If you have your Bible, please
turn back with me to the 6th chapter of the Gospel of St. John. 6th chapter of the Gospel
of St. John. I hope that you are familiar
with this chapter. Very, very familiar with this
chapter. I think this is one of the great chapters, all the chapters
in the Word of God are great, but this is one outstanding chapter
which I believe would be well if you spent a lot of time in
this chapter reading, meditating, and memorizing a lot of these
verses. Let me read beginning with verse
35 down through verse 45. Just to
refresh your memory here, Brother Randy read these verses, but
let's read them again. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Their
inward hunger will be satisfied, and their thirst will be satisfied
by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. But I said unto you that
you also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do my 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 every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. The Jews then murmured at him,
because he said, I am 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? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Now the direction that I wish
to go this morning, I believe we will best be served by looking
at verse 36. And I want you to imagine, if
you can, how it would be if there was nothing before verse 36 and
nothing after verse 36. I just want you to look at verse
36. Jesus is speaking here, and I
want you to think on this a little bit as we get into our message
this morning, that these are not the words of John Calvin.
These are not the words of Augustine or of Martin Luther. These are
the words of the Master Himself. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I think that makes a world of
difference, don't you? Now, we could pass off these
words if they were the mere words of some theologian. But because
they're the words of the Master, then we have to take heed and
listen to what he's saying. But think with me. Nothing before
or nothing after verse 36. Verse 36 says, But I said unto
you that you also have seen me, and believe not. Now here's the
question I want to ask you. Do you believe, if that was all
there was, was verse 36, what conclusion would you come to?
Would you come to the conclusion that the Lord Jesus Christ was
discouraged? That he was despairing? That
he had come to the place where that he felt ineffectual and
useless? And that he could accomplish
nothing? by further staying in this world
in ministry? What do you think about that?
Do you believe that these are the words of a man that is discouraged,
that is depressed, that feels like that his life has been spent
in vain? Do you feel that way? Well, I'd
like to say that I personally am convinced that the Lord Jesus
Christ was not discouraged. I'm convinced that he was not.
Now he said, I said to you that you've seen me, you've looked
at me, you've seen all there is to see of the Godhead, and then you believe not. Now I believe that if these were
the words of a mere mortal man, that he might be discouraged.
He might be depressed, saying, I had done the best I could,
and you still don't believe. You still do not believe what
I've told you, what you've seen. You do not believe. But these
are the words of the God-man. And I believe that Jesus Christ
was not discouraged because he knew the success of his ministry
depended not on man's will, but on God's will. He knew that the
success of his ministry depended upon him, the will of him that
had sent him into this world, his father's will. Now, Mr. Pink wrote a statement which
I would like for you to listen to, and I believe this is very,
very good and very important, and so listen carefully. He says,
the realization of the invincibility of the eternal counsels of God
will give you a calmness, a poise, a courage, a perseverance which
nothing else can. Now, I realize that that's quite
a deep statement, but let me see if I can give it to you again.
the realization of the invincibility of the eternal counsels of God
will give you a calmness, a poise, a courage, a perseverance which
nothing else can. Now to me that is saying what
I want to say this morning. I believe that if we really believe
God If we get a grasp on the sovereignty of God and on the
truth of the eternal God in our souls, that we will be calm as
we go about the Lord's work. And we'll be able to rest our
souls in His will. And we will not be frustrated
and despair and be discouraged and cast down when we see that
the results are not what humans might expect or might want or
desire. Now we have a lot of vainglory
seekers in this world, people that are out to build a name
for themselves, and people that are interested, religious people,
who could not stand to have the throttle pulled back on them
with the truth of God. But I believe that as we look
this morning, I want to give you five statements out of the
Word of God, out of these verses that we read here in John chapter
6. We want to string these five
statements on a string that we'll be able to remember them, be
able to think about them, and I believe that these verses arises
out of the counsel of God and the truth of God. Now these five
statements is the foundation of this church. These five statements
that we'll share with you. And these five statements have
gotten me into a whole lot of trouble at different times on
my in my Christian life and in my ministry. But I would like
to say that I am very concerned that you understand these five
statements and that you become very, very familiar with them
because, as we mentioned, they are the foundation of this church.
If you do not adhere to this church, if it does not adhere
to these five statements, cling to them with conviction, and
preach them and stand for them, then you have no reason to exist. No reason whatever to exist. There's plenty of man-centered
religion in the city of Great Falls. We do not need another
professing church in Great Falls where man-centered religion is
lifted up and preached and declared. We do not need that. Now this
is my conviction and I don't know anything about how much
time I have left to be in your midst. But I want you to understand
that when the day comes when you give up your conviction On
these five statements, as far as I'm concerned, you might as
well close the doors and sell the building. You have no reason
to continue on. These five statements is the
difference between this church and all other congregations that
profess to be churches in the city of Great Falls. Now if you
want to know the difference then you just listen as we give you
these statements. I think that it's so important
that I just, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on
each statement, because most of them have been preached on
before, but I want you to have them together, to get them together
in your thinking. These things are so very, very
important. I'd like for each officer of
this church, each individual that has anything to do with
this church, to have these five statements out of John 6 memorized
and to be able to quickly defend them and to set them forth when
they have opportunity. Now, the first statement that
I want to give to you is found in verse 44. We'll take it in
this order. Go to verse 44, where after our
Lord has revealed himself as the one who came down from heaven,
and the unbelieving unregenerate had 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. Jesus therefore answered
and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, and here it
is, no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day." Now this
is the foundation of our conviction and of our stand and belief here
in this place. that no man can come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now coming and believing is one
and the same thing. No man can come, no man can believe
except the Father which has sent the Lord Jesus Christ get involved
and draw those individuals that he's purposed to save unto Christ. Unless that happens, they will
not come. Now this is not a physical inability. This is a spiritual inability. I am not saying that men by nature
do not have the same physical abilities that other men have,
that the elect have. I'm saying that men by nature
do not have the same spiritual abilities of saved people. Now men are dead in sin. This
is something that is very commonly preached here in this place.
Men are dead in sin. There's an argument going around
about how dead is the sinner. But to me, dead is dead. And
the sinner is dead in sin, and cannot will himself out of his
condition, and cannot bring himself to God, and he is not in a position
to prepare himself to receive Christ. Now men are enslaved,
not only are they dead in sin, but they are enslaved in that
sin. Their will is in bondage. Do you know these words in John
5.40? They will not come to me that they may have life. They
will not come. Will not come. Their will is
in bondage. And they will not come that they
might have life. And so the first statement is
that no man can come to me. Spiritual inability. unless the
Father gets involved and does a work in their heart. Now, when
you see somebody come to Christ, you know that the Father has
been involved. If they truly have come, that
the Lord has done a work, the Holy Spirit has been sent, and
the Spirit of God has quickened the heart and changed that individual
and brought them unto the Savior. But this is the foundational
truth. And this truth is so essential
to the free grace of God and to the glory of God in the salvation
of the sinner. This is the foundation. No man
can come. If he comes, it's because God
has intervened and God has brought him. Now, I don't want a salvation
that It just ruins me and destroys my soul. There is those who would
preach that you can will yourself into the Kingdom of God or that
you can bring yourself to Christ and that the decision is yours.
It's all left up to you. But this, my friend, is not what
the Bible teaches. It's not what the Word of God
teaches at all. Because man's will, as we said, is in bondage
to his sin. So if we want to glorify God,
if we want that God would be glorified, and we surely want
that, and we're not seeking any glory for ourselves, then we
will not be ashamed to tell men that they cannot come on their
own. That it's God who must draw them out of their sin unto the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now the second statement is found
in verse 37 where the verse of scripture here says, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. These, I'm sure, this
truth is that which would have caused the Lord Jesus Christ
to rejoice and be triumphant in spirit knowing that the Father
was involved and that he was going to draw all those that
had been given to Christ. They were going to draw them
all. You see, the elect belonged to the Father before the world
began. They belonged to Him. And so
the Lord Jesus says, all that the Father giveth they shall
come to me. No question about it, no doubt about it. They will
come. God will have his people. God
has a people which he has entrusted to Christ and he will bring them
all to Christ. He will bring them all out of
their sin and sin's death into the life and liberty of the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. All that's given by the Father,
not all men, but all that are given by the Father to the Lord
Jesus. Now, would that be considered
a thing that would be good to say in a mixed congregation? Well, many people would say that's
not a good thing to say. Because you're trying to tell
us that the Lord is in control of this salvation business? I'm
here to tell you this morning that salvation is in the control
of a sovereign God. That God controls Those and those
that will be saved, He is the one that will bring them unto
Himself. All that are given by the Father in the covenant. Now
Christ has been given power, we read in John 17 and verse
2, over all flesh. He's been given power over all
flesh that He might give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given to Him. What's the matter with that?
I'd say there's nothing wrong with that. I'd say this is the
reason why Christ was not discouraged. He had power over all flesh.
He could save whoever he would, and he would save all that the
Father had given him. And so there was no discouragement,
you see. He had this power. Now, we do
not worship a helpless Christ. We worship a Christ who is able
to do whatever it is that God had purposed for him to do when
he came into this world. He has power over everyone even
in this building this morning. You would not have the ability
to get up when this service is over and find your way to the
door and make it out of this building if you were not given
that strength and ability by God Almighty. You would not be
able to do that. You could become so confused
that you wouldn't know how to get out of this building if the
Lord didn't undertake for you. And I say to you this morning
that no man is going to find Christ until he's been given
strength, will of mind, and grace to do so, and until he is brought
by the sovereign power of Almighty God. In him we live and move
and have our being. Is that not the way it is? In
him we live and move and have our being. To as many as thou
hast given him, he has power to give life unto them. To give life, that life which
He had that life which He has Himself, eternal life. Well, we know they were given
to Him in eternity. That's when they were given to
Him, and they come in time, don't they? Well, so far I would say
that in our little way, we have glorified God so far. No man
can come except the Father do the drawing and bring the sinner. And all that the Father gives
Him will come to Him. And so we've glorified God and
attempted to lift Him up as being the sovereign of the universe. Now let's go on. The third statement
is found in verse 39. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing. All that he has given me that
I should lose nothing. What a tremendous, tremendous
statement made by our Lord. Here he says the Father sent
him and the Father has a will and that will is that of all
which the Father had given to him and brought to him that he
would lose none of them. that he would lose nothing. Reminds
us of Romans 8, verse 1, where it says, There is therefore now
no condemnation, no judgment, awaiting those which are in Christ
Jesus. No judgment. Why? Because judgment fell on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and there is no judgment awaiting those
that are in Christ. And then, of course, Romans 8,
31 through 34, It talks about if God be for us, who can be
against us? God who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all. How shall He not also through
Him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. God has justified His people,
and He's not going to lose any of them. God the Father charged
Christ with the salvation of those He gave to Him. Now, that takes it out of your
hands, you see. It's not in your hands. It's
in His hands. God the Father charged Christ
with your salvation. He said it's your work that's
going to do it. It's your work that's going to
accomplish it. No one is going to be saved apart
from your work. Now there's a God who is worshipped
in this land. Let me say, in this city. A God whose will can be set aside,
frustrated, challenged by puny man. sinner who's trusted in Christ
to believe that his salvation is entirely A summit that sometimes be cold
and indifferent, bring out of them. Would you say amen to that? Amen. You are not going to get as well as that all those that
come to me, I won't lose any of them. Every one of them. I have put my spirit without
measure upon him. Let me ask you a series of questions
and you answer in your own mind. the form of a servant, becoming
obedient to the death of the cross. ...by a life of perfect obedience
to his law from his birth to his death in every He didn't have to live a perfect
life. He didn't have to live at all.
He didn't have to come at all, except by the will of God and
the purpose of God. But what did God do to give us
a perfect life? Was it not that He would become
our substitute and that His life vicariously would become our
life? Was that not the reason? Exactly. And if He imputes His life to
me, then you can see how it could be that I wouldn't end up lost. His perfect life has been imputed
to me. I mean, He did no sin. Neither was any guile found in
His mouth. No sin in Him. What did God intend
by making His Son a curse? Cursed is everyone who hangs
on a tree. Galatians says, Paul says, He
was made a curse for us. He was made a curse. Well, why? Because He was my substitute.
I ought to have been there cursed. But He said, I'll be cursed in
His behalf. And so he was cursed for me.
That's why that I'll not be eternally cursed. God knows I ought to
be. God knows. God knows. Is there
anyone here that would not hang their head and say, God knows
you ought to be on that tree? But Jesus was on that tree. What did God intend in his son
dying? hanging on a cross, bleeding
out his life's blood. What did God intend? His son
died. It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again. He died. He died. You and I, the soul that sinneth,
it must die, it should die. God knows we all ought to die.
We're sinners. We've broken the law of God.
But Jesus died. And now, he that liveth and believes
in him shall never die. You believe this? Because he
died in our place. His death was our death. I can't
get over that. I just can't get over that. What did God intend by him being
buried in the tomb for three days? What did God intend in raising
him up from the grave? What did he intend by receiving
him back to glory to be seated at his right hand? Was it merely,
was all of this merely to make it possible that people could
be saved? Or was it to make certain that
a people would be saved and never be lost? The second is the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ died. The Lord Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead to make salvation certain for the elect. Now, we haven't brought any glory
to anybody here except our blessed Redeemer, have we? We've just
lifted Him up and glorified Him. And that's what a worship service
is supposed to be. Worship the Lord, for us to bow
our heads and hearts in our hands, and lift up our hearts to the
Lord, and praise Him for His goodness and His mercy. I want
to call one thing to your attention, and I'm trying to move as fast
as an old man can move. I want you to know one of Paul's
faithful sayings. 1 Timothy 1.15, I'll just quote
it to you. This is a faithful saying, Paul
says, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Now, I don't know
what you think about what Paul said. I don't know what you think
about that. But he was led of God to write,
the Apostle Paul was, led of God to say that he, Paul, was
the worst sinner who ever walked on God's earth. I think he was led of God to
say that. And I want you to know this,
Paul would say, this is what I mean by what I'm saying, is
that Jesus Christ did all that was required for my salvation. Now that's what that verse means
to me. This is a faithful saying worthy
that all accept what I'm saying that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. Now wouldn't you agree
with this old preacher that everything that Paul was saying, that everything
that was required to save him, the worst sinner that ever lived,
that Jesus Christ did it. Wouldn't you say that? I mean,
maybe you are a weak theologian. Maybe you don't want to make
hard decisions. Maybe you don't want to stand
up on your two feet and say, I don't know whether this is
truth or that's truth. But wouldn't you say that that
is a reasonable conclusion to come to on that verse of Scripture? Paul said he came into the world
to save sinners. I'm the chief of sinners. Paul says it's a faithful saying.
He did it all. All that was required. None is
going to be lost that he died for. None is going to be lost
he came to save. None. I lose nothing. I lose
nothing. Now I'll tell you there's a lot
of people that get upset. Get upset if they heard that
said in a congregation. Can't stand that. Arminian theologians
can't stand that. That's not acceptable. Not acceptable. Well, fourth statement. In verse 45. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. You say that's who's come? Every
man that hath heard and learned of the Father. The Father has
carried on a ministry in them. And they know the Lord because
the Father has given them a heart to know Him. You say, well, what about their bondage?
What about their captivity to sin and Satan that we talked
about earlier? Well, when God says that they
will come, they will come. They will come. Do you have trouble
believing that a God can make the universe and speak the world
into existence out of nothing? And that he can't bring a sinner
to himself when he wants to? Do you have trouble believing
that? It's the will and purpose of
God to save a people. John 5.25 says, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Truly, truly, Jesus said, Truly, truly, says our Master.
Now you can, you know, say, well, I don't believe what so-and-so,
politicians, I don't believe what so-and-so is saying, and
this and that, and that's alright. You say what you want to about
the politicians. But our Master said truly, truly. He says, I say to you, the hour
is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the
Son of God, And they that hear shall live. Now that's Bible
theology. And I have quoted that verse
of scripture to Arminian preachers and they would grind their teeth.
They would strike that word now out of there. They say that's
way off in the future. No it isn't. It's now. Now. They've got to be taught. When
they're taught and hear and learn of the Father, they come. They
come to Christ. They hear the voice of the Son
of God. And what happens? Well, they live. They live. Eternal life is given
to them. There's power in that voice.
Will they come against their will? No. They'll be made willing
in the hour of His power. Made willing. Psalm 110 verse
3. Convinced, that is. They'll be
convinced. Got to come to Christ. Believe
on the Son. Now the first part of that verse,
verse 45, you believe. It is written in the prophets
that they shall be taught of God. Every man therefore that
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. So you believe that somebody
is going to be taught of God. They all will be taught of God,
whoever the all is talking about. Got to be talking about the elect. And every man therefore that
hath heard and learned of the Father, they come. You see, there's
big arguments over these things. But you and I, we don't run around
here like a chicken with its head cut off. I suppose that
everybody's seen a chicken with its head cut off. Well, maybe
some of you. Johnny come lately never saw
that. But nevertheless, It's a sight
to see. And some of these preachers and
theologians remind me of that the way they run around. That
we're convinced that they come. That they shall come. God's people
will come. God's people will come. Well,
that brings me to the last statement. And we'll hurry up and conclude
here. The fifth statement is in verse 40. Where it says, And
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone would
seeeth the Son, and believeth on him, and may have everlasting
life. And then listen to this, and
I'll raise him up at the last day. I'll raise him up at the
last day. He says, I'm going to resurrect
him in the last day. About three times, I believe,
that's mentioned here in in this portion of the Word of God, that
he's going to raise them up at the last day. The last part of
verse 39, and then 40, and then verse 44, the last part of verse
44, raise them up at the last day. And you remember in John
11, where our Lord raised up Lazarus. And he told Martha, verse 23,
you know Lazarus had died, And he told her, Thy brother
shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. In other words, she believed
what this verse said. She had knowledge of this. She
believed that there was going to be a resurrection in the last
day. And that God's people were going to be raised from the dead.
And that they were going to live in that heavenly kingdom and
they were going to live in that new heaven and new earth. They
were going to be raised from the dead. And I don't, you know, wish to
say anything that is not said here. He said, I'll raise them
up the last day. Is there anyone in this building
here that would have one bit of trouble believing that God
can raise up his people, the ones that he saved, called to
himself, the ones that he promised eternal life, in hope of eternal
life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
Would you have any trouble believing that God can raise you from the
dead? Do you have any trouble believing
that? Well, I realize now, you know, I told you before, I never
saw anybody been raised from the dead, except spiritually. But I truly do believe that what
the Word of God says. I believe that the last day we're
going to be raised up. I believe the last day the trumpet
will blow, the trumpet will sound, and we'll be raised incorruptible.
I believe that. That's what the Word of God says.
going to be raised one of these days. Now the older you get,
and you're all slipping each day, you're dying a little more
every day. We all are. This, this is the
hope of the church. This is the hope of God's elect.
And the last day, they're going to be raised. Coming out of the
grave. Coming up, coming out of the
grave. I don't know just yet where they're going to plant
this old body of mine. Don't know just yet. But I've
thought some about it. And if it were to be over here
in Great Falls, down here on the south side, what do they
call that mountain? What is that? Mount Olive, is that where Kenny
is? Highland, Highland Cemetery. Get up on the hill there just
as far as we can and plant the old corruptible body. And resurrection morning when
you come out, I suppose those mountains will still be there.
I suppose they will. I know our Lord is going to make
a new heaven and a new earth. Wherein dwelleth righteousness.
But I thought about that the other day, looking at those gorgeous
mountains, how wonderful it would be on resurrection morning to
be raised out of the grave to look over there and see those
mountains. I don't think that is forefetched. I just believe that in the last
day they will be raised. Our Lord said it. He said it. Now, to me, his word is authority. To me, what he says is the way
it is. Last day to be raised. Incorruptible. Hallelujah. Incorruptible. That's the glorious promise.
Well, these five statements, hang on to them, old church.
Hang on to them. Don't let anybody talk you out
of them. Stand fast on these five statements. Like I said,
when you give them up, close your doors and walk off. There
ain't enough difference between you if you don't believe these
things and all these other churches, and they're doing a better job
than you are. So just walk off and lever whenever you cease
to hold on to these five statements. We strung them on a string, and
you got them. You memorize them, and you become
real familiar with them, because that's the difference between
this church and all the other congregations in the city of
Great Falls. Mark it down. I'm telling you
the truth. I observed just this fall, out in Indiana,
the Providence Baptist Church sits, little old red brick building
sits right here, Across here, across the street, there is a
mammoth. I'm talking about Mammoth Plant
Christian Church, which costs only God knows how many millions
of dollars to build. It looks like a school, so large. And then right behind them is
another church, a large church, not quite as big as the one across
the road this way, but a tremendous building. And then down the street
just a little bit there's another one. And I told those people,
you have no reason to be here. No reason whatever to sit here
in the middle of those big camps if you don't stand for something
that makes you different than other people. False religions. If you don't stand for something,
it makes you stand out. You say, well, I don't want to
call attention to yourself. You preach these five things, you'll
call attention to yourself. Hang on to them. Well, may God
bless you.