I would like very much for you
to take your Bibles this morning and turn to the book of John,
chapter 6. I'm going to bring a message
from John, the 6th chapter, beginning with verse 37. Now, this is a
familiar passage of Scripture. Men quote it different ways.
Some quote it this way, him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. Others quote it, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And this is the will of God,
that of all which he hath given me I'll lose nothing but raise
it up at the last day." There's some tremendous themes in these
verses of Scripture. And I'd just like for you, if
you will, to take your Bible and open it to John 6, 37, and follow as I read the Scripture
and as I speak to you on this subject, the will of God. I really
believe that I have hold this morning of a very important subject,
a very needy subject, and one that will, I believe, be a blessing
to you if you're given ears to hear, and God is pleased to give
me the power to preach with some liberty on this subject, the
will of God. I feel very deeply about it,
and I feel that I have something to say, and I want you to listen.
Now, will you take your Bible? and turn to John 6, 37, and listen
carefully while I read each phrase. I'm going to come back in a moment
and speak from each phrase in these four verses of Scripture.
Now, on the will of God, John 6, 37, 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 every one that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." Now, my friends, every word of this text is weighty
and powerful. Our Lord is dealing here with
tremendous themes. We'd need a lifetime to study
just these four verses of Scripture, a lifetime. And then we wouldn't
exhaust the riches and the treasures that are found here. We need
the Holy Spirit to give us understanding and a will to receive that which
the Savior speaks. Now, let's look at each phrase.
As I told you before, I'm going to try to speak from each phrase.
Now, the first one is this. All that the Father hath given
me shall come to me. All that the Father hath given
me shall come to me. Now, what has the Father given
to the Son? What has the Father given to
the Son? Let me show you five things. First of all, the Father
hath given to the Son all things, all things, pertaining to salvation,
pertaining to life, pertaining to eternity, pertaining to the
new heaven and the new earth. All things are given to Christ.
Now, if you look at John chapter 3, verse 35, you'll find these
words. The Father loveth the Son. and
hath given all things into his hands." All things, all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily dwells in Christ. In Ephesians 1, Paul
wrote this, "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ.'"
So that's the first thing given to the Son. All things pertaining
to life, to salvation, to eternity, the new heaven and new earth,
all things have been given to Christ. Now, secondly, all authority,
absolutely all authority. If a man preaches a weak Jesus,
he's not preaching the Christ of the Bible. If a man preaches
a pitiful Jesus and tries to win sympathy on your part for
Christ, he's not preaching the Christ of the Bible. Because
all authority in heaven and earth All power over all flesh has
been given to Jesus Christ. Did you know that? I'll read
you two verses of Scripture, Matthew 28, 18. Before our Lord
sent his disciples out to preach, he said to them, listen, all
authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. All authority,
all control, every power is subject to Christ because he has all
power in heaven and earth. over principalities and powers
and rulers of the darkness. He has all authority. Listen
to John 17 too. Our Lord is praying here and
He said, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. Thou hast given me power over
all flesh that I should give eternal life to as many as Thou
hast given me. The Lord Jesus Christ has been
given by the Father all authority. Our Lord is a King. King of kings
and Lord of lords. He sits on a throne. The Father
told him to sit at his right hand in triumph and victory and
power until he makes his enemies his footstool. Christ is not
in your hands nor in my hands and never has been. We're in
his hands. He has all authority over all
flesh. And then watch it thirdly. Now,
he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
my question is, what has the Father given him? What's coming
to him? Well, He's given him all power,
He's given him all things pertaining to life and salvation, and He's
given him all judgment. That's right, in this world and
the world to come. In John 5, 22 and 23, listen,
For the Father judgeth no man, but he hath committed all judgment
to the Son, that all men should honor the Son. He that honoureth
not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent him." Our Lord
has all judgment committed to Him. The Scripture says we shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. All authority,
all things, all power, all judgment has been committed to Christ,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. Not only that,
but watch forcefully, this has been given to Christ, all praise
and glory. God hath given him a name and
glory which is above, far above and beyond every name. Listen
to Philippians 2, 9. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow in heaven, every
knee shall bow, even the angels and the cherubims and the seraphims
and the human creatures Every, even the demons of hell, every
knee shall bow in heaven, earth, and under the earth, and every
tongue shall confess that he is Lord." That's been given to
Christ. Our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ
said, My Father hath given me all things, all authority, all
power, all judgment, all praise, and all glory. Now watch this,
fifthly, all the elect, have been given to Him. All of God's
jewels have been given to Him. All of God's people have been
given to Him. All of God's sheep have been
given to Him. They have been given to Him when?
From the beginning, before the foundation of the world, by the
decree and design and purpose of the Father. They have been
given to Him to be redeemed by Him, to be sanctified by Him. They have been given to Him to
be presented in glory by Him. and to be made like him. Let
me read you some scripture. Now, the one I just read says,
All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me, shall be
mine, shall be my possession. The Father gave these things
to me. And in John 17, 2, he said, Thou hast given me all
power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given me. And in verse 9, he says, I pray
for them. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but I pray for those whom thou hast given me. The
Father gave the Son a people. The Father gave the Son a people
in an everlasting covenant of mercy, a covenant of grace. You
say, I know so little about the covenant. My friend, God's covenants
are mentioned in the Bible nearly 300 times, and yet we know so
little about them. It's called the everlasting covenant,
the covenant of grace, the new covenant. of which Christ is
the surety, and His blood is the blood of the everlasting
covenant, and He's the priest of the everlasting covenant,
and these people whom the Father hath given to the Son, He hath
chosen out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven.
And Christ said, they shall come to Me. I love the shalls and
the wills of God's Word. He didn't say they might come
to Me. They could possibly come to Me. No, sir, they shall. All
that the Father giveth me, all things, all power, all judgment,
all praise, all glory, all delight, they shall come to me. He shall
not fail. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hands. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied, and for the joy that was set before him,
in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, he endured the cross
and he ignored the shame and gave himself a sacrifice." Now,
that's a promise. All right, let's go to the next
statement. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Now,
watch this statement. And him that cometh to me, and
him that cometh to me, Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond
or free, white or black, old or young, him, whosoever, Him
that cometh to me, I'll in no wise, under no circumstances,
for no reason ever cast him out. Never, if he gets to me, if he
comes to me, if he comes to me. Now watch this. What is it to
come to Christ? I'm going to help you here if
you'll listen. What is it to come to Christ? Well, it's not
a physical coming. It's not a physical bodily coming.
Because when He was here on the earth in human flesh, many people
came to Him to hear Him. They came to be healed by Him.
They came to question Him. They came to try to entangle
Him in His talk. So this coming to Christ, so
as to be received by Him, so as to be blessed by Him, so as
never to be cast away from Him, is not a physical coming. Nor
is it a coming to His disciples, nor to those things that represent
Him. nor is it a coming to his preacher, nor is it coming to
the front of a church, nor is it shaking a preacher's hand,
nor is it coming to a church or joining a church, nor is it
coming to the baptismal waters, nor is it coming to the Lord's
table, nor is it coming to the law. Coming to Christ can be
summed up in three words. It is a spiritual coming, it
is a heart coming, but it's summed up in three words. First of all,
the word believe. And secondly, the word receive.
And thirdly, the word trust. Now, to believe on Christ. What
is it to believe on Christ? What is it to believe Christ?
It is to believe Him as He is revealed in His Word. It's not
to believe what I think about Christ or what somebody said
about Christ or what somebody wrote about Christ. It's to believe
what God wrote about Him in God's Word. You see, faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Christ is the object
of faith. The Word of God is the only foundation
of faith. And the Word of God reveals Him
as the Eternal God, the Creator. It says in John 1, verse 1, In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. And all things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Isaiah
9, 6, the Scripture says, Under us a child is born, under us
a son is given, And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
So to believe Christ is to believe Christ as is revealed in the
Word without questioning His deity. And then is to believe
the incarnate God-man. That Word which was in the beginning
with God and was God, that Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. He took on Him. the likeness
of sinful flesh. It's to believe Him as our representative
and our righteousness. As in Adam, we die. In Christ,
we're made alive. As we're born in the image of
the earthy, we shall bear the image of the second Adam, the
heavenly, the Lord from heaven. And by one man's disobedience,
we were made sinners. So by the obedience of Christ,
we're made righteous. He's a representative. He is
our righteousness revealed in the Scripture. He's our crucified
Savior. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. By His stripes we're healed.
He was numbered with the transgressors and bare the sin of many. He's
our risen justifier. He was raised for our justification.
He's our enthroned mediator. The Scripture says there's one
God and there's one mediator. There's one intercessor. There's
one great high priest and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. This thing of the coming to Christ
is a heart move, it's a heart expression, it's a heart union,
and it's to believe. Abraham believed God. And it
wasn't written for his sake alone that righteousness was imputed
to him through faith, but for our sakes also, to whom it shall
be imputed if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or as to receive
Christ. To as many as received him. To
them gave He power to become the sons of God. To receive Him,
in what way? To receive Him in His office.
He is a prophet to reveal God. No man knows the Father saved
the Son and He to whom the Son will reveal. He's the priest
to offer up a perfect sacrifice, to reconcile God by His blood. And He's the King to reign over
us. And we receive His prophetical office. We receive His priestly
office and His sin offering. And we received his scepter as
our king, my Lord and my God, Thomas summed it up, when he
fell at his feet. And then to come to Christ is
to trust Him. Sink or swim, I go to Him. I
trust Him. I trust no other. I trust Christ. I lean on no
other. I lean on Christ. I trust Him.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded,
confident, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He is able to keep
that which I have I've committed unto him. It's a committal. Yes,
it is. It's a committal. And I'm saying
that those whom the Father hath given to the Son, this is what
Christ said, all that my Father giveth me, all that he's given
me, they'll come to me. And him that cometh to me. And
I'm saying they will come. They will be made willing in
the day of his power. They shall hear the gospel. They
won't be saved without the gospel. They won't be saved whether or
not they believe, whether they believe or not. They'll be saved
by hearing the gospel, and they'll receive the gospel, and they
shall bow to Christ, believing Him, receiving Him, trusting
Him, and He says, I'll never, no never, no never forsake that
soul that owned Jesus that leaned for repose. I will not, I will
not, I will not desert to his foes that soul, though all hell
should endeavor to shake. I'll never, never, never forsake. I will in no wise cast him out."
Now, watch this next line. I came down from heaven. I came
down from heaven. This ought to settle the issue
of the deity of Christ. He said, I came down from heaven.
You didn't come down from heaven. I didn't come down from heaven.
Nobody else came down from heaven but the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was born of Mary. He was laid in a manger, but
He came down from heaven. And He said in John 3, 13, No
man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is God, and He speaks of Himself as none other but God. He said,
Behold, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. A virgin shall
conceive and bring forth a son. You call his name, Emmanuel,
God with us. God, I came down from heaven.
I came down from heaven. He was in heaven. He is in heaven. He came down from heaven. Now,
what's the next line? I came down from heaven. Paul
said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world. He came down from heaven
into this world through the virgin womb. That's how he made his
entrance. But he came down from heaven. Well, why'd he come?
Well, look at the next line. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do my will, not to do the will of men, but I came to
do the will of God, the will of God. That's what I'm talking
about. I came to do, not to try to do,
not to attempt to do it, to do it, the will of God. Hebrews
10, 9 says this, Lo, I come in the volume of the book. It's
written of me. What book? The Bible. Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God." My friend, do you want to know what Christ
came to do? What He came to do? He came to
do the will of God, and you'll read it in the Scriptures. It
says in I Corinthians 15, He died for our sins, according
to the Scriptures. He was buried and rose again,
according to the Scriptures. What Scriptures are we talking
about? We're talking about the Old Testament Scriptures. And
the will of God? In reference to the coming of
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer, is revealed from Genesis
to Malachi. Almighty God says, I'll have
a new heaven and a new earth. Almighty God says that new heaven
and new earth will be inhabited by a holy people. Did you ever
notice this verse in Isaiah 45, 18? Listen to it. For thus saith
the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth
and made it, He created it not in vain. He didn't create the
heavens and the earth in vain or the new heaven and new earth
in vain. He formed it, listen, to be inhabited. He formed it
to be inhabited. Almighty God has purpose to have
a people. He has purpose to have a people
who will be just like His Son. He has purpose to have a holy
people just like His Son who will reign with Him forever and
praise Him forever and forever. And that will shall be accomplished
by Jesus Christ who came down from heaven in His glorious redemptive
work to accomplish the will of His Father. I came down from
heaven not to do the will of men, but I came to do the will
of Him that sent me. Of Him that sent me. Now watch
the next line. is the will of Him that sent me. This is it.
It's twofold. You see, it just flows. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh out of
no wise cast out. I came down from heaven. I came
down from heaven with a mission. I came down from heaven to accomplish
a task. I came down from heaven not to
do my will, but the will of Him that sent me. And He says, this
is my Father's will which has sent me. It's twofold. Will you
look at it? Here it is. That of all which
he hath given me in that blessed covenant of grace, those people
innumerable as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore,
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven, those
people whom the Father gave to the Son, I'll lose nothing, not
a one of them, not a one of them. People talk about losing their
salvation losing that vital union with Christ and being saved today
and going to hell tomorrow. Christ didn't teach that. He
didn't teach that. He said, All that my Father giveth
me shall come to me. And I came down from heaven not
to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I lose nothing. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life,
and they'll never perish. No man can pluck them out of
my hand. My Father which gave them is greater than all, and
no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand." In Isaiah
46, 9 through 11, I'm God, he said. There's none else. I declare
the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. I will
do all my pleasure. God says, I've spoken it. I'll
bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I'll do it.
This is my Father's will which is sent me, and of all which
He has given me, in that covenant of grace, in that purpose of
mercy, those whom the Father gave to the Son, for whom the
Son came to this earth and suffered and bled and died, who are called
by the Holy Spirit and have the gospel revealed to them. He said,
I'll lose not one of them, not one of them, and I'll raise them
up at the last day, in that day when Christ shall come. When
Christ shall come and the dead shall be raised," he said, I'll
raise every one of my people. Not a one of them will be lost.
Now, here's the second part of the Father's will. He said, this
is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which He has
given me, I'll lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.
And he said in verse 40, this is the will of Him that sent
me, that everyone, everyone, and I say that's Jew or Gentile,
white or black, rich or poor, old or young, learned or ignorant,
everyone, Jew or Gentile, whoever, that seeth the Son, that seeth
the Son. Is this to see Him in a vision,
preacher, or a dream, or maybe in a picture? Oh, no. This is
seeing Him with eyes of faith, seeing Him in His words. seeing
Him as the God-man, seeing Him as the Redeemer, seeing Him as
our righteousness, seeing Him as our substitute, seeing Him
as our risen Lord, seeing Him as our mediator. This is seeing
Christ with eyes of faith as the Holy Spirit takes the Word
and anoints these eyes and opens them to behold Christ and hearing
Him with ears of faith. Whosoever, He said, everyone
that seeth the Son and believes on Him. and believes on it. Do you believe? May have eternal
life. And he said, I'll raise him up
at the last day. Now, here's a sad note at the
end of this passage. It says, and the people began
to murmur and to murmur and to murmur. And they said, why, is
not this the carpenter? Is this not Jesus? Do we not
know his mother and father? How can he be the bread of life?
How can he be the Lord from heaven? How can he be God? And he said
to them, murmur not, murmur not among yourselves. I said unto
you, no man can come to me, believe, receive, or trust, except my
Father which sent me drawing, and I'll raise him up at the
last day, drawn by the Father's mercy, and taught by the Father's
Spirit.