Turn in your Bibles, if you have
one, to the Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 6. Saint John, Chapter
6. I will be brief. I remember the preacher that
got up in the afternoon after the church had eaten a large
dinner. on the grounds, and he got up and said, well, he said,
I've got so much material I don't hardly know where to start. A
little boy sitting in the front row stood up and said, Mr. Preacher, he said, would you
start as near to the end as possible? That reminds me of that fellow
that got up to speak, he had 20 minutes. And he went on and
on and on, rambling on, after about an hour why somebody in
the back had one of these gavels. So they wound up and threw that
gavel at him. He hit a lady sitting in the
front row in the back of her head and she stood up and said,
hit me again, I think I still hear you. I think I still hear
you. John chapter 6. beginning with
verse 35. I'd like to read 10 verses, and
I'll do my dead level best to have you out of here by 12 o'clock.
So you just listen and be very patient, and we trust that we'll
be out by 12. And Jesus said unto them, make
note of that. 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. 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 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 seeth the Son, is what Mike was
talking about, 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 hath sent me
draw him, and I will 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. I want to speak this morning
on five statements that I find here in this portion of the Word
of God. Now at the outset, I'd like to
clear up who it is that's speaking here in these verses. Somebody
said that sounds like Calvinism to me. Well, I don't see John
Calvin's name on any of these statements here in these verses. John Calvin lived many, many
years ago. He was accused of everything
from child molestation to persecuting of believers. But John Calvin,
as we said, lived many years ago, served the will of God in
his generation, and died and has gone on to meet the Lord.
I'm not here this morning to defend John Calvin. I'm here to give you some statements
from the Word of God that I believe are very pertinent statements
that we need to receive in our hearts this morning. I believe
I'm among friends of the Gospel. Those of you that love the Gospel
of God's saving, sovereign grace. And therefore, I'll just be reminding
you of what you already know. But I wanted to give these thoughts
to you because I believe they could be helpful in the educating
of someone's heart, someone's soul in the things of our God. Now we begin to see here that
it was Jesus Himself, the Master, that spoke these words. And Jesus
said unto them. So you listen this morning at
these statements knowing that they come from the mouth of Him
that spake like never a man ever spoke before. These words came
from Him of whom the Word of God says, He has all power in
heaven and in earth. These words come from the Lord
Jesus Christ, that one who speaks with authority and power. Now, I want to clear up one other
thing here. In verse 35, we see where it
says Jesus made the statement, He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. What
does the Bible mean when it's talking to Christ? What does
it mean? Well, we see here two terms that
are used interchangeably, I believe, in the Bible in verse 35. He
that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. Coming to Christ is believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is. It's believing
the testimony and the statement of the scriptures concerning
our blessed Lord Jesus. Notice, if you will, in verse
36, Jesus said to them that you also have seen me and believe
not. You've seen me, and I'm He that
came out from God, came down from heaven to be the Savior,
Savior of my people. And He said, you've seen me,
you've seen me with the naked eye. You haven't seen me by faith
as Mike pointed out, but you've seen me with the naked eye. And
He said, and you believe me not. You didn't come to me. You did
not come. You did not believe me. Now then,
these five stubborn statements that we find here in these scriptures. Notice first of all, in verse
44, we find the first statement that I want to talk to you about.
And in verse 44 he says, No man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. We've attempted in
our ministry here to make it crystal clear that no man is
before God in the salvation of his soul. We've attempted to
make it clear that God must intervene in a man's life and his soul
before he can possibly come unto the Lord Jesus Christ. No man
can come, saith the Lord Jesus Christ. You might ask, well,
why is it that men and women cannot come to Christ on their
own? Well, beloved, we believe it's
because, number one, men are dead in sin. Now, the Bible does
not teach that men and women are dead to sin. They can sin
very, very well. Very able, very capable to sin
with both hands, but they're dead to God. They're dead to
God. They have not the life of God
in them, and before they can come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
they must be drawn by the Spirit of God. They must be taught to
the Lord Jesus Christ. There must be a work of the Father
in their lives before they can come to Jesus Christ, because
they have not the will to come to Him. I've told you before
that if you see a turtle sitting on a fence post, you know that
he had help to get there. And if you see a poor sinner
loving Christ, believing on Christ, coming to Christ, you know that
God intervened in that sinner's life and enabled him to come
to Christ. Well, I thank God this morning
that he's been among us here, he has come into this place,
and he has helped sinners come to him. He's enabled sinners
right here in this building to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's enabled men and women to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and give testimony and confession and witness that Jesus has spoken
to their hearts. And another reason why men and
women will not come and cannot come to Christ is that they're
enslaved in sin. They are the servants of sin. We believe in the doctrine of
total depravity, that men and women are in bondage to their
own will. And they cannot will to do anything
contrary to their nature. And their nature says, I want
to stay away from God as far as I can. I don't want anything
to do with God. I don't want anything to do with
the things of God. I don't want anything to do with
this business of singing hallelujah and praise be unto God, I don't
want anything to do with that. I don't know the Lord and I don't
want anything to do with Him. Martin Luther wrote a book on
the bondage of the human will. And in that book, he spelled
out clearly how it is that an individual cannot begin to commence
to get himself prepared to come to Christ unless God intervenes,
unless the Spirit of the Living God comes down and works in that
sinner's heart. Sometimes we're accused around
here of preaching in such a way so that we leave the impression
with souls that they can come if they only will. Well, absolutely
they can come if they only will. Their wills must be touched and
affected by the power and the Spirit of God. But they can come
if God draws them. They can come unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. So my friend this morning, you're
in bondage to sin. You're enslaved to sin. And may
God be pleased to come and enable you and to draw you with cords
of love unto Himself. That you might experience this
great work of salvation that Mike was talking to us about.
Now the second statement we find in verse 37. And it says, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Now, he didn't say,
all men are finally going to come to me, but he says, but
all that has been given to me of the Father. There's going
to be some people going to come to Christ. You say, is there
going to be anybody saved? Amen, there's going to be some
folks saved. There's going to be some men
and women that's going to come to the Lord Jesus. And Jesus
said, it's all that the Father giveth of me in the everlasting
covenant, in the covenant of grace. All those that are given
to me before the foundation of the world, all of those for whom
Christ died, they all will come. All that the Father giveth shall
come. So if the Father gives it to
your soul, and I want to say to you that salvation from beginning
to end is a gift of God. The weight of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It's from the beginning to the end. Salvation is a giving of
God. And so He must give you to Christ. And we believe that this happened
in old eternity. We believe it's past tense, and
we see that down here in verse 39. He says, and this is the
Father's will which is sent me, that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing. All which he hath given me. The Lord gave us to the Son,
the love gift to the Son in old eternity. And Jesus said, everyone
that the Father, you people hurt me, you people looked at me,
and you hurt what I had to say, and you believe me not. But there's
going to be some people that's going to come. And these people
are the ones that the Father has given unto me. Now, Christ
has been given power over all flesh, John 17 and 2. You say,
well, I don't know how this is going to work out. Well, He's
been given power over all flesh. He has the power over everyone
in this building here this morning. My friend, you would not be able
to get up when this service is over and leave this building
if it were not for the power of the mediator of the entire
universe, the Lord Jesus Christ. He can shut your motor off right
where you're at, and you would have to be carried out of this
place. Jesus Christ has power over all
flesh, and He can give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given to Him. We need to worship God. We need
to glorify the God of our salvation. Now that in Him, the Bible says,
we live and move and have our being. To as many as thou hast
given Him, He has given eternal life. Now the third statement
that I want to give you is found in verse 39. Look at it quickly. We have to move rapidly. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
He hath given me, I should lose nothing. What a statement! What
a statement! This is the Father's will which
has sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should lose
nothing. Now God the Father charged His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, with the salvation of all those that
He gave to Him in the covenant. He charged Christ with the salvation
of all of those that He gave to Him. There is a God beloved
this morning who is worshipped in this land across America and
even in this city up the street, whose will may be frustrated. Beloved, Jesus said, this is
the Father's will. This is not a little pagan-y
God that we're worshiping. This is not a God that can be
challenged. This is not a God that can be
frustrated. No, no, no way. The God of the Bible is a sovereign
God, and He said, this is my will. This is the Father's will,
that all which He has given me, that I should lose nothing. The
God of the Bible is almighty, He is omnipotent, and you can
be sure that His will will be accomplished. Everyone who has
been given to the Son will be saved by the Son, and will be
saved with an eternal salvation. The saving, the keeping, the
preserving, and the presenting of all the elect is charged to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now behold, my servant, Isaiah
42 says, my servant whom I am upholding, God says, mine elect
in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. God has
put his spirit upon the Lord Jesus. God delights in him. God is upholding the Lord Jesus
to the end that He will do the Father's will and that He'll
save all of His people. Earlier in that 42nd chapter,
it says that the Lord Jesus Christ will not fail nor be discouraged. He will not fail nor be discouraged. And what does that mean? That
means that He will accomplish the Father's will, and everyone
that has been given to Him, that they will be kept, and none of
them will be lost. It was God's will that Christ
do everything that was required to save those that were given
to Him. That was the Father's will. Jesus
said I come down from heaven not to do my own will, I come
down to do the will of Him that sent me and the Father's will
was that He provide my salvation, that He provide the salvation
of all of those chosen of God and given to Christ. And He did. Don't you believe that He did?
That He died in our place, in our room instead? And that He,
being charged with our salvation, did all that was necessary to
save us? What did God intend anyway by
the Incarnation? What do you think God was doing
whenever He gave the Lord Jesus Christ a body in the womb of
the Virgin Mary? What did God intend by a life
of perfect obedience to His law? The Lord Jesus Christ, from His
birth to His death, His thoughts, His words, His actions were all
perfect. Well, what did God intend by
the perfect life? of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
did God intend by making His Son a curse? Cursed is everyone,
the Bible says, who hangs on a tree. The Lord Jesus Christ
was made, the book of Galatians says, a curse for us. Well, what was God doing when
He allowed Him to be made, M-A-D-E, made a curse for us? What did God intend in His Son
dying on that gory tree outside the city of Jerusalem, hanging
on a cross, bleeding out of the five bleeding wounds, His life's
blood? What did God intend by His Son
suffering that horrible, horrible death? What did God intend by
him being buried in that dark tomb for three days? Why? Why was he buried? And what did
God intend by this? What did God intend in raising
him up from the grave on the third day? Raising him up, I
say! The Lord Jesus Christ came out
of the grave. What did He intend? By receiving
Him back to glory and seating Him on His right hand there to
make intercession and there to save to the uttermost all that
come unto God by Him. Was it to merely make salvation
possible? Was that the reason? Absolutely
not. It was to the end that he should
save all of his elect, and that he should lose nothing. He should lose nothing. Let me
call to your attention one of Paul's faithful sayings, found
in 1 Timothy 1 and 15. He said, this is a faithful saying,
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 whether you
agree with him that he was the worst sinner that ever walked
on the top face of God's earth or not. I don't know whether
you agree with that or not. But Paul was led of God to write
it. He was led of God to say it.
He was led of God to say I'm the chief of sinners. Now this
is one thing that I want you to know this morning. If it be
true that he was the chief of sinners, if he was the worst
sinner that ever lived, I want you to know this this morning,
that Jesus Christ did all that God required for that man's salvation. Everything that was necessary.
Paul said this is a faithful saying. It's worthy for everybody
to accept it, that Jesus Christ came into this world to save
sinners of whom I am chief. And so everything that was necessary
to be done, He did it in order that Jesus Christ would lose
nothing. I will never be lost. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I don't intend to be lost because
I believe I'm one of them sinners given to Christ in the eternal
covenant, one of those for whom Jesus bled and died and represented
when he was in this world and now represents before God in
heaven at the right hand of God. That brings me to the fourth
statement which we find in verse 45 where it says, Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me. This is a statement made by our
Lord Jesus Christ. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Jesus
said in verse 45, it is written in the prophets, they shall be
all told of God. Every one of them shall be told
of God. Now this is where the ministry of the Word comes in.
We preach the word of God, we preach the gospel of God's grace,
we preach the message of sovereign grace and free mercy in Christ,
and we teach men and women how that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. We preach
Christ. And as we preach Christ, God
the Father is willing to teach and He does teach all of those
that have been given to Christ. He teaches them enough about
themselves that they know they cannot save themselves. He teaches
them enough about themselves to know that they're hopelessly
lost forever to be condemned unless God intervenes in their
life. He teaches them enough to know
that. Not only that, but he teaches them that they must come to Christ
if they ever hope to be saved from their sins. If they ever
hope to be delivered, if they ever hope to have eternal life,
if they ever hope to be with the Lord in eternity, they must
come to Christ. And He teaches them to come. And every one of them that the
Father teaches, they come. They get to Christ. They come
to Him. They will come if they've heard
and learned of the Father. They will come. The Lord will
have all of His people. Christ will have His bride. The
Holy Spirit will have His temple. Well, you say, what about their
bondage? You say, what about their captivity
to sin? Well, my friend, Let me tell
you this, the Bible says in John chapter 5 and verse 25, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead, these that are dead in sin, shall hear the voice of
the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. They're going
to hear. They're going to hear the voice
of the Son of God. And in Psalm 110 verse 3, it tells us that
in the day of my power, my people will be willing. They will be
willing. God will make them willing to
do what? To come to Christ. Make them
willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make them willing
to trust Him. Well, Romans 10 and 17 says that
faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. How can they call on Him who
they've not heard? Well, they're going to hear because
God's going to send them a preacher and they will hear and they will
be brought. There's power in the voice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And somebody said, well, then
you're saying that these people are going to come and they're
going to come willingly? I say, Amen. They're going to
come willingly. They will come willingly. They'll
come willingly because the Lord will make them willing. They'll
come willing because He will drop into their soul the seed
of life. He will regenerate their souls
and their coming and their believing is an act of a living soul. You know we've had some experience
around here with those who are dead and with those who are alive. Hallelujah, we've had some experience. And we know what it is for an
individual to sing songs for years and to hear the scriptures
preached for years and mean absolutely nothing to them. and all of a
sudden the spirit of living God comes down and regenerates their
soul and now the songs are alive to them. They're alive to them
and they rejoice and sing out from their heart because they're
now alive in the Lord Jesus and the word which they used to just
tolerate that word now they hang on every word they've spoken.
Doesn't make any difference who's speaking it. They just hang on
every word because they want to hear what God the Lord would
say because they're alive. You see, there's a difference
between being dead and being alive. Some of you people here
this morning, you would just love to be somewhere else right
now, and you ought to ask yourself, is it because I'm dead to God
that I'd rather be somewhere else this morning than listening
to the Word of God in this building? Is it because I'm dead in sin?
Is it because I'm a servant of sin? I'm enslaved to sin? What is it? But my friend, when
you're taught of God, you will come to Christ. You will believe
on Him. And you'll be gloriously saved.
All right. Now the fifth statement. We'll
hurry to a conclusion. And that is this. Well, there's
three verses here that has this statement in it. Verse 39-40.
And verse 44, let me read this last part of the verse, but should
raise it up again at the last day. But should raise it up again
at the last day. I will raise him up at the last
day in verse 40. And in verse 44, and I will raise
him up at the last day. Now, Lord, these are the words
of my Lord Jesus Christ. These are most precious words.
What a promise. What a promise! The older you
get, the closer you get to the grave, my friend. These words,
these words are inspired. These words are the words of
Christ. These are the words of He that said, I am the resurrection
and the life. These are the words of him that
said, because I live, you shall live also. And beloved, he said,
I'm going to raise them up. All these that the fathers give
to me, all these that hungered and then were satisfied, all
these that thirsted, were thirsty, and then they come to me and
drink of the water of life. All of these who believe me and
trusted me, he said, every one of them, I'm going to bring them
up. I'm going to raise them up. They're going to be buried, but
they're going to hear the trump. The trump's gonna sound, the
last trump's gonna sound, the dead in Christ is gonna be raised.
I will raise him up! That's what he said. And beloved,
it's glorious to be planted, for us to be planted in the earth,
knowing that we shall be raised up. I will raise him up. I will do it. And so my friend,
we rejoice, even knowing that we shall shortly be put into
the grave. We shall shortly end our stay
in this world. We shall shortly go yonder to
meet the Lord, for absent from the body is present with the
Lord. But knowing this, Knowing this,
that three times over, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I will raise
him up. And we're talking about the omnipotent,
sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, who can do all things. Nothing
is too hard for our God. And he said, I will raise them
up. Now these are five statements
here that we have very hurriedly gone over, but I trust that God
will be pleased to bless these truths to your heart. And you
this morning, if you're here, you say, what should I do? I
believe these things. You believe these things? Praise
God. If you believe these things,
then rejoice and be glad. Maybe you should confess before
men and women. the fact that you have believed
on the Lord Jesus and submit yourself for water baptism. We're going to have a baptismal
service this afternoon and maybe there's somebody here that said
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I want to
confess Him as my Savior and my Lord. Let's stand to our feet.