Take your Bibles, if you will,
and turn with me to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. I told Brother Eric if I had
a title for this message, it would be one of the two, either
God's Sovereign Will or God's Will versus Man's Will. Kindly
what our lesson is talking about this morning, the will of God.
Let's begin in verse 33 here. John chapter 6. I'm going to
read down through verse 45. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never thirst, shall never hunger, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that you
also have seen me and believe not. 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 down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath 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 every one 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 mother and father we know?
How is it then that he saith, 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 hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets
and they all shall be taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me." There's
some very important statements here that the Lord declared here. I have five statements from this
reading here that I want to say a few things on this morning,
the Lord willing, and I hope that He will not only help me,
but that He will help you to maybe understand some things
that I don't declare clearly, plainly as they ought to be.
But anyway, I'm going to make a stab at it in the Lord's will. So here in verse 6, the Lord
wrote here, He said, But I said unto you that ye have seen Me
and believed not. I'm wondering how many people and I don't think that the believer
has, to an extent anyway, have read this scripture and thought,
and the religious world do declare this, that thought that he's
a failure, that he's not able to accomplish that which he came
to do. But that's far from the truth,
isn't it? That's far from the truth. These are not the words
of a man that feels discouraged, not at all. I'm convinced that
this is a man that is not discouraged in the least, but on the contrary. He's not discouraged, is he? In this chapter here, the Lord
performed two miracles here. Well, one in this chapter and
one in chapter 5. But these people here that the
Lord is talking about, they had seen Him and seen His miracles
that He had done. And what did the Lord say? He
said, yet you don't believe. I've done all these miracles.
He had one in chapter 5 where the man was sitting by the pool
of Bethesda. And the Lord said, Will thou
be made whole? This man must have been a cripple.
Because he said, I have no one to help me. One time a year the
angel would come down and stir the water and the first one that
was in the water, they were healed of whatever disease that they
had. And he told the Lord, I have
no one to help me. So evidently he couldn't walk.
And the Lord said, told him, take up your bed and walk. And
he did, didn't he? He didn't have to get in the
water. Just the Lord commanding him to walk was all he needed. And then in chapter 6, we have
another miracle where the Lord, there was 5,000 men, the scripture
says, and He fed them with five barley loaves, and I just caught
this the other day when I was reading it again, and two small
fishes. You know, the Lord said about
Jonah that he created a great fish to swallow Jonah. But here the Lord, and I really
don't know what the significance is here, but he said that he
had two small fishes, and he fed 5,000 men. And not only that, when they
got done, what was it? I think he said they took up
12 basketfuls that was left over, and everybody had eaten until
they got full. And these men here had saw this, and yet the
Lord said, you have seen Me, and yet you do not believe. You
do not believe. Is not that the religious man of our day?
Is that not them? These men, the Lord said that
in 36th hour, said, you have seen me, but you
believe not. And I say that the men of our
day, they have read, they have read this word, and yet they
don't believe. They don't believe. They always,
always, I've had it to happen to me different times. You talk
to them and you tell them what the scripture says, and what
do they do? They say, but. And we know what
comes after that. Anytime anybody has said something
and used the word but, they're fixing to say just the opposite. of what was said. And that's
what they're saying about the scripture. The scripture says
this. Well, I say but. You're fixing to tell me something
just the opposite of the scriptures. And to me, that's not worth saying,
is it? If it's not, thus saith the Lord,
then no, we don't want that. There is only one reason. That's
the reason that the Lord used this scripture here in verse
36. You believe not. You've seen me, He said. You've
seen me. You've seen my miracles. You've
seen me heal diseases. And yet, you don't believe. We're no different, are we? Apart
from the grace of God, every one of us that's looking to Jesus
Christ, we're no different, are we? Who makes us to differ? The
Lord asked that question in, I think it's in 1 Corinthians.
Who maketh thee to differ? God does, doesn't He? We don't
make ourselves that different. What have I have, the scripture
said there, what do I have that I've not received? Nothing. All
that I've received, all that I have has come from the Lord.
We don't have nothing. We're a bunch of nobodies, aren't
we? People don't like that, but I mean, I love it myself, because
I know it's what I am. I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody. And the Lord told these people
here, and I thought, what an awful accusation, truthful accusation
He brought against them. You have seen me, and yet you
don't believe. But the Lord Jesus, He is not
discouraged because man does not believe. If that was the
case, he'd be discouraged all the time, wouldn't he? He'd be
discouraged all the time. His success does not depend upon
the will of God, upon the will of man, but upon God's will. And that's what he's looking
to in him. He's trusting his Father. He trusts his Father.
And the first statement that I want to talk about this morning
is found in 644. I want to go over there and start.
The Lord said here in John 644, no man without exception, no
man can come to me. No man can. That means that man
does not have the ability to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He don't have the ability. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. No man can come. Now, coming and believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ is one and the same thing. I mean, we
don't come unless we believe. And if we believe, if we truly
believe, we're going to come, aren't we? We're going to come. No man can come and no man can
believe except it be given him of my Father. That's what the
Lord is telling us here in verse 44. You can't do it unless the
Father draw him. He said. How are we going to
come? When will we come? A man must
be drawn by the Father or else He will not come. He will not
come. He says you can't, doesn't He?
No man can. No man can. Back in John 5.40, the Lord said,
You will not. You will not come to Me that
you might have life. A man can't come and a man won't
come unless God draws him, except the Father draws him. We must
be drawn to the Father, drawn by the Father, or we will not
come. We will not come. A man won't
come and he can't come. That's what the Scripture tells
us, isn't it? He won't come and he can't come. Why? Because the
Word of God tells us again in Ephesians 2.1 that we are dead
and trespasses in sin. He said there, you hath he quickened. That word quickened means to
be made alive. So evidently a man is dead, isn't
he? Men say we are not dead. Well,
the Lord said He quickened us. And we were in sin, we were dead
in our sins and trespasses. And we oughtn't to let anyone,
so many religious people think different today. That a man can
just, of his own free will, any time, any place, just come to
Christ. It's not so. It's not so. It's
not so. We must be drawn by the Father
or we will not come. It's been asked, I'm sure, I
don't think I've had it asked of me. People, men have made the statement,
how dead is dead? I would answer the question with
a question. How dead is the man that's in
the grave? that's laying out there in the cemetery. How dead
is he? You think he could respond to anything? No, he can't, can
he? He can't. Neither can a man come
to Christ by his own will. Why? It told us in Ephesians
2.1. He's dead. He's not dead physically.
He can walk around. He can talk. But he's dead spiritually. He can't come to Christ. He cannot. He will not. He has no desire
to come. He must be quickened or made
alive. Then and only then will one come
to Jesus Christ. Second question or statement, I guess I should
say, is in John 37. All that the Father giveth me. Not everybody. He set some qualifications
forth here, didn't he? All that the Father giveth me.
See, all people are not given to the Son. All people are not. I know people don't like that,
but it's the Word of God, isn't it? All that the Father giveth me
shall come. Not might come. Maybe they'll
come. They shall come. They shall come. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. We're talking about verse 36
there where some people may think the Lord is discouraged and that
He's a failure. And I know that some people Believe
that. But he's not. But this statement,
no doubt, calls the heart of the Lord Jesus to rejoice. Why? Because the Father said here,
all that the Father giveth me shall come. The Lord knew that
someone was going to come to Him. He knew that someone was
going to come to Him. They shall come. What a profound
statement. They shall come. They will come. And they must come. They must. Everyone that the Father gave
Jesus Christ to before the world began will come to Him. And I'm sure that the Lord Jesus
rejoiced in this very fact. That not only no doubt rejoices,
that rejoices my heart. That rejoices my heart. They
shall come. Not just maybe, but they shall
come. And I was thinking, just maybe,
just maybe, I'm one of them that shall come. One of them. One of the they. One of the they
that come. The elect belonged to the Father
before the world began. And He gave them all, just the
elect, just the elect. He gave them all to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in time, He elected them
in eternity. But they're coming in time, aren't
they? They shall come. They shall come
in time. Some may say, and I'm sure that
they have. Maybe some are not willing to
come. But oh yes, they will be. The
Lord told us that too. In Psalm 110 verse 3. Thy people
shall be willing When? In the day of thy power. They're
going to come. If God did not make them willing,
they would never come. Never come. That's what the Lord
said in John 5 40. You will not come to me. Excuse me, I'm sorry. Man thinks he has a free will,
and he does to a certain extent, but their will is in bondage
to their own nature that they are. And that's nothing but sin. If a man wants his free will,
I kindly thought that was hit there in John 5.40. You will
not come. That's your will. That's a man's
will by nature. You will not come. You will not
come. But bless God, He makes us willing
to come, don't He? He makes His people willing to
come. And if a man comes, and they
will, all the elect, if a man comes, it's because God has intervened
and drawn that man to Him. I want you to turn to these verses
here with me. I want to read some in John chapter
12 and then over in Romans. I know these verses here probably
cause a religious man to just grind their teeth, as you might
say. and be mad. But this is the Word of God.
This is the Word of God. John chapter 12 and beginning
of verse 35. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet
a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the
light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whether he goeth. While you have the light, believe
in the light, that you may be the children of light. These
things spake Jesus, and departed, and hid himself from them. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him." Here we
have more people who don't believe on the Lord. They've seen what
He's done. But the next verse tells us why
they've done that. They'd seen His miracles, but they didn't
believe on Him. "...that the saying of Esaias
the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath
believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe." Because Isaiah said again, He
hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see." This
is what God has done. Don't be mad at me. Take it up with the Lord. Take
it up with the Lord. "...that they should not see
with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,
and I should heal The Lord has blinded some people,
hasn't He? And He's leaving them in their blindness. Now over
in Romans 11, Romans chapter 11, beginning, read verse 1 through
8. I say then, hath God cast away
His people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Wilt ye not
what the scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercessions to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets
and digged down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they
seek my life? But what saith the answer of
God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men which have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
The Lord has always had a remnant, hasn't He? I mean, it may have
been very small at times, but the Lord has always had a people
in this world that trusted in Him, that looked to Him. Even so then, at this present
time, there is also a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumbering eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear until this day." And
I say concerning these verses, as our pastor said when he was
teaching in Romans 9, what do you do with that? You believe
it. You just believe it. It's the
Word of God. I would just tell the men if they
didn't want it, you know, just take your scissors and cut it
out. You don't believe that verse? Cut it out. You know? See what
you got left when you get done. It's the Word of the Lord and
we need to believe it, don't we? It is the sovereign mercy of
a holy God if a man is made willing to come. Man, I'm so thankful
that the Lord made me willing, caused me to come. And the reason the Lord can do
this, in John 17 too we find these words. As thou has given
him power, talking about the Lord Jesus. As thou has given
him power over all flesh. Not just some flesh. He's given
him power over all flesh. Why? That he should give eternal
life unto as many as he has given him. If a man or woman does not believe,
and embrace these truths, it's because God has left them to
themselves. That's what the Lord done there,
these people there in John 12 and Romans 11. All He's got to
do to a man is just leave him to himself. A man by nature doesn't want
anything to do with a holy God anyway. Why? For one reason,
He exposes what He is. He exposes His sins. The light
exposes what's in darkness, doesn't it? They won't come. You will not come to Me. You
will not and you cannot. And the third thing we see here,
statement is in John 39. John 6, 39, back in our lesson
here. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me," and
here's another qualification in it. He's qualifying who's
coming to Him. "...that of all which He hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day." All that which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing. Does this sound like a Jesus
that's failing? Does this sound like one that's
wanting to and can't because men have got his hands tied?
That's blaspheme to say such a thing, I think, about the Lord
Jesus Christ. No, He's not helpless. He's not the helpless Jesus that
religious are preaching today. These statements that I'm talking
about this morning, there's probably no other church anywhere near
that believes what these statements right here says. They won't have
them. They won't have them. Why? For
one reason, it takes them out of the picture. It puts Christ
in the forefront, and they got to get behind. And as I heard
an old preacher say, religious man does not like it when you
pull the throttle back on him. Put him back here, behind Christ,
he don't like that. They want the preeminence. They
want the preeminence. Well, they're not going to get
it. The Lord said, I will not share my glory with another.
He won't do it with him. So he's not a helpless Jesus,
wanting to incant, trying to infilate. Far from it. There again we have a scripture
concerning this. Isaiah 42 and verse 4. He shall
not fail. That sounds like a bunch of religious
people lying on the Lord to me. He shall not fail. Not only that,
he said, nor be discouraged. In verse 38 we see it was the
Father that sent Him, and it was the will of the Father that
sent Him. God not only sent the Lord, but
it was His will to send Him. Then in verse 39 we see what
the Father's will is. That of all which He hath given
me, I should lose nothing. You reckon the Lord's going to
fail? You reckon He's going to lose just one that the Father
gave Him? No, I don't think so. I believe
that with all my heart, that everyone that the Father gave
the Son to redeem, to put their sin away, they're going to be
in God's heaven someday, every one of them. Many have already
made that journey. Some are here now that's saved,
and I'm satisfied that there's more that the Father has given
the Son to be saved. I believe that if all those were
already saved that the Father gave the Son, the church would
have no reason to be here, wouldn't it? So the Lord still has a people
out there that He's going to redeem. In verse 39 we see that what
the Father See what the Father is, that of all which he hath
given me, that I should lose nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, what
kind of God do we worship? We worship a God that worketh
all things, no exception, all things after the counsel of His
own will. Romans 9.16 So then, it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but who is it of? It's of God that showeth mercy. It's of God that showeth mercy. No man, no man without exception,
is going to find Christ until he has been given strength will
of mind, and grace to do so, and until he is brought by the
sovereign God, by the power of a sovereign God Himself. That's
when He'll come. That's when He'll come, when
He's made willing, when He's made willing to come. In Acts
17, 28, the Scripture tells us that in Him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in Him we live and we move. and we have our being. They were given to Christ in
eternity and in time. Everyone's going to come. They're
going to come. The Father's will will be done. It will be done. And the fourth
statement in John 6, 45, it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught
of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
learned and hath heard, hath heard and hath learned of the
Father, cometh to me." There we find our qualifications again,
don't we? The ones that has heard and has learned of the Father,
that's the ones that's going to come. Every man that hath
heard and hath learned, come. The Almighty God is working the
Word in the hearts of those that He gave His Father. And they're
going to come. They know the Lord. Why? Because
the Father has given them a heart to know Him. We don't know Him on our own.
I mean, we're just... I know that I'm depraved. I know that
I'm depraved. But I don't know it as well as
I'd like to. I don't know it as well as I'd like to. The Lord
must do everything for us. Any thoughts that I have of Him,
it's Him. It's Him. I've got to give Him
the glory for it. Anything that I'm able to say
to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn't come from me, it comes
from Him. But these people that the Father
gave the Son, they were in bondage to Satan and sin. But what's
going to happen when the Father says, come? Are they going to say, no, I
don't think I want to. Maybe tomorrow. No, they will come. When He says, come, they will
come. God spoke this world into existence. Took nothing. Took nothing and
made this world. So when he says to a sinner,
come, you reckon he won't come? I kind of think he will. I think
he will. He'll come. John 5, 25. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. I love the wills and the shalls
in the Word of God. That makes it a positive thing,
doesn't it? When they are taught and learned
of the Father, our Father says, they will come to Christ. They
will come to Christ. They hear the voice of the Son
of God, and what do they do? They come. They come. There is power in that voice,
isn't there? And they are made willing. Thank God for making us willing.
Convincing me to believe on his darling son. They all shall be
taught of God. They all, no doubt. This all
here, no doubt, is the elect. is those that the Father has
given His dear Son. And the fifth statement we see
here, John 6, 40. John 6, 40. And this is the will. Have you noticed these scriptures
are just full of the will of the Father? I'm glad of that. I'm so glad
of that. You talk about will. Man, that's the will I want to
be in. It's the will. This is the will of him that
hath sent me, that every one would see of the Son, and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. I will raise him up. The Lord says this, I will raise
him up three times in these verses here that we read. Verse 39 and
40 and verse 44. Raise it up at the last day. John chapter 11, where Lazarus
had died, the Lord told Martha, He said, thy brother shall rise
again. And in verse 24, Martha said
unto him, I know that he shall rise, he shall rise in the resurrection
at the last day. She believed this, didn't she?
When the Lord said, I will raise him up at the last day, she believed
this. Martha believed what the Lord said. I will raise him up
at the last day. I've never witnessed anyone being
raised from the dead, and I'm sure you folks would say the
same thing. But I believe that the Lord will do what He said
here. I will raise Him up. He's going to raise us up, isn't
He? He's not going to leave us in the grave. He's going to raise
us up in that last day. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
51 through 54, we find these words. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep. There's some that's going to
be still alive, I think, when the Lord comes. I think that's
what He's saying here. We shall not all sleep. But we
shall all be changed. We shall all be changed. In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, Now that's pretty fast. The people that's supposed to
know anything tell me that that's between 100 and 150 milliseconds. And I still don't understand
how fast that is. But that's fast. That's how the
Lord's going to come here. In the twinkling of an eye at
the last trump, for the trump of God shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised. How? incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. For the corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and mortal shall have put on immortality,
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. Death will have no more power
over swelling, no more power, when the Lord raises us up out
of the grave, to be caught up into the air, to forever, forever,
forever be with Him. Well, may the Lord bless that
to your hearts. If you stand, be dismissed in a word of prayer. Thank you for your attention. Our Father in Heaven, we come
before you again this morning. The Lord thanking you for our
blessed Redeemer has come down to this incursed world to go to a cruel and rugged cross, took the sins of his people to
himself, bore him in his own body on the
tree, bore him away, cast him into that sea of forgetfulness,
cast him behind his back, never to be remembered against us anymore.
Oh Lord, thank you for him. Thank you for loving us. Thank
you for giving us to your dear son who loved us and gave himself
for us. We bless you for our time together.
Lord, I pray that you would take the few remarks that we try to
make and bless this dear people's heart. Lord, I trust that I pointed
them to Christ and what he's done for his people and his doing.
Keep us, we pray. Bring us back at Your next appointed
time. We bless You and praise You for all that You do. For
it's in His blessed name we ask it. Amen. See you Wednesday night,
Lord willing. Our pastor said he'd be back,
I reckon. If he don't, we're in trouble.