All right, I'm gonna ask you
to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 22. Revelation
22. In verse 16 and 17 of this precious book. The Lord speaks to John. Then John speaks back. The scripture
says, verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto
you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David, and the bright morning star, and the spirit and the
bride say come, let him that heareth say come, let him that
is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water
of life freely. I'm going to stop right there.
I was going to read the next few verses, but I'm going to stop
right there. The Lord Jesus Christ, speaking
to John, said, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto
you of these things in the churches. Now here, the Son of God, He
who is exalted. He speaks as He bears the name
of the One who has humbled Himself, made Himself of no reputation,
the submissive servant of Jehovah, the Savior of His people. That's
I, Jesus. That's what He says to John. And here He is the Savior of
His people, who saved His people from the penalty of their sin
by shed blood at Calvary, who saves them from the power of
sin in regenerating grace by His Holy Spirit, and shall finally
save them from the very presence of their sin when He brings them
home to glory, to be with Him forever. I, Jesus, have sent
mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
Now, no doubt he's speaking of John, a messenger, that's what
he is, a messenger, that he was to testify unto the churches.
But John's surely here, but the Lord sends faithful messengers,
preachers, to testify of himself through all the places where
he's pleased to raise up the gospel. And concerning himself
being the root and the offspring, he said, I am the root and the
offspring of David. That's an amazing truth set forth. He said, I am the omnipotent
God who created David. I'm the root of David. You wanna
know where David came from? I made him, I made him. That's
what he said. I am the root and the offspring. I made him and I came from him
as man, flesh, through the lineage of David. I am the root and the
offspring of David and the bright and morning star. He's the one
who is the light of God's grace, glory, the express image of Jehovah,
the son of righteousness, prophesied through the prophet Malachi,
who said he would arise or appear as the everlasting light and
glory of God for those who fear his name, with healing in his
wings, spiritual healing in his wings. He's speaking to John. through John to the churches. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root
and the offspring of David and the bride and morning star. And
then he says, in the spirit and the bride say, come. And let
him that heareth say, come. And let him that is a thirst
come. And whosoever will, Let him take
the water of life freely. I've entitled this message today,
Whosoever Will. This verse of scripture, to all
men, all women, those of you sitting here, those that are
hearing this message as we're live streaming, everybody, everybody
in the world, This truth right here leaves every man without
excuse. He's without excuse before God. Man's got a desperate problem. Man is born alienated from God
by sin, by falling in the garden, by coming forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies conceived in sin. Isaiah 59 too says, but
your iniquities have separated between you and your God and
your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Now listen, the problem is not
with God. The problem is that man is in a dilemma. He doesn't want to come to Christ.
He doesn't want to. He will not come. That's what
the Lord said, John 5, 40. He said, and ye will not come. You will to not come. That's what you want to do. That's
what you want to do. I don't want to come. I don't
want to. You are determined, you have
chosen, you prefer to not come to me that you might have life. But also, he can't come. He's dead. You don't want to,
and you can't. John 6, 44. No man can come to
me except Oh, what a wonderful word, what a, except, one exception. The father which has sent me
draw him. Actually, to draw, to drag. God must draw a man, draw a woman
without that man's desire first. He won't come, he doesn't want
to come. He won't come, he can't come. God Almighty must give
a man, give a woman life. Make them willing in the day
of his power. Listen, man or woman dies having never come to Christ.
I'm gonna tell you what it is to come to Christ. You know,
we hear that all the time. Have you come to the Lord? Have
you come? And you just conjure up all kinds of things, you know.
Do you know what? Do you know what? I looked up
the word come. In that passage of Scripture, wait a minute,
you know what I mean? To return, to proceed from one place to
another. That makes sense, doesn't it?
Talking to somebody on the telephone, said, won't y'all come on over?
Won't y'all come? You know what that means? They're somewhere
and I'm somewhere else. And I'm telling them, why don't
you proceed over to where I am? Y'all come to the house, we'll
have a cup of coffee. We understand that word. But
when it comes to coming to the Lord, how? How? I get man's conception of
walking down an aisle. I understand why they say that.
It gives man or woman something to do. It makes them feel as
though that they've done something. Well, I came to the Lord, you
know. Or they're, as I've said before,
they come to an altar. Somehow they feel as though if
they kneel down at this, it's just a little old rise right
here in the wood with some carpet on it. Somehow they feel as though
they come to the preacher. Maybe they come and they shake
the preacher's hand. Talks to them a little bit, and
they, you know, he tell them, they get that something in their
mind, because for me to come somewhere, I got to move, I got
to do something. I got to get in a car, I got
to walk, I got to do something. But what is the heart or the
essence? Now listen, the spirit and the
bride say, come. Let him that heareth say, come.
Let him that is of the earth come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. What is it to come to Christ? What does it mean? Now listen,
listen. To believe. To believe. Isaiah 53, 1. Who hath believed? our report. Who has believed
the message, the gospel, and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Who has trusted and leaned themselves
upon? The one that we proclaim, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We proclaim in our doctrine,
we talk about the doctrines of grace. There's one doctrine. We preach Christ and him crucified. I understand the five points
and the difference in, you know, put an S on the end of it, it's
just doctrines. They're all the proclamation
of the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. John
3, 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He's come to Christ. He's come
by faith. By faith we move, by faith we
come, by faith we cast ourselves. And he that believeth not the
Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Possessing the grace and the gift of faith is a miracle of
God's mercy, compassion. 2 Thessalonians 3, 2 declares,
and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked
men, for all men have not faith." To believe is a miracle of God's
grace by faith. We believe God. We come to Christ. It's not that we've joined a
church or we've done some other kind of form of godliness. The
possession of true saving faith is the action of the operation
of the Spirit of God. 1 John 4 says this, Know ye the Spirit of God. Every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God. People read that and they say,
well, I believe He came in the flesh. What do you believe concerning
who came in the flesh? Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ, God, man, according to God's everlasting
covenant of grace, the angel, the messenger of the covenant,
the Messiah of God's people. When we say that Jesus Christ
came in the flesh, that includes everything this book says about
him. That includes whenever he said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. That's the Jesus Christ we're
talking about. Whenever we say that He's coming
to this world to live for and has a people that He's gonna
die for and He's got a people that He's gonna surely save,
that there's a remnant, He's got a remnant of people that
were given Him in electing grace before the foundation of the
world, that's who we're talking about. Not that just He came
into this world to make salvation possible. He doesn't make salvation
possible. He saves His people from their sins. He comes and
he get under the sound of this gospel, and the Spirit of God
does a work of grace and creates a brand new man, takes a heart
up, a stony heart out, a heart of rebellion and hardness against
God. It doesn't rule anymore. I've
said before, I'll say it again. I know that that old presence
of sin is still there, but the power of it's gone. power to
condemn. He removes that stony heart and
he gives them new heart, new spirit. There's a new man that's
created. So coming to Christ is to believe
on the one who is declared concerning the report. Who hath believed
our report? Who hath believed the gospel? That's who we're
talking about. Philippians 129, for unto you
It is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but
also to suffer for His sake. God's got a people. And I know
that all that the Father has given unto the Son, they're coming,
I know that. I don't know who they are, said
before, but they're coming. And the evidence of them being
one of the Lord's own is that they believe. But for those that
believe not, it does not negate or take away the responsibility
that they have. God has commanded all men to
repent. And so here we find in this precious passage of Scripture,
the Spirit in agreement, the Spirit of God says, The bride, those that God's called
out of darkness, say, come, let him that heareth, are you listening? Come, let him that is thirst,
are you thirsty? For what? Righteousness. Righteousness before God. Righteousness
before God accepted of God robed in the righteousness of Christ.
Let Him take of the water of life freely. I know that we're
often accused, y'all don't believe in whosoever will. Oh, I beg
your pardon, we do. Whosoever will. I just know the
truth that left leaving a man to himself. He won't, I know
that. Oh, but whosoever. God Almighty makes willing in
the day of His power. They're coming, they're coming.
Turn with me, I'm gonna wrap this up. Turn with me to Romans
chapter four. Talking about coming to Christ.
I'm telling you that, be surprised, I read a passage of scripture
like that and I go back, Mitch, I wanna be reminded. Tell me
what the scripture says about that. Listen to this. Romans four, verses one to three.
What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. But what saith the scripture?
Now listen to this. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham believed God just like
every man, every woman that believes God. This is how they believed.
God gave them a new heart. And they were willing. They were
willing to come. The Spirit says, come. You know, all Scripture is given
by inspiration of God. And it's profitable. for instruction,
righteousness, correction, that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished. The Spirit says, come. You hear these words right here?
Breathe these words. The Spirit of God, holy men of
God wrote as they were moved upon by the Spirit of God. The
Spirit says, come. Nobody's without excuse. The
spirit says, come. And the bride says, come, you
that have been regenerated by the grace of God. Do you not
long for those you know, you love, your family? Don't you
want them to come? Don't you want them to come to
Christ? I say, come. I'm telling you, I know God's
got a people. I know he's gonna save his people.
You know what I say? Come, come to him, cast yourself
upon him. Let him that heareth come, let
him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will. Take the water
of life freely, without a cause in you. I'm telling you, Isaiah
55, one, ho, everyone that thirsteth, Our problem is we're just born
not thirsty. Everyone that thirsts, come to
the waters. He that hath no money, come,
yea, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money, without price. I'm telling you right now. Whosoever
will. And you know everything I've
said concerning man's depravity. I'm telling you right now, Christ
is life. We're going to die. Come to Christ. You got breath? Did you just
take a breath? Come to Christ. I don't know
if I'm one of the elect. Do you want to come? I don't
know if I'm one of the remnant. Do you thirst for righteousness
before God? If you do, the Lord's done something
for you. Come. I pray God bless this to
our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's take about
a five minute break.