If you can look at the information
about you and make sure it's right, we'll send it out and
get any corrections that need to be made and get that thing
going. It's been a while, hasn't it?
Also, if you can designate any amount to PIPE, they've lost
everything and they need help as far as even getting their
personal belongings back. And tonight I'm going to speak
out of 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 12 on the testimony of
conscience. The testimony of conscience. I've entitled the message I want
to bring this morning. No man. Every man. And any man. No man. Every man and any man. God created our first father,
Adam, upright. He was not created sinful. He was created upright. He was
not holy. He would never have sinned. if he were holy. Holiness cannot
sin. He was created with an innocent
nature, but not a holy nature, because if he had a holy nature,
he would never have sinned in the first place. Holiness cannot
sin. God cannot sin. But he was created upright, and
God said in Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, of every tree
of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Now, note
carefully the language. He didn't say, if you eat, you'll
die. He said, when you do, you'll
die. In the day that you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. Did God know they would eat ahead
of time? Of course he did. He's God. Could he have prevented them
from eating of the tree? Of course he could. He's God. This is all a part of His glorious
purpose. You see, He works all things
after the counsel of His own will. The fall of Adam and Eve
in the garden was all a part of God's glorious purpose and
plan. But before the fall, As a matter
of fact, before the foundation of the world, God selected, elected,
chose a specific people out of Adam's ruined race to be saved. It's called the election of grace. I love that name. The election
of grace. Now, these elect ones were given
to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, They were given to him by the
Father, and this is what makes God's elect special and precious. They're God's gift to his son
to be his bride. Isn't that an amazing thought? They're God's gift to his son
to be his eternal bride. The elect are the bride of Christ. God looked at His Son and He
said, I'm going to have a bunch more exactly like Him. And the Son's going to die for
them and make them like Himself. So the Father gave the Son a
people. the elect. And he said, you're
going to save them. You're going to be responsible
for them. You're going to bear their sin.
You're going to keep the law for them, all for them to be
your bride. You're going to have to die for
them. You're going to have to give yourself completely for
them. And he does. And in time, in
time, the Lord came to this planet. God manifest in the flesh. The
Son of God took upon flesh, fully God, 100% God, fully man, 100%
man. How can you be 100% of both?
I don't know, but He is. He is. The God-man took upon
flesh, kept the law. The sins of God's people were
placed upon Him. That's what calls His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. The sins of God's
people became his. He died under the wrath of God,
was raised from the dead, having accomplished salvation for them. And God, the Holy Spirit, gives
all that God elected in Christ's died life, eternal life, the
life of God in the soul. That's what eternal life is.
It's not just a term. It means something. I've been
given eternal life. the very life of God in my soul,
which is evidenced by faith in Christ and repentance toward
God. That's the evidence of eternal
life, repentance and faith. Now, what I've given you just
now is the authoritative teaching of the Word of God. This is not
up for debate. It's not up for controversy,
it's just so. This is what God's Word teaches. And anybody that preaches anything
contrary to this is not a God. And not a God. Now what? Now what? What I have just said, now what? Where do I come in here? What's
this have to do with me? Now let's read Revelation 22
verse 17 once again. Revelation chapter 22 verse 17. Now this is the message of the
spirit of God. And the spirit. And the bride. This is the message of the church.
This is the message of the gospel. 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, won't you listen to me real
carefully? What I've just said concerning God electing a people,
Christ coming for those people and only those people, and God
the Holy Spirit giving life to those people. What I've just
said does not exclude people who would have otherwise been
saved. It's not an exclusive message. It includes people who
would have otherwise been damned. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not an exclusive message. We're already excluded. God didn't
have to do anything to exclude us. We've excluded ourselves
by our sin. Your sins have separated you.
We're already excluded. But the message of the gospel
has come on in. Come and welcome to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come. This is what the Spirit
says. Come. This is what the bride says.
This is the message of the church. Not go and do. Not wait until
you get better. Not wait until you learn more.
Not wait until you experience more. Not wait until you get
your life straightened out. Don't wait on anything. Come
right now to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's always the message. Come
and welcome. Let him that heareth say come. Let him that's a thirst come.
Whosoever will, let him take the water of life. freely. Now the command is come. Now what? You said God elected
a people? Christ died only for the elect? God the Holy Spirit
calls only the elect and gives them life? Now what? Come. Come. Now this is the message
of the gospel. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now what is this thing of coming to Christ? What's coming? Coming is movement, isn't it?
It's movement. If you come, you leave some place,
and you go somewhere else. It's the movement of the soul. When I come to Christ, I'm leaving
salvation by works. I'm leaving self. And I'm coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the movement of the soul. It's not a physical movement.
We can't physically move to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why
we don't have altar calls. A physical movement has absolutely nothing
to do with the gospel. I've had people say, why don't
y'all have altar calls? Well, where's that in the Bible? Can you give
me any illustration or example of that in the scriptures? No,
you can't. We're not going to have something like that. Coming
to Christ is a spiritual movement. It's the movement of the soul
to Christ with the emphasis not being on what you're leaving,
but where you're coming. If I put all the emphasis on
where I'm leaving, I'm not really coming. No, the emphasis of coming
to Christ is the emphasis of where you're coming. Now turn
with me for a moment to John chapter 6. What is this thing
of coming to the Lord Jesus Christ? I need to understand, because
this is the message of the church. This is the message of Christ
himself. This is the Spirit's message. This is the message
of the individual believer. Let him that heareth say, Come.
What is coming to Christ? Look in verse 35. 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 shall
never thirst." Coming to Christ and believing on Christ are the
exact same thing. If you believe on Christ, you
come to Christ. Coming to Christ and believing
on Christ are the exact same thing. Now look down in verse
40 of this same chapter. And this is the will of him that
sent me. Do you believe that Christ is
the sent of the Father? The Father sent him. This is
the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." Now, you come to Christ,
first of all, when you see Him. Now, what is this thing of seeing
Christ? Because I've never seen Him physically. He's never appeared
in my room, in my bed, and all the different visions people
talk about having. No, I've not seen Him physically. Seeing Him
is seeing who He is. You see, you believe, you perceive
that He's no mere man. He is the God-man, the second
person of the Trinity, the Creator of the universe. You see who
He is. He's the God-man. Somebody says, I don't see. Then
God hasn't shown you. Because if God has made Himself
known to you, you will see who He is. He's the Sovereign of
the universe. You see who He is when God reveals
Him. You see Him. And you know what you do when
you see Him? You believe. You believe. And you know what
you do when you believe? You come to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the motion of the soul
to Him. You actually come to Him. You leave your works, you leave
your hopes of self-salvation, you leave everything, and you
come to Him. And, beloved, this is not one
of those twelve-step programs. And it's not a seven-step program.
One step. out of self and into Christ. And let me tell you this about
this coming to Christ. It's not a long journey. You
get there as soon as you come. You're there. It doesn't take,
it's not a process. It doesn't take days and weeks
and years and months. You get there as soon as you
come. And who is called to come? Not the spirit and the bride
say come. Let him to hear us say come. Let him that's a thirst
come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Now who is called to come to
Christ? Now here's, I've said this recently, here's one of
my favorite words in the Bible. Whosoever. Whosoever. Now the reason I love
this word so much is I'm one of them. I am a whosoever. I mean, any way you look at it,
I'm a whosoever. You are too. Whosoever. Now, you don't need,
beloved, you don't need to try to figure out whether or not
you're one of the elect. You don't need to try to figure out
whether or not Christ died for you. You don't need to try to
figure out whether or not you have a new heart or a new...
Forget yourself. Whosoever. Are you one of them? Whosoever. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. Whosoever will. Whosoever will. But I can't. Doesn't say anything about whether
you can or can't. It says whosoever will. Are you willing? Are you
willing? Do you remember when the Lord
said to that fellow in John chapter 5 that was impotent, laying at
the pull of Bethesda? He said, Wilt thou be made whole? What if the Lord said that to
you? Are you willing to be made? Not, are you willing to do this
and do that? Are you willing to be made whole? And you and Feller did not understand
what he said, because he said, why don't anybody get me down
into the water? He didn't ask him if he was able to get into
the water. He said, are you willing to be made whole? Whosoever will,
doesn't say whosoever won't. Was that teaching free will?
No, it's not teaching free will, but it is teaching this. Are
you willing to be saved? You see, thy people, Psalm 1103,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Are you
willing? Is this what you want to do?
Do you wish to be made whole? Is this your desire? Are you
willing to be made whole? Whosoever will. It doesn't say
whosoever understands. Or whosoever has good intentions. Somebody says, I fear I don't
understand enough. Well, it doesn't say whosoever understands, but
whosoever wills. Are you willing? Paul said in
Romans 7, 18, to will is present with me. Now, how to perform
that which is good, I don't find, but to will is present with me.
You see, if God has done something for you, he's changed your willer.
He's given you a new will and you want, this is what you desire.
You desire to me made whole. Now look what it says next in
our text, Revelation 22. And whosoever will. Let him. Whosoever will let him take the
water of life freely, let him come. All barriers. Have been removed. And you hear
that? Whosoever will, let him come,
come and welcome. All barriers have been removed.
Let not conscience make you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. You got that? Do you need the
Lord Jesus Christ? Come and welcome. Let him come. God's not stopping you. And listen
to this, beloved, your sin's not stopping you from coming.
The only thing that'll stop you from coming is your stinking
righteousness. That's the only thing that'll
keep you from coming. Let him come! I mean, the gospel's
for sinners, so don't say your sin's keeping me from him. The
gospel's for sinners. Come just as you are, 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. Let him come. Whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely. The gospel, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is the water of life, and there is only one condition. You know what that condition
is? That there are no conditions. Let him come and take the water
of life freely, without a cause, without anything in you that
makes you worthy, no conditions. Let him come and take the water
of life freely. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
55 for a moment. This is God speaking in Isaiah
chapter 55, and he says, Ho! You know if the Lord uses
language like that, we've got to listen real carefully, shouldn't
we? This is the Lord speaking. He says, Ho! Everyone that thirsteth,
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. Wherefore do you spend your money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness, incline your ear, and come unto me." You see the
connection between hearing and coming? Incline your ear. You know, if you listen to what
he says, you're coming to him. That's coming. Incline your ear
and come unto me, here and your soul shall live. Do you hear
what the gospel says? Let him take the water of life
freely. Freely. I will make an everlasting covenant
with you. even the sure mercies of David." Now, here's the message
of the gospel. The Spirit and the bride say,
come. Let him that's athirst, come on. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Now, remember the title of this
message. No man, every man, and any man. I've got three verses
of Scripture I want us to consider in light of this call upon all
men to come. Back to John chapter 6. Very
familiar and very important verse of Scripture. John chapter 6. Verse 43, Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. And they were murmuring
at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from
heaven. And they looked at him, and they
said, this is the carpenter, this is the son of Joseph. He said
he came down from heaven. And the Lord said, don't you
murmur at this. Now, who says in verse 44? No man can come to me. He doesn't say no man may come.
You may. He doesn't say you're not allowed
to. He says no man can come. No man has the ability to come. If the Lord leaves me or you
to ourselves, if he just withdraws his hand and leaves us alone,
we'll go to hell. That's what he means by that.
No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me
draw him. Now, somebody says you're throwing
a monkey wrench in everything, talking about whosoever will
let him come. And now why are you saying this? Because the
Lord said it. This speaks of the inability of man to come. Now, why did men not come? The Lord said no man can come
to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him. And he
said in verse 65, no man can come to me except it were given
to him from my father. No man can. Now what this is
referring to, and this is very important, you've never come
until you've found that you can't. Now understand that you've never
come until you've found that you can't. can't come, that you're
totally helpless. What this is talking about is
being dead in trespasses and sins to where you can't come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're unable to. It's not that
he won't let you and he's holding you up. You find out the problem
was with you. You are unable to come dead in
trespasses and sins. There's some things we just can't
do. Let's look at a few scriptures real quick. Turn to Romans 8.
No man Now, he excludes everybody in this. No man can come to me,
except the Father which has sent me. Romans 8, we read, beginning
in verse 6. For to be carnally minded. And most people, when they think
about being carnally minded, they think of sexual sin, or
they think of some kind of fleshly sin. That's included in being
carnally minded, but it's also talking about being religious,
being self-righteous. It's talking about the nature
we have, the way we are by nature. To be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against
God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed,
can be. It is unable to be subject to
the law of God. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 14. But the natural man receiveth
not. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse
14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God for their foolishness unto him, neither indeed can
he know them. He lacks the ability to know
them because they're spiritually discerned. You have to have a
spiritual mind to understand spiritual things. You have to
be given a new mind, a spiritual mind, which every believer has.
It's given to them in the new birth. And until I have a spiritual
mind, all the gospel is going to be to me is foolishness, something
that I cannot understand. because it's spiritually discerned. In Genesis 6, verse 5, we read,
And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually, nonstop. Now, that's the fallen mind.
When God looks in my heart and in your heart, what we are by
nature, here's all he sees. See, every imagination Not even
talking about the works yet, talking about the things passing
through the mind. Of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. That man cannot come to Christ. He lacks the ability to come
to Christ. Romans 3, verses 10 through 12
says there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all gone out of the way.
They're together, become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. No man can come. All God's got
to do is leave us alone, and we'll go to hell. And I, you
know, people have problems. with God's
sovereignty, the doctrine of election and so on. I don't know how to say this,
but what about hell? It's all we believe. Hell is the most
horrible thing. I mean, it's you know, the Apostle
Paul didn't even use the word hell. He considered it to be
such an awesome, awesome thing to think
of. Scary thing to think about. He talked about condemnation
and judgment and so on. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who spoke most of hell. He had a lot to say about hell. There is a place called hell. And if God leaves me to myself,
that's where I'm going to spend eternity. Because no man can
come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him. And I know this, you've never
come to Christ. until you found out that you
can't. And the evil of you not being
able to come is because you won't come. Our Lord said in John chapter
5 verse 40, you will not come to me. that you might have life. You have no will. You have no
desire. The reason you can't is because
you won't. And that's what's so bad about
us. We won't come to him who's altogether lovely. If God leaves
me to myself, I won't come to Christ. I don't want to. I'd
rather stay away from him. I'd rather, you know, this is
how evil we are. If we were in hell itself, if
we were burning in the fires of hell, we would rather be there
than be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
so. No man can because of our perverted
will, because of an evil will, chained to sin, you will not
come to me that you might have life. I want to ask you a question. Is it just for God to withhold
from you what you don't want anyway? Is there any injustice in God
in sending somebody to hell when they don't want to be in his
presence anyway? Can it be considered hard on God's part to not give
you what you don't want anyway? Think of that. God is just. Now, no man, no man can. That knocks everybody out. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Now, turn back to John chapter
6 for a moment. Every man. The first point was no man. Now let's talk about every man. Verse 45. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me."
Every man that has learned and heard. God's got to teach you.
You've got to hear from God in order to do this. You know, a
lot of folks, the things they say, God ain't ever spoke to
you about the things you're saying. I can tell. If God's never spoke
to you, you wouldn't be saying those things. You see, every
man that hath heard and learned of the Father, what do they do?
They come to me. Now, every man. Every man. That
word has to have a qualification. He's not talking about every
man without exception. But look in the context of this passage
of Scripture, beginning in verse 36. But I say unto you, that you
also have seen me, and believe not, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me,
that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may
have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day." The Jews then murmured to him, because he said, I'm
the bread that came down from heaven. They said, it's not this
Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. How
is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves,
no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me.
Draw him, and I will raise him up to the last day. It is written
in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. And that
is not talking about all men with that exception, but that
is talking about all the Father gave him. That is so clear. All
that he died for, they shall all be taught of God. Every man
that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to me. Now what
is the evidence of divine election? Well, the Lord tells us here,
verse 37, all that the Father giveth me, what do they do? They
shall come to me. Every single one of them. That's
what people who are taught by God do. They come to Christ. They see Him. They believe on
Him. They come to Him. That's the motion of their soul.
Like I said, just as I am. Though tossed about with many
a conflict, many a doubt, fightings within, fears without, O Lamb
of God, I come." That's what those who are elected do. They
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, any man. No man can come. Every man that has heard and
learned of the Father does come. Now look in John chapter 7. Verse 37, in that last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. Oh, I love to think,
a voice that wakes the dead. He cried, saying, Let him come to me and drink. What is the one qualification
for coming? Thirst. Doesn't tell you how
thirsty, just says don't drink thirsty. Thirst is a conscious
absence that you can't It's going to be something without you. You can't satisfy your own thirst.
Let him come to me and drink. Turn to Matthew chapter 11. Now,
this is generally called the Great Invitation. Matthew chapter
11. You remember. We're going to
read it together. The Great Invitation. Let me give you a better title
for it. the gracious command. If all
this is an invitation, it's not wrong for me to turn it down. It's not a crime to say no to
an invitation. It might not be very polite,
but it's not a crime. And here, when our Lord says
this, this is not an invitation. This is a command. It's spoken
in the imperative. Look in Matthew 11, verse 28.
The Lord says, Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and are heavy laden." Now, this is a gracious command. Come unto
me, all ye that labor. You labor under a sense of burden
and guilt. Burdened and wearied by sin,
burdened and wearied by guilt and inability and the fear of
condemnation. Now, he says to that person who's
weary and heavy laden, you're commanded, come to me. That's
a command. And aren't you glad it's a command?
Your right to come is because he commands it. Come unto me. All ye that are weary and heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Rest. Rest in the Scriptures is a response
to a finished work. Do you remember after God created
the worlds? The Scripture says He rested
on the seventh day. It wasn't because he's tired,
it's because he's finished. Rest. Come unto me and I will
give you rest. Now, rest. What is rest? Well,
when you're resting on something, you're leaning on it. All the
weight of your soul is on that which you're resting. You're not supporting yourself.
He's supporting you if you rest. Resting also means termination.
In other words, when something's finished, you rest. You rest
when the job's done. You rest when it's done, and
there's such joy and relief in resting, coming to me, and I
will give you rest. Have you ever ceased from your
own works as God did from his? Hebrews 4, there remaineth a
rest for the people of God, for he that's entered into his rest
has ceased from his own works. Isn't it? Doesn't it make you
rest to know your works had nothing to do with salvation? It's what
he did, completely? Doesn't have anything... Oh,
what rest! What joy there is there! And this is a command! Come unto me, all ye that are
weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Remember what the Lord said in
John 6, 37, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise for no reason
whatsoever cast out. That's his promise. You come,
you'll be received. In that cometh to me I'll in
no wise cast out. Now, somebody's asking the question,
well, have I come? Have I come to Christ? I don't
want to deceive myself. Have I ever come to Christ? Well,
let me answer that question by asking this question. Are you
coming to Christ? to whom coming right now I'm
coming to him for everything in my heart I'm coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ to save me from my sins right now I'm coming
to him for faith Lord I can't believe give me faith I'm coming
to him for repentance I'm coming to him for a new heart I'm coming
to him for everything right now I'm not talking about what I
did I'm talking about what I'm doing right now if you're coming right now
you came and you'll keep coming The evidence that I've come to
Christ is I'm coming to Him right now, and I'm coming the same
way I first came, as an empty-handed sinner, needing Him. To whom? Coming. Now, why come? Let me close by
giving you these reasons. Why come to the Lord Jesus Christ? First of all, because I'll go
to hell if I don't. That's a good reason, isn't it? And second,
because I'm commanded to. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. I am commanded to. Thirdly, I
come because I need to come. I need him to have mercy on me.
I need him to do something for me. I need him to give me rest.
I come out of a great sense of need. Come to me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I come because
I'm scared not to. And I come because I have nowhere
else to go. The Lord said to his disciples,
will you also go away? Peter said, to whom shall we
go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We believe and assure thou
art that Christ, the Son of the living God, I have nowhere else
to go. And in coming, I will for no
reason be turned away." Now listen to me. In your heart, this is
the movement of the soul to Him. You come to Christ and you will
be received by God Almighty just like that prodigal was. When
he came back to his father, he didn't think his father was going
to receive him. He said, I'm not worthy to be called your
son. Just make me as one of your hired servants. I'll be plumb
satisfied to just be a servant. And when he came and tried to
get that out to his father, his father ran on his neck and fell
on him and kissed him with many kisses. And he said, bring forth
the best robe and put it on him. the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and put a ring on his hand, the token of my
eternal undying love, and choose on his feet the grace to walk
in the gospel, and kill the fatted calf of this my son who is lost
is found, who is dead and is alive. You come, you will find
the same reception right now. Let not conscience make you linger.
nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. This he gives you, tis the Spirit's
rising being. Let's pray together.