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[0:00] the gospel according to John chapter 6 and verse 37. The words of our Lord Jesus. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

[0:22] This is a profound and glorious truth, but I believe it to be one of the most abused texts of the Bible.

[0:36] Because we hear the second part of this verse so often quoted in regard to the first part.

[0:48] And yet the second part cannot be understood apart from the first. In other words, how many times have we heard people quote, Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

[1:06] Which in itself this is true. And friends, that cannot be understood without the first part of the verse where Jesus said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh I will in no wise cast out.

[1:26] Now I ask myself why it is that the second part of the verse is so popular, and the first half of the verse is more often than not ignored.

[1:42] The second part, in other words, is taken out of its context. My friends, I believe it is because many people do not like altogether what our Lord Jesus himself taught.

[1:58] And preaching on the text like this, some people might say, this is not evangelical. You are stopping people from coming unto the Lord Jesus Christ because you say it is only those that are given by the Father to the Son who will come.

[2:18] My friends, that is precisely what the Lord Jesus Christ himself here was teaching. And when we preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must not take out from the scriptures just those parts that please us and ignore the context of them.

[2:42] And here I believe we have a glaring example of injustice done to the word of God. A portion of what Jesus said is known and loved.

[2:54] And what he said immediately before it, which bears on it, is ignored. And if we are to preach the gospel, we must preach the whole counsel of God.

[3:07] And can we do better than preach the very truth that our Lord Jesus Christ himself preached? The gospel is not merely an invitation to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

[3:28] It is that. It is not merely a declaration of what God in Jesus Christ has already done. It is that.

[3:40] But when we preach the gospel, we must preach the whole counsel of God. We must preach everything that is written here being honoring what God has said.

[3:53] and not merely taking parts of scriptures in order to please the hearers. We can see it abundantly illustrated in the teaching of our Lord Jesus himself.

[4:08] He never made things easy in order to gain followers. Our Lord Jesus, towards the end of his ministry, said things and the reaction of some of the disciples, these are hard things.

[4:26] Who can believe them? And the Lord Jesus taught the truth. And as we'll see here, there's a very profound truth which we need to grasp hold of in order that we might know what salvation really is.

[4:44] Including what is necessary unto salvation. and this is what is dealt with in our text here. Let's look for a moment first of all then at the context of these words.

[5:02] In other words, what had Jesus been saying when he uttered these words? Well, the more you study the gospel accounts and I would say especially in John in chapters 5 and 6 and 8, you can see that Jesus was so often in conflict with his hearers.

[5:24] That he was seeking to instruct them. He was seeking to testify to them that he had come from the Father and indeed as we see in verse chapter 5 that Jesus was indeed setting himself forth as the one who had come from the Father.

[5:49] And the Jews mark this Jesus' enemies they tried to kill him because they said you being a man make yourself to be equal with God.

[6:03] Now say this just in passing. We have those the so-called the false Jehovah's Witnesses who maintain that Jesus Christ is not the eternal Son of God made flesh.

[6:16] And yet Jesus' enemies tried to kill him because they said you are a man and you make yourself to be equal with God. In other words his enemies recognized his claim to be the Son of God.

[6:31] And the false witnesses today say that Jesus was not the Son of God and they never claimed to be. and it was the Jews the unbelieving Jews justification as they thought for killing him because according to themselves he made himself to be equal with God.

[6:49] Now in his battle with the Jews the verbal battle with the Jews as we read here Jesus said chapter 5 you search this is the Jews of course who were brought up in the what we know as the Old Testament but to the Jews it was their Hebrew Bible the Hebrew Scriptures and he says you search to the Scriptures because in men you believe you have eternal life.

[7:23] Those very Scriptures testify of me but he says you will not you will not come unto me that you may have life.

[7:36] Now there was Jesus who knew perfectly what is in the heart of man and though there were those who knew their Old Testament Scriptures their Hebrew Bible far better than any of us here does yet even knowing them and the Scriptures Jesus said those are the Scriptures that testify of me and as we read Moses according to Jesus Moses wrote of me and yet Jesus says you will not come unto me that you will have life that you may have life.

[8:11] It's the verb willing you will not will you do not desire to come to me that you may have life. Though you read the Scriptures and the Scriptures says Jesus are the Scriptures which testify of me.

[8:28] My friends isn't it true today that in many places the Christian life is looked upon as such an easy option but when we look at the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ himself surely we have to come to the conclusion that he never set an easy option before people.

[8:50] He knew the heart of man and he said oh though the Scriptures testified of him he said you just will not come unto me that you might have life.

[9:02] Then moving on to chapter 6 look at the beginning of verse 35 Jesus said to them and here is one of the I am's that John is so fond of recording Jesus said I am the bread of life I am that is the bread sent down from God going back to verse 33 here he is speaking of himself the bread of God is he who cometh down from heaven that is speaking of himself for the bread of God is he who cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world now here follows on in verse in the latter part of that same verse and he that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst and so here is an invitation and a promise he says

[10:05] I am the bread of life I am the bread that came down from heaven to give life to the world and he that believeth on me shall never hunger and he that cometh to me shall never thirst and of course coming and believing that is just really talking about believing and hungering and thirsting of course means to give complete satisfaction to all our deepest needs and there was the invitation his testimony concerning himself I am the bread of life and he said to the Jews you believe on me you receive me and you never hunger and thirst your spiritual needs will be completely satisfied and yet look at the condemnation he brings against them verse 36 but I said unto you here's the condemnation that you also have seen me and believe not my friends just think of this here were men and women who had such a knowledge of the

[11:20] Old Testament scriptures and in the Psalms and in Isaiah and other prophets there's such abundant testimony to Messiah and my Messiah came the son of God was made flesh in the Jewish race he was a Jew he was one of themselves and they saw and they heard the son of God they observed his life they saw him raising the dead and healing the sick and casting out the devils and Jesus said you have seen me and believe not what a condemnation of his own people what is it John says he came unto his own things and his own people received him not they had seen him and still they didn't believe now verse 37 our text is lays before us a plain fact all that the father giveth me will come to me was

[12:40] Jesus repelling men by telling them that no because as we just considered here Jesus is offering himself as the one who can satisfy the deepest needs of the human soul he says believe on me and you'll never thirst or hunger spiritually again all your deepest needs will be met now our Lord Jesus himself saw no conflict between the invitation that he gave to his people the Jewish people to believe and at the same time to tell them so clearly of their inability to believe of themselves now if today in popular evangelicalism if this kind of text were preached men and women might well say that's not the gospel in order to get people saved you must make it as easy as you possibly can and friends

[13:53] I believe that one of the most terrible dangers to modern evangelicalism is that it doesn't give us the whole counsel of God we live in a day of decisionism and from time to time and I was hearing about it just recently not here locally of just two young girls who had under the influence of an itinerant evangelist had made a profession but it proved to be a false profession because after a while they went back to the world and friends told by a ministry who was concerned with them they were in a far harder state after that experience than they were before why because they believed that the whole gospel is a hoax that there's nothing in it and that they had proved it for themselves that there was nothing in it why did they think they had proved that because the profession that they made was not a true one they had not been born again of the spirit of god they had made an outward profession without the inner reality friends when our lord jesus christ was teaching these things to the jews of course he was not trying to discourage them from faith in himself he was inviting them to believe on him but at the same time he was telling them concerning their enabling to believe it is a very great danger to make salvation to appear to be so easy for the very simple reason that it is not true to what the lord jesus christ himself taught he certainly invited sinners to come unto himself but he never presented it to them in a kind of easy option that is all too prevalent in our own day now secondly when we consider this phrase all that the father giveth me now what is jesus referring to here something i suppose which the jews themselves just could not have understood fully all that the father giveth me no he made abundant testimony to the fact that god was his father but now he talks about those who were given to him by his father and we can clearly understand this though it is very mysterious that from all eternity some were given by the father to his son to be redeemed by him and my friends if you do not believe that you cannot be said really to believe the scriptures because there is abundant testimony to this fact and principally we can find it in john chapter 17 which is entirely taken up with what is so often called jesus high priestly prayer now three or four times and i'll cook them in that prayer jesus refers to those who were given to him by the father from all eternity listen this is from the his prayer as thou hast given him he's speaking of himself as thou hast given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him and again i have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou didst give me out of the world again listen to this i pray not for the world but for them whom thou hast given me and again those that thou gavest me i have kept to my friends there's the lord jesus christ immediately before his offering of himself on the cross of calvary he's praying not for the whole world but he's praying for those that the father has given him to be redeemed by him in other words the lord jesus christ did not die equally for all men the lord jesus christ died to save those that were given unto him by the father he died for none other dear friends that is wrapped up in a word which i suppose in many quarters is objectionable because there are christians who are terrified of the word election and some do not like to think that the word is in the bible at all but my friends we should be afraid of it we should glory in it because that gives us the assurance that the lord will save his people that all those that were given by the father to his son to be redeemed by him will be saved and cannot fail to be saved in other words when the lord jesus christ was dying on the cross of calvary he knew those for whom he was dying he died for the church as paul says he loved the church there is the church in all ages he loved the church and gave himself for her in a very practical sense the apostle paul when he was writing to the church in the the the the the the the we give thanks to god knowing brothers beloved of god your election what was paul doing there he was writing to these christians in the the ass la and telling them that their salvation was what

[21:06] God had done for them. That they wouldn't be patting themselves on the back and saying what discerning people we are. We have believed and other people haven't. How superior we are to be able to understand when other people do not understand and do not believe. My friends election is a fact of redemption.

[21:33] And let's remember this. If left to men unaided by the Spirit of God, not one single person could be saved.

[21:50] Not a single person could be saved or would be saved. Spurgeon has a sermon the title of which is very indicative of his own view of these things which we believe to be a biblical view.

[22:08] And the title of the sermon is Free Will a Slave. We have not, in the fullest sense of the word, we have not free will.

[22:22] Because we are sinners by nature. And we continue to be sinners unless the grace of God works in us. In other words, we are not able alone, without the work of the Spirit, without the work of grace of God, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

[22:43] Any more than the Jews were capable of it in their day, when Jesus said to them, you will not come unto me. You're just determined that you will not come unto me, that you might have life.

[22:57] So, here is our Lord Jesus here, referring to the very subject that he develops more fully in that great, wondrous, high priestly prayer in John 17.

[23:13] All that the Father giveth me will come to me. My friends, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he died, he knew that there was not one for whom he died who could fail to be saved.

[23:32] Now you see, those who believe in an unlimited atonement are really in a cleft stick. Because you say to them, did Jesus die for all the world?

[23:45] And they say, well, yes, of course. Well then, all the world must be saved. Oh, no, no, no, no. Now, which is it then?

[23:57] Did Jesus die? If Jesus died equally for all the world, then all the world must be saved. But they say, no, no, of course we agree that not all the world is saved. Well then, for whom did Jesus die?

[24:09] To whom did he desire to save? What was his design in his death? If it was to save the whole world? Well, he was a terrible failure.

[24:22] Friends, if Jesus died to save all the world, equally and without discrimination, well, what a failure. A blasphemous thought.

[24:34] But what a failure. Because we believe that there are millions and millions of people in this world who die in their guilt and their sin and are lost forever.

[24:47] But my friends, the teaching of Scripture is this. That Jesus Christ, when he was dying, he uttered that cry of triumph.

[24:59] It is completed. The perfect sacrifice for the salvation of those to whom he refers here. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.

[25:12] How many is it, we may ask, that the Father gave the Son to be redeemed by him? My friends, that's not our concern. whether it's a million or a hundred million or a thousand million, that's not our concern.

[25:30] Here is the fact that Jesus stated to the Jews, there were those that were given unto him of a counsel of redemption to be redeemed by him.

[25:43] And none will be redeemed except those that the Father had given to his Son to be redeemed by him. But let's keep the balance.

[25:57] The second part of this verse, the Lord Jesus is saying, him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. My friends, this is a glorious truth.

[26:11] That nobody has sunk into the such great depths of sin that he can say, the Lord wouldn't accept me now because I've sent away all my opportunities of salvation.

[26:25] the man who has lived his life of sin, the woman who's lived the life of sin, can never say, I have sinned so much that Jesus Christ cannot save me.

[26:42] You know, Christ himself testified to the fact that blasphemy against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

[26:52] And I've mentioned before, this is spoken of as the unpardonable sin. And if you take it in its context, I think you'll realize that what Jesus was referring to then was those who were attributing the power that was in himself to Satan.

[27:14] Can you imagine a more terrible thing being said to our Lord that the life he lived and the work he did was under the power of the prince of the devils.

[27:26] And I believe that to be the sin that Jesus was referring to when he said the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit which he had beyond measure in which they were attributing to the power of sight.

[27:42] That was a blasphemy which would not be forgiven. But friends, with regard to the depths of sin, there is none that has gone beyond the possibility of salvation.

[27:57] Where Jesus says, Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. This is a glorious fact in itself but in its context we can see that only those in the first part of this verse are those that are referred to in the second part.

[28:19] Yes, Jesus is saying, Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. But the one who comes is one of those innumerable, as far as we know, innumerable who have given by, been given by the Father to the Son to be redeemed by him.

[28:38] Friends, this is the invitation which Jesus gives. And friends, we believe, I fervently believe, that part of the teaching of the Word of God is the free offer of salvation.

[28:57] but at the same time that the sinner might recognize that he's not able to save himself.

[29:11] If we go on a little later in this verse, in this chapter where Jesus says, No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me joy.

[29:25] Now then, you see, Jesus is laying before the people the truth concerning his salvation lest they should think that they could come just as they like and when they like without any dependence upon the grace of God that they might come.

[29:44] No man can come unto me except the Father draw him. That is, by his Word and by his Spirit. Now we need to learn these things.

[29:58] Peter needed to learn these things. Do you remember the great confession that Peter made at Caesarea Philippi? Jesus said to his disciples, Who do you say that thou I am?

[30:12] And Peter, always responding so spontaneously, says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. marvelous truth.

[30:23] Peter had got the hold of that marvelous truth concerning the identity of Jesus, his Master. Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. But you notice, remember, how Jesus instructed him after that.

[30:38] He said, Peter, flesh and blood has not revealed that unto you. In other words, Peter, you have just been clever in thinking that out for yourself. flesh and blood have not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven.

[30:55] So Peter would have been humbled with the fact that he had nothing to pat himself on the back about, that he'd be more discerning than the other disciple. But Jesus said, It's my Father, Peter, who has revealed that unto you.

[31:09] Peter needed to learn that much. And friends, we need to learn that salvation is entirely of God. Now, I was brought up in circles which I would say now never gave all the glory to God.

[31:27] And I'm afraid there are so much of modern evangelism that doesn't give all the glory to God because you hear of those who are encouraged to think that at any time they can just call upon God and God will save them just like that.

[31:45] They can just make a decision for Jesus Christ. Now, friends, every person who believes on the Lord Jesus must come to the stage of committing themselves to him in a sense of deciding to be a Christian.

[32:03] God's sake but my friends, the deadly danger is that a person may make a so-called decision for Christ which has no reality in a renewed heart and a renewed mind and being born again of the Spirit of God.

[32:20] And what Jesus is saying here is that, look, when you become a follower of mine, when you believe on me and you never hunger and never thirst, it's my Father that has done it for you.

[32:38] It isn't what you have done. It's what God has done for you and in you. You might say, well, if only those that were given by the Father to the Son to be redeemed, if they're the only ones that are going to be saved, what about all the millions that, as we were judged in the world, shall we say at the present time, what about all the millions that are going to be lost or appear to be lost?

[33:15] My friends, here we come to a very solemn consideration. Friends, if all the world were lost, there would be no injustice with God because none of us deserves to be saved.

[33:33] There's not one of us that can lay a claim to God and say, God, you owe me salvation. None of us has any claims upon God for salvation.

[33:48] And therefore, friends, if all the world were lost forever, God would not be unjust. He would not be merciful, but he would be just.

[34:02] In Jesus Christ, there are those that are saved who are chosen from all eternity. And that is of the grace of God.

[34:14] My friends, it would be of the grace of God if only one person in all time were saved. And if all the other thousands of millions were lost, it would be that they would be bearing the due punishment of their sin.

[34:31] My friends, if any are lost, it is only because they are bearing the due punishment of their sin.

[34:47] Salvation is of the unmerited favor of God. Remember what Paul says to the Ephesians, by grace, grace so often rendered as unmerited favor, which it is, by grace are you saved through faith.

[35:06] and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

[35:20] Prince, all the glory of salvation is God's nerve. When a young Christian is converted, he or she might think too highly of what he or she has done, shall we say, in a particular meeting.

[35:41] And then with the growth of Christian knowledge, can look back and say, well, I was thinking too much of what I had done, but now I look back and see what God was doing for me.

[35:57] That it wasn't I who made the decision or this or that, but it was the grace of God that saved him. Spurgeon said, I would never have been a Christian if I could have helped it.

[36:13] But the grace of God worked in that man's heart. You remember when that snowy morning when he was in the chapel in Essex. And the preacher said, look unto me, young man, and be saved.

[36:26] And Spurgeon looked and we are saved. But he said he was virtually saying, well if he had been left to me, I would never have been saved. Friends, this word of our Lord Jesus Christ wasn't to deter sinners from coming to him, but to show them that when they came, it was the enabling grace of Jesus Christ himself and his spirit and of his father that enabled them to come.

[36:56] Just let me close by saying this, that we should not be frightened of the word election. Praise God there is an election of those to salvation, that all those for whom Christ died will be saved.

[37:15] Christ's work will not fail with regard to one person. All whom he died for cannot fail to be saved. friends, if any of you tonight who are not Christians, you cannot blame God for it.

[37:35] You cannot say, you must not say, I'm not one of the elect. You must not say that. If you are not a Christian tonight, I think I know why you are not a Christian, because you do not want to be a Christian.

[37:50] there never has been in the world, and friends, there never will be, a person who is desired to be a Christian, who is desired to be saved, who has not been saved.

[38:04] Why is that? Because every person who truly desires to be saved is under the influence of the Spirit of God, and desires to be saved under the prompting of God's Holy Spirit.

[38:18] it. Lastly, friends, do not go from this place tonight thinking that I've put all kinds of barriers in the way of salvation.

[38:30] I've tried to show you that what the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching was that salvation is entirely of grace. And another place do we have in Matthew's Gospel record, Jesus said and he never contradicted himself, did he?

[38:50] He said, come unto me. Is that not a plain enough invitation? Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[39:06] And friends, that is the invitation which Jesus Christ lays before us all as the Gospel is preached. We, behind it all, behind our Lord Jesus teaching, was his emphasis upon the enabling which the Father gives to everyone who comes.

[39:26] In other words, none come except they are enabled to come. But if they do not come, they cannot blame God. It is because of their own stubborn wills and their own inability to come.

[39:43] And that is sinful. And we can't excuse our not coming on the basis of our own sin. So Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

[39:58] He that believeth on me shall never thirst, and he that cometh to me shall never hunger. And all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh I will in no wise cast out.

[40:17] Amen. May the Lord bless his word to us. Let us pray. O Lord, we thank thee that thou hast graciously brought before us this night what thy dear son taught in the days of his flesh concerning salvation and of the need of thy work and the work of thy Holy Spirit to enable men and women to come and to believe in order that they might be saved.

[40:55] Lord, help us to understand our utter dependence upon thy grace, that we may not delude ourselves into thinking that we can come just as we like and when we like.

[41:10] Perhaps some might be even tempted to think, well, in my last few moments in this world I'll believe. Help us to understand, O Lord, that salvation indeed is all of thyself.

[41:24] But at the same time, O Lord, we thank thee for the gracious invitation which thou hast laid before us this night in the very words of thy dear son, his invitation that men and women should come unto him that they might have life and rest.

[41:44] We thank thee indeed, O Lord, that there is a gospel of salvation to be preached because thy son has died unto sin once, has purchased salvation and is alive forevermore.

[41:57] And we ask for grace, O Lord, that we ourselves here this night may believe the gospel, trust thy word unto the salvation of our souls, and for the glory of thy great name, hear us, bless us each one according to our need.

[42:17]  And all we pray in the Lord Jesus' name, and for thy glory's sake, amen. Amen.