May it please Almighty God to bless us together as we meditate in his holy word this morning. Let's turn to the Gospel of John and the sixth chapter and we'll read verse 37. So the Gospel of John, chapter six, and reading 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. These are the wonderful words of the Lord Jesus, and surely how wonderfully encouraging they should be to each one of us because we know from the Word of God that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit chose a people who would indeed be blessed and would come to him and would follow him and would at last be received into glory before the world was created.

In the councils of eternity. It's amazing, isn't it, to think of that. That there, when there was nothing, when there was just a void, God in his sovereign mercy, and sovereign love chose a people. And so those people were now told, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me will in no wise cast out.

We read that glorious chapter the 17th chapter in this same gospel which gives the record of the prayer of the Lord Jesus to his father and how clear that prayer is that he prays for his people he prays for those for whom he has given his or would give his life And yet not for those who are not in that covenant of love and that covenant of mercy.

And so we're thankful to know that the Word of God remains true and powerful. And we're told in this chapter that we read, the 17th chapter, and the third verse tells us, and this is life eternal. that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

What that means, very simply, is that all of God's people will know God, will know God the Father, will know God the Son, and will know God the Holy Spirit. and rejoice in that great and glorious knowledge and that will be made known to them so that we won't go on and come to the end of our life without that personal knowledge and what a blessing it is therefore if God gives us that desire to indeed come to him

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. That's such a clear statement, isn't it? That all of God's people will come to Him. None will be left out. We won't be left on the wayside, but we will be amongst those who come to Him and The word tells us here, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.

That should be a great encouragement to us, because when the Lord works in our hearts, the great concern is to know that we are one of those chosen people that God the Father in eternity chose and God the Son died on their behalf to redeem their souls and God the Holy Spirit conveyed the glory of the gospel into their heart.

These things are very real and very true and they're not just imaginative they are those things which God grants and God does for his people and we should therefore be thankful that such a statement is on record and him or her that cometh to me cometh to the Saviour I will in no wise cast out just think of that unworthy as we are, sinners as we are, not deserving any notice.

And yet you see God, in his great and wonderful love, constrains us to come to him, to call upon his name, to pray for mercy. to seek earnestly for the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow with it.

And we can therefore be thankful that there was recorded in the Gospel of Matthew the wonderful invitation that is given to us there in the 11th chapter. We read towards the end of that chapter The 28th verse tells us, come unto me. This is the word of God. It's a great and glorious invitation to unworthy sinners. But it's the word of God. Never turn away from the truth of God. Never turn away from these great words, come unto me. Come unto me. What an invitation that is, isn't it? what a great truth it is and how wonderful if God applies that word to you and me so that we really have a desire to come to the Lord to come to Him confessing our sins telling our God how we need Him

and it's explained really in these verses which follow all ye that labour and are heavy laden well the true believer, the true church of God when they are convinced of their sin that means convinced of the evil which is in their heart convinced of the wrong things that they've done and what does that do? It causes them perhaps to fall down on their knees before God, to plead for mercy. And what will they be? They'll be laboring. They'll be heavy laden with this burden of sin. It won't be something trivial. Sin makes us heavy laden and burdened. And what a wonderful evidence that is, that God is working in our hearts It's his work, not something that you and I would do and produce naturally. We wouldn't want to. But praise God, the Holy Spirit brings it to pass in the life of all his children without any doubt at all.

So that's why The Lord tells us so clearly, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. So, if you and I come there, heavy laden, burdened, we are invited to come to our God, to commit our way unto him, to seek unto him for the blessing of God, to seek unto him that he will shine into our hearts that he will do us good and this account in Matthew where the Lord says, come unto me all ye that labour and I'll have you laid them. He then says, and I will give you rest. Well, when the Holy Spirit works in our heart and shows us the evil of our heart, we're restless. We're restless. Because we know we've offended God. And we know we need to be right with God. And we can't put ourself right. And that's why there's such a great and wonderful invitation to come to our God, to come unto him, come unto me. No one else, no one else can save our souls. No one else has paid the price to redeem us. It's only the glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,

and so be encouraged today, because we look at each other, don't we? We see each other in a physical way, but we don't know what work of the Holy Spirit is going on in our heart. That's between our soul individually and our God. It's a personal work that the Holy Spirit does. And it's a great blessing, therefore, to have the evidence of that work in causing us the desire to really come to our God. You perhaps think we're utterly unworthy, which is true. But that's why we bless God for the Gospel. We bless God for the wonderful truth that it contains. We should truly bless God for it. We have so many evidences in God's word of his mercy to one and another. We have that wonderful account in the third chapter of John of Nicodemus, which Paul read yesterday at our luncheon together. And what a wonderful blessing that is to know that there was a man stirred by the Spirit of God. He wanted to see Jesus in a physical way. And what a blessing it is, therefore, as he came to Jesus. He came by night. He was scared, perhaps, to come by day, frightened that he might be seen. But he came by night. Jesus knew him, and Jesus told him. in answer to his questions that great need he had to be born again he must be born again and what a mercy for each one of us if we have that clear conviction by the Spirit of God that we must be born again and therefore we are encouraged to come to our God and as we come to him to believe that we won't be cast out.

The great requirement in scripture is that we believe. We don't doubt God's Word. There it is written before us. And we need to pray for that grace, to believe the great truths that it contains, to be able to come to Him, recognizing that as we come, honestly, we don't have to pretend what we're not. We can come just as we are.

I often quote that line of the hymn which is so appropriate, I came to Jesus. as I was. Just as we are. Not putting on any act, but just as we are. I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad. Well, here we have the answer. Him that cometh to me, I will. in no wise cast out. That really means there's no possibility because God is faithful and God has promised therefore to hear the prayers of his children. and to encourage them.

And so as the Lord Jesus said in this 11th chapter, come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. I will give you rest. That is the word of God, that is a promise from God, That is the truth of God. And don't listen to what the devil says. The devil will probably say, well, that's not possible. You're just too bad. Well, we're thankful that none are too bad. God is a great God, full of compassion, full of mercy. And he came to seek and to save that which was lost.

And that's why we have such a glorious statement here. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, shall come. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And again, we can be encouraged so greatly really by that 17th chapter where we read about the Lord Jesus and what he does, he says, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.

Well, we perhaps just need to pause and think, has God manifested himself to me? Sometimes we just pass over these great truths. And yet, you see, if God has given us a real concern about our soul's eternal state, a concern to know that our sins are forgiven, that the Lord Jesus and none else has died for us. Really, this is a manifestation of his love toward us, of his mercy toward us. And so he tells us, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.

And the word of God is to come to him. Come to him. The word of God is to pray to him. The word of God is to confess our sins. Just like that. account of the publican in that wonderful parable that Jesus gave when he spoke about that despised publican who came and prayed a prayer from his heart. It wasn't a clever prayer, although in one sense it really was, but it wasn't fanciful. It was very direct and very simple and yet it was an effectual prayer. What does that mean? It was a prayer that had an effect. And that prayer was, God be merciful to me, a sinner. God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Well, have you prayed that? Have you prayed that? From your heart. God knows whether you've prayed that. And if you have prayed that, from your heart you see we can believe that God has manifested himself to us because we recognize there's no one else who can save our souls There's no one else who can deliver us from the wrath to come. There's only one, and that is this great and glorious Savior.

So what a mercy, and what does the Lord say? Just ponder this. I pray for them. Think of that, Jesus. the eternal son of God, praying for you and me. Well, it's beyond our comprehension really, isn't it? To recognize that almighty God prays for us. And yet, this is the word of God. This is an account, an accurate account of the glorious prayer of Jesus to his father. And we can therefore believe that there's no doubt that what's recorded here is true.

And so we read, I pray for them, those who have come to him. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me. For they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. That may be a bit of a puzzle to think of, that we're glorified in Him. Well, the truth is that we are glorified in Him because of His work in our heart, which has caused us to pray to Him, to come to Him, in prayer and to pray from our heart not just a mere form of words but something which emanates from our heart because God has produced in us that need that need and that need has resulted in that prayer

God be merciful to me a city so it would be good for you and me if by his grace we come and we endeavor to analyze our spiritual understanding to analyze our soul's concern and not to pass it off as something of no consequence. Because each one of us need to experience the wonder and the glory of such a statement as this. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. To have the evidence that we are amongst those because by his grace we've come to him. We've come to him. I don't know whether you have, but you know whether you have. Whether you come to the blessed Saviour and rejoice in it. We've come to Him, and Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. There are no failures. Everybody who comes in faith, that means come believing, will be blessed in this way. And they will not be cast out.

Perhaps we think, I'm just too bad to be accepted. Well, remember the Lord Jesus says he came to seek and to save those which were lost. Those who thought there was no hope for. That's who Jesus came to save. And the great benefit and the great blessing is this, that as we have faith to believe, we come, we bow down before this great and glorious God. And he tells us, I have given them thy word. given us his word and the world has hated them. Don't be surprised if the world doesn't agree with us, doesn't like what we think and doesn't like what we say. We're told here and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. If we're not of the world, what are we? We're the chosen children of God. What a favour. An inestimable blessing.

The Lord therefore goes on to tell us again. He says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. And also that he says, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. So what a blessing therefore, if this great and glorious God is our God and we have the wonderful evidence of it. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. God has given us his word, His promises to plead to Him. You see, we can come and we can quote the Bible, quote His words as we pray to our Father in heaven. And we can say, Lord thou has said to come to thee and thou will not cast us out. And we pray, therefore, for a fulfilment of that truth. And what a blessing, therefore, if God gives us that faith to believe.

You know, we're told about the evil heart of unbelief. And the devil plagues us with an evil heart of unbelief. And yet God, in his great mercy and love, has given us his truth, his word, very simply that you and I can read and may God give us grace to lay hold of it, to grasp it, to thank God for it and to have faith to therefore truly believe it and acknowledge his great goodness and mercy and favour to us so that we are able To understand the truth of this great statement, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.

It's quite interesting really how the Holy Spirit organises the word of God. It could have been, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, come unto me. It doesn't say it that way round. It says the other way round. Come unto me. All ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. It's a great and glorious gospel invitation. And when the Lord gives us that desire and that faith to come to him, there is a working out of this.

Because you and I, if we are the children of God, we are on this earth for a purpose. We are, as Isaiah tells us, ye are my witnesses. We are witnesses for God on this earth. We're not therefore to hide that which God has done. We're to testify that we are amongst those who are born again. The devil wants our mouths to be shut. My friends, when we're blessing, God gives us grace to open our mouth.

And then he goes on to tell us, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. That means to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, some people think they can be silent Christians. Some people think they don't have to say anything. Some people think they can just have religion to themselves. But your life and my life, if we are a believer, is for the honour and glory of God. It's not to hide, it's to set forth. And therefore the Lord says here, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest. unto your souls as I said before we may be restless because of the burden of sin well here we have the encouragement to take God's yoke upon us that means to be linked to the Savior yoke was used to join horses or oxen in days past and it's a good reference to be yoked to none less than the Lord Jesus Christ, to be with him, to walk with him, to hear what he says. How encouraging that is.

For I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. And perhaps sometimes we think, that's going to be so difficult and so hard and we're going to have so much opposition well you ought to read the Bible next verse tells us for my yoke is easy and my burden is light that's wonderful isn't it and that's the Lord speaking the Lord giving us these great truths to encourage us in the dark age in which we live. That doesn't mean to say our life will be easy. I'm sure it won't be. We're told it won't be. But here we have these great words. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. What a text that is. What a verse that is. And what a blessing if you and I have faith to come to our Saviour. Come to our Father in Heaven and quote this statement. And believe that it is true. It is the Word of God and He will go with us. And He will strengthen us. And He will help us. And He won't leave us or forsake us.

and many times the Lord tells us those great truths I will never leave thee nor forsake thee that means what it says never leave us never throughout eternity again a statement which is so hard for us to understand and yet what a blessing it is

and we're told the Lord Jesus tells us in this prayer as he's praying to his father As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." That's the Word of God. He sent to us if we're believers. We're sent into the world. We're not to hide our religion.

In that Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus tells us about hiding our light. And it's given that description, hiding our light under a bushel. That means covering it up so it can't be seen. Not at all. If God has given us light in our soul, light of a saving knowledge that is well with our souls, we are not to cover up our light. We're just put it on a candlestick, as the word of God tells us. so that everybody can see it. Everybody can see it.

It's one of the problems. The devil's powerful today. And he puts fear into our hearts. And he thinks, tries to tell us that, well, if you profess the Savior, you won't have problems. We may have problems, but if Christ is for us, What a revelation. What a security. What a comfort.

You know, you and I can't expect, can we, to walk through this life and come to the day of our death and then suddenly we change and suddenly we're evidenced as a believer. Our life on this earth is a testimony that we are born again of the Spirit of God and that our new life, our spiritual life, is very relevant and very important and that we desire, therefore, to testify of what the Saviour has done, the Lord Jesus Christ, in giving his life, being born in the manger, submissive to his Father's will, live that perfect life, sanctifying life and died that sin atoning death in order to redeem your soul and my soul

oh bless God for these great truths and what a mercy therefore to recognize here we have this statement as thou sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world don't just read the first bit and then miss the second bit out

And as for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee. that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. That's the desire, that's the prayer of the blessed Son.

And the glory which Thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and Thou in me. That's a tremendous statement, isn't it? Great truth we have here in the Word of God. What a wonderful and glorious truth it is. That God in his love has recorded this in his Word for our benefit, for our blessing. Well, may we thank God for it.

And the glory which thou gavest me, I've given them. They may be one, even as we are one. It's not as though you and I don't have God's word, is it? We have God's word from Genesis to Revelation, and it's all that we need to encourage us, to strengthen us, to direct us as we journey on through life. And so, as if we come down to the end of this glorious prayer, the Lord says, O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. What a great blessing it is to have God's Word like that, to tell us quite clearly I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

Sometimes we're tempted to deny God's work, deny God's word, and yet it's good if you and I are honest and faithful, and as we examine ourselves, which we're encouraged to do, examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith or not, we have the wonderful evidence that God has indeed called us out of darkness into the glorious light His glorious light that shining light and we can rejoice in it to believe that back in eternity there was this wonderful plan of salvation for great sinners to give them faith to believe, to give them faith to pray, to give them faith to call upon God's name, to come to him, to come to him and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

God is faithful. God is faithful. Oh my friends, isn't that wonderful? You and I are so often unfaithful. God is faithful. Never despise the Word of God. Never turn away from it, but grasp it with both hands and thank God for it and praise him for it and search diligently for the continued evidences of the life of God in our souls. so that you and I can go on our way rejoicing and hear his great and glorious words to come unto him.

And I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. It's a very precious truth, the love of God. It's a very blessed experience to know that God has loved us with an everlasting love and we've been drawn to him through his work, through his Spirit's work and that we can come to that blessed place and bow down and worship. this great God for what he's done for such unworthy sinners and given us that good hope to believe that it is therefore well with our soul. Amen.