Turning your Bibles, if you will,
to the sixth, I say the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel
of John, I want to read beginning with the 31st verse, and read
down through verse 48. Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert, As it is 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. Then said
they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 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 has 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 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.
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God,
he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread
of life. I found this prayer, it's unknown as far as the author
is concerned, but I like the words. I'd like to give it to
you at the outset of our message this morning. I do not ask for
mighty words to leave the crowd impressed, but grant my life
may ring so true my neighbor shall be blessed. I do not ask
for influence to sway the multitude. Give me a word in season for
the soul in solitude. I do not ask to win the great
God grant that they may be saved. Give me the broken sinner, Lord,
by Satan long enslaved. Though words of wisdom and of
power rise easily to some, Give me a simple message, Lord, that
bids the sinner come. I hope that those words will
ring a bell in your soul as they have in mine. Now I've invited
you to turn with me to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John.
I want you to look at verse 37. And it is upon this verse of
scripture that I wish to speak this morning, having been shut
up to this verse. It's one of my favorite verses
in all the Word of God. Of course, among so many, many
others. But this is an outstanding verse,
and one that has taught me many, many things through the years.
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." Now brother, sister, here is what the old preachers would
term high doctrine. Here is the security of the covenant. Here is the purpose of God effectually
carried out. Here is truth which we love and
the grace in which we glory as God's people. You who love to
hear the gospel preach to sinners, do not be afraid ever of the
doctrines of grace. None would be saved if it were
not for divine sovereignty. I like to remind you of that.
None would ever be saved apart from the doctrine of God's elective
grace. Somebody says, why not? Why not? The skeptic would say, why not?
Well, the reason is, is because the lost man is without strength. He is spiritually unable to come
to God. He does not have the ability.
He doesn't have the strength. He doesn't have what it takes.
to come to Christ. He cannot come except he be drawn. He must be drawn to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that word draw, we read it
over here in verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him, that's a very very strong word. It comes
just a little bit short of being dragged by the hair of the head
or by the ear unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just a little bit
under that. But you remember how the scripture says that Peter,
on one occasion, when they had caught a great drought of fish
in the net, that he drew the net to shore. Well, that's the
same word exactly. And certainly there had to be
some muscle put into drawing that net with that huge catch
of fish. unto the shore. Same word exactly
as this word here in verse 44. And also you remember when our
Lord Jesus was being apprehended after he had been betrayed by
Judas Iscariot that Peter took out his sword. The Bible says
he drew his sword. It's the same word exactly as
this here. He drew his sword and he smote
off the ear of one of the high priest's servants. And so you
see, beloved, this word is a very strong word. God's people must
be drawn unto the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of irresistible
grace. They must be drawn. And so they
cannot come otherwise because they're without strength. They
have no ability. They that are in the flesh, Paul
said in Romans 8, cannot please God. They cannot please God. Now, if you could come to Christ
in the strength and energy of the old man, then I would say,
well, there's some things that we could do that would please
Christ. But certainly you cannot come
because you must be drawn, you must be taught of the Father
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. So do not allow the doctrine
of grace or the doctrine of election to ever in any way, to ever in
any way scare you off. Because none of us would be here
today and be able to say praise be unto God, would be able to
say hallelujah. The word hallelujah means praise
be unto God. would be able to do that or say
that unless it had been for the doctrine of God's elective grace. So let us receive all truth.
Let us be willing to learn every lesson which the Lord has written,
remembering that if we cannot yet reconcile the truth to our
minds, yet there is this promise in the word of God that what
I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. There's
coming a time if you can't reconcile the doctrine of God's sovereignty
with the doctrine of human responsibility, you just hang around. Why? Because
the Lord will explain it all in the time to come. If any man
will know the doctrine, he will know whether it be of God or
whether or not it be of man. And so I want to consider this
text this morning. In the first sentence of verse
37, We have these words, all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. And I want to attempt this morning
to bring out the meaning of this sentence by giving you a few
observations. First of all, the Lord Jesus
leads us back, I believe, to the original position of all
things in this text. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18 says,
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself
by Jesus Christ. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ. Jesus speaks of
a people given to him by the Father. So all who have been
our being will finally be saved were in the hand of the Father
originally. And so it should be, for he has
fashioned them all and made them every one for his pleasure. God
absolutely considered He created all things, and His kingdom ruleth
over all unto His pleasure. All, the Bible says, are His
servants. You serve God's purpose if you're
in God's world. You may not know what it is,
and I certainly do not know what it is, but if you're in God's
world, you certainly are serving the purpose of Almighty God. Now God has a sovereign purpose,
and he is the sovereign ruler, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And he has a right to make laws,
he has a right to issue rewards, and to threaten with punishment
at his own pleasure. He's God. All things are of God. He sits upon his throne. and
every one of his judgments, all of his wisdom is shown to be
absolutely just. He can do what he will with his
own, is a statement of the scripture. The elect were especially, I
believe, in the hand of the Father, for he has chosen them. He chose them in old time. He
said, you've not chosen me, but I have chosen you. There was
a story that I read about a young man over in Scotland, and some
scientist offered a boy a handsome sum of money if he would allow
himself to be let down by a rope over a cliff in a precipitous
mountain gorge. And the boy, being from a poor
family, he wanted and needed the money. But when he looked
down, into the 200-foot chasm, he said, no. But after further
persuasion, he said, I will go if my father holds the rope. I'll go down if my father holds
the rope. Beloved, that is faith. He had
confidence in his father. He believed in his father. and
he allowed his father to fasten the rope around him and let him
down. Now, beloved, if we could see
ourselves back yonder in eternity past, back yonder before any
of us existed except in the mind of the eternal God, back yonder,
way back yonder before the song of the first angel had ever broken
the solemnity of silence, if we could see ourselves We're
in the Father's hands. We have been chosen of the Eternal
Father. All that shall ever come to us
in time and eternity, eternity past, eternity future, is all
in the hands of our Father. What will He do with us? What
will this great Father, this Father of love, this Father of
mercy, well, what will He do with us? Well, we're told in
the Word of God that we were chosen to the Father in 2 Thessalonians
2 and 13, and I think we should, every one of us, take these verses
to heart and memorize them. Paul said, we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God at that time, God at that time, when we had no
existence except in his mind, hath from the beginning since
that time chosen us to salvation through the setting apart of
the spirit and the belief of the truth. Our Lord Jesus said
in Matthew 11, verse 25 and 26, he says, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. So we were elect, beloved, we
were elect of the Father, we belong to the Father, and He
chose us to give us as a love gift unto His Son. He chose us
as creator, as governor, and as the source and the very fountain
of election. Oh, how often do we forget the
part which the Father had in our salvation, and yet he is
the basis, he is the promoter or the prompter of all of our
salvation. He chose us He was our Father
in Heaven, and through our Lord Jesus Christ undertook our cause,
yet it was because the Father, first of all, out of His great
love, gave us to the Son. The poet said, "'Twas an everlasting
love that God His own elect embraced before He made the worlds above.
or earth on her huge columns placed. Long ere the sun's refugiant
ray, premeable shades of darkness drove, they on his sacred bosom
lay, Lord, with an everlasting love. And so, but we were in
the Father's hands. And here in this text it says,
all that the Father. So we had to be the Father's.
before we could become the sons. And thank God we belong to the
Father and He chose us and now the Savior next mentions and
proceeds to inform us of a great transaction that took place in
eternity past. He says that the Father gave
His people to the Son, those that He had chosen, those that
He loved in old time, that He gave them as a gift unto the
Son. and forever he placed them into
the hands of Christ, who is the God-man, the Mediator. He received a people from the
hands of the Father. I want you to hold your finger
here in the sixth chapter of John and turn over to the chapter
that Randy read us this morning. And I want you to see how this
transaction is so spelled out in the high priestly prayer of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's amazing. And one of
the things that stood out to me greatly as I read this chapter
and as I heard it read was how that the Lord Jesus Christ, He
in no way, shape, or form tried to conceal this transaction that
had taken place in old eternity. And beloved, we'll not conceal
it either. We were given by the Father unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want you to notice some
of the verses. I want to read no less than seven times in this
chapter. It spells out how that we were
the gift of God unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And now I want
to make mention in chapter 17 here, the first verse, in the
first few words here, these words speak Jesus. Now I don't know
whether that carries any weight with you or not, but it carries
some with me. These words speak Jesus. I'm always interested
in what Jesus had to say. Always interested, always is
a blessing to me. Now look in verse two. He says,
as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. This
verse of scripture is a great, mighty verse of scripture. It
tells us that Jesus Christ as the mediator, that he has power,
God has given him power over all flesh, that he can go among
the generations of men and women on earth and give eternal life
to all of those that the Father in the eternal covenant has given
to him. Notice in verse 6, He says, I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Can't hide it, can't cover it
up. Jesus said, I manifested your name unto these men. I revealed
you, beings that I am the embodiment of the triune God, beings that
I am the one who leads out and reveals God to men. I've manifested
your name unto those which thou gavest me out of the world."
Isn't that plain? That is so plain. Now, notice
in verse 9, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. Now this verse of scripture
tells us plainly that upon the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ,
both when he was in the world and when he ascended up to heaven,
seated at the right hand of God, carrying on the high priestly
work, being the intercessor unto God for his people, that he had
these very ones upon his heart. He says, but for them which thou
hast given me, for they are thine. They belong to you, but you have
given them to me. I pray for them. And then he
goes on in verse 10, and all mine are thine, and thine are
mine. I'm glorified in them. And now
I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I
come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. Verse
12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy
name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept. And then down to verse 21, that
they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. And verse 24, 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 this great transaction
that took place in heaven above before we were ever created in
Adam, beloved, this transaction is one that's precious because
we now see that we've been transferred into the hands of the Lord Jesus.
In John 3, I think it's verse 35, it says, the Father loved
the Son and hath given all things unto his hand. And so we have
been given into the hand of the Lord Jesus. Now, we see the Father's
condescension in noticing us at all and bestowing us upon
the Son. How marvelous and wonderful is
that great mercy of our God. that he would take note of us
at all in old time. Have you ever asked yourself
the question, why is it that God has chosen a people out of
the sons of Adam, the sons and daughters of Adam? Why has God
chosen a people out from among those who were made a little
lower than the angels? Why did he choose them? Well,
beloved, there may be many, many words of speculation on why he
chose them. I personally believe that God
noticed the sons of Adam and purposed from old eternity to
have mercy upon them. I believe that the fall was predestinated
of God in order that he might show himself off in the redemptive
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the great masterpiece
of all eternity. God in Christ reconciling lost
sinners unto himself. I believe that evil came into
the universe of God by the angels that sinned. God had no mercy
on them. Evil originated, I believe, with
the angels, and because man was affected by that evil angel,
the devil himself. I believe God had mercy and noticed,
took notice, of the sons of Adam, and that he had purposed their
redemption by the bloodshedding of his own beloved son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. But evil came into the universe
by the fallen angels. And this is my theory. You may
not agree with it, but that's my theory. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ, when presented this gift in the transaction that took
place in eternity, he accepted these poor souls at the Father's
right hand. Can you imagine as he looked
over this whole congregation of people that the Father gave
him? He looked them over. And you
and I were there. You and I were in that great
group that had been transferred out of the hands of the Holy
Father into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as he looks upon this mass of humanity,
this multitude that no man can number, he must look upon them
and view them as they are an acceptable responsibility for
them. You see, He must save every one
of these. He must deliver every one of
these. He must perfect every one of these. He must give every
one of these what is demanded of the Father of them in order
that they would be able to appear in the presence of God without
spot or blemish or any such thing. The Lord Jesus Christ looks upon
them, and can you imagine as He views some of us in the crowd,
He would say, can I ever put them among my jewels? How can
I ever, how can I ever glorify the Father dealing with this
group, with this mass of humanity? How can I ever perfect this group? Well beloved, Thanks be unto
God that he took the business of making us, conforming us to
his own image, that he took the business of seeing that we would
be well, amply provided for as far as garments and as far as
salvation, as far as His beauty, He would bestow it upon us, and
He would make us acceptable unto God in His own person. So it
is true that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, has made His people into
that which the Father would have them to be. Now, we must always
interpret, I believe, one passage of Scripture by another. And
so if you notice verse 39, I want you to look at these people a
little further down the road. They've been given to the Father.
And this is the Father's will, Jesus said, which has sent me,
that all which he hath given me, that all of these that he
hath given me, that I should You'll never lose a one of them.
I must bring every one of them must have a glorious resurrection
at the last day. I've given them, they've been
given to me and I will stand responsible. The will of the
Father is that I save every one of them and that I raise up every
one of them in the resurrection. I have manifested my name, we
read out of John 17, unto the men which thou gavest me out
of the world. Thine the world thou gavest them
me, and they have kept thy word. We see then that there was a
time when the eternal God gave into the hands of the Son. this
multitude which no man can number, whom he had chosen from among
men to be his choice and peculiar treasure. This happened in the
past, before the skies were stretched out, or the mountains lifted
up their heads to the clouds. We are, by the words of this
text, admitted, I believe, into one of the secrets of the Divine
Council Chamber, and we witness there the One Chosen belonging
to the Father, transferred by Him into the hands of the Mediator,
our Savior, our Substitute. I enjoy this transaction. I get a lot of good out of seeing
what the Father has done with me, and how that He has given
me unto the Son. Thirdly, Jesus assures us that
this transaction in eternity involves a certain change in
time. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Now, here's what the Lord Jesus
does in this 37th verse. I'm saying that he shows us that
this transaction that we've been talking about, that we've labored
to present to you, that this transaction in old eternity involves
a certain change in time. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Now, here below in this world,
their living may be in sin. And some at the age of seven. We've heard testimony that there's
some here that were converted when they were seven. Others
maybe when they were 10. Some 20, 30, 40, 50, 60. I've
heard of people being saved. It was 70, 80 years old. I've
heard of people being saved. But ere their time, shall come
to die, they shall be brought to Christ. They shall be brought
to Christ. To come to Christ signifies that
you turn from sin and trust wholly in the Lord Jesus Christ. Coming
to Christ is a leaving of all false confidences, a renouncing
of all love to sin, and look into Christ as the solitary pillar
of our confidence and hope. Now every soul whom God the Father
gave to Jesus must do this. And this is the token by which
the secretly chosen of God are known. They openly choose, because
the Father has secretly chosen them, they openly choose the
Lord Jesus Christ. You can never know your election
by any other means. Peter said, make your calling
and election sure. Somebody said, how can I make
my calling and election sure? You make your calling and election
sure by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the only way that
a man or woman, boy or girl, can make their election sure
in this world is that they come to the Lord Jesus Christ and
they keep on coming and coming and coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ the rest of their life. They come to Him for salvation
and life. They come to Him for all that
the Father demands of them and they rest in Him and they just
keep on coming as they feel need day by day. They keep on coming
unto the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. The law came by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and of His fullness have
all we received, and grace for grace. We must come to Christ
and keep on coming to Christ. That you're not one of His sheep,
that you're not one of His elect, will be proved by your continuance
in unbelief. If you continue in unbelief,
if you continue to go and to live apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ, continuing your life of sin in this world, continuing
to sin out your days in this world, my friend, that is a prophecy
that you were never included in this great transaction before
eternity. I say to you that you must come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it will be proved by your
continuance in unbelief, but if you humbly and hopefully come
to Jesus and make Him all your salvation and all your desire,
then, beloved, you will certainly be saved and you can make your
calling and election sure. Let no doctrine of election alarm
you or keep you back. You're one of His if you get
to Christ. If you come to Christ, for this
is the sea, oh, which he sets upon his sheep. And in due time
they hear his voice, led by him into green pastures of grace.
They follow him through life and are brought by him at last
to the hilltops of glory. They are, because they are brought
and drawn to him. Now notice these words. The hymn
writer said, there is a period known to God, when all his sheep,
redeemed by blood, shall leave the hateful ways of sin, turn
to the fold, and enter in. At peace with hell, with God
at war, in sin's dark maze they wander far, indulge their lust,
and still go on, as far from God as sheep can run. But see
how heaven's indulgent care Attends their wanderings here and there,
Still heart and heel, wherever they stray, With pricking thorns
to hedge their way. Glory to God, they ne'er shall
rove Beyond the limits of his love, Fence with Jehovah's shalls
and wills, Firm as the everlasting hills. The appointed time rolls
on apace, not to propose, but call by grace, to change the
heart, renew the will, and turn the feet to Zion's hill. There's
a time when God will bring his sheep unto himself. God means
to do it. These that he has purpose to
save, these that were transferred to the Lord Jesus Christ. Next,
in the words of Jesus, there is a hint at a power that is
possessed by him to constrain these sheep to come to him. All
that the Father giveth me, Jesus said, shall come to me. Oh, the power and the majesty
which rest in the words shall come. I say there's power in
those words. I say there's majesty in those
words. He does not say they may come
if they will, but they shall come. We're dealing here with
Scripture. We're dealing with Holy Scripture.
There's no if, there's no but, there's no peradventure, there's
no condition. It is put down as an unconditional
and absolute purpose of God and will of Christ that all whom
the Father gave to him shall come to him. Now we do not mean
to say, and I don't want anyone to forget what I said earlier,
we don't mean to say that a soul is dragged to heaven by the ears
or by the hair of the head, because we said earlier that this word
is just a little bit under that, just a little under it. What
I mean to say is that Jehovah Jehovah Jesus knows how, by irresistible
arguments addressed to the understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to
the affections, and by the mysterious influence of His Holy Spirit
operating upon the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue
the whole man that whereas it was once rebellious, it becomes
obedient. It throws down the weapons of
its rebellion and submits and yields subdued by sovereign love. The invincible artillery of the
love of Christ and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God, brings the soul to Christ. It's God's work. That's what
all this is saying. It's the Lord's work. And you
may say, well, I didn't know that all that was involved. You
might not have known it, but it was all involved in getting
you to Christ. Now you rejoice in a full salvation
because you got to Him. But my friend, you were drawn
by the Spirit of God. God moved you by His invincible
love to the Lord Jesus. Another poem. Arm of God by strength
put on, bow the heavens and come down. All my unbelief overthrow. Lay the aspiring mountain low. Conquer thy worst foe in me.
Get thyself the victory. Save the vilest of the race.
Force me to be saved. by grace. And those of you that
are here this morning, you're on the edge. Why don't you pray
that prayer? Force me, O God, to be saved
by grace. Move my heart. Don't let this
time pass. Visit my soul and conquer thy
worst foe in me and bring me unto thy feet. There's a power
put forth by the Holy Spirit which makes men willing in the
Lord's time to do just what they ought to do, that's come to Jesus. Well, fifthly, the Savior declares
that there's no exception to this rule of grace. All, he says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. No exception
to this rule of grace. Now you see, this is how I got
in. There was no exception. If there had been an exception,
then of course, I would have probably been one of them that
didn't make it. Let the devil do his worst. Let him do his
worst and let the human will do its utmost, they shall, they
shall. I say in obedience to the divine
decree, they shall be brought to the foot of the cross to cry
What must I do to be saved? Sir, we would see Jesus. They
are brought to that place. All, not some of them, not all
but one or two, but each one, each one in particular and the
whole collectively, they all must come. I got to do honor
to the word of God. I cannot, I cannot as some pick
and choose and go through a text of scripture and say talk about
half of it and leave the rest. We gotta be honest with the word
of God. It'll be found when the archangels trump shall ring through
earth and heaven that every soul whom God ordained to eternal
life has attained that eternal life to his praise and to his
honor. And when the census shall be
read of all the children of the living God, not one of the blood
wars shall be absent when that census is read. They shall all
come to home, they shall all come to heaven and home, as they
shall all come to Christ on earth. Well, the next thing I want you
to see is God's liberality that is set forth in this text. I'm
going to be done in just a moment. Just listen carefully. God's
liberality, I like this. The kindness of God and how that
he reveals the wit and the breadth of his great love for these that
he's given unto the Son. I want you to know, it's him
that cometh to me, he says, I will in no wise cast out. I'll not
cast them out. Well, first of all, we have a
liberality here of the character. Him that cometh. Him that cometh. There's no description given
whatever except him that cometh. That's the description that is
given. Let me share a story with you.
Lord Congleton of Dublin, Ireland once devised a clever plan. for
teaching his tenants. He owned a lot of rental property.
How faith secures forgiveness of sins while unbelief shuts
one out from the benefits of the gospel. Many owed him several
years' rent, were expecting severe action in the court. Instead,
he posted a notice promising remission of back dues to any
who would meet him on a certain day before 12 noon. On the designated
day, he sat in his office waiting for their response. They crowded
the street, whispering and talking, but not one of them entered the
open door. Just a few minutes before 12
o'clock, a tenant who had been delayed came running in to ask
for his receipt. Do you really expect me to be
forgiven for your debt? Asked Lord Conlington. Yes, sir,
because you faithfully promised it. And do you believe me? Yes, I do because you would not
be the kind to deceive a person. But are you a good and industrious
man? The landlord inquired. The notice
said nothing about that, sir. So you just believe what I said
and have come for your receipt? Indeed I have. Lord Conglinton
wrote paid in full on his bill and handed it to him just as
the hour struck. The happy fellow ran out of the
house waving the release, crying, I've got it, I'm a free man.
The others milling in the street rushed to the house, but the
door was shut. One man had believed, and he
alone received the benefits. Don't you see, beloved? There
is no description given, whatever, except Him the cometh. It doesn't
say, well, it means the rich man. Let's go on here, I must
hurry. It means the rich man. It means the poor man. It means
the great man. It means the obscure man. It
means the moral man. Those who have sunken into the
worst of crimes and those who have risen to the best of virtues.
Those who are next of kin to devils and those who are seen
by the carefulness and correctness of their lives to be somewhat
like angels. Him, Him that cometh. What Him,
says John Bunyan, why he says in answering his own question,
any Him in the world that comes to Christ shall not be cast out. Him that cometh to come, as I
said earlier, is to leave everything else and to go to Christ. There is motion of soul. We leave all of the grounds of
trust and we take Christ to be our solitary hope. We come to
his blood to be washed, to his righteousness to be clothed,
to his wounds to be healed, to his life for life eternal, and
to his death for the death of our sins. We come to Jesus for
everything, and the promise is that those who thus come shall
not be cast out. Well, someone says, suppose One
should come who is guilty of murder or of some crime or uncleanness
impossible to describe. Suppose that he is wallowed in
it for year after year till he is not fit to be touched but
with a pair of tongs. and fit only to be swept into
some back corner in hell. What then? What then? If he comes
to Christ, he will not be cast out. Him that cometh shuts out
no comer. Shuts out no comer. John Newton
was a blasphemer of so gross a kind that the sailors in the
ship in a storm said that they should never get to port with
such a sinner as John Newton on board. He said, we'll never
get to shore. We're in this big storm. The
judgment's God is going to come on us, and we'll never get to
shore as long as this man's on the boat. He was such an out-and-out
sinner. But he came to Christ, and he
never was cast out. Lived to preach the word, write
songs to the glory of the God that saved him. Never was cast
out. John Bunyan, who we mentioned
earlier, was such a blasphemer and such a profane swearer that
even a woman of the streets who passed him, heard him swear,
said that he was enough to corrupt the whole neighborhood. He was
astonished that a woman of so bad character should rebuke him.
But he was such a swearer that even this profane woman rebuked
him. John Bunyan, you know, came to
Jesus. He came to Jesus and he was not cast out. He lived to
have the honor of suffering. years and years of imprisonment
for the Lord, and writing the book Pilgrim's Progress. Saul of Tarsus stained himself
with the blood of the saints of God, murdered the people of
God, and when God struck him down, he cried for mercy, and
he was not cast out. He was not cast out. Manasseh
was blood-red with the murder of God's prophets. It is said
that he cut the prophet Isaiah in two with a saw. But when out
of the low dungeon he cried for the mercy of God, he was not
cast out. God had mercy on him and God
saved him. Every man, woman, boy, girl under
the sound of my voice in this building is included in this
promise if he comes to Christ. That is the point. If you can
come to Christ. No matter what your past character
may have been, nor what your present feelings may be, Him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. To me! To me,
to me, we must come to Jesus. It is not coming to baptism.
No, it is not. We must not mistake that. It
is not coming to baptism. It is right for all those who
have confessed Christ to openly and publicly confess Him in the
waters of baptism. But that's not the coming I'm
talking about. It is not coming to the Lord's table. Everybody
that is a believer ought to come and remember the Lord's death
till he comes again. That's not the coming that we're
talking about. It's not coming, my friend, to
the church. I believe that everybody that knows the Lord ought to
be involved in the purpose of God as he's working in and through
a body of believers. I just believe they ought to
do that. I think that's the responsibility of saved people. But that's not
what I'm talking about here. I'm not talking about you coming
to the church. Him that cometh to me, saith Christ, take heed
that you do not come elsewhere, for if you rest short of anything
but Christ, you rest short of the promise. Now notice the duration
of the promise. He says, I will not, I will never
cast thee out. I'm not gonna ever cast you out.
Now see, this is a great blessing To me, I've been in the way of
the Lord a number of years, and there have been many, many times
when the Lord ought to cast me out. According to my feelings,
just cast me out, throw me overboard. That'll be over with. Anybody
here that's been in the way of the Lord very long don't have
those same feelings? The Lord shouldn't just throw
you overboard? Well, Thank God he never cast
me out. Once in Christ, in Christ forever.
Nothing from his love can sever. That is, for no reason, under
no circumstances, at no time, under no condition, whatever,
he will not ever cast you out. I will receive him, save him,
bless him, and not cast him out. You see, the Lord Jesus took
the responsibility of seeing you home to glory, when the Father
gave you to Him. And He's going to see to it you
get there. You're going to get there by His grace. Now the reason
I say that is because the Lord Jesus made this promise. And
after He made the promise, how could He cast you out after He
made the promise? You listen quickly here to something
that I think I need to insert right here. If chosen, if given,
if he comes, he shall in no wise be cast out. The final perseverance
of the saints may be concluded from the purposes and decrees
of God. Now listen to this word, which
I'm about to give you, and it just tickles me down deep. which
are infrustrable. They cannot be frustrated. The
decrees and purpose of God cannot be frustrated. They're infrustrable
and are always accomplished. Now, does that tell you anything?
That tells you that when God, listen to this, the Lord of hosts
hath purposed, and who shall disallow or make it void? Meaning of no effect. And his
hand is stretched out to execute his purposes, and who is going
to turn it back from doing the thing that he has resolved on
doing? As he has thought, so shall it
come to pass. And as he has purposed, it shall
stand. And though there may be a thousand devices in the hearts
of men and devils, they can never counteract nor undermine the
decrees of God. I'm telling you, he said, I will
never cast you out. I will never, in no wise, in
no wise cast you out. Now, does that hurt you in any
way, to know that? That he's not going to ever cast
you out? You see, the thing, in consistency with his truthfulness,
imagine Christ making this declaration and giving to us this inspired
scripture, and then casting out even that unknowing somebody.
You say, well, we don't know who they are, but It might be the Lord has cast
out some unknown somebody. Well, it would be a live scripture,
wouldn't it, if he cast out even an unknown nobody. Do not suppose our Lord to be
guilty of such conduct as this. Our Lord's not going back on
his word. He could do as he liked about whom he would receive until
he made the promise. Now you mark her down until he
made the promise. He could do what he wanted, you
know. Who counseled him in old eternity? The Father said, I
got this people that I've chosen. I'm giving them to my son in
this transaction. and he will provide all they
need, and no wise shall they ever be cast out once they come
to him. And so my friend, after he pledged
his word, he bound himself by the veracity of his nature to
keep it. He bound himself. You see that? He bound himself. He can't go
back on his word. If you've come to Christ, He'll
never, never in any wise cast you out. If he were to cast one
away who came to him, then where would the faith of God's people
be? Where would the saints be? If
you just heard of it, if you got wind of it, that he cast
one out, wouldn't you tremble the rest of your days? Could
you sleep again? Could you rest again? Never!
But my friend, he has never ever cast one out. Well, it wouldn't
do any good for him to say I'm just generally truthful. No,
no, no, no. If he is not true to his word
at all times, he could never be trusted by his people again. But beloved, that can never be
as sure as God's oath, as certain as Jehovah's being, that he who
comes to Christ shall in no wise be cast out. And I rejoice in
that truth, in that doctrine. I gladly bear my own witness
to you this morning. Before this congregation, I bear
this witness. I came to Jesus as I was, weary,
worn, and sad. I found in him a resting place,
and he has made me glad. And I've been up and down a many,
a many a time. But this morning, I am glad. I am glad to have an anchor that
holds. An anchor that is steadfast and
sure. An anchor that reaches. And I
remember that old song. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Well, I think, God, that
I have a place where I could get up and talk about John 6,
37, and nobody would brandish any sort of a weapon and threaten
a preacher for preaching on such a verse. There's a lot of places
where a man couldn't preach on John 6, 37. But we did it here,
didn't we? We preached on it. Told you about
this transaction. Told you about being transferred
into the hands of Christ. That's where we are this morning.
That's where we are. Have you come to Him? Well, if
you keep on in that state, that's a prophecy that you'll go to
hell when you die. But coming to Christ is something
that's done in the heart, and something that doesn't take any
sort of physical movement at all. Something done in the heart.
done in the heart. And if you have come to Christ
in your heart, I don't think there's anybody that can keep
you from telling this group that you've done that. Telling them,
I've come to Christ in my heart, and I want to confess that I'm
now relying on Him, that I'm in Christ, and I'm trusting Him
to save my soul. I think you would. Mike, would
you lead us into