[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 6. We'll be reading verses 25 through 51. John, chapter 6, verse 25.
[0:15] When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, I tell you the truth. You are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
[0:31] Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him, God the Father has placed his seal of approval.
[0:45] When they asked him, what must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, the work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. So they asked him, what miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?
[1:02] What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth.
[1:12] It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
[1:27] Sir, they said, from now on, give us this bread. And Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
[1:41] But as I told you, you have seen me, and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
[1:53] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
[2:09] For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
[2:23] At this the Jews began to grumble about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, Is this not Jesus, son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
[2:36] How can he now say I came down from heaven? Stop grumbling among yourselves, Jesus answered. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
[2:53] It is written in the prophets, they will all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God.
[3:06] Only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.
[3:17] Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
[3:29] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
[3:44] Well, we're back in our series of the big texts of Scripture. And our big text today is found in a sermon that Jesus preached in John chapter 6.
[4:02] So I invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 6. This was a sermon that dramatically thinned the crowds.
[4:14] Thousands and thousands of people were following Jesus. But when Jesus preached this sermon, it set many of them to grumbling, arguing, and complaining.
[4:24] And at the end of the sermon, we're told, from this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. This was a watershed sermon.
[4:37] And there are many verses in it that we could choose for a great text. But I've chosen one verse where the Lord Jesus sets forth two greatly important truths of Scripture.
[4:54] The sovereignty of God in salvation and the responsibility of man to come to Christ for that salvation. Now, we'll come to the text shortly, but first the context.
[5:09] Jesus had just fed 5,000 men plus women and children, probably more like 10,000 people, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He then crossed over the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.
[5:23] And the next day, the crowd wakes up, and they don't find Jesus there, and so they go in search of Him across the sea as well and find Him in Capernaum.
[5:35] Now, the Jews were always seeking miraculous signs. The Greeks asked for wisdom. The Jews asked for signs. And so they asked Him, What miraculous sign, then, will you give us that we may see it and believe you?
[5:52] Seeing is believing. That's their theory. If we just had a sign that we could see, then we'd believe you. Well, now, they had just eaten, 5,000 of them, men alone had just eaten from 5 little loaves of bread and 2 fish that the boy had.
[6:12] But now they're asking, If we could just see a sign from you, Jesus, we would believe you. And then they pointed to a sign that their forefathers had received in the wilderness.
[6:25] The sign of manna from heaven in the desert. As it is written, they tell Him, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
[6:35] Boy, that was quite the sign. And Jesus says, It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. You want to see a sign? You want to see something amazing?
[6:47] He is the one who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. You see, bread was their staple.
[7:00] It's what they ate to live. And now Jesus speaks of this bread of God that gives life to the world. And they said, Sir, from now on, give us this bread.
[7:14] And Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. It's me. And he who comes to me will never go hungry.
[7:25] And he who believes in me will never be thirsty. It's by coming to me, it's by believing in me that you'll find this life and satisfaction of your deepest needs.
[7:41] But as I told you, you have seen me and yet you still do not believe. believe. The life-giving bread from heaven has come down.
[7:53] It's right before them and they still didn't believe. They said that if they saw, they would believe. And Jesus says, You have seen me and yet you still do not believe.
[8:04] And then He said it. Our big text for today. It's verse 37. All that the Father gives me shall come to me.
[8:17] And whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. Now, though they would not come to Him for eternal life in the satisfaction of their soul's greatest need, Jesus was not discouraged.
[8:33] And the reason He was not discouraged is because of what He knew for sure. This is what He knew for sure. That all that the Father gave to Him will come to Him.
[8:45] And whoever comes to Him, He would never drive away. We're going to look at the first half of Jesus' statement first. And then we'll look at the latter. Several lessons from these words.
[9:00] All that the Father gives me will come to me. The first lesson is this. There's a distinct group of people whom the Father has given to His Son, Jesus Christ.
[9:13] It's there on the face of it. Particular individuals making up this group of people whom Jesus often refers to as those my Father has given me.
[9:29] We see it here in verse 37. We'll see it again in verse 39. And elsewhere as well. But there's no place where we find those words more often than in John chapter 17.
[9:41] So I'm going to ask you to hold your place here and turn over to John chapter 17. We're seeking to see that there are a people whom the Father has given to His Son.
[9:56] And here in John 17, Jesus is praying to His heavenly Father on the night of His betrayal. just hours before His arrest. And in verse 6, He says, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
[10:12] There it is. I've revealed you to them. Now, the problem with man is that we are ignorant of God. We're ignorant of many things, but there is nothing we are more ignorant of than God.
[10:27] Even as pastors said, that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. We are ignorant of that invisible God. We don't know Him. We don't know what He's like.
[10:39] We don't know how to be right with Him. And when we think about God, our tendency is to bring Him down to our level and to create Him in our own image.
[10:50] We're ignorant of God. But Jesus knows God. He's the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, who's been with the Father face to face for all eternity.
[11:02] And He's come down to make Him known. Matthew 11, 27, Jesus says, No one knows the Father except the Son. And those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
[11:15] Well, who is it that the Son, Jesus, chooses to reveal His Father to? Well, here, John 17, 6, He says, Father, I have revealed you to those whom you gave Me out of the world.
[11:31] They were yours. You gave them to Me. There it is again. And they have obeyed Your Word. Now they know that everything You have given to Me comes from You.
[11:44] For I gave them Your words. You gave Me. And they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You and they believed that You sent Me. Verse 9, I pray for them.
[11:57] I'm not praying for the world. But for those You have given Me. For they are Yours. All I have is Yours and all You have is Mine. So this prayer of Jesus in John 17, He says, It's not for the world.
[12:13] This prayer is only for those whom the Father had given to Him. And He's not only referring to these apostles that the Father had given to Him, but He says later that it's for all who would believe on Him through their testimony.
[12:28] That means you and me too. Those who have been given to the Father. So what do we know about those whom the Father gave to His Son?
[12:40] Well, we see in this passage they're the ones that Jesus reveals His Heavenly Father to. They believe and accept God's Word. They obey His commands.
[12:51] They are the ones that Jesus goes on to pray for in this prayer that the Father would protect them from the evil one. That the Father would sanctify them through His truth, the Word.
[13:04] That the Father would unify them just as the Father and the Son are one. And that the Father would glorify them. These are the ones that He had given to His Son.
[13:17] Notice in verse 24. Father, Father, I want those You have given Me. There they are. I want them to be with Me where I am to see My glory, the glory You gave Me because You love Me before the creation of the world.
[13:35] So the first thing we learn from our text here in John 6, 37 is that there is a distinct group of people that the Father has given to His Son.
[13:47] The second lesson. These were given to Jesus in the eternal decree of election to belong to His Son. They were given, we're talking about when were they given to the Son.
[14:03] And we're saying they were given to Jesus in the eternal decree of election. salvation. Now, we need to know this about God. Again, this is something we learn in the Scriptures about God, that He never works without purpose or plan.
[14:21] You and I might, but God never. And God's plan of salvation was not some hurried up, scrambled plan He came up with when Adam and Eve sinned.
[14:34] Oh no, now what do we do? Let's get a plan together. No, the Bible teaches us that before time began, before there was anything other than God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that God, the three in one, planned everything that was to happen.
[14:51] Planned the creation of the world. Planned the fall of man under the temptation of Satan. And planned for the salvation of God's elect.
[15:03] All of this and everything else was planned in that eternal counsel, that eternal decree. Paul can tell every believer in Ephesus in Ephesians 1-4 that if they're believers, it is because God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
[15:29] Before the creation, God chose us not because we were holy, we were anything but holy. Not because we were blameless, we were full of blame and guilt, but He chose us to be holy, to be His holy, blameless people.
[15:50] So God, as He contemplated the whole humanity of hell-deserving, God-hating, sin-loving, fallen human race, He chose those individuals that He would save from eternal damnation and make His own treasured possession.
[16:11] And folks, the wonder is not why He didn't choose to save everybody. The real wonder of wonders is why would He choose to save anybody?
[16:26] Why would He bother with these rebels at all? With any of them? And here is the one legitimate place for the question of why me?
[16:39] Why me? The world loves to ask that question. But not when bad things happen to me. Why shouldn't they happen to me? I'm a rebel against God.
[16:49] That's not the time to ask the question, why me? But rather when we come to learn that God chose to save us, it's then that these words ought to be found in our hearts and on our lips with wonder, love, and amazement.
[17:09] Why me? Why would you ever choose me? love me? And heaven's response is not because of anything good foreseen in you, but I loved you because I loved you.
[17:25] I loved you because I set my love upon undeserving! And I love you upon undeserving you. So it was in this eternal counsel of the Godhead before creation that the Father chose those that He would save and gave them to His Son to be His bride, the bride of Christ.
[17:49] Gave Him to His Son to be His body, the body of Christ, to be the church, to be His treasured possession, the people who are His very own.
[18:00] those who would be His sheep, the sheep of His flock for whom He would lay down His life as the Good Shepherd. They were given to Christ as the reward of His suffering, as the spoils of His saving works, as His redeemed ones.
[18:20] Son, these are yours. I give them to you. Now go and save them. You go and go down and become one of them. and obey for them and suffer and die for them.
[18:36] And the Son willingly came. That's just what I was thinking of too, Father. Here am I. Send me. Send me. And so He came, sent by the Father on this saving mission for all those that the Father gave Him.
[18:52] Now the fact that these were given to Him by the Father made them ever so special to Jesus. It's interesting, we hear it most when He's talking intimately to His Father and He refers to us as those that You've given me, Father.
[19:12] They were His Father's love gift to Him. I wonder, Christian, do you ever think of yourself that way? that I am the Father's love gift to His Son.
[19:24] It's no small part of our identity, who we are. Chosen by the Father for no good in us and then given to His Son as the proof of His love for His Son.
[19:39] When did you last thank the Father for choosing you and giving you as a love gift to His Son? Amazing things that the Lord is teaching us in this text.
[19:55] There are a people that the Father has given to the Son and He gave them to His Son before the creation of the world. And now thirdly, God's purpose in sending Christ was to save all those that He gave to His Son.
[20:15] I say God's purpose, His plan in sending Christ was to save all those that He gave to His Son.
[20:26] Now it's important that we understand what we're talking about here. We're not talking about the sufficiency of Christ and His sacrifice. how many could that sacrifice save?
[20:42] The sacrifice of Christ is of such merit and value that it could have saved everybody in the world. That's not the question. We're not talking about the merit or the value, the sufficiency of Christ's death.
[20:57] We're rather asking what was the plan of God, the purpose of God in sending His Son as a Savior. What was His design?
[21:07] What was His intention? What was God thinking? Why did He send His Son into this world? And what we find is that God's purpose in sending Christ was to save those that He had given to His Son.
[21:23] Now think with me here. If God's purpose and plan in sending Christ into the world was to save every single human being in the human race, then you have one of two options.
[21:37] Option number one, you are a universalist who believes that every single human being in the human race will be saved. If that was His purpose and plan, then that's what's going to happen.
[21:52] But that doesn't hold water with the Scriptures, does it? Because Jesus often speaks of many not being saved, many going to hell, those He will say to many, the words He will say to many, depart from me, I never knew you.
[22:10] And then the wicked will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. It's clear from Scriptures that not everyone will be saved.
[22:21] So we have to scrap that first option. We can't be universalists. We can't believe that God is going to save everyone through Christ. the only other option if God's plan and purpose was to save every single sinner is to say that God's plan failed.
[22:40] That is to say that God failed. He tried, but He couldn't do it since not every sinner will be saved. I say, if that was His purpose, if that was His intention, His plan, but the Bible is clear on that score as well, that God cannot fail.
[22:58] He can do anything but fail. But fail He cannot. All of His plans and purposes that He has made will and must be fulfilled down to every jot and tittle of them.
[23:11] In Isaiah 46, He says, I am God and there is no other. I say, my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.
[23:21] what I have said that will I bring about. What I have planned that will I do.
[23:33] Isaiah 46, 11. So God's purpose, God's plan in sending Christ was clearly not to save every single human being in the human race.
[23:44] Well, what was His plan then? Well, He tells us to save all that the Father gave to the Son. And here, I want you to turn back to John 17 again if you're not there, but John 17, 2.
[23:59] This prayer as Jesus begins this prayer to the Father. Notice again what He says. Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son may glorify You.
[24:10] Then verse 2. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him.
[24:22] There's the phrase again. Notice the Son of God was not authorized by the Heavenly Father to give eternal life to all people. He was given authority over all people.
[24:36] Yes, He rules over all people, but He was given that authority over all people so that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him.
[24:52] Notice the Son of God wasn't authorized then to give eternal life to all people, but to those that the Father had given Him. And so from heaven He came and sought them to be His holy bride.
[25:06] With His own blood He bought them and for their lives He died. Elect from every nation, yet one or all the earth. That's it.
[25:18] God's purpose in sending Christ was to save all those that He had given to His Son. And then fourthly, Jesus says in John 6, 37a, All that the Father gave me will come to me.
[25:34] All. You see, it's not that the Father gave everybody to His Son and only some of them will come to Him. No, that's not it.
[25:45] That's the view that so many people have that God just gave to His Son all humanity and then some choose to come to Him and others don't. But no, no, that's not it at all.
[25:56] What Jesus is telling us is that all that the Father gives Him will, in fact, come to Him. Every single one.
[26:07] So believer, it's no accident that you have come to Christ. that should be a comfort to you. It should be a wonderful truth for which you love the living God.
[26:18] This was God accomplishing His plan for you in sending Christ. We need to be clear about what it means to come to Jesus. All that the Father has given me will come to me.
[26:34] Coming to Jesus has nothing to do with the movement of your body. coming forward to the front of a meeting or something. That has nothing to do with what Jesus is talking about when He speaks about coming to Him.
[26:49] It's rather about the movement of your soul. Coming in faith to Jesus Christ to have Him save you. It means to believe in Him to save you.
[27:04] Notice that in verse 35 of John 6. We're back in John 6 now I think for the remainder of our time. In John 6, 35 just two verses before our text Jesus declared I am the bread of life.
[27:19] He who comes to me will never go hungry. He who believes in me will never go thirsty. These terms are used interchangeably.
[27:30] Coming to me. Believing in me. We see it again in verse 36 and 37. As I told you you have seen me and still you do not believe. Yet all that the Father gives me will come to me.
[27:43] You see. You've not come. You've not believed. But all that the Father gives me will come. Will believe. So to come to Jesus is to believe in Jesus.
[27:57] It's to come to Him to receive eternal life in Him. To receive Him and the gift of eternal life in Him. It's the very call of the gospel isn't it?
[28:08] Come to me Jesus says. Come to me. It's the call to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to be saved.
[28:20] Now the problem is that sinners are quite content not to come to Christ. Have you noticed that? they're content to live without Him.
[28:33] They see no need of Him. They're doing fine without Him. They don't want Him interfering with their fun with life the way they want it to go. Thanks but no thanks is their response to Jesus.
[28:47] Come to me. And that was all of us. Isaiah says we all like sheep had gone astray.
[28:58] each of us had turned to our own way. We weren't coming to Him as He invites us. We were walking away from Him.
[29:11] That's the big problem. And yet lo and behold Jesus can say here that all that the Father gives me will come to me.
[29:24] All of them and they were born going their own way with their backs to Him. But they will come to me. Every single one of them.
[29:35] Now God has not published a list of those that He gave to His Son before the creation of the world. I should believe that there is such a list that their names were written in the Lamb's book of life.
[29:50] But God has not published it. It's only known to the Lord, to God. Of who these people are that in time would become His bride.
[30:02] But we know there are a multitude that no man can number from every tribe and language and nation. And here's the amazing thing that every single one of them during their lifetime will do an about face and will come to Jesus to be saved by Him alone.
[30:20] Every single one. All of them. All that the Father gives me will come to me. Now it was this sweet assurance that encouraged our Savior as He faced widespread rejection in His ministry.
[30:36] And especially this very day as He's preaching. In the middle of His sermon they're grumbling. In the middle of His sermon they're complaining and arguing. You've seen me and still you do not believe in me.
[30:50] Oh, but all that the Father has given me will come to me. They will believe in me. Now the reason Jesus is so sure of this is what He says next.
[31:02] It's because that it's His Father's will as well. Notice it in the next two verses. It follows our text. For, here's the reason Jesus can be sure that all that the Father gives Him will come.
[31:16] For, I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me.
[31:27] Let me tell you what His will is. Let me tell you what His intention, His purpose, and His plan is. This is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
[31:44] He's letting us in on the Father's intention, the Father's will, the Father's plan. And He's telling us that the mission of the Father is the very purpose for which I have come to accomplish it, to do it.
[31:58] It's not like the Father has His purpose and plan, and the Son has a different purpose and plan, and the Spirit has a different purpose. No, we all have the same purpose and plan, and it was my Father's purpose in sending me that I should lose none, not one, of all that He has given me, but raise Him up at the last day.
[32:20] So think of that great roll call in heaven at the last day. When the roll is called up yonder, who will be there? Who will be there to say present through the blood and testimony of Jesus Christ?
[32:39] Present by the grace of Jesus Christ alone, present. Who will it be? Will be all those that the Father had given to His Son in that covenant of redemption before the creation.
[32:56] Not one missing, every single one, bloodied bruise, they come trusting in the Savior, and here they are, raised up by Christ at the end of the age.
[33:08] but sinners don't want to come to Christ as we've seen. That's the problem of sin. It was seen as He was preaching, as they were rejecting the message, even as He was preaching, just about to walk away and follow Him no longer.
[33:28] they would not come to Him that they might have life, and that was true of all of us. We would not come, no, no.
[33:40] How many times did we resist that invitation, come to me, no, no. but we must come to Him if we would have life. And so we had to be made willing to come, brethren.
[33:54] We had to be made willing to come to Christ. By the operation of God Himself in our hearts, notice what he says.
[34:13] Verse 43, stop grumbling among yourselves. Verse 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
[34:26] No one can come to me. No one has the ability. This word can is not a word of permission. That's may. The word can is the word of ability.
[34:37] No one has the ability to come to me. Do we understand how wretched and lost and helpless we are? We don't have the ability to say, I no longer love my sin.
[34:50] I'm going to stop loving my sin and I'm going to come to Jesus to have him save me from my sins. No, we love our sin. We love our way. We hate God. We hate his way.
[35:00] We hate his gospel. And yet, and so we're without ability. We cannot. We cannot come to him. That's what Jesus is teaching us.
[35:11] Just how lost we are. No one is able to come. No desire to come. No sense of need to come. No will to come. We don't want to come. Content not to come.
[35:24] So a divine work of grace is absolutely necessary to make us willing to come. That's what he says.
[35:35] No one can come to me unless, unless the father who has sent me draws him. That's a that's a powerful word.
[35:48] It's a word of activity. It's the same word that's used of the apostles when when they let down their nets and Jesus had a whole school of fish swim into them and they they drew their nets into the boat.
[36:02] They they drew them. It was a powerful activity that they were involved in. And Jesus says that's what has to happen if anybody is ever to come to me. The father must draw them.
[36:16] God is not sitting in heaven saying now let's just see who who who's going to come to Jesus. He knew that nobody would come to Jesus.
[36:27] Nobody could or would. And the reason they can't and won't is because they don't want to. They have sin loving God hating hearts. God and so he must draw.
[36:40] And God draws them by teaching them. He teaches them about their sin that it is a serious thing. It's not just a little mistake.
[36:52] It's rebellion against their creator who happens to be their judge. And because of these things the wrath of God is coming. It's urgent. It's a serious matter.
[37:02] I'm condemned. I'm under his curse. The wrath of God is coming and I can't stop sinning. I can't make myself hate sin and love righteousness.
[37:14] I can't make myself love God in his ways. And I can't do anything to undo even one of my sins. I'm helpless. I am lost. God has to teach us that.
[37:27] And then he has to open our eyes to show us that he has sent a savior for helpless, hopeless, lost sinners. So that we'll see that Jesus is just the one that meets our need as a sinner.
[37:42] What do I need? I need a perfect righteousness if I'm to stand before him in judgment. And Jesus came to this earth and lived the perfect life that he might have a righteousness to give to filthy sinners.
[37:54] And then he went to the cross where he took the damnation we deserved and would have received. for all who believe in him. They will not perish but have everlasting life.
[38:08] He showed us these things. He opened our eyes as he did Lydia's as Paul preached to her and the Lord opened her heart so that she accepted the word. God was drawing by teaching.
[38:21] You see, that's how he draws us by teaching, showing us our sin, showing us our savior. What a glorious savior. What more could you want in a savior than that is not found in Jesus, my son.
[38:34] And we look and and in that process of teaching us, he puts a new heart in us so that we want to come to Christ. We want to renounce our sin in our way and we come to him most freely, most willingly to receive him and salvation in him.
[38:52] I see that's a work that God must do. That drawing, teaching work. We see that it's a teaching work, a supernatural teaching work. In verse 45, as he says, no one can come to me unless the father draws him.
[39:07] It is written in the prophets. They will all be taught by God. You see, they'll all be taught by God and everyone who listens to the father and learns from him comes to me.
[39:19] Wherever God does this teaching work upon the heart and opening the eyes and and giving true understanding and giving new life, every single one of them will come.
[39:31] So they will all be taught by God. And all who are taught by God come to Christ. And who are these all who are taught by God and come to them?
[39:43] They're all that the father gave to his son way back before the creation of the world. You see, there's a whole element of salvation that we have no knowledge of personally.
[39:56] What we have a knowledge of is the way of a transgressor is hard. And we knock our noses and our head and skin our knees on sin and guilt and shame and all that it brings to us in this life.
[40:10] And then we're conscious of the word of God coming and teaching us. I'm in trouble.
[40:21] I'm in big trouble. The wrath of God is coming. And I can't do anything to escape. And then I'm conscious that Jesus, I'm beginning to think of him as a different person.
[40:37] He was just a fairy tale name to me before. But now he's the one I want. And I want him more than my way. We're conscious of having changed desires and the fruit of God's teaching us.
[40:51] We're conscious of. But you know what we're totally unconscious of is what happened way back there before the creation of the world when the father was giving a people to his son. We weren't there.
[41:02] How can we know that? We don't know that. What we do know is that if anyone is ever to come to Jesus, first of all, if anyone is to be saved, they must come to Jesus.
[41:13] And if anyone does come to Jesus, it's because God the father must draw them and teach them and regenerate them that they will want to come. Well, I just want to say that these are not the words of John Calvin.
[41:29] These are the words of Jesus Christ. And some of the strongest words on the south of the sovereignty of God and salvation come from the Lord Jesus. He says he was sent by the father.
[41:41] To save and give eternal life to all those that the father had given to him. all that the father gives me will come to me. Now, some of you who need to come to Christ for salvation may be wondering, well, what if I'm not chosen?
[41:59] What if what if I'm not one of those that the father gave to the son? May I say it kindly, but clearly, it's of no concern to you right now.
[42:13] who the father gave to the son. Whether your name was written there or not. The only concern you have is the second part of my text.
[42:26] That whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. That's the word you need to hear and heed. It's a universal, all inclusive promise from Christ, who is the truth, with whom it's impossible for him to lie.
[42:50] Whoever comes to me, without exception, doesn't matter who you are, how long you've been saying no to him, how deep in sin you are, how helplessly lost you are. Whoever comes to me, there's the universal promise.
[43:06] If you will come now to me, trusting in me to say, I will not drive you away. I will never drive you away. There's a double negative. We have a hard time translating it into the English.
[43:21] I will no never drive you away. It's for emphasis, just to show how firm Jesus is about this, how certain is this? If you come to me, I will know never, I will in no way cast you aside.
[43:37] So, sinner friend, whether the father has given you to the son is no business at all of yours right now. In fact, there is no way for you to know. You can study the rest of your life.
[43:50] And if you're going to say, I'm not going to come to Christ until I find out if I'm one of those that the father gave the son, you'll never come. There's no way for you to know that. It's impossible. It's one of those secret things of God.
[44:01] Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are revealed belong to us. Do you know what is revealed?
[44:12] Whoever comes to me, I will never, no, never drive them away. That's revealed. That's clear. And that's for you. The secrets, they're for God.
[44:23] God, but the revealed things are for you. Do you know it's the devil's strategy to get you so hung up on the first part of Jesus' words that you don't even consider the second part?
[44:40] Do you know the devil hates you and wants you in hell with him? And he'll use the Bible. He'll use Jesus' words in the first part of the verse just to draw your attention away. You know, that's what magicians do.
[44:50] They get your attention over here while they're doing something sly here. He's trying to get your attention on the first part of the verse so that you won't pay attention to the second part. And the second part has everything to do with you right now as a sinner with your back to God.
[45:04] Whoever comes to me, I will never, no, never drive away. You need not to have any doubt or question that if you come to Jesus, how will he receive me?
[45:17] Warmly. Welcoming. Joyful. More joyful to have you than you to be had by him. You can be absolutely sure of it. You know why Christ will not reject you?
[45:29] Well, he tells us again in verse 40 because he's come to do the will of his father in heaven. And what is the will of his father in heaven? Well, he told us it's to raise that he will not lose any that the father has given him, but raise him up at the last day.
[45:42] But then verse 40 for my father's will is that everyone who looks to the son. And believes in him shall have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day.
[45:55] You see, it's the father's will that anybody who looks to Christ and believes on him for salvation, who says, I have nothing of myself to commend me to God.
[46:05] I'm just looking to Jesus. He must save me. And I trust you, Jesus. I take you at your word. You won't drive me away. Whoever does that. The father has willed that they must have eternal life.
[46:21] And Jesus has come to do that will of the father. Millions have come and not one has ever been rejected.
[46:33] Do you think you're going to be the first exception to the rule? No, no. He'll he'll accept you just like he accepted me and everyone here who's come to him. Before coming to Christ, there's no way for you to know if the father gave you to the son.
[46:50] But here's the funny thing. There is a way to know. If the father has given you to the son. Have you come to him?
[47:02] Have you come to him? Because all those that the father gave him will come to him. Have you come to him? Then you can know. Oh, I was one that the father gave to the son before the creation of the world.
[47:18] Come to me to the with me to the door of salvation. Jesus says, I am the door. And so here's here's this doorway, Jesus. And and on the outside is the invitation.
[47:30] Whosoever will may come. Come and we come and we trust in him. We're saved and we look back over the door and it says chosen before the foundation of the world.
[47:44] You don't wait out here until you know what's on the other side. You can't know that until you pass through. Whosoever will may come and we come and then we realize, well, I'm I'm one of those that was chosen by God.
[47:57] The father or in the words of our text. Come to me. We see over the door. Come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away.
[48:08] And so we come Lord Jesus. I come and we receive him and salvation in him. And we turn around and we say, oh, I was one of those that the father gave to his son.
[48:20] outside of the door. It says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Promise.
[48:31] We believe. Those who were ordained to eternal life believed. Oh. Now I see.
[48:42] I was one of those that the father gave the son. Ordained from eternity to belong to him. You see, we prove our election.
[48:53] We prove our our being given to the son by coming to Jesus. Don't get hung up on that, my dear friend. Four times he says, I will raise him up at the last day.
[49:08] Isn't that a precious word? That those who who come to Jesus. Everything that's necessary to save him and get them home to heaven is promised.
[49:21] Jesus says, I will raise him up at the last day. So here's the sovereignty of God. All that the father gives me will come to me.
[49:32] Here's the responsibility of man. You must come. Whoever comes, I will never drive away. Some preachers spend all their time preaching one and others spend all their time preaching the other.
[49:45] But here is Jesus, the son of God, and he preached both of them in the same sermon. He preached both of them in the same verse. We might even go so far as to say he preached both of them in the same breath.
[49:59] There are people that the father gave me before the creation of the world and they will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will in no way drive away. Say, I don't understand.
[50:11] I don't understand how these two things can can can be reconciled. You don't need to. Listen, if you're going to follow Jesus, you're going to need to get used to believing things that you don't understand.
[50:24] How does the Bible begin? with nothing but God. And then the creation and in six days, the world, you better learn to believe things you don't understand.
[50:40] How did he do that? You come to the pages of the New Testament. What do you meet with right up front? A virgin giving birth to a child who is.
[50:51] I mean, that alone is what is this? But but the child is. Not only man, fully man, but he's God, the eternal son of God.
[51:03] So we must be ready for things we don't understand. But if I can help you at all, what it means is simply this. That if you're saved, it's God's fault.
[51:16] And if you're not saved, it's your fault. So which will it be, my friend? Which will it be? Come to me. And if you come, I'll receive you and never drive you away.
[51:32] Will you come to him today? Or will you be like some who heard this sermon from the Savior's lips? No. And went their own way.
[51:45] Come to Christ. Let him lavish his love upon you, even as he promised he would. Well, we want to take our hymnals and sing of God's glory being revealed in the gospel.
[51:59] 667. Great things he has taught us today. Things to humble us, to thrill us, to send us running to Jesus. 667. Stand and let's sing. And notice verse 2 says, the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus forgiveness receives.
[52:16] That's the promise of the gospel. You come. Let's pray.
[52:28] We do thank you, Father, for the gift of your Son. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for the great Savior you are, that you came to accomplish your Father's will and you left nothing undone and nothing will be left undone.
[52:45] Not one missing in that day, but that you will raise up to everlasting life at the last day. Thank you for the certainty of a salvation that had its roots in eternity past in the mind and heart of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[53:01] And that he is the one who begins the work in us. And he is therefore the one who continues that work until the day of Christ Jesus. We would rest in such a Savior.
[53:13] And pray for those who are outside of him. That they wouldn't allow the devil to hang them up on things that are impossible for them to know, but that they might give themselves to the one thing that they do need to know and to do, and that is to come to Jesus.
[53:28] For no man comes to the Father except by him. Oh, thank you then. And do those works here. Do them around the world today as you're gathering that bride from every language, tongue, and nation.
[53:41] We pray in Jesus' name to his praise. Amen. Amen.