Good morning again. We're going
to be in John chapter six this morning, John chapter six. Our God reigns, no question about
it. And he works all things together. for good for them that love him
and those that are called according to his purpose. He reigns sovereign
over all the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the
earth. And we rejoice and rest in knowing that whatever happens,
it's the Lord doing it. And he's accomplishing his ordained
purpose. what joy, what comfort, what
rest, what hope we have in the God in whom we believe. Now I want to preface what I'm
about to say with that. Humanly speaking, what we've
said being the foundation on which we stand and build everything,
humanly speaking, There are a lot of powerful and influential people
in the world that shape, humanly speaking, the events of history. Perhaps all of that will come
to you surprised in what I'm about to say, but I want to say
it because I'm so thankful I'm so thankful for our mothers.
Today is Mother's Day. I know it's a Hallmark holiday,
but no one ever honored women more than the Lord Jesus, and
no religion ever honored women and mothers more than the gospel. And no group of people have ever
had more influence, humanly speaking, in this world than mothers. They shape us and it's like I
just want to encourage our moms to know that the job that you
have is unmatched. It's unmatched. So don't underestimate
the influence that you have in this world and with your children.
We love you and we're thankful for you. Jeff and Joyce Moyer with us
this morning from New Jersey, and they're going to be leaving
right after service. So I'm glad y'all are here. We'll
see you in a few weeks when I come up that way. Cyril and Lenore
have been with us through the winter, and they're going to
be heading back to Pennsylvania tomorrow. So we love you all,
and we'll miss you, and look forward to seeing you back here
in November. for the holidays and then next
summer, or next, well, in November for the winter. Yeah, there you
go. All right. Okay. You have your Bibles open
to John chapter six. John chapter six. Let's begin reading at verse
37. All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. For I came not down from heaven
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will, which has sent me that of all which
he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it that he sayeth, I came
down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, no man can come to me except the father
which sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day." I've titled this message Irresistible
Grace. Irresistible Grace. term is also sometimes phrased
effectual grace. Grace that accomplishes the purpose
for which it's sent. Grace that cannot be resisted
by man. These verses that we just read
really need very little explanation. They're so simple and so clear. To misunderstand them is a testimony
of a man who tries to take the simple truths of the gospel and
reconcile them with a lie. The only reason why these verses
would ever be confusing to anyone would be that they were hearing
them and trying to fit them in to a predetermined presupposition
that they have settled in their heart and in their mind concerning
God. If a man believes that God loves
everybody and that Christ died for everybody and that man has
been given by God a will that is capable of overpowering God. that God desires for everyone
to be saved but he can't accomplish his purpose because he chose
to give man a free will and that free will is the final determination
of a man's salvation. You see, if a person starts out
with those preconceived ideas then yes, these verses are going
to be very confusing. It's kind of like a man who's
got a... board of round holes and he's trying to fit square
pegs into them and the only way to get that square peg into a
round hole is to shave off the edges. And so what people do
when they read the simplicity of the gospel is they try to
take the offense out of it, they try to shave off the edges of
it, they try to say we have but you know there is a sense in
which no there is no sense in which. These verses are simple. These verses are clear. These
verses are true. And only a person who's trying
to fit them into a lie would have a problem with them. and
would come to the conclusion, well, you know, there's some
secret meaning here. There's some hidden truth. There's
some, you know, there's some veiled message in this passage
of scripture. No, there isn't. There isn't. It means what it says. And God's
people rejoice in it because the Lord, in making his grace
irresistible to them, have given up on those ideas that they were
born with. Those things that they naturally
thought were true and now have come to realize that was a lie. That was the lie. Simple. God just means what he says and
he says what he means. And man in his pride wants to
complicate things. Turn with me to Proverbs 9. Proverbs 9. Verse 1. Now we know, we know especially from Proverbs
8, that the Lord Jesus is the personification of wisdom. And
that God, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, has made him to be unto us
our wisdom. The truth of God is in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the wisdom of God. James
put it like this, if any man lack wisdom, Let him ask of God
who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth it not. Lord give
me Christ or I will die in my sins, I will die in my lies,
I will not ever be able to see the truth, I've got to have Christ. Verse 1. Proverbs 9, wisdom hath
builded her house. She hath hewned out her seven
pillars. The number seven in the Bible
is a number of perfection and it's a number of rest. On the
seventh day, God rested. It's the day of Sabbath and it's
a picture of Christ. Man is was made on the sixth
day. And the mark of the beast is
666. And six is man, seven is Christ. This church, this wisdom is built
on seven pillars. She hath killed her beast. And that beast is who we just
spoke of. the lies that we're born with, the ideas of God. The Lord put it like this, you
thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself. And that's our problem. But God's
thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways.
And for us to get rid of our thoughts, the things that we
think are true, and to receive the simplicity of the gospel,
the Lord has to slay that beast. She hath killed her beast, she
hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table. That's what the Lord Jesus accomplished
on Calvary's cross. He defeated the works of the
devil who is the father of all lies. He killed the beast. He mingled his wine. His blood
became a covering for the sins of his people. And he furnished
her table with the bread of life. All my body is your meat indeed
and my blood is your drink indeed. Except you eat of my body and
drink of my blood you shall have no life in you. Here's what wisdom
has done. Here's what Christ has done. Well, who's he done it for? She
has set forth her maidens. She cried upon the high places
of the city. It's what we're doing right now.
We're not trying to keep this thing a secret. We have no secrets.
No. Every once in a while I have
somebody contact me. Well, you know, can we, can we publish
it? Publish it all you want. Somebody asked me recently, we
want to get some time on our local television station, can
we put your message? Put them on there. Can we copy
this? Copy it, put it out there. Whatever
we do, we do in broad daylight. We want to declare it from the
housetops. Who's it for? Verse 4. Whoso
is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding,
she saith unto him, come, eat of my bread and drink of the
wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish and live
and go in the way of understanding. of understanding. Understanding is simple. It's these verses that we just
read from John chapter six are not complicated. And there's
no hidden agenda or secret meaning to them. But men will not bow
to them because they've made things complicated. Because they
think that they have some understanding, some wisdom, some intellect,
and not until a man is able to come before God and say, Lord,
I don't know anything, I can't do anything, I don't have anything. I'm completely dependent upon
you for everything. A natural man won't do that.
That takes a work of God to bring us to that place. The Lord Jesus
must do for us what he did for Saul of Tarsus, amen? He's got
to knock us off our high horse. He's got to shine that light
from heaven. He's got to call us by name. Otherwise we're going
to breathe out threatenings against God. We're going to live our
whole lives raising our fists towards heaven and saying, I'll
not have that man reign over me. will not bow to the simplicity
of the gospel until God makes us simple, simple. I heard a story about a preacher
that was simply reading from the pulpit Romans chapter 9. He just opened his Bible, no
comment, just started reading Romans chapter 9. And before
he could get finished with Romans chapter 9, some man in the congregation
spoke up and said, yeah, but that's not what it means. Isn't that the way? Yeah, it
is what it means. It is what it means. No man can
come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. This is the Father's will which
sent me, that of all that he gave me I
should lose nothing. The Lord told the prophet Isaiah
in Isaiah chapter 52 to declare unto Zion, our God reigneth. I personally consider that a
command from God to me to say to you, our God, reigneth. He reigneth. There is only one kind of saving
grace, and that is sovereign grace. If our God is not absolutely
sovereign, he simply is not God. He's just a figment of our imagination. It is impossible to know God
unless the God that we know is sovereign. Sovereign not just
in creation, sovereign not just in providence, but sovereign
in salvation. Our God reigneth. If he depends upon us for anything,
If he depends upon us to make a decision, if he depends upon
us to perform a work, if he depends upon us to figure out some secret truth. In other words,
if he depends upon us for our will, our works or our wisdom,
then he's not God. All we have done is set ourselves
up on the throne of God and if God does not bring us down from
that lofty pedestal of pride and self-righteousness, it will
be to the damnation of our immortal souls. What a blessing it is
to be brought down from that lofty place. Salvation is of the Lord and
the Lord gets all the glory. And we rejoice in that. We don't want a God who needs
us to do something in order for Him to be able to save us. And
we don't want a grace that is determined, it is dependent upon
our acceptance in order for us to
be saved. You go, you read it, turn back
with me to John chapter 1, you go just read this You say, well, in John chapter
one, doesn't it say that he came unto his own and his own received
him not, but to as many as received him, to them gave he the power
to become the sons of God. Isn't that what we just read?
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly what we just read. Well,
doesn't that mean that you have to, you have to accept the gift.
You have to receive the gift. Read the next verse, verse 13.
Which were born. Not of blood. Our new birth was not because
of our relationship with our family. It's not of blood, it's
not of descent. nor of the will of man. It's
not of decision. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. It is of God that showeth mercy.
We were born, born from above, not of blood, not of the will
of man, nor of the will of flesh. In other words, not by determination,
not by effort, not by works, but we're born of God. The new birth must precede any
willingness that we have to come to Christ and to receive the
gift. And when God births us by His
Spirit, the evidence of that new birth is our desire, not
just our willingness. He doesn't just make us willing
in the day of His power, as if, okay, well, I'm willing now.
No. No, the evidence of the new birth
is that I've got to have Christ. Oh, I want him more than anything
else. I need Christ. I love Christ. I desire Christ. I've got to have him. That's
the evidence of the new birth. Yes, to as many as received him,
to them gave he the power to become the sons of God who were,
past tense, born. who were born, not of blood,
not of descent, not of the will of man, not of decision, nor
the will of the flesh, not of dedication, but were born of
God. Salvations of the Lord. Our God
is sovereign. When the Lord in John chapter
11 went to Bethany and went to the graveyard where Lazarus had
been rotting in the tomb for four days. Did the Lord Jesus say to Lazarus,
Lazarus, if you want to live, come on out? No. You see, we're spiritually dead
in our trespasses and sins. We can't hear the voice of God.
We have no interest in the things of God. We have no desire for
God. In order for the Lord to save
us, He has to do a sovereign work of grace birthing us by
the Spirit of God and that's What we mean when we say
that it's irresistible. It's irresistible. There's only
one kind of saving grace and that's a grace that's irresistible.
If you can resist it, it's not saving grace. If you can say
no to God, which we all would do by nature, it's not saving
grace. What does this truth do to us? It causes us to bow. Lord, if
you don't save me, if you don't make me willing, if you don't
birth me into the kingdom of God, if you don't give me your
spirit, I'll never come. I'll never receive the gift.
I'm dead. I'm dead. I can't. That's what the Lord said in
our text. No man can come to me except
the father which sent me draw him. That's the new birth. You can't come. You can't come
apart from irresistible grace. This is exactly what these verses
are teaching and they're so simple and clear. And I know people
will take these verses and they'll go to another passage that they
think preaches free will, teaches free will, and they'll try to
reconcile these things, but they've misunderstood. God's word, oh, it all fits together. God's word, God doesn't contradict
himself. How many times I've heard someone
take this verse in John chapter one and said, well, yeah, but
you got to receive it. Who were born? Who were born? Oh Lord, we pray
for our children. We pray for our friends. We,
Lord, Lord birth them. That's why sitting under the
gospel is so necessary because this faith comes by hearing and
hearing comes by the word of God. And when we simply just
declare the simplicity of the gospel, we tell men what God
says. Our hope is that they won't just
hear the voice of a man, but that God will take these words
and he will make them irresistible. He will make them effectual.
He will cause them to be birthed by the Word of God. Faith comes
by hearing. Look at verse 37 in our text,
John chapter 6 verse 37. that the Father giveth me shall
come to me." Oh, don't you love having a God who's sovereign? He's not going to have his purpose
in salvation frustrated or thwarted by the will of man. They're going
to come. Everyone that the Father gave
me is going to come. Not one of my sheep's gonna be
lost. My word will not return unto
me void. It will accomplish the purpose
for which I send it. And again, Hugo read from John
chapter one, in the beginning was the word and the word was
with God and the word was God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
living word. And he did not return to his
father void. When he ascended back into glory,
he took with him the names of those for whom he lived and died.
He took with him the names of those that he came to save. He accomplished their salvation.
And now the Holy Spirit is taking the message of the gospel and
he's making it irresistible. He's making it effectual. He's
calling from darkness into his marvelous light all those that
the father chose and gave to his son as a bride and all that
Christ paid the dowry for in redeeming his bride to himself. Not one's gonna be lost. Oh,
I need a God that's irresistible. I need a God that's gonna have
his way with me. I need a God that doesn't leave
anything up to me to do. I've got enough experience with
my own will to know that, yeah, I've got a free will and that
is my problem. It's not the hope of my salvation.
My will's the weakest thing about me. And it will lead me into, it'll
lead me into destruction. If God doesn't take hold of me,
if God doesn't make me, I won't come. Salvation is not an offer to
be accepted or rejected. Salvation is a gift. It's a gift. And it can only be received with
an empty hand. An empty hand. Nothing in my
hand I bring only to the cross of Christ can I cling. as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. It's the only way salvation can
be. It's got to be of the Lord. It's the only message of salvation
that gives to Him all the glory. You take every other message
that's being promoted in this world from from Islam to Hinduism
to all sorts of forms of perverted Christianity to everything, every
religion, whatever it is. The only difference between each
one of them is one says, no, you got to do this. Another one
says, no, you got to do that. You see, it's just the list of
do's and don'ts that changes. That's the only thing that changes
between them. Everything else is the same. This is the only
message you will ever hear that will not give you something to
do in order to earn favor with God. This is the only message
that you will ever hear that says, it is done. It is finished. It's finished. And he gets all the glory and
you get none. And you love it that way. You
love it that way. All that the Father giveth me will come to me. Turn with me
to John 17. John 17. Here, our Lord is interceding
for his church. He's offering up what we refer
to as his high priestly prayer on behalf of his bride. And every
single word of it, unlike our prayers, we have to conclude
our prayers with the name of the Lord Jesus. And we have to
conclude our prayers with, Lord, if it be thy will. We often ask
amiss, amiss as James says. We don't always know what to
pray for. That's never true with the Lord Jesus. Every single
word of this prayer was answered. He prayed a perfect prayer. He
pleased the Father with every word of it. And the Father gave
him every bit of it. And I want you to notice just
quickly in this prayer Verse 2, towards the end, as many as
thou hast given him. Verse 6, towards the end, and
thou gavest them me. Verse 9. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. Verse 11, towards the end. Whom thou hast given me. Verse 24. Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that
they may behold my glory which thou hast given me. Seven times. The Lord repeats to his Father,
Father, I'm doing this for the ones that you gave me, that you
gave me. According as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. These verses mean
exactly what they say. It's so simple. But men want to complicate them
because they try to reconcile the simplicity of God's sovereign,
irresistible, saving grace with a lie. And it can't be. It can't be
reconciled. It becomes convoluted. It becomes
very confusing. It becomes a message that you
can't understand. And that's what you hear in religion.
This message is simple and easy to understand. It's not a matter of IQ as far
as understanding the gospel. It is a matter of I will. And I will not unless God makes
me willing, unless he puts Grace in me that's irresistible. I will not, I will not. Our God is sovereign, absolutely
sovereign. He needs nothing from us and
we need everything from him, everything. Not gonna have that, okay. Second Thessalonians 2, verse
13 says, God hath from the beginning chosen you onto salvation. God the Father elected a particular
people according to his own sovereign will and purpose before time
ever was. The Lord Jesus accomplished the
salvation of those that the father chose and the spirit of God is
now making the gospel of his grace irresistible, irresistible to God's people. We've heard Our Lord's words
quoted in reference to the Pope recently. Upon Peter, whom do you say that
I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona.
Simon's name does mean rock, but it means a little rock. And the Lord refers to all of
his children as stones in his church. Building stones built
upon that one foundation stone. The foundation stone, the words
in the original language are very similar. The word for Peter
is Petras, a little rock. The word for a foundation stone
is Petra. And when the Lord Jesus asked
Peter, whom do men say that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus said, blessed
art thou Simon Barjona. You didn't figure this out on
your own. Flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but
my father, which is in heaven has taught you that truth. And
upon this rock, Petra. He wasn't talking about Peter.
If the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is built upon that man
over there in Rome, we're in trouble. It's built upon the confession
that Peter made that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the son
of the living God. Upon this rock, I will build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
I'm gonna send my spirit into the very belly of hell and I'm
gonna lead those who are captive to darkness and captive to their
own sin and captive to their own unbelief and I'm gonna lead
captivity captive to me. You see, every person in this
world is either a captive to Satan or a captive to Christ.
Oh, I'm free. No, you're not. Let's look at our text one time
real quick. Verse 37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, child of God, this is such an
encouragement that I may, maybe you've not seen it, I didn't
see it for a long time. And it's become more clear in preparation
for this message than it's ever been before. He that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. Now most people think that that
means when I come to Christ, he's not gonna forbid me. I don't believe that's what this
means. Everyone that comes to faith
in Christ can never from that day forward under any circumstances,
under any circumstances be cast away. It is a declaration of God's
irresistible grace and it is a declaration of God's preserving
grace. You shall be kept. You shall be kept. Why? Because salvation is of the Lord.
How often times our thoughts, our attitudes, our words, our
actions or anything but honoring to God. And here's the Lord's promise.
I'm never going to cast you away. I'm never going to cast you away.
For when you believe not, I remain faithful because I cannot deny
myself You're mine, you've been mine in the covenant of grace
before time ever was. You've been my bride, I died
for you, I'm gonna keep you, I'm gonna save you and I'm gonna
get you to glory. Father, I will that they which
thou hast given me. We just read that in John 17,
shall be with me in glory. Is there any way that prayer
could fail? Is there any way the Lord Jesus can fail? in saving
all his people? Oh, God's not in heaven wringing
his hands, wishing men would let him have his way. That's
a figment of men's imagination. That's a false God. That's anti-Christ. Zion, our God reigns. He reigns. He's not the least bit threatened
by anything that goes on in this world. He's in absolute sovereign
control of it all. And that's especially true when
it comes to the saving of His people. God's people love it
that way. They've got to have that kind
of God to save them. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your sovereign saving grace. Thank you for your call being
effectual. Thank you for your grace being
irresistible. Lord, thank you for persevering
with us all the way to the end. or no other God could save sinners
like us. Bless your word, cause us, Lord,
to believe and to meditate on these things. We ask it in Christ's
name, amen. 474, let's stand together.