There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none that understand. And we're all in the same boat
on that matter. Unless God Almighty give us grace
and eyes to see, we'll remain in darkness. And then he says,
then in verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the
work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sinned. And they said, therefore unto
him, What signs show us now then that we may see and believe thee?
What does now work? People want a sign, don't they? That's the big thing about religion,
show us a sign, show us a miracle, show us some wonderful work.
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, verse 31, and it's
written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 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. And then
said they unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am. I am. That's His name. I am the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me, and believe not. And in verse 37, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. Now this is the first thing that
I've had you consider with me this morning. All believers,
all the elect of God, shall come to Christ for salvations of the
Lord. Our Lord does not say in this
verse that all the world will come to me. Does He say that? Allow me just to make a few comments
here. If our Lord and Savior died for
every man and woman in the world throughout all time, then every
man and woman that ever lived will be saved. Is there any,
any, I ask you, that will perish for whom Christ died? Thank God that you can shake
your head on that. God revealed that to you. You
see, to say that Christ died for all and that all are not
saved is to say that somewhere and somehow, along the way, God
failed. To say that some for whom Christ
died will perish is to say that the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ was not effectual. It wasn't fruitful. It wasn't effective, is what
that means. And it wasn't enough. to appease
God Almighty in the justifying of a sinner. Now, there's something
bad wrong with that way of thinking, and it's definitely not according
to the Scriptures, is it? First and foremost, it's dishonoring
to the one who's worthy of all honor. It makes Christ's precious
blood dependent upon something or someone else. A religious
man will tell you that that's something else, it's the free
will of man. For men exercise their will somehow, some way,
and God is obligated to accept it. I know this was, if your
will is to come to God, it's because God made you willing
in the name of this child. God made you. And I declare to you, dear friends,
with no reservation and with all seriousness, that to preach
the will of men in salvation is a blasphemous thing. You will
not come, that you might have a lot of power over sinners.
Your will is not to come. And thousands of so-called preachers
in this world will tell you that, tell sinners that salvation is
somehow and some way dependent on them. Dependent on you. They said, give your heart to
Jesus. Let me tell you something. He
doesn't want your heart. He takes out that heart of stone
and puts in a heart of flesh that beats and pants after Him.
God does that. That's God's doing. Who maketh
thee to differ from another? The Apostle Robert. Who does?
God does. What do you have that you did
not receive? That's a good question to ask,
isn't it? What do you have that you have not received? And if
you received it, how do you glory in it? As if you had not received
it. In this message of the Gospel,
God gets all the glory. Every bit of it. We don't get
it. We don't want any. We're glad that He gets all the
glory. If you buy something, dear friends, you purchased it.
If you earn something, you worked for it. If you deserve something,
then somehow you merited it. But when you receive something,
man, it's a gift, it's a free gift. I think of our Lord's or God
Almighty's words in Isaiah chapter 48. I won't have you turn there,
but let me just read the verses to you. Our Lord, through the
prophet, says, For my name's sake will I defer my anger. For whose sake? For mine. The
Lord's. And for my praise will I refrain
for thee. The only reason that we don't
experience the judgment of God right now is the grace of God
in the name of Jesus Christ. That's what we deserve. For mine
own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it? What? Give grace in person. For how should my name be belittled? And I will not give my glory
to another. And I'll say again with no reservation
to preach man's will and the salvation of a sinner is to pollute
God's name. Now, if a man saves himself,
then he gets the glory. But God will not give His glory
to another. So we're saved for Christ's sake. And He is our salvation. Now,
I could go on and on, but my intention is not to tell you
what the Gospel is. My desire is to show you from
the Scriptures what the gospel is, and more importantly, who
the gospel is. Now look again at verse 37. It
does not say, all the world shall come to me. It says, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And can we not see again
there, dear friends, that salvation is a gift from God? All those
who come to Christ are given to Christ by the Father. Salvation is not by chance. It's
by purpose. It's by the purpose of God. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. How many times
in Scripture do we read, I will, they shall. I will, they shall. That's the way God does things.
It's a certainty. And where do men find the will
of the sinner in that passage of Scripture? That statement
was made by our Lord Jesus Himself. He who is God in the flesh. Now, we're either going to believe
man or we're going to believe God. Which is? Yeah, but brother,
didn't Christ say in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life? That's
exactly what He said. But He also said in John 17,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine. Now,
I must ask, would Christ not pray for those in the world that
God loved. Well, there are some reasons
that God loved the world. God loved the world because His
elect, His people were in it. His people that dwell on the
earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.
Besides those chosen out of the Jewish nation, He also loved
and chose some Gentiles, which were often referred to as the
world in Scripture. But I ask you, in John 3, 16,
and most everyone knows that passage by heart, does it say
anywhere that Christ said, God loved every man and woman in
the world? Anywhere does it say that? He said, whosoever believeth
in Him. should not perish, but have everlasting
life. And I have no trouble with the
whosoever wills of Scripture. Whosoever will. Some will believe
and some will not. Whosoever will. I believe the
Bible's clear that whosoever will is whosoever God wills. Whosoever God wills shall come. to Him. Now, redemption is not
coming to religion. It's not coming to church. It's
not coming to the preacher. It's not coming to the front
of the church. I'm still trying to figure out when men got that
one. It's not coming to the front of the church. And as I said
last night, it's not even coming to the doctrines of grace. It's
coming to Christ. And it's a certain and sure thing
that when God gives all his elect to Christ, they will come to
him. They will, all that the Father
giveth, they shall come to him. Now the second thing, I've got it written down as one
saved, always saved. That's a big issue. I was raised
in a Southern Baptist church. That was something that people
fight about, one saved, always saved. Well, let me tell you
this, all that come to Christ will be received and saved forever. They shall not be cast out. Isn't that what our Lord said?
I will in no wise, in no wise cast them out. The phrase in
no wise cast out, it comes from a word called ume, which means
never cast them out. I will certainly not I cast them
out. Not at all and by no means will
I cast them out. Oh, and someone asked Brother
Mayhem one time, I think I may have even said this when I was
here before, he said, do you believe once saved always saved?
He said, depends on who saved you. Amen. Did God save you? He said, absolutely. If you saved
yourself, you got reason to worry. No chance of being cast out if
God saved you. God's greater than all. No man
can close from His hand. Friends, God has never wanted
to do anything. There's a popular TV evangelist
in Houston, I won't mention any names, Joel Osteen. His big thing
is God wants you to live a victorious life. God wants you to be Prosperous. God wants you to smile every
minute of every day. God has never wanted to do anything.
Never wanted to do anything. He's done whatsoever He's pleased. Our God's in the heavens. He's
done whatsoever He's pleased. In heaven and earth, below the
earth and all deep places. God's never wanted. I just shiver
and shudder every time I hear God wants. Those two words do
not go together. Do not go together. Once saved,
always saved. Third thing is, salvation is
by God the Father's will. Look at verse 38. Our Lord says,
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,
what, seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, brother Don, believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at
the last day. Now God's will always will come
to pass. God's will always will come to
pass. The first indication of this
is found in the last words of verse 38. He said, For I came
down from heaven. He came down that we might be
risen up. The One who saves us, dear friends,
and keeps us is none other than God Himself. He said, I came
down The psalmist wrote in Psalm 73,
he said, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there's none on
earth that I desire besides Thee. The blind songwriter, Fanny Crosby,
one of my favorites, passed me not in some of the words of that
psalm, Thou the spring of all my comfort. All our comfort springs
from Thee. More than life to me, Whom have
I on earth beside Thee? And whom in heaven but Thee?
Friends, our Lord's will was to do the will of God who sent
Him. What was the Father's will? It's
written here right here for us in these verses. This is the
will of God Almighty. God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to do for sinners what they could not and would not
do for themselves. This is God's will. Look at verse
40 again. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeeth the Son and believes on
Him may have everlasting life. Do you see Christ? Do you believe on Him? You must believe on Him in spirit
and in truth. Isn't that what our Lord told
that lady at the well? He said, the hour cometh and
now is when true worshipers. Now, I don't want to be a true
worshiper. I don't want to be a false worshiper. I want to
worship Him in spirit and in truth. And that's the only way
He can be. For He said, true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father
seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him. in spirit and in truth. To worship Him in spirit and
in truth is to worship, love, and adore Him according as the
Holy Spirit has revealed Him in the Scriptures. Let me ask,
and I don't mean to harp on this. I really don't. But can any man
truly worship a crying, begging, pleading, won't you let me do
something? Now that's a fair question, isn't
it? Can you worship a Savior like
that? I can't. That's not the God and
the Christ of the Bible. And that's not to worship Him
in spirit and in truth. But one day the prideful Pharisees
were in the presence of John the Baptist. I could just hear
them, they were bragging about being the children of Abraham.
and children of Abraham. And old John, he was a little
rough around the edges, wasn't he? But he told the truth. And
he said, God is able of these stones to raise up children of
Abraham. I can see him point down to some
stones. God is able, he said, of these
stones to raise up children and Abraham. Now does that sound
like God needs our help? Salvation is according to the
will and purpose of God. Let me tell you something. When
God saved many, that's exactly what He did. He raised up a stone. Just an old, dead, inanimate
object with no life in it. Dead and trespassing and sinning.
God raised me up by His grace. Showed me pride. Show me my need
of Him. Fourth thing, the murmuring. I call it the murmuring of the
self-righteous. And it just seems to me the self-righteous
man will always murmur against truth. And you know why? It strips
them of their glory. Look at verse 41. The Jews then
murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread which came down
from heaven. Look at verse 42, 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. For his Christ is God's bread
that came down from heaven. Look down at verse 51. I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. And 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. Now, they're sitting there saying,
how can he say he came down from heaven? We know his mother and
his father. Rabbi Joe, he remembers when
he was just a boy. Dr. Duguid remembers when he
worked in the carpenter shop. Reverend Lawman over here, he's
seen him converse and eat Republicans and sinners. How can he say he
came from hell? Our Lord just plainly said in
verse 43, I thought about that a lot. I
thought about that a lot. You know what he's saying here?
He's saying, don't need to murmur. Don't need to murmur among yourselves.
Only my sheep hear my voice. John 2. Let's read that real
quick. Verse 24. John 2. Verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, I find this amazing, how long dost thou
make us to doubt? Why, how many times has he already
said, I am the bread that came down from heaven, and here they
come, how long are you going to make us doubt? Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Seemed to me like he told them pretty plainly. I am the bread
of life, what else is that saying? He said in verse 25, I told you
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness in me. But you believed not. Why didn't
they believe? Look at those next words. Because
ye are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
what? They hear, my boys. They hear
it. And I know this. They follow
Me. Oh, you believe not, because
you're not of My son. My sheep hear My voice. They know My voice. They follow
Me. I know these. That's the key thing right there,
is He knows them. Fifth thing, man has no ability. No ability to come. Verse 44
back in our text. John 6. No man can come to me. That would be a sad way to end
that verse if it ended that way. No man can come to me. Word then
is our hope. The next word, except. Unless. the Father which hath sent me
drawing. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. Natural man, unregenerate man, cannot, cannot receive the
things of God because they're spiritually desired. No man can
come, our Lord says. Mere natural, unregenerate men
do not have the ability to come. Now you've heard this illustration
many times. actually happened to me once
in grade school and embarrassed me to death. But I raised my
hand and said, teacher, can I go to the bathroom? And, you know,
anticipating the answer to be yes, I stood up and started walking. And she said, you can, but you
might not. And that is exactly what this
means. We don't have, she said, you
have the ability to go, but you don't have permission. No man
can. We don't have the ability to
come to Christ. Except. Oh, don't you love that
word? Except. The Father. Right there is where our hope
is. That's where my hope is. Except the Father draw him. Do you remember when the Father
draw him? Oh. You're dead. And trespassers
say, you can't walk, you can't ask, you can't raise your hand. You're dead. Except the Father,
which sent me to draw him. Except we're given unto him,
my Father, in verse 66. We read him in the Golden. Excuse
me, and I ask the question again. Who maketh thee to differ? You had be quickened, made alive,
and were dead in trespasses and sin. And in times past, dear
friends, every one of us, we walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
And among, we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Now
there you and I are. What must happen now? Verse 4
of Ephesians 2, that beautiful passage of Scripture says, but
God, except the Father, but God, who is rich in mercy for His
great love, wherewith He loved us. We've been doing a study
in 1 John there at the Church of New Canaan. We ran across
chapter 3 and started what John said, the disciple whom Jesus
loved. That's how he referred to himself.
He didn't say John. It wasn't worth mentioning. He
just said the disciple whom Jesus loved. I believe John never got
over the fact that Christ loved him. He said, I see how you love
Peter. I know how you must love Matthew. The disciple of Jesus' love.
And in verse 3, it just seems like John just burst out in his
letter. He says, Behold, what manner
of love, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us. that we should be calling ourselves
to God. And we are. We are. My last thing. Verse 45. All those taught of God, dear
friends, will hear God and they'll learn of the Father. It is written
in the Prophets, and they shall be all. Who's all there? All
that the Father gave. Not all the world. the Father giveth me. They shall
all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, what? Cometh unto me." Every man and woman that God
gave Christ for the foundation of the world shall come to Him. He said, I won't lose nothing. But I thought you said they don't
have the ability. They don't. No man can. But by the divine purpose and
sovereign will of God, He made us alive. He quickened us when
we were dead. We were taught of God. Taught
of God. Last night, Brother Don's men,
I learned so much. Was Brother Don teaching? He
was the means. God was the cause. Taught of
God. Learned of the Father. That's
our only hope, isn't it? That's our only hope. Friends,
He's quickened us. He's made us alive. He's called
us by His grace. We've learned of the Father,
and we've come to Christ. We don't come to the front. We
don't come to the preacher. We come to Him. We come without
moving a muscle. You can come to Christ right
where you stand. You don't have to move. It's not an emotion. That's the Gospel. As simple
as I know how to preach, And I'm reminded of the words in
Hebrews 3, 15, while it is said, today, today, if you will hear
His voice, if you will hear His voice, if
God calls you to hear His voice,