I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of John chapter 6.
John chapter 6. There is a specific command that
has been given by the Lord to God's preachers. And it's found in Isaiah chapter
40 in verse 1, and here is the command. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. My heart was brought back to
the particular passage of scripture that I'd like to preach on this
morning out of John 6. As I read it again, I quote it
often. It is a passage of scripture
that is so comforting to me and I know to every vessel of God's
mercy that is weighted down with the burden of their sin. Their lack, their noticing of
themselves in their lack of consistency. They're distressed with the feelings
of their infirmities and they're truly desiring a word of comfort. They need to be comforted. I want us to look at John chapter
6 verse 37. Oh, how many times have we looked
at this passage of Scripture? The Apostle Paul says, for me
to say the same things unto you. He said, to me is not grievous.
He said, to you it's safe. It's comforting. Now let's look
at this passage of Scripture for a minute. All that the Father
giveth me, shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now, here's the first thing that
I know concerning the comfort that's found in this passage
of Scripture. Almighty God has a people. He has a people. He has an elect. He has elected a people unto
salvation. God has a people. All that the
Father giveth me. Now let me tell you something
about these people. Almighty God loves them. He loves them. Jeremiah 31.3,
the Lord Jehovah hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Now let me tell you just a little
something about those that the Father loves. They're cut out of the same lump
as every other creature of the dust. The scripture says that
the Lord who loved them, eternally loved them, loved them because
He chose to love them. There was absolutely nothing
in them that God saw in their character that merited His love
to them. Nothing. Listen to this. Psalm
14, 2 and 3. Now the Lord looked down from
heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that
did understand that did seek God, and here's
what he saw. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. And let me tell you how far that
description goes right now. There is not one good thing in
any of those that God has chosen to love, chosen to save. There's none. Paul said of himself,
I see in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. There's none. There was nothing
that the Father saw in them to merit His love. Look with me
in Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 7, verse 7 and 8. Deuteronomy
7, 7 and 8. He's talking about, ultimately,
spiritual Israel. He's talking about His people,
Israel, but He's talking about God's elect. Deuteronomy 7, 7
and 8, the Lord did not set His love upon you nor choose you
because you were more in number than any people. For you were
the fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you, and
because He would keep the oath. which He had sworn unto your
fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, redeemed
you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt." Almighty God loved His people because He loved them.
Chose to love them. Redeemed them because He loved
them. Called them out of darkness because He loved them. Saved
them by grace because He loved them. And God's love for His people
is totally owing to His good pleasure to do what He will with
His own. Romans chapter 9. Look at this
one again. Look at it. Look at the Word
of God. Listen to what God has to say. Romans 9, 9-15. This is the Word
of promise. Now there's a key, there's a
key word right there. This is a word of promise, I
promise. This is a word of promise. At
this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son, and not only
this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our
father Isaac, for the children, being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, Now here she's got twins. She's got two
boys in her. And these boys, they've not been
yet born. And the scripture says, neither
having done any good or evil. How could they do good or evil?
They hadn't even been born yet. but that the purpose of God,
according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was
said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, someone immediately,
the Spirit of God knowing the nature of man, You say, well,
there's something wrong with that statement. These two boys
not yet being born, neither having done any good or evil, but that
the purpose of God according to election might be firm, might
stand. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid, for He says to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So the Scripture sets forth that
Almighty God loved His people, chose them in Christ, because
it pleased Him to do so. Now this is the Word of God.
The potchers of this earth can strive with the potchers of this
earth and argue about it. That's not fair, that's not good.
I've said before, if I didn't preach this, would it change
this Word? It's not going to change one bit. Almighty God
has a So because the Lord everlastingly loved His people as He said He
does, because it was according to His good will and pleasure,
because He said it was, Because He gave them unto the Son in
covenant mercy and grace, and committed them into the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved by Him, called His name
Jesus, for He shall, underline, save His, underline, people from
their sins. He shall. He's going to save
them. That's what Scripture sets forth
in Ephesians 1. The Scripture sets forth, now
back in John 6, all that the Father giveth me. all those chosen by the Father,
given into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed by him. Listen, I'll read Ephesians 5,
25, 27. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it. Isn't it amazing whenever the
Lord opens the eyes of His people and they behold the truth of
God's electing grace. I remember a statement that I
made when the Lord, I was in Louisiana years ago when the
Lord was pleased to reveal Himself to me. I was pastoring a church,
free will church, pastoring a church. And the Lord was pleased to reveal
Christ to me. And I told my wife, I told her,
I said, concerning this truth of God's sovereignty, I said,
this is everywhere. It's everywhere in the scriptures. And I never saw it. But that
passage of Scripture right there, husbands love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that
He might sanctify, make her holy, cleanse her with the washing
of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself,
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. So the truth
of our salvation beginning, again I don't know how to speak eternal,
it began always being with God. His everlasting love set upon
us, therefore His everlasting committal of us to the Son in
electing grace and the assurance and the endurance of that salvation
being set forth from the mouth of the Lord Himself. Here's what
He said. He said, My sheep, I have a people. This is John 10. My sheep, hear
My voice. Now listen. And God's people,
when the Scriptures are set forth, the Spirit of God bears witness
to the heart of God's elect, and He teaches them, they hear.
They have ears to hear. Somebody said, well, I don't
understand what you're meaning. If God ever saves you, you will.
You will. I don't know any other way to
say it. The seeing eye, the hearing ear, they're of the Lord. My
sheep hear my voice, I know them. I know them in grace. He knows
everybody. But my sheep, I know them as
my sheep, as my elect. They follow me. I give unto them
eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. So according to the
Word of God, all that the Father has given the Son, the Scripture sets forth, they
come to me. They come to me. How many of
them? Well, John 6, 37 starts off by
saying, all. All of them. None of them are going to be
lost. All that the Father giveth me. The hour is coming, John
17, one and two. Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. So now, with those words of assurance,
the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is absolutely certain
and confident in the certainty of God's Word. There's not a
believer in this room this morning that's not confident in God's
Word, in His truth, in His promise. But every believer is going to
be asking this question right now. Yeah, but have I come? Have I
come? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Yeah, but have I come truly?
I feared that I might not be one of those blessed of the Lord. Is there any confidence for me?
Is there any hope for me? I need some comfort. That's what
I started off saying. I need some comfort. Well, here's
what I want to say this morning. The Lord has promised all that
the Father giveth me. You know that there's an elect.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. You're convinced
that all of God's elect are coming. Here's what all of us want to
know. Have I come? Have I really? Has that thought
ever gone through your mind? Does that ever come back to you?
How many times a day? How many times a day? Well, what
I'd like to do for just a minute here is I want to take the Scriptures
and I want us to look at just a few passages. There's no way
I can exhaust all of them, but I just want to look at a few
passages on those that have come to the Lord, that did come according
to these Scriptures. How did they come? And may the
Spirit of God bless these words to our hearts because I'll be
real honest with you. I want to know. I don't want
to be deceived. I don't want to leave this world.
I don't want to be cast out. I want the Lord to do something
for me. And the only comfort that I'm going to get is out
of this book right here. Outside of that, I mean, I can tell you
anything I can tell you, but if it's not in this book, it's
not going to do you a bit of good. Well, those that did come
to the Lord, how did they come? Turn with me to Mark chapter
five. Mark chapter five. I wanna read a passage of scripture
that we're so familiar with. Mark five, starting in verse
25. And here's one that came to the
Lord. All that the Father giveth me,
shall come to me." It's about a woman that had an issue of
blood. How did she come? Verse 25, Mark 5, 25. A certain
woman which had an issue of blood, 12 years, she couldn't quit bleeding,
and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent
all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse. Now here's where we are. We've
got a woman and she's got this issue of blood and 12 years,
12 years, she's gone to all the physicians that she could go
to. She spent all of her money. Now
she's sick. and she's broke, and she's none
better. In fact, not only is she not
better, she's worse. Now let me ask you this. Brother
Neil was talking a few minutes ago about the older we get as
we get older. Let me kind of give you a little
secret for those that are at least younger than I am, which
is a bunch of you. The older you get, The worse
you are, the worse you see yourself to be. Now you say, well, I don't
know how. Well, take my word for it. This woman grew worse. Now, verse 27, when she heard
of Jesus, oh, the mercy of God, that God would cross the paths
of a sinner. She heard of Jesus. What'd she
do? Now wait a minute, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. Now what's happening? Well,
the Spirit of God is drawing this woman. It came in the press. What? Well, there was a bunch
of people there. There were some obstacles. She
could have said, well, you know what, it's just a little bit
too crowded today. Maybe I'll catch them another time. Oh no,
let me ask you this. You that know the certainty of
the word of the Lord, will you go away? Are you just
too busy? When she heard of Jesus, she
came in the press behind and touched His garment, for she
said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. Why did she say that? She believed
it. She believed what she heard. She believed it. And straightway,
the fountain of her blood was dried up. She felt in her body
that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned Him about
in the press and said, Who touched My clothes? And His disciples
said unto Him, Thou seest a multitude thronging Thee, and sayest Thou,
Who touched Me? And he looked round about to
see her that had done this thing, but the woman fearing and trembling. Let me ask you this, you that
need Him, do you ever feel that way? You believe the Lord, you know
you believe the Lord. I've given you a heart to believe
Him. You hear the gospel, you believe Him. And in your heart
you want to come. And by faith you trusted Him. Did it relieve all the feelings
of anxieties that are found within because of the frailty of this
flesh? The woman fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before Him
and told Him all the truth. She just spilled her guts. Lord, I've been sick all this
time. I went to all these doctors. I spent all my money. I'm worse. I'm worse. But I believe You. I believe You. Lord, You're all I've got. I
don't have anything else. And the Scripture says in verse
34, And he said unto her, Daughter, What a word of comfort. Daughter.
He called me daughter. He called me daughter. Thy faith
hath made thee whole. Go in peace and behold of thy
flag. Now let me ask you something.
What did she have? She had His Word. That's all she had. In
herself, those that come to the Lord, I'm asking you, You ask
yourself, have I ever come? Well let me ask you this, are
you needy? Are you helpless? Has the Lord made you honest
about it? That woman was struggling, she
was laboring, heavy laden like all of God's vessels of mercy
that he's called They're aware of the burden of their sins and
they understand the lack of personal righteousness. To stand before
God, they say, I don't have any. I don't have any righteousness. The Lord says concerning those
that are heavy laden and burdened, come unto me and I will give
you rest. Are you that way? Are you needy? Are you helpless? Are you struggling
with sin and the lack of your righteousness? The Apostle Paul
was moved by the Spirit of God to write, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Now let me ask you this. Are
you one that does nothing but sin? That's all you do. That's
all I do. I don't think or write toward
Him as I ought. I can't pray as I would. I'm inconsistent with everything
that I do. Every promise that I've ever
tried to make to Him, I broke it. Don't promise Him that you'll
never do something again. Just be honest about it. Lord,
I can't even keep my word. Do you see yourself as the Spirit
of God made this woman just honest, honest? Well, then just come
as a needy, helpless, honest sinner. John 3.18, he that believeth
on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he's not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. Let me ask you something. You say, I don't know if I've
ever come. Do you want to? Do you want to come? Do you want
to? 2 Corinthians 6. Do you want
to come? Let me ask you this. Do you want
to come right now? Do you want to come now? We then,
as workers together with Him, beseech you also that you receive
not the grace of God in vain. For He saith, I have heard of
thee in a time accepted, in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Do you want to come now? Right now? Every believer wants
to come right now. You don't want to think back
when you were 17 or whenever you said you first believed. That's water under the bridge. What I want to know is this.
Do I want to come to Him now? Am I needy right now? Am I helpless
right now? You come to Him as one who is
the only one to whom you can come. That dying thief with just
a little time left on this earth. Oh, I'm telling you, that thief,
by the grace of God, is such an encouragement to me. That
stinking, filthy thief. Ain't no difference between me
and him or you and him. That dying thief, he's getting ready
to leave this world. He's going into eternity. Wherever
He goes, when He leaves this earth, that's where He's going
to be. Here's what He said unto Jesus, Lord, here's how He comes. Here's how He comes. Lord, would
you remember me? When you enter, when you come into your kingdom,
would you remember me? Lord, it's not going to do me
any good if I remember me, but Lord, if you remember, Lord,
I'm getting exactly what I deserve. I can't straighten up and fly
right. I can't turn over a new leaf. I'm a guilty, convicted,
condemned, and dying sinner. Lord, would you remember me? And oh, the words of comfort
and assurance that flowed from the lips of the Lord to that
sinner in that moment. Now listen, these words are to
every sinner, helpless, needy, honest sinner that calls on the Lord. One that's
just willing to admit, Lord, without you I'm going to perish.
Would you remember me? Verily I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. That thief had no one else. He
needed no one else. And neither does any other needy
sinner. Peter spoke those words, a spokesman
for the disciples. When many others had left, let
me ask you this. You that want to come. You that
want to come. Now let me ask you something.
If everybody in this congregation this morning gets out and walks
out, and I lead them out, I walk out, and I'll say, I'm not going to
hear that anymore. Will you go away also? What if
you're the only one? That's what the Lord asked His
disciples. Will you go away too? Peter said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure, we're sure you are the Christ,
the Son of the living God. How do I come? Come with absolutely
no intention or desire to leave. And Him that cometh to me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come. How are they going to come? Needy,
helpless, honest, now? And they have no desire to leave.
I don't want to leave. The Lord was wrestling with Jacob. And the Lord who held Jacob made
Jacob willing in the day of God's power to come and hold him. The
Lord said, let me go, and Jacob said, no. If I let you go, I have no
hope. If I don't have you, where am
I going to go? Not unless you bless me. Coming to Christ is a continual
coming. Knowing my unworthiness, I don't
deserve it. I'm a hell deserving sinner. But Lord, You say it. You said,
You who cannot lie. That's what Titus 1.2 says. You
who cannot lie. You said, Him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise Cast him out. Now my friend, that's all I got. Do I deserve his mercy? No. No. But do I want it? Yes. Do I want to come? Yes. I'm convinced that others
have. But I want to come. You come
to him with nothing else. Don't you come offering him anything.
Don't you come bargaining with God. You don't have any merit. What do you need? I need you.
Lord, I need you. That's what I need. I will in
no wise. Now listen to that. I'm closing.
I'm in. I'm done right now. I will in no wise. Though black as sin, though unable
and inconsistent to do anything that's right, though, as I said
a while ago, with the countless well-meaning promises to never do it again,
I've never kept one promise to Him. I've never kept a promise.
Lord, if you'll, you know, help me here, I'll never do that again.
That's a lie. That's a lie. I will in no wise,
I will never, no, never reject one who comes to me for mercy.
I'll never do it. You don't deserve it, and I don't
either. But we're saved by grace. through faith, not of works. Why? Because we just boast in
it. Almighty God save sinners, helpless,
needy, inconsistent sinners. Lord save me for Christ's sake
and my eternal good. Amen.