If you would open your Bibles
again to Revelation 22, Lord willing, this would be the last
message we bring in this study of this chapter of Revelation
22. I mentioned my text was verse 17
to Janet Monday night, and she said, I wondered, you passed
over that verse kind of quickly last Wednesday. She said, that's
a sweet verse. And I said, well, it is. And
I passed over it because I wanted to spend the whole Service on
this verse 17. The title of the message is simply,
Come. Come. And my goal in preaching
this message is twofold. First, it's my prayer that someone
who's never come to Christ before will come to Him tonight because
they hear the call of the gospel, which is come. Come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And my second goal is this, that
those of us who have already come to Christ will come to him
again. That's what a true believer is
always doing, coming to Christ. Peter said, to whom coming, that's
what you'll do, so be that you've tasted that the Lord is gracious.
You'll keep coming to him. In verse 16, we read that the
Lord sends his messengers with a message. He said, I, Jesus,
have sent my angel to testify unto you. these things in the
churches. The Lord sends his messengers
with a message. Well, what's the message? Well,
it's outlined for us here in verse 17. I have four points. The first one is this. There
is a cry. There's a message. There's a
cry. Second, to whom do we cry? Third, where are we called? And
fourth, what's the cost? What's this going to cost me?
All right, first of all, there is a cry. Verse 17, Revelation
22, The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth
say, Come. The cry is, Come. Now, who makes
this cry to come? Well, first, it's God the Holy
Spirit. He says, Come. Now, this is God's
message. God the Holy Spirit says, Come. Second, the bride says, come. Now, the bride is God's elect,
the bride is God's people, His elect that He has betrothed to
Himself. In Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul
gives instructions on marriage, and he tells us that marriage
is a picture of the union between Christ and His bride. He said,
this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and
the Church, and the Church is the bride. And the bride of Christ
says come. And third, him that heareth.
This is sinners who've heard the voice, heard the message
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a sinner who's heard always
says come. Now, this cry is twofold. Who is the spirit and the bride
and these hearers? Who are they talking to when
they say come? This cry is a response to what
the Lord Jesus said earlier. He said, behold, I come quickly.
And the Holy Spirit says, come. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Now,
the Holy Spirit is God. He's part of the Holy Trinity.
He's God. So, of course, he agrees with
the Son, with the message of the Son. The Son says, behold,
I come quickly. And the Holy Spirit agrees. He
says, come. in response to this statement
of our Lord Jesus. But the Holy Spirit is also the
comforter, isn't He? And He says, as the comforter
of God's people, come. He says that reminding us that
Christ is returning. He says, come. He says that to
comfort the hearts of God's people. The Spirit says, come. Second,
the bride, in response to this statement of our Lord that He
comes quickly, The bride says come. The desire of the bride
is to be with the bridegroom. She desires to be with her husband.
She said, Lord, you said you're coming soon. Please do. Please do. I can't wait to be
with you. Please come quickly. Nothing
would make me happier. Now, I'm confident of this. My
definition of quickly. And the Lord's definition of
quickly are many times two very different things. But even so,
let him come quickly. Whenever it is his will, whenever
it seems good to him, come. He knows when his purpose is
complete. I don't, but he does. So when
it's his purpose, when it's his time, when it's his will, that'll
be perfect with me. Come. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. And third, every sinner who's
heard the voice of Christ says come. The Lord Jesus Christ calls
his people by his grace, by his unspeakable, unmatchable grace. And from the moment we hear his
voice speaking thus in grace, calling us to himself, calling
us to repentance and faith in him, the cry of our heart is
come. Why wait? Jim Mattis told me
from the moment he believed, he kept thinking, Lord, call
him home that moment. He just couldn't imagine why
the delay. There's nothing left on this
earth, he said, that interested him. That's what this one who's
here says. Come. I can't wait. I can't wait
to be with you. Come. Don't leave me in this
world of sin any longer than you have to. Come. We can say
with the Apostle Paul, I have a desire to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better. Now, the Lord's given me something
to do here. It's better for your family that
you stay. It's better for others that you
stay. But it'd be far better for you. Those who hear the voice
of Christ, it's far better for you to depart and be with Christ.
So our cry is come. But notice who cries first. The Holy Spirit cries first.
And believers cry, come, because it's the Holy Spirit who's in
us. We cry with him. Our spirit bears witness with
his spirit. And we say, come, just as he does. So our cry is
to the Lord. He said, I come. We say, yes,
Lord, come, please do. But second, this cry is also
outward. It's a cry to men until Christ
does return. The Spirit and the Bride and
those who hear Christ will cry to men. And our cry to men is
come. There's not one word in the Bible
that would discourage any sinner from coming to Christ. There's
not a word in the Bible, you won't find one, that will discourage
a sinner from trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel cry
is come. Now the cry of the law is stay
hither. Don't come here. But the gospel
says come, because Christ has opened the door. When our Lord
died, that veil in the temple that hung there separating the
holy place from the holy of holies was rent in two from top to bottom,
showing us the way to God is now wide open through the sacrifice,
through the blood, through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The way is open. Come. Now this cry is a command. It is a command of the gospel.
You come to Christ. Come. But to the sinner. Doesn't this sound like a sweet
invitation? Come. The Holy Spirit does not
force a sinner to come to Christ. The Spirit makes sinners willing
in the day of His power. And they gladly come. They come
running. You can't keep them away. They
come running. Look at Matthew chapter 11. Spurgeon used an illustration
of a man standing outside of a courthouse that had a great
deal of interest. And a huge crowd was outside
the courthouse wanting to know what was going on inside the
courthouse. And the judge called this man's name to come for a
witness. And he started pressing his way, shoving his way through
that crowd. And they asked him, what do you
do? Why are you so insistent? He said, the judge called my
name. And I'm going. That's this. Come. Come insistently. And it's a command. But listen
to what our Lord says here. It sure sounds like a sweet invitation
if you're thirsty. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light." Now, to a sinner burdened down by the
guilt and the weight of sin, that's a command. But boy, it's
sweet, isn't it? Doesn't that sound like a sweet
invitation? The sweet command of the gospel
and God the Holy Spirit is come. Now, coming to Christ. is something
we will never do unless the Holy Spirit gives life and draws us
to Christ. That's why this is the cry of
the Holy Spirit. Because we will never come until
He gives life and draws us to Christ. We'll only be willing
in the day of His power. You'll never come to Christ until
you know you can't come. Now look over in John chapter
6. I'll show you that. you'll never come to Christ until
you realize that you can't come. In John chapter 6 verse 44, no man can come to me except
the Father which sent me drawing, and I'll raise him up at the
last day. It's written in the prophets, and they should be
all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
And hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Now, a dead
sinner has no ability. He cannot come to Christ. And if you've come to Christ,
you know this. You only came because the Holy
Spirit drew you. And how did He draw you? By revealing
Christ. And the moment He revealed Christ
to you, the moment you saw Him, you're like that fellow outside
the courthouse. You couldn't be kept away. You came to him
because there was nowhere else to go. This is the cry of the
Holy Spirit. Second, this is the bride called
the bride. Come. Now, the bride is the church. She's the lamb's wife and she
says come. And you know why? Because she's
experienced firsthand the blessing of salvation and she wants others
to know this joy of salvation in Christ alone. She wants them
to know that joy, too. God's church is not selfish. God's people are not selfish.
We want others to know the joy of knowing Christ. This is not
something we want to keep to ourselves and kind of, you know,
make fun of false religion, say, you know, we've got something
you don't know. We want them to know. We want
them to hear. We want them to come to Christ. The bride has experienced God's
grace and she wants others to experience God's grace too. Just
like the woman at the well, the Lord revealed himself to her.
What'd she do? She went down into town and told
those men, I found the Christ. Come with me and see. She told
them, come on, come with me and let's go see. Because this is
the call of the bride. from the very first moments of
conversion, this is the call of God's bride. Come to Christ. And third, those who hear, they
say come. Everyone who's heard Christ with
the ear of faith says to others, come. You come and hear for yourself. Come. We'll support the gospel
so God's preachers can preach the gospel. And when the opportunity
arises, We will tell others about Christ. Look over 1 Peter. I'll
show you this 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3 verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts and be ready always to give an answer. To every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that's in you with meekness
and fear, always be ready to tell others, come to Christ. Come to Him. And I don't know
of a better way to convince you to come to Christ than by telling
you who Christ is. Than by telling you how God saves
sinners freely by His grace. God saves sinners by and through
the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In eternity past,
God elected a people. He chose a sinful people who
He knew were no good. But He chose those people because
He loved them. And He gave them as a gift to
His Son to redeem those people. And Christ agreed to be their
surety. In the fullness of time, God's
own Son became a man. He was born in a manger. born
in a barn and laid in a manger. And he lived a life as a man. And as a man, he did absolutely
everything that God requires of sinful men. He did it all. He became a man to be their representative
and he completely and fully represented them by keeping the law in their
room and in their stead. And he gives that righteousness
freely to his people. And then he took his people,
he took their sin and his body on the tree and he bore all of
the punishment that their sin deserves. He gave his life to
set them free from all condemnation. And their sin has been forever
put away under the blood of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God saves sinners by sending
the Holy Spirit and he comes and he gives life to every dead
sinner for whom Christ died. He takes that blood of the sacrifice
of Christ. He applies it to their hearts
and they come. Now, the cry is come. Now, what is it to come to Christ? I tell all of us here tonight,
come to Christ. Well, what is it to come to Christ?
Well, you know, it's really simple. If you're going to come to Christ,
if you come anywhere, you leave one place and go to another place,
don't you? As we were getting ready to come
to church this evening, I had this illustration. We got these
two crazy dogs and I told them come. Now, I said it sweetly. I mean, you know, they're cute
little dogs. I sweetly, I said come. But now this was a command. You come. And you know what I
meant? You come from where you are to where I am. That's what
this is. Come. Leave where you are and
go to another place. You go to Christ. Coming to Christ
is to leave self and come to Christ. Coming to Christ is to
leave salvation by works and come to Christ for mercy and
for grace. Coming to Christ is a movement
of soul. It's not a movement of your body.
It's a movement of soul. Right where you sit. without
moving a muscle, come to Christ. Look over at John chapter 6.
Coming to Christ is believing Christ. John chapter 6 verse 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me.
See, coming and believing are the same thing. He that believeth
on me shall never thirst. Coming to Christ is believing
that Christ is the only Savior for your soul. And if you believe
Christ, you know what you'll do? You'll leave all other hope
and you'll come to Christ and completely and entirely depend
on Christ for all of your salvation. That's what you do if you believe
Christ. Believing Christ is coming to Christ. Look at Matthew chapter
8. Here's a good example of coming
to Christ. When you come to Christ, you
come like this leper came to Christ, without any other hope. Come as a mercy beggar without
any other hope. Matthew 8 verse 1. When he was
come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
And behold, there came a leper. and worshipped him. He worshipped
the Lord, for the Lord ever did anything for him. He worshipped
him just because he's worthy to be worshipped. Behold, there
came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. That's coming to Christ. Now
look over at page Matthew 9. Come to Christ confidently, like
this woman with the issue of blood came to Christ. Matthew
9, verse 20. And behold, a woman which was
diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, she came. She came behind him and touched
the hem of his garment. For she said within herself,
if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. The reason
I come to Christ is I know He can make me whole. Come confidently. Come to Christ like blind Bartimaeus. Blind Bartimaeus would not be
deterred. He heard Jesus was passing by
and he cried out and they told him, Bartimaeus, just be quiet.
You know, we've got some dignitaries here. Be quiet. We'll give you
a dollar when we come back. He wouldn't be hushed up. He
said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He wouldn't
be quiet. Come and keep coming and keep
coming and keep knocking and keep crying. Blind Bartimaeus
cried, and the Lord of Glory stood still and commanded him
to be brought to me. Come like Blind Bartimaeus. Come
like that dying thief. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. The cry is come. Now to whom
do we cry? Well, our text says, whosoever. We cry to whosoever. Whosoever
will, let him come. Now, I'm not afraid to tell all
men to come to Christ because all men are commanded to come
to Christ. Now, someone will ask, well, aren't you afraid
if you tell all men to come to Christ, some of God's elect,
there's someone who's not one of God's elect will come to Christ?
No, I'm not worried about that a bit. I'm no more afraid to
tell everyone who's listening to my voice, you come to Christ. I'm not afraid of that any more
than Ezekiel was afraid to stand for that valley of dry bones
and say, dry bones live. He was commanded to say, dry
bones live. And I'm commanded to tell sinners,
come to Christ. You cannot be doctrinally sound
if you're not what we typically call or typically define evangelical. You cannot be doctrinally sound
if you're not commanding men and women to come to Christ and
close with Christ. If we don't command men to come
to Christ, we're not doctrinally sound. God the Holy Spirit says,
whosoever will. Now, we better say the same thing
he does. He's God. We better say the same thing
he does. Now, whosoever is a mighty big word, isn't it? Whosoever
includes every kind of sin. Tall centers, short centers.
Old centers and young centers. Big centers and little centers.
Centers from every race, every age, and every creed. No one
is exempt from whosoever. And I'm so thankful for this
word, whosoever, because I can fit under that. Whosoever. The doctrine of election and
the doctrine of sovereign mercy in no way excludes anyone from
salvation. Brethren, we've already excluded
ourselves. God didn't have to do anything
to exclude us. We excluded our own selves with our sin. The
Gospel declares salvation to people who would be damned if
it wasn't for the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we command whosoever to come
to Him. Now this word whosoever, it doesn't
actually mean all men without exception. Look at it here in
this verse, verse 17, Revelation 22. 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. Whosoever is willing, that's
who comes to Christ. And the question I ask you this
evening is very simple. Are you willing? Are you willing? Are you willing to be saved on
God's terms? Are you willing to be saved?
Are you willing to have Christ save you by himself without any
of your works added to it? Are you willing to be justified
by the blood of Christ through faith in Christ alone? Are you
willing? If you are, then come. Christ himself welcomes you to
the water of life, if you're willing. But the problem is,
by nature, we will not come. Look over in John chapter five.
I read to you here a minute ago, we cannot come. Well, the problem
is twofold. We cannot come and we will not
come. By nature, men are not willing
to let Christ do all the same. By nature, we're not willing
to admit We need a Savior. Look here at John 5, verse 39.
Our Lord speaking to these Pharisees says, search the Scriptures.
You do search the Scriptures. This is what he means. For in
them you think you have eternal life. And there they which testify
of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. It's not that they didn't know
the Messiah was coming. It's not that they didn't know
there was a Savior coming. The problem is, is even though
they read of him, they will not come unto him that they might
have life. That's our problem. We will not come to Christ. You
know, people hear the truth of God's electing love and they
want to blame God for them being lost. And they say, well, it
would come, but what's the point? If God didn't choose me and I
get there, he's going to cast me out. God electing a people into salvation
is not the problem. The problem is, is that men by
nature are not willing to come to Christ. Men by nature are
not willing to be saved on God's terms. Men are not willing to
surrender to Christ. That's the problem. We're not
willing to surrender. And the commandment is come. Now back to my question. Are
you willing? You know, someone says, well,
I would come. But I don't understand. I don't understand how God could
choose a people, how God could elect a people unto salvation
and then turn around and say, whosoever will, let him come.
I don't understand that. I don't understand how Christ
is holy, yet he is made to be sin. I can't understand that.
I don't understand how God can save a person and that person
is saved. But there's still a sinner. How
can that be? I don't understand how a person
can have two opposite natures in one body. I don't understand
how a person could be nothing but sin, yet they've got a nature
that cannot sin. I don't understand the Bible.
The King James Version, I can't understand that. The problem is not your understanding. The problem is your will. God
didn't say, whosoever understands, come, did he? He said, whosoever
will, let him come. Someone says, well, I don't understand.
Someone else says, well, I would come, but I don't feel lost enough. I just don't feel like God could
be talking to me when he says, come. Careful now. God doesn't say, whosoever feels.
He said, whosoever will, let him come. Someone else says,
well, I would come, but I'm not worthy. I'm too great of a sinner
to come to Christ. Now that's just a perversion.
That's a perversion to say I'm too great of a sinner for Christ
to save. Now, you listen to me very carefully. It'll never be
your sin that sends you to hell. It'll never be your sin that
stops you from coming to Christ. The only thing that will stop
you from coming to Christ is your self-righteousness, which
makes you unwilling to have Christ do all the saving. That's the
problem. God doesn't say, whosoever is
worthy, come. He said, whosoever will, come. Someone else says, well, I would
come, but I can't. You just read to me, I can't
come. I would come, but I can't come.
God doesn't say, whosoever can, let him come. He said, whosoever
will, let him come. The question is, are you willing? Now look over John chapter 6.
Listen to what our Lord says about this. In John 6 verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Our call is to whosoever will,
come. And if you come, the Lord himself
said I won't cast you out. Now where are we called? Well,
verse 17 in our text says we're called to the water of life.
Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Now
God's provided the water. There's no need for you to die
of thirst. God's provided the water. If
you're still there in John, look at John chapter 7. This is the
cry of the Savior himself. In John chapter 7, verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come. Let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth. Now here he
is again, believing is coming to Christ. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. The cry of the gospel is come. Whosoever is willing, whosoever
is thirsty. Let him come. Now the way's narrow. There's just one way of salvation.
Now that, there's one way. There's one Savior. There's one
name. One way. The Lord Jesus Christ.
But that way is plenty wide enough for whosoever. That way is plenty
wide enough for whosoever's thirsty. That way is plenty wide enough
for whosoever will have the water of life freely. Sunday we looked
at the woman at the well. And we saw this, how desperately
we need this water. You know, when we're thirsty,
you know why we're thirsty? Because there's a lack of water
in our body. You know why a male thirsts for
this spiritual water, this water of life? Because there's no spiritual
life in him. He's dead. And that's why we're
born in this world with no life in us, no spiritual life. We're
born lost in a wilderness of sin. And that wilderness is a
desert where there's no water to be found. It never rains there. There's no water there to give
life or to sustain life. That's our nature. And by nature,
we're not just thirsty. We're also filthy, defiled by
sin. And the only water that can cleanse
us from our sin is this water of life. The blood and the water
that flowed from the wounded side of our Savior. And if we're
going to have this water, God must give it. He must give it. Look in Genesis 21. We can't
find this water. We can't see this water. We'll
never have this water unless God gives it. Unless He calls
us to the water, we'll never find it on our own. Genesis 21,
verse 14. This is when the Lord told Abraham,
put out Hagar initially. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and he
gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child,
and he sent her away. And she departed, and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the
bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And
she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as
it were a bow-shot. For she said, Let me not see
the death of the child. And she sat over against him,
and lifted up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice
of the lad, and the angel of God called Hagar out of heaven,
and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not, for God
hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the
lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, And
she went and filled the bottle with water and gave it to the
lads to drink. God heard the cry of a thirsty
sinner. And He opened her eyes. The well
was there the whole time. She just didn't see it. God had
to open her eyes. And when He opened her eyes,
He never begged her to go take the water. He'd have to tell
her how to get the water, how to drink the water, what to do
with the water, what do you got to do to be doctrinally correct
to drink the water. He just opened her eyes. She went and drank
the water. God's got to give us eyes to
see. And that's what we'll do if God ever gives us eyes to
see the Lord Jesus Christ. The call is come. Come and take. Take of the water of life freely. Now, taking is an act of faith. The command is take. Don't make. Take. Don't try to go dig a well
deep enough that you'll find the water of life. Just take
what God gives. You don't have to grind the flour
and bake the bread of life so you'll have the bread of life.
Just take what God gives. You don't have to go out and
pick cotton and run it through the gin and put it on a loom
and weave your own robe of righteousness. Just take the righteousness of
Christ that God freely gives. What did our Lord say the first
time we observed the Lord's table? He said, take and eat. This is my body broken for you.
That's an act of faith. You take and eat. Come and take
the water of life. Well, now, fourth, what's the
cost? What's this going to cost me?
And we're told in scripture, count the cost. So this is a
fair question. What's the cost? Well, there's
no cost for grace. It's free. It's free. That's
why I had Eric read Isaiah 55. It's free. It's no cost at all. The only condition is this. That
there are no conditions. The question is, are you willing? Are you willing to beg for salvation?
Are you willing to beg for mercy? Are you willing to have salvation?
Are you willing to take salvation as a free gift? It's something
that's a free gift that you didn't contribute one penny to. Will
you be saved freely by grace alone? Will you be saved by the
righteousness of another without any of your righteousness? You
got to count all of your righteousness, all those good things you think
you've done. You got to count them as done
and be saved by the righteousness of another. Are you willing to
do that? Are you willing to be saved? by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. His blood is all the payment
that your sin requires. Now, are you willing? Are you
willing to have salvation that's free and unconditional? The only thing that will keep
you away from this water of life is if you have anything to pay. If you've got any goodness, if
you've got a drop of righteousness, is there a drop of worthiness
in your bottle? Then you can't come. Salvation
is given as a free gift and is taken by a free gift. God the Holy Spirit and God's
church cry together. Come. And we cry confidently. Oh, I would encourage you. You
come to Christ. But now we're not begging anybody.
We cry confidently. We know this. God's elect will
come. I don't have to beg God's elect
to come. Just declare the message. Just set forth Christ in His
glory. They'll come. You only have to
keep them away. All those that the Spirit makes willing, they
will come. And they'll take the water of
life freely. But now remember this. This is our cry to men.
But we also cry to the Lord Jesus. Please don't delay. Oh, come. I wish it would be tonight. And
what's His response? What's the response of the Master
to us? It's a message of comfort. Surely,
I come quickly. And until He does, may God keep
us faithful to from this place, cry to believers, keep coming
to Christ. Keep coming to Him. Keep finding
your joy, your peace, your all in Him. To whom coming? And may
God make us faithful Until the day he comes, make us faithful
to cry to this lost world in which we live. Come. Come to Christ. Leave your water
pot. Leave your righteousness. Leave
yourself and come to Christ. Leave your dead works and come
to Christ. And take the water of life freely. Now that's good news to a sinner. I hope it will be good news to
you. Let's bow and pray. Our Father, how we do thank Thee
for Thy Word. How we thank Thee for this blessed
message that sinners like we are can come and take the water
of life freely. And Father, I pray that You'd
make Thy people, the people that You've gathered here together
this evening, that You'd make Your people thirsty, that you
make them willing to come to Christ. We pray this, Father,
for the glory of the dear name of thy Son and for the good of
thy people. Amen.