I want to invite your attention
to John chapter 6. I don't usually listen to things
like that, but this morning I turned the TV channel to one of the
religious stations, and there's a fellow on there talking. A
big crowd of people listening so intently, just hanging on
every word, rejoicing, having such a good time. And that fella
never told them anything but a bunch of lies. He said, our
works down here on earth has to do with what kind of clothes
we wear in heaven, what kind of robe we have. And he said,
when you get to heaven, you'll be looking around and the other
saints, you can tell what kind of job they did, whether they
were soul winners or whether they were faithful or unfaithful
and all this stuff. That's just a lie. Fleshly, carnal
lie. If you could see into heaven
right now, you could see Abraham and Rahab the harlot dressed
in the same robe. The great apostle Paul to the
Gentiles, a thief on the cross dressed in the same robe. That's
why we get to heaven, not by what we do. We're dressed in
clothes and go to heaven because of What Christ did, we're clothed
in His righteousness, the garment of salvation. And it's awful
to lie to folks like that. And they just ate it up. Fell
out in Texas. Texas is full of folks like that.
Just lies to folks. John chapter 6, where the Lord, where the Lord spoke during His
ministry, There was usually a division among the people because of what
he said. And oftentimes, when he spoke,
they took up stones to stone him. One time they sought to
lay hands on him and throw him off a cliff. Plunged his death. That's just the way they received
his word. They rejected it. They rejected
it. They'd heard so many lies down
to their lives that it made the Word of God an unaffected. The
Word of God had no power with them. their traditions, their
lives. That's what weighed heavily on
their minds. And poor folks wound up crucifying
the Lord of Glory, the Son of God, and the only Savior. He's here in John chapter 6. He said, I'm the true bread.
They want a miracle so they might believe on Him. They said, God gave Moses bread from heaven. And he said, I beg your pardon,
but I am the true bread from heaven. My father said, man,
I'm the true bread from heaven, except you eat this bread, you
die, you die, you die. And the Jews in verse 41 murmured
at him, murmured at him, because he said, I'm the bread which
came down from heaven. And if I'd have been there, I'd
have murmured too. If a man stood before me and
said, I came down from heaven, I'd have murmured. And I might
have picked up rocks to throw at him. You can only accept this
in your heart by the Holy Ghost. It's not something you receive
naturally. It's a spiritual revelation that
you've seen for who He is. Paul said, had they known it,
who He was, They wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory. But they didn't know. They didn't
have eyes to see and ears to hear. And neither did we until
God gave them. Salvation is of the Lord. And they murmured. They murmured.
Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose Father and Mother
we know? How is it then that He said,
I came down from Heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves,
no use murmuring, complaining, fussing, and fighting, because
no man, no man, how many? None. No man can come to me. Believe on me. That's how you
come, believing. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me drawing, and I'll raise every
one of them up at the last day. The ones I draw, I'll raise up
at the last day. And it is written in the prophets, they shall be all taught of God.
In the book of Isaiah, they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, he
goes running to the Lord Jesus Christ." That's how they're drawn,
they're taught of God. They're given a new nature. They're
given a spiritual understanding. They're taught of God, and they
go running to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to talk to you
about the truth that's revealed here this morning. I don't know
why it's, yeah, I do too, sinner, because sinners, sinful pride,
sinful self-righteousness, and we don't want it to have it told
us that that Spurgeon used to say, we don't want to have it
told us that God don't owe us anything. There's nothing we
can do to cause Him to be in debt to us. He can save us, He
can pass us by, but that's a fact. It's not of Him that willeth,
nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. If
He's pleased to show mercy, it'll be the day of your salvation.
If He isn't, you'll go on as you are. If He's pleased to draw
you, you'll come a skeedaddle into Christ. And if He isn't,
you'll be right where you are when you die, without Christ,
without God, without hope in this world. Our salvation depends
on Christ drawing us, being drawn to Christ by the Father, by the
Holy Spirit. I want to name a few things briefly
this morning, and then we'll get more into this verse right
here. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I raise him up
at the last day. That's spoken twice in these
few verses here in John chapter 6. It is plain and clear. I'm not talking about mysteries
and hard to understand things, but it is plain and clear that
those who hear the gospel preached to them plain and clear that
those who hear the gospel preached to them are invited to come to
the Lord Jesus, come to the gospel, believe the gospel. The word
goes out, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.
I can say that to anybody, anywhere, anytime. If you believe Christ,
you'll be saved. These same Jews here said, tell
us the work of God that we may do it and be accepted and received
of God. He said, this is the work of
God. Believe on His Son whom He sent. Believe on His Son. Christ is set forth in the Scriptures
as our Lord and only Savior, the only Mediator between God
and man. Apart from Him, we cannot be
saved. But there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Believe
on Christ. Believe on Christ. You can tell
that to everybody. And if so, if they believe, they'll
be saved. That's a fact number one. Everybody
who hears the Gospel ought to believe it. This mysterious,
gloriously unique God-man came into this world, sent from the
Father to be the representative substitute and surety of his
people. And he did that job well. He
fulfilled those offices real well. He satisfied God for every
one of them. By one offering, He had perfected
forever those who are sanctified, the elect of God. By one offering,
He perfected them forever. And all is waiting is the Holy
Ghost to bring them the good news of who Christ is and what
He accomplished for them. He is the prophet sent from God,
prophet like in the Moses, and He's also the message. He's the
incarnate word. He's the truth. He's the truth,
the prophet and the message. He's the priest sent from God,
anointed and appointed of God and sent of God. And he himself
is also the sacrifice. He offered himself unto God for
us. And he's the king sent from God
to sit on the throne of David, to call us, to rule over us,
to keep us, and bring us to glory. The Lord is my shepherd. What
a wonderful thought. Because I know who He is. He's
King of glory. He's the Lord of glory. He's
Lord over all. And He's my shepherd. He's my
shepherd. The second thing is this. This
general universal invitation of the gospel not only accompanies
the preaching of the gospel, but sinners also are commanded
If they ever hear it, they're commanded to believe the gospel. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 talks
about those who obey not the gospel. Romans chapter 16 talks
about those who obey not the gospel. This gospel is sent for
our obedience. Sent for our obedience. Not just
to give us a chance to vote on it. This is a message from God
with a mandate from glory. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe the gospel. Believe the gospel. Not to do
so, the Bible said, is to make God a liar. To hear this gospel
and not believe it is to say God's a liar. Pretty serious
business. Pretty serious. Sodom and Gomorrah
rise up in judgment against this generation. They never heard it, but we heard
it and never perceived it. And it is quite evident again
that all who hear the gospel ought to believe it. Why don't
they? All who hear the gospel ought
to believe it. Every one of them. Not to do
so, I said, is to make God a liar. And they ought to believe it
because God cannot lie. God has promised and sworn with
an oath. God cannot lie. Jesus Christ is called faithful
and true. That's part of His name. Faithful
and true. He can't lie. And the Holy Spirit
sends the Word which cannot be broken. We ought to believe it. There's a lot of reasons why
you may not ought to believe me. You might think of a lot
of reasons. There's not one reason you can
come up in your mind why you ought not to believe God. He
never lies. He never deceives. He never plays
games with the souls of men. He said, believe and you'll be
saved. He said, this is the testimony of my testimony concerning my
Son. That's life. That's life. He that hath the
Son hath life. He that believeth on the Son hath life. Believe
God. God's Word is real. It's true. And every man ought to believe
it. Every man who hears it ought to believe it. He cannot lie. And men ought to believe it because
they need a ransom. They know that. All these people
in Africa that offer up, they kill a rooster and sprinkle his
blood around a totem pole, they're offering that to some kind of
God. They know that. They're trying to do something
to appease their God. And men need a ransom. They need
to be redeemed. They need to be forgiven. They
know they're sinners. They need a righteousness to
stand before God. Every man ought to believe the
gospel. Everybody ought to. All the benefits of the gospel
are freely given to all who believe. any and all who believe. Another
thing, it is quite evident that all who hear the gospel may come
to the Lord Jesus Christ for life. May. It requires no physical
strength. It requires no great mental ability. It's not a matter of doing. It's
just believe in God, like I said. Believe God. And we may? What's keeping us
from it? The gospel priest? Christ is
set forth as the suitable, sufficient, satisfying Savior. Why don't
men believe? They may if they would. They
may. No physical strength necessary.
All who hear may come. Coming involves the mind and
the heart. We sang a tune this morning,
some words to the tune, Just As I Am, without one plea, O
Lamb of God, I come. The lady who wrote that song
was named Charlotte Elliott, and she was in a wheelchair.
She couldn't come down to the front. But this is a matter of
the mind and the heart. Faith, believing, not doing,
not moving, believing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. O Lamb
of God, I come. Coming involves the mind and
the heart. It's simply believing and trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we come to it. We
believe Him, we hang on to those words, and we trust Him. We hang
our souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is, and what He
accomplished at Calvary. But the fact of the matter is
that sinful men and women, Christ looked them in the face and said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. You read
the scriptures, you study Moses, you trust in Moses, you say you
love the words of Moses, but Moses wrote about me and you
won't come to me. You will not come. You don't have the desire to
come to me. You don't have the will, the desire, the longing. And there's a parable in Luke
chapter 14, verses 16 through 24, where they're all invited. Go out and invite folks to the
wedding feast. Everything prepared, everything
ready. One old man said, I bought a
farm. I got to go look at it. The other said, I bought a set
of oxen, a yoke of oxen, and I can go try them, test them,
see if any good. You know, it's stupid to buy
a farm without looking at it first. And it's crazy to buy
a team of mules if you don't try them or see them work before
you buy them or oxen. And the other fellow said, I
married a woman. I can't come. And it just shows, I think they're
set forth like that by the Holy Ghost to show us how stupid it
is to make excuses. How stupid men's excuses are. They don't even make sense to
themselves. They don't even make sense to themselves. I don't know what your excuse
may be this morning. Maybe somebody here. Some excuse. But it's not worth a thin dime.
I know it. You know it too. You're commanded
to come. You ought to come. God can't
lie. You may come. Why don't you come? Not a matter of doing, it's a
matter of believing. It's a matter of believing. Just
a matter of believing God. Now, here's where we stand. Sinners who hear the gospel know
that they're invited as sinners to believe the gospel. They know
they're commended of God to believe the gospel, obey the gospel.
They know that they ought to come to Christ for life, righteousness. They know that they may come,
nobody's holding them back. It's a matter of mind and heart. And this self-knowledge is supported
by God's word, backed up by their own conscience. And this, my
dear friends, is what modern religion works on. That's their
playing field. That's their arena. They work
on man's natural conscience as you stand before God with this
knowledge. They have long drawn out invitations. A fellow went to church one time
and counted the verses of Just As I Am. They sang it 39 times. Just going over that song over
and over and over. Preacher persuasion. You know
why they have those sayings? The preacher don't believe God.
Don't believe God. Paul said, I can plant and the
followers can water, but God must give the increase. And if
you believe that, you won't be trying to help him out. You wait
on God. You beg God to give the increase.
You know you can't do it. Preacher persuasion doesn't work.
But God persuasion does. Drawing men does. Drawing men. He never fails. They shall all
be taught of God. And that wonderful teacher, the
Holy Ghost, never fails. They all learn real well. They
all learn real well. real well. The self-knowledge
supported by God's Word, backed up by the conscience is what
modern religion works on. That's their arena. That's a
contest and competition for the souls of men. Competition for the souls of
men who can do the most, have a big personality, have a big
revival and pay somebody $10,000 to sing a couple songs, some
famous person. Sinner's prayers. No such thing as a preacher making
up a prayer and telling a sinner to repeat it. That's so foolish. If he'd ever been truly convicted,
he'd have known that God teaches sinners what to say. Oh God,
be merciful to me. And then there's a—I remember
how shocked I was when I first heard it. One of the preachers
back home that was supposed to be more sound, they had a pretty
good-sized congregation, and when they had a revival, when
they had the invitation, They had deacons scattered out, one
back here, one over here, and one about the middle, and strategic
places, as they thought, strategic. And when the invitation started,
one over here, he's a Judas goat. He's leading people to the slaughter.
They see somebody coming, that's kind of give the others freedom,
you know, and they won't be embarrassed, and they'll get up and come too.
Did you know that goes on in churches? It does. And it merely shows
that that preacher does not know God. Does not. Is that harsh? It's true. They
do not know God. If they did, they wouldn't be
deceiving the souls of men. Preacher persuasion, baptism,
rituals. Just as I am soft music. anything rather than admit to
the truth and tell people the truth out plainly. That Christ
must do something for you. Spurgeon said he said as a little
boy and knew that he must hear from God. Only Christ can speak
and give life to the soul. That's the attitude we need to
come to church with. A ear to hear God. A ear to hear
God. No man can come except the Father
draw him. Oh God, draw me. Oh God, don't pass me by, Fanny
Crosby said. Pass me not, oh gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry, while on
others you're calling. Oh God, don't pass me by. That's where it is. Christ said
one day, he said, it's easier for a big camel to go through
the eye of a little sewing needle than it is for a rich man to
enter glory, enter into the kingdom of heaven. His disciples said,
Lord, who then can be saved? He said, nobody. With man, it's
impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. There's our only hope. And why preachers don't, I know
why they don't, but it still shocks me that they don't. Why
they don't tell people the truth. Old Arthur Peake writing on this
verse here, verse 44, one time, he said, Christ is not shutting
the door to these people. That's not slamming the door
in their face. That's showing them their only
hope. Must be drawn of God. Now this word draw here, it's
not an invitation. It's a powerful, effectual drawing. It's like when the apostles drew
fishes in the net up to the bank. It's a word of power and strength. It's like going to the well with
a bucket and a rope and drawing up that water, an effectual drawing. And if that's never happened
to me, I've never been saved. If that's never happened to you,
you've never been saved. God draws us. Go out into the
highways and byways and hages, compel them to come in. And how
does the Spirit of God do that? Shows them the necessity. Shows
them the necessity. how desperately they need Christ,
how sinful, condemned they are before God, how much they need
the Savior, and they go running to Him. That's how they're compelled,
they're taught of God. The Holy Ghost teaches us who
and what we are, and who and what Christ is, and the glorious
things He's done for us. And that compels us, that draws
us. And we go running to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Drawing power, energy. Our souls, dear friends, are
in the hands of God. They're in the hands of God,
each and every one of us. Almighty God. And he doesn't owe anybody anything. He can save us. He can pass us
by. We're like men shut up in a prison.
We've been brought before the judge, found guilty, condemned,
sentenced to death. And the only thing we're waiting
for is a day of execution. Some of you here this morning
are just like that. The only thing that's awaiting is the
day of execution. It's just that. You've been tried
and sentenced. The wages of sin is death. And
the execution is coming pretty soon. But a message comes out from
the governor. These men in prison on death
row, Message comes out from the governor
and said, he's going to have mercy on some of you folks. And
some of them get mad because he can't do that without mercy
on all of us. That's how you just sit there and fuss and fight.
And the ones that really know their guilt, they get up to the
front of the line and said, Lord, governor, have mercy on me. I'm guilty. I'm where I ought
to be. like the thief on the cross,
but Lord, remember me. Lord, remember me. If the Lord
doesn't draw us, we have no hope. If the Lord doesn't speak to
us, we have no hope. We'll never have life because
he only can speak with the voice that raises the dead, that gives
a new life, a new nature. In fact, eternal life. And a
mental, emotional decision is not sufficient. This is a matter
of understanding, a matter of the mind and the heart. A matter
of coming and trusting our Lord Jesus Christ. God must draw sinners
personally. He must draw sinners individually. He must draw sinners effectually,
or they'll perish in their sins. And that's exactly what He says
He does in John chapter 10. Psalm 110 verse 3. I know my sheep. I call them
by name. They hear my voice. They follow
me. And a stranger they won't follow
because they don't know his voice. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. When he speaks powerfully and
effectually, they hear and they move. It's like the Holy Ghost
came to those in the Hebrews chapter 11. Noah is a good example. God spoke
to Moses. And Moses believed God. and moved
with fear. Moved with fear. Because he believed. Judgment's coming. He believed. And he moved with fear to the
saving of his house. I was thinking this morning and
yesterday evening Adam and Eve, they loved God. They lived on God. And everywhere
they looked reminded them of God. He was their creator, benefactor. He gave them all they had. He
sustained them, gave them life and breath. They lived on God. And then one day something happened.
They disobeyed God. Sin came into the world. And
they ran from God. I may have been running from
God ever since. And the Bible describes our God,
though, our Great Shepherd, as going to the mountains, and one
old lost sheep back there someplace, and he goes until he finds him,
picks him up, puts him on his shoulder, and carries him all
the way back home. That's our gracious God. But
salvation's in His hands, and nobody's going to be saved until
they realize it. God saves sinners. God saves
sinners. God saves sinners. We have no
eyes to see by nature. We have no eyes to see. We don't
love God. When we hear this most wonderful
story, we don't love it. Something wrong with us deep
down inside. Christ said we have no eyes to
see, no ears to hear, no heart to perceive. We can't even call
Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Cannot. And that's because we
are in our father Adam because of his transgression and ours
in him. D-E-A-D. We are dead to spiritual things. Dead to the beauties and glories
of God. Alive to this world. All the
things in this world that we love. Oh, we're just so easily
attracted to them. Why are we attracted to God?
We don't have the heart for it! He says in Ezekiel 36, read the
last few verses of that chapter when you get home. He's talking
about the New Covenant, the way He saves folks. He said, I'm
going to cleanse them from all their uncleanness. Calling them
from different countries. I'm going to give them a new
heart. They love me. Write my law in their minds and cause them to call upon me.
Draw them. Draw them. Draw them. If men today could
hear this message and believe it, Can you imagine? No, we can't even imagine what
a change of attitude it would make in their minds and hearts
and conduct before God. They wouldn't go to church to
be entertained anymore. They'd go to church with their
hands over their ears wanting to hear. We want to hear from
God. We must hear a time. But preachers have changed all
that. They go now to be entertained and wait for the end of the message
when they have that great invitation, and they all run down front. They don't know who they are
or where they're going. The blind follow the blind. They just both
fall into the ditch. What sad times. Men and women ought to come to
church. to listen, to hear, to be taught of God from God's Word. Spurgeon said, I want to hear
God speak. I want to hear God speak. I want
to hear God speak. When John Bunyan heard God speak,
God showed him who he was and he was a sinner living in the
city of destruction. He wouldn't talk to his wife.
She wouldn't listen. Talk to his children. They wouldn't
listen. They mocked him. They said, this is just a fad.
He'll get over this in a day or two. Boy, he stuck his fingers
in his ears. Ran outside that city. Turned
his back on it. Ran outside that city crying,
Life! Life! Life! Eternal life! Must have it. He was drawn of God. He was drawn
of God. Drawn of God. Men must hear God. They must be saved by the grace
of God. Sovereignty affects your grace
of God. God draws through the preaching
of the Word. And what does He teach men? They
shall all be taught of God. What does He teach men? 1 John
2, verse 20. You have an anointing from the
Holy One, and you know all things. What does that mean? Well, in
the context, it talks about many antichrists that have gone out
into the world and are deceiving. Deceiving. But you have an anointing
from the Holy One. Jesus Christ has given you the
Holy Spirit. You have an anointing from the
Holy One and you know enough so that you can never be deceived. That's wonderful. This is reality. It's not just changing one truth
for another. This is reality. I know who I
am. I know what I am. Nobody can
talk me out of it. I've heard by the hearing of
the ear and mine eyes have seen. I know who I am. It's real. And I live with that reality
every day, of every week, of every month, and every year.
I know who I am. I know what I am. I see myself
through the eyes of God. And I know what my need is. Christ
shows you that too. And it's Christ. That's all I
need. I don't need anything else. Christ,
Christ, Christ. He's my Passover lamb. He's my
Sabbath rest. Because he satisfied God. He
made appreciation for my sins. He satisfied God for me. Satisfied God for me. I have a compelling need to come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a compelling need to open
this book. I want to hear from God. I want to hear from God. I want
you to hear from God. If all you hear is the words
I say, it will not profit you anything at all. You need to
hear God speak. And He speaks and raises it to
you. May God speak to your heart this
morning. Call you by name. What does that
mean? A sinner? Lost sinner? Needy sinner? Dead sinner? May He show Christ to you and
let you see Him, really see for the first time who He is and
really see what He became, a man, one of us. Behoove Him in all
things to be made like us. that He might stand for us and
represent us and die for us. Thank God for the Lord Jesus.
He is all of our salvation. We're complete in Him. Okay,
David.