The Gospel of John chapter 6. I suppose the verse that we will
look at today is probably one of the most quoted verses to
those who preach sovereign grace. And the verse reads in verse
37 of John 6, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. I remember a conversation several
years ago now that I had with a pastor of a free will church
and we were discussing our beliefs. That particular day only one
scripture came to mind. As I was endeavoring to tell
him that I believed that God was in control of all things,
that God elected a people before the foundation of the world and
called them by His grace and saved them by His mercy. And
He keeps them by His sovereign hand. And it was this verse. Immediately, his comment to me
was, you must be a Calvinist. And I remember very vividly saying,
no, sir. I'm a believer. I'm a believer. I believe in a sovereign God
who, as I said a moment ago, elects, calls, and saves all
sinners that he gave to Christ before the world began. Again,
he said, so then you're a Calvinist. And I told him that I did not
trust in John Calvin. For my salvation, I trusted in
Christ who was made to be sin for me. You see, I believe John
Calvin had many good points, but he had five real good points.
We call them the five points of Calvinism, Tulip, and they
are scripturally correct. And I understand that John 6.37,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, is a Calvinistic
view that John Calvin taught. But so did many others, even
before him. One being the Apostle Paul, and
the other being the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Our Lord teaches
us in this verse that God has chosen a people. Has God shown
you that the salvation is by his choosing and he's given these
people to Christ and they must and they shall come to Christ
to be saved. That's just the truth of scripture.
And again, this man asked me how I could reconcile the second
sentence in that verse, which reads in him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. He said, how can you reconcile
that with the first part of the verse? And I told him, I said,
there's no controversy between the two statements. And I remember
something that Mr. Spurgeon once said. He said,
I never endeavored to reconcile friends from friends who don't
need reconciliation. Oh no, he said, man has to take
the first step. Now let me tell you, if that's
true, there's no hope for me. None whatsoever. Dead in trespasses
and sins. How am I going to take the first
step? God must give me life. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. So for a few moments this morning
let us consider this. Does this verse leave the free
grace of God open to the free will of man? Is God saying in
the first part, I'm a sovereign God and I do as I please, but
you've got to do something too? Is that what this verse is teaching?
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. As Paul often
said, God forbid. God has chosen a people and has
given these people to Christ, and these people, as I said,
must and shall come to Christ, and they shall be saved. The
second truth declares that all who come to Christ, He will in
no wise cast out. Salvation, as I said, is the
choice of God and not the choice of man. Do you want to know why? Because no man can come to me. No man can come to me, Christ
said, except the Father which sent me draw him. John 6, verse 44. So let me ask
you another question. Is man's will involved in this
matter of salvation? Absolutely not. For again our
Lord said, and you will not come, you will not come to me that
you might have life. It's not your will to do so.
God must make us willing in the day of His power. What did our
God say to Moses? He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Now where in that statement is
man's will involved? I will, the God of heaven and
earth, have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will. and on whom
I will, I'll have compassion." And the apostle says, so then
it's not of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth,
but of God. But of God that shall with mercy. Now I find great comfort and
peace in knowing that salvation is of the Lord. And let me tell
you why. Beloved, if I can achieve it, If I can earn it, if I can
merit it in any way, then I can most definitely lose it. You
know why? Because I waver and I change
like the wind. And you do too. Oh, we're up
one day and down the next. One day we're full of faith,
the next day we're full of fear. Let's just be honest, aren't
we? For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let
not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." I must have
Christ. He doesn't waver. He doesn't
waver. According to this blessed passage
of divine inspiration, those that come to Christ come because
of the Father and the Son. Read it. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. There's two involved, the Father
and the Son. Why is it that they're made to
come? Because the Father has given
them to Christ. Why is it that they shall come? Well, is it because there's something
good in them? The scripture says no. They plainly
teach that there is none that doeth good. No, not one. That excludes each of us. If
it said there's none that doeth good but one, I guarantee you
I'd be thinking I was that one, and so would you. But the scripture
says no, not one. Do they come because they have
strong wills and solid determinations? No, that's not why. For the Scriptures
say, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power. to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." There's those three words again, but of God. Oh, that's
the gospel, but of God. The reason that is given why
they shall come to Christ is because of something that was
done for them by the Father and by the Son. There's never been
a needy soul that really, now listen, really wanted to come
to Christ that was forbidden to come to Him. Never one. And
the child of God has no problem reconciling the elect of God
with whosoever will. Now you may, by God's grace,
understand this, and you may not. But we do not come to Christ
by moving our feet. We come to Christ by God moving
our hearts. All the Father giveth me shall
come to me. None are saved other than by
coming to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. We read it in John 10,
there is but one door. There's a broad way that leads
to destruction, but there's only one straight and narrow way that
leads to life. We read in verse 7 of John 10
that the Lord Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, I am the door of the sheep. In verse 9, He said again, I'm
the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. He shall be. And he shall go
in and out and find pasture. Oh, how I pray that this is made
clear to you by God's Spirit. If you come to Christ, the Father
gave you to Him before the foundation of the world. And you will come
if He did that. To trust Christ and to do all
that God requires of you is simply to come to Him and believe Him.
To love Him. If you trust in Him as your all
and in all, then the Father in eternity past gave you to His
beloved Son. And people get so caught up in,
how do I know if I'm one of God's elect? You come to Christ. You
love Him. He's your everything. That's
how you know. Let's don't make this hard. But
someone might say, I must do this and I must do that. Don't
listen to them. Do you believe that Christ Jesus
paid your sin debt? Do you? That was a great debt
that you could not pay. Do you know deep in the recesses
of your heart that Christ died for the ungodly? Do you believe
that? Has God revealed to you that
that's what you are? Do you believe what the scripture
says? Paul said it's a saying worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Do you believe you're a sinner?
Just as you are sinful, wretched, wicked, cast yourself, dear friends,
upon His blood and His perfect righteousness. That's where life
is. What must I do to be saved? You
can't do nothing but trust, believe, and clean the ale. Have you in
your heart committed yourself to follow Him? Do you plead to
God for help to walk in His footsteps? Let me tell you something, if
your answer is yes, then you've already come to Christ. Before
the earth was made, before the stars were hung in the sky, before
man and woman were ever created, God the father gave some people
to his beloved son. I know that my spirit bears witness
with his spirit that he will assuredly bring me with all his
elect to his kingdom and glory where we shall forever worship
him together. The Spirit, God's Spirit itself,
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now some will say, Brother, that's
just an old-fashioned doctrine. Friends, this is an old-fashioned
doctrine because it's the very message that our Lord preached
over 2,000 years ago. And though it is not often now
preached, I'll tell you this, this is my life. and I rest my
soul's weight upon it for time and for eternity." Do you really
believe what you preach, preacher? I wager my soul on it. I rest
my soul's weight upon it. It was my Lord and Savior who
said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will no wise cast out. I will, by Christ's
work of righteousness in me, cling to those blessed words
throughout the ages to come. And you will too, if you're one
of His. You will too. When you and I sit at our beloved's
feet forevermore, we'll praise him throughout all eternity that
he spoke those blessed words to and for you and I. Now I want
you to notice one other thing, that this is an everlasting gospel. Everlasting. Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. No wise. To whom is this glorious promise
made? Our Lord said, to him that cometh
to me. That's who. Listen, if you're guilty, and
again, I speak to those of you who have not yet come to Christ.
If you're guilty of committing atrocious, abominable sins, If
you have come to Christ, He will in no wise cast you out because
of them. And once that a sinner is with
their blessed surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, let me tell you,
He'll hold on to you and He'll never let you go. You see, it
ain't in me holding on to Him, it's Him holding on to me. No
man shall pluck them from my Father's hand. No man shall pluck
them. Though you have sinned deeply
and willfully, if you come to Him, friends, there's no way
you'll be cast out. Just no way. And to those of
you, as I said, who are yet without Christ and have not come to Him,
you listen to me, and you listen to me well. No matter what you've
done, no matter what you've said, believed, or how you've lived,
if you come to Him, He'll never cast you out. But you say, well,
you just don't know all the horrific things that I've done. You have
no idea of the things that I've thought and carried out in sinful
pleasure. You're right, I don't. But God
does. And it doesn't matter if you
come to Him. Was it not our Lord who said,
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest? Isn't that what He said? Come unto Me. If you're
laboring with your desperate condition, if you're heavy laden
under a load of guilt and shame because of your sin, He still
bids you to come to Him. The only thing that will keep
you out of glory, friends, is unbelief. obstinate rebellion,
saying in your heart, I will not have this man to rule over
me. That's what will keep you out
of heaven. That's what will keep you out of glory. But your sin
won't. Your righteousness will, but
your sin won't. You know why? Because his yoke
is easy and his burden is light, and maybe there's one here today
that's now older, up in years, and you've lived all your life
in sin and shame. God puts no limits on this glorious
coming, only that you come to Christ. I thought about that. I've known several older folks
that have died without knowing Christ. And when Nahum, the leper,
you remember him, he was a great man of war, he became a leper. What a horrific disease, and
it represents sin so well in the Scripture. It was terminal.
Wow, your skin began to rot. I don't mean to be grotesque,
but body parts would just fall off. And Naaman the leper went
to the prophet, and he went to Elijah, and Elijah didn't come
out. He said, you go dip seven times in the river Jordan. And
when Naaman came up from washing in the Jordan, we read there
in that passage of Scripture, his flesh came again like unto
the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And so it shall
be with you. Maybe you're like the Israelite
who was bitten by that fiery serpent. You remember that story?
You're bitten by that fiery serpent in the wilderness, and the poison
begins to permeate your body. You're going to die. And all
of a sudden you hear the voice of Moses from high on the hill,
and he's holding up a serpent made of brass, and he's yelling
at the top of his lungs, Look and live! Look and live. Oh, you can't move. Your body's
paralyzed. You can't cry because the poison
has affected your ability to produce no more than just a faint
whisper. What can you do? What can you
do? You can look. You can look to
that fiery serpent of brass and live. And our Lord Himself says,
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have eternal life. Will you look? Will you look? I beg you to look. Look and live. Now don't you love that blessed
three-letter word, ALL? Our Lord said, ALL that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Everyone that the Father gave
the Son will come and will be saved. All. I just referred to
it a moment ago. Our Lord stood up on that day
and he said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. All of you. In another place
he said, And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. And another
place he said, All things, all things are delivered to me of
my Father. And no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father,
and who the Father is but the Son, and He to whom the Son will
reveal Him. All things are delivered unto
Him. Everything. Romans 8, 28, we can quote it
by heart. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. What works together for your
good, brother? All things. all things, and another
place in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will." Do you understand? Has God shown
you the God of this Bible and who He is and what He is able
to do? He's able to do all things. I'm
sick and tired of hearing about a God who's trying and Oh, you've
heard me say it so many times, I hate to even say it again.
Won't you let God, if I can let God do anything, friends, you
better bow to me. We can't let God do nothing. He's the sovereign potentate. He's the all-powerful, almighty
God who spoke the worlds into existence. And we're going to
let Him do something? How ridiculous that is. Anybody
who believes it ought to be ashamed. And let me tell you, they're
going to be damned. Because one day they're going to stand before
this God. And it's written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're
more than conquerors. Through Him, through Him, through
Him, through Him that loved us. But the most blessed of all of
all alls. Did you hear what I said? The
most blessed all of all alls is, and hath put on the new man
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him, whether there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all
and in all. He's all, and you take that to
the farthest extent that your mind will allow you to take it,
and in all, go even further. You can't reach the end of it.
He's all, and in all, and in all, and in all. He's everything. Oh, I beg you to remember, dear
sinner, Christ, who is all, and in all says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. So let me ask you, have you come
to Him? Why haven't you? He doesn't say
all the world, not all the good and moral folks, but all that
the Father gave Christ before the foundation were, they shall
come to me, and I won't cast them out. They're forever mine. Forever mine. Kind of shoots
holes in the old doctrine of once saved, always saved, those
that don't believe it, doesn't it? But brother, now you know
you can lose your salvation. If you saved yourself, you can.
But if God saved you, you can't. Because He will in no wise cast
you out. Ephesians 1-4, according as He
hath chosen us in Him. When? Before the foundation of
the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. The Lord Jesus Christ makes me
everything I'm not. I'm unholy. He makes me holy.
I'm self-righteous. He makes me perfectly righteous.
and He will in no wise cast you out." You're eternally secure
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, have you come to Him? Have
you come to Him? If you haven't, why do you tarry?
Remember, it's God the Father that gave you to Christ, and
He's the one that enables you to come. He bids you simply,
come to Me. Come to Me. Now, would He bid
you to come to Him if He didn't accept you? What kind of God
would that be? Come to me, and then you come.
And he goes, no, I didn't mean you. Come to me. Come to me. May the Lord add His blessings
to the preaching of His gospel.