[0:00] It is turned now to the passage we read, the Gospel according to John, chapter 6, verse 37.
[0:20] John 6, verse 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
[0:34] In the marvellous discourse on the lips of our Lord that this chapter brings to our attention, there are many, many glorious and wonderful truths.
[1:07] Amongst them is this one, that unaided man cannot come to God.
[1:17] It emphasises man's spiritual impotence, his inability to come in faith to God.
[1:34] And as I mentioned, this is emphasised over and over again by our Lord in this particular discourse. The same emphasis that you get from his lips in the words addressed to Nicodemus recorded for us in chapter 3 of this same Gospel.
[1:56] And you know that this is one of the great truths at the heart of the Bible, that God alone can save the sinner.
[2:08] Only God can draw him to Christ. And this comes very much to the fore in the context in which our text is said.
[2:27] Now, of course, there are many people who would use such a teaching and such a statement as they accruciate for their own indolence with reference to salvation.
[2:39] Well, if I can't save myself, if I haven't got a part to play in it, if this God alone can save, if I can't come to Christ, if I can't believe, so on and so on, well, what's the point?
[2:52] And there is a sense in which people could say that a passage such as this, such as this, and a text such as this, brings no encouragement whatsoever to the sinner who needs to be saved.
[3:10] I hope in the course of the service that that you will be dispelled, because it comes to us with great encouragement.
[3:22] He that, him that cometh unto me, says Jesus, I will in no wise cast out. Now, as God is the author of salvation, as God alone saves, you will see the various ways in which Jesus brings that teaching and that emphasis to the fore in this discourse.
[3:47] And he does it by using very well-known terms. He speaks, for example, in the words of our text, of the Father giving sinners to himself.
[4:03] All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And there he establishes this truth, that no one comes to the Son, no one comes to Christ, unless the Father gives them to Christ.
[4:17] So we have there, emphasised for us, the giving of the Father. But in the same context, he speaks of those whom the Father gives to the Son, as being taught by the Father.
[4:36] No man, he says in verse 44, can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, throw him, and I worry some of them at the last day. It is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God.
[4:48] Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. That's another thing we learn, that the person who comes to Jesus is not only given to Jesus by the Father, but is taught by the Father.
[5:04] And another term he uses in the same context is this, that all those who come are taught and are drawn by the Father.
[5:18] No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me, drawn. So there's another term that he uses. So far we have the Father giving to the Son, the Father teaching those who come to the Son, the Father drawing those who come to the Son.
[5:41] And the other term you have is this, very well known in the New Testament. It almost hits you in every text and in every verse in this passage. They come, those who are given, those who are taught, those who are drawn, come to the Son.
[5:59] This is what they do. They come to the Son. And then there is this marvelous encouragement for all such.
[6:10] Those who come, he will in no wise cast out. He receives all who come to him. And I would like, just for a little while tonight, to look with you at these four or five terms that I've brought before you.
[6:26] The Father giving, the Father teaching, the Father drawing, the sinner coming, and Christ receiving. And all this was in the context of the salvation of the sinner.
[6:42] Let us then look at it very briefly. First of all, the Father, no man, all that the Father giveth me, shall come to me.
[6:55] Now, I know that generally, normally, we would think in terms of this with reference to the predestinating or the the the the predestinating act of God from all eternity.
[7:09] God decreeing that the Son would have a people for whom he came into the world to die. We know that the Bible lays that emphasis on this giving as well.
[7:21] It puts, points our way back to, if you want to use the term, to a past eternity. There's no such thing, but we use these terms that reminds me, can I commentate this? God from all eternity elected some to everlasting life.
[7:34] Now, there's no way you can get rid of that teaching from the Bible that you cut it out, that you cut the various pages without scissors. So, we have that teaching in the Bible from all eternity. God elected some to everlasting life.
[7:48] And Jesus himself says that he came to lay down his life for those given to him by his Father. My Father gave them unto me and I laid down my life for them.
[8:00] He came to die for those bequeathed covenant to him or given to him in the covenant from all eternity by God. The Father gave them to the Son from all eternity.
[8:16] It points us back to the decree, the electing act of God, the act of his will. But in this context, it is suggested that it can mean something else.
[8:32] it is what the God the Father does to the sinner who is taught and who is drawn and who comes to Jesus, he gives him.
[8:44] He gives him, or as someone has put it, he donates him to the Father. The Father giving this sinner of whom Jesus speaks to himself.
[8:57] It is what you may refer, what you may say is the culminating act of God in the experience of and in the interest of this sinner.
[9:09] It is the culmination of the process. God has come to this individual. He has taught him, he has drawn him, he brings him to Jesus and he gives him to the Lord.
[9:22] It is the giving which is the result of the teaching and the drawing by God of this individual.
[9:32] They are, someone has put it, they are presented to Christ as trophies of the redemption which Christ himself has purchased. You look at verse 65 for example, you read this.
[9:47] Therefore said Jesus, therefore I say unto you, no man can come unto me except it was given unto him of my Father.
[10:00] And there you have it. God gave this man the disposition to come to Jesus and God gives him.
[10:12] in the act of salvation to the Son. He gives him to Christ. Now, the question that follows is how does this happen?
[10:28] And Jesus answers that question for us. And that's what leads us to the second point. It happens as a result of the teaching that God gives them.
[10:42] the teaching under which they come. He is taught by God and as he is taught he is drawn by God so that God will give him to Christ in this saving act.
[11:03] The teaching he receives from God draws. God and he says except the Father which hath sent me thou.
[11:15] Because as you notice written in the prophets they shall be all taught of God. Everyone therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.
[11:28] and no person can come to Christ till God so teaches him. Now what exactly does this involve?
[11:42] Well I'm sure you don't agree with this. We all need to be taught the truth about God and the truth about ourselves.
[12:00] And as we heard here I just remember just now what we heard here from Christopher Graham at the Evangelistic Services in January until we come to know ourselves we will never come to God we will never cry to God until we come to know our need of God and we won't cry to God until we are taught that that is the one we are to cry to we cannot come unless we are taught so here we are in the words of our Lord as people who need to be taught why well in the first place as this passage tells us because our thinking is all wrong we are prejudiced and we have to have our prejudices removed we are ignorant our thinking is distorted and we have to be enlightened and we have to be put right now let's see where he tells us that in this particular context for a start we need to be reminded of the reality of eternal things when these people came to Jesus they made their way to him he said this time verily verily
[13:25] I say unto you ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled labor not for the meat which perishes but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life which the son of man shall give unto you for him hath God the father sealed what Jesus is telling him is this you're not thinking in terms of God in terms of eternity in terms of spiritual life in terms of heaven you're materialistic you're worldly you're taking up on yourselves with the things that are seen and the things that are temporal so he begins to teach them you need to get your priorities right you need to get God into your thinking into your life to give him the paramount place the important place the place of priority in your life do you not need to be taught that well I do and this is what Jesus begins with these people that he alone can meet the longing of the heart he alone can feed the mind he alone can bring light into the darkness and life where there is death so he begins to teach them and then he teaches them the necessity of faith he said unto him well then what can we do that we might work the works of God and he answered this is the work of
[14:58] God that you believe on him whom he hath sent they need to be taught the necessity of saving faith that it's only by faith in Christ that we come to receive eternal life and he lays it on the line for them there is no salvation apart from faith in him we must believe if we are to be saved this is what you have to do he says believe on him whom he hath sent and you know if there is anything at all that you know from the Bible you know that surely that to be saved you need to believe in Jesus Christ so you are taught that lesson together with that you need to be taught this lesson thirdly you need to be taught the sufficiency of faith well they said unto him what sign will you show us that we might believe what can we see from you to help us to believe our father saved man in the desert
[16:06] Jesus answered them I say unto you Moses gave you not that bread from heaven but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven Jesus here emphasizing the sufficiency of faith unto salvation we need to believe and that is all that we need God doesn't ask any more of you than to believe and that's what makes salvation so difficult show us a sign the Corinthians said the same the Greeks were saying the same the Jews were saying the same in Paul's day give us proof give us evidence it's not enough to have this record not enough to be told that we must believe we need more than that no you don't you will never get any more than that you want to see something you won't see it you want to hear something you won't hear it you want a miracle to prove to you what you want to believe you won't get it you have it all here in the word of God and God commands commands you to believe so they are taught the sufficiency of faith and then they are taught for the sufficiency of Christ as the object of faith
[17:37] Jesus presents himself here as the bread of life I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst you will never require anything else but Christ there is sufficient in the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of faith to me you need as a sinner all the forgiveness and all the cleansing and all the spiritual sustenance and all the spiritual satisfaction you will ever require is in him you need no more so they are taught the sufficiency of Christ and then they are taught the necessity of the sufferings of Christ you know the passage abounds with reference to this I am come he says not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and I am come here that to lay down my life who is going to speak of himself as the bread as flesh as the bread as blood as a thing he presents himself in his sufferings and to death as the object of faith or not
[18:52] Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory it was necessary for him to come in our nature to suffer in our nature to die on the cross that we might be saved we are taught that Christ becomes the object of faith and then we are taught something else the uniqueness of this person these people heard him speak they looked on an amazement and they said how can this man tell us these things is he not the son of Joseph do we not know his father and mother how is it that he says I came down from heaven and they needed to be taught that he was no ordinary individual he was far more than the son of Joseph this is a problem with a lot of people they see nothing in Christ to attract them no uniqueness to draw he is like everybody as a matter of fact in the eyes of the majority he is less than the ordinary there is nothing in him to draw them what they have is far more than what
[20:05] Christ himself can give so they need to be taught there that he is unique that he is great that he is greater than anyone and anything that they have ever seen or ever had and they need to be taught the uniqueness of Jesus Christ the distinctiveness of Christ and the desirability of Jesus Christ and the impossibility of being saved other than through faith in Jesus Christ they need to be taught of the graciousness of God that God should bother with a sinner who doesn't want God that God should come into the life to teach someone who is an enemy who is opposed to the teaching they need to be taught the wonder of his grace and the wonder of his love that he has provided such salvation that he has gone to such lengths to send his son that from all eternity this should have originated in the mind of the almighty for I have not seen neither have heard what God has prepared for them that love
[21:28] God's preparation from all eternity of a method of grace beyond the conception of the most wonderful human ingenuity no paragraph thought of this God has done this and God alone and God calls the sinner to himself we are taught the wonder of his grace before you come to Christ you've got to get a grip with these things you've got to know that you need him and you've got to come to and you've got to know that you'll come to no one else and as God teaches so thoroughly God draws the teaching of itself draws isn't it amazing how often you hear this some person gives his testimony and he tells you how he was converted and very often someone who was
[22:30] I used to come into church will tell you I used to come to church day in day out year in year out and the same old story I found it quite boring actually so they would say but I wanted to come I had to come maybe my parents took me and very often we hear youngsters saying today my parents forced me to go I don't think they forced you at all they teach you and they encourage you and they instruct you to come to the house of God and my friend very soon you may not have these parents with you and then you may regret bitterly the many days you resented that they were taking you to church with them I'm sure that there are people in the church tonight who wish now that their parents were sitting beside them but they're not you value and I'm speaking tonight to children particularly you value highly the example that they're setting before you and you thank God that you have such parents there are many parents in the world tonight who couldn't care less where the children are on the
[23:45] Lord's day how thankful you when you go home tonight thank God that he gave you parents who bother about your spiritual interests but coming back to the testimony they tell you that they came to church and the Bible teaching ministers well depending you see if a minister bawled and shouted they might like him but if someone was quiet they didn't like that they liked stories and that kind of thing but as for the gospel another word was penetrating and then I discovered something started going to church and the services began to appeal to me I found the time flying flying by and some of the things had been preached began to appeal I began to understand and the strange thing was I was drawn by this I could hardly wait till next Sunday and as weeks passed they would then wish that maybe they could go to a weekly meeting but they didn't like to people would say that they had become religious all of a sudden they didn't want people to see that but they longed to hear the truth and what it was was this as
[25:01] Jesus tells at the end of this chapter the spirit alone quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing what God was saying the word of God was coming to them with power with light with meaning with conviction it was beginning to mean something they were beginning to need it feel their need of it they were feeding on the truth delighting in the truth it was becoming irrelevant and so the hand of God without realizing it was being laid on them there was a holy constraint placed upon them they were being drawn not dragged but drawn drawn as the Old Testament tells us with cords of love with the bands of a man drawn imperceptibly and God was so gracious and drawing which one of us deserved to be drawn we who were so unworthy so hell deserving so lot of in ourselves so guilty in the presence of
[26:09] God God hating and not wanting God hostile to him an enemy to him we were God was closed out of our lives we didn't want him in very graciously God came in and this is the wonder of the grace of God that any sinner should be drawn to him through the word and this is what happens the word comes with power God teaches and as he teaches so he draws for what purpose that they might forthly come to Christ all that the father giveth me shall come to me he teaches them he draws them so that they may come as those given to me by himself now what does this mean coming to
[27:12] Christ well this is what you and I have to do you see it was God who taught us it was God who drew us but it was we ourselves who came to Christ we ourselves coming is the result of God's sovereign activity in our life it is as we read as I quoted to you already verse 65 I say unto you no man can come except it were given to him of my father the disposition to come is given the desire to come is given our intonations Godward are changed we find it then necessary to come we have no option but to come this is what we refer to us irresistible grace we are drawn he shall come there is no doubt at all about this it is the willing movement of the heart the whole man is caught up in the coming to
[28:24] Christ his will is renewed he wants him who before he didn't want he loves him who before he couldn't love and if he can't believe in him he comes that he may believe in him if he doesn't come as he doesn't come by faith as he does of course I'm going to talk from the point of view of the feelings of the sinner because he that cometh unto God must believe coming is the result of believing but he may feel that he has no faith but there's one thing he does know he wants faith and he wants to believe Lord I flee to thee help me to believe it is the movement of the whole soul that will make a willing people in a day of thy power a person whose prejudices have been removed a person may be who had no time for
[29:25] Christ and his cause or his people no he has time for nothing else but Christ and his cause and his people he comes because Christ is desirable he comes because he must and he comes to receive salvation on the terms of God his arms are laid down his enmity is renewed he becomes adapted to the grace of God and he comes on the basis of the word Christ receives sinners I am a sinner I must come because I can go nowhere else as Peter said at the end of the Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life he comes to Christ as the source of his life as the bread of life the water of life and the one who has the words of life he comes to him as the one who can feed his soul who can forgive his sin pardon all his iniquity the one who can give him peace the one in whom he has his all this is what
[30:47] Jesus refers to here as seeing as believing he comes because he has been taught and drawn by God to come to Christ and finally there is this I will in no wise cast out him that cometh to me the son receiving the person who comes now I think that Jesus brings before us a beautiful picture it is a picture of a sinner taught by God and drawn by God to come to Christ and gifted to Christ by God and you see then the force of the statement I will in no wise there is no way in which
[31:48] I would not receive the person who is gifted to me the son could never refuse a gift from God a gift from God because he says he goes on to tell us here I came into this world not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and here you have a wonderful picture of the relationship in which the father stands to the son God the father and God the son in the work of redemption there is a delight in the heart of God in giving a sinner to Christ and there is a corresponding delight in the heart of the son in receiving the sinner from God the father how could he refuse anyone who comes to him as being drawn by the father he receives him in his loving embrace he receives him in the arms of his own immutable power my father gave them unto me he said no man can pluck them out of my hands as those who were given to me by the father he receives them to bless and he receives that he may keep them he receives them with a reception that never fails that never ebbs and flows it will never end you know when you receive a gift maybe a very precious gift you're so excited you're so taken up with what you receive you're every moment of that day is taken up with what you got but in the course of time the novelty wears off even with the most precious gifts but no such novelty attaches no such wearing off attaches to this he receives them never to forget he cannot forget those as the old testament tells us who are engraven upon the palms of his hands he will never forget them they are sheltered under the shadow of his wing as we sang here in psalm 91 paul tells us in romans chapter 8 that his love to them will never end it can never be destroyed it can never be changed it can never be altered they are always sheltered in the arms of his love and he gives this added assurance
[34:32] I will raise him up he says at the last day three or four times in my three times verses 39 verse 40 and verse 44 he speaks of those who come in faith to him he will receive them and I will raise them up at the last day why that reference well do you see the significance of it here is the first act in the path of salvation for us coming in faith to Christ and here is the last act on his part in completing that process of salvation at the day of the resurrection he will raise them up so that the salvation which began when we believed in him will be completed when we are raised by him to receive in all its blessed fullness completed salvation in body and in soul and between that first step and the last act he keeps us grace in his own omnipotent embrace and from the time that we come to him he will give us all needed grace for the way that lies ahead he will support us he will protect us he will allow nothing to come between us and himself nothing that will sever us from the arms of his embrace oh my friend if it be if it be that you're a believer in
[36:22] Christ oh the folly of bringing things into your life whose principle it is solely to sever you from Christ you remember that sin and every semblance of sin and every assault by the devil in your life has that as its purpose to break you away from the Lord and if it be that you're a Christian here tonight and you are still in the path of obedience to his grace you are there because he has kept you hitherto hath the Lord helped I will no wise cast out here they are then taught of God brought by God given to the son by God kept by the son comforted and delivered kept in the arms of his love to the very end of the process of salvation and you say there is no encouragement in the teaching of Christ in this passage
[37:57] I don't know a passage that comes with greater encouragement for me to come to Christ because all I need I have in him and all that I need from the time that I come to the time that I die I will have from him and all that I look for to the day of the resurrection I have in him have you got anything better have you got something greater tonight than the Lord Jesus Christ you remember this my friend there is no one that you need more and there is no one tonight who would welcome you more if you come I know you're unworthy we all are but you are nevertheless welcome to come to the Savior and if you come he will in no wise cast you out let us pray oh to thou bless to us thy truth and in thy mercy oh
[39:15] God to thou draw us to thee that we may bless thee as the God of all grace and the God of all mercy forgive us and bless thy word to us for Jesus sake Amen