It's good to see you this morning,
and again, we thank the Lord for the privilege to be able
to come together and to hear His Word. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Revelation 22, verse 17. Revelation 22, 17. The Scriptures say, And the Spirit
and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Let's pray together. Our Father, this morning we thank You for
the glorious privilege that we have to assemble ourselves together
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to have this time
to lift our hearts in thankfulness and praise and adoration of You who are altogether lovely. We thank You for giving us a
heart that would desire to be here and to desire to hear Your
Word help us Teach us, we ask you for Christ's sake. Amen. The Lord Jesus Himself revealed in this book three times
prior to this passage one time after. And he said, I come quickly. Revelation 3.11, I come quickly,
hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. Hold, for you are being held. Jacob was held by the man, the Lord Himself. And the man, the Lord Himself,
said to Jacob, Let me go. And Jacob said, I can't. Revelation 22.7 says, I come
quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Revelation 22.12, I come quickly. My reward is with me to give
every man according as his work shall be. When He comes, He's going to
come in judgment. For and against. When a judge
makes a judgment, it's based on evidence. For or against. Let's turn back a few pages to
Revelation 20, verse 11. And I saw a great white throne
in him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away. And there was found no place
for them, no place to hide, no place to run. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened,
and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them. And they were judged, every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. This judgment could be before
we take our next breath. The Lord said, I'll come as a
thief in the night, in a moment, the twinkling of
an eye. We just assume that we're going
to finish this message. We may not. And James 4 verse 4 says, Whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow, but what is your
life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and
vanisheth away. The Lord said, I come quickly. I come soon. But you know, not
all will welcome the second coming of Christ. Turn back to Revelation
6. Revelation 6 verse 14, And the
heaven departed as a scroll when it rolled together, and every
mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the
kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the
chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman, every
free man hid themselves in the dens and the rocks and the mountains
and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us. Hide us from
the face of Him that sitteth on the throne from the wrath
of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath is come, and who
shall be able to stand?" But there are some that are blessed
to look for His appearing. Luke 12 verse 37 says, "...Blessed
are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching."
Verse 40 says, "...be ye therefore ready also for the Son of Man
cometh at an hour when ye think not." For those that are everlastingly
loved by Almighty God, for those that the Father has chosen in
Christ, for those who are surely and
effectually called out by the Spirit of God, for those that have had their
robe of righteousness imputed to them from Christ Himself,
for those that love Him, for those that have a new heart to
love Him, for those that Know Him as being real. Real. Not just a doctrine. He's real. He's alive. To those who are
of the concision, Paul says, which worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, For those who by faith know that
their guilt has been put away, that Almighty God by His Spirit
has taught them that they are the sons of God, Paul says, I
know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. To those that know that that
day is going to be the open declaration of a marriage that has everlastingly
been established, to them, they say, back in Revelation
22, 17, in response to the Lord saying,
I come quickly, And the Spirit and the bride
say, Come. Come, Lord. To those that have
been by the Spirit of God taught,
to those that the Spirit of God indwells, the Spirit within the
bride says, Come. Come, Lord, in Your glory. Come in your majesty, come in
your honor. Come that we might behold your
glory. Come that we might not see you anymore by faith, but
that we might see you by sight. That we might be where you are.
That we might hear your voice. and be like You. Come. Lord, You said You'd come quickly.
You've said that, Lord. You've promised that. You've
given us a heart. We're pilgrims and strangers
in this world. This world's not our home. The
frailties of this life, Lord, we've never suffered as You suffered. We've never suffered with an
open knowledge of what was coming. Lord, You everlastingly knew
what you would suffer. You came into this world knowing
that you would suffer under the wrath of God, and there's never
been wrath toward us. Lord, every trial that we've
ever gone through has been absolutely tempered with mercy and compassion. You've never dealt with us in
wrath. You've never sent anything to us to punish us. It's always been loving chastisement. That which we suffer, we've always had others that
we've looked at. It's always softened the thoughts
of what we go through. We're going through something,
an illness, and someone else is going through it, or something
like it, and we find some comfort in that. We're not suffering
by ourselves. Lord, You tread the winepress
of God's wrath alone. No one ever suffered as You did.
You put away our guilt by your own blood. Come quickly. And let him that heareth say,
Come. Now, these are the words of the
bride. These are the words of the bride.
The Spirit and the bride say, Come. The Spirit of God that
has taught the bride. The Spirit of God that indwells
the bride, the Spirit of God that leads the bride, the Spirit
of God that has taught the bride of the glory of Christ's second
coming. The Spirit and the bride say
in response to His Word, I come quickly, come. And the bride continues to say,
and let him that Say, come. That's the character. The bride
and him that heareth is the same person. Those that have been
given ears to hear by faith. Listen to this. Let me just read
this out of Song of Solomon 5.2, talking about he that heareth,
I sleep. But my heart waketh. I'm drowsy. I know I am. I know that something
of the drowsiness of my nature. I've got a spirit about me that's
just so, you know, my mind wanders just like yours is right now. I sleep, but my heart waketh.
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to
me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is
filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night." I know something about the sleepiness
of this old man, but my heart's awake. I do hear his voice. Let him that heareth say, come, all that the Shepherd by His
Spirit has given ears to, that hear the voice, the voice that
speaks through the Scriptures, the voice of Him that they follow
long after, they desire after, all that hear, saying to Him,
Come. And let him that is a thirst
come. The bride continues to speak.
The bride says to him, now I want to show you something and then
I'll just make a statement. I'll let it go. I want you to
notice it says in the Spirit and the bride say, you see that
word come? capitalized. And let him that
heareth say, capitalized. And let him that is a thirst
come. You see, it's in lowercase. Those
are the same words. There is no difference. There
is no difference in those words. I looked them up. And I do not
speak decidedly on this statement. I'm just telling you what I think.
I have nothing to back this up except what I truly think. These two words come. Same word. Same word. Same number and strong
concordance. Same word. No difference. It's who the words are directed
to. That's the only thing I can tell difference. The Spirit and
the Bride say unto Christ, And let him that heareth say,
Come. And then the bride says to others, And let him that is
athirst come." Now, this is one thing that I know. All that God Almighty has everlastingly
loved, they're going to come to Christ. All that the Father
has chosen in the Son in electing grace out of every nation and
kindred and tribe and tongue, every one that Almighty God has
affectionately set His heart upon and loved them with an everlasting
love. All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, shall come to me. The possibility of one that the
Lord has everlastingly loved and called in Christ, chosen
in Christ, redeemed by Christ, and the Spirit of God will call
affectionately to, the possibility of them not coming is zero. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. There is absolutely
no possibility, and only those that the Father gave to Christ
shall come to Him. The possibility of one coming
that Almighty God has not effectually called, the possibility is none. The possibility of them coming
without God Almighty effectually calling them is zero. No man
can come. Has to do with ability. No man can come. That's my father drawing. Salvation
is by the grace of God. But I don't know who the elect
are. Some sit for years and sit under
the gospel and hear the words of Zion and they have no apparent
love for Christ. No apparent interest in the Gospel. Look like tares. You want us to jerk them up?
Kick them out? No. Just leave them alone. Leave them alone. In that day, I'll separate them. They may be one of the sheep.
There may be one that in due season when God's pleased, peradventure,
the Lord may call them out. He may call them out of darkness
when I thought there was absolutely no hope that God would call them
out. I don't know who the sheep are.
I know they're coming. If there are sheep, they're coming.
So what do I do? I say, Let him that is a thirst
come." Is there anybody that's thirsty? But thirsty for what? Matthew
5, 6, "...blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness." A righteousness that the Spirit
of God reveals to them that they can't produce. The righteousness
of Christ. Is there anybody that thirsts
after Christ's righteousness? Does anybody have a thirst to
desire to stand before God Almighty robed only in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Is there anybody that has a thirst
to not look anymore that has no confidence in the flesh anymore? Is there anybody that does not
want to stand before God and plead what they have done or
what they have accomplished or what they've accepted? Is there
anybody that wants to say, I don't desire any longer to
stand before God and plead my own righteousness? Is there anybody
that's thirsty? Then come. You come to Him. The bride says to the Lord, Lord,
You say You're coming. Come. Come. Lord, come. And when You come
in judgment, we have the confidence of knowing that the Lord Jesus
Christ has put away our guilt. Lord, nothing to fear. This whole
world is going to stand before You and the books are going to
be opened. But Lord, having the confidence
of knowing that based upon Your Word, You said that the evidence
of life, the evidence of hope is that the Gospel came to us,
not in word only, but in power and in much assurance. Lord, we look at each other right
now with corporal eyes, but to look into the eyes of Him who
has put away our guilt, the desire that we know something about,
we pray, Lord, teach us more of Yourself. Come. You're coming. I know You're
coming. Come. And while we beg you to come,
we say to others, if you thirst after Him, come.
If you thirst after Him, He's going to have to make you thirsty. O God, Thou art my God. David
said in Psalm 63, One early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth
for Thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
a dry and thirsty land where no water is." Lord, this is a
desert here. There's no water in this place,
but you're the fountain. For all made thirsty. That's
what I know. There is a fountain. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Is there
anybody thirsty? Is there anybody that's thirsty
more than just wanting to come to church, sit down, spend about
an hour, hour and a half? Is there anybody that thirsts
to hear of Him. Is anybody thirsty to truly have
the Spirit of God, take the words of God and make those words alive? Anybody thirsty? And who are these that are athirst? They are His sheep. They are
His people made willing in the day of His power, willing to come, willing to be
thirsty. I want to be thirsty. Lord, quench my thirst by You,
but Lord, never allow me to not be thirsty again. Always make
me thirsty. I want to be thirsty. In that last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. Come, Lord Jesus. Let him that
hear us say, Come. Come, blessed Savior. And all
around us, let him that is a thirst come. Come to him. What is it
to come to Christ? It is to trust Him. Trust Him. Looking away from myself, looking
away from this is what it is. I've said before, believer acts
like a believer. This is what I, you know, a believer
is one that absolutely. I'm telling you, there's people
in this world, religious folks that walk around, they think
walking six inches above the ground and they have a kind of
a pious way of speaking and they, you know, it's always brother,
you know, I tell you, there's nothing that is more comforting
than to watch and to listen to a believer. This is how a believer
acts. They always behold their need of Him. And they absolutely
have no confidence in anything that they've ever done. They truly realize, if He leaves
me alone, I am on the brink of disaster. I'm as a bran plucked out of
the fire. I was so close to being gone
in myself. Every time I hear, I hear with
such a divided heart, I'm so sick of
myself. As Newton said, When I look within,
all is dark and wild. Can I deem myself a child? You mean this is what a believer
looks like? Yes, it is. They are all beggars. They never elevated in their
own mind above a beggar. Old blind Barnabas. Jesus, our
Son of David, have mercy on me." Lord, I feel that I look within
and I think, how is it that You would have mercy on one such
as I am? He that is a thirst, come. And whosoever will, Let him take
the water of life freely. Whosoever will what? Whosoever
will come to Christ as a thirsty beggar. Whosoever will come with nothing
to offer Him and in absolute need. I'm telling you, the moment you
try to qualify yourself before Almighty God, By something you've
done, I'm telling you, you are admitting your absolute hopelessness. Whosoever will come in need of
a righteousness that you cannot provide, Lord, I don't have anything
to offer you. I've never done anything. I've
never prayed as I ought. I've never read as I ought. I've
never listened as I ought. Lord, if you don't save me, I'm
not going to make it. Take a little baby, brand new
born baby. Now, what does that little baby
do? What is that little baby able to do? Do you know what
all of that baby's hope is? That that mother, that dad is
going to take care of that baby. Well, you know, but that baby,
no, that baby didn't do anything. That baby cried. That baby messed
itself. That baby wants to, has to be
fed. It's got to be cuddled. It's got to be held. It's got
to be, You put that baby down somewhere and leave it alone,
and that baby will die. Set that baby out there in that
snow, that baby's dead. What's it going to take? It's
going to take the care of one that's stronger than that baby.
Whosoever will. Let him take the water of life
freely. Without money, without price,
you can't Purchase it. You can't earn it. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that not of yourself. It
is the gift of God. Not of works. Not of works. Not of works. Lest any man should
boast. All of the boasting is going
to be in Him who is altogether worthy. The Spirit and the Bride
say, Come. Let him that heareth say, Come. Let him that is athirst say,
Come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. For Christ's sake,