Turn back to Revelation, chapter 22, verse 17 has my attention this
morning. Actually, the verse If you look
in verse 22, there's not one, is there? But
there is. I put verse 22 by the end. I wrote verse 22 by the end. That's the one that had my attention.
For days, I've been thinking about the end of the Revelation. And this whole book is a revelation.
Not just the book of Revelation, but the whole book is a revelation.
But I got stuck on verse 17. So maybe the Lord will give me,
maybe it was just for me. Sometimes I wake up in the wee
hours of the morning and a scripture will be on my mind and I'll preach
a whole sermon. I think I'll preach that. And
I get over to the study and I can't even remember it. The way it
was given to me, you know, laying there in bed. But there might
be a message in the end. Because there is an end. But
this morning, the message is this, come to Christ. Come to
Christ. That's the message. The Word
of God has much to say about coming to Christ. Everyone whom God saves, everyone
whom He saves comes to Christ. Jesus Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life of everyone whom God saves. The gospel does
not shut sinners out of heaven. You know that. It does not shut
sinners out of heaven. Sinners shut themselves out by
their unbelief and refusal to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, in Hebrews it tells us that those who did not enter
into the promised land did not enter in because of one reason.
One reason. Unbelief. They did not believe
God. I want you to listen to these
scriptures. In John 5.40, the Lord said this, And you will
not come to me that you might have life. You will not come. That's your problem. And over
in Matthew 22, verses 1 through 5, there's a king who gives a
marriage for his son. He has a marriage for his son.
And he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden
or called. called to the wedding. They were
invited, bidden, called, commanded to come. And it says, And they
would not come. They would not come. Again he
sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden are
called. Behold, I have prepared my dinner,
my oxen, and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready.
Come unto the marriage. But they made light of it. They
made light of it. The gospel call goes out and
people make light of it. And it says, "...they went their
ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise." And then
in Luke 14, listen here. In 16 it says, "...then said
he unto him, A certain man made a great supper..." You see, the
first one made a... a king made a marriage for his son. This
one made a great supper. "...and he called many to this
supper." and sent his servant at supper time to say to them
that were bidden, Come, come, for all things are now ready.
Don't bring anything, just come, for all things are ready. And
they all with one consent together began to make excuse. The first
said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must
needs go and see it. Who buys a piece of ground and
doesn't first see it? These are lame excuses, what
it was showing here. These are just lame excuses that
people make up. And then, listen, and another
said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I've got to go prove
them. Now, who does that? Who buys five yoke of oxen and
he doesn't know whether they're any good or not? I pray thee,
have me excused. And another said, I have married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And down in verse 24 of
Luke 14, he says this, For I say unto you, that none of those
men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. None of them that
were called, and they refused. God said, I called and you refused.
He said, they will not taste of my supper. But the message
of the gospel is this, It's this, come. Come. In verse 17, 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. Now in the first part of this
verse, it says, And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. and
let him that heareth say, Come." Who are they talking to? Who's
the Spirit and the Bride talking to? Well, first of all, the Spirit
and the Bride are speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
asking Him to come. They're asking Him to come. For
back in verse 12, He says, And behold, I come quickly. And the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
and the Bride, which is the church, are asking the Lord to come. The Spirit and the Bride and
Him that heareth, they want the Lord to come quickly. Let me
ask you a question. Do you want the Lord to come
now? Now. Do you really want Him to
come now? I can say with a clear conscience,
absolutely. Absolutely, I want the Lord to
come. I want him to come and I want
him to come quickly. Now the first thing that's on
our minds are those loved ones that are lost. Does he not know
that? Does he not know that? He knows
that. And so the Spirit and the Bride
say to the Lord Jesus Christ, Come quickly, come. Even so,
He says in verse 20, look in verse 20, He which testifieth
these things saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come,
Lord Jesus. Now, until He comes, until He
comes, the call goes out from the Spirit and the Bride, and
him that heareth, the call goes out to come. Come to Christ. Come to the Lamb of God. Come
to Him. Now listen to these scriptures.
In Isaiah 55.1, and this is throughout the whole Word of God, Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come. 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. Come, he says. Three times
in this verse, The command is this, Come. Come to me, he says. The Lord says, Come to me. Come
to me. Are you thirsty to know God?
Are you thirsty to be forgiven? To be righteous? He says, Come. Come. Listen, would you have
fellowship with God? Would you have fellowship with
the living God? He says, Come. He says, Come. In John 21.12,
listen to this. Jesus said to them, Come and
dine. Come and dine. He prepared for
His disciples a dinner there and He said to them, Come and
dine. Do you want life, eternal life? He says in Isaiah 55.3,
Incline your ear and come unto Me. Here and your soul shall
live. Do you want rest? Then come. In Matthew 11, 28, He says, Come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Come to Me. It's so free, it's
so wide open. He says, Come to Me. Come to
Me. All that we need is in Christ. He says, Come to Me. And let
him that heareth say, Come. Not only say, come to Christ,
Lord Jesus, come, but to say to those to whom He witnesses
to come to Christ. Spurgeon said, we ought to tell
the people on the street to come, the people at home to come, everyone
we meet, we need to say, come to Christ. We need to tell them
to come to Christ. You remember that woman at the
well? That woman at the well, she said, after she had spoken
to the Lord, she went back to her city where she lived, and
she said, come, hear a man that told me everything I ever did.
Invite sinners to come and hear the gospel, to come and hear
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who knows, God might save them,
He saved you. He just might do that. And then
in verse 17, it says, and let him that is a thirst come. And
everyone that I read said, this is the Lord speaking now. This
is the Lord speaking through his church. Let him that is a
thirst come. This is not a natural thirst.
As the woman at the well thought, he said, whoever drinks of this
water shall never thirst again. She said, well, give me this
water. So I won't come here and draw water no more. He wasn't
speaking of the water of this life. Whatever you drink of this
life, you're going to thirst again. But he that drinks of
me, the water of life will never thirst again. This is a spiritual
thirst. Thank God. Thank God if you have
a real spiritual thirst. If God has given you a real interest,
a real interest in Christ, a real interest in salvation, a real
interest in being forgiven, a real interest in being made righteous,
Thank God for that, because you don't naturally have that, do
we? You and I don't naturally have that. I read to you what
we naturally have. You will not come to me that
you might have life. This thirst is a spiritual thirst.
He says in Matthew 5, 6, blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Here's
a promise. If you have this thirst, he's going to fill it. He's going
to fill it. And then this thirst is to know
Christ. 40 some years have gone by since
I believed the gospel, since I heard and believed the gospel.
I can honestly say, I can say that I want to know Christ more
now than I did then. I can say that. I want to know
Christ more now. I want to know more of what Paul
said. Paul said, Oh, that I might know the power of his resurrection. And what he's saying is that
I might know the power of his resurrected life in me as I live
out my life day by day. I want to know that. I want to
know that. Listen to Paul here in Philippians
3, 8 through 10. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. for whom I've suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done." I don't grieve over
them. I don't look back and see what I've lost. I used to have
a lot of money. I think Paul was a rich man one
time. Many think he was that rich young ruler that came to
the Lord and went away sorrowful because, and it says, the Lord
loved him. Many think that was the Apostle Paul as a young man.
I don't know. But Paul did not look back and grieve over anything
he gave up for Christ's sake. Nothing. You know, I think when
we come to die, I think when every believer, every believer
comes to that hour to die, I think this, and I think this for myself,
and I think this is so for most all of those who believe, I think
if there's any regrets, it's gonna be that I didn't seek the
Lord more than I did, that I didn't read more than I did, that I
didn't pray to him more than I did, that I didn't love him
more than I did. It's not gonna be because of something I've
lost materially. It's my relationship to Him that
I could have been in the service more. I could have read the Word
of God more that speaks of Him. I'm about to meet Him. I'm about
to meet Him. Oh, he says here, I have suffered
the loss of all things, not counting but done, that I may win Christ,
that I might have Him and be found in Him, not having mine
own righteousness, which at one time He did, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection, that I may know Him more and more. You cannot
exhaust the knowledge of Christ. He's the wisdom of God. You cannot
exhaust knowing Him. That I might know Him and the
power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings
be made conformable unto His death. It's the thirst to know
Him. Oh, that I might know Him. It's
the thirst to be reconciled to God, to be right with God, to
be one with God. I want to be one with God. You
want to be one with God? I want to walk with God like
Enoch did. Enoch walked by faith. It's a
thirst to have the reigning power of sin broken. I would to God
that I didn't sin anymore. I sin far more than I want to.
You know, if a believer, if every one of you who believe, if you
live like you wanted to, if you live like you wanted to, you
wouldn't sin again. You wouldn't sin again. I'm not
afraid of allowing and telling a believer to live like they
want to, because their want to is to live after Christ. If not,
there's a real serious problem there. I want to live after Him. I want
that power of sin broken. And then there's someone else
here mentioned. That's a thirst, but there's
someone else here. Whosoever will. Whosoever will. Now, the gate,
the door cannot be opened any wider than this. I can't open
it any wider. The Lord, the God of heaven and
earth cannot open the door any wider than whosoever will. It's
the same as in John 7, 37, in the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst,
whosoever thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whosoever will. You know, when the Lord convicts
of sin, when He's saving a sinner, you're in a state of, you're
really in a mess. You're really in a mess. You
don't even understand that what you have is a thirst. But I tell
you what you can understand is your desire and your willingness
to come to Christ. I want to be saved. Lord, save
me. Save my soul and make me whole. I'm not going to throw
away this scripture because of the misuse of it by false religion. I'm not going to do that. Whosoever
will, let him come. Let him come. Do you have the
will? Do you have the will, the desire
to come to Christ for salvation, for righteousness? Then come.
Come. I listened to four messages on
this portion of scripture, just yesterday. I didn't put this
together till yesterday, because I couldn't get settled on it.
But I listened to four messages, and I'm telling you what, those
four messages blessed my heart, and those four messages had me
coming to Christ. I said, Lord, if I've never come
to you before, let me come now. If I've never done it in sincerity,
if the past has not been truthful, let me do it now. I tell you,
those messages blessed my heart. I listened to four of them. One
by Henry, two by Henry I think it was, and two by Bruce. It was such a blessing. It was
a blessing. I have no problem with whosoever
will, because I know that thy people shall be willing. You
know, everyone whom God saves, He makes willing to be saved.
He makes them willing. He makes them willing to come
to Christ. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
all that the Father giveth me, I don't know why it's cast out.
Everyone whom God saves is willing to be saved, to come to Christ.
Whosoever will. I know we sang a song here the
other night. I think it was Praise the Savior that said, that all
may go in. And that was scratched out in
the book here. It said, that his may go in. And that's right.
And that's very Calvinistic. But if you want to make a Bible,
write it down there like this, that whosoever will may go in.
I'm not afraid to put that there. I'm not afraid to scratch that
out and put whosoever will may go in. That's the word of God. That's the word of God. that
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."
Listen to this, everyone who perishes does so because they
will not come to Christ. That's the truth. Christ said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. If anyone
perishes from this congregation, from sitting here this morning,
you're listening to this message, come to Christ, come to me. I
promise you this, you'll remember this message. You'll remember
this message. When the Lord said, come to me,
and you refused, and you would not. You would not. And notice He says to those who
come, let him take the water of life freely. What is this
water of life? Well, over in John 7, 37, 38,
listen, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto
Me, and drink. The water of life is a person.
He that believes on Me, This is what it is to come to
Christ, it's to believe on Him. It's not a physical move, it's
a spirit, it's the heart going out to Christ. He that believes on Me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. And I like what he says here,
let. Let Him come to me. Don't hinder
Him. Don't put a fence around Christ. Don't start with certain doctrines
one has to believe. We start with Christ, the Son
of God. That's who we believe. Listen, Philip started in Isaiah
53 with that eunuch, and you know what it says he did? It
says he preached Jesus. That's what it says. He preached
Jesus unto them. You get him right, and you'll
get the rest of it right. But you can get the other part
of it right. You can get the theology of it right and miss him and
perish. You can literally come to doctrine
and never come to Christ. But my soul, if you and I come
to Christ, we'll get the doctrine right. And not only will we get
it right, we'll love it. We will love it. And it'll have
life. You know, justification lives. It lives with me. It lives. You know why? Because I'm guilty. If you never know you're guilty,
justification doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything. But
boy, if you're guilty and you know it, being justified means
everything, doesn't it? Being cleared of all charges
means everything. It means everything. And listen, let him come and take the water
of life freely. No charge. How wide open is this? How wide
open is this? This water is free. Christ said,
Come and drink. If any man thirsts, let him come
and drink. I tell you, when I hear scriptures
like this, when I read scriptures like this, and sermons that I
heard preached like this, I drink again. I come to drink again,
Lord. Let me drink. Let me drink this
morning. When we come to Christ, it never
stops. You say, well, this sermon is not for me. I came to Christ
40 years ago. No. What about this morning? Who are you coming to? I didn't just come to this service
this morning. I'm coming to Christ this morning. And the Lord is
speaking this morning. The Spirit and the bride say,
come. Come and drink, and drink freely,
freely. And the word also, he says here,
take, take. It means to take in yourself.
This, you know, this word has the meaning of violence. Violence. You know, the scripture
says, the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. And the thought
to go with that is Jacob. Remember when he wrestled with
the angel, when he wrestled with the Lord? He said, I will not
let you go till you bless me. If you take someone that's in
the desert, and they've been there days, and they've not had
a drink of water in days, and you have a canteen in your hand,
and they get a hold of that canteen, you're not getting it back. they
will violently take it away from you. It's life. There's life
in that water. And a sinner, a sinner, when
he bidden to take Christ, to take the water of life, if by
the grace of God they are able to lay hold of Him, they are
not going to let go. It doesn't matter what trial
comes along, you're not going to let go. He's life. He's life. Take means to drink. It means to take in yourself.
It means to take and lay hold of and not let go. Listen here
in John 6, 54 and 56. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life. That's what it is to take. It's
by faith to eat his flesh and drink his blood. And I'll raise
him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood
is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. Take and drink, that's to
receive Christ in you, in you. Now, last of all, whosoever will this morning,
and I'm gonna tell you this, I'm one of them, Lord, I will. I will. I have a desire for you
to save me, cleanse me, teach me, instruct me, guide me, and
be my Lord, save me. Whosoever will, come. Come to Christ and take of the
water of life freely. Scott Richardson said this, and
I've never forgotten it. Why will you die? when the water
is so close by. Oh, sinner, why will you die
when the water is so close by? All right. We're going to go
downstairs after this and have a dinner.