It's working. Well, it's good to see this huge
gang out tonight. We'll just sing one song and
get into the message. You got your handouts, Christ
at the Cross, one of Sylvester's favorite songs. On a hill far away, like the
Christ on the cross, the guilty, suffering Him stand. He died in my place, the purpose
of God to fulfill. So I'll cherish the price of
the cross, and ignore this throne above now. For He is the King I must crown! O the Christ that I've crossed,
So despised by the world, Has no one of His affection to kneel! In the dear land of God, It is
glory above to bear all my sin on the tree. So I'll cherish the cross for
the cross and before it's gone I'll bow down. For He is the King I must crown
In the Christ inside the cross And His blood shall be mine The
marvelous beauty I see Oh, He opened my eyes and opened
Him alive With hope in Him and on His throne So I'll cherish
the price of the cross And if the world keeps on howling loud Jesus, Thee I must bow, To the
Christ that I crossed, I must ever be true, His shame and hate
both have led me there. All in love with Christ's grace,
I will. Every Bible is told to me in John chapter
6. And we're very familiar with many portions
of Scripture. I'll tell you how many times
I've heard this particular passage of Scripture over the years,
but it's been many. John chapter 6 beginning with verse 37. We'll read through verse 45.
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 is sent me, that of
all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him
may have everlasting life, and I'll 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, whom 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 all be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me."
That's right. Our Father in Heaven, most gracious
and glorious, tender, full of mercy, we are thankful for your
great grace for ruining wretched sinners. We know what we are, and we are
embarrassed by what we are. that you did not look at us in
our wretchedness, but looked at us in your Son, Jesus Christ,
and brought us to a knowledge of him, teaching us your grace. Always pray for those who are
sick and going through trials. Remember Jimmy Park as he's recovering
from this heart attack. Debbie's brother, Randy, as he's
finishing up his radiation. He'll continue to help him, Lord, on him with mercy and grace.
Pray for ourselves this hour as we've gathered here that you
might be pleased to give us grace and mercy to worship you. We know our minds often drift.
We're so frail in our flesh. Our strength lies wholly in thee.
We pray you'd give us grace. calls us now to bow down before
you in thanksgiving and praise and adoration for all that you've
done for us. Help us now with prayer in Christ's
name. Amen. There's no sweeter language than
that of the Savior. from his naming at birth that
guaranteed that he would save his people from their sins, to
his declaration on the cross that his work of redemption was
finished, he asserted that his salvation was always a sure thing. It's never presented any other
way. The words of our Lord in this
context declare this truth in sure and understandable terms,
leaving no room for doubt for the hearer, unless it's willful
ignorance that face the hearer. Our Lord in this passage is answering
unbelief. He's still answering unbelief.
In fact, everything we'll deal tonight with is an answer to
these men who have heard Him tell them who He is, have been
fed, 5,000 have been fed with a few loaves and fishes. He's
done miracles, they know of that, and He has now confronted them
about their sin, and who they are, and shown them their sin,
and shown them their unbelief, and showed them that their unbelief,
though it is their belief that their unbelief really matters, he's shown them that their unbelief
doesn't change anything, doesn't alter God's purpose, doesn't
move in any way. The thing about unbelief is that
it believes. believes that its opinion carries
some weight as if to say, if I don't believe it, it's not
true. That's what unbelief says. But
unbelief has no effect on the purpose of God whatsoever. This
is important because belief has to do with salvation and thus
unbelief does not affect the salvation that God has wrought
or has elected in any way. The person doesn't believe. Our
Lord makes it clear that all the Father has given to Him will
come to Him. And them that come to Him, He
will in no wise cast out. It's proven when our Lord tells
the unbelievers that all of God's elect will come to Him and will
never be cast away. And the underlying message to
the unbelievers is they have not been given to Christ. If
they don't believe on Jesus Christ, it's because the Father didn't
give them to Him. Because He says, All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. Since they do not believe, this
good news to sinners has no effect on them whatsoever as far as
they're concerned. They don't want to hear it. They
don't care to hear it. They don't believe it. And we
know the gospel when it's preached. When it's clearly preached and
set forth, what Christ has done for His people, It hardens the clay and melts
the wax, as you can say. It seals men in their doom or
saves their soul, but it always works. But when an unbeliever
hears it, it doesn't mean anything to him. And this is proven in
this passage by the comments of our Lord Jesus Christ. but not hearing His words. He'll
deal with that in chapter 7 and chapter 8. Those given to Christ
were given to Him in election of grace and before the foundation
of the world. This constituted a patrol for
His churches called His Bride. And this occurred before the
foundation of the world. You find the concept of election
mentioned in Scripture. It does not happen in time. It's
always before the foundation of the world. Paul thanked God
for the brethren at Thessalonica. I said, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth. Well,
until he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He told the Ephesian church,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all the blessings in Christ, according as He's
chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world. Our
Lord has set forth as the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, which sets forth the fact that when blood was shed
and a death was made in the purpose of God, as far as God was concerned,
though it had not taken place in the time that He had yet to
create, You do not take up labor ALREADY redeemed by the blood
of the Lamb." This assures us that salvation is secure. Being a Baptist, we probably
heard this once saved always saved all our lives. But most
of that was due to the fact that we had walked down an aisle and
shook somebody's hand and made some type of confession and shed
a few tears. They said, we don't ever doubt
that you're saved. Well, I didn't doubt for a long
time until the Lord made me know that I wasn't saved and that
I needed the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is secure for the elect. Salvation is secure. There's
no doubt about it. And what you learn when God saves
you is that you had nothing to do with your salvation. It happened
according to God's will and according to God's plan, but it didn't
involve you doing something. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy
chapter 1, or 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, He said this speaking of the
power of God in verse 8, the last four words, who had saved
us. Notice all this is in the past
tense. He saved us and he called us with a holy coffee, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began. That's
when we were given these things in Christ, before the world was.
Before us, really, before we existed. Before He hung the stars
in space. Before He created the earth and
all that is therein. We were already, in God's purpose,
saved. We didn't find out about it until
somebody preached the gospel to us, because we believed. After
we heard the word of truth, the good news of our salvation, according
to Ephesians chapter 2. This is all done according to
the will, the only will in the universe that actually has power
to perform. People talk about their will
and they act as if their will has power to perform. The will
has one power and that is to choose. and choose what they
want. They never choose what they don't
want, they always choose what they want. But that don't mean
having chosen what they want that they can actually accomplish
what they need or what they want to do. But that's not the case
with God. If God wills it, it's a done
deal. If God wills it, He will do it.
He said that whatever I will, that's what I will do. Verses
38 and 39, our Lord makes that clear. He says, For I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. Now there's no difference between
Christ's will and God's will. God the Father's will has a purpose,
but Jesus Christ is speaking as the Savior. as the son of
man. He's always submissive to the
will of God. That's what he said in Gethsemane,
not my will, but thine be done. Thine be done. Another place
it said he pleased not himself. What does that mean? That simply
means if you want to understand what a true human being ought
to be, don't look to the best of humanity because the very
best of men are lighter than vanity. Look to Jesus Christ. He submitted himself to God.
His will was God's will. But he submitted to the will
of God. For I came down from heaven not to do my own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the will, the
Father's will, which has sent me. that of all which he hath
given me, now he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and him that cometh to me, I'll have none for ever.
This is his will, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing. I should lose nothing, but those
same people I will raise up again in the last day. This is the
will of God. You want to get done, look over
to Isaiah for a moment, chapter 14. The Lord, he talks about
his will. and his purpose. In Isaiah chapter
14, verse 24, he says, the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely
as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. As I have purposed,
so shall it stand. Then look down at verse 27, for
the Lord of hosts has purposed it, or has purposed, and who
shall disacknowledge And his hand is stretched out, and who
shall turn it back? For God's purpose to do something,
it's going to be done. What did he purpose to do? According
to the words of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
very God of very God, and very man of very man, he came down
here, and it was according to God's will that everyone for
whom he died would be saved. Not one would be lost. Not one,
no part of you say there are plenty of chairs in heaven, but
every one of them's got a name on it. Every one is an assigned
seat. Jeremiah said he had pardoned
whom he has purchased. He's pardoned whom he's purchased.
This verse is an unequivocal proof of Christ's successful
work. It is God's effectual will that not one for whom Christ
died would ever be lost. That's true security and salvation. The assurance is that the Lord
will raise them up in the last day. That's assured. And what's
he talking about there? This phrase, raise them up in
the last day, is repeated two more times in this very context. And these mentioned are those
referred to in Revelation as taking part in the first resurrection,
so they'll have no part in the second death, which is eternal
damnation. Now, verse 40 reiterates the
same thing, and this is that everyone which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up in the last day." Remember this, that he's encountered
here unbelief among his hearers. As those stand before him, who
do not believe him, he states that those who see him, they
have seen him, they're looking at him, and believe on him, they
do not believe on him, But he says those who have seen
him and believe on him may have eternal life. You may have trouble
with it, and some people get hung up on that word may. May. The word may stops some folks.
But the actual wording of this is they have eternal life. However,
the word may is in what's called the subjunctive mood. And that
word subjunctive mood means a possibility or a potentiality. You say, well,
that doesn't sound like a sure thing. Well, we know it's a sure
thing because it was always seen. What's that talking about? It
simply means that the fact of sure election prohibits no one,
but rather assures that those given to Christ would believe
and would come. They would believe and they would
come. And when you see the word believe or the word come, these
things are the same words. If you look over at chapter 7, In verse 37 and 38, we see that
plain. In the last day, the great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, if any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink. And then he said, he that believeth
on me, he that believeth on me, as the Scriptures say, out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water. So coming and believing
are the same thing. Because the subject is salvation,
reprobation is not mentioned here. He uses the word may in
the subjunctive sense in this. Though election is set forth
in absolute terms, no doubt about salvation, it's going to happen,
it's going to occur, it's already been accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ, and all that's left is for people to be informed
that it's been done for them. That's all that's left. That's
a sure thing. But that truth does not prohibit
any man from coming. It assures that some will, but
it doesn't prohibit any man. A lot of people like to say,
well, if you preach election, that means you prohibit people from
coming. No, I don't know who the elect
are. So I preach the gospel to every creature. Believing that
everybody I preach to can believe. And they may believe. And knowing
this, that if they're a child of God, if they're one of the
elect, they will believe. And they will come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. The reprobation is not mentioned
here. The election unto damnation is not mentioned here. This is
election unto salvation. He's talking to unbelievers about
what is done. And he's saying, though I have
preached election, I have preached the absolute, sure salvation
of my people. Though I have preached that and
set it forth in no uncertain terms, Against your unbelief,
I said to you, my truth. And in verse 41 and 42, it says,
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? Now here, remember,
he's dealing with unbelief. Here, unbelief is clearly revealed. First, their objection is not
to the sound of God in salvation, but that Christ said he came
from heaven when they knew that he lived in the area and was
Joseph's son, the son of a carpenter, and the son of Mary also. To
them, you see, seeing was believing. That's what they said back in
verse 30. They said, therefore, then what
sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? Seeing is believing of them.
They're looking at Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the Son of God.
Father sent me to save these people. I'm going to save them
all. I'm not going to lose any of them. They said, wait a minute.
We know who you are. And that's all they could see.
They could see him, and they knew he was Joseph's son and
Mary's son. Son of God, not so much. They
didn't see that. They couldn't grasp that. To
them, seeing was believing. But we know believing is actually
seeing. They had the same problem in
Nicodemus. The Lord said, you must be born again in Nicodemus.
He said, what does that mean? I've got to go back in my mother's
womb and be born again? He could only deal with what
he saw. Why is that? These men in unbelief and everyone
in unbelief cannot grasp any spiritual truth. It's an impossibility. They can't get it. It's not something
that they can learn. Not something that they can study
to make themselves come to opinion about. They can't get it. They
can't get it. The natural man, that is a man
as he's born of a woman, born of Adam in this world, does not
have the capability or capacity to discern spiritual things.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit. They
are foolishness to him, neither can he know them nor discern
them because they're spiritually discerned. by none, all they got from the
great words of Christ. These are fantastic words. Sinners
love these words. Sinners say by grace, boy, they
want to talk about this. I'll bet you $100 if I was a
betting man you'd go to any grace church in the United States and
ask them what this verse was and they could repeat it for
you. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And Him
that cometh to me, I will have no eyes 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 my Father's will, which He sent
me. Of all He has given me, I shall lose nothing, but raise it up
again the last day." They all know that verse. Everybody does. Almost everybody can repeat it
to you. And these heard these great words to us, from all other
great words. They're wonderful words. They're
wonderful words of life. And they heard these great words.
And all they got from it was he said he came down from heaven. I'm reminded of this story Henry
May had told. After he had finished preaching,
some lady stopped him in the back of the church and said,
you said britches. He had said britches. Somewhere
in his message it mentioned britches. He said, did you hear anything
else I said? He said, you said britches. He
said, if I hadn't said britches, you hadn't heard anything I said. After all our Lord said, they
said, he said, you come down from heaven. Come down from heaven. And the Lord answered them, telling
them not to murmur. He said in verse 30, 43, Jesus
answered him and said to them, murmur not among yourselves. Murmur, I think it was a person
who said murmur is the sound that any beast can make. A murmur. His answer was not so much against
the murmuring but a revelation as to why they were murmuring. They were murmuring because they
couldn't do anything else. do anything else. They could
not come to Christ, they could not believe, unless God the Father
drew them to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how he answered them,
don't murmur anymore, no man, verse 44, can come to me, except
the Father which has sent me, draw him, and I'll raise him
up again in the last day. No man, they were murmuring,
didn't come down from heaven. He's talked about men coming
to Him. All that the Father gave Him will come to Him. All that
believe on Him will come to Him. He's already talked about it.
He says you can't come to Him. No man can come to Me except the
Father. This is why you don't come. This is why you don't believe. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me to draw him, and I'll raise him
up again in the last day. That word draw is helkuo in the
Greek. to take an inanimate object and
move it from one place to another. An object that cannot move itself
to be moved to another place. The same word is used when Simon
Peter drew his sword out of the scabbard and cut off Malchus'
ear. That sword could do nothing of
itself. Peter had to draw it, same way, how cool. Had to draw
out and use it. It's just the same way. What
does God do for His children? What are we? We are dead in trespasses
and sin. We are unable to believe. We're
unable to think anything spiritual. We're unable to see anything
spiritual. We're unable to believe anything
spiritual. Can't do it, because we're dead in trespasses and
sin. We're ignorant. We care not for the things of
God. Our heart hates God. The natural mind is empty against
God, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
This is our condition. We're just as dead as a corpse
in a casket. We can't get, we can say to a
dead person all day long, get up and walk. They ain't gonna
get up and walk. We can tell them God loves them.
They can't hear you. You can tell them Christ died
for them. They can't hear you. They can't hear you at all. and move it from the darkness
into the light. He can do that. And that's what
it said. No man can come to me except the Father grab hold of
him in the miry clay and take him out of the miry clay and
set his feet on the solid rock, Jesus Christ. That's what has
to happen. God has to do it. God has to
do it. And God can do it. But no man
can come otherwise. No man can come otherwise. The
last phrase of verse 32 assures us that those who are drawn by
the Father are the same that were given to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Excuse me, verse 43, no, 44. I'll raise him up again
in the last day. This is talking about the same
people that started back in 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. I'll raise him up in the last day. In 42,
and here in 44. They will be raised up. This
is assurance. They're going to be part of that first resurrection.
When Christ comes again, and as old Wayne used to say, when
the trumpets blow, when the trumpets blow, you better believe, God's
people are going to hear. The graves are going to open
up. God's people are going to go up to meet Him in the air,
and then the church will be called up to meet Him in the air also.
That's raising Him up at the last day. Raising Him up at the
last day. And the manner in which they
will be drawn, no man can come to me except the Father which
has sent me drawing them. The manner in which they will
be drawn is also a confrontation of unbelief. And states in no
uncertain terms that the Jews who had the privileges of natural
election, a chosen nation, they had the law, the prophets, the
priesthood, the oracles, the books, they had all of it. Ceremonies, they had them all.
Left in unbelief. What does that mean? Let's read,
verse 45. It is written, in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. Now he uses that because these
men know about the prophets. These Jews, they got the Bible.
They were the only ones that had the Bible. But the Jews had
the Bible, the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. They
knew the prophets. And he said, so it's written
in the Prophets. It's written in that book that you fellows
know. And they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore. Who is every man? All that the
Father giveth me, those who will not be lost, those who see and
believe. That's what he's talking about.
Every man. Therefore that it hath heard,
and hath learned of the Father, cometh to Christ. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. How do they come to Him?
The Father taught them. And that is why they come. The manner of drawing the elect
to Christ is teaching them. This word is didaktos. A teacher
is a didaktician. Teaching, indoctrinating, Rain
washing if you will. It is written in the prophets.
And those who are taught of God in the prophets are called his
children. As a father teaches his children.
Look over at Isaiah chapter 54. This is from the prophets that
he's quoting is Isaiah chapter 54. In verse 13. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord. And this teaching has a promise
with it. And great shall be the peace
of thy children. This is what happens when God
teaches you the gospel. Because what you find out in
the gospel is that Jesus Christ died on the cross and He made
peace by the blood of the cross according to Colossians chapter
1 unto God, making them that they
are unblameable and unapprovable in God's sight. Great shall be the peace. Is
salvation secure? Read these verses again, and
read them again, and read them again, and know this, that Christ
died for his people, and every last one of them shall be saved,
and be raised up. God bless you.