By Gipsy Smith
Rev. 22:17 -- "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
There is a garden in the first chapter of the Bible and it was lost. But you get a bigger one in the last. You get a bit of a trickle of a stream in the first book, but you have a mighty river in the last chapter. You get fruit and a tree in the first garden, but in the last you have a tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. There is a great deal more in the last, in Jesus Christ, than was ever lost in the first.
"And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads."
I wonder if you carry His name in your forehead. I wonder if your face shows that you live the life of a Christian. I wonder if the people who know you say of you, "She is a Christian woman." "He is a Christian man." "She is a saint." "He is a saint." "That is a God-like man." "That is a God-like woman." They stand for the things of God, and "His name shall be in their foreheads."
"I am the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." If He had only said that, we wouldn't know how to reach Him, but He said, "I am the offspring of David."
You have seen an old tree cut down clear to the roots, and then have seen grow up from it little tender shoots. "I am the root and offspring of David." And you can approach God, the Infinite, through the root and offspring of David -- Jesus. God has stooped to your need and mine by making it possible to know Him through His Son, Christ, and when Jesus saw that His disciples were overcome with the mystery of that thought, when He saw it was more than they could bear, He said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
In coming to Jesus, you come to God. In understanding Jesus, we understand God. We only understand God through Jesus. No man can come to the Father, except through the Son.
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."
So if you have found Him, what is your business? If you have come into contact with Him, what is your business?
If you have discovered the grace of God, what is your business? If you have felt His healing touch, what is your business? What is next? You enjoy the happiness of a Christian, what next? Do you just fondle and nurse yourself and sing to yourself and talk about the sweet by-and-by and thank God you are not as other men? And what comes after? Is there nothing more to be done? Is that the program of the Christian life?
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come." Jesus has gone back to glory, but the Church has to function. What is the function of the Church? It is her business to find every lost man and woman, and to make them know that Jesus Christ has made possible their salvation, and longs for them to come to Him and accept the offers of love and the privilege of saving grace. And the Church absolutely fails which does not see and feel the passion which compels its individual members to carry out this divine program.
Saving the world is the function of the Church and her everlasting cry should be in the music of the words of the text, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." That is the Church's business: not to please ourselves, not to nurse ourselves, not to take our ease and live in contentment.
When you sing, "Throw out the lifeline," you have got to be ready to make room for another one in the boat. It seems to have been largely forgotten that the business of the Church of God is to say "Come."
The charm of the Salvation Army today is that they are always on the job. Their arm is always ready to stretch out to the helpless. Why aren't we on the job? We were there before they were, you know.
The poor man in the street, the poor woman in the street! I am going to make a statement. If a poor drunkard or fallen woman would wake up to a sense of their lost condition and feel a longing desire to climb up out of the slough of despond into which they had fallen, and, conscious of their own helplessness, knew in spite of their desire to get back to God that they must have human help and human sympathy, somebody upon whom they could lean, who would stand by them and brother and mother them, to whom would they go? Would they knock at your door? You church-members, would they come to your church, which is nearly always closed? I ask again, where would they go? In nine times out of ten, such persons with such longings would go to the Salvation Army.
Which means the poor sinner has faith in the Salvation Army and hasn't much faith in us.
Now then, if we are to save those people we must win back their confidence and respect. In other words, the Church of God must sound out the invitation of the cross. "Whosoever will may come." And must do it in such a way that the passion rings out in reality in every syllable of every word.
And if one poor woman comes up to you, woman of the Church, and says, "You are a sister woman, but you are a member of the Church, will you help me to a better life?" Would you do it? But they don't come to you. You know they don't. They are not going to you business men either. They don't expect help from you.
And the men and women (the down and outers, as you call them) ought to be able to say, "The Church of God in this city wilt help me when I want to get out of the slough." The churches will have to say "Come" a little louder.
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come." Have you said "Come" to anybody this morning? Have you been and knocked at anybody's door this morning and said, "I am praying for your soul. You must come to Jesus."
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come." And you are standing as the representative of Jesus Christ. Are you functioning? Has anybody heard the great message from your lips? It is not necessary that you should be able to preach. It doesn't require a preacher to say, "Come." Don't forget that.
Nobody knows the name of the man who pointed C. H. Spurgeon to Jesus, but the world has heard of Spurgeon, the great London preacher. On that snowy Sunday morning, on his way to church, the snow fell so heavily that he turned into the little church nearest to his home instead of going to his own church. The same storm was so heavy that it prevented the preacher from coming, and the few people who had gathered chose one of their own number to take the pulpit; the good brother was no preacher but he gave out a text and the text was, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." The preacher quoted his text two or three times, then, looking around and seeing a strange young man under the gallery, said, "Young man, you look and you will be saved." And Spurgeon looked and was saved, and in after years, referring to it, said, "I looked on Him and He looked on me and we were one forever."
Sin came into the world through a look and sin is going out the same way. Anybody can say "Look" and anybody can say "Come." If the Come is in your heart, it will find a way to your lips.
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come."
You have said, Come to the Jazz. You have said, Come to the Dance. You have said, Come and play cards. Have you ever said, "Come and let's talk about Jesus together"? Have you society women ever said anything like that? If you have not, what have you done for your city and for your Saviour? Let him that heareth say come, and don't say you can't, because you can; and if it is in your soul you will say it. You can't keep it in if you are full of the grace of God.
If you are a Christian, you will want to say the word Come. You can't help yourself. I pray God this morning that word will begin to enter into your heart and before the day is-over you can go out and say to someone, "Jesus loves you, Come."
In these days when showers of blessing are falling all about you, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Make possible the meeting of Christ, your Lord, with those you love. Invite them to meet one another, and if you are anxious for your loved ones to become acquainted with the saving grace of Jesus Christ, do your utmost to bring about the friendship.
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst come." Brother, are you thirsty?
"I heard the voice of Jesus say,
'Behold, I freely give
The Living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live!'"
I know this is true because:
"I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him."
Listen a moment, poor thirsty one. Put God's cup of living water to the lips of your parched spirit, and drink freely just now.
Whosoever! That means you! When Jesus said "Whosoever," He included you and me; He means us all.
Let the application of this morning's service be this: Go and say come to somebody before the night's service. Go and call on somebody and say "Come." Talk over the telephone, speak to somebody for Jesus Christ. Write a letter to somebody today; make somebody's poor burdened heart lighter because they know somebody cares.
I awoke this morning, oh, so homesick, so lonesome. I would have given all I have in the world to have felt the hand of somebody and I am only a man. There are other people who feel like that. In the midst of a crowd they can be hungry and lonesome, and you and I have the key that will fit the lock of their hearts for Jesus Christ. Let us tell the world about Him.
Oh, Jesus, teach us how to tell about the gladness you will bring. Amen!
