Andy teaches how the Holy Spirit works together with the Bride of Christ (the church!) to call lost people to salvation in Christ through evangelism
Turn in your Bibles to Revelation 22, the text you just heard. Just going to focus on one verse, verse 17, this morning. Obviously, this is a very special and sacred Sunday, the first service in this building for brand new church, Parkside Baptist Church. I’m very privileged to be here with you today. It’s a consummation of several years of dedicated effort, both by the core team here at Parkside and the sending church, the elders at the sending church, and indeed, all of the members at First Baptist Church. As we come to this time, and I mentioned it a week ago as I was preaching, there must be, of course, a good deal of mixed emotions, a sense of joy, but also a sense of sorrow at the end of an era. And that makes sense. Many, many times, I’ve had, over the 25 years at FBC, to say goodbye to dear brothers and sisters who have moved to another part of the country who are not able to continue at FBC. And there’s some tears at that time.
And I think it should always be difficult to leave a local church, it should be difficult both ways and it is difficult to send you and to say goodbye, but it’s also joyful too because we know that God is in it. Moses said in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” So, it’s important for us to realize our time here on Earth is limited. Days are numbered and they are brief. He also said in that same Psalm, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations” (Psalm 90:1). I wonder often what it must have been like for Moses, especially over those 40 years, when they didn’t go into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. And they had to turn back, not through any fault of Moses. And he had to walk with that rebellious people for those 40 years, and in the end, he didn’t even physically go into the promised land. I wonder what it would’ve been like for him, 20 years in, to be there and it’s like, “Is this what that was all about?”
But he felt acutely, “Lord, you are our dwelling place.” Even if we were to cross the Jordan and go into that beautiful land, that’s not our dwelling place. And so, I think we have a sense, very acutely, of what the author to Hebrews said in Hebrews 11, that we are aliens and strangers in this world. Says there, all these people were still living by faith when they died, they did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. And it says they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one, and therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them.
So, Parkside Baptist Church is not your final home any more than FBC was. For all of us in this present age, we are pilgrims. We are passing through and all local churches are way stations along the way. Like in the classic allegory of the Christian life, Pilgrim’s Progress, there are certain way stations whereby the Pilgrims can get refreshed and renewed. It could be the Interpreter’s house or House Beautiful or something along the way, but it’s not where they were going. It wasn’t the Celestial City. It was just meant to be a colony of heaven, to some degree, where they can renew their strength. So as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
So, the best thing we can do, as we’re making this pilgrimage, as we’re on this journey, is to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. So, we fix our eyes on Jesus. And that we can only do by faith, by the ministry of the word. Not only that, but we fix our eyes on that glorious destination to which we are heading. We fix our eyes on the new heaven and new earth. We fix our eyes on the new Jerusalem. And I don’t think there’s any passage of scripture better for doing that than Revelation 21 and 22. And how much I would delight to walk through those chapters with you, but I have a stopwatch here and I have a certain focused amount of time.
And so, Lord, teach the preacher to number his minutes that he may gain a heart of wisdom. It’s only so much time we have. But Revelation 21 and 22 gives us some insights we don’t have anywhere else in scripture. But it culminates in this one verse, verse 17, I want to focus your attention on today. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes let him take the free gift of the water of life.” I chose that one verse to preach on because it represents the centrality of our calling here in the Triangle region. It is why FBC decided to plant a church to begin with. So, this morning we’re going to immerse ourselves in the marvelous mysteries of the gospel call, specifically of evangelism, of calling thirsty sinners to drink deeply from Christ.
Every single day, we are surrounded in this region by unsaved people. Raleigh-Durham area, Chapel Hill area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country. People are pouring in here because of the job opportunities in the RTP. Or the medical situation in the hospitals that are here, excellent medical care, the mild winters, many other attractions. People like living here, they want to live here. But many of those that are moving in here know nothing about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They don’t know what life is really about, and they don’t understand their danger. They don’t understand that they’re walking around every day under the wrath of God. And that Romans 2 tells us that they are outside of Christ, storing up wrath every day, more and more wrath every day. They don’t know that. They are desperately seeking something; they’re seeking some meaning, some purpose.
They are thirsty for something, but they’re drinking from the wrong cup. They’re drinking from a cup of poison, trying to find joy and pleasure and satisfaction from worldly things. And they’re just going to end up empty in the end. So, we are left here in this region, not by accident, by a sovereign God who providentially put you here, put us at FBC, to testify to those people concerning this incredible river of the water of life and this drinking that we can do from Christ. It reminds me of Isaiah 55:1-2, where it says, “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” What a beautiful passage that is, inviting hungry people to come eat, thirsty people to come drink without money and without cost.
So, Parkside Baptist Church, like FBC, is positioned to reach hundreds and hundreds of people every year with the gospel. And to see many, many more baptized and then trained up in the faith and sent out themselves as messengers of the same gospel that saved them. Both of these churches need to embrace the open door of opportunity that God has set before us. We need to train ourselves in the word and in the life of the Spirit, following his leadership by the power of the Spirit to do this. So, this sermon is about the responsibility we have as evangelists, our cooperation with the Holy Spirit of God in that.
Now, as we come to Revelation 22:17, we come to God’s final invitation. We come to the end of the Bible. This is God’s final invitation to sinners to find salvation in Christ. And as I read it, I can’t help but think about the parable Jesus told about the king who wanted to prepare a wedding banquet for his son. Matthew 22:3-5:
And he sent servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I’ve prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready, come to the wedding banquet.” But they paid no attention and went off, one to his field and other to his business.
God has been beckoning people in every generation for centuries to come and feast at his banquet table, to come and drink of the water of life, but they are ignoring. Now, this reminds me in a kind of an opposite sort of way of a story I read a number of years ago, you probably heard of it. Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story called The Little Match Girl. And it’s about a poor, barefoot girl in an urban setting who sells matches in the streets of the city. She’s freezing to death. But as she’s out in the street, she lights every one of her matches, one after the other and looks at the glow. And in the glow, she imagines herself at a feast at a rich merchant’s house where there’s steaming roast goose stuffed with apples and dried plums. And there’s warmth there, and there’s twinkling lights of the decorated Christmas tree. But it’s all in her imagination as she looks at the flickering match until it goes out, and then she lights the next one.
And well, the story has a tragic ending, so we’ll just go ahead from that, but it’s all in her imagination. But this is the opposite situation. The tragic figure to some degree in this, not ultimately, but within the story, is the king who spread a banquet, and nobody wanted to come. Nobody wanted to come eat of his food or drink of his drink. They didn’t want him; they didn’t want the feast.
In another version of this, in Luke 14:18-20, it talks about these individuals that are invited. It says, “They all began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I’ve just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please, excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I just bought five yoke of oxen and I’m on my way to try them out. Please, excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married so I can’t come.'” So, unlike the little match girl who’s desperate to come in and be warm and to feast, here, it’s the king who’s spreading an incredible banquet, and no one wants it. No one’s interested in it. So, the king is determined to send more and more messengers to compel people to come. “Go out in the roads in the country lanes,” Luke 14:23, “and compel them to come in so that my house will be full.” He wants a full house, people feasting. And so I picture this, God standing, day after day, arms extended, beckoning to people. As he says in Romans 10:21, “All day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
Now as I think about their situation, because I was one of them for a number of years until my junior year in college. I wasn’t interested. I think about their situation. I wonder if some of them always feel like there’s going to be more time. They’ll have plenty of time for that. They see the steadiness of God’s gracious invitation day after day, year after year. They drive by churches like Parkside or like FBC, parking lots are full. It seems like there’s a lot going on there. They can always go there when they want, when the time is right in their lives, they think. The churches will always be there, and they’re always welcoming people in. They always feel like there’s going to be plenty of time. But there does come a time when it’s all over, that that last invitation will be extended. And that’s true of every individual who dies suddenly, and there’s no further opportunity.
John Bunyan preached a sermon entitled A Few Sighs from Hell. And it’s based on Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus and also the parable of the rich fool. And remember with the rich fool who had a bumper crop and wants to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. And he has this mentality, he says to his own soul, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you.” Not requested, demanded. When that demand comes, you cannot refuse. This very night is your last night on earth. Well, Bunyan said this about that, “That man, instead of thinking about death, thought about how he might make his barns bigger.” Any chance there’s some of that going on here in the RTP? Bigger barns, more prosperity, more success? But Bunyan says, “In the midst of his business in the world, he lost his soul before he was aware, supposing that death would be many years off.”
But God said unto him, “You fool, you trouble yourself about the things of this life. You put off the thoughts of departing this world when this night your soul shall be taken from you. And hence it is again that you have some in your towns and cities that are so suddenly taken away, some from visiting their ale houses, others from frequenting the whore houses, others from playing and gaming, others from the cares and covetous desires after this world, unlooked for as by themselves or their companions. Then suddenly, it is all over. It all comes to an end. And we can well imagine one of the groans, the sighs, the laments that will come from hell from the many damned people: I always thought I would have more time. I always thought I would have one more chance. I always figured that I would be able to time it, that when I had my last chance to hear the invitation to the free gift in grace, the grace of Christ, I would then seize it. Time it just right.
At some point in human history, some gospel preacher will stand on this earth and preach the gospel one last time.
This, Revelation 22:17, is God’s last invitation in the Bible. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” At some point in their lifetime, every sinner will hear the gospel invitation for the last time. For that person, that was the last chance. And so it is, generally, in human history. At some point in human history, some gospel preacher will stand on this earth and preach the gospel one last time. And for the human race, that will be it. That will be the end, and Christ will come. The question is for us, how shall we redeem the time between now and that moment? We don’t know how much longer we have, do we?
It says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “‘In the time of my favor, I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you.’ I tell you, now, is the time of God’s favor; now, is the day of salvation.” So, the invitation comes out, but what is it an invitation to do? Look again at the verse. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” I can’t help but think of the beginning of this chapter in Revelation 22:1-2, it says,
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. And on each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree of the healing of the nations.
The river of the water of life flowing from the throne, that’s what sinners are being invited to come and drink from. To come and be refreshed, to come and drink and live.
So, what about you? Are you thirsty? Has sin left you parched like you’re crawling in a desert? Come to Christ and drink.
Now, to come to Christ, and to drink from Christ, they’re all just metaphors for believing in Christ for the salvation of your soul. Jesus said plainly in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” So, there’s that beautiful parallelism to come to him equals to believe in him. To eat from him and to drink from him are the same thing. If you eat from him, you’ll never be hungry. And if you drink, you’ll never be thirsty, that’s the invitation. Now, the text says the Spirit and the Bride both say come. So, this is a marvelous verse on the cooperation between the Holy Spirit of God and the people of God, the church.
So, the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and the Bride is revealed plainly in Revelation 21 as the church. The Bride of Christ is the church completed and perfected there in Revelation 21. Now, here the Spirit and the Bride are inviting lost sinners to come and drink from Christ and to find life. So, both the Spirit and the Bride are instrumental in this invitation. The Spirit calls sinners to come, and the Bride calls sinners to come. Even those who are thirsty and coming and drinking are then involved inviting other thirsty sinners to come and drink as well, which is a beautiful thing.
So first, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity says come, generally, or universally. And he does this by inspiring the scriptures and putting the Bible out there for the world to read. And in the scripture, the centerpiece of the scripture is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. The truths of the gospel are written for the entire world to read, they are unchanging in the word of God. And the Holy Spirit did that. Jesus said very plainly that the counselor, the Spirit, would come and would bring to mind, to the apostles’ mind all the things that Jesus said. So that we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have the Gospels, the record of Jesus’s life and his death and his resurrection.
The Spirit saw to it that we have a written record that will never change. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will never pass away. And so, the Holy Spirit says in the pages of the scripture, come to Christ, generally. And at the center of that call is the gospel, and the center of the gospel, Romans 3:21-24 says,
Now a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified, (forgiven, made righteous), justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
That’s the centerpiece of the gospel.
Without the powerful activity and the workings of the Spirit of God, the blood that Christ shed on the cross would’ve been ineffective for saving anybody.
So, the Holy Spirit wrote the Old Testament. The law and the prophets testified to the gospel. And then, the Holy Spirit saw to it that the New Testament would be written. And so, we have the 66 books of the Bible. Then the Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world to complete the redemptive plan of God. Without the powerful activity and the workings of the Spirit of God, the blood that Christ shed on the cross would’ve been ineffective for saving anybody. The Spirit’s work in applying the blood to individual sinners is every bit as vital as Jesus’ blood having been shed once for all for sin. And so that activity together, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit save sinners. And so, the Spirit says, “Come.” And by the Spirit, the gospel goes out into the whole world. And by the Spirit, the church is moved to preach the gospel. You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Now, the Spirit comes on us and compels us to say, “Come and drink.” The Spirit puts a compulsion on us. The apostle Paul talked about this in Acts 20:22-24. He said,
And now compelled by the Spirit, I’m going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Spirit testifies that prison and hardships are waiting for me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
That is a compulsion of the Spirit that he puts on the servants of God to take the Gospel out. To say, come and drink. The question is you have to ask yourself, all of us do, do I have that compulsion? Am I compelled by the Spirit to say, “Come and drink of Christ?” And if not, plead God for it. And not just for yourself, but for the other members of Parkside Baptist.
I would say evangelism, winning lost souls to faith in Christ, not merely transfer growth where you’re taking other Christians in, and we do that at FBC, and you will too. But what we delight in is people who are unchurched, they were lost. And they meet someone from Parkside Baptist. They have a conversation, and they’re drawn in. And they come to faith in Christ and they’re baptized. And that’s fantastic. Can’t wait, Wes, to see you use that baptismal tank. What is it, it’s like a feeding thing for… Where is it, back then? It’s kind of exciting. But wherever it is, that is joyful and a thrill when the Holy Spirit works in us, and we see that kind of fruit.
Now beyond that, the Bride says, “Come.” The Bride is the church. And the Spirit and the Bride together testify to lost people. As Jesus said would happened in John 15:26 and 27. He said, “When the counselor comes, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me and you also must testify,” he said to the apostles, “for you have been with me from the beginning.” And then one step removed from them, we are in the same relationship. The Holy Spirit is testifying to Jesus, and we also must testify. It’s our time now. The apostles have all died. They’re up in heaven. They’re absent from the body, present with the Lord. Their work is done. Our task in this great relay race of missions and evangelism is to say, “Come,” in the Spirit of Christ. So, we are to preach the gospel to anyone and everyone that we meet.
We don’t try to guess who the unconverted elect are. We do believe in unconverted elect. We think that that’s how it’s effective. We just don’t know who they are. They don’t have Es on their forehead. “I am unconverted elect. Talk to me.” So, we share with anybody and everybody we say, generally, “Come,” and we are willing to put up with a lot of reversals and a lot of defeats. We don’t give up.
Adoniram Judson, a missionary to Burma was there for seven years before the first convert. My favorite Judson story, though, was he went to a particular locality there in Burma and passed out 500 gospel tracts. And saw one conversion. Now, what kind of character does it take to put up with that much apparent failure? Now, I’m not saying that none of those 500 are in heaven now, but that one effort did not produce any major feedback loop of fruit. He was just faithful. His task was to get the word out and he did. He was faithful. So, our job is to share Christ with as many people as we can, to keep sharing the gospel no matter how many or how few respond. And so, the Bride says, “Come,” by evangelism, by sharing the gospel. Notice, as I mentioned, that future laborers for the harvest field are those who are at one time part of the harvest field. Look at verse 17 again. “The Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let him who hears say, ‘Come.'”
The ones that are hearing, and they’re coming and drinking, they get to go say, “Hey, you should come too.” And that’s often just practically one of the most powerful times that people do evangelism is when they themselves are recently converted. And they’ve got a bunch of non-Christian friends, and they want to share how much they have been refreshed by Christ. So, the Spirit and the Bride say, come, generally, and we get the word out. But the Spirit has a unique role we don’t have, and he’s able to say, “Come,” sovereignly and effectively to the unconverted elect. At the moment of conversion, he’s able to take out that heart of stone and give the heart of flesh. He’s able to cause new birth to happen, something we cannot do.
Jesus talked about it to Nicodemus. And he said, John 3:6-8, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases.” The wind is the Spirit. The Spirit goes where he sovereignly wills in conjunction with the will and decree of Almighty God from before the foundation of the world, which he knows well. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). This is the doctrine of effectual calling or irresistible grace, what some people call irresistible grace. Everyone drawn by God through the Holy Spirit will most certainly come to Christ. And it says, “Whoever wishes may come,” verse 17, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come and whoever wishes or desires or wills for it, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Now, this text, like many others, speaks of whoever wishes, whoever wills to drink, may come and drink freely. The free gift of the water of life is indeed eternally satisfying. But tragically, Satan, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they can’t see how delicious this water is. They think it’s poison to the pleasure-filled life they want to live. And so, they’re deceived about the water. No one will naturally desire or will or yearn to come and drink this water. They will only do so supernaturally when a work of sovereign healing has happened in their hearts and minds and in their tastes where they finally want to drink the river of the water of life. And so, the Spirit alone can do this. And he’s effective. Whoever he works on, they come.
And so, Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up at the last day.” So, if the Father doesn’t draw you, you can’t come. But he said earlier in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me, will come to me.” So, if the Father draws you, you’re coming. And he does that by the sovereign working of the Spirit of Christ. So, the Spirit makes sinners willing by healing their hearts and making them see their need, and also, how delicious the water is. Now, this mystical, marvelous cooperation between the Spirit and the Bride is a beautiful thing. It’s been going on for 20 centuries. And it is incredible that God has entrusted to people like us the ministry of reconciliation. But it says very plainly in Romans 10:13-15,
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they’re sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
So, let Christ make you a fisher of men. Let Christ make you a fisher of other people. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I’ll make you fisher of men.” Understand God’s sovereignty. The Spirit alone can rise a spiritually dead person to faith in Christ. The Father alone can draw sinners to faith in Christ by the Spirit. Our task is to be so evidently delighted in the water we’re drinking and to talk about how delicious and how wonderful it is, how satisfying it is to know Jesus.
There is nothing greater in my life than knowing Jesus my Savior. As I memorize scriptures, as I go through Mark, I go through Luke, I feel like I’m in the boat when he stilled the storm. I feel like I am there with the healings when he drove out the demons, when he dealt with that woman with that bleeding problem for 12 years so tenderly and lovingly, I feel like I’m there. And boy, I just want to know him. I want to know him. I want to be with him. He’s already been delicious to my soul, and he will continue to be. And it’s my job to just share that with lost people and to say how marvelous and how wonderful a Savior he is. It’s our task, therefore, to be responsible for this generation of lost people, to be responsible for those near us geographically to say, come and drink. It’s our task also to make sure we understand the gospel message.
Will Metzger, in his introduction to Tell the Truth, said this: “Picture a runner in ancient Greece arriving exhausted before the emperor, gasping, he blurts out, ‘My Lord, I was given an urgent message, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten what it is.'” Wow. We need to know what the message is, what the gospel message is. Metzger said this: “Without grace-filled God-centeredness, evangelism will evolve into nice people being nice to other people in the hopes that they will be nice to God.” That is a compromised gospel with a mild God who exists to benefit me and say, “Eat, drink, and be merry” to me. Well, that’s not the gospel.
The gospel is God, man, Christ, response. God created the universe by the word of his power, runs it as he sees fit, has given us laws that he expects and demands that we follow.
He created us in his image for a relationship with him, a love relationship with him. But we have violated his laws and broken them. We have been rebels against his kingship.
And though we deserve condemnation and hell, God, in his grace and mercy, sent his son who lived a sinless life, died an atoning death and rose again physically from the dead. And now, repentance and faith in his name is being preached so that if you repent and believe, your sins will be forgiven.
That’s the gospel. That’s the gospel. Our task, Parkside Baptist Church’s task, FBC’s task is to take that gospel to lost people. The Spirit and the Bride say, come.
And we are praying, as we’ve been praying at FBC, and now also you all will pray for: an outpouring of the Holy Spirit resulting in a durable culture of evangelism as demonstrated by persistent patterns of creative outreach and courageous witness to the lost around us, leading to many conversions. That’s what we prayed all summer long at FBC. It’s a good prayer for Parkside. I would commend it. You guys can do what you want, but I like that prayer. And so, keep praying for a culture of evangelism where the members take seriously their task to say these things. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Close with me in prayer.
Lord, what a special day this is. And I thank you for these dear brothers and sisters who are precious to me. I pray that you would help us while we live. Our time here on earth is short. Help us to be faithful, to invite thirsty sinners to drink freely of the river of the water of life and find eternal salvation in Christ. In his name, we pray.
These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.
This is obviously a very special and sacred Sunday, the first service in this building for a brand-new church, Parkside Baptist. It is a joy and privilege for me to be here at the consummation of several years of dedicated effort, both by the core team here at Parkside… all you wonderful brothers and sisters, led by Chase and Wes and Brian… as well as the sacrificial efforts at sending done by FBC.
Moses said in Psalm 90, “teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” He also said,
Psalm 90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
He said that because he must have written that Psalm while wandering in the Desert with the nation of Israel before they settled in the Promised Land. Moses himself would in the end never complete the Exodus into the land flowing with milk and honey…
Therefore, he knew very well what it was to be an alien and stranger in the land, not having come into the final resting place.
As the author of Hebrews put it:
Hebrews 11:13, 16 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. … they were longing for a better country– a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
So, Parkside Baptist church is not your final home any more than FBC was. For all of us in this present age, we are pilgrims passing through and all local churches are waystations along our way
Like the Interpreter’s House or like the House Beautiful in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Waystations of grace where the pilgrims can get renewed and strengthened for the rest of their journey.
Nothing we can touch or see or hear physically is permanent…
2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The best thing we can fix our eyes on is Jesus:
Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
But also that glorious destination to which we are going… setting our minds and hearts on heaven… the New Jerusalem and the New Heaven and New Earth.
No book helps us do that better than the Book of Revelation, especially the final two chapters… Revelation 21-22.
This morning, we are going to focus our attention on one verse…
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
I have chosen that verse because it represents the centrality of our calling in this Triangle Region… it is why FBC decided to plant a church to begin with…
This morning we are going to immerse ourselves in the marvelous mysteries of the gospel call… of evangelism, of calling thirsty sinners to faith in Christ
Every single day, we are surrounded in our region by unsaved people… The Raleigh-Durham area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country; people are pouring in here because of the Research Triangle Park, and the major universities, and the excellent medical care, and the mild winters, and many other attractions. But many of them know nothing about the Savior… they are without hope and without God in this world. Though they don’t know it, they are walking around daily under the wrath of God. Every day that they continue in this lost state, they store up more wrath against themselves for the day when God’s wrath will be revealed.
They are desperately seeking something… some meaning, some purpose in life; they are drinking from the cup of the world, trying to find joy and pleasure and satisfaction, and they will just end up empty in the end
We are left here in this city to call people to the only water that satisfies…
Isaiah 55:1-2 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Parkside Baptist Church, like FBC, is positioned to reach hundreds and hundreds of people every year with the gospel… and to see many many more baptized and discipled than we presently do. Both churches need to continue to embrace this OPEN DOOR of opportunity… to train ourselves and get ready to meet the challenge of winning people to Christ
This sermon is about EVANGELISM… our cooperation with the Holy Spirit in calling people from the desert of sin to drink the living water of salvation in Christ
I. God’s Final Invitation
A. We Come to the End of the Bible, and with it, God’s final invitation to sinners to find salvation in Christ
B. God’s Invitation to a Heavenly Wedding Banquet
Matthew 22:2-5 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went off– one to his field, another to his business.
C. God Has Been Beckoning to Lost People Throughout the Centuries to COME IN while there’s time
1. Sinners are BORN OUTSIDE the Kingdom of heaven; we remain outside until we COME IN to the feast
Hans Christian Andersen’s classic short story, “The Little Match Girl” of a poor, barefoot girl who sells matches on the streets of the city… she is freezing to death, but lights each of her matches one at a time and in the merry glow sees herself invited into the rich merchant’s house where there is steaming roast goose stuffed with apples and dried plums; where there is also warmth and the twinkling lights of tapers on a lavishly decorated Christmas tree. But it’s ALL IN HER IMAGINATION! She is on the outside looking in through the glass windows. And she dies out in the cold
2. However, the parable of the Heavenly Banquet is different… there, the King can’t get anyone interested enough to bother to come
Luke 14:18-20 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
a. Unlike the little match girl, who is desperate to come in, but no one will invite her or open the door or welcome her, in this case the tragic figure is the King who is putting on the banquet and he can get no one interested in it
b. So the King send MORE MESSENGERS to compel people
Luke 14:23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and COMPEL them to come in, so that my house will be full.
3. God stands day after day beckoning and inviting people to come into his banquet of salvation
Romans 10:21 “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
D. Some People Feel Like there’s always going to be MORE TIME
1. They see the steadiness of God’s gracious invitation, day after day, year after year
2. They drive by churches and it all feels so secure and solid
3. Churches will always be there, giving that consistent message of salvation in Jesus
4. BUT there will come a time when it will all be over… the last invitation will be extended
a. That is true of every individual who dies suddenly and there is no further opportunity
John Bunyan: “A Few Sighs from Hell” (based on Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus; and also the Rich Fool)
Luke 12:16-20 “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.
THIS VERY NIGHT!! The time has come to an end!!
Bunyan: “The man, instead of thinking of death, he thought how he might make his barns bigger. But, in the midst of his business in the world, he lost his soul before he was aware, supposing that death had been many years off. But God said unto him, ‘You fool,’ you trouble yourself about things of this life, you put off the thoughts of departing this world, when this night your soul shall be taken from you. … And hence it is again, that you have some in your towns and cities that are so suddenly taken away, some from visiting the ale-houses, others from frequenting the whore-houses, others from playing and gaming, others from the cares and covetous desires after this world, unlooked for as by themselves or their companions.
SUDDENLY IT IS ALL OVER! IT ALL COMES TO AN END!
And we can well imagine one of the groans, and sighs and laments that will come from many damned people: “I always thought I would have more time! I always thought I would have one more chance! I always figured I would be able to time it, that when I had my last chance to hear the invitation to free grace in Christ, that I would seize it.”
E. This is God’s Last Invitation in the Bible
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
At some point in their lifetime, every sinner will hear the gospel invitation for the very last time… for that person, that will be the end
At some point in human history, some gospel preacher will preach the free grace of God in Christ for the very last time… and for the human race, that will be the end
REDEEM THE TIME!
2 Corinthians 6:2 “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
F. Invitation to COME DO WHAT?
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
1. Come and drink the free gift of the water of life
Revelation 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
2. Come to be refreshed and live
3. Are you THIRSTY? Has sin left you parched, like you’re crawling in a desert
4. Specifically, COME TO CHRIST = Believe in Christ
John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
II. The Spirit and the Bride BOTH Say, “Come!”
A. This is a MARVELLOUS VERSE on the COOPERATION between the Spirit and the “Bride” (the church of Jesus Christ) in inviting lost sinners to come and drink from Christ and find life… BOTH the Spirit and the Church are instrumental in bringing them in
1. The Spirit calls sinners to Come, and the Bride calls sinners to Come!
2. Even those who are thirsty and are coming and drinking are inviting other thirsty people to come to the waters and drink!
B. The Spirit Says Come Generally
1. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity
2. The Holy Spirit inspired the scriptures in which is the gospel
Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Romans 3:21-24 a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
So, the Holy Spirit wrote the Old Testament through the prophets… and he also wrote the New Testament through the apostles
3. The Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world to complete the redemptive plan of God
a. Without the powerful working of the Spirit, not one single person would ever be saved
b. Jesus’ atoning work would actually save no one
c. The blood of Christ has to be APPLIED by the Spirit
4. By the Spirit, the gospel goes out into all the world
5. By the Spirit, the CHURCH also is moved to preach the gospel
Acts 1:8 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Spirit COMPELS Christians to go out and witness
Like Paul:
Acts 20:22-24 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there…. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me– the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
Do you have a COMPULSION of the Spirit to share the gospel with lost people? If not, you need to plead with him to give you one!
C. The Bride Says Come Generally
1. The bride is the CHURCH… the followers of Christ
2. The Spirit AND the Bride say COME to all the lost people… it is a JOINT EFFORT
John 15:26-27 “When the Counselor comes… the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
3. We are to preach the gospel to anyone and everyone… we are to preach it indiscriminately, because we CANNOT TELL who is elect and who will eventually respond favorably to the gospel
Adoniram Judson was called to be a missionary to Burma… he eventually was instrumental in leading thousands of Burmese to faith in Christ, either directly or indirectly
But he was not always effective… in one town, he gave out over 500 gospel tracts and only one person came to faith in Christ!
4. Our job is to share Christ with as many people as we can… to keep sharing the gospel, no matter how many or how few respond
5. The Bride says “Come” by evangelism… by sharing the gospel with lost people
6. NOTICE that the future laborers for the harvest field are those who were at one time PART of the harvest field
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!”
D. The Spirit Says Come Effectively
1. The Spirit gives a general call to the entire world in the Bible
2. The Spirit moves Christians to give a general call to specific people at a specific time, sharing the gospel
3. But then the REAL WORK of conversion happens… the Spirit speaks truth into the heart of sinners and transforms them
John 3:6-8 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
4. This is the doctrine of EFFECTUAL CALLING… what some have called IRRESISTABLE GRACE; everyone drawn by God through the Holy Spirit will most certainly come to Christ
E. Whoever WISHES May Come
Revelation 22:17 Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
1. This text, like many others, speaks of anyone who WISHES to drink of the water of life may come and drink
2. The free gift of the water of life is indeed ETERNALLY SATISFYING… it is open to anyone who wants it
3. But Satan, the god of this age, has so powerfully blinded and deceived people that they cannot see how delightful and desirable the water of Christ is
2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
4. NO ONE WILL NATURALLY WISH TO DRINK THIS WATER
5. The Spirit alone can HEAL this!
F. Whoever the Father Draws WILL COME
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
See!! If the Father doesn’t draw sinners, they will NEVER COME!
BUT… if the Father DOES draw by the Spirit, they will most certainly come
John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me
The doctrine of effectual calling, or irresistible grace
The Spirit makes sinners willing by healing their hearts and making them see their true need for Christ… 100% effective!
G. The Marvelous Cooperation Necessary for the Spread of the Gospel
1. The Spirit AND the Bride are both essential to the calling of thirsty sinners to Christ
Romans 10:13-15 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
III. Let Christ Make you a Fisher of People
A. Christ’s Command: Follow Me
Matthew 4:19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
B. Understanding God’s Sovereignty
1. We’ve already noted it above… the HOLY SPIRIT alone can raise a spiritually dead person to faith in Christ
2. The Father DRAWS sinners to faith in Christ by the Spirit… without that, no one will come to Christ
C. Understanding Our Responsibility
1. God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation
2. Without human messengers of the gospel, we cannot assume anyone will be saved… as we saw in Romans 10… how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
3. Who knows that God has prepared you specifically to be a witness to a co-worker or neighbor… “for such a time as this”?
D. Understanding the Gospel Message
Will Metzger, Intro to Tell the Truth: “Picture this: a runner in ancient Greece arrives exhausted before the emperor. Gasping, he blurts out, ‘My lord, I was given an urgent message, but… I am afraid I have forgotten what it was!’”
Metzger: “Without grace-filled, God-centeredness, evangelism will evolve into nice people being nice to other people in the hopes that they will be nice to God… a compromised gospel with a mild God who exists to benefit me.”
1. God-Man-Christ-Response
The same prayer for Parkside as for FBC:
Prayer: “We are asking God for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit resulting in a durable culture of evangelism as demonstrated by persistent patterns of creative outreach and courageous witness to the lost around us, leading to MANY CONVERSIONS!”
So, dear brothers and sisters of Parkside Baptist Church, let this final invitation from God to the human race be also your clarion call in your mission for the glory of God and the benefit of sinners
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
Turn in your Bibles to Revelation 22, the text you just heard. Just going to focus on one verse, verse 17, this morning. Obviously, this is a very special and sacred Sunday, the first service in this building for brand new church, Parkside Baptist Church. I’m very privileged to be here with you today. It’s a consummation of several years of dedicated effort, both by the core team here at Parkside and the sending church, the elders at the sending church, and indeed, all of the members at First Baptist Church. As we come to this time, and I mentioned it a week ago as I was preaching, there must be, of course, a good deal of mixed emotions, a sense of joy, but also a sense of sorrow at the end of an era. And that makes sense. Many, many times, I’ve had, over the 25 years at FBC, to say goodbye to dear brothers and sisters who have moved to another part of the country who are not able to continue at FBC. And there’s some tears at that time.
And I think it should always be difficult to leave a local church, it should be difficult both ways and it is difficult to send you and to say goodbye, but it’s also joyful too because we know that God is in it. Moses said in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” So, it’s important for us to realize our time here on Earth is limited. Days are numbered and they are brief. He also said in that same Psalm, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations” (Psalm 90:1). I wonder often what it must have been like for Moses, especially over those 40 years, when they didn’t go into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. And they had to turn back, not through any fault of Moses. And he had to walk with that rebellious people for those 40 years, and in the end, he didn’t even physically go into the promised land. I wonder what it would’ve been like for him, 20 years in, to be there and it’s like, “Is this what that was all about?”
But he felt acutely, “Lord, you are our dwelling place.” Even if we were to cross the Jordan and go into that beautiful land, that’s not our dwelling place. And so, I think we have a sense, very acutely, of what the author to Hebrews said in Hebrews 11, that we are aliens and strangers in this world. Says there, all these people were still living by faith when they died, they did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. And it says they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one, and therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them.
So, Parkside Baptist Church is not your final home any more than FBC was. For all of us in this present age, we are pilgrims. We are passing through and all local churches are way stations along the way. Like in the classic allegory of the Christian life, Pilgrim’s Progress, there are certain way stations whereby the Pilgrims can get refreshed and renewed. It could be the Interpreter’s house or House Beautiful or something along the way, but it’s not where they were going. It wasn’t the Celestial City. It was just meant to be a colony of heaven, to some degree, where they can renew their strength. So as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
So, the best thing we can do, as we’re making this pilgrimage, as we’re on this journey, is to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. So, we fix our eyes on Jesus. And that we can only do by faith, by the ministry of the word. Not only that, but we fix our eyes on that glorious destination to which we are heading. We fix our eyes on the new heaven and new earth. We fix our eyes on the new Jerusalem. And I don’t think there’s any passage of scripture better for doing that than Revelation 21 and 22. And how much I would delight to walk through those chapters with you, but I have a stopwatch here and I have a certain focused amount of time.
And so, Lord, teach the preacher to number his minutes that he may gain a heart of wisdom. It’s only so much time we have. But Revelation 21 and 22 gives us some insights we don’t have anywhere else in scripture. But it culminates in this one verse, verse 17, I want to focus your attention on today. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes let him take the free gift of the water of life.” I chose that one verse to preach on because it represents the centrality of our calling here in the Triangle region. It is why FBC decided to plant a church to begin with. So, this morning we’re going to immerse ourselves in the marvelous mysteries of the gospel call, specifically of evangelism, of calling thirsty sinners to drink deeply from Christ.
Every single day, we are surrounded in this region by unsaved people. Raleigh-Durham area, Chapel Hill area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country. People are pouring in here because of the job opportunities in the RTP. Or the medical situation in the hospitals that are here, excellent medical care, the mild winters, many other attractions. People like living here, they want to live here. But many of those that are moving in here know nothing about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They don’t know what life is really about, and they don’t understand their danger. They don’t understand that they’re walking around every day under the wrath of God. And that Romans 2 tells us that they are outside of Christ, storing up wrath every day, more and more wrath every day. They don’t know that. They are desperately seeking something; they’re seeking some meaning, some purpose.
They are thirsty for something, but they’re drinking from the wrong cup. They’re drinking from a cup of poison, trying to find joy and pleasure and satisfaction from worldly things. And they’re just going to end up empty in the end. So, we are left here in this region, not by accident, by a sovereign God who providentially put you here, put us at FBC, to testify to those people concerning this incredible river of the water of life and this drinking that we can do from Christ. It reminds me of Isaiah 55:1-2, where it says, “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” What a beautiful passage that is, inviting hungry people to come eat, thirsty people to come drink without money and without cost.
So, Parkside Baptist Church, like FBC, is positioned to reach hundreds and hundreds of people every year with the gospel. And to see many, many more baptized and then trained up in the faith and sent out themselves as messengers of the same gospel that saved them. Both of these churches need to embrace the open door of opportunity that God has set before us. We need to train ourselves in the word and in the life of the Spirit, following his leadership by the power of the Spirit to do this. So, this sermon is about the responsibility we have as evangelists, our cooperation with the Holy Spirit of God in that.
Now, as we come to Revelation 22:17, we come to God’s final invitation. We come to the end of the Bible. This is God’s final invitation to sinners to find salvation in Christ. And as I read it, I can’t help but think about the parable Jesus told about the king who wanted to prepare a wedding banquet for his son. Matthew 22:3-5:
And he sent servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I’ve prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready, come to the wedding banquet.” But they paid no attention and went off, one to his field and other to his business.
God has been beckoning people in every generation for centuries to come and feast at his banquet table, to come and drink of the water of life, but they are ignoring. Now, this reminds me in a kind of an opposite sort of way of a story I read a number of years ago, you probably heard of it. Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story called The Little Match Girl. And it’s about a poor, barefoot girl in an urban setting who sells matches in the streets of the city. She’s freezing to death. But as she’s out in the street, she lights every one of her matches, one after the other and looks at the glow. And in the glow, she imagines herself at a feast at a rich merchant’s house where there’s steaming roast goose stuffed with apples and dried plums. And there’s warmth there, and there’s twinkling lights of the decorated Christmas tree. But it’s all in her imagination as she looks at the flickering match until it goes out, and then she lights the next one.
And well, the story has a tragic ending, so we’ll just go ahead from that, but it’s all in her imagination. But this is the opposite situation. The tragic figure to some degree in this, not ultimately, but within the story, is the king who spread a banquet, and nobody wanted to come. Nobody wanted to come eat of his food or drink of his drink. They didn’t want him; they didn’t want the feast.
In another version of this, in Luke 14:18-20, it talks about these individuals that are invited. It says, “They all began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I’ve just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please, excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I just bought five yoke of oxen and I’m on my way to try them out. Please, excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married so I can’t come.'” So, unlike the little match girl who’s desperate to come in and be warm and to feast, here, it’s the king who’s spreading an incredible banquet, and no one wants it. No one’s interested in it. So, the king is determined to send more and more messengers to compel people to come. “Go out in the roads in the country lanes,” Luke 14:23, “and compel them to come in so that my house will be full.” He wants a full house, people feasting. And so I picture this, God standing, day after day, arms extended, beckoning to people. As he says in Romans 10:21, “All day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
Now as I think about their situation, because I was one of them for a number of years until my junior year in college. I wasn’t interested. I think about their situation. I wonder if some of them always feel like there’s going to be more time. They’ll have plenty of time for that. They see the steadiness of God’s gracious invitation day after day, year after year. They drive by churches like Parkside or like FBC, parking lots are full. It seems like there’s a lot going on there. They can always go there when they want, when the time is right in their lives, they think. The churches will always be there, and they’re always welcoming people in. They always feel like there’s going to be plenty of time. But there does come a time when it’s all over, that that last invitation will be extended. And that’s true of every individual who dies suddenly, and there’s no further opportunity.
John Bunyan preached a sermon entitled A Few Sighs from Hell. And it’s based on Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus and also the parable of the rich fool. And remember with the rich fool who had a bumper crop and wants to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. And he has this mentality, he says to his own soul, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you.” Not requested, demanded. When that demand comes, you cannot refuse. This very night is your last night on earth. Well, Bunyan said this about that, “That man, instead of thinking about death, thought about how he might make his barns bigger.” Any chance there’s some of that going on here in the RTP? Bigger barns, more prosperity, more success? But Bunyan says, “In the midst of his business in the world, he lost his soul before he was aware, supposing that death would be many years off.”
But God said unto him, “You fool, you trouble yourself about the things of this life. You put off the thoughts of departing this world when this night your soul shall be taken from you. And hence it is again that you have some in your towns and cities that are so suddenly taken away, some from visiting their ale houses, others from frequenting the whore houses, others from playing and gaming, others from the cares and covetous desires after this world, unlooked for as by themselves or their companions. Then suddenly, it is all over. It all comes to an end. And we can well imagine one of the groans, the sighs, the laments that will come from hell from the many damned people: I always thought I would have more time. I always thought I would have one more chance. I always figured that I would be able to time it, that when I had my last chance to hear the invitation to the free gift in grace, the grace of Christ, I would then seize it. Time it just right.
At some point in human history, some gospel preacher will stand on this earth and preach the gospel one last time.
This, Revelation 22:17, is God’s last invitation in the Bible. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” At some point in their lifetime, every sinner will hear the gospel invitation for the last time. For that person, that was the last chance. And so it is, generally, in human history. At some point in human history, some gospel preacher will stand on this earth and preach the gospel one last time. And for the human race, that will be it. That will be the end, and Christ will come. The question is for us, how shall we redeem the time between now and that moment? We don’t know how much longer we have, do we?
It says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “‘In the time of my favor, I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you.’ I tell you, now, is the time of God’s favor; now, is the day of salvation.” So, the invitation comes out, but what is it an invitation to do? Look again at the verse. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” I can’t help but think of the beginning of this chapter in Revelation 22:1-2, it says,
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. And on each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree of the healing of the nations.
The river of the water of life flowing from the throne, that’s what sinners are being invited to come and drink from. To come and be refreshed, to come and drink and live.
So, what about you? Are you thirsty? Has sin left you parched like you’re crawling in a desert? Come to Christ and drink.
Now, to come to Christ, and to drink from Christ, they’re all just metaphors for believing in Christ for the salvation of your soul. Jesus said plainly in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” So, there’s that beautiful parallelism to come to him equals to believe in him. To eat from him and to drink from him are the same thing. If you eat from him, you’ll never be hungry. And if you drink, you’ll never be thirsty, that’s the invitation. Now, the text says the Spirit and the Bride both say come. So, this is a marvelous verse on the cooperation between the Holy Spirit of God and the people of God, the church.
So, the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and the Bride is revealed plainly in Revelation 21 as the church. The Bride of Christ is the church completed and perfected there in Revelation 21. Now, here the Spirit and the Bride are inviting lost sinners to come and drink from Christ and to find life. So, both the Spirit and the Bride are instrumental in this invitation. The Spirit calls sinners to come, and the Bride calls sinners to come. Even those who are thirsty and coming and drinking are then involved inviting other thirsty sinners to come and drink as well, which is a beautiful thing.
So first, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity says come, generally, or universally. And he does this by inspiring the scriptures and putting the Bible out there for the world to read. And in the scripture, the centerpiece of the scripture is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. The truths of the gospel are written for the entire world to read, they are unchanging in the word of God. And the Holy Spirit did that. Jesus said very plainly that the counselor, the Spirit, would come and would bring to mind, to the apostles’ mind all the things that Jesus said. So that we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have the Gospels, the record of Jesus’s life and his death and his resurrection.
The Spirit saw to it that we have a written record that will never change. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will never pass away. And so, the Holy Spirit says in the pages of the scripture, come to Christ, generally. And at the center of that call is the gospel, and the center of the gospel, Romans 3:21-24 says,
Now a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified, (forgiven, made righteous), justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
That’s the centerpiece of the gospel.
Without the powerful activity and the workings of the Spirit of God, the blood that Christ shed on the cross would’ve been ineffective for saving anybody.
So, the Holy Spirit wrote the Old Testament. The law and the prophets testified to the gospel. And then, the Holy Spirit saw to it that the New Testament would be written. And so, we have the 66 books of the Bible. Then the Father and the Son sent the Spirit into the world to complete the redemptive plan of God. Without the powerful activity and the workings of the Spirit of God, the blood that Christ shed on the cross would’ve been ineffective for saving anybody. The Spirit’s work in applying the blood to individual sinners is every bit as vital as Jesus’ blood having been shed once for all for sin. And so that activity together, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit save sinners. And so, the Spirit says, “Come.” And by the Spirit, the gospel goes out into the whole world. And by the Spirit, the church is moved to preach the gospel. You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Now, the Spirit comes on us and compels us to say, “Come and drink.” The Spirit puts a compulsion on us. The apostle Paul talked about this in Acts 20:22-24. He said,
And now compelled by the Spirit, I’m going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Spirit testifies that prison and hardships are waiting for me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
That is a compulsion of the Spirit that he puts on the servants of God to take the Gospel out. To say, come and drink. The question is you have to ask yourself, all of us do, do I have that compulsion? Am I compelled by the Spirit to say, “Come and drink of Christ?” And if not, plead God for it. And not just for yourself, but for the other members of Parkside Baptist.
I would say evangelism, winning lost souls to faith in Christ, not merely transfer growth where you’re taking other Christians in, and we do that at FBC, and you will too. But what we delight in is people who are unchurched, they were lost. And they meet someone from Parkside Baptist. They have a conversation, and they’re drawn in. And they come to faith in Christ and they’re baptized. And that’s fantastic. Can’t wait, Wes, to see you use that baptismal tank. What is it, it’s like a feeding thing for… Where is it, back then? It’s kind of exciting. But wherever it is, that is joyful and a thrill when the Holy Spirit works in us, and we see that kind of fruit.
Now beyond that, the Bride says, “Come.” The Bride is the church. And the Spirit and the Bride together testify to lost people. As Jesus said would happened in John 15:26 and 27. He said, “When the counselor comes, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me and you also must testify,” he said to the apostles, “for you have been with me from the beginning.” And then one step removed from them, we are in the same relationship. The Holy Spirit is testifying to Jesus, and we also must testify. It’s our time now. The apostles have all died. They’re up in heaven. They’re absent from the body, present with the Lord. Their work is done. Our task in this great relay race of missions and evangelism is to say, “Come,” in the Spirit of Christ. So, we are to preach the gospel to anyone and everyone that we meet.
We don’t try to guess who the unconverted elect are. We do believe in unconverted elect. We think that that’s how it’s effective. We just don’t know who they are. They don’t have Es on their forehead. “I am unconverted elect. Talk to me.” So, we share with anybody and everybody we say, generally, “Come,” and we are willing to put up with a lot of reversals and a lot of defeats. We don’t give up.
Adoniram Judson, a missionary to Burma was there for seven years before the first convert. My favorite Judson story, though, was he went to a particular locality there in Burma and passed out 500 gospel tracts. And saw one conversion. Now, what kind of character does it take to put up with that much apparent failure? Now, I’m not saying that none of those 500 are in heaven now, but that one effort did not produce any major feedback loop of fruit. He was just faithful. His task was to get the word out and he did. He was faithful. So, our job is to share Christ with as many people as we can, to keep sharing the gospel no matter how many or how few respond. And so, the Bride says, “Come,” by evangelism, by sharing the gospel. Notice, as I mentioned, that future laborers for the harvest field are those who are at one time part of the harvest field. Look at verse 17 again. “The Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let him who hears say, ‘Come.'”
The ones that are hearing, and they’re coming and drinking, they get to go say, “Hey, you should come too.” And that’s often just practically one of the most powerful times that people do evangelism is when they themselves are recently converted. And they’ve got a bunch of non-Christian friends, and they want to share how much they have been refreshed by Christ. So, the Spirit and the Bride say, come, generally, and we get the word out. But the Spirit has a unique role we don’t have, and he’s able to say, “Come,” sovereignly and effectively to the unconverted elect. At the moment of conversion, he’s able to take out that heart of stone and give the heart of flesh. He’s able to cause new birth to happen, something we cannot do.
Jesus talked about it to Nicodemus. And he said, John 3:6-8, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases.” The wind is the Spirit. The Spirit goes where he sovereignly wills in conjunction with the will and decree of Almighty God from before the foundation of the world, which he knows well. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). This is the doctrine of effectual calling or irresistible grace, what some people call irresistible grace. Everyone drawn by God through the Holy Spirit will most certainly come to Christ. And it says, “Whoever wishes may come,” verse 17, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come and whoever wishes or desires or wills for it, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Now, this text, like many others, speaks of whoever wishes, whoever wills to drink, may come and drink freely. The free gift of the water of life is indeed eternally satisfying. But tragically, Satan, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they can’t see how delicious this water is. They think it’s poison to the pleasure-filled life they want to live. And so, they’re deceived about the water. No one will naturally desire or will or yearn to come and drink this water. They will only do so supernaturally when a work of sovereign healing has happened in their hearts and minds and in their tastes where they finally want to drink the river of the water of life. And so, the Spirit alone can do this. And he’s effective. Whoever he works on, they come.
And so, Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up at the last day.” So, if the Father doesn’t draw you, you can’t come. But he said earlier in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me, will come to me.” So, if the Father draws you, you’re coming. And he does that by the sovereign working of the Spirit of Christ. So, the Spirit makes sinners willing by healing their hearts and making them see their need, and also, how delicious the water is. Now, this mystical, marvelous cooperation between the Spirit and the Bride is a beautiful thing. It’s been going on for 20 centuries. And it is incredible that God has entrusted to people like us the ministry of reconciliation. But it says very plainly in Romans 10:13-15,
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they’re sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
So, let Christ make you a fisher of men. Let Christ make you a fisher of other people. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I’ll make you fisher of men.” Understand God’s sovereignty. The Spirit alone can rise a spiritually dead person to faith in Christ. The Father alone can draw sinners to faith in Christ by the Spirit. Our task is to be so evidently delighted in the water we’re drinking and to talk about how delicious and how wonderful it is, how satisfying it is to know Jesus.
There is nothing greater in my life than knowing Jesus my Savior. As I memorize scriptures, as I go through Mark, I go through Luke, I feel like I’m in the boat when he stilled the storm. I feel like I am there with the healings when he drove out the demons, when he dealt with that woman with that bleeding problem for 12 years so tenderly and lovingly, I feel like I’m there. And boy, I just want to know him. I want to know him. I want to be with him. He’s already been delicious to my soul, and he will continue to be. And it’s my job to just share that with lost people and to say how marvelous and how wonderful a Savior he is. It’s our task, therefore, to be responsible for this generation of lost people, to be responsible for those near us geographically to say, come and drink. It’s our task also to make sure we understand the gospel message.
Will Metzger, in his introduction to Tell the Truth, said this: “Picture a runner in ancient Greece arriving exhausted before the emperor, gasping, he blurts out, ‘My Lord, I was given an urgent message, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten what it is.'” Wow. We need to know what the message is, what the gospel message is. Metzger said this: “Without grace-filled God-centeredness, evangelism will evolve into nice people being nice to other people in the hopes that they will be nice to God.” That is a compromised gospel with a mild God who exists to benefit me and say, “Eat, drink, and be merry” to me. Well, that’s not the gospel.
The gospel is God, man, Christ, response. God created the universe by the word of his power, runs it as he sees fit, has given us laws that he expects and demands that we follow.
He created us in his image for a relationship with him, a love relationship with him. But we have violated his laws and broken them. We have been rebels against his kingship.
And though we deserve condemnation and hell, God, in his grace and mercy, sent his son who lived a sinless life, died an atoning death and rose again physically from the dead. And now, repentance and faith in his name is being preached so that if you repent and believe, your sins will be forgiven.
That’s the gospel. That’s the gospel. Our task, Parkside Baptist Church’s task, FBC’s task is to take that gospel to lost people. The Spirit and the Bride say, come.
And we are praying, as we’ve been praying at FBC, and now also you all will pray for: an outpouring of the Holy Spirit resulting in a durable culture of evangelism as demonstrated by persistent patterns of creative outreach and courageous witness to the lost around us, leading to many conversions. That’s what we prayed all summer long at FBC. It’s a good prayer for Parkside. I would commend it. You guys can do what you want, but I like that prayer. And so, keep praying for a culture of evangelism where the members take seriously their task to say these things. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Close with me in prayer.
Lord, what a special day this is. And I thank you for these dear brothers and sisters who are precious to me. I pray that you would help us while we live. Our time here on earth is short. Help us to be faithful, to invite thirsty sinners to drink freely of the river of the water of life and find eternal salvation in Christ. In his name, we pray.
