Isaiah 55:2-3 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? listen diligently to me… I. THE REASON FOR THE EXHORTATION IN OUR TEXT: "Eat. ye that which" is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 1. The exceeding bountifulness of God in Christ Jesus. The invitation here given IS in accordance with the character of the God who gives it. 2. The abundant provision that He has made for the supply of our needs. If any of you prepared a feast, it would be very grievous to you if your friends did not eat what you had provided. It is the very heart of God speaking in these words, and it is the provision of God's grace claiming to be consumed. — God's love pleading that what He has provided so bountifully should not be lost or wasted. 3. The Divine desire for fellowship. Almost always, when fellowship is spoken of in relation to God, expressions which concern eating are used. Fellowship begins, as it were, at the passover, at the eating of the lamb. In the tabernacle in the wilderness, the offerings were not all burnt upon the altar; many of them were partaken of by both the offerer and the priest, and by God as represented by the devouring flame. So, when Jesus instituted that blessed memorial supper, "He said to His disciples, concerning the bread, "Take,. eat;" and, concerning the cup, "Drink ye all of it." When, in the Revelation, He said to the angel of the church in Laodicea, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." you know how He goes on to say, "If any man hear My voice, and open, the door, I will come-in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. This appears to be God's favourite image to express fellowship. 4. Our .exceeding great necessities. You must eat, so "eat ye that which is good." Your soul needs the best food, so "let your soul delight itself in fatness," in the fat and dainty morsels which the great God, who understands us even better than we understand ourselves, has so bountifully provided for us. 5. Our extreme foolishness. What a stupid animal man must be to need to be told to eat, and be urged to eat that which is good! The little lamb, in the meadow, has scarcely come into the world before it finds out where its mother's milk is, and very soon it begins to crop the tender herbage, and to find food for itself. Most creatures, by what we call instinct, discover their own natural food; but here is man, so foolish, so mad, so much more wild than the wild ass's colt, that he needs to be told to eat, spiritually. One part of human foolishness lies in the fact that we so often seek that which is not good for us, so that the Lord has to say to us, "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?" Man is described in Scripture as feeding upon ashes. It is not only that we are willing to eat that which is evil, but that we are unwilling to eat that which is good. Many persons will hear that which is good, and will even assent to our declaration that it is good; yet they do not eat it. What is spiritual eating? It is the inward reception of the truth of God into the soul. To hear the truth is, as it were, to see the bread. To think upon the truth is, as it were, to cut the bread, and put it on the plate. But this will never nourish any man; he must take the bread into his inward parts, and digest and assimilate it. There is this folly even about God's own children, that they do not eat that, which is good according. . to the lavish, inexhaustible fulness provided by God. Let your soul delight itself in fatness. How very few minutes in a day most of us spend in feeding our souls I 6. Our fears. There is many a child of God, who longs for spiritual food, but he is afraid that he would be guilty of presumption if he ate it; so, when there is a very fat piece that is just going into his mouth, he says, "No, that cannot be for me," and he draws back from it. Just look at the text: "Let your soul delight itself in fatness." II. THE BENEFITS OF OBEYING THE COMMAND OF THE TEXT. 1. The pleasure of it. "Let your soul delight itself in fatness. 2. The great preserving power of good spiritual food. It helps to keep us out of temptation. 3. Spiritual food comforts mourners. The analogy of this will be found in Nehemiah 8:9, 10. It was of this that Mary sang, "He hath filled the hungry with good things." 4. It revives the fainting ones. 5. Spiritual eating is also a great strength for service. 6. It fits us to feed others. Ezekiel had to go and speak to the house of Israel in the name of the Lord; do you remember his preparation for that task, — the college to which he went? He saw a hand, which held a roll of a book, and a voice said to him, "Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel." He cannel; preach till he has eaten the roll. I believe that, in the courts of law, young men have to eat themselves into the profession; beside all other qualifications, they must eat a certain number of dinners before they can be fully certificated. It is a strange regulation with regard to earthly courts, hut it is a right and proper thing in the courts of heaven. 7. It is the best mode of fellowship. Feed on the Word of God; especially feed on the Incarnate Word; otherwise, you cannot possibly enter into true spiritual fellowship with God. 8. Feeding upon the Word is the best way of promoting praise. You know how the 103rd Psalm begins: "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Then, a little further on, the psalmist says, "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." A hungry soul cannot sing well; the soul that best sings the praises of God is the one that has delighted itself with the fatness of the Divine provision. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. |
    |