But you turn back to Revelation
22. I don't know if you've noticed,
but on Sunday mornings, I've been preaching out of Romans.
On Sunday evenings, I've been preaching out of Luke. And today
I feel, I believe, especially impressed of God to preach this
morning from Revelation 22, 17. And tonight, I want to preach
from Philippians chapter three, verse one, where Paul said to
write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous,
but for you, it's safe. And I've entitled that message,
Not Grievous, But Safe. I've entitled this morning's
message, Whosoever Will. Now, let me say at the outset
that you're not going to hear a message on free will. There
is no such thing as free will. If I believe I have a free will,
what I've proved by that is I really don't know myself, and I really
don't know what sin is, and I really think that I'm independent of
God, that my will can trump his will. And that kind of thinking
is just so contrary to the scripture. Your will is controlled by your
nature. All of us ought to know that. God doesn't have a free
will. God cannot sin. His will is controlled by his
nature. He can't freely decide, well,
I'm gonna tell a lie. No, God cannot lie because his
holy will is controlled by his nature. There's no such thing
as free will. Let me say that at the outset.
There's no such thing as free will. Now, this is the only time
in the Bible that these two words stand together. Whosoever will. Now, I've had people say to me
after I've said something about the gospel of God's sovereign
grace and how God elected a people and Christ died for the elect
and God the Holy Spirit gives them life. I've had people respond
to me saying, well, I believe whosoever will. I've had a lot
of people say that to me. I believe whosoever will. I do
too. I do too. It's not like whosoever will
trumps or negates the truth of how God saves sinners. But I'm
so thankful for this verse of scripture, whosoever will. Now, look with me at verse 17,
once again, Revelation chapter 22. Let me remind you what will is.
Will is desire. That's the best definition of
the will. What you will is what you desire. It's what you want. Your will
expresses what you really are. Do you want to be saved from
your sins? Do you want to be saved by grace? Do you desire to be found in
Christ? Do you desire to be holy? Do you desire to be perfectly
conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ? What do you want? When God looks
in your heart, what does he see that you desire? What you desire
is what you really are. Now, in verse 17, we read these
words, and the spirit and the bride say, come, and let him
that heareth say, come. Now, some believe that this is
the spirit and the bride and the individual hearer's response
to what our Lord says in verse 12. And behold, Revelation 22,
and behold, I come quickly. And the Spirit says, come. And
the bride says, come. And that one who hears, the individual
believer, he that has hearing ears, He that heareth is of God. That one who hears says, come,
come Lord Jesus. That is the desire of every single
believer. Look in verse 20 of this same
chapter. He which testifies these things
saith, surely I come quickly. That's the words of the Lord
Jesus. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Is that the desire of your heart?
Even so, come Lord Jesus. I want him to come to me and
I know in him coming to me, I'm gonna come to him too. But this
is also the message of the spirit and the bride and the individual
believer to those who they preached it. Look in verse 17. And the
spirit and the bride say, here's what they got to say, here's
their message, 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. Now, the gospel is summarized
by this word, this one little word, go. Now, the law says go and do. Make yourself better. First,
get your life straightened out and give up all these sins you're
committing. Stop committing them. Then you
can come. Forgiveness is the end of a certain
process. You do this, you do this, you
stop doing that, then your sins will be forgiven. and then you
can come. Make yourself better, then you
can come. Go and do, then be paid for what
you've done. Now that is a message of the
average church. Go and do, get this straightened
out, stop this, start this, and then you can come. But what's
the message of the Spirit, the Spirit of God? What's the message
of the bride, the church? What is the message of the individual
believer, that one that hears? You know, the Lord said, he that's
of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear them not,
because you're not of God. If you're of God, you hear. And
what does that one who hears say? He says, come, come and
welcome. All things are now ready. Nothing
you need to do, nothing you need to break. All things are now
ready. Come, come and welcome. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I want
to be one of those people, don't you? Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. If any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. And let me tell you this, right
off the bat, this is not a long journey. This is not a long journey. this
thing of coming to Christ. It's not something that takes
a long time. Now, what does it mean to come to Christ? If this
is the message of Scripture, the Spirit and the bride say,
come, let him that hears say, come. That's the message. Let
him that's a thirst. Are you thirsty? Come on. Whosoever
will. If this is your desire, that's
all it's saying. If this is your desire, let him
come and take the water of life freely. Now, what does it mean
to come? Would you turn back to John chapter six? John chapter six. 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 shall
never thirst. And you know what that tells
me? Coming to Christ and believing on Christ are the precise same
thing. The Ethiopian eunuch has heard
the gospel from the mouth of Philip, and after hearing, he
says, see, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized?
I want to know. Is there a reason why I shouldn't?
And Philip replied, if you believe with all your heart, you may. Now, I used to trip at that because
anytime I'd try to believe with all my heart, a thousand doubts
would pop up. To believe with all your heart
doesn't mean to believe without any doubts popping up. To believe
with all your heart means to believe with your understanding,
your affections, and your will. Now listen to his answer. Philip said, if you believe with
all your heart, you may. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. He didn't say, I believe Christ
died for me. You know, I love the Him, we sing, just as I am,
without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that
thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Now, I don't
come because I know His blood was shed for me. I come because
He told me to come. He bids me come. Faith is not
believing you're a Christian. Faith is not believing you're
saved. You can believe all those things and not be. Faith is believing
He is the Son of God. You believe He's the eternal,
uncreated, second person of the Blessed Trinity, and that whatever
He does must be successful because of who He is. Faith believes
He's the Son of God. I love the scripture, 1 John
chapter 5 verse 1, Whoso believeth, that Jesus is the Christ, is
born of God. Now take that. Do you believe
that He's God's Christ? Do you believe He's the very
Word of God, that when God speaks, Christ is the Word? Do you believe
He's God's priest, that if He brings you into God's presence,
you must be saved? Do you believe that He's God's
King, Ruler of everything? Beloved, that's faith. It's that
simple. Coming to Christ and believing
on Christ is the precise same thing. Now, look what it says
in verse 17 of our text. 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 thank God there is something
called here the water of life that everyone who is thirsty
is called upon to drink. Now what is this water of life?
Well look back in verse 1 of chapter 22. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life. clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Now here we find
the source of this water of life. It proceeds from the throne of
God. Now the throne of God always represents His absolute sovereignty. Here's the source of this life,
God's sovereign decree. It comes from Him. and it proceeds
from the Lamb. The Lamb. This always talks about
the person and work, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
water of life comes from the purpose of God, the throne of
God. It comes from the Lamb, what He accomplished on Calvary's
tree. Now this is that pure river of
the water of life. And it's clear as a crystal if
you open your eyes by the grace of God. It comes from God. It
comes from His throne. It comes from the Lamb of God.
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Now this is that water of life. Look in verse 2. in the midst
of the street of it and either side of the river. This water
of life was there, the tree of life, which had bare 12 manner
of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now this water
fed this tree, which was for the healing of the nations. Now, do you find sin to be a
disease? And I don't mean a disease that's
not your fault. You know, when if somebody gets
a disease that's not their fault, boy, you really feel sorry for
them. And then somebody gets some kind of disease that's brought
on by their sin and by their own fault. You feel sorry for
them, but it, it, it, it, my sin is a disease and I'm no victim. It's all my fault. I got it.
And you too, you know what I need? I need healing. I need the Lord to heal me of
my disease. Now, this is what the, you know,
David said, my loins are filled with a loathsome disease. There's
no soundness in my flesh, nor rest in my bone because of my
sins. Now, to a believer, sin is a disease. To anybody that
God has taught who they are, sin's a disease they need healing
from. He healed them who had need. healing. Would that be you? I
need healing. Now this water of life is given
for healing. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. Verse 3. Now with this water
of life, we read in verse 3, there shall be no more curse. That's because of justification.
You see, if you have this water of life, that means God can't
curse you. You're justified in God's sight.
You're glorified in God's sight. There's no curse for you. There's
therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
There's no curse if I have this water of life. Don't you want
this water of life? Healing? It comes from the very throne
of God. That's its source. It comes because of the blood
of the Lamb. You'll be healed. You're justified. There's no
more curse. But the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in
it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face,
and his name shall be in their foreheads. What else? What healing?
I'm gonna get to see the face of Christ. David said, as for
me, I'll behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awaken
thy likeness. Now, that's heaven, isn't it?
Seeing his face being healed by his grace. Now, this water of life, turn
back to John chapter four. John chapter four. We're gonna read something about
this water of life. Beginning in verse three, He
left Judea, John chapter four, verse three. He left Judea and
departed again unto Galilee. And he must need to go through
Samaria. And it's my prayer that this morning he must need to
go through Lexington. He's got somebody he's after. Verse five. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sychar. near to the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there, Jesus
therefore being wearied with his journey. Sat thus on the
well, and it was about noon. The humanity of the divine Savior
wearied with his journey. He sat down at the well about
noon. And I expect it was probably a day like today. I don't want
to complain about the weather, but this kind of stuff, I feel
like I melt when I go out. I mean, it's hot. And it was
about noon and he was weary with his journey. Verse seven, there
cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Now, many have thought
the reason she came at noon was because she didn't want to be
with all the other people when they came early in the morning because
of her life. She knew people would be judging
her and critical of her, so she made sure she came to the well
at a time when nobody would be around. Nobody goes at noon. That's the hottest time of day.
You get your water in the morning. 7. Jesus saith unto her, Give me
to drink. And she was amazed that the Lord
talked to her. Give me to drink. For his disciples
were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman
of Samaria unto him, How is it That thou, being a Jew, askest
drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans." She's used to the Jews turning
their nose up at her. She was a Samaritan. She was
second class. She was not considered in a good
light at all. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, Beloved, God has a gift, a free
gift that he gives. If thou knowest the gift of God
and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink. If you had
any idea who I was, here's what I am, here's what you do. Thou
wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living
water. That's the same water we read
of in Revelation 22, living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence
then hast thou that living water? She had no idea what he was talking
about. Are you greater than our father Jacob? Isn't that funny
she said that to the Lord? Are you greater than Jacob? Yeah, yeah, infinitely so. Our God, greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us this well and drank thereof himself and
his children and his cattle, Jesus answered and said unto
her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Anything that you do in this
life, you might get temporary satisfaction from it. Might be
good now, but you'll thirst again. You'll thirst again. But, verse 14, whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, will
be completely satisfied, and will not be looking for anything
else. That's how satisfying this water
is. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Look back down at verse 28. You'd find it interesting to
read the rest of this chapter, but look at verse 28. Listen
to her testimony. The woman then left her water
pot after the Lord had revealed to her who he was. The woman
left her water pot, went her way into the city, and saith
to the men, come, not go away, come on, see a man which told
me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Now most
think that he's just talking about the fact that I remember
when he said, you read about this, he said, go call your husband.
She said, I don't have a husband. He said, that's true, you have
five husbands. And the one you're living with right now isn't your
husband. This said thou truly. And the Lord knew all this about
her before it ever took place, but that's not really what she
meant. And I understand, and this is
what, I'm talking about satisfaction now. This is what I'm satisfied
with. This is the only thing that gives me satisfaction, to
see this man who told me all that I ever did. And here's what
he told me. All I ever did was sin. That's it. All I ever did was sin. And all I ever did was perfect. Because whatever Christ did,
I did. And you know, that's the only
thing I personally get any satisfaction out of. All I ever did was sin. That's it. I believe that. I
know it. And I'm not looking for anything
out of myself because of that. I mean, it's all sin. Can I look
for sin to satisfy God? No, no, no. All I ever did was
sin. But because of what Christ did
for me, all I ever did was perfect. I kept the law perfectly, and
Jesus Christ the Lord is my personal righteousness before God. Do
you know, when I hear that, I'm not thirsting for anything else.
I'm plumb satisfied with that. You take away any of that, and
I start getting nervous, but oh, I'm satisfied with that drinking
of this water, finding out who I am and who He is. I'm not thirsty. Satisfied. Turn back to Revelation 22. Notice
it says, and let him that is a thirst come. Are you thirsty? This water is for you. This living
water. This water that will make you
never thirst again. Are you thirsty? Come on. This water is for you. Now, thirsting is a conscious
absence of righteousness being in you. You know when the Lord
says, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,
they'll be filled. If you're hungering after food,
it's because your gut's empty. And if the reason is growling
and the reason you feel uncomfortable is because it wants to be filled.
There's nothing in it. It needs something. You hunger
and thirst for righteousness. You thirst for righteousness
when you feel in yourself that you don't have it. And it's got
to come from without you and be brought into you. And that's
what it is to be thirsty. You thirst for Christ. You thirst
for righteousness. Let him that's a thirst come. Come and welcome. Well, how thirsty
do you have to be? I knew somebody would think that.
How thirsty do you have to be? Well, let's make it even more
simple. Whosoever will. Whosoever will. Let him take
the water of life freely. Whosoever. I love that word.
I'm a whosoever. That's all I can say. He's not
talking to me. I'm a whosoever. You're a whosoever. Whosoever will. I love what our
Lord said to that man in John chapter 5. Wilt thou be made
whole? Do you want to be made whole?
Do you want to be saved from your sins? Can you say with Paul,
to will is present with me. Now how to perform that which
is good, I find not. But to will is present with me. Do you desire to be saved by
Christ? Now I have no doubt that if you're
willing, you know he made you willing. You know that. Thy people,
Psalm 110.3, thy people shall be willing. in the day of thy
power." Now, somebody is thinking, I hear that, but I'm afraid I
really don't understand enough. Well, it doesn't say, whosoever
understandeth, let him take the water of life freely. It says,
whosoever will. I don't have any confidence in
my experience. I'm afraid I haven't experienced
the right things. Wood doesn't say whosoever has an experience.
But whosoever will. Let him take the water of life
freely. But I don't feel my need of Christ
the way I'd like to. My heart is so hard. Wood doesn't say whosoever feeleth.
Let him take the water of life freely. Says whosoever will. Let him take the water of life
freely. But my sin. I commit the same sin. I can't
seem to forsake my sin. It doesn't say whosoever forsakes
his sin, let him take the water of life freely. It says whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. But I can't. I'm unable. It doesn't say, whosoever is
able, let him take the water of life freely. It says, whosoever
will. All I'm asking you, do you want
Christ? Now, if you don't have him, it's
because you don't want him. If you're not saved, it's because
you don't want to be saved. You don't want to know him. You
don't want to be saved on his terms. Whosoever will. Let him
take the water of life freely. But I'm not worthy, I know. What's
that got to do with anything? It doesn't say whosoever is worthy.
It says whosoever will. Let him take the water of life
freely. Are you willing to be saved by
Christ? Are you willing to be saved by
his grace? Are you willing to be saved in a way that he gets
all the glory and none comes to you? Are you willing? Whosoever
will. Let him take the water of life
freely. Now, let's don't miss this word. Whosoever will, let
him, let him take the water of life freely. Let him. The let is the answer to every
objection. Let him come. That's the answer
to every hindrance, let him come. Satan, the accuser of the brethren
says, by way of accusation, this guy's the biggest hypocrite to
ever live. He's so sinful, he commits the same sin over and
over and over again. He so easily gives in to temptation. He's such a fraud, he's such
a phony, he's deceitful. The accuser of the brethren makes
these accusations, and the guy says, I know it's true, but you
know what the Lord says? Let him come. You see, Satan
has been answered. All of his accusations have been
put down by the blood of Christ. They may all be true, but they've
been washed away. Then the law comes along and
says, wait a minute. All he's ever done is broken
every one of my commandments. And the Lord says, let him come. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justified them.
Who is he that can condemn? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that's risen again who's even at the right hand of God. Let
him come. Let him come. In my own conscience. Makes all kinds of accusations
against me. But the Bible says God's greater than our hearts
and knows all things. He says, let him come. Let him come. There's nothing
keeping you back. Let him come. But notice there's one condition. What's that condition? Well,
let's look at the text. Revelation 22, 17. And the spirit and the
bride say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that's a thirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life. What's that last word? Here's
the one condition. You can't bring anything. This is the end
of all conditions. Whosoever will. Let him take
of the water of life freely. And this word freely
is translated in John chapter 15 without a cause. Whosoever will, Let him take
the water of life without a cause. Now, if you think that you can
take this water of life because you did anything, you cut your
own throat. You exclude yourself from this.
The only way I can take this water of life is if I do so freely,
without a cause in me. Not because of anything I've
done, thought, or intend to do. The cause is not found in me. You know, I think it's amazing.
If I said you can have salvation for $10, everybody in this room
would be saved, wouldn't they? And if I say it's free! Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Well, I can take this water of
life because I stopped this sin and started practicing this righteousness.
I'm going to be more loving, more forgiving, more faithful,
less sinful. Oh, beloved, quit lying to yourself. Now, I want you to be, and I
want to be more faithful and less sinful. I'd like to be.
I want to be holy. I want to be obedient. I want
to follow the Lord. Don't anybody say I'm saying,
oh, it's okay to... You're not getting better, and
you're not making yourself better. And the only hope you and I have
is that we can take this water of life freely, without a cause
in you and I. Hold everyone first. Come, he
that hath no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk
without money and without price. I love the song, Rock of Ages,
cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the
blood from thy riven side which flow be of sin the double cure,
save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone.
Thou must save, and thou alone. In my hands no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Let him come. Let him take the
water of life freely. And the only way you and I can
have it is if it's free. Now I want to close by giving,
I hope will be a scriptural illustration of this. Would you turn with
me to John chapter nine? Verse 39. John chapter 9. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am coming to this world that they which see not might see, and that they which see might
be made blind. Now hear what he says. He said,
I've come for judgment. And here's what happens in my
judgment. Everybody who's blind is given sight. And everybody
who sees is made blind. Verse 40, And some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, are
we blind also? Jesus said unto them, if you
were blind, what's that next line say? What's
it say? You should have no sin. If you were blind, you'd have
no sin. But now you say we see. Therefore,
your sin, it's still on you. Now, everyone that cannot see,
they cannot see one reason in themselves why God would look
in favor toward them. Everyone who is blind, you have no sin. Christ died
for you. You look to him. You rest in
him. And everyone who can see, well,
I can see why God saved me. I did this, I did that. It's
over. Your sin remains. Oh, may there be some blind sinner
here this morning who can't see why God would ever look in favor
toward them. That's the person Christ saves.
That's the person who takes the water of life and drinks it up
freely without a cause. And you find me somebody who
knows why I got it saved. I mean, it saved me because I.
Nope. Nope. Let's pray.