We dealt with Israel’s rebellion, Israel’s stubbornness,

· And subsequently Israel’s rejection, and Israel’s captivity.

But once Christ was “pierced through for our transgressions” and

Was “crushed for our iniquities” the message changed drastically.

Where the first 52 chapters showed us

· An offended God

· And explained His righteous judgment on a wayward nation

The last 13 chapters show us

· God’s offer of mercy to those who have offended Him.

FOR EXAMPLE:

We read:

Isaiah 50:1 “Thus says the Lord, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”

· We read of God’s frustration.

· We read of God sending Israel away as an unfaithful bride.

· We read of God selling His children to creditors to pay for that sinful woman’s debts.

But on the other side of the cross everything looks drastically different.

For on the cross Jesus Christ satisfied God’s wrath

Through the shedding of His own blood.

Christ came to redeem, that is to “buy back” those wayward kids.

Christ came to pay the debt of that immoral wife.

Christ came to propitiate God’s anger.

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

And as a result of that offering we found out that God was satisfied.

Isaiah 53:10 “But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”

And now, because of the cross we no longer see God sending away that wayward woman or selling her children to pay her debts.

Now we see exactly the opposite.

WE SEE GOD CALLING HER HOME!

We started this look last Sunday night.

Isaiah 54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.”

Isaiah 54:6-8 “For the Lord has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” Says your God. “For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the Lord your Redeemer.”

Isaiah showed us two women in a hopeless condition.

He showed as “Sarah” and a “Gomer” if you will.

The Sarah was a barren woman who had no hope at a future because she couldn’t have kids.

· But thanks to the cross, God offered a future to a woman who had no reason

to hope for a future.

The Gomer was the unfaithful woman who had been divorced by her husband.

· But thanks to the cross, God offered her hope as He called her back to Himself

in compassion.

THE CROSS CHANGED EVERYTHING.

AND AS YOU WILL SEE,

It is has changed everything in Isaiah’s message as well.

The message has shifted and shifted drastically.

· No longer is it a message of warning under threat of judgment,

· Now it is a call to salvation because of the redemption of Christ.

And that is precisely what we start looking at this morning.

I am simply calling it “THE CALL OF SALVATION”

And before we get into the details,

Let me give you a broad picture of the chapter.

It’s NOT as though God has just now started calling His people to Himself.

He has been doing that since the day He chose them.

There has always been this call of God to His people

For them to repent and trust Him and obey Him.

But up until now that call has been routinely rejected.

Isaiah 65 recounts it:

Isaiah 65:2-5 “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, A people who continually provoke Me to My face, Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks; Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.”

That just about sums it up.

· God has been calling but Israel has been totally disinterested.

Even on the day when God commissioned Isaiah

Isaiah was told that he should not expect much visible success.

Isaiah 6:8-10 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

And that certainly proved true in his ministry.

When Isaiah warned the people of their sin and called them to repent and obey God, this is how they responded:

Isaiah 28:9-10 “To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’”

They didn’t want to hear it.

God weighed in on their rebellious condition:

Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the Lord; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

God has been calling and Israel has been rejecting.

That is what we might refer to GOD’S GENERAL CALL

· It is the call of God that goes out through the universal preaching of the gospel to the world.

It is a 100% valid offer given to every single human.

That if any man will repent and trust in Christ, God will save Him based on the sacrifice of Jesus.

· Any man is at liberty to receive.

· Any man is at liberty to believe it.

· Any man can take full advantage of it.

It is no different than the famous call of Jesus in Matthew 11

Matthew 11:28-20 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

· There is no limitation to the reach of that offer.

· It is available to anyone and everyone who will take it.

Very similar to what we read in John 3

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

· And again, that is 100% valid.

· “whoever believes in Him shall not perish”

However the human nature of man is so depraved that

Even though he is freely offered salvation,

He has no power to believe it and he doesn’t actually want it.

John 3:19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

So while we do have a universal and GENERAL CALL of salvation that continually rings out, we know that it is A REJECTED CALL.

And Israel clearly bears that out as God said:

Romans 10:21 “But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

But the call we are talking about here

Is NOT a universal call or a general call.

The call of salvation here is: GOD’S EFFECTUAL CALL

Some have referred to it as IRRESISTABLE GRACE

It is what Jesus spoke of in John 6:

John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

When Christ hung on the cross we saw:

Isaiah 53:11 “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

On the cross Christ was NOT just paying an undesignated price to go in a pot with the hope that someday someone might take advantage of it.

No, on the cross He actually paid the price of redemption for His bride.

· He knew who she was,

· He paid specifically for her,

· He was satisfied because He knew she would be His.

And now in chapters 54-55 we see Him calling her to Himself.

And here is the beauty of the chapter:

SHE IS PROMISED TO COME!

Look at the statement of God to end this chapter:

(55:10-12) “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. “For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

There is nothing potential or merely possible about that statement.

· This word of invitation which God is presenting through Isaiah will succeed.

· Israel will be saved.

· It will happen.

· Christ will have those for whom He died.

THIS IS GOD’S EFFECTUAL CALL TO HIS OWN.

And it is that call we begin to look at THIS MORNING.

· God is calling sinners to salvation.

· Here He outlines what they must do to be saved.

· And the beauty is that all who are His will do it!

So let’s look at this great chapter

And hear God call His children to salvation

And let’s see what that entails.

I think it’s best to break the chapter into 6 points about God’s call,

We won’t get through all of them this morning.

#1 GOD’S CALL IS AN ABUNDANT CALL

Isaiah 55:1-3a

We call it an abundant call because

It is clearly a call to those who have nothing

And in return it offers them everything.

· It is a benevolent call.

· It is a generous call.

· It is a gracious call.

It is what Jesus spoke of when He talked to that woman at the well.

John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

It is what Jesus spoke of to the crowd whom He had fed the day before:

John 6:32-35 “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

It is what Jesus spoke of in the temple to those Jews who were lost.

John 7:37-38 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

It is what Jesus offered again to the wayward Jews in John 10:

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

And you see references to all of that here don’t you.

It’s not hard to see that Isaiah was talking about Jesus.

· He is offering water to the thirsty.

· He is offering salvation to the poor.

· He is offering bread to the starved.

· And He is offering it in abundance.

(2b) “delight yourself in abundance”

God’s call is an abundant call.

WE JUST SAW LAST SUNDAY NIGHT

· That barren woman with no children and God told her that she was going to

have to pitch a bigger tent to hold all the kids she was going to have.

· God told that rejected woman that He was going to restore her dignity by

publicly calling her back to Himself for another beautiful marriage.

He is doing glorious things for those who are unable and unworthy.

And I remind you again that it is all possible because of chapter 53.

· Because Christ suffered the punishment.

· Because Christ appeased the wrath.

· The unworthy and the rejected are now offered a seat at the table.

It is remarkable to witness the Grace of God.

· As He calls tax collectors and sinners.

· As He extends His hands to the demon possessed and immoral.

· As He selects fishermen and shepherds and promises them a kingdom.

· “Not many wise, not many might, not many noble”

What an offer of salvation this offer of God is.

I can’t help but think of a passage even in the next chapter of Isaiah.

Isaiah 56:3-5 “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.”

There it’s not just barren women and rebellious women.

There the offer is extended to foreigners and eunuchs.

Men who have no right to an inheritance.

And men who have no ability to extend their name.

But God, by His grace offers even them a seat at the table

And an enduring name in His kingdom.

It is just the immeasurable and unfathomable, totally saturated and dripping grace of God as He offers salvation to the least of these.

What a glorious salvation was purchased by Christ on the cross.

What a glorious salvation was conceived by the mind of God.

What God has in store for His children

Is more than they can fathom and more than they deserve.

It is an abundant call!

BUT THE FOCUS of these first 3 verses is NOT JUST

That God offers this salvation to people who don’t deserve it.

There is also a tremendous focus on

WHAT GOD ASKS OF THE UNDESERVING FOR THEM TO RECEIVE IT.

And this is important for us to understand.

We love the sovereignty of God.

We love His sovereign grace.

We love His sovereign salvation.

But never overlook the fact that there remains a

HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY.

You can argue that you are one of the elect until you are blue in the face,

But I can promise you that

Unless you respond properly to the gospel call you will not be saved.

And that is the response to God’s call that is highlighted here.

In fact, in these 3 verses there are 3 highlighted attributes

That God wants to discuss with those to whom He calls.

It’s not so much what they must do as it is who they must be.

1) YOUR HUMILITY

We see it clearly in verse 1.

· God is addressing “Every one who thirsts”

· He is addressing “you who have no money”

· He is addressing those who have spent all their “wages for what does not satisfy”

And we circle back to what we discussed last Sunday night.

In this great offer of salvation: WHO IS THE AUDIENCE?

Well Jesus told us:

Matthew 9:12-13 “But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus did not come to call “the righteous”.

· That is, those who think they are righteous.

He came to call “sinners”

· That is, those who know they are sinners.

· His offer is extended to those who are thirsty but know they have no water.

· His offer is extended to those who are hungry but know they have no money.

· His offer is extended to those who realize their life has been filled with bad

decisions where they pursued that which could not satisfy.

THOSE are the people He is calling.

· If you think you are fine.

· If you are content with this life.

· If you fancy yourself to be in good standing with God based on your own goodness and works

THIS OFFER IS NOT FOR YOU.

Jesus said it like this:

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

And as we’ve said before, the Greek language is in the emphatic there which means “theirs alone” or “theirs only” “Is the kingdom of heaven.”

He’s not going to grant the kingdom of heaven

To anyone who is not poor in spirit.

· You must be aware of your spiritual bankruptcy before God.

· You must realize that you have nothing to offer.

· You must realize that you are poor and wretched and blind and naked.

WHY?

Because “God is opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the humble.”

That is God’s prerequisite.

He does not save the proud, in fact He is opposed to them.

He does not save the self-righteous, in fact they infuriate Him.

Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”

God is a Savior of the lowly.

And just follow Him through the gospels and watch who He saves.

· Men like Peter and James and John.

· Men like Matthew and Zaccheus.

· Women like Mary Magdalene and the woman at the well.

But He had nothing but warnings of woe for the spiritually arrogant.

Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Even Isaiah himself was not saved until he fell on his face and cried:

Isaiah 6:5 “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

Until a person comes to that point in their own attitude

You can forget salvation.

So let’s begin there this morning.

HOW’S YOUR HUMILITY?

· Do you view yourself as a good person?

· Do you feel like you’re ahead of the pack in terms of righteous living?

· Do you feel like you do plenty of things that God should be proud of?

· Are you confident that your good outweighs your bad?

· Are you happy to show God all the things you’ve accomplished?

Then you have not yet come to the place of humility that is necessary.

Go back to God’s Law!

· Read of His impossibly high and holy standard.

· See how often you have broken it and how you break it still.

· And keep reading that Law until you fall on your face like Paul did and cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this dead?”

Examine the character of God throughout the prophets.

· Read of the things that bring God’s wrath and compare them to your life.

· Examine how good you think you are next to His perfections

· Until you cry out with Job “I have declared that which I did not understand…I repent in dust and ashes.”

Go gaze on the perfection of Jesus.

· Look at His wisdom and might, His conviction, His kindness and compassion.

· See how holy and magnificent He is

· Until you fall on the boat with Peter and cry, “Go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man!”

Examine the word of God

Until you are crushed under the weight of the divine standard

And until you finally achieve the humility that He requires.

BECAUSE

· Until you are thirsty…

· Until you are poor…

· Until you are hungry…

The offer is not for you.

Luke 6:24-26 “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”

So start with your humility.

Humble yourself before God so that He may exalt you.

After that, let’s talk about:

2) YOUR HEARING

You see this mentioned 3 times in verses 2 and 3

· “Listen carefully to Me…”

· “Incline your ear…”

· “Listen…”

This walks step in step with humility

It is one of the reasons you must be humble.

ARROGANT MEN DON’T LISTEN.

James said it perfectly.

James 1:19-20 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

· If you’re too proud to listen to God’s word…

· If you’re too proud to accept God’s word…

· If you’re too proud to submit to God’s word…

· Then you will never “achieve the righteousness of God.”

You must be humble enough

· To realize that all of your answers are wrong.

· To realize that you made horrible decision.

You spent all your “money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy”

Later down in verse 7 God is going to say:

(7) “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts…”

You’re going to have to come to grips with the fact

That your thinking and your logic made a mess for you.

And you’re going to have listen to the One who is truth.

You are familiar with that parable of the sower

Where “the seed is the word of God”.

And most wouldn’t accept the seed.

· They either were too hard (proud)

· Or they were too rocky (not really listening)

· Or they were too weedy (still hanging on their own thoughts)

· And they rejected the seed and are lost.

That is why after that parable Jesus was very clear:

Luke 8:18 “So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”

“take care how you listen”

Over and over we hear Jesus say, “Let him who has ears, let him hear”.

So you have to humble yourself

So that you will be willing to listen.

But why is hearing so important?

That is simple:

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

You must be willing to listen to the gospel that is being preached.

If you don’t hear the gospel you can’t be saved.

It is the power of God for salvation.

Jesus said:

John 5:24-25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

You must hear the message.

“For how will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?”

So clearly, if you are unwilling to hear, this offer is not for you.

Matthew 13:13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”

So there is the second thing that needs to be examined.

First is your HUMILITY – do you see that you need saving?

Second is your HEARING – are you seeking God’s word to hear how to be saved?

I love the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Acts 8:27-31 “So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

· Here is a man who had gone to Jerusalem to worship.

· Something in him had obviously been convicted and so he is sitting here on the way home reading Isaiah.

· (Later we find out it’s Isaiah 53)

· And by his own testimony he doesn’t understand it.

· But he’s reading it and trying his best.

That is a humble man who is doing everything he can to hear.

And God honored that in His providence by sending Philip by to explain it to him.

Being humble and broken is required, but humility is not enough,

There must also be hearing. Listen when God speaks.

· Are you even trying to find out what God wants from you?

· Are you even seeking to hear from God?

· Are you reading His word?

YOU SAY, “I don’t read because I don’t understand.”

Well that didn’t stop the Ethiopian.

He read until God made a way for him to understand.

So how is your humility? And how is your hearing?

3) YOUR HUNGER

Now why is hunger important?

Because Christ is going to ask you to do something.

· He is going to offer you satisfaction to your thirst.

· He is going to offer you satisfaction to your hunger.

· He is going to offer you satisfaction to your poverty.

And we are going to see if you are hungry enough to take it or not.

(1) “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters:” (and Christ is the water)

“you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and mile without money and without cost.”

(3) “Incline your ear and come to Me.”

Christ is going to offer you satisfaction

But it all centers around the word Isaiah used 4 times, “come”.

Jesus states it a little differently.

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

· Jesus is going to ask you to let go of your life.

· He’s going to ask you to take up His reproach.

· He’s going to ask you to devote your life to Him.

And look, it is NOT A NATURAL DESIRE

To want to carry a cross and follow a condemned man.

SO WHY WOULD YOU DO IT?

REMEMBER when Jesus offended the crowd in John 6 by saying that He came from heaven?

Remember how they all left?

John 6:67-69 “So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

The disciples decided to follow

Because they hungered for eternal life

And Jesus was the only place they could get it.

Or how about the Rich Young Ruler who came to Jesus wanting eternal life?

Matthew 19:16 “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”

But when Jesus explained that it would cost him all his possessions:

Matthew 19:22 “But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.”

He was hungry for eternal life, but not that hungry.

And you get my point.

We could talk about

· The man who told Jesus he would follow anywhere, but when Jesus revealed He was homeless that man no longer wanted to follow.

· The man who wanted to follow only if he could first collect his inheritance?

· The man who first wanted an endorsement from his friends for following Jesus?

See all those men were hungry for eternal life,

BUT THEY WEREN’T THAT HUNGRY.

· They weren’t hungry enough to deny themselves.

· They weren’t hungry enough to abandon their wealth.

· They weren’t hungry enough to ruin their reputation.

But Jesus asked:

Matthew 16:26 “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

How hungry are you?

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

So you understand the point.

· You must be humble before you’ll ever be willing to hear.

· You must hear before you can know what is required.

· You must be hungry for righteousness before you will ever do what is

required which is to come to and follow Jesus.

SO HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU?

· How badly do you want salvation?

· How badly do you want peace with God?

Hebrews 12:25 “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.”

Are you hungry enough to deny yourself,

take up your cross, and follow Jesus?

FOR THOSE WHO DO:

· You are granted the right to “come to the waters”

· You are allowed to “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost”

· You are invited to “eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance”

· You are called to “Listen that you may live;”

This is an ABUNDANT CALL to thirst no more.

This is an ABUNDANT CALL to hunger no more.

This is an ABUNDANT CALL to have life and life abundant!

But it requires Humility, Hearing, and Hungering.

Will you humble yourself and cry out to Jesus?