GOD’S LAST INVITATION
Revelation 22:17
INTRO: God’s great purpose in redemption is very clear. Man is lost in sin. God gave His Son to redeem them, and now He invites everyone to come to Him through Christ and be saved.
God used forty men to write the Bible. John, the beloved apostle, was last. He was in exile on the Isle of Patmos, where God used him to write the Revelation.
Often, on the final night of a revival, when the last stanza of the invitation has been sung, many evangelists will ask to sing one more stanza to give someone just one more chance to be saved. So God says here, “Don’t close the book, John, until once more I can invite sinners to come for salvation. Maybe God is inviting you today. Maybe He is giving you one more opportunity to come to Christ.
I. WHO INVITES THE SINNERS TO COME?
1. The Holy Spirit invites. The first work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart is to convict men of sin and point them to the Lamb of God. It is He who brings about repentance and faith which culminate in our salvation.
When Jesus met Paul on the Damascus Road, He said to Paul, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” What were those pricks? Like a sharp pin pricking the flesh the Holy Spirit has been pricking Paul. You who are unsaved have had these same sharp blows on your conscience.
2. The church of Christ invites. The “bride” invites you. This is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ now on earth. Surely every true church, every branch of the “bride” is calling out sinners. This is the primary mission of the church. More than 7,000 Southern Baptist Churches did not report a single baptism last year! We do many things in and through the church, some of which possibly we ought not to do. But the chief task of the church is to win souls and everything we do should have the winning of souls as its ultimate aim.
3. Every hearer is to invite. “Let him that heareth say, Come.” We sing about the Promised Land and ask the question, “Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for the Promised Land.” Are you going? Are you on the way to heaven? Then tell someone else. You’ll become a happier and stronger Christian.
II. WHO ARE THOSE WHO ARE INVITED?
1. Those who are thirsty are invited. “Let him that is athirst come.” This means everyone who is dissatisfied with life and its pleasures, everyone who is tired of sin, everyone who wants peace in his heart. Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree to see Jesus, was thirsty. The publican who cried out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” was thirsty. The sinful woman at the well was thirsty. And the world is full of thirsty people today. The trouble is that they are trying to quench that thirst at the wells of the world, wells that can never satisfy.
2. “Whosoever will” is invited. This is the same “whosoever will” that we find in John 3:16. It is an invitation extended and salvation offered to anyone and everyone.
3. Those who will to be saved are invited. If in your heart you will to drink of the water of life, you are invited to come.
III. WHAT IS THE INVITE-TION?
1. It is to take the water of life. Christ provides the water. He offers it to you, but it is up to you to take it. When you are desperately ill and the doctor offers you medicine, you take it or you die. When you are sick in sin and the Great Physician offers you the only remedy for sin, you take it or you die.
2. The water is free. “Let him take the water of life freely.” If you have money on this earth you can stay at the best hotels, you can eat the most expensive food, wear the finest clothes, ride in the highest-priced cars and on the largest jet planes. But you can get to heaven without money and without price. God is not trying to sell you anything. He is trying to give you salvation and eternal life.
CONC: Oh, what a Saviour we have! He can save the highest and he can save the lowest. He invites you to come to Him today. I have talked to you about the last invitation in the Bible. It could be the last invitation for you, also. Will you accept it?
