It is good to be with you this evening and to participate in this special week of meetings and to bring God's Word to you tonight. I do thank your minister and the session for the invitation. And I also thank our brother for his introduction and his very kind words. I would like you to turn in God's Word to the book of Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah chapter 55. Just before we read the scriptures, we'll pray, and just briefly pray and seek God. Our Father, we give thee thanks for this meeting, for the open door and for all that are gathered in, for the mercies of God to us and the health and strength we enjoy. We bless and praise thee. May we continue to be in good health and not be endangered, even in our meeting together. But may the Lord be our keeper, even our shade on our right hand, keeping us by day and by night. So we look to Thee. We pray that Thou wilt lead us now in the reading of Thy holy word. Make that to be a blessing to us, Lord. And as we come to the preaching, may the Saviour be magnified. May Thy people be edified. May it please Thee to work in sinners too. and to draw them to Jesus Christ, thy dear son, in whose name we pray, amen. So Isaiah chapter 55 then, who everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not. Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 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. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader. and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shalt run unto 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 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. For as a rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper. to the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all 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 a neverlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Amen. It is especially the verses one and two that I would leave with you tonight. Ho, every one 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. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which is satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. I want to consider from this text tonight four emblems or four symbols of the gospel that are found in it. There is first of all the waters in verse one. Come ye to the waters. That's the first symbol. And then the wine, buy wine. And then the milk, milk without money and without price. And then in verse two, there is the mention of bread. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and labor for that which satisfieth not. So these four emblems, emblems of the gospel, the waters, the wine, the milk, and the bread. And they're very good emblems. And may the Lord help us and bless us and encourage us and even convict and convert sinners as we think about them tonight. These four emblems, they picture the provision of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is something that we all need as sinners. It's God's caring for the ungodly, for sinners. Just as the body needs food, so the everlasting souls of men need food as well, the good news concerning a savior, Jesus Christ. And for our bodies, we go to the food market and we obtain the food materials that our bodies may live and be healthy and strong. But in the gospel, there is also a food market, a provision for our souls. And we can buy daily bread for our bodies in the food market But our poverty is such as sinners, we're such poor and needy sinners that the price of salvation and redemption is way beyond us. It can't even be bought with silver and gold. It can't be purchased at all by us. But here's the good news. The wonderful thing about the good news of salvation and forgiveness and the caring in Jesus Christ is that it's without money and it's without price. It's free. I say it's free. And so this text is telling us about the poor man's market. And that's what we are. We're poor men. And I hope and trust that we all know it tonight, that we know we're sinners, that we know we're needy, that we know we need a savior, and that that salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only is it a free market, the poor man's market, but it's for all, everyone, oh, everyone that thirsteth. Come ye, buy and eat and drink. and so on. So it's for all. And I want to encourage you all tonight, I don't know, some of you, a lot of you are Christians, I know some of you, there may be some who are not Christians, but I want to encourage you all tonight that you do not despise this market. that you do not despise this provision that has graciously been laid up for you, poor sinner, in the Lord Jesus Christ. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? But come, even as the invitation says, come to the gospel table, come and partake, eat and drink of Jesus Christ freely. All of us should do that. These four emblems, then, they symbolize the manifold character of the gospel. Four is a number of fullness. The four corners of the earth, the four corners of the square, so that whenever the four corners are reached and met, there's a fullness. And the gospel has a fullness that satisfies the sinner, that reaches to every corner of his life. that reaches to the depths of his soul. And so that's the significance of the number four, this full provision, the waters, the wine, the milk, and the bread. So come and partake and believe and feed on this provision. I have to say, before we look at them individually, that this is the only answer to your needs. Nothing else will satisfy your soul. Nothing else will reach to every corner of your life. Nothing else can save you. Nothing else can give you the life. Nothing else can wash away your sins. There's nothing else but the gospel provision, but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christless religion and mere human tradition and human learning have no substance. They do not give life. They do not reconcile men to God. They do not provide the marrow and the fatness that the soul needs. The only thing that provides that. is this glorious gospel of Christ. So there's only the gospel of Christ. That's what's set forth in our text tonight. There's nothing else. That's all, just these waters, just this wine, all the milk and all the bread. All we need is set forth in these symbols, this provision alone. The gospel is wonderful, you know. It's God's provision. It's a feast of fat things. That's why Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why should any preacher be ashamed of it? It's God's meal. It's God's food for the soul. It's what we need. It's mighty. It's the power of God unto salvation. It gives life. The Jew and the Gentile. It does all these things in the human heart. It satisfies, it's wholesome, it's marrow and fatness, and it meets all that our hearts require. So it's a wonderful thing. All you need is in Christ. So, come ye to the waters, first of all it says. Not just water, it's in the plural, Waters. It speaks of abundance. Plenty. Plenty of water on the earth. We need water. We're thankful there's plenty of water. We're thankful there's no shortage of it. But you know in the provision of the gospel, there's an abundance. There's no shortness of water in Jesus Christ. A sinner needs waters. Abundance of waters. A reservoir that never runs dry and the gospel alone provides it. And in the glorious fullness of the provision of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see it. We don't just need water, we need reservoir. We need what the Bible calls the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12, therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. Not just one well, but an abundance. In every land and nation there's free access to these waters that are in Jesus Christ. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and of his grace have we all received. We've drunk of his grace, those of us that are Christians, and he's not run dry, and he's none the emptier. He still has the same fullness of his fullness of all we received, and grace upon grace. For it pleased him, the Father, that every fullness should be found. in Jesus Christ. And the waters that are in Jesus Christ provide two things that are important and essential for the soul. And the water, of course, first provides cleansing. That's why it comes first. Waters are at the very door of the gospel. The portrayal of that by baptism and the entrance into the church by baptism into the body of Jesus Christ. So the waters come first because the sinner needs to be cleansed. He needs to be washed. And the waters of the gospel provide that cleansing. And this alone is a message. In this marketplace alone is a provision. for the cleansing of your heart. And you need cleanse, you need washed, because we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Remember how even the prophet Isaiah said, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Even the lips are unclean. Everything comes out of the lips. And the lips, the contamination that is displayed on them, it shows the foulness that is within. For all is an unclean thing. And we need cleansed. We need washed. Religion without Christ doesn't do that. Only this provision, the waters in Jesus. The waters. that cleansed the soul. You remember how the psalmist said, I was shapen in iniquity. I was born in sin. And he cleansed. And that's why he said, wash me. Wash me. I need the washing, Lord. Wash me and make me clean, whiter than the snow. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who provides the gospel waters. You know, before you come to the table, you have to wash first, don't you? Especially important in this day and age. We're very conscious now, particularly about our cleanliness of our hands at the table. And this is the first thing. You must be clean. You need the waters. You need to be washed. Jesus Christ does that. What does the Bible say? So shall he sprinkle many nations, many peoples. Christ alone does it. There's no one else. And we're glad that he does. Remember how the apostle said, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which is shared on us abundantly. through Jesus Christ. That's the only one that comes through. It's abundant washing, it's abundant cleansing, because there are abundant waters, but it comes through Jesus Christ and him alone. And that's who you have to come to for the waters, for the cleansing. What cleansing there is for you too, sinner, if you but come. No matter how dark day you are, no matter how deep the stain is, the Lord says, come now and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as well. That's what you can have, a thorough cleansing in the waters of the gospel. Remember how Paul was writing to the Corinthians? You know, the pagan world, outside of Judaism was a most unclean word. It was botched, wicked. We have no idea of the wickedness of paganism, but the gospel was so mighty that it made inroads into paganism, and it still can do the same today. It can get into neighborhoods and districts. It can get into the vilest home. It can change the vilest heart. But many of these Corinthians came from terrible, sinful backgrounds. And Paul lists some of the sins, when he was writing to them, that they had been participating in, and about the wrath of God that comes upon those sins. And those, he says, such were some of you. But you're washed. You know, no one's beyond hope. We should never look down or despise sinners, but we should pray for them. Pray for their salvation. Pray that they might know the power and grace of God. Appeal to them to come to the marketplace and participate of these waters. And so the word of God to you tonight is very clear. Wash you. Wash yourself. Make yourself clean. come to these waters, come to Christ. But not only is water essential for cleansing, water is essential for life itself. Before life could commence in Genesis chapter one, we read of the waters. We know that water is so vital to life. I mean, the scientists, they're looking for life out of space, spending, you know, vain amounts of money on these kinds of things and forgetting God and not acknowledging God. It's a terrible idolatry and wickedness. But they know that Life cannot subsist without water. And so what they're looking for in the universe is water. If they could just find water, there might be life. They know there can't be without it. And that's so true. And God has been so good to our planet. He gives us so much water because he provides for all the life that is on it, because he's good. And so in creation we read about the waters. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that have life and thou that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. It all came out of the waters as the Spirit of God moved upon it. And so the Bible recognizes that these waters are essential for life. Sinners are not only dirty, they're dead, dead in sin. And the waters are needed not only to cleanse them, but to renew them, to quicken them, to give them the spiritual life of Jesus Christ. Come ye to the waters for life. You remember how so often this is symbolized in the Bible. You remember the waters coming out of the temple and running down to the Dead Sea and wherever the rivers came, brought life, even to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea, there's nothing lives in the Dead Sea. Even whenever men go into it, they can only go in for a very brief amount of time, but in this imagery, that whenever the waters come down from heaven, the Spirit of God mightily descends to the earth in these waters, then there's life. And there's around the Dead Sea what you never had before. You had fishermen fishing in the Dead Sea. This is what happens in the vision, because that's what the gospel is. It's a vision of the gospel waters. is a vision of these waters here that are available to the sinner. Christ is the water of life. He provides life. He says, I am the life. And apart from him we are dead, and we only live in him and through him. And whosoever believeth in him hath everlasting life, because he is the resurrection and the life. Religion can't give that without Christ. Human philosophy can't provide that. Only the gospel, only the savior. I am come, he says, that you may have life. Would you believe it? Would you rejoice in a child of God and sinner? You have to believe it. And as well as that, you have to come, come, come ye to the waters, live, participate. You remember that beautiful history and the children of Israel in the wilderness. How that, whenever Moses smoked the rock, they needed the waters of life. How were they going to survive in the wilderness? How were they going to be preserved to the land of promise? How were they going to get the soul refreshed in such a place? And that terrible journey that they had to go through there in the wilderness, the rock was smitten and there came out of the rock waters. He caused the waters to run. They didn't trickle. They didn't go like a wee droplet. No, they run like waters, like this abundance of waters that is in our text tonight. He made them to run down like rivers, the Bible says, and that river followed them. It followed them in the wilderness and it provided for them all the waters of life that they needed. to make the promised land. So water is a symbol of life. It's a symbol of satisfaction. It's a symbol of meeting all the essential life needs of the sinner. And that's all in Jesus Christ and in him alone. Do you remember that Feast of Tabernacles? which is appropriate to what we've been saying about the waters in the wilderness, and the ritual of that Feast of Tabernacles, part of it had very much in mind those waters in the wilderness. But in the last great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, and he said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This is what Christ does. Christ is the fulfillment of all the waters that flow through the Old Testament history and prophecies and types and pictures. It's Christ coming to the waters. There's cleansing for you. There's new life for you in Jesus Christ. Come, then, poor needy sinner. What does the Bible say? When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none. And without Christ, indeed, there is not any. And their tongue faileth for thirst. Ay, the Lord will hear them. I'll hear, I'll hear the prayer of the sinner. "'I'll hear the prayer of the poor and needy. "'I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. "'I will open rivers in high places "'and fountains in the midst of the valleys.'" That's a prophecy of gospel prosperity in these days and in the last days. In the highlands and in the mountains, amongst the people that inhabit the heights, he'll open rivers. And down in the valleys and in the coastal regions, he'll open fountains. That's what Jesus Christ does in the gospel. and make the wilderness a pool of water, he says, and dry land a spring of waters. Remember how in the very last book of the Bible, the very last chapter, nearly the last invitation, there was a pure river of water, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And then that great invitation, like the invitation in our verse tonight, The Spirit and the bride say, come. The Holy Ghost and the church says, come. Let him that hears it in faith echo the response. Let him say, come to. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him come. And let him take freely of the water of life. Freely. Without money and without price. You don't have to pay for it, sinner. You don't have to work for it. You don't have to torture yourself with Mr. Legality. You just have to come to the waters, to the fountain opened up for sin and uncleanness in Jesus Christ. The second symbol is wine. And wine, as we know, is the fruit of the vine. the fruit of the vine which is obtained by the crushing of the vine. And wine in the Bible is symbolic of joy, of the joy that God brings to sinners by the blood of Jesus Christ. It's the red wine here. It's the cup of blessings. So the Bible associates wine with gladness. This gladness is portrayed by the wine. He calls it the grass to grow for the cattle, herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." There's a gospel there as well, and that's Psalm 104. Do you remember how the Psalmist says, as we all do who are the people of God, that great 23rd Psalm, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with thy, my cup. Now in the Bible, the cup generally is a cup of wine. Just like at the Lord's table, the cup of blessing which we bless, it's the red wine. My cup runneth over. I'm glad I have rejoicing in Jesus Christ and the provision of the wine and the redness of the wine representative of the blood of Jesus Christ. The cup of blessing which we bless brings gladness. And so there is a symbol of joy and the gospel is symbolized as a joyful thing. Isn't that why it's called the good news? It's called the glad tidings. It's like a cup of wine to the soul. And Christians see that. And what is more, they feel that when they come especially to the Lord's table. Isn't it a joy for the saints to be around the Lord's table and to participate and to receive the cup of blessing? Sinner, the gospel brings joy and gladness. that brings a fullness of gladness even more lasting than wine. Of course, wine is only a faint picture. It has its limitations, as we know. The people can overindulge and become drunken in wine and behave foolishly, but it's not that aspect of it that is set forth in the limitation of that metaphor. You can be addicted to the gospel and never behave foolishly. All the wiser. You can drink abundantly. It's sweet. The gospel is sweet. The gospel brings joy and gladness. And it does it in a way of complete purity and complete power in the soul. of a man. It brings true consolation, true comfort. It brings true spiritual uplifting. It sets the sinner on his path rejoicing, just like wine makes a man forget his miseries. For that moment, the gospel takes away all the miseries of the sinner, all the miseries of a conscience that's been greatly disturbed. The power of the gospel to reach down into the heart, into the conscience of a man, to make a man be justified and reconciled with God, and to be at peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ. It makes the lame man to leap. It makes the leper to hug, to hug his fellow man, as he's never been able to do before. It brings great gladness. It's good news. It's for the broken. It's for the sad. It's for the humble. It's for those who feel their sinfulness and their misery. It's for those who cannot lift up their head in the shame. It's for those who beat upon their breasts and are broken. There's good news for you. Jesus Christ can make you glad. even as he can make you clean. We have a great Savior, most gracious. Sinner, you're miserable to me. Why don't you admit it? Why don't you confess it? Why don't you tell the Lord? And why don't you come, take the wine, buy the wine, without money, without price, come. Come and buy it. Come and take it. And so we declare on to you the glad tidings of the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ. And so it causes joy unspeakable and full of glory. And why? Why does it bring joy? Well, the redness of the wine tells us, doesn't it? It's the blood. It's the source of the joy. Wine is from the crushed grape. It has gone through the wine press, crushed and blood red. And a very important exercise of the children of God when they participate at the Lord's table is before you drink is to look into the cup. Just pause and look into the cup and see the redness. actually see the redness. That's the thing about the Lord's Supper. You handle, you taste, you see. All of your senses are being used by the Holy Spirit to bring you to an assurance of salvation. And one of the things you do is you look into the cup and you see the redness. The blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so it reminds us of the Savior who went into the winepress for us, the one who was crushed in Gethsemane, and out of whose, even his sweat pours, there came forth blood. And when he was pierced, there came forth water and the blood. Both these things here, the water and the blood. And so the cup symbolizes the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ. And that brings us joy. His sufferings are over, you see. We don't delight in the agony. We don't focus and concentrate on all the detail. Even the Bible doesn't. It's very careful and reverent. We can never know. but he's risen and he lives and we are reminded it is by the sharing of the blood that he's brought us the joy and the gladness because his blood washes us from all sin. And so we're glad tonight of the provision that brings joy. And so taste and see, sinner, coming by even this night. Milk is the third emblem. This symbol's the gospel too, you know. We read in the word of God that it shall come to pass in that day, and that's a gospel day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine and the hills shall flow with milk. This is imagery of the gospel, of this gospel age that has been brought in by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, an age when the new wine is flowing down and the milk is flowing like rivers. And all Judah shall flow with waters and the fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord. Milk. Milk, you know, is nourishing food. It's tasty. It provides nourishment, strength for the body. It's very important as a source of growth. But of course, it's a food supply that is unique because it's easy to take. You don't need teeth. You don't need a strong, mature adult stomach. It is, of course, the milk that we were first fed on. No chewing, no tough bits, no hard hardness in digestion. It's the basic food for babies. The first food we ever received, easy to the palate. Ah, the gospel is simple. The gospel is simple for sinners. The gospel is easy to digest. It's sufficient as milk. The fundamentals, the simple truths, the just