Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 2709 Rock Springs Road in Kingsport, Tennessee,
would like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. For information and service times,
visit www.ksgc.church. And now, Gabe Stoniker. We have
truly a wonderful verse of Scripture to look at for our message today.
It's John 6, verse 37. John 6, verse 37. I absolutely love this verse
of Scripture. I thank the Lord for this verse
of Scripture, and I pray the Lord will make it a blessing
to us. John 6, verse 37. It says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. And I've titled this message,
Absolute Control, Absolute Comfort. That's what this is. Absolute
Control, absolute comfort. He said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. That verse conveys to God's people,
his absolute control. And in that, they find absolute
comfort. Now let's just take a minute
and break down each line of this verse and look at it together.
All that the Father giveth me. All that the Father giveth me. God truly does have an elect
people. I want us to think about that
for just a moment and acknowledge that for just a moment. God truly
does have and elect people. I'm sure you've heard about election
and God's election and some people believe election to be God casting
a vote for you and the devil casting a vote for you. They
both want you and now the decision is yours. Where are you going
to cast your vote in this election? That's not how it works. From
the foundation of the world, God chose a people to save. And had he not chosen a people
to save, no one would be saved. Because man in Adam, all men
and women born from Adam, which is all of us, we were born in
sin. We were born in rebellion against
God. And our sin and rebellion would never choose God. It would
never choose life. Therefore, if God left every
soul alone, every soul would be damned. But God, in His goodness
and in His mercy, chose a people to save. His election is the
sweetest, most loving thing that a sinner could ever hear. That's
the kindness of God towards sinners. He chose to save some people. So God truly does have and elect
people. The Father truly did choose a
particular people to save. And I would love to take you
to verse after verse after verse to prove that to you. but we
don't have time. You look that up in the scripture,
God's election of his people. God chose a people to save. He
is in absolute control of salvation. God is in absolute control of
salvation. Who he receives to himself and
who he does not receive to himself, that's in the hands of the Lord.
He is in absolute control of that. This verse right here,
John 6, 37, it is not saying, he will in no wise cast anybody
out, which is what so many people believe. He will in no wise cast
anybody out. He receives everybody. He saves
everybody. There's nothing to fear here.
No need to fear this Holy God. Well, it's not saying that at
all. Matthew 7 tells us, many will say to him, Lord, Lord,
And he will say to them, Depart from me, I never knew you. Be
cast out into outer darkness. Be cast out into outer darkness.
Why? Why? It's because man will not come
to the Lord Jesus Christ on the terms of God Almighty. He wants
to come on his own terms. He will not have the salvation
that is in Christ alone. He wants to add his salvation
to Christ. He wants to perform the work.
Man wants to receive the glory, and God will not have that. It's
a sad truth, but it's so. Because of our sin against Him,
it's just and right. Everything that God does is just
and right. But Matthew 8, Matthew 13, Matthew
22, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, it tells us there is going to be
a great casting out. So let's not misunderstand. As
we read this, let's not misunderstand and misjudge the holy God who
must punish sin. and cannot clear the guilty.
He said there is going to be a great weeping and gnashing
of teeth when many are cast out of his sight because of their
own sin, their own sin against him. But thank God he is not
going to cast every sinful soul out of his presence. And it's
because he chose to give some to Christ. He chose to overpower
sinful, rebellious man. He said, all that the Father
giveth me. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said. Every soul that the Father has given to me, placed in my
hands. Jonah said, salvation is of the
Lord. It's in the hands of the Lord. It's in his absolute control. The Father gives to Christ every
soul he's pleased to give to Christ. It's in his absolute
control. And the absolute control and the glory of that absolute
control is in who he was pleased to give to Christ. Turn with
me to Matthew 11. If you're following with me,
look at Matthew 11, verse 25. It says, At that time Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. That's who he chose to have mercy
on. That's who he chose to give to
Christ, babes. He chose to give babes. Babes,
if you think about a baby, you just think about a baby. Babes
are helpless. Babes are needy. Babes are reliant. totally dependent on the one
that they have been given to by God. Every soul that's born
into this world was a soul given by God. The scripture says at
the end of our days on this earth, the soul is gonna go back to
the God who gave it. So babies are given to men and
women. And that's a perfect description
of the ones who have been given to Christ. They are helpless.
They are needy. They are totally relying on,
they're totally dependent on Christ to do everything for them. I pray that's us because that's
who God gave to Christ. Souls who need Him, need Him. They know they need Him. They
know they can't do anything for themselves. A baby lays there
crying, I need, I'm in need. That baby cries out for its mother,
knowing I can't do this for myself. That's what God's people know.
Verse 28, he said, right here in Matthew 11, he said, come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. Come to me. Who will come to
the Lord Jesus Christ? Who has been given to the Lord
Jesus Christ? Who has he caused to come to
him? He said, the labored ones, the
heavy laden ones, come to me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. Labored over sin, burdened over
sin, is that us? Do we come to him out of need?
Do we come to Him out of necessity, totally dependent on Him for
everything? That's how God's people come.
Those outside of Christ come in their own self-righteousness,
they come in their own worth, they come in their own deeds,
they come in their own doing. And that's not the soul that's
been given to Christ. I'm sure you've heard this attitude
so many times. I've heard it myself so many
times. You see this everywhere. You hear this everywhere. You'll
hear people say, well, I know I'm saved. If anybody's saved,
I'm saved. There's no doubt in my mind.
Just this confidence, this absolute confidence. That's not a heart
that's coming to Christ. That's a heart that's coming
to self. That's a heart that's coming to the works and the deeds
of the flesh and the false assurance of self. A heart that comes to
Christ comes in need, desperate need. A heart that comes to Christ
is one that has been taught by God who Christ is and taught
by God what Christ has done to satisfy God on behalf of his
people. A heart that truly comes to Christ
is a heart that has his own or her own sin revealed to him and
sees the inability of man, sees the true need, the desperate
need. That's the soul that will come
to Christ. There are two types of souls on this earth. Those
who desperately need Christ and those who desperately don't.
God's people are made to need him. They're made to need him. They're made to look to him,
rely on him, cry out to him, beg him. Do you see many people
these days begging God for mercy? Do you see people doing that?
Crying out to God for mercy, mercy and forgiveness for our
wretched sin against him. Do you see that? That's the cry
of the child who has been given to Christ. Back in John chapter
6, back in our text, if you look with me at verse 45, it says,
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught
of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Every
soul that has been given to Christ is truly taught of God. They
hear the truth by God. They hear the truth of God. They hear the truth of man's
condition. They hear the truth of God's
holiness. They hear the truth of God's
holiness. They hear the truth that they
cannot do anything to satisfy God's perfect demands. Men and
women open the Bible, they look at this word and they see all
these demands. And like that rich young ruler, they very foolishly,
very ignorantly say, well, all these things have I kept from
my youth up. I'm a good person, I do these things. The scripture
says, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the
law? Do you not hear how strict the demands of the law are? Not
just in deed, but in thought and in motive of the heart. God
looks all the way down into the depths of the soul. And every person who has been
given to Christ will see this. They will all be taught of God.
They will all see his holiness. They will all hear this truth
and come to know this truth of God's justice, that he must punish
the soul that sins against him. They will hear the truth of his
remedy. The only remedy that there is,
there's only one remedy for sin. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the sacrifice of Christ. It's the blood of Christ. It's
the remedy that the father provided for his people in the blood of
his own son. And when God's people hear that,
they come running. When God's people hear there's
only one remedy and it's Christ. They come running. to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They come running to the only
hope that there is of being raised up on that last day. Jesus Christ,
their Lord and Savior. God revealing this and teaching
this to all of his people. That's what draws his people
to Christ. If you look at verse 44 right
here in John 6, it says, no man can come to me. Now if you remember our text
in verse 37 says, all that the father giveth me shall come to
me. But by nature, verse 44 says, 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 to me except
the father which has sent me draw him. No man or woman can
come to him. The commandment is, come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You hear people say all the time,
come to Christ, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The child of God
will be taught, no man or woman can, unless the Father draws
me. Unless the Father in mercy gives
me to Christ and draws me to Christ, I can't come to Him.
You can't come to Him. Unless God reveals that to a
sinner, unless God gives faith to the sinner to believe that,
The sinner will never come to Christ. Without that, no man
or woman can come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But if God gives
and if God draws, sinners will come. If God does it, His people
will come. Back in verse 37, it says, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And I pray the Lord will teach
us what this means. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Not religion. Christ said me. So many people come to religion.
You know that I need to get back in church. I need to get in religion.
So many people believe the way to eternal life is through religion.
That's not so. He said all that come to me.
He didn't say doctrine. All who come to these correct
doctrines, he said me. Salvation is in a person. It's
in the need of a person. It's not morality. Morality is
a good thing. I'm all for morality. I'm all
for good deeds, but that's not salvation. Christ is salvation. He said, all that come to me. The majority of people in religion
think that they're coming to Christ when in reality, they're
coming to themselves. They think that they're coming
to Christ by being religious and doing good works and being
sincere. But the reality is when that
much focus is on the flesh, we're coming to the flesh. When all
of our focus is on the deeds of the flesh and the goodness
of the flesh and all about the flesh, we're coming to the flesh. Our Lord said, all that the father
hath given to me, will deny everything concerning themselves and concerning
their flesh and they will come to me. They will come to my flesh. He said, whoever eats of my flesh, they will come to my works. That's
what that means. God's people don't come to their
own works. They come to the works of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They will come to my body and
my blood, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He did
not say, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and
their own works. He did not say they will come
to a cooperation of me and them. He didn't say that. He said,
they'll come to me, alone, me, without the deeds of their own
flesh. They will have no confidence in their own flesh, none whatsoever.
And he said, when that happens, when one of my own gets so low
on himself or herself, just so broken, so helpless, so needy
that he or she has nowhere else to go. And there's nothing else
that soul can do but cast himself or cast herself on me, on the
mercy and forgiveness that is in me. He said, when that happens,
when that truly happens, I will receive that soul to myself. I will pick that soul up from
his or her lowest state. Where are you right now? Are
you in a lowest state over your sin? Are you in desperate need? Are you in desperate need? He
said, by my power, the soul that comes to me in that way, by my
power, by my strength, by my absolute control, I will raise
that soul up with me at the last day. That's who I'll raise up
at the last day. Over in Psalm 34, it says in
Psalm 34 verse 18, The Lord is nigh unto them which are of a
broken heart, broken over sin, and saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit, a low, contrite, humbled, broken spirit. That's the evidence
of a child that's been given to Christ. That's who God is
nigh to. That's who the Lord is near to.
Look at verse six right here in Psalm 34. It says, This poor
man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all
his troubles. It doesn't say, I went to the
Lord and said, Lord, I did this, and Lord, I did that, and this
is me, and this is who I am, and I'm ready to walk on in.
It says this poor man cried, cried out of need. This poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all
his troubles. Psalm 113, verse five says, who is like unto the
Lord our God, who dwelleth on high. He dwells on high. He is seated on the throne. He's
sovereignly seated on the throne. Verse six says, who humbleth
himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth.
He's so high, he has to humble himself to behold the things
that are in heaven and the things that are in earth. Verse seven
says, he raises up the poor out of the dust and he lifted the
needy out of the dunghill that he may set him with princes,
even with the princes of his people. That's who he does that
for. That's who he does that for.
That's who the father gave to Christ. Isaiah 61, I just adore
this portion of scripture. Isaiah 61, this is the, portion
of scripture that our Lord quoted when He went into the temple
and preached. This is where He read from. Isaiah 61, verse 1,
and this is Christ speaking. It says, The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn. Verse three, to appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes. They come to me in ashes. And
he said, I'm going to give them beauty in exchange for those
ashes. the oil of joy for mourning. They come in mourning and he
said, I'm going to give them the oil of joy, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. They come to me in this great
spirit of heaviness. He said, I'm going to remove
that from them and I'm going to put the garment of praise
on them that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the
planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. that He might
be glorified in everything that He has done for His people. There
is only one way to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is
as a broken sinner in need. All who come to Him that way,
He said, I will raise you up and I'll bind you up. I'll raise
you up and I'll bind you up. Back in our text in John chapter
6, verse 37, It says, 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 mine 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 everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. Do you know why God's people
really come to Christ? It's because Christ came to them.
That's the reason why Christ came to them. He said right here,
I came down. Thank God. I came down. Christ came down for all of his
people. He said, I came down so you could
go up. John the Baptist said he must
increase. I must decrease. The only reason
John had a heart to say that is because Christ made himself
to come down so John could go up. That's the only reason. Christ humbled himself so his
people could be lifted up. Well, how beautiful is that?
He said in verse 39, all of them are going to be lifted up. All
of them. All of them. God has a people. God chose a people. God chose
a particular people and he gave them to Christ. And the evidence
of who those people are is they are broken and humbled over their
sin. They come begging for mercy. They don't come in their self-righteousness.
They come begging him for mercy and all who come to him in that
way, he's going to provide mercy to them and he's going to lift
them up and not one is going to be lost. That's what our Lord
said in John 17, not one is going to be lost, not one of them.
Verse 39, 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. None shall be lost. Verse 40, he said, This is the
will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son,
every soul which sees the Son truly sees the Son of God and
believes on him and has been caused as a needy, begging sinner
to cast his or her all on Christ for mercy. Hath everlasting life. has everlasting life. And he
said, I will raise all of them up at the last day. What a glorious
word of absolute control that is. What comfort that brings.
Come to Christ. That is the command. Come to
Christ. Come to Christ as a needy, begging
for mercy sinner. That's the instruction to all
of God's people. And with that, he said in John
10, my sheep will hear my voice with that command. They will
hear my voice and they will follow me. And we do, don't we? We do. If we have heard his call, if
we've been given to Christ and we've heard his call, we come
to him. We come crying just as I am without
one plea. but that thy blood was shed for
me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, Lamb of God, I come.
I come. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Draw us nearer. Blessed Lord, to thy precious
bleeding side. That's our plea, and I pray that's
our plea. I pray that God has put that
cry in my heart and in your heart, because if he has, if we are
needy sinners begging for the mercy that is in Christ, that's
the evidence that the Father gave us to him. I pray the Lord
will cause that to be a blessing to our hearts. You have been
listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like
a copy of this message or to hear other messages of Sovereign
Grace, you can call or write to the number and address on
your screen or visit www.ksgc.church. Tune in at this same time next
week for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.