A million of money for a moment of time

Isaiah 55: 1, 2; 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 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.

Psalm 145: 16; Thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

John 7: 37–39; In the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive; for [the] Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

You will see that I have in mind to say something about what will satisfy. Something that will secure abiding satisfaction, not something that satisfies for a time and then fails. The Lord says in chapter 4 of John, Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again; that is, there is no abiding satisfaction, no settlement, no security, no sense of what is permanent. It’s possible to get something that’s permanent, something that will never run out. So the prophet appeals to persons who weren’t doing that. He says, Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? There is no result, no abiding result, no yield. Temporary, temporary, something like what’s spoken of as the temporary pleasure of sin, temporary.

How brief, how brief are the pleasures of sin? How brief are they? What’s the longest time they can endure? The ache only gets greater, the ache of dissatisfaction, the nagging sense of being unsatisfied only gets stronger. He that drinks of this water shall thirst again, it’s bound to happen. Are you trying something that’s not satisfying? Satisfying temporarily, momentarily, just for a time, a week, a month, a year? Or have you got over to an order of things that’s permanent, abiding, lasting, enduring, resistant to every influence of danger, every influence that will spoil? It speaks in another place of he that earneth wages for a bag with holes; nothing permanent, nothing secure, nothing stable.

And this is the appeal in the prophet, the longings of this beautiful prophet over persons who were going after what wouldn’t satisfy. Can’t possibly yield. Some device, some plan you’ve got, some scheme, some dark well-laid scheme you’ve got hidden, known only to yourself perhaps. Something you’re working at, set your heart on, determined to go after, you’re determined to do it, you’ll surrender everything to get it. That’s what men do in this world, they’ll give everything to get their heart’s desire, they’ll let go of everything to gain their heart’s desire. When they get it, what is it? It’s labour for that which satisfieth not. What passing satisfaction there is, history records many instances of this very thing.

Somebody very rich is supposed to have said when they were dying—who denied God, refused every appeal, immensely wealthy—they’re supposed to have cried, A million of money for a moment of time. Couldn’t buy it. All this world’s wealth couldn’t buy one moment, couldn’t buy one moment of time. There is no place you can go to and buy time. It will run out, it will run out; think of how solemn that is. So I’d like to appeal to somebody, anybody, who may be dissatisfied, discontented, disgruntled, disappointed, because you haven’t got what will satisfy. You’ve been going after something that won’t satisfy, can’t yield pleasure, lasting pleasure. The only lasting pleasure can be found in peace towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and peace towards God.

Think of the priceless peace, think of the pricelessness of peace towards God, Therefore having peace towards God. You can have it, you can get it, it’s available, it’s preached, Jesus has come preaching peace to them that are nigh and to them that are afar off. It wouldn’t matter how remote you are, how distant, how aloof, how detached, how determined you are to stay that way. Peace is being preached, glad tidings of peace, peace towards God. Think of the wonder of having peace towards God, and boasting in the hope of the glory of God. Think of a person so free of the claims of sin, the bondage of sin, the bind of sin, that is, self-satisfaction, sin is self-satisfaction, it’s as simple as that. If you’re going in for something just to satisfy yourself, that’s sin. You say that’s severe, but it’s the truth. Whatever is not of faith is sin, there is no in-between, there is no middle ground, there is no neutral position; I’m quoting Holy Scripture, Whatever is not of faith is sin. Faith honours God, serves God, bows to God’s will, faith does. Faith reckons with God, repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

How solemn that is, sin is satisfying self, that’s all it is. It may be very complicated, it may be very illustrious looking, it may be very magnificent in its appeal for the time; but you’re satisfying yourself—it’s sin. And it can yield nothing but the temporary pleasures of sin. Moses had a judgment of it, think of that long ago, how long ago was Moses? What a wise man he was, esteeming the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Egypt in Moses’ day represents the greatness of the then known world. And he esteemed the reproach of the Christ greater riches. What a wise man, he had to do with God, he’d been taught of God. And so this prophet is appealing.

I just read the word in the Psalm to point to what somebody had found out. It’s a Psalm of David, I can’t go into the Psalm in detail, but how full he is of God. I will extol Thee, my God, O King, and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever. David has obtained perfect, complete and final satisfaction in his knowledge of God in Jesus, anticipatively. David didn’t live in the day of favour that we live in, but he anticipated it. He speaks of the blessedness, he anticipated the blessedness of a person unto whom God doesn’t reckon iniquity. The blessedness, think of the blessedness, would you like that blessedness? Come into the area of blessedness; Blessed is the man unto whom God doesn’t reckon sin, whose sin is covered, who has no iniquity, that’s blessed.

How can you get free of it? Get free of it by confession, bring it out, bring it up, bring it to the light. It’ll dissipate, it’ll dissolve in the presence of the light, your sin will vanish in the presence of the light. Satan works in the dark, men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. He that loves the truth loves light, he practises the truth and comes to the light. Come to the light tonight. Don’t have something dark, concealed, something that you’re planning, something that you’re desiring, something that you’re going after, in the dark, hidden, concealed.

Don’t go in for that, it can only yield death, the end of it is death. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. There is no hope for it. If you’re pursuing a line of self-satisfaction, it doesn’t matter who you are, how important you are, how successful you are; if you’re pursuing a line of self-satisfaction, it can only end one way—that’s death. The wages of sin is death. They’re full wages, that’s what beloved Mr. Percy Lyon stood up and preached once when there was conflict on over the wages, he says, No reduction in wages, the wages of sin is death. The act of favour, it’s God bestows it, it’s His beneficence, what we were speaking of the other night, His magnificent generosity, His extravagant generosity, act of favour of God, eternal life. Where? In Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, that’s what this word is in John 7. In the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any one thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He that believes on Me, he that believes on Me, that’s the point of satisfaction, to come to Christ in confidence, look to Him for everything. What He could say about Himself in this gospel, He says, The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life. Then He says in John 6, I am the living bread which has come down out of heaven; which I will give for the life of the world. Think of how broad, think of how magnificent God is in His outlook towards men and the world. Jesus has come in from God; what to do? To bring the life of God within the range of men, the life of heaven. Think of the peerlessness of peace and grandeur and glory and love and light and life, of heaven. Think of what heaven is. And Jesus says, I have brought that down within the range of man, within a position of proximity, you can have it right now. He that believes on Me, that means finds Me an object of confidence. Would you put your confidence in Jesus? You are going after something that you can’t get, and if you get it, it won’t satisfy. Would you put your confidence in Christ and know that He satisfiest the desire of every living thing?

That’s what the psalmist came to, Thou openest Thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing; that is, every impulse Godward is requited, satisfied, and there is perfect peace, tranquillity. A peerless peace will come into your soul, the peace of heaven will come into your soul, and you’ll know it, there is no mistake about it. It’s come within the range of many who have accepted Christ as Saviour, as Redeemer, as Creator, as Lover. Think of Jesus as a lover, think of what He will be to your soul. We were quoting that beautiful word in Romans 8 during the week to someone who rang in deep, deep distress; I said, I was just going over that word in Romans 8 to try and get to sleep, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Think of anything else you could that could separate you from the love of Christ, and it can’t do it.

Think of Jesus as a lover, Jesus, lover of my soul. Somebody understood it, somebody was gripped by it, and it’s possible for you to be gripped by it, and every dissatisfaction will go. You’ll find perfect peace and perfect satisfaction, and further than that, you will be a source of satisfaction for others. Instead of thinking only of self, in the selfishness of sin, you’ll be thinking of others in the grandeur of living water, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The person himself is the source of it, gained from Christ by the Spirit, that’s the glory of Christianity. It takes a man in want, in need, in destitution, and sets him up as a source of satisfaction for others. Do you want it? Will you have it? You can have it. For His name’s sake.

John Hales

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