God's Invitation to Sinners by Timothy Hille

Text: vs. 17

We have recorded in our text the last invitation in the Bible to sinners from God. Let me lay this home to your hearts with all force at the outset, the Lord is the One who invites sinners to come and be saved from their sins. If you will ever be saved and receive the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, it will be because you hearkened unto the voice of Jesus. “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.” He is the One to whom you must look to be saved from sin, and He is the only Saviour. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” (Acts 4:12 ). It is Jesus and only Jesus who says to sinners, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matt. 11:28 ). There are others spoken of in our text as saying, “Come,” and we shall note who they are in the course of the message; but these are those who speak on Christ’s behalf and at His command. They are His heralds and His mouthpieces, by which He issues His call unto sinners to come and be reconciled unto God by Him. My prayer is that you might heed the call of God even today.

We note three distinct groups mentioned in this verse, the first two being those who send forth the invitation of God, and the latter of the three being those who are bidden. God is still bidding lost men, women, boys, and girls to come and take of the water of life. If that were not so, then His kind of local New Testament missionary Baptist church would no longer be in the world. I do not know how much longer God will extend the invitation to lost sinners. I do not know how much longer the door of mercy will remain open and the message of the gospel of peace be sounded out. There is an urgency in proclaiming the gospel of Christ and inviting sinners to come and be saved, because there is coming a day in the which the door of God’s mercy will be closed and the heavens shall be opened for the pouring out of His wrath upon unrepentant and unbelieving sinners. The invitation is given on this wise: “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” (Heb. 4:7). “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” (II Cor. 6:2). You that linger and put off the things of God for another day, today is the only day of which you have promise from God. Therefore we beseech you that you heed His invitation: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near,” (Isa. 55:6). For the promise is thus from the scriptures, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” (Rom. 10:13 ).

I would therefore that we note the following from the Word of the Lord this morning, and may He be pleased to open hearts that they might attend unto the things spoken of from His Word. First, I would that we should note those who invite. We have already stated that it is none other than God who calls sinners unto Himself, and that you must look to Him and Him alone in order to be saved; but let us note that agency by which He issues His call, namely “the Spirit and the bride”, and “him that heareth”. Secondly, let us take note of the invitation that is given, and we note that it is a simple one – “Come”. Then, let us see those bidden to come, and that they are such as are athirst, not physically, but spiritually. Finally, let us see the gift of God and the manner in which it is given to those who are invited: “whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”

I. Those Who Invite.

The invitation of God to sinners is sounded out today by the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s kind of New Testament church. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” The Holy Spirit is the one who speaks to the hearts of men, women, boys, and girls, convicting them of sin, witnessing to their hearts of the truth of the gospel, and giving them repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus stated concerning the Holy Spirit, “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment,” (John 16:8). The Spirit of God makes the preaching of the gospel effectual to the saving of men’s souls. We speak to men’s ears, but it is the Spirit who speaks to their hearts.

The Spirit of God invites sinners in conjunction with the bride, the local New Testament missionary Baptist church. The church is the body that God has commissioned to spread the gospel and witness to men of the saving grace of God. The bride invites sinners to come to Christ. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned,” (Mark 16:15 ,16). The bride has a message, and that message is “Come!” This church is here for a purpose, and that purpose is to invite you that are lost and on the road to hell to come to Christ and be saved. We are missionary Baptists because God has charged us with proclaiming the invitation (Rom. 10:13 -15). If you ignore the invitation of this church, you are not ignoring the preacher, or the Sunday School teacher, or the members, you are ignoring God who speaks through His kind of church. Jesus said to His kind of church, “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me,” (Luke 10:16 ). The Holy Spirit works in and through the Lord’s churches to witness to sinners of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus to the glory of God (Acts 1:8).

The scriptures also state, “And let him that heareth say, Come.” Those who hear and believe are become ambassadors and messengers themselves of the grace of God. The Lord uses those whom He has saved to invite others to come unto Him (II Cor. 5:18 -20). To the lost I say none other things than I myself have heard: “Come!” I can tell you, if you are here and lost today, that Jesus invites sinners to come because he invited me and I heard His voice. You that are saved, you are to be bearers of this invitation. “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak,” (II Cor. 4:13). We can say none other things than that which we have believed and been assured of by the Holy Spirit, that Jesus is the Son of God, and “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16 ).

II. The Invitation.

Having noticed those who are used of God to proclaim the invitation, let us now note the invitation itself: “Come.” The gospel invitation which is proclaimed to all men is this. God bids sinners to come and be saved, to come to the fountain opened for sin and be cleansed, to come and receive that which He has provided through the shed blood of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.

If anyone shall be saved, then he or she must come to Christ at the invitation of God. “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst,” (John 6:35 ). (Read John 5:39,40.) Those who shall perish are those who will not come to Christ. You cannot stay where you are and be saved, you must come to the Saviour. What is it to come to Christ? It is the same thing as believing on Him, trusting Him as Saviour and Lord, turning from your sins and looking to Jesus for forgiveness and everlasting life. Many will gladly come to church, but this does not save. The church tells people about the One who can and does save, and to whom they must come in order to be saved.

In that God invites sinners to come, He enables them to come. No one can come to Christ except they receive the invitation (John 6:37 ,44,65). There is nothing in a sinner to make him or her come to Christ. He or she can only come by the invitation and effectual call of God. You that are saved would not have come to Christ except that you were invited, and that not only by some person inviting by the preaching of the gospel, but God drawing you and enabling you by His Spirit. David said in the Psalms, “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek,” (Ps. 27:8). God verily uses human means to call men, women, boys, and girls to salvation through belief of the truth; but He makes the call effectual and He speaks to the hearts of sinners, saying, “Come.”

The invitation of God is thus: “Come; for all things are now ready,” (Luke 14:17 ; cf. Matt. 22:1-4). God does not tell sinners to bring anything, for they have nothing He wants. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” (Isa. 64:6). God has provided all that is needed for the sinner to be saved from sin in the sacrifice of His Son and the blood that was shed at Calvary . If you will not come and believe in the shed blood of Jesus, you will die in your sins.

III. Those Bidden.

“And let him that is athirst come.” Note that those who are invited are not those who have but those who have not. God invites those who need, and verily are aware of their need by the working of His Spirit upon them. Those who are athirst are bidden to come and partake of living water, which water, if they drink of it, shall cause them to never thirst again. Jesus said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,” (John 7:37 ,38). Jesus invites those who are thirsting, those who are hungering, those who are weary and fainting because of sin.

Beloved, God invites those who have a need; and yet, except He reveals it to them by the preaching of the Word and the working of the Holy Spirit, they do not even know their own need. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water,” (John 4:10 ). People don’t even know that they need the living water that comes only from the Lord because sin has blinded their eyes and deafened their ears so that they cannot see, nor hear, nor know except that Jesus speak to their heart, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” (Read John 4:14-29.) Jesus showed this woman her need, and then He showed her that He is the One who meets the sinner’s need.

Are you thirsting? You have eaten and drank from the world, and you have hungered and thirsted again. Are you athirst in your soul? Are you parched because of sin? Jesus said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” (Mark 2:17 ). Perhaps you are like the prodigal (Luke 15:16 -20). “Let him that is athirst come.”

IV. The Gift to Those Who Come.

“And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” That which God gives is the water of life, that if a man drink, he shall never thirst again. This is given, not on account of being fit, for no one is fit to drink. This is not given for one’s works or merit, but is given freely to whosoever believeth (Isa. 55:1-3). Salvation is free to all who will believe that Christ died, was buried, and rose again, and will come in repentance and faith to the Lord. There is no exception, but the gift of life is given to “whosoever will” come and take of this water of life. The only thing that stands in your way is your own unbelief ( Rom. 10:8-11). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Rom. 6:23 ).