Revelation chapter 22, the last book of the Bible. Our text is specifically the
end of verse 17, but I want us to begin by looking at the final
statements of our Lord's book. What He has chosen to be His
last words of the book. Those are important words, aren't
they? Last words. Now before we read them, I want
to point out that Revelation 1.1 says this, of Jesus Christ. This book inside the book is
about Jesus Christ. It's not about Armageddon. The world has no idea what the
book of the Revelation is about. And he says here in Revelation
22, Verse 13, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end, the first and the last. He makes Himself very clear,
doesn't He? Just in case we didn't catch
it, He says the same thing three different ways. He says, I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the
last. Verse 14 says, blessed are they
that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree
of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. Now
he began his book in Genesis with the tree of life. Right? That is the issue of the whole
book. There were two particular trees
in the garden. The tree of life which man had
access to. in the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, which God said, Don't touch it. Don't touch it. And when man touched it, he lost
access to the tree of life. Right? He sent man out of the
garden and put a flaming sword to guard the tree of life. Man
lost access to the tree of life. Our Lord began His book with
the tree of life, and He ends His book with the tree of life,
and everything in between is about how man can regain access
to this tree of life. That's what the whole book is
about. And that tree is Jesus Christ. So verse 14 says, Blessed are
they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers,
and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Verse
15 is talking about religion and false prophets. That's what
it's about. It says, for without our dogs,
and one of these days we'll study that and we'll go deep into it
and I'll show you that. I'll prove that to you. But without
our dogs, that's false preachers. They seem like they're man's
best friend, but they're not. And sorcerers, that's false preachers. And whoremongers, that's false
preachers, people who men who have gotten in the bed of religion.
And murderers, that's false preachers, murderers of men's souls. That's
what they are. It scares me to think of that
scripture that says, and I'm paraphrasing, but be careful
what you say. You got to give an account for men's souls. Whoever
stands up here and does this. It says idolaters, that's false
preachers, anybody who worships, anybody who hears a man and worships
and believes with him, anything other than the truth of God's
Word, that's an idolater, false religion. And whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie, a man who stands up and declares anything other
than the truth of God's Word is a liar and a false preacher
and they're not going to be in glory. All right, verse 16 says, I,
Jesus, have sent mine angel, and that means my messenger,
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root
and the offspring of David, and the bright and the morning star. He says, I've sent a messenger
to tell you, first of all, I am the root. I was way before David. What he's saying is, I'm God. And I'm the offspring of David.
I'm the son of David. I'm man. I'm God and I'm man. And he says, I'm the bright star. I'm that blazing high noon sun
that's just baking down on the earth. I'm the great judge of
this earth. and I'm the morning star. I'm
that beautiful sunrise, that redeemer, that comforter with
healing in his wings, the life giver. I'm all those things. Now verse 17 says, 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. The Spirit of God says to his
own, Come. And the bride of Christ says
to her own, Come. And let him that heareth right
now, today, say, Come. And let him that is athirst,
anybody who's thirsty, come. And whosoever will, whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. Verse 18 says, For I testify,
Jesus Christ testifies. He says, I'm the one testifying. Unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book. And if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life. and out of the holy
city, and from the things which are written in this book. He
which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. That's what the whole book
is about, isn't it? That's what the whole book is
about. Life and death is the issue of
this book. Life and death. The words he
has written in this book are the standard. They're the line
drawn in the sand. And he says, if any man adds
anything to these words, Or if any man takes anything away from
the words of this book, it's death for that man. Death for
that man. So I want to very carefully,
very, very carefully, carefully, carefully read verse 17, our
text. It says, 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. Whosoever will. Whosoever will. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely, period. You see that period after that
word freely? Period. I don't want to add one
of my own words to that. Not one. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. I want to say that on the radio.
I want to say that to these streets, to this town, to this community. And I don't want to add one of
my own words to that. But, I also don't want to leave out
one of God's words concerning this verse. So let's look at what the Lord
God has to say about this verse, Revelation 22, 17. Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. Our title and
our subject is whosoever will. Do you know what the word whosoever
means? It means our gospel doesn't exclude
anybody. It doesn't. That was a revelation the first time I got a hold of
that. There's nobody that this gospel
is not for. Well, I thought only God's elect
would be saved. That's right. Only God's elect
will. But whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Well, y'all sound like some kind
of club over there that nobody else is allowed in on. No, no,
no. Our Lord said, preach this gospel
to all the world, every creature. This gospel is for male and it's
for female. This gospel is for old and young. Red, yellow, black, white. The rich, the poor. The wise,
the simple. This gospel is even for sinners. Whosoever. I can't remember what queen it
was, but there was some queen somewhere sometime that said
this. I am so thankful for the letter M. I'm just so thankful for the
letter M. She said, the Lord didn't say
not any noble are called. He said, not many. So she said,
there's hope for me. Not many, whosoever. A man walked
into his pastor's study one time years and years ago, and he said, pastor, did you
hear about so and so? And the pastor said, no, I didn't,
what is it? He said, the Lord saved that man. He said, really? Yeah, the Lord
saved him. That's wonderful. The man said,
I'll never despair of anybody since the Lord saved him. And the pastor said, I'll never
despair of anybody since the Lord saved me. Anybody, anybody,
whosoever, whosoever will. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
21. Matthew 21, look at verse 44. It says, And whosoever shall
fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall
it will grind him to powder. The only hope I have of being
accepted into glory, allowed into heaven. The only hope I
have is if the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the chief cornerstone,
will break my hard stony heart. That's the only hope I have.
Well, it says right here in verse 44, Whosoever shall fall on this
stone for mercy, shall be broken. Shall be broken. Whosoever. Alright, now turn over to John
chapter 3. John chapter 3, look at verse
14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Does that mean everybody's going
to be saved? No. Look at verse 18. He that believeth
on him is not condemned. No condemnation. But he that
believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten son of God. Whoever does not
believe is condemned already. But here's His Word and I don't
want to add anything to it and I don't want to take anything
from it. Whosoever believeth in Him will not perish and will
have eternal life. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 and look at verse
21. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved. Now do you think there's a chance
that He didn't mean what He just wrote? You think there's a chance He
didn't mean what He just wrote? Let me ask you this. Have you
done anything more for salvation than just call on the name of
the Lord? Have you added any work to that? Have you done anything more than
only call on the name of the Lord? That's it. Our Lord does
not write with guile. He doesn't write with trickery.
Well, you know, He preached in parables. Yes, that's right. And His parables told exactly
what He meant. He said exactly what He meant
in an earthly way. He means everything He says.
Now, if I don't understand what He says, that's my problem. But He means everything He says.
These are His words. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. All right now, one more. 1 John
chapter 4. 1 John, right before Revelation,
chapter 4. First John 4, look at verse 15. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. That's the truth. That's the
truth. Whether I fully understand what
He means by that or not, that is the truth. Whosoever shall
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in
God. That is the truth. Now, let's
continue with this truth, okay? Our text in Revelation 22 says,
Whosoever will. Whosoever will. Whosoever will. A person's will. It's the beginning of his actions. A person's will. It's the root
of his actions, right? A person's will. It determines
what a person is going to do or not going to do. A person's
will. If a person is disciplined and
can control himself and can restrain himself, we say he has willpower. I'm not going to eat that, you
know. Boy, you have willpower. If a person is hard-headed and
stubborn as a mule and wants everything done their way, we
say, boy, he's strong-willed. That is one strong-willed kid
right there, I can tell you that. Our will is our nature. It's who we are. It's who we
are. All right, now look at a sheep
or bank road. Drive over there. Exchange place. They got some sheep over there. Those sheep are happy to be in
that pen. They're not trying to fight their way out. They're
tame. Right? You can pet them. You can walk up and pet them.
They'll eat grass. When the shepherd comes and calls
their name, they'll come. Look at a wolf. Not content to
be in a pen. Not tame. He's wild. He will
not be petted. He will not eat grass. He'll
hear the call, but He will not come. Our will is our nature. It's who we are. Alright, now
let's look at the truth about our will. Go to John 5. John chapter 5. John chapter 5 and look at verse
40. You will not come to me that
you might have life. If you would, you would have
life. but you will not come to me that you might have life.
What? Yes, I will. What do you mean I won't come? Now listen to this. It is not mental inability that
keeps a person from coming to Christ. Now think about this. Think about
this. A person can study this Bible just like he can study
any other book, learn the stories, stand up and preach them, right? We can, anybody can, pray to
God just as easily as we can curse His name. Same thing. We can do either or. Now listen to this. We can believe
that Jesus Christ died on the cross just as easily as we can
believe Columbus discovered America. I was not there when Columbus
discovered America. Do I believe it? Yes. Why do
I believe it? Somebody wrote it in a book.
I read it in a book and I believed it. You believe Jesus Christ
died on the cross? Yes. They believe it. Man's inability to savingly come
to Christ is not in his body or in his mind. It's in his nature. Does that make sense? It's in His nature. When Adam
fell, I fell. My will fell. My nature fell. And now, here's where I am. My
flesh is so depraved, it's so corrupt, I, by nature, love and
crave everything that is contrary to God. That's just the truth. And it spills over into everything
that we are By nature. We went to get a hamburger yesterday
and I had a choice. I could either get French fries
or a cup of soup. You know what I chose? French
fries. I crave them. I don't want vegetables. Does that make sense? He says right here in John 5
verse 40, ìYou will not come to Me that you might have life.î
That's not true. I'll come. So now I'm calling
God a liar because His Word says I will not. Right? Look at verse
43. But I know you that you have
not the love of God in you. Look at verse 44. I'm come in
my Father's name and you receive me not. You receive Me not. You do not
honor the Son as God said to honor the Son. You don't receive
Me as God Himself, the very God. And He said you don't believe
the Word of God. Look at verse 46. Had you believed Moses, you
would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you believe
not his writings, how shall you believe My words? You don't believe
the Word of God. These words are the line in the
sand. That's what they are. And the Word of God says, there's
a problem with my will. There's a problem with my will. Now, do I believe it? That's
what it says. We know no man can come, right? The nail in the coffin is this.
Even if he could, no man would. Whosoever will, nobody will. Nobody will. This message started
out so positive, didn't it? I was smiling the whole time.
And now it feels like I don't have any hope. That's what it
feels like. left to myself, I don't have
any hope." I won't. I won't. But do you know what
this Word says? I want you to turn with me to
Romans chapter 9. And I'll wrap this up quickly. Romans chapter 9. Look at verse, if you guys want
to see the gospel, here's the gospel, okay? So far, I'll have to recall my
mind, I don't think I've told you the gospel yet. You know
that? I told you the truth, but I don't think I've told you the
gospel yet. Alright, here it is. Romans 9 verse 16 says, So
then, It is not of him that willeth. You want me to read that again? It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. That is the gospel. Thanks be to God. I won't. I
got some good news. It's not of Him that willeth.
I can't. It's not of Him that runneth.
It's just of God that showeth mercy. That's it. He said, I
will that where I am they may be also. Turn over to Philippians
2. Philippians chapter 2. Look at verse 13. It is God which
worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. I won't and I can't, so He got
in here and He did it all for me. He made me want to. I want to. I do. I want to now. He made me willing
and He made me able. He said, Father, the work which
Thou gavest Me to do, I finished it. I took out their heart of
stone and I put in a heart of flesh. I put my spirit in them. I now live in them. And that has given them a brand
spanking new nature. A brand new nature. My nature. A nature that actually loves
God. We love God. We do. This old flesh doesn't, but there's
a new nature in here that loves God. He said, I am love and I
am God, and I'm in them. It's a nature that loves God's
Word. All that bad stuff about me,
John 5, I believe it and I love it because He said it. I love
Him and I love everything He says. It's a new nature that loves
God's glory. It's a nature that loves God's
people. And now, because of this new nature, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Father, because of my work, now
Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power. They weren't
before, but they are now. That's what this Word says. Nothing
added to it. Nothing taken from it. That's
just what this Word says. Now, here's the gospel truth.
Whosoever evidences His work, okay? Whosoever will. Whosoever wants Christ so badly. Whosoever needs Christ and Christ
alone. Whosoever will bow. Whosoever
acknowledges, I don't have a will. I don't have a say. I don't have
any ability. I don't have any right. Whosoever
acknowledges the fact that salvation is of His own will. And if I
receive it, I didn't do anything for it. I didn't do anything
to deserve it. It was just given to me, the
text says, freely, period. Right? Whosoever will bow to
His Word, let him take the water of life. Whosoever will have it to be
so has already tasted the water of life. Because if we will, it is God
who's already done the work in us. It's just an evidence. It's
just an evidence. Religion makes it a requirement,
but in reality, it's just an evidence. All of His chosen whosoevers
will. They all will. I hope that I'm
a whosoever. I want to be a whosoever. Don't
you? I pray the Lord will bless His
Word. Stand together with me.