We'll go ahead and get back into
our study. Let's sing a few hymns before
we do. How about in your blue book,
hymn number 16, Songs of Grace book. Songs of Grace book. Don't forget there's a refrain,
there's a chorus that we'll keep after each verse, we'll be going back up to that refrain. Christ the Lamb was foreordained,
and before all time was slain. In God's purpose Christ the Lamb
stood for us, and we in Him. God's elect are kept secure,
to the end we shall endure. By His power and by His grace,
God preserves His chosen race. By His power and by His grace,
God preserves His chosen race. Though we fell in Adam's race,
God's elect are kept by grace, Kept alive until they're called,
One by one to Jesus called. God's elect are kept secure,
to the end we shall endure. By His power and by His grace,
God preserved His chosen race. By His power and by His grace,
God preserves His chosen race. In the fullness of God's time,
Christ bought us by blood divine. God the Spirit calls His own. and preserves them, everyone. God's elect are kept secure. To the end we shall endure. By His power and by His grace,
God preserves His chosen race. Though trials come and Satan
roar, and temptations press us sore, though we often, often
sin, Still God's grace remains within. God's elect are kept
secure. To Thee in we shall endure. By His power and by His grace,
God preserved His chosen race. By His power and by His grace,
God preserves His chosen race. Blessed, blessed is the man to
whom God will not charge sin, chosen and preserved by grace. This poor sinner sings God's
praise. God's elect are kept secure. To the end we shall endure. By His power and by His grace,
God preserves His chosen race. By His power and by His grace,
God preserves His chosen race. Alright. How about hymn number
71 in the same book? Hymn number 71. This will be
to My Favorite Kind of Resting Place. Though troubled much by inward
sin and trials we endure, Though troubled much by inward sin and
trials we endure, Though Satan roars against our souls, God's
elect are secure, not one of all the chosen ones. I'm sorry,
that just don't fit, does it? I tell you what, let's just skip
over that because I don't know what other tunes we can do. 132,
how about 132? Let's leave the tune of crowning
with many crowns. God's elect shall endure. Our hope we will hold fast in
Christ eternally secure. We'll reach our home at last. All of the chosen race shall
meet around God's throne to praise Him for His sovereign grace and
make His glory known. Washed in the Savior's blood,
robed in His righteousness. Freely we're justified by God,
our hearts are kept in peace. All of the chosen race Shall
meet around God's throne To praise Him for His sovereign grace And
make His glory known Christ must be satisfied His death was not
in vain Those sinners for whom Jesus died cannot for sin be
slain. All of the chosen race shall
meet around God's throne. To praise Him for His sovereign
grace, And make His glories known. God's purpose cannot fail, His
grace none can defeat. The Spirit by whom we are sealed
was never conquered yet. All of the Chosen Grace shall
meet around God's throne to praise Him for His sovereign grace. To make His glory known. Anybody got one they want to
request? Forty-one maybe. Forty-one and
old school? Om. Now in Thy praise eternal
King, be all my thoughts employed. While of this precious truth
I sing, cast down but not destroyed. Cast down but not destroyed. ♪ Cast down but not destroyed
♪ ♪ While on this precious truth I sing ♪ ♪ Cast down but not
destroyed ♪ ♪ Of the united hearts of hell ♪ ♪ My soul has so well
known ♪ ♪ And yet I live this truth of death ♪ cast down but
not destroyed, cast down but not destroyed, cast down but
not destroyed. And yet I live this truth to
tell, cast down but not destroyed, In all the paths through which
I've passed, what mercies I've endured. And this shall be my
song at last, cast down but not destroyed. Cast down, but not
destroyed. Cast down, but not destroyed. And this shall be my song at
last. Cast down, but not destroyed. When I with God in heaven appear,
there shall I hear the door. Destroyed shall be my sin and
fear, and I cast down no more. And I cast down no more. And I cast down no more. Destroyed shall be my sin and
fear, and I cast down no more. Amen. Anybody else got one? 193. 193. 193, more about
Jesus. More about Jesus would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for
me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see. More of this love who died for
me. We'll have to take that down
just a little bit. More about Jesus, let me learn. More of this holy will discern. Spirit of God, my teacher be. Showing the things of Christ
to me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for
me. More about Jesus in His Word. Holy communion with my Lord,
hearing His voice in every line, making each faithful saying mine. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving for us to
see. More of His love who died for
me. More about Jesus on His throne. Riches and glory all His own. More of His kingdom sure increase. More of His coming Prince of
Peace. More, more about Jesus. More, more of our Jesus, more
of His saving fullness seek, more of His love provide for
me. Amen. Alright, we'll jump back in here
to John chapter 6. And before I get too far, I forgot
to mention earlier, if I can find it here. Put a new track out in the track
rack out there. What did Jesus do? The work of
Jesus Christ. If you want to pick that up,
any of y'all that want to do that, anybody that wants to hand
out any tracts or anything like that, this is a good little assessment
of what Christ has done for us and about salvation being an
eternal thing. I printed this off of the MarchtoZion.com
Primitive Baptist Church. I don't fully agree with everything
that's on their website, and even on this, unless you know
what they're talking about, there's a little bit of wording on here.
that we'd have to explain, but unless you know what they actually
teach, then you would understand what it means, as we believe
it to mean. So anyway, if you want to pick
that up, it's out there in the clear track rack. Anybody that
wants to pick one of those up, it's a pretty good little track.
I kind of like to take a lot of these tracks and books and
things like that with me when I'm at work and I kind of leave
them when I go to gas stations and stuff like that. Especially
whenever I'm kind of around here close, never know who all might
be around that lives here that believes like we do, that doesn't
know that we're here and looking for a place to worship. So it's
always good to leave those things around. Alright, back if you
would into John, John chapter 6. If you haven't ever noticed it,
but the book of John, especially the teachings of Jesus in the
book of John, if you don't believe in the doctrines of grace, and
you don't believe that they were taught, by Jesus, then hop right
into the book of John, especially in chapter 6, 10 and 17. You'll see the doctrines of grace
are really expounded quite a bit by Jesus there. But turn to John
6, and I want us to look at some familiar verses to us, ones that
we quote here all the time, ones that we've talked about whenever
we preach through John 6. In our exposition of John, we
spent a long time these passages because there's so much to talk
about here. It's so full, but I just want
to point out a couple of things here. John 6, and look at verse
37 if you would. It says, "...all that the Father
giveth Me," and here's where you can take your highlighter
or pen and mark, "...shall come to Me. And Him that cometh to
Me I will in no wise cast out." All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me." So every person that ever comes to Jesus Christ
came because they were given to Christ by God. But the thing I want you to notice
that everyone that was given, of course, we know the Bible
teaches that that giving was before the foundation of the
world, shall come to me. And he said, and all those who
come to me, I will in no wise cast out. So my question to the
person that believes that you can lose your salvation, that
you can quit persevering in the faith, How can that be if Christ
does not ever cast you out? To apostatize, apostatize or
apostatize? To be an apostate means that
you would have to be cast out. You would have to walk away and
Christ would have to cast you out. And he says, All those that
the Father hath given me shall come to me, and all that come
to me I will in no wise cast out. It doesn't say all those
who come to me and stay with me and don't leave me I will
in no wise cast out. He said, All that the Father
giveth me I will in no wise cast them out. Their coming is proof
that they were given by God, but their keeping is because
of God. They are never going to be cast
out. He says, for I came down from heaven not to do My own
will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And here it is, listen
closely. And this is the Father's will
which has sent Me that all which He hath given I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day." Now brethren, tell me, how can there be one
who is truly a child of grace ever apostatized? They cannot become apostate.
That is not an issue. I encounter Christians once in
a while that they worry about whether or not they're going
to be able to keep their salvation or if they can keep their salvation.
What a miserable existence to always be worried about that.
The Scriptures teach that whenever He comes, He brings peace. Whenever
He comes, He brings hope. Whenever He comes, He brings
assurance of faith. He gives these things to us so
that we might know that we are His children. The Holy Spirit
comes and one of the activities of the Holy Spirit in us is to
give us a continual trust and hope and faith in Him and an
assurance that we are His. And what a blessed thing that
is. Some people don't believe that that's true. They don't
believe that that is the work of the Holy Spirit. And they
live in constant doubt and fear that they're not one of His.
They live in constant doubt and fear whether they can stay one
of His if they have become one of His. But yet it says here,
All that the Father giveth me I should lose nothing. So tell me, Arminian, tell me
those who believe that you can lose your salvation, how can
that be the case when all that is given to the Son by the Father,
He said, that's the will of God. Did we not see that? He says,
and this is the Father's will which has sent me that all of
which He has given me I should lose nothing. but should raise
it up 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." So there, brethren, is our assurance. But there also
is our preservation. Our preservation is in the fact
that we are in Christ. He's our preservation. Look down at verse 47. He says,
"...verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me
hath..." Already again, there's that present tense, present perfect
tense, something that happened in the past and is a continuing
thing. "...he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." Not temporary
life, okay? Not something that's going to
come and go if you sin too much, but an everlasting life. Look down, if you would, at verse
51. Jesus says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. So He shall live forever. How
can you turn away from Christ and die? I don't see that as a possibility
anywhere. Any brothers got any light on that that you want to
share? Any commentary on any of that? It comes down to, brethren,
do we trust the Scriptures? Do we trust Christ? Do we trust
that God's will is that we be kept? And then to the Calvinist,
I say, if we be kept, is it by our persevering or is it by our
preservation in Him? See, there are some Calvinists
who want to teach that perseverance is about making use of the means
of grace. That we have to continue in the
means of grace, otherwise we'll fall away. Some believe that
we never will enter into this knowledge of temporal salvation. So, I think the Scriptures are
very clear that we will persevere in the faith because He is preserving
us. Look over, if you would, into
John 10. John 10. John 10. And look down with me, if you would, In verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you
and ye believed not. The works that I do in My Father's
name they bear witness of Me. But ye believe not because ye
are not of My sheep as I said unto you. Okay, so the cause
of belief is not because you believed You believe because you are a
sheep. We've went over that a lot of times here. I won't keep going
into that. But you believe not because you are not My sheep.
As I said unto you, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,
and they follow Me. And I give unto them temporary
life, if only they hold on strong. Everybody awake out here? Is
that what the Scriptures say? He says, I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Never perish. Never. I don't have to go to the Greek
and Hebrew to understand that. I don't have to get out a theologian
to tell me what that means. I don't have to look up the creeds
and confessions throughout time to find out whether or not this
has been held to by churches throughout the generations. I don't have to guess and wonder.
It says, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Who shall never perish? His sheep. The ones that we learned all
that the Father had given Him in chapter 4. Or excuse me, chapter
6. They shall never perish. Now
he goes on and he says this, Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Oh, but you can pluck yourself
out. Well, are you not man? It says any man. Nobody can pluck
you out of his hand. My Father which gave them Me,"
that's a reference back to what he said in chapter 6, "...is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." And
you know what the response to that was? Praise the Lord, we're
going to be safe forever. Our salvation is of God and nothing
can be taken away from it. No, you know what the response
was? They took up stones to stone Him. Not the first time, because
it says they took up stones again to stone Him. Not the first time
that Jesus' doctrine caused these religious men to get upset. Listen, brethren. If you hold
to the Word of God, it's going to upset a lot of creed and confession
holders. If you hold to the Word of God,
it's going to upset a lot of men who are holding the traditions
of men. If you hold to God's Word and
you hold their feet to the fire, they're going to persecute you.
They're going to get mad at you. In today's society, you get unfriended
on Facebook. Oh my, how horrible. Someone is not going to look
at my Facebook page anymore. They're not going to listen to
me, what I have to say. Well, it's no different than what Jesus
experienced back then. He said that they hate me, they're
going to hate you. They don't listen to my doctrine,
they're not going to listen to yours either, which is my doctrine.
If you hold to his doctrine, you're not going to be well-received
by other men, even religious men, even good religious men. And I'm not saying that some
of these people are not saved, they're quickened, they're the
elect of God. They just don't have the knowledge
of that given to them yet. They don't have light to that.
They may persecute you. I've done it before. I've persecuted
other guys because I don't agree with them about stuff. I pray
that the Lord's teaching me to not do that as much anymore. How often have we come in contact
with loved ones, friends, relatives? Not to the point of picking up
stones, but almost to the point of wanting to shake me out of
my chair because they disagree with what I say. That's not my
God. I would never serve a God like
that that you're talking about. Storm and stomp and walk out
of the house, not even wanting to listen to it anymore. Gnashing
their teeth at you. Brethren, the doctrine of Christ
is not loved by the world. It takes every bit of the glory
that man might receive away. He doesn't get any glory. He
doesn't get any pride. He doesn't have any arrogance
that he can boast about whenever all things are by God and God
alone. And he doesn't have any say-so
in it. When God is the arbiter of salvation, when God is the
one who deals out the destinies of all men, when God is the one
who has decreed all things whatsoever that will be, that makes man
very, very, very minute, and God very, very, very big. And
man's nature, apart from Christ in him, hates that. So don't
be surprised. Don't be surprised by that. Matter
of fact, a lot of times, we ought to have the attitude of the apostles.
They went away rejoicing that they suffered for the name of
Jesus Christ. Hey, we got beat because of our
belief of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm surely not begging people
to come beat me, okay? Sticks and stones may break my
bones, but please don't throw sticks and stones, okay? I'm not saying that, but what
I am saying is that we are accounted a privilege to be persecuted
because of the faith that was once delivered to the saints.
Jesus said, here, My Father which gave them to Me is greater than
all, and no man can pluck them out of My hand." Brethren, I
think that's a pretty secure thing. There is security for
the believer. Look, if you would, in John 11,
verse 25. This is after Jesus' resurrection. This is Jesus talking about the
resurrection after Lazarus has been brought
from the tomb. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in Me shall never die. And then He asked a question,
believeth thou this? What was the answer? She saith
unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she
had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly,
saying, The Master is come and calleth for thee. She didn't quite answer him completely,
did she? See, that's the question we ask
the Arminian. That's the question we ask anybody
who believes that you can lose this salvation. Whoever believeth in Him shall
never die. Do you believe that? That was
the question that I posed to my friend that I worked with
from the Holiness Church. I took him to these verses and
I said, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
I said, do you believe on Jesus Christ? He said, well, yes. I
said, well, it says you'll never die. Do you believe this? Same question he asked her. Do
you believe this? And he said, well, yes, I do.
As long as you believe, you got to continue to believe. Well,
I said, are you believing now? And he says, well, yes. He says,
well, those who are believing will never die. So how can you
ever enter into a state of unbelief and die? Because you can't die
if you're believing. See, any way that they want to
postulate this error, it doesn't hold up. It doesn't hold up in
the way that the atonement works. It doesn't work in the way that
the Scriptures just blatantly say that you have eternal life.
Either way that you look at it, the person who is a child of
grace who has been born again and has been brought to believe,
see, the reason why they don't believe these things is they
believe that salvation comes by the work of man. That's why
they can't fathom this. That's why they can't believe
this. That's why they don't hold on to this. That's why for them
it's not a comfort thing. It's not a resting thing. Because
they have yet to come into the rest of Christ. They've not come
and rested in Christ alone. They're still looking at their
works. They're still looking at their performance as what
saves them. If you get in by belief and repentance
and holding on, you got to stay in by belief and repentance and
holding on. Now, I'm not saying that somebody
can profess Jesus Christ and come in and unbelieve all the
days of their life and just continue doing whatever they want to do
and all that kind of stuff. I'm not saying that. The child of
grace, whenever they are born from above, something changes
in them. They have the Holy Spirit of
God living in them, working and willing to do His good pleasure.
They have the law of God written upon their heart. They have been
given a love that is not a human love. They've been given a godly
love inside of them that does stuff and is different than everybody else.
They will be different than everybody else. Look at John 17. John 17. We'll look at this Scripture
and talk about it a little bit and then we'll conclude for today. John 17. And then let's look, if you would,
down to verse 24. Jesus is praying here to the
Father. He says, Father, I will that
they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am that
they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me. For Thou
lovest Me before the foundation of the world." So Jesus prayed
that all those that was given to Him by the Father would be
with Him and behold His glory. I will that they also whom Thou
hast given Me be with Me where I am that they may behold My
glory which Thou hast given Me." Do you think Jesus' prayer is
going to go unheard? Unanswered? Doesn't the Bible
say the prayer of a righteous man availeth much? Oh, but didn't
he pray to take the cup away? That didn't happen. Did you not
listen to the rest of what he said? If it be thou will, let
this cup pass from me, but not as I will, but thou will be done. Jesus prayed that the will of
God be done. That's what he desired, and the will of God was that
the cup not pass from him. That's what Jesus prayed. So
what Jesus prayed actually came true. The cup did not pass from
him, because God willed it that way. And His will is the will
of the Father, right? A lot of people try to make too
much of a distinction between Christ and the Father. Remember,
remember that Jesus in the flesh is the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Spirit in flesh. Colossians tells us that. All the Godhead dwells in Christ
bodily. He is the image of the invisible
God. Jesus is the everlasting Father
in the flesh. So the Father's will is the will
of Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus Christ is
God manifested in the flesh. You can't separate those wills.
He can't have a will separate from God because He is God. And
God's will here was that they be with Him and see His glory. If anybody is ever saved and
loses that salvation and goes away, then everything that Christ
prayed for, everything that God willed, was thwarted. And we know that the Bible says
that that can't happen. That can't happen. Any comments
or questions, brethren, on this? Are you beginning to see it's
more of preservation and not so much perseverance? At least
that's what I see. Now, next week we're going to
pick up with the epistles, starting in Romans, and we're going to
see, it's going to talk about persevering, it's going to talk
about enduring, those types of things, but you're going to see
it's all tied to preservation by Christ. Alright, anybody got
anything to add? Correction or rebuke? There will be no Hail Marys,
I will tell you that. Alright. So let's bow and we'll
have a word of prayer. And we'll be dismissed for lunch.
Precious Heavenly Father, we thank You once again for this
time to be together. We thank You for these brothers
and sisters in Christ that is gathered here today. And Lord,
Come, Lord, seeking Your presence, seeking Your teaching. We've
looked at Your Word today that You've given us so graciously
to reveal who You are. Father, I just pray that the
things that I have spoken of today have been of both spirit
and of truth. Lord, I pray that they have been
in accordance with Your Word. Lord, I pray that also these
things that have been spoken have been a comfort and edification
to your people. Lord, we come this morning, we
come proclaiming your name, praising you for who you are, thanking
you for all that you have done for us and what you are going
to be doing in the future, Father, when you return. And Father,
we just are so grateful for all that we have in this life and
in the life to come. because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, I thank You for each one of these brothers and sisters
here. Lord, I pray that You have edified them today, that they
leave today knowing more of the comfort, dependence, trust, hope,
love in Christ because of Your Word. And Father, Lord, I just
ask that You might continue to keep us here at this church.
I pray, Lord, that You will continue to give us faith and to hold
us to the Word of God that we might continue to be faithful
to the preaching and the teaching that this book gives us, and
that we might continue in the faith once delivered to the saints
and be a witness in the world to you here, a testimony of grace
here, and that, Father, that we might also continue to grow
in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as we are
edified one to the other. Lord, I pray that you might be
with these brothers and sisters as they leave this place today.
I ask, Lord, that you would keep them in safety, that you would
keep them in the faith, Lord, that you would use them this
week to minister to those that they may be around. Lord, I pray
for any child of grace that's out there that has yet to come
to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, that that might come to them,
whether by us or by anybody else. Father, I pray, Lord, that you
might bring that message to them. And Father, we pray for others
that are in this town and around this area, Lord, that do not
know that this church is here worshiping and preaching and
teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you
might bring them to us, that you might show them that there's
a place where they can worship, whether here or other places. Lord, I pray that you just might
take them to a place where they can minister and be ministered
to among the people of God. And Father Lord, we do lift up
again, Mindy to you this morning, and we pray also for the Hudson's,
Father, knowing each one of their situations, and we ask, Lord,
that you just give grace in those times. And again, we thank you
for all that you've done. We pray for this food that we're
about to eat, that you might bless it and nourish our bodies
by it, and for the ladies that has prepared it, we ask, Lord,
that you just be with us now, that even during this time of
fellowship around the table, that you might be honored and
glorified in all that we do. In Jesus' name that we pray,
Amen.