Chapter 6. This chapter is a
marvelous, marvelous chapter. We've already been in it for
a while, and I think you see why. It's amazing. Came to this
verse, verse 37, and I thought, it deserves a message by itself.
Every verse does. But this is such a powerful verse.
This is the gospel in one verse. All the truth of God is found
in this one verse. What a verse. Read it. Verse
37. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, 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 verse. Now, the purpose
of this is for the glory of God, the glory of Christ, but we need
to ask ourselves and examine ourselves, Paul said, whether
we be of the faith. Examine ourselves. Ask ourselves.
Am I one of God's chosen? Has God called me? Have I come
to Christ? Have I? Or will I fall away? If you have come to Christ, as
our Lord said here, you will not fall away. You cannot. You will not perish. He has given
you eternal life, and you cannot go away. You will not perish. You cannot. So it behooves us,
doesn't it, to ask this question? I don't care how old you are,
how long you've been hearing the gospel, you need to ask yourself
this. Have I come to Christ? Am I coming to Christ? Peter
said it's not a one-time thing. It's not a thing in the past.
It's a continual thing. To whom? Coming. Have we come
here this morning? Where have we come this morning?
Why are we here? So this is a good question. Now,
many came, in verse 36. The Lord said unto a multitude,
perhaps thousands, He said in verse 36, I said unto you that
you also have seen Me and believed not. Many, many, many multitudes
came to Jesus, didn't they? They came to see His miracles.
that came to receive his blessings. And he is the great blesser. He blesses all. His tender mercies,
Scripture says, are over all his work. But many came to see
some things. Many came to receive from him
some blessings, but didn't really come to him. They didn't come
to Him. In verse 66 it says many of His
disciples, or they seemed to be, they looked like it, they
sounded like it, they seemed interested, they seemed like
they believed what Jesus said, but it says they went back and
walked no more with Him. So, they didn't come to Christ
yet. They didn't have life because
they left. They went away. They perished. Our Lord said,
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And they stay. They stay there. They took with Him, abiding in
Him. And our Lord said to His twelve
disciples, verse 67, He turned to the twelve and said, Will
you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Is this your answer when asked,
will you also go away? Will you go away? To whom? Where
would I go? To whom would I go? Thou hast
the words of life. You are my life. I hang on your
every word. Your word is life to me. Your
gospel is life to me. Is that what you say? And he
said in verse 69, they said it, Peter said it on our behalf in
there, we believe, we believe and are sure that thou art that
Christ, the Christ of Scripture, the true Christ, that Christ,
that Messiah, that covenant head, that daismon, that advocate,
that kinsman redeemer, that Christ, the one I need. The Son of the
Living God, we believe and are sure. Now what did the Lord say
why He said this? What did the Lord say why they
would not go away, they would not leave? The reason being what? Verse 7, Our Lord answered and
said, Have not I chosen you twelve? And one of you is a devil. He
chose Judas to to deny Him, to betray Him, didn't He? That's
what He said then. Chosen. Have not I chosen you? Are you not mine elect? Is that
not the reason why you came? Isn't it? There is no other reason. It's not in you that you didn't
come of your own will. So, have not I chosen you? Those that are chosen come and
they stay. And they will not and they cannot
go away. Why? Peter wrote it in his first
epistle. In the first epistle to all the
churches, he said to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius
and Galatia and Cappadocia, elect. And then he went on in verse
5. Peter said, you're kept by the power of God. He chose you, and you came to
Him, and He keeps you from falling. And you will not perish. That's
conclusive. He will not. Kept by the power
of God. Kept by the mercy of God. Kept
by the Spirit of God. If any man hath not the Spirit
of Christ, the Holy Spirit, he is none of His. He will not remain
but will live. Richard, are you saying, once
in grace, always in grace? Well, let me reword that, okay,
properly. Once in Christ. Always in Christ. Like those people in the ark.
We're going to look at that in the next hour. Those eight people
in the ark, the Lord shut them in. And they were so glad. So glad. The Lord brought them
in, drew them in, and He shut them in and pitched that door
where they couldn't get out if they wanted to. They didn't want
to. They were glad to be there. And though all the disciples
pursued Him, when He went to the cross, they pursued Him.
They must, according to the Scriptures, mustn't. Smite the shepherd and
the sheep will be scattered, Scripture says. They had to,
didn't they? He had to go to the cross alone.
Like Abraham told those men, you know, I and the Son shall
go up there alone, and they left. Well, the disciples all pursued
Him, but He never pursued them. They all denied him. Peter denied
him, didn't he? Simon Peter denied him. But here's
Peter's salvation. The Lord never denied Peter,
did he? He cannot. You love this verse,
don't you, John? He cannot deny himself. If you're
his bride, if you're his wife, if you're his beloved, you two
are one, and he will not, he cannot deny you. You're one. Isn't that good news? This is
a great verse. Oh my. Alright, let's look at
this. This is a gospel in a verse. Let's look at the fact of it.
We'll look at the make, the wonder of it, the glory of it, and the
comfort of it. Comfort of it. The fact of it.
You'll find all the truth right here. It's implied right here.
The truth. The doctrine of it. You'll find
TULIP right here. TULIP. for ease of remembrance,
total depravity, unconditional election, limited or particular
redemption or atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of
the saint. You say, what are you talking about, Preacher?
Well, let's look at it, okay? Depravity. Look at verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. What is that saying? If the Father
doesn't choose you, if the Father doesn't elect you, if the Father
doesn't give you to Christ, you won't come to Christ. Right? Why? Because we're totally depraved
by nature. We're dead in trespass and sin.
Look at John 5. Our Lord said this earlier in
John chapter 5. Here's the fact of it, the truth
of it, the doctrine of it. Verse 39, He said to a bunch
of religious people, Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, religious,
devout people, simile folium, Searching the Scriptures and
reading the Bibles and attending services on the Sabbath. And
he said in verse 39, search the Scriptures. In them you think
you have eternal life. So many things. that, you know,
because of their devotion to God and their morality and their
attendance in religious matters, that they have eternal life.
But he says, no, they are they which testify of me. And he says,
and you will not come to me. Well, preacher, they were there.
That's right. They were right there. And they came asking Him
many questions. They came seeking many things. But they weren't
seeking Him as a sinner in need of a Savior, as an unrighteous,
guilty sinner in need of a Lord that's righteous. They didn't
come to Him for that. It came for a handout. It came for him
to, you know, commend them for what they were doing. Like that
rich young ruler came and said, good master, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? There's
nothing good but God. Why? You know the law. And he told him the law and he
said, all these things have I done for my youth. Oh boy. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. You will not. Men will not come
to Christ. My pastor preached a message
40 years ago entitled, Why Men Will Not Come to Christ. And
it's perhaps been listened to by more than any other message
that he's ever preached on Sermon Audio. Why men will not come
to Christ. Why? They don't need a Christ. They have a righteousness, thank
you. They're not that simple. They're already fixed up. They're
already this. They're already that. I've got
to go on. Men will not come unto Christ. Chapter 6, verse 44. Look at
this. So man is depraved. He will not
come to Christ. And verse 44 says, no man can
come to me. You know what he said? That's
very plain, isn't it? No man can come to me except
unless the Father which hath sent me draw him. And whoever he does give to me,
whoever the Father gives to me, draws, the Holy Spirit draws,
and they come to me, I will raise him up again. Very
plain, isn't it? No man will by nature, no man
can by nature. They're depraved. That's depravity. Cannot and will not. They're
unwilling and unable. Then why do they come? Thy people. Psalm 110, verse 3. Thy people,
thy chosen people, shall be willing in the day of thy power." It's
not of him that willeth, Romans 9, 16. Not of him that runneth,
but it's of God that showeth mercy. It is God that, Philippians
2, 13, it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. See, this is to the praise of
the glory of His sovereign, electing, drawing, keeping grace. It's by grace you're saved. It's
by the will of God, by the power of God, by the blood of Jesus
Christ, by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, by the leadership
of the Holy Spirit, by the keeping power of the Holy Spirit, salvations
of the Lord. No man will, no man can except
the Father. And he said it again in case
someone didn't hear him, verse 65. He says, I said unto you,
no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my
Father. Now people, this doesn't exclude anybody from coming because
no one will. We're not trying to keep people
away, we're not trying to tell people But all we're trying to
tell people is what God says, what Christ says. And if anybody
comes, they're going to give Christ the glory for it. Everybody
in heaven gives Christ all the glory for being there. All of
it. Not the church, not the preacher,
not the soul winner, not their will, not anything they've done,
but Jesus Christ, all these things. Yeah. Spirit of God. Oh, I was
going to have, we were going to read, you know, we can read
Ephesians 1, Romans 9, we can read all of these. Here's the
election. Look at it. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. That implies, that expressly
implies, clearly implies that God chose some people and gave
them to Christ. This is, this is all through
the Scriptures then. Look at John 17. John 17. Many, if not most of you know
these verses well. Some do not. John 17. Look at
verse 2. This is the prayer of our Lord
to his heavenly Father. This is the Lord's prayer here.
Not the disciple's prayer he gave us to pray, our Father which
is in heaven. This is the Lord's prayer. This
is the great high priest's prayer before he goes into the Holy
of Holies with his own precious blood. And here's what he says
to the Father, verse 2. Well, O my, I'd hate to leave
anything out. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to who? Those that let him? Those that
accept him? Those that decide for him? Those
that of their free will choose him? No, sir. to as many as thou
hast given him." Very clear. Look at verse 6. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were. Were? Yes. Chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Their names written in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Thine they were. And given, they were chosen by
thee and given to Christ. Look at verse 9. I pray for them. You say, he's just praying. He's
praying, he's talking about his twelve apostles. Yes, but not
just them. Verse 9, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. They
are thine, look at verse, across the page, verse 20, in the same
page, right across there. Neither pray I for these alone. but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word, that they all may be one." They're
all given, they're all chosen by God, given to Christ in a
covenant of grace before the world began. Romans 8 says, "...for whom he
did foreknow." That's for love, that's enter into a union with
concerning, like Adam knew his wife Eve. For whom He did foreknow, them
He also did predestinate. Predestinate to be conformed
to the image of Christ. Predestinate to be His Son. Whom
He did predestinate, He called by the gospel. That's the drawing
power. We're going to look at that.
Irresistible grace. He draws them. He calls them.
And whom He calls, He justifies. What does that mean? He gives
them faith. It's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. It's according
to the working of His mighty power. You believe Him because
He gives you that thing. You believe Christ because you
can't help it. You didn't decide to do it, and
you couldn't help it, so you can't lose it. It's a new nature. You believe on Him. And whom
He justified, He glorified, passed in. Romans 8, 29, 30. It's past tense. It's glorified. What does that
mean? Christ was a Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. God knew His people before the foundation of the world.
God already purposed it. He said, I purposed it. I'll
bring it to pass. I've spoken it. I'll do it. It
was as good as done. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. Acts 15, 18. It's going to happen. Well, you say, then what's the
use in anything? Don't talk like that. We do it, we preach because
God said to, because Christ said to. A man must repent. A man must believe. A man must
come to Christ. You must come to Christ by faith.
You must believe Him. You must lay hold of Him. You
must hold fast the beginning of your confidence steadfast
to the end. You must confess Christ and believe His baptism.
You must or you won't be saved. But the fact of the matter is,
if you do, God did it. Because he gets the glory. Particular
redemption. They shall come to me. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. They've come to me for
salvation. Because he came for them, he
said. He came for them. And so they
come to him. They were given to him, particular
redemption. He said that, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. In the Old Testament, the high
priest of old went into the Holy of Holies to offer up blood for
whom? For whom? The world? No, sir. No, sir. He had twelve names on his breastplate
and on his shoulders. which is typical of, a type of,
a picture of, an emblem of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has his
people on their heart and carries them on his shoulder. His people.
His people. Mighty let. He said, I know my
sheep and have known of mine. I'm going to have you turn there.
We're running out of time. If anybody says so, we can give
it another person. Sorry, y'all, we can't do it.
John 10, our Lord said, I know my sheep. He said, I lay down
my life for my sheep, not the world, not goats, my sheep. And they're going to hear my
voice and they're going to come to me and I give unto them eternal
life and they will never Perish, because He's the Good Shepherd.
He's the Great Shepherd. He's the Chief Shepherd. He never
lost His sheep. When it was all over, He said,
those that Thou hast given Me, I have kept. I've lost none of
them. Why? Because they're His sheep,
and He's the Good Shepherd. That's who He came for. That's
who He died for. That's who He sends the Holy
Spirit for. And they will come. Irresistible
grace. Irresistible grace. They shall
come. They're drawn. They're drawn. As an old preacher once said
years ago, he said, God's people come against their will with
their full consent. Explain that, preacher. Well,
I don't have to, to those who've come. Meaning that you would
not have come. You would not have come. I would
not be here, people. You're looking at the prodigal
son. I denied this truth as a young hippie. I denied it. And I would
not have come unless God had chosen me and drew me by his
sovereign power. I would not be here today had
he not drawn me. I wouldn't be here today if he
didn't keep me here. You know that so, don't you?
This world has such a power. Irresistible grace. They're drawn. All that the Father giveth me
shall come. No man can come except the Father draws them. Drawn
by irresistible grace and mercy and love. Like, I love the story
of Ruth, don't you? Ruth and all the providence of
God bringing that Moabite, that heathen woman to meet her Boaz,
her kinsman, her redeemer. God brought her all the way.
Killed her husband. and brought her all the way from
heathen land into Bethlehem to meet a man. A man who came out
and saw her. She didn't see him, didn't know
him. The type of Christ. And he looked upon her and he
gave directions and gave commandments concerning her. Told the young
men, let fall handfuls on purpose for her. Bring her to my table
tonight. And she did, she came. She didn't
know Boaz. Boaz knew her, knew all about
her. And he came where she was eating.
I love this story. Don't you love this story? This
is the story of Christ and His people. He came where she was
eating, and it says He reached her some corn, some cornbread
or something. And I believe He rushed up against
her. And she smelled of Him like Christ to the Beloved, His cheeks
as a bed of spices. Smitten with Him. He meant to
do that. He's wooing her. He's drawing
her. She's falling in love with Him.
One of these so-called church signs over here says, Fall in
love with Jesus. Urging us to fall in love with
Jesus. It doesn't work that way. He comes to you because He loves
you and He makes you fall in love with Him. You can't just
fall in love with someone, can you? You can't make your heart
love someone. Old George Strait said something
like that. You can't make a heart love someone. But God can and
must and does. He draws them. He woos them. It's irresistible grace. You
know, we resist, we fight, but He's the Holy Spirit. He's all-powerful. He is sovereign. If He says you're
coming, you will come. Aren't you glad? Sinners are
glad. Omah Phiblisheth glad that he
was fetched. Perseverance or preservation. Or it's like both Crabtree combined
it. Perseverance. Perseverance, it's
not a word, but it is in our vocabulary. They are preserved
by God and they persevere by God. They persevere. They will
not fall away. They cannot fall away. Like old
Jacob. The Lord came to Jacob, didn't He? And laid hold of Jacob.
If He hadn't, Jacob was lost. And made all these promises to
Jacob. What Jacob did. Jacob laid hold of him. The Lord
came to Jacob with a purpose in mind. He's going to do it.
He's going to bless him, call him, regenerate him, redeem him,
lead him, guide him, direct him, keep him all his days in it.
What did Jacob say? I will not let you go. That's
perseverance. That's preservation. It's perseverance. Have not I chosen you? Well, I was actually going to
give you two more points, the wonder and the glory of it, but
that was the wonder and the glory of it. The comfort of it. Here's the comfort of it. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He doesn't say do
this or do that. He said they'll do this, they'll
do wonderful works, although we're predestined unto good works. God hath before all day that
we walk in them. But he doesn't say that for our
comfort. God's people do works, but He doesn't say that for our
comfort. He just says, shall come to me. He doesn't say, all that the
Father giveth me shall never sin anymore. No. There is a new
creature. There is a new man inside that's
holy and unblameable, and he cannot sin. He cannot fall away.
He will not. And a new nature that doesn't
walk anymore like it used to. A new walk, but there's an old
nature in it. And we do sin. He doesn't say
that for our comfort. He doesn't say for our comfort,
you'll quit your sinning. No, no, no. He says it's one
thing for our comfort that it shall come to me. Brethren, that's,
I have. By God's grace, I have. And I
do. And that seems like about all
I can do. Do you? Did you? Have you? Come to Christ? What does it mean to come to
Christ? It means to come to Christ. Many, as we say, come for blessings,
come to church, come to an organization, come to a club, come to meet,
you know, to a singles meeting, to meet a husband or get a wife.
Some come to the preacher for advice, come for confirmation
of whatever, come to the front, to the altar, come to the baptismal
pool. But he said, all that the Father
gives of me, they'll come to me. They'll come to me. How do you come to the Lord?
Brother Scott Richardson, oh my. an old coal miner that the
Lord filled with His Spirit and gave him. He said, come to Christ,
but don't move a muscle. You don't come down here. Christ is not down here. This
is not the altar. Christ is the altar. You don't
come to Christ in body. Well, preacher, how do you come
to Christ? Call. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. It means, Lord, save me. Lord,
help me. Lord, have mercy upon me. Lord,
teach me. Lord, show me. We come to Christ.
We come to Him. Help me. Receive me, Lord. It's
to come to Christ to believe Him. Believe He's all you need. It's to come to Christ as a poor
sinner in need of everything. It's to come to Christ as a guilty
sinner. To come to Him for pardon. To
come to Him for forgiveness. It's to come to Christ. We don't
come to a priest. We don't come to a preacher.
We come to Christ. We come to Christ, our great
High Priest. We come to Christ as a hungry
person in need of food. He says, I'm the bread. I'm the
food. I'm the water, like that woman at the well. He said, you've
been coming to this well for years, and you've been trying
this and trying that. And I'm not telling you to try
Jesus. I'm telling you, all the Father giveth, they don't try,
they come to Him. It's to come as a leper in need
of cleansing. It's to come as a blind man in
need of sight. It's to come as a deaf man. Lord,
I open my ears that I might hear the truth. It's to come as a
hopeless person. Lord, I have no hope in myself.
Christ is my hope. Have you come to Christ? It's
to come as unrighteous. Lord, I'm not righteous. I'm
unrighteous. I can't get to heaven by my works. Lord, would you let me be found
in Christ having his righteousness? That's coming to Christ. And
him that cometh to me. That's all I can do, people.
That's all I can do is come to Christ, even now, after all these
years. I can't look back at anything I've ever done, any message I've
ever preached, anything, not one thing, because everything
I've ever done is filled with sin. But I can come to Christ. Now,
He's great. And do come to Christ. I come
here today as a sinner in need of a Savior. And he said, I will
no wise cast out. And he said, I will raise him
up. This is the Father's will that is sent me, he said, that
of all which he hath given me I lose nothing, but raise them
up at the last day. And he said, this is the Father's
will that is sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him or her up
at that last day. And he illustrated in closing.
The Lord sent two men, of Joshua, sent two men to a decadent, sinful
place called Jericho. He sent two men there. He's going
to destroy that place. But He sent two men. Where did
He send those two men? To whom did He send those two
men with this message of salvation? To whom did Joshua purpose to
save? He sent those two men to a harlot. A harlot's house. And they came into her house
and they told her of Joshua's coming. Joshua was going to destroy
this place. Created a fear of God in her. Well, that night when they laid
down to sleep, it says that this woman, Rahab, came up where they
were sleeping and said, I don't want to perish. I want to be saved by Joshua
when he comes." She came to them. She came to those men. And they
gave her a sure token. They gave her a promise from
Joshua himself. They gave her a sign, a token,
a scarlet line, which is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which all this Scripture is about. the blood of the Lamb. They gave
her a sure token, and they said to her, upon the word of Joshua,
when we see that scarlet line, you're coming out. You're coming
with us. We're going to spare you. You
will not perish. We're taking you to the promised
land. And lo and behold, one day Joshua said, it's time. And he first, he first sent those
two men into Jericho to climb up that scarlet vine, go in that
house and say, Rahab, we're here for you. And whoever else was
in that house, and brought her out, and brought her to Joshua,
her husband, her Lord. That's what this means. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, drawn, and him that cometh
to me." Ray had a heart, but Joshua said, enter in with the
rest of us sinners. I chose you. Is that your hope? To whom come I? To whom come
I? All right. Okay.