Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Now today
I'm going to be preaching from the book of John chapter six. And this is the second message
in a series that I'm preaching on this subject, the eternal
security of the saved, the eternal security of a true believer.
The fact that if one is saved by the grace of God, truly saved
now, That person who is saved by the grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ can never be lost again. And I dealt with this
last week, the first message, but I know what people say and
how they object to this. You know, people say, well, you're
just talking about once saved, always saved and all of that.
And you may want to use that term if you want, that's fine.
You know, one person told me one time, he said, well, it depends
on who saves you. And that's true. But there's
only one salvation from the one true and living God. But you
see, the thing about it is, the objections that people raise
to this truth of eternal security are not founded upon the truth
of the Bible. And that's what I want you to
do. I want you to follow along in the scriptures. Today's message
is entitled, Jesus Christ Shall Lose No One. Jesus Christ shall
lose no one. And I'll begin here in verse
37, just in a moment. But of course, the biggest objection
to the eternal security of the saved is, well, that just gives
people a license to sin. It makes them throw caution to
the wind and said, well, if I'm always saved, then I don't have
to do anything in the way of obedience and all that. I dealt
with some of that. in the last message. And I'll
continue to deal with that, but that's not true. That's not what
the doctrine, the truth, the gospel truth of eternal security
teaches. And that's not what the experience
of a sinner being secure in Christ is. because the Holy Spirit of
God coming forth from Christ gives those who are eternally
secure in Christ a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit. And
we're gonna look at that. But let's go to John chapter
six concerning this subject, Jesus Christ shall lose no one. And it says here in John 37,
637 rather, and the Lord here, he's talking about himself as
the bread of life. And that's significant. Back
up in verse 31 of John 6, he said, our fathers did eat manna
in the desert. As it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. In verse 32 of John 6, then Jesus
said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you
not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Now we know
when he says the world there, he's not talking about everybody
without exception. Somebody said, well, he gives
it to you, but you have to take it. Now listen, that's not what
this scripture's teaching. He's talking about the fact that
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And this bread, which he's talking about himself, is their life.
And look at verse 33, he says, 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
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But verse 36, but I said unto
you that you also have seen me and believe not. In other words,
they've seen him and they don't believe. Verse 37, now, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. Now did you hear that? Now first
of all, understand this issue of the bread. Bread in the scripture
represents the sustenance of life. The bread that they baked
back then was different from bread we get today. They could
live off of this bread. It had all the nutrients and
all that you need. But bread represents the sustenance
of life. The Bible talks about Christ
as the water of life. He's the water of life. Remember
he told the woman at the well in John 4, he said, those who
drink of this water, which means to believe on him, they'll have
a well of waters bubbling up within them. In other words,
they'll never be thirsty. And then he speaks here of the
bread of life. He shows how the manna that fell
in the desert that was given by God to the children of Israel
was a type, a picture of Christ, the bread of life. He is life
itself. He sustains life. He gives you
life. He sustains it. Now, somebody
says, well, you got to keep feeding on it. Well, sure you do. But
you will, if you have life. You're not let live one day and
then dead the next and then become alive again. So Christ is the
sustenance. Over in the book of Matthew chapter
5 when he was pronouncing what we call the Beatitudes, one of
them says, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
for they shall be filled. You see when God the Holy Spirit
brings a sinner to see his sinfulness, his spiritual poverty, his deadness,
He gives him a hunger, the Spirit gives us a hunger, a spiritual
hunger for life that we can only find in Christ, a spiritual thirst
for water that we can only, spiritual water that we can only find in
Christ. In other words, if the Holy Spirit
has done His work of conviction, the only way that you're going
to be filled, the only way your thirst is going to be quenched
is by coming to Christ for righteousness. And what Christ says here is
this. He says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. In other words, everyone whom
the Father gave him shall come to him. And he says, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now, who are these
that the Father gave him? Who's he talking about? Well,
we could go to several passages of Scripture But the Bible speaks
of the everlasting covenant of grace where before time ever
began, before this world was ever created, God the Father
chose a people and gave them to Jesus Christ. And listen,
I'm not telling you that we are capable in our puny, finite minds
of grasping all of the majestic, wonderful, eternal purposes and
mind of God were not. But don't go the way of most
people in religion today and deny it. God chose a people. The Scripture teaches that. You
may not like to hear that, but He did. You say, well, why did
he choose me? Or why did he choose that one?
That's not even answered. The only answer that the Bible
gives is in Matthew 11, where Christ said, for so father, it
seemed good in thy sight, but he gave him to Christ. And that
means this, that means he put all of the responsibility of
their whole salvation upon Jesus Christ, who came in time, took
their place on the cross of Calvary and died for their sins. He's
called the surety of his people. Over in the book of John 17,
look at that with me. Listen to the high priestly prayer
of Jesus Christ in John 17. It says these words, verse one,
these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. Now listen to the glory that
he's talking about, verse two. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Christ has the power to give
eternal life. And he says in verse three, and
this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. And then here's the
basis of it all. Verse four, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gave us me to do. He's speaking in anticipation
of going to the cross and redeeming his people. Now back in John
chapter six, As you look back on these passages, listen to
it again, verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And then he says, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now somebody, this
is how we as sinful human beings reason and rationalize things.
Somebody says, well, how do I know if I was one given to him? That's
not your business. That's part of the secret things
that belong to God. Your business, your responsibility
is the revealed things. And here's what he says. Him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. What is your
responsibility? Come to Christ. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Rest in Him. receive him. That's what you're to do. You
have no excuse. You say, well, I can't do that
cause God didn't give me to him. Oh no, you don't know that and
you're not God. And let me tell you something,
anybody who's who uses the biblical doctrine of election, or predestination
as an excuse not to seek the Lord, as an excuse not to come
to Christ, as an excuse to sin as much as they want. Anybody
who does that, they're trying to play God. You see, you're
not God. I'm not God. We're just human
beings groping around in the dark. We've got this light of
the Scripture. He that believeth and is baptized
confesses that, and believers' baptism shall be saved. That
doesn't make baptism salvation, but that's the confession. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Isn't that
what the scripture says? Now you call upon the name of
the Lord. Now if you do, you can know all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. But let's go on. Look at verse
38 of John 6. He says, for I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me." Now this is not saying that the will of Christ as the Son
and the will of the Father are different or in opposition. In fact, it says the opposite.
It says that the will of the Father and the Son are the same.
But what he's saying is this, that this operation of salvation
that secures the people of God by the grace of God into eternal
life and glory through Jesus Christ is an operation of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three persons of
the triune Godhead are involved here. And so He's simply saying,
I'm not doing this on my own as an individual in His humanity. He said, I'm doing the will of
Him that sent me. This is the will of God. And
he says in verse 39, 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. That's
the sovereign will of God. Now, preachers will tell you,
they say, well, now that's what God wants to do, but He can't
do it if you let Him. That's not what this says. In
fact, and I'm going to deal with this as we go through these passages. and as I deal with different
scriptures on this series of eternal security. But let me
just give you something to think about and read about. Back in
the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32, and one of the passages,
you look at Jeremiah chapter 32, I'm gonna show you something
here. And this is just one example. And later on in this series,
I'm going to deal with John chapter 10, where the Lord Jesus Christ
makes the statement. He says that His sheep hear His
voice, and He knows them. And He said they cannot perish. He holds them in His hand. And
he will not let them go. He and his father will not let
them go because, and he and his father are one. And I've heard
people say to me on that, there's a passage there where it says,
and no man shall pluck them out of my father's hand. And I had
a friend who didn't believe in the eternal security of the safe.
He said, well, see there, it doesn't say that the devil couldn't
pluck them out of their hand. It says no man, or that they
could come out themselves. Well, I'm gonna deal with that
later on, but let me give you something to think about. Here
in Jeremiah 32, beginning at verse 40, this is a prophecy
of Jeremiah concerning the days of the new covenant, which began
when Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried and rose again
and ascended unto the Father. And it was inaugurated at Pentecost,
and that's the new covenant. And what he's doing, he's contrasting
this new covenant with the old covenant which Israel was under
and rebelled against. You see, Israel rebelled and
they didn't meet the conditions of the old covenant. It was a
legal covenant conditioned on them. But the new covenant in
Jesus Christ, of which Jesus Christ is surety, Listen, it's
the fulfillment in time of the everlasting covenant of grace
made before time. And all the ones who are members
of that covenant, they shall be saved and they shall continue. And I've heard people say, well,
Christ won't leave them or leave us, but we can leave him. Well,
listen to Jeremiah's prophecy concerning the nature of the
everlasting covenant in Jeremiah 32. And I said verse 40, but
look at verse 37. He says, behold, I will gather
them out of all countries. whether I have driven them in
mine anger and in my fury and in great wrath, and I will bring
them again into this place and I will cause them to dwell safely.
Now, some people say, well, he's just talking about Israel and
the land of Israel, but he's not. He's talking about spiritual
Israel here. And he says in verse 38, and
they shall be my people and I will be their God. Now listen to verse
39. And I will give them one heart
And one way that they may fear me forever, that's believe in
him, worship him, respect him for the good of them and of their
children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do
them good. You see, God will not turn away
from them, but look on, but I will put my fear in their hearts that
they shall not depart from me. They shall not depart. That's
what he says. That's the nature of the new
covenant. You see, the old covenant was an imposition on the nation
Israel, and it set them apart from other nations in various
ways, but it did not in and of itself have the ability to justify
them or to give them a new heart. It could force them in several
ways by its laws and all of its prohibitions to be servants,
but it could not give them a heart to believe. But under the new
covenant, the everlasting covenant of grace, there is the provision
not only of the ground of salvation in the blood of Jesus Christ,
but also the fruit of salvation in the new birth, a new heart,
a new mind, a new spirit. And this back over here in John
6, this is what he's talking about. He says, all that the
father giveth me shall come to me. They're gonna come to him.
He says in verse 39, this is the father's will which has sent
me that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing. You
see, the nation Israel rejected God and God rejected them. That
was a legal conditional covenant. That's not salvation. If salvation
were according to that covenant, we'd all be lost. Even you, even
me. And that's that covenant. Somebody
said, well, why did he give him that covenant? To show them the
very fact that I'm talking to you about, that salvation cannot
be conditioned on sinners in any way, at any stage, to any
degree, or there'll be no salvation. That's why he gave it. To show
them their sin. Moreover, the law entered. You
see, for that reason, to expose their sinfulness, their depravity.
What did the law show Israel? It's what Paul recorded in Romans
chapter three and verse nine. The scripture hath concluded
all under sin, both Jew and Gentile. And he says, there's none righteous,
no, not one. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. And you could go on. The law
showed them that it condemns every sinner who is without righteousness,
and all sinners are without righteousness based on their works. It says,
by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's why God gave it,
to show them the impossibility of being saved or kept saved
by their works. My friend, if I'm going to be
saved, it's by the grace of God. If I'm going to be kept saved,
it's by the grace of God. And if I'm going to enter heaven's
glory, it's by the grace of God. It's all based on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ imputed to me, which by the grace of God, I
receive him by faith. Look down at John six again,
verse 40. He says, and this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, that's a
term of faith, and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. He's not gonna lose
salvation, he's secure. Well, verse 41 says, then the
Jews murmured at him because he said, I'm the bread which
came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then that he saith, I came down from heaven? And Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves.
Now listen to these verses, verse 44. No man can come to me except
the father which hath sent me draw him. and I will raise him
up again at the last day. Raise him up at the last day.
No man can. That speaks of ability. That
word can there means ability. Man by nature does not have the
will and desire to come to God. And I've said it this way about
when we talk about the doctrine of total depravity. What is the
total depravity of man? Three things. Number one, man
by nature does not have righteousness good enough to save him or to
keep him or to bring him to glory. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Secondly, man cannot make himself or work himself in a
good enough way, we'll say it, to be righteous. We don't have
one and we can't work one. The best of men cannot do it. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. You pick the best person you
know who's ever lived on this earth. And I want to tell you
something. Based on his works and his efforts and his sincerity
and his will, he did not attain righteousness. And thirdly, this
is total depravity. Man doesn't have a righteousness.
Man cannot work righteousness. And here's total depravity now.
Man does not want righteousness God's way. Man wants righteousness,
but two things, his standard of righteousness is too low and
he wants it his own way because his own way exalts himself, gives
him room to glory or boast. He'll either boast in his works
or he'll boast in his will or his decision, but he'll boast
in something other than Christ. You see, the scripture says,
he that glorieth, boast, let him glory in the Lord. So he
says, no man can come to me except the father which has sent me,
draw him. Now, how does the father draw
him? He brings that sinner under the
preaching of the gospel and in the power of the Holy Spirit,
convicts him of sin. I'm ruined by nature, I fell
in Adam, ruined by the fall. My only hope of salvation is
to be redeemed by the blood. And in order to see that and
believe it, I have to be regenerated by the spirit. That's how God
draws his people, by the power of the spirit. And he said, I'll
raise him up at the last day. That person is eternally secure.
In verse 45, he said, it's written in the prophets, they shall be
all taught of God. Everyone that God gave to Christ,
who come to him who he will in no wise cast out, they'll be
taught of God. How are they gonna be taught
of God? Verse 45, every man therefore that hath heard. Do you have
ears to hear? Oh, I know you have physical
ears. I know you can hear my voice. But you know, Stephen,
he preached in Jerusalem. And they rejected Christ, whom
Stephen preached. And you know what he said? You
uncircumcised in heart and ears. You're not born again. You got
ears, but you don't hear. You can hear my voice, but how
do you react or respond to what I'm saying in the word of God?
That's who he's talking about here. That's how people are taught
of God. They're given spiritual... Christ told the disciples, blessed
are your ears for you hear. and hath learned of the Father."
How do we learn of the Father? That's the gospel message of
how God can be just and still justify the ungodly by His grace
through the righteousness of Jesus Christ freely imputed and
received by God-given faith. You see, God is a loving Father. He's a merciful father. He's
a gracious father, but he's also a righteous judge who must punish
sin. How can he be both a righteous
judge and be true to himself in punishing sin and still be
a loving, gracious, merciful father? There's only one way,
and that's based upon the blood of Jesus Christ, the righteousness
of Christ. And if you hear that, and learn
that as taught by God through the Holy Spirit as He sent forth
from Christ, you know what you'll do? He says, cometh unto me. You'll come to Christ. I guarantee
it. And you'll stay with Christ.
Or you won't leave Him. Or you may stray a little bit.
We're gonna talk about that later on. You struggle, you'll have
a warfare, the warfare of the flesh and the spirit just beginning. But I want to tell you something.
Jesus Christ shall lose no one. He's not going to lose any sinner
whom God gave him before the foundation of the world. He's
not going to lose any sinner for whom he died. He's not going
to lose any sinner whom he sends the Spirit to give new birth,
to regenerate and convert. He's going to keep them. He's
going to bring them through. He's going to raise them up at
the last day. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
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today and may the Lord be with you.