God's Final Invitation to Man, Part 1

Revelation chapter 22. We are at the end of this great book. We've looked at the end of the beginning and we've taken you to the beginning. The end. That is what we have titled the book of Revelation as we have come to understand what the end of the world is going to look like. What are the events that are going to take place? And then, what will be the beginning of the end? What is the beginning of the eternal state? And how will we end our lives in glory with the Lord Jesus Christ? When we come to Revelation chapter 22, all the voices have spoken.

All the angels have done what they've been commanded to do. All the messages have been given. All the sermons have been preached. There's nothing else left to do but to offer an invitation. And so, God, in the end of this great book, which is at the end of the Bible, gives an invitation, an invitation to man to come to him. A fitting way to close the Bible as well as this great book. This invitation demands a response. Our Lord's final call as he implores people, as he pleads with people to receive the gift.

Of eternal life. The heart of this text is a very clear invitation to come. To him. Let me read it for you.

Revelation 22, verse number 13, down to verse number 21. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they might have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside of the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. Let the one who hears say, Come. Let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming qu. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus with all.

Amen. That's the invitation. God gives it to us. Tonight and next week, we want to cover it for you as we conclude our study in the book of Revelation by looking at number one, the invitation, and number two, the incentives behind that invitation.

What would cause someone to respond to the invitation that God is giving? God gives us five of them. Those five incentives help us understand why man needs to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Our Lord. Tonight, though, we want to begin with the invitation and look at it in three ways.

Number one, the distinction, number two, its extension, and number three, its appropriation. The invitation is given in verse number 17. That invitation is surrounded with five different inc. But the heart of the text is in verse number 17. And the first thing you need to note is the distinction in the invitation.

There's a distinction because the Spirit and the bride say, Come. That's important. And then it says, Let the one who hears say, come. And then it says, and let the one who is thirsty come. You must note the distinction to understand the invitation. The first part of the verse is a prayer addressed to God.

It's a plea for the Savior him to come. The Spirit and the bride are pleading. For the Savior to come. The second part of the verse is a plea for the sinner to come to Christ.

So that that sinner might join in on the chorus, Come Lord Jesus. You'll notice that in verse number 7 of Revelation 22, it says, And behold, I am coming quickly.

Then in verse number 12, Behold, I am coming quickly. Then down in verse number 20, yes. I am coming quickly. So, in response to that, the Spirit and the bride say, Come. Lord Jesus. The Spirit and the bride want the Lord Jesus to come. And they want those who are listening, those who are hearing. To also respond that they too may join in in the Course and say, Come, Lord Jesus. Now the question comes: why does the Spirit say, come, Lord Jesus? Why does the Spirit want Christ to come? Simply this.

The Spirit throughout the history of man has been involved in leading man to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the one who operates in the hearts and minds of men and draws them to God Himself. And yet, throughout the history of the world, the Spirit of God has been rejected, has been mocked. Has been ridiculed, has been denied, has been grieved, has been quenched. And in light of all of that, the S wants Christ to come. The Spirit Himself has been blasphemed, and am the mockings and the ridicule and the rejection.

There is no greater time in all the history where the Spirit of God will be blasphemed, mocked, ridiculed, and scorned than during the tribulational period when man will outright reject the call of God in his life. So by the time you come to the end of the book of Revel, the Spirit's saying, Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. God's people, since the beginning, have long for the Messiah to come and to destroy evil forever. And so the bride joins in. It says, come. The bride wants to obtain total Christ-likeness, immortality.

Eternal riches. So the bride says, Come. Now listen to me very carefully. Notice it doesn't say the Spirit and the Church.

Say, come. The bride is a church, right? Why does it say the Spirit and the bride? Say come. Well, this is good. You're going be glad you came. I hope. Why does it say the bride? Why this church? Remember your wedding day, if you can. If you're a bride, you long for that day, right? From the day you received your engagement ring, and that wonderful man came and knelt beside you and said, Will you be my wife? And you said yes. You anticipated the day that you would be united together. You longed for that day.

You lived for that day. You looked for that day because that was your day. That was his day. That was the great day. There has never been a bride that I know of who doesn't long for that day. Any bride I know can't wait for that day to happen. It is very significant that the Spirit of God Would implore John to write the bride, not the church. Why is that? Listen carefully to what I'm going to say. If you're part of the bride, this is your ultimate joy. This is your ultimate desire. This is what you long for more than anything.

If you don't long for it. Maybe you're not a part of the bride. Remember Matthew 6, verse number 13? Disciples asked Christ, teach us to pray. And what did he say? When you pray, pray this way: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The prayer of the believer is for God's name to be hallowed in your life on earth. as his name is hallowed in heaven for his kingdom to come to earth as his kingdom is in heaven That is how Christ has taught us to pray.

Why? Because the true bride prays for the return of the bridegroom. They can't help but pray for it because they want Jesus to come. Is that what you are? I hope it is. I trust that it is. The spirit and the bride say come. And then there's a change. Let the one who hears, who's that? Let the one who hears say come too. Let the one who hears and responds. In obedience to what has just been written, has just been said, let that one who hears join in on the chorus saying, Come, Lord Jesus. Come. It's the cry.

Of all men, from Genesis chapter 3 to Revelation 22. It's the cry of every true believer: Come, Lord Jesus, come! They're looking for something. They're anticipating something. They want the Lord God to come because that is their supreme joy, their supreme hope. That's what they want more than anything on this earth. If there's one who hears Comes and personally gives his life to Christ, he too will join in and say, Come, Lord Jesus. No unbeliever is going to say, Come, Lord Jesus. The unbeliever doesn't want the Lord Jesus Christ to come.

The believer does. And so the spirit and the bride say, Come. And they invite the one who is listening to come. Then that invitation. Is extended by the S and the bride to the world. The second thing I want you to see is the extension of the invitation.

What's it say? It says this: And let the one who is thirsty come. The invitation is extended to all those who are thirsty. That is, the invitation is extended to all those who have recognized they have a need. Those who are thirsty realize that there's a need that needs to be met. And so the invitation is extended to those who realize they have a need only when the sinner feels a dryness of his soul. And his heart is parched and barren. Is he interested in coming to drink? So the invitation is given.

Let the one who's thirsty come. Let the one who wishes come. Let the one who is weary come. Christ says it's extended to everybody who realizes they have a need.

See, if you don realize you have a need, you're not going to come, right? You're not going to get a drink if you're not thirsty. You're not going to eat a meal if you're not hungry. You're not going to lay down and get rest if you're not weary. But if you recognize you a need, sure enough, you're going to do it. The third thing you want to see is the appropriation.

That's the last part of verse number 17. Take the water of life. Without cost. If you're thirsty, if you're weary, if you're needy, you come and you take the water of life. What's that? That's eternal life. You take it without co. Listen, it's not something that needs to be achieved. It's something that needs to be received. You can't achieve it. You can't merit it. It's a gift. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's a gift.

And Christ says, Whosoever will may come. Over in Isaiah chapter 55, it reads as follows: Hold everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters, and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and with cost. If you're thirsty, come purchase that which you need without any cost. It's free of charge. Take the water of life without cost. There's nothing you can do to get what Christ wants to give to you. You've already recognized you have a need. You know where the supply of that need lies.

And so you run to it. And Christ says, You come. You say, but why should I do that? That's a good question. Because God tells you why. He gives you the incentives. I'm going to tell you why you need to be needy. I'm going tell you why you need to be thirsty and hungry. Why you need to be weary. I'm going tell You why you need to take of the water of life without cost. I'm going tell you why you need to come to me. Here they are. Number one is because of the identity of Christ.

Why do you need to come to Christ? Because of who He is. That's why you need to come. That's the number one reason.

Because of who Jesus Christ Himself is. Listen to what He says up in verse number 13: I am the Alpha and the O, the first and the last, the beginning.

The end. Listen, the reason you respond to an invitation is because of the one who does the inviting. You ever been invited to a wedding? You ever been invited to a party? You ever been invited to a graduation? Have you ever been invited anywhere? Of course you have. What is the criteria by which you accept the invitation? It depends on who's doing the inviting. Right? Sure, it does. If I was to invite you to my house for dinner, you might come. If the president of our country invited you to dinner, you definitely would go.

In fact, you'd for my dinner invitation to be with him. And I wouldn't blame you because I do the same for you. Why? Because of who he is. So Jesus says, the reason you need to come to me Is because I am the root and offspring of David.

That phrase is so important. Paul would tell Timothy over in 2 Timothy 2, verse number 8: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David. So important. The son of David would have a kingdom. The Davidic covenant, 2 Samuel 7, verse number 12, said that there would be a kingdom that would last forever. That one of David's sons would have a kingdom that would never ever end. It wasn't Solomon, Solomon's kingdom ended. Solomon's temple was destroyed. The Herodian temple was built on top of Solomon's temple.

The Herodian temple was destroyed. And that's why the Arabs today do not believe that there was a man named David, nor did he have a son named Solomon, because there's no evidence of Solomon's temple anywhere. But they're wrong because the Herodian temple was built on top of Solomon's temple. And even today, Archaeologically speaking, they are digging up the remains of Solomon's temple. You see, there's going to be a king. His kingdom will last forever, and it wasn't Solomon. It wasn't Josiah, it wasn't Hezekiah, and it wasn't David from the stem of Jesse.

From the root of Jesse, Isaiah 11 tells us there will come one who will rule and reign on this earth forever. And David, or excuse me, Jesse was the father of kings. David, Solomon, Hezekiah. Josiah, but none of them had a kingdom that lasted forever. Only one, the Son of David, who is the Son of God, and whom David himself in Psalm 1 called his Lord. Christ says, I am the root and the offspring of David.

And then he says this. And we're going to close here. He says, the bright morning. Star. Oh man, that's so good. That's so good. Why? Because if you're a star, what are you? You're a hero. You're everybody's hero. If you're a star, man, everybody knows you're a star. In Hollywood, in athletics, man, if you're a star, you're a hero. Everybody worships you. You are it. You are the best athlete. You are the best actress. You're the best actor. You're the best singer. You are the best. You're the man.

You're the woman. You are the best. Christ says, I am the bright and morning star. I'm it. You know why you need to come to me? Because I'm it. I'm everything. I'm the brightest of all. It speaks of his brilliancy. It speaks of the fact that there's nothing that can compare to him. He is the bright m star. He is so bright everyone can see him. And one day everyone will see him. He is so bright that we saw in Revelation 21 that he him lights the new Jerusalem. Because of his brightness, because of his glory.

What was the star that the wise men would follow? The star was the glory of God. The star was God Himself. He always manifests him in light. His glory speaks of his brightness. And that star would come and that star would go. And that star would appear and then it would disappear. And then it would reappear again. And when the shepherds were in the field that night and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, why were they fearful? Because of the brightness of the light. Here it is, it's pitch black.

If you've ever been outside of California, in a place where it's black and you can see the stars at night, you what I saying? Outside of L, it's an amazing thing. In Israel, no lights. nothing out there in the shepherd fields. And there are these shepherds carrying on normal conversation. And all of a sudden, bang out of nowhere comes this bright light and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And the Bible says they were so afraid.

They didn't know what to expect. And the angel would come and speak to them. And what did they do? What anybody would do, they made haste to go to where the angel said the baby would be born. They didn't hesitate. They didn't say, well, let's sleep on this for a while and let's go see this newborn babe. They didn't worry about who was going to take care of the sheep. I'm not even sure they even tended their sheep anymore. They might have just left their sheep where they were and took off to go to Bethlehem to see this one of whom the angel spoke.

The glory of the Lord would shine round about them. That would be the same star that would, its brightness would lead those wise men two years later. To the house in Nazareth where Jesus was in Matthew 24, when Jesus returns. The world is pitch black. The sun is no longer shining. The moon no longer reflects its light. The world is pitch black. And when the Son of Man appears, the Bible says there is a sign.

What is the sign? The sign is the glory of the Lord. And what is the glory of the Lord? The brightness of his holy character as he shows up in a world pitch black. And destroys those who have rebelled against him. Christ says, I am the bright and morning star.

Listen. The morning star is the first star that shines after the darkest part of the night. A the darkest part of the night, the morning star shines, and Christ says, I'm that.

That 's me. When your night is dark, when your night is the bleakest, when your night is the blackest, when your night is so dark you can't see your hand in front of you, guess what? I'm your star. I'm your bright and morning star. I'm going to light up your life. I'm going to turn your life around. That's why Christ says, I am what?

The light. Of the world. I'm the one who guides man. I'm the one who directs man. I'm the one who leads man. It's me. I'm the bright and morning star. I'm gonna be your Hero, I'm going be the great one, and everybody's going to see who I am. That's why you need to come to me. Because when your night is the darkest, when your life is at its worst, when my light shines in you, everything changes. No matter how dark the night of the present world history, the bright morning star tells us that there's a better day coming, a brand new world where all will be joy and peace.

Forever. How can anybody turn down that imitation? But they do. They turn away. And Christ says, if you're thirsty.

If you're hungry, if you're weary, if you're needy, I am. I am the alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end, the first and the last.

I, Jesus, am the root and offspring of David. I am the bright morning st. Why do you come to Christ? Simply because of who he is. He is everything. Let's pray.