The document discusses the importance of coming to Christ for salvation, emphasizing that anyone who approaches Him will not be turned away, regardless of their background or sins. It highlights the necessity of leaving behind other forms of trust and accepting Jesus as both Savior and Lord. Ultimately, it assures that all who come to Christ, with true faith, will be welcomed and saved.

1. JESUS WAS A WELCOMER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 6:37 37All those the Father gives me will come to
me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
All Comers To Christ Welcomed
BY SPURGEON
“Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.”
John 6:37
EOD CHRIST will not die in vain. His Fathergave Him a certain number to
be the reward of His soultravail and He will have every one of them, as He
said, “All that the Fathergives Me shall come to Me.” Almighty Grace shall
sweetlyconstrainthem all to come. My father recently gave me some letters
which I wrote to him when I beganto preach. They are almost boyish epistles,
but, in reading through them, again, I noticed in one of them this expression,
“How I long to see thousands of men saved, but my greatcomfort is that some
will be saved, must be saved, shall be saved, for it is written, ‘All that the
Father gives Me shall come to Me.’”
The question for eachof you to ask is, “Do I belong in that number?” I am
going to preach with the view of helping you to find out whether you belong to
that, “all,” whom the Father gave to Christ–the “all” who shall come to Him.
We canuse the secondpart of the verse to help us to understand the first.
“Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout,” will explain our Savior’s
previous Words, “All that the Fathergives Me shall come to Me.”
I shall have no time for any further preface. I must at once getto my subject
and try to put everything in a condensedform. Kindly give heed to the word,

2. think about it, pray over it–and may God the Holy Spirit apply it to all your
hearts!
1. First, notice in the text THE NECESSITYOF CHARACTER–“Him
that comes to Me.” If you want to be saved, you must come to Christ.
There is no other way of salvationunder Heaven but coming to Christ.
Go whereverelse you will, you will be disappointed and lost–itis only by
coming to Him that you can by any possibility have eternal life!
What is it to come to Christ? Well, it implies leaving all other confidences. To
come to anybody is to leave everybody else. To come to Christ is to leave
everything else–to leave everyother hope, every other trust. Are you trusting
to your own works? Are you trusting to a priest? Are you trusting to the
merits of the Virgin Mary, or the saints and angels in Heaven? Are you
trusting to anything but the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, leave it, and have done
with it! Come awayfrom every other reliance and trust to Christ Crucified,
for this is the only way of salvation, as Petersaid to the rulers and elders of
Israel, “Neitheris there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”–
“To Jesus bleeding on the tree,
Turn you your eye, your heart,”
and come to Him at once and your soul shall live forever!
To come to Jesus means, in brief, trusting Him. He is a Savior–thatis His
business–come to Him and trust Him to save you. If you could save yourself,
you would not need a Savior, and now that Christ has setup to be a Savior, let
Him do the business. He will. Come and lay all your needs at His feetand
trust Him. Resolve that, if lost, you will be lost trusting alone in Jesus, and
that can never be! Tie up all your hopes into one bundle and put that bundle
upon Christ. Let Him be all your salvation, all your desire and you will be
surely saved!
I have sometimes tried to explain to you what the life of faith is like. It is very
much like a man walking on a tight rope. The Believeris told that he shall not
fall, He trusts in God that he shall not, but every now and then he says, “What
a way it is down there if I did fall!” I have often had this experience. I have
gone up an invisible staircase–Icouldnot see the next step, but when I put my
foot down on it, I found that it was solid granite. I could not see the next step
and it seemedas if I should plunge into an abyss. Yet have I gone on upward,
steadily, one step at a time, never able to see farther into absolute darkness, as
it seemed, and yet always with a light just where the light was needed.

3. When I used to hold a candle for my father, in the evening, when he was
sawing woodout in the yard, he used to say, “Boy, hold the candle where I am
sawing, don’t look overthere.” And I have often thought to myself, when I
wanted to see something in the middle of next week, ornext year, that the
Lord seemedto say to me, “Hold your candle on the piece of work which you
have to do today–andif you can see that, be satisfied, for that is all the light
you need just now.” Suppose that you could see into next week?It would be a
greatmercy if you lost your sight a while, for a far-seeing gaze into care and
trouble is no gain! “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof”–assufficient
unto the day will be the goodthereof.
But the Lord does train His people for the skies by testing their faith in the
matter of His daily care of them. Often a man’s reliance upon God for the
supply of his earthly needs proves that he has trusted the Lord for the
weightieraffairs relating to his soul’s salvation. Do not draw a line between
the temporal and the spiritual and say, “God will go just so far–and I must
not take such and such a thing to Him in prayer.” I remember hearing of a
certain goodman, of whom one said, “Why, he is a very curious man–he
prayed about a key the other day!” Why not pray about a key? Why not pray
about a pin? Sometimes it may be as important to pray about a pin as to pray
about a kingdom! Little things are often the linchpins of greatevents. Take
care that you bring everything to God in faith and prayer. “Be carefulfor
nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made knownunto God.”
I have turned aside from my subject for a minute, but let us now think, again,
of this matter of coming to Christ. To come to Jesus not only implies leaving
all other confidences andtrusting Christ, it also means following Him. If you
trust Him, you must obey Him. If you leave your soul in His hands, you must
take Him to be your Master, and your Lord, as well as your Savior. Christ has
come to save you from sin, not in sin. He will, therefore, help you to leave your
sin, whateverit is. He will give you the victory over it! He will make you holy.
He will help you to do whatever you should do in the sight of God. He is able
to save unto the uttermost them who come unto God by Him–but you must
come to Him if you would be savedby Him.
To put togetherall I have said–youmust quit every other hope; you must take
Jesus to be your sole confidence–andthen you must be obedient to His
command and take Him to be your Masterand Lord. Will you do that? If not,
I have nothing to say to you exceptthis–He that believes not in Him will perish
without hope! If you will not have God’s remedy for your soul malady, the

4. only remedy that there is, there remains for you nothing but blackness and
dismal darkness foreverand ever for you!
II. But, now, secondly, while there is this necessityofcharacter, notice, also,
THE UNIVERSALITY OF PERSONS–“Himthat comes to Me I will in no
wise castout.”
Granted that he comes to Christ, that is all that is needed. Does someonesay,
“Sir, I am a very obscure person. Nobody knows me. My name was never in
the papers and never will be. I am a nobody”? Well, if Mr. Nobody comes to
Christ, He will not casthim out! Come along, you unknown person, you
anonymous individual, you that everybody but Christ forgets!If even you
come to Jesus, He will not castyou out.
Another says, “I am so very odd.” Do not saymuch about that, for I am odd,
too. But, dear Friends, howeverodd we are, though we may be thought very
eccentric and some may even considerus a little touched in the head, yet,
nevertheless, forall that, Jesus says, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise
castout.” Come along with you, Mr. Oddman! You shall not be lost for lack of
brains, nor even for having too many–though that is not a very common
misfortune! If you will but come to Christ, though you have no talent, though
you are but poor and will never make much headway in the world, Jesus says,
“Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.”
“Ah,” says a third friend, “I do not mind about being obscure, or being
eccentric, but it is the greatness ofmy sin that keeps me back from Christ.”
Let us read the text again–“Himthat comes to Me I will in no wise castout.”
If he had been guilty of sevenmurders and all the whoredoms and adulteries
that ever defiled mortal man! If impossible sins could be chargedagainsthim–
yet if he came to Christ, mark you, if he came to Christ–the promise of Jesus
would be fulfilled even in his case, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise
castout.”
“But,” says another, “I am completely worn out. I am goodfor nothing. I have
spent all my days and years in sin. I have says, "Him that comes to Me, I will
in no wise castout.” You have to walk with two sticks, do you? Never mind,
come to Jesus!You are so feeble that you wonder that you are alive at your
advancedage? My Lord will receive you if you are a hundred years of age–
there have been many cases in which persons have been brought to Christ
even after that age!There are some very remarkable instances ofthat fact on
record. Christ says, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.” If he
were as old as Methuselah, if he did but come to Christ, he would not be cast
out!

5. “Alas,” says one, “I am in a worse casethan even that agedfriend, for beside
being old, I have resistedthe Spirit of God! I have been many years troubled
in my conscience,but I have tried to coverit all up. I have stifled every godly
thought.” Yes, yes, and it is a very sad thing, too. But for all that, if you come
to Christ, if you can even make a dash for salvationand come to Jesus, He
cannot castyou out!
Perhaps One friend says, “I am afraid that I have committed the
unpardonable sin.” If you come to Christ, you have not, I know–forhim that
comes to Him, Jesus will in no wise castout! He cannot, therefore, you have
not committed the unpardonable sin. Come along with you, man, and if you
are blackerthan all the rest of the sinners in the world, so much the more
glorious shall be the Grace of Godwhen it shall have proved its powerby
washing you whiter than snow in the precious blood of Jesus!
“Ah,” says one, “you do not know me, Sir.” No, dear Friend, I do not. But,
perhaps, one of these days I may have that pleasure. “It will not be any
pleasure to you, Sir, for I am an apostate. I used to be a professorofreligion,
but I have given it all up, and I have gone back to the world, willfully and
wickedlydoing all manner of evil things.” Ah, well, if you canbut come to
Christ, though there were sevenapostasiespiled, one upon another, still His
promise stands true, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.”
Whateverthe past, or whateverthe present, backslider, return to Christ, for
He stands to His solemn promise, and there are no exceptions mentioned in
my text–“Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.”
“Well, Sir,” cries another, “I should like to come to Christ, but I do not feel fit
to come.” Then, come all unfit, just as you are! Jesus says, “Him that comes to
Me I will in no wise castout.” If I were awakenedin the middle of the night by
a cry of, “Fire!” and I saw that someone was atthe window with a ladder, I do
not think that I would stay in bed, and say, “I have not my black necktie on,”
or, “I have not my best waistcoaton.” I would not speak in that way at all! I
would be out of the window as quickly as everI could, and down the ladder!
Why do you talk about your fitness, fitness, fitness? I have heard of a cavalier,
who lost his life because he stopped to curl his hair when Cromwell’s soldiers
were after him. Some of you may laugh at the man’s foolishness, but that is all
that your talk about fitness is! What is all your fitness but the curling of your
hair when you are in imminent danger of losing your soul? Your fitness is
nothing to Christ. Remember what we sang at the beginning of the service–
“Let not conscience make youlinger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream!
All the fitness He requires

6. Is to feel your need of him!
This He gives you
‘Tis the Spirit’s rising beam!”
Come to Christ just as you are–foul, vile, careless, godless,Christless!Come
now, even now, for Jesus said, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast
out.”
Is there not a glorious width about my text? “Him that comes to Me I will in
no wise castout.” What, “him,” is this? It is, “him that comes!” What, “him
that comes”?Any “him that comes” in all the world! If he comes to Christ, he
shall not be castout! A red man, or a black man, or a white man, or a yellow
man, or a copper-coloredman–whateverhe is, if he comes to Jesus, he shall in
no wise be castout!
When you mean to put a thing broadly, it is always best to state it and leave it.
Do not go into details! The Saviordoes not. Some years ago there was a man,
a kind, loving husband, who wished to leave to his wife all his property.
Whateverhe had, he intended her to have it all, as she ought. So he put down
in his will, “I leave to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, all that I have.” That was all
right. Then he went on to describe in detail what he was leaving her, and he
wrote, “All my freehold and personalestate.” The most of his property
happened to be leasehold, so the wife did not get it because herhusband gave
a detailed description! It was in the detail that the property slipped away from
the goodwoman.
Now, there is no detail at all here–“Him that comes.” Thatmeans that every
man, womanand child beneath the broad heavens, who will but come and
trust in Christ, shall in no wise be castout! I thank God that there is no
allusion to any particular character, in order especiallyto say, “People ofthat
charactershallbe received,” forthen the characters leftout might be
supposedto be excluded. But the text clearlymeans that every soul that comes
to Christ shall be receivedby Him!
III. The flight of time hurries me on! I therefore beg you to listen earnestly
while I speak to you, in the third place, about THE UNMISTAKEABLENESS
OF THE PROMISE–“Himthat comes to Me I will in no wise”–thatis, for no
reason, under no circumstances, atno time, under no conditions whatever–“I
will in no wise castout.” And which means, being interpreted, “I will receive
him, I will save him, I will bless him.”
Then if you, my dear Friend, come to Christ, how could the Lord castyou
out? How could He do it in consistencywith His truthfulness? Imagine my
Lord Jesus making this declarationand giving it to us as an inspired

7. Scripture, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout,” and yet casting
out somebody, even that unknown somebody up in the corner! Why, it would
be a lie! It would be a gross lie! I pray you, blaspheme not my Lord, the
truthful Christ, by supposing that He could be guilty of such conduct as that!
He could do as He liked about whom He would receive until He made the
promise–but after He had pledged His word, He bound Himself by the
veracity of His Nature to keepit and, as long as Christ is the truthful Christ,
He must receive everysoul that comes to Him.
But let me also ask you, suppose that you came to Jesus and He castyou out,
with what hands could He do it? “With His own hands,” you answer. What?
Christ coming forward to castout a sinner who has come to Him? I ask again,
with what hands could He do it? Would He do it with those pierced hands that
still bear the marks of the nails? The Crucified rejecting a sinner? Ah, no, He
has no hand with which to do such a cruel work as that, for He has given both
His hands to be nailed to the tree for guilty men! He has neither hand, nor
foot, nor heart with which to rejectsinners, for all these have been piercedin
His death for them! Therefore He cannotcastthem out if they come to Him.
Let me ask you anotherquestion, What profit would it be to Christ if He did
castyou out? If my dear Lord, with the crown of thorns, the pierced side and
the wounded hands, were to castyou away, what glory would it bring to Him?
If He castyou into Hell, you who have come to Him, what happiness would
that bring to Him? If He were to castyou away, you who have sought His face,
you who trust His love and His blood, by what conceivable method could that
ever render Him the happier or the greater? It cannot be!
What would such a supposition involve? Imagine for a moment that Jesus did
castawayone who came to Him. If it were ascertainedthat one soul came to
Christ and yet He had casthim away, what would happen? Why, there are
thousands of us who would never preachagain! For one, I would have done
with the business. If my Lord can castawaya sinner who comes to Him, I
cannot, with a clearconscience, go and preachfrom His Words, “Him that
comes to Me I will in no wise castout.” Moreover, I should feelthat if He
failed in one promise, He might fail in others!I could not go and preach a
possible but doubtful Gospel!I must have, “shalls,” and, “wills,” from the
eternal Throne of God–but if it is not so, our preaching is in vain–and your
faith is also in vain.
See what would follow if one soul came to Christ and Christ casthim out. All
the saints would lose their confidence in Him. If a man breaks his promise
once, it is of no use for him to say, “Well, I am generally truthful.” You have
caught him false to his word, once, and you will not trust Him again, will you?

8. No! And if our dear Lord, whose every Word is Truth, could break one of His
promises only once, He would not be trusted by His people any more–andHis
Church would lose the faith that is her very life.
Ah, me, and then they would hear of it up in Heaven. And one soulthat came
to Christ, and was castaway, would stop the music of the harps of Heaven,
would dim the luster of the Glory Land, and take awayits joy, for it would be
whispered among the glorified, “Jesushas broken His promise! He castaway
a praying, believing soul! He may break His promise to us–He may drive us
out of Heaven!” When they beganto praise Him, this one actof His would
make a lump come in their throats and they would be unable to sing. They
would be thinking of that poor soul that trusted Him and was castaway–how
could they sing, “Unto Him that loved us, and washedus from our sins in His
own blood,” if they had to add–“But He did not wash all that came to Him,
though He promised that He would”?
I do not even like to talk of all that the supposition would involve! It is
something so dreadful to me, for they would the devil and all his companions!
And they would say, “The Christ is not true to His Word! The boastedSavior
rejectedone who came to Him. He used to receive even harlots–He even let
one washHis feet with her tears!And publicans and sinners came and
gatheredabout Him and He spoke to them in tones of love. But here is one–
well, he was too vile for the Saviorto bless!He was too far gone, Jesus could
not restore him! Christ could not cleanse him. He could save little sinners, but
not greatones!He could save sinners eighteenhundred years ago. Oh, He
made a fine show of them, but His power is now exhausted! He cannot save a
sinner now!” Oh, in the halls of Hell, what jests and ridicule would be poured
upon that dear name and, I had almost said, justly, if Christ castout one who
came to Him! But, Beloved, that can never be! It is as sure as God’s oath, as
certain as Jehovah’s Being that he who comes to Christ shall in no wise be cast
out! I gladly bear my own witness before this assembledthrong that–
“I came to Jesus as I was
Weary and worn, and sad.
I found in Him a resting place,
And He has made me glad.”
Come, eachone of you, and prove the text to be true in your own experience,
for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake!Amen.

9. BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Father's Will And Its Executor
John 6:37-40
B. Thomas
We see:
1. That the majority of Christs hearers disbelieved him. His verdict at last
was, "Ye believe not;" "Ye will not come."
2. That they disbelieved him in spite of the greatestadvantages to faith. (Ver.
36.)
3. That in spite of their obstinate unbelief and cruel rejection, the gracious
purposes of Godand the mission of Jesus will not be void. "Forall that the
Father giveth me," etc. Notice -
I. THE FATHER'S WILL. We see in this will:
1. That he has given a certain number of the human family to Christ. In a
generaland a true sense all the human family have been given him; they are
the objects ofhis saving love and grace. All are invited to the gospelfeast, and
commanded to repent. The earth is Immanuel's land, and the human race,
without exceptionor partiality, are the objects of his saving mercy. But there
are some speciallygiven to Christ; they are spokenof as such: "All that the
Father giveth me." They have been given in the past in purpose; they are
given in the present in fact. This suggests:
(1) That the salvationof the human family is carried on according to the
eternal purpose and plan of God. Everything has been arrangedfrom the
beginning. Nothing happens by accident;neither the Father nor the Son is
ever takenby surprise.
(2) That the mission of Christ is not a speculation, but with regardto him an
absolute certainty. Speculationis a term unapplicable to Divine proceedings;
they are fixed and determined as to their mode and result. Jesus lived and
actedon earth in the full consciousnessofthis. And who would not rejoice that
the blessedRedeemerwas notin this hostile world as the creature of chance
and at the mercy of fate, but ever fortified with the knowledge ofhis Father's
will and purpose, the consciousness ofhis Father's love, and the certainty of
the success ofhis own mission?

10. 2. That the Father gave these to Christ, because he knew that they would
come to him. Let it be remembered that the division of time, as past, present,
and future, is nothing to God. All time to him is present. In his plans and
electionhe experiencedno difficulty arising from ignorance, but all was
divinely clearto him. And we see that he is not arbitrary in his selections, We
know that his authority is absolute;that he has the same authority over man
as the potter over the clay. He cando as he likes, and perhaps this is the only
answerhe would give to some questioners, "I cando as I like." But we know
that he cannot like to do anything that is wrong, unreasonable, orunfair. He
cannot actfrom mere caprice, but his actions are harmonious with all his
attributes, as well as with the highest reason;and can give a satisfactory
reasonfor all acts, and justify himself to his intelligent creatures. The
principle on which he gave certain of the human family to Christ was
willingness on their part to come to him. In the gifts of his providence he has
regard to adaptation - he gives waterto quench thirst, etc. But, in giving
human souls to Christ, he had a specialregard to the human will. He knew as
an absolute fact that some would refuse his offer of grace in Christ, and that
others would gladly acceptthe same offer under the same conditions. The
former he neither would nor could, the latter he graciouslygave. It is an
invariable characteristicofthose given to Christ that they give themselves to
him.
3. Those givento Christ shall certainly come to him. "All that the Father
giveth me shall," etc. Jesus was certainof this. And if given, they come; and if
they come, they were given. Divine foreknowledgeis never at fault, and Divine
grace cannever fail to be effective with regard to those thus given to Christ.
Their coming was included in the gift. There was the knowledge oftheir
coming, and every grace, motive, and help was promised with the gifts; so that
their arrival to Christ is certain. They shall come, in spite of every opposition
and difficulty from within and without.
4. That these were given to Christ in trust for specialpurposes. These are set
forth:
(1) Negatively. "ThatI should lose nothing" (ver. 39). Notone, not the least,
and not even anything necessaryto the happiness of that one.,
(2) Affirmatively. "Mayhave everlasting life." The highest goodthey could
wish and enjoy.
(3) That they should have these blessings on the most reasonable and easy
terms. By simple acceptanceofthe gift, and simple and trustful faith in the
Giver (ver. 40).

11. II. JESUS AS THE EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE OF THE FATHER"S
WILL. In these capacities:
1. He is most gracious, for
(1) the work involves the greatestresponsibilities. Itis true that those given
shall come to him. But look at their miserable condition. They are guilty; he
must procure their pardon. They are condemned; he must justify them. They
are corrupt; he must cleanse and sanctify them. They are sick;he must heal
them. They are in debt; he must pay it. The responsibilities are infinite.
(2) It involves the greatestself-sacrifice.To meetthese responsibilities
required the greatestselfsacrifice possible.Before theycould be justified, he
himself must be condemned; to heal them, he must be mortally wounded; to
make them rich, he must become poor; to pay their debt, he must lay down his
life as a ransom; and to bring them unto glory, he must be made "perfect
through sufferings." What but infinite love would acceptthe trust and execute
the will?
2. He is most tenderly and universally inviting. "Him that cometh to me I
will," etc. These words are most tender and inviting. They were uttered in the
painful consciousness thatmany would not come to him, although there were
infinite provisions and welcome. The door of salvationneed not be wider, nor
the heart of the Saviourmore tender, than this. There is no restriction, no
favouritism. "Him that cometh."
3. He is most adapted for his position. This will appearif we consider:
(1) That he is divinely appointed. "The Father which sent me." The Father
appointed him to be the Trustee and Executorof his will. And he knew whom
to appoint. He acts under the highest authority.
(2) He was willing to undertake the trust. It is true that he was sent, but as
true that he came. "I am come down from heaven" (ver. 38). There was no
coercion. His mission was as acceptable to him as it was pleasing to the
Father, so that he has great delight in his work.
(3) He is thoroughly acquainted with the Divine will. Perfectknowledge is
essentialto perfect execution. Many profess to know much, but where is the
proof? Jesus proves his knowledge by revelation. "This is my Father's will,"
etc. He was acquaintedwith all its responsibilities, its purposes, and
sufferings, as well as all the difficulties in carrying it out. This he knew from
the beginning before he undertook the trust.
(4) He is enthusiasticallydevoted to both parties - to the Testatorand the
legatees. He is devoted to the Father. "I am come down from heaven, not to do

12. mine own will, but," etc. He had a will of his own, but in his mediatorial office
it was entirely merged in that of his Father. He is equally devoted to the
objects of his Father's love; for "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out." And he could say more - he would help and almost compel him to come
in.
(5) He is divinely competent. He is the Sonof God, the Electof the Father,
ever conscious ofhis capacities forthis work. Nota shadow of doubt in this
respectever came across his mind. He was serenelyconscious offulness, of
power, of life - the fulness of the Godhead;and he gave ample proof of his
Divine competencyas he went along. The sick were healed, the dead were
raised, the guilty were pardoned, and all penitents who appealed to him were
saved. Naturally and well he might say, "I will raise him up at the last clay."
And being able to do this, he can do all. All the qualifications necessaryto
execute the Divine will with regardto the human race fully meet in him. "His
will be done."
LESSONS.
1. The purposes of the Divine will are in safe hands. Notone shall suffer on his
account.
2. The lives of believers are in safe custody. Nothing will be lost.
3. The mission of Jesus is certain of success. "Allthat the Father giveth me,"
etc.
4. The perdition of man must come entirely from himself. All the purposes
and dispensations of God, all the mediatorial work of Jesus, are forhis
salvation. All that God in Christ could do for his deliverance is done. Nothing
but his own will canstand betweenhim and eternal life.
5. The duty of all to come to Jesus and accepthis grace. There is a marked
difference betweenthe conduct of Jesus and the conduct of those who reject
him. He receives the vilest; they rejectthe most holy and gracious One. He
opens the door to the most undeserving; they close it againstthe pride of
angels, the inspiration of the redeemed, and the glory of heaven and earth.
Beware oftrifling with the long suffering mercy of Jesus. The lastthing he can
do is to castout; but when he casts out, he casts out terribly. - B.T.

13. Biblical Illustrator
All that the Father hath given Me shall come unto Me, and him that cometh
unto Me I will in no wise castout.
John 6:37
The certainty and freeness ofDivine grace
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. GRACE TRIUMPHANT IN SPECIALITY.
1. Christ leads us up to the original position of all things. All men are
naturally from the beginning in the hand of the Father as Creator, Governor,
and Source and Fountain of election.
2. He proceeds to inform us of a greattransaction. That His Father put His
people into the hands of His Son as the Mediator. Here was the Father's
condescensionin giving, and the Son's compassionin receiving.
3. He assures us that this transactionin eternity involves a certain change in
time. The only token of electionis the definite open choosing of Christ.
4. He hints at a powerpossessedby Him to constrainwanderers to return. Not
that any force is used, but by His messengers, Word, and Spirit, He sweetly
and graciouslycompels men to come in accordancewith the laws of the
human mind, and without impairing human freedom. We are made willing in
the day of Christ's power.
5. He declares that there is no exceptionto this rule of grace. Notsome but all,
individually and collectively.
II. GRACE TRIUMPHANT IN ITS LIBERALITY.
1. The liberality of its character:"him that cometh," the rich, poor, great,
obscure, moral, debauched.
2. The liberality of the coming: no adjective or adverb to qualify. Notcoming
to the sacraments orworship, but to Christ. Some come at once; some are

14. months in coming; some come running; some creeping;some carried; some
with long prayers; some with only two words;some fearfully; some hopefully,
but none are castout.
3. The liberality of the time. It doesn't say when. He may be seventy or only
seven;at any season;on any day.
4. The liberality of the duration. "Nevercastthee out," neither at first nor to
the last,
5. Something of the liberality is seenin the certainty, "in no wise." It is not a
hope as to whether Christ will acceptyou. You cannotperish if you go.
6. There is greatliberality if you will notice the personality. In the first clause,
where everything is special, Jesus usedthe large word "all";in the second,
which is general, He uses the little word "him." Why? Becausesinners want
something that will suit their case. This means me.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
An accountof the persons that come to Christ
T. Horton, D. D.
1. What is meant by coming to Christ?(1) An outward coming in application
of the means. When we come to His ordinances we come to Him.(2) Closing
with Christ, embracing Him, believing on Him, and submitting to Him.
Coming not with the feet but with the heart.
2. What is meant by the Fathergiving men to Christ?(1)In God's eternal
purpose and counsel.(2)In the drawing of our hearts to Him when God by His
Spirit persuades us to close with Christ. This giving is mutual: Christ is given
to us and we to Him, so there is a marriage-knotdrawn and contracted
betweenus.
I. ALL THAT THE FATHER HATH GIVEN ME SHALL COME TO ME.
1. This is an expressionof some latitude and universality — "all" (Ephesians
1:4, 5; 2 Peter 3:9). From which we learn how to make our calling and election
sure, viz., by closing with the conditions of the gospel. We may know whether
we are given to Christ by coming to Him.
2. This is an expressionof restriction. None come to Christ but such as are
given to Him (John 6:44; 2 Corinthians 3:5; Philippians 2:13). The reasons
why none come to Christ but those whom God gives to Him are —(1) Because
all others are ignorant of Him, and without the knowledge ofChrist there is
no coming to Him (Matthew 16:16, 17).(2)There is a perverseness in their

15. wills and affections, so that though many know Him, they hang off from Him
(John 3:19), so there must also be a drawing of their hearts which is the work
of God alone.
3. From the word "come" we learnthat men by nature are distant from
Christ.
4. From the word "given" we see that all men are in the hands of God, for
none can give what they have not got.
II. CHRIST'S ENTERTAINMENT OF THOSE WHO COME TO HIM.
1. His reception.(1)He will take them into friendship with Himself (Matthew
11:28;Isaiah 55:7; Ezekiel33:11).(2)None excepted(Revelation22:17). There
is nothing to exclude (Isaiah 1:18; 1 Timothy 1:15).(3) What an
encouragementto all men to close with Christ.
(a)The nature of our sins cannotexclude us, since Paul, Manasseh, Mary
Magdalene, etc., found mercy (Psalm 25:11). The ground of God's pardon is
not our sin, but His grace (Isaiah44:3, 24, 25).
(b)Nor the Humber of our sins (Hosea 14:4; Jeremiah3:1).
(c)Nor any supposed imperfection in our humiliation. We are humbled
sufficiently if we come.(4)Considerthe greatadvantage of coming.
(a)Pardon and the life of justification (Isaiah 55:7; Micah7:19).
(b)Powerover sin and the life of sanctification.
(c)Comfort and peace ofconscience.(5)To enlarge, we may come not only in
conversion, but after it, for assurance, greatermeasures ofgrace, and
progress. Letus then come boldly (Hebrews 4:16).
2. His custody and preservation. "I will keephim in."
(T. Horton, D. D.)
The Father's gift the sinner's privilege
Dr. Andrews.
I. THE EXPRESSION. "Allthat the Father," etc.
1. Number. Who can measure the amplitude of "all"?
2. Definiteness. Notone more or less.
3. Relation. The Father sends His Son to men and men to His Son. The
conditions of this relation are the Incarnation and Atonement on the part of
Christ; coming or believing on the part of men.

16. 4. Donation. This was mediatorial.
5. Value. What must be the worth of that which the Father could give and
Christ accept?
II. THE PROMISE. "Shallcome unto Me."
1. The certainty. "He shall see of the travail of His soul."
2. The act.
(1)Externally, they shall be brought in the providence of God under the means
of grace.
(2)Spiritually. If you have come to Christ you have entered into the meaning
of four words — conviction of sin, the suitableness ofChrist, venturing on
Christ, continual coming to Christ.
III. THE ENCOURAGEMENT."Iwill in no wise castout."
1. Personality. "Him." Sin is personal, so must salvationbe.
2. Extent. Christianity is the only universal religion; it can take root
everywhere because it makes its offer to everybody.
3. The removal of doubts.(1) On the part of sinners.
(a)When they have been calledlate in life; but remember the dying thief.
(b)Sin suggests doubts. It is not what you have been, but what you are willing
to be.
(c)Unworthiness and infirmity create doubts.
(d)Doubts arise from ignorance. All these are removed by the invitation.(2)
On the part of saints.
(a)Many feel a sense ofinward corruption.
(b)Others are conscious ofstupidity and perverseness.
(c)Lowness ofattainment suggestsdoubts; and
(d)Remaining guilt and imperfection. But what are these in the light of the
promise, "Him that," etc.?
(Dr. Andrews.)
Encouragementto seekers fromthe purposes and promises o
W. Hancock, M. A.
f God: —

17. I. GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE.
1. God the Father is the prime Moverin the scheme of redemption. Beware of
regarding the Father as an enemy and the Son as a friend. The Father's love is
perpetually magnified in Scripture.
2. The Father hath given His Son a multitude which no man can number.
3. This gift was a very burdensome one to the Son. A ransom must be paid
and satisfactiongiven.
4. The acceptance ofthe gift was mostwilling, for the Son gave Himself to
receive it (Ephesians 5:25).
II. THE ARTICLE OF THE COVENANT which secures the actualunion of
His people to the Redeemer. "Shallcome unto Me."
1. What is meant by coming to Christ?
(1)Seeking, implying a sense ofneed, danger, misery, condemnation, ruin.
(2)Finding, including an enlightened understanding, and the revelation of the
Saviour as suited to the sinner's necessities.
(3)Appropriation.
2. The instrument of calling sinners is the Word, the Law with its warnings
and threatenings, the gospelwith its invitations and promises.
3. The effectual agentis the Spirit. We preach like Ezekielto dry bones until
the heavenly breath breathes upon them.
III. THE PROMISE. "Him that cometh," etc. The preacher's commissionis
as unlimited as this promise. "Go ye into all the world," go.
1. Our encouragementto go forth under this commissionis drawn from our
knowledge ofGod's purpose. This assures us that our labour shall not be in
vain.
2. No degree or kind of guilt will be a bar to the sinner's receptionif he will
but come.
3. Surely then the expostulationis timely, "Why will ye die?"
(1)Why go on in ways you know to be ruinous?
(2)Why keepawayfrom Jesus when you are sure of a welcome?
4. Whose fault will it be if you perish? Yours, not God's.
(W. Hancock, M. A.)

18. Comers welcomed
T. Whitelaw, D. D.
I. GROUNDS ON WHICH THEY FEAR REJECTION.
1. Supposedomissionfrom the number of the given, in which case they deem
it hopeless to come.
2. Greatness ofguilt — they are too bad to be received.
3. Absence of merit — they are not goodenoughto be accepted.
4. Lateness ofrepenting — they are too old to be welcomed.
5. Defects in believing — their faith is too feeble or not of the right sort.
II. REASONS WHY THEY ARE SURE OF A WELCOME. Christ will not
castthem out.
1. Fortheir sakes. He knows —
(1)The value of the soul.
(2)The greatnessofthe peril.
(3)The blessednessofsalvation.
2. ForHis Father's sake. To do so would be to place dishonour upon Him
whose will He had been sent to perform.
3. ForHis own sake. Since everysinner saved is —
(1)An increase to His glory.
(2)A triumph of His grace.
(3)A trophy of His power.
(4)A subject added to His empire.
4. Forthe world's sake. How could the gospelprevail if it gotnoised abroad
that one was rejected. Lessons —
1. Despairfor none.
2. Hope for all.
(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
High doctrine and broad doctrine
C. H. Spurgeon.
Consider—

19. I. THE ETERNALPURPOSE.
1. If all that the Fathergiveth to Christ shall come to Him, then some shall
come, and why should you not be among them? One says, "Suppose I am not
one of the elect";but suppose you are — or, better still, leave off supposing
altogetherand go to Christ and see.
2. Those who come to Christ come because ofthe Fatherand the Son. They
come to Christ not because of any goodin them, but because ofthe Father's
gift. There never was a soul who wanted to come but Jesus wantedhim to
come a hundred times as much.
3. They are all savedbecause they come to Christ, and not otherwise. There is
no way of salvation for peculiar people. The King's highway is for all.
4. If I come to Christ, it is most clearthat the Father gave me to Christ.
II. THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL.
1. "Him that cometh," go., is one of the most generous ofgospeltexts.
Generous —(1) As to the characterto whom the promise is made. "Him," the
atrocious sinner, the backslider, you.(2) The text gives no limit to the coming,
save that they must come to Christ. Some come running, some limping, etc.(3)
There is no limit as to time. Young and old.
2. The blessedcertainty of salvation — lit. "I will not, not," or "never, never
castout."
3. The personality of the text — "Him," that is, thee.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Coming to Christ
The Pulpit.
Every stage of the Redeemer's life confirmed the delightful fact, that "God
sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world," etc.
I. THE OBJECTOF APPROACH. Prophets spake of Him, that around Him
should throng the sons and daughters of woe. Jacobsaid, when dying, "Unto
Him shall the gathering togetherof the people be." Isaiahsaid, "Unto Him
shall men come";and He Himself said, "All that the Fatherhath given Me,"
etc. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." He possesses
qualifications to relieve our wants, in opposition to all assumedcharacters.
1. He is infinitely wise.
2. He is of illimitable power.

20. 3. He is of boundless compassion:and by possessionofthese, He is able to save
to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
II. THE PURPOSES FOR WHICHWE ARE TO COME.
1. Forinstruction. We are ignorant of ourselves — of God — of Christ — of
the wayof salvation. He is the light of the world — the greatprophet. "All thy
children shall be taught of the Lord," etc.
2. Forpardon. We are guilty, and need pardon. "Him hath God exaltedwith
His right hand," etc. "In whom we have redemption through His blood — the
forgiveness ofsins," etc. Whosoeverbelievethin Him shall receive remission
of sins.
3. Forstrength. We have duties to perform, difficulties to encounter, trials to
endure. Without Him we can do nothing: but He has said, "My grace is
sufficient for thee," and always remember as a check to indolence and
supineness, that though without Him we can do nothing, "we cando all things
through Christ, which strengthenethus."
4. Forpeace. He is the Prince of Peace. "Mypeace Ileave with you," etc.; and
we, as ministers of Christ, preach peace through the blood of His cross.
5. Foreternal life. "I give unto My sheepeternal life." He is the record, "God
hath given unto us eternallife, and this life is in His Son."
III. HOW WE ARE TO COME. A bodily act is not intended; many do this,
and not come at all. Jesus said, when they thronged around Him, "Ye will riot
come unto Me that ye might have life"; but a spiritual act is meant; and does
it not remind us that we are naturally at a distance, not locally, but
spiritually; and hence arises the necessityofthe agencyof the Holy Spirit —
"No man cancome unto Me," etc.
1. We come by prayer: "Hence," says Paul, "letus come boldly to the throne
of grace."
2. By faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please God," etc.
(1)It regards His Divinity.
(2)His humanity.
(3)That He is the appointed medium of approach — "I am the way, the truth,
and the life."
3. With humility on accountof our sin.

21. 4. Contrition. Not sorrow merely for its consequences,but from a view of its
nature, and the Being againstwhom it is committed. "Thatgodly sorrow
which workethrepentance to salvation," etc.
IV. THE CERTAINTYOF ACCEPTANCE. "Iwill in no wise castout."
1. From the promises and invitations of Scripture. "And the Spirit and the
Bride say, Come." " Ho, every one that thirsteth." "Come unto Me, all ye that
labour." "Wherefore, He also is able to save to the uttermost." "As I live,
saith the Lord, I have no pleasure." "Notwilling that any should perish," etc.
2. From the examples of the Scripture. There stands a Manasseh, a Magdalen,
St. Luke, a Thief on the Cross, and a Saul of Tarsus. Go to heaven, and ask if
Jesus was willing to receive them? The question shall give a fresh impulse to
the song, while they swellthe strains, and cry, "He loved me, and gave
Himself for me." Go to the regions of darkness, and ask of them, Is one there
that applied to Him? and, while anguish swells their bosoms, they will answer,
No; we despisedand rejectedHim, and would not have Him to reign over us.
Go to the north, east, west, and south, and ask believers whether Jesus did not
receive them graciously. Theywill all give their testimony — While a great
way off, He ran and met me, and fell upon my neck and kissedme.
Conclusion:address to those already come — those coming — and those at a
distance.
(The Pulpit.)
Coming to Christ
D. L. Moody.
I have read of an artist who wantedto paint a picture of the prodigal son. He
searchedthrough the mad-houses, and the poor-houses, and the prisons, to
find a man wretchedenough to represent the prodigal, but he could not find
one. One day he was walking down the streets and met a man whom He
thought would do. He told the poor beggarhe would pay him well if he came
to his room and satfor his portrait. The man agreed, and the day was
appointed for him to come. The day came, and a man put in his appearance at
the artist's room. "You made an appointment with me," he said, when he was
shown into the studio. The artist lookedat him, and said, "I never saw you
before." "Yes," he said, "I agreedto meet you to-day at ten o'clock." "You
must be mistaken; it must have been some other artist; I was to see a beggar
here at this hour." "Well," saidthe man, "I am he." "You? Yes." "Why,
what have you been doing? Well, I thought I would dress myself up a bit

22. before I got painted." "Then," saidthe artist," I do not want you; I wanted
you as you were;now you are no use to me." That is the way Christ wants
every poor sinner, just as he is.
(D. L. Moody.)
Coming to Christ
ClericalLibrary.
"My next step," said an anxious inquirer, "is to get deeper conviction." "No,"
said a Christian friend, "your next stepis to go to Christ just as you are. He
does not say, come to conviction, come to a deepersense of sin, which you
have been labouring to get, but 'Come unto Me.'" "Ah," she exclaimed, "I see
it now. Oh, how self-righteous I have been, really refusing Christ, while all the
time I thought I was preparing to come to Him." "Will you go to Jesus now?"
Humbly, yet decisively, she responded, "Yes, I will." And the Lord in the
richness of His grace and mercy enabled bet to do so.
(ClericalLibrary.)
Christ the Saviour of all who come to Him
I. OUR DUTY TO CHRIST. To come to Him.
1. How.(1)By repentance (Matthew 11:28;Mark 1:15).(2)By faith.(a)
Assenting to Him (Hebrews 11:6) that He is an only (Acts 4:12) and all-
sufficient Saviour (Hebrews 7:12).(b) Receiving Him (John 1:12) for our
Priest, to atone (Hebrews 9:12) and to make intercession(Hebrews 7:25; 1
John 2:1); for our Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22), to make known
God's will and to enable us to know it (John 16:13); for our King (Isaiah 9:6;
John 18:36; Matthew 28:18), to subdue our enemies (Hebrews 2:14), to rule
over us (Psalm 110:1-3).
2. What for.
(1)Pardon (Acts 5:31).
(2)Acceptance (Romans 5:1).
(3)Purity (Titus 2:14; Acts 3:26).
(4)Eternal life (John 5:40; Matthew 11:28).
II. CHRIST'S PROMISE, thatif we come to Him He will in no wise castus
out.

23. 1. What are we to understand by this? That He will receive us (Titus 2:14)
into —
(1)The number of His people (1 Peter2:9);
(2)His love and favour (John 13:1);
(3)His care and protection (John 17:12);
(4)An interest in his death and passion;
(5)A participation of His grace and spirit (John 16:7);
(6)His intercession(John 17:9);
(7)His presence and glory (John 17:24).
2. How does this appear.
(1)We have His promise.
(2)This was the end of His coming (John 3:16; John 6:39, 40).
III. MOTIVES TO COME TO CHRIST.
1. Are we in debt? He will be our Surety (Hebrews 7:22).
2. Are we in prison? He will be our Redeemer.
3. Are we sick? He will be our Physician (Matthew 9:12).
4. Are we arraigned? He will be our Advocate, (1 John 2:1).
5. Are we condemned? He will be our Saviour (Romans 8:34).
6. Are we estrangedfrom God? He will be our Mediator(1 Timothy 2:5).
7. Are we in misery? He will be our Comforter (Psalm 94:19).
8. Are we weary? He will give us rest (Matthew 11:28). Wherefore come to
Him.
(1)Presently.
(2)Cheerfully.
(3)Sincerely.
(4)Resolutely.
(Bp. Beveridge.)
The all-important advent
J. Vaughan, M. A.
I. THE EVENT. There are various advents.

24. 1. The incarnation.
2. Through the Spirit.
3. At the judgment.
4. That of our text — a man's coming to Christ. This is dependent on the first,
is made effectualthrough the second, and secures that the third shall be
blessedand glorious.
II. THE CONSEQUENCE. Thosewho come will not be castout.
1. Becauseit is not in Christ's nature to do so.
2. BecauseHe has shed His blood for this very purpose.
3. BecauseHe has said it, which is enough.
III. THE MANNER.
1. Direct— not through any mediator.
2. As you are.
3. As you can.
4. Now.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Coming unto Jesus
S. Miller.
Take everyother verse out of the Scriptures, and leave but this, and you have
a foundation on which a world of souls may build their hopes and never be
put to shame. Hear it, impenitent sinners, alarmed souls, desponding
believers, rejoicing saints.
I. THE PERSONPOINTEDOUT. What is meant by coming to Him.
1. Negatively.
(1)Notto the Scriptures, they only testify of Him (John 5:39, 40).
(2)Notthe Church, that is only a means, not the fountain of grace.
(3)Notprayer, that is a well of salvationbut not salvation.
(4)Vers. 5, 22-24, show how possible it is to come, and yet not to come to
Christ Himself.
2. Positively. Christ addresses the spiritual part of man's nature, and the
invitation implies —

25. (1)A forsaking of sin. To come to is to come from (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
(2)A renouncing of self.
(3)Faith which workethby love (vers. 35, 68, 69).
I. THE ASSURANCE GIVEN CONCERNINGTHE PERSON INDICATED.
1. The assurance itself.
(1)It is unrestricted.
(2)Personal.
(3)Basedupon the good"will" of Christ.
(4)Emphatic, "in no wise."
2. The grounds of the assurance.
(1)The purposes of the Father.
(2)The death of Christ.
(3)The resurrectionof Christ.
(4)The work of the Spirit.
(5)All God's attributes make it sure.Conclusion.
1. What say you to this?
2. Transpose the text, "Him that cometh not to Me I will castout."
(S. Miller.)
The gospelwelcome
D. Moore, M. A.
I. THE STATES OF MIND WITH WHICH WE SHOULD COME. The
previous part of the text need prove no stumbling-block. All it affirms is that
those whom the Father gives do come to Christ. Put the two togetherand they
affirm the absolute freeness ofthe Divine grace, and exhibit that grace as
acting in concurrence with our voluntary powers. Salvationis neither
arbitrary, mechanical, nor compulsory. We must corneal. With childlike and
dependent trust.(1) The primary element of all true faith, which is the
movement of mind and heart towards God, is simple reliance on the gospel
testimony that Christ is all-sufficient for the purposes of salvation.(2)The
greatstrength and stay of this faith is that it enables the soul to rely
exclusively upon a personalRedeemer.(3)This absolute casting of ourselves
on Christ is not offeredas a permission, but as a positive command.

26. 2. With chastenedhumility and godly sorrow, repentance and faith stand
togetherin the gospelcommission, and are always united in the experience of
the faithful. "Going and weeping." The prodigal.
3. In the spirit of total self-renunciation. Leave self, righteousness,sin, etc.,
and come to ME.
II. THE ENCOURAGEMENTAND CONFIDENCE we have in coming to
Christ.
1. "Him that cometh" or is coming, in the very actof coming now. It is a
constantly repeatedact; alike necessaryin regenerationand sanctification.
This includes all of whatsoevercountry, church, condition, rank.
(1)Hear it, ye young. There is a sense in which your coming to Christ may be
too late, but there is none in which it canbe too early.
(2)Ye middle agedwhom harassing cares disquiet. He will allow for
everything but a refusal to come.
(3)Ye aged. Perhaps the harvestis passedand ye are not saved.
2. "In no wise."
(1)But I have stayed awaytoo long.
(2)I am a backslider. No matter.
3. Has Jesus ever castany one out? No.
(1)All the glorious perfections of His nature bend Him to welcome you.
(2)The mighty price paid for your redemption.
(3)The purpose and promises of God.Conclusion:Not to come is to be
rejected;not to be saved is to be lost; there is no middle state.
(D. Moore, M. A.)
Invitations of the gospel -- the sinner's warrant
C. H. Spurgeon.
In the courts of law if a man be calledas a witness, no sooneris his name
mentioned, though he may be at the end of the court, than he begins to force
his wayup to the witness-box. Nobodysays, "Why is this man pushing here?"
or, if they should say, "Who are you?" it would be a sufficient answerto say,
"My name was called." "Butyou are not rich, you have no gold ring upon
your finger!" "No, but that is not my right of way, but I was called." "Sir, you
are not a man of repute, or rank, or character!" "It matters not, I was called.

27. Make way." So make way, ye doubts and fears, make way, ye devils of the
infernal lake, Christ calls the sinner. Sinner, come, for though thou hast
nought to recommend thee, yet it is written, "Him that cometh unto Me I will
in no wise castout."
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The essentialin religion
W. Hoyt.
I. WHAT TRUE RELIGION IS.
1. Negatively.
(1)It cannot consistin any feeling of moral fitness. What need of coming to
Christ if our own nature is morally sufficient?
(2)Nor in the observance ofexternal ritual. The source of the corruptions of
Christianity is the tendency to put form for faith.
(3)Nor in simple orthodoxy.
2. Positively. A living relation with a living Christ.
II. THE METHOD OF GAINING TRUE RELIGION.
1. Notthronging about Christ.
2. But coming to Christ by faith.
III. THE PROOF OF THE POSSESSIONOF TRUE RELIGION.
1. Notin an old experience preservedin the memory.
2. Norin a present release from the fear of death.
3. Norin the fervent glow of feeling (these may accompanyit), but in the
present proneness of the soul on these words of Christ.Conclusion:Why will
you not come to Christ?
1. Is it because you are afraid of ridicule and what others may say?
"Whosoevershallbe ashamedof Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of
man be ashamed."
2. Is it because ofthe inconsistenciesofChristians? "Every man Shall give
accountof himself to God."
3. Is it because you are not willing to give up all to Christ? "What shall it
profit a man," etc.

28. 4. Is it because you are thinking you will do as well as you can, and that God
ought to be satisfiedwith that? "Whosoevershallkeepthe whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
5. Is it because you are postponing the matter without any definite reason?
"Boastnotthyself of to-morrow," etc.
6. Is it because you fearyou will not be accepted? "Him that cometh unto Me
I will in no wise castout."
(W. Hoyt.)
Scripture difficulties
W. Hancock., C. H. Spurgeon.
To thread a needle in the dark is a thing which no one can do. The difficulty
and impossibility, however, does not lie in the thing itself, but in the
circumstances under which it is attempted. Only let there be light, and the
thing is not only possible, but perfectly easy. This will serve to illustrate our
inability to reconcile, understand, and explain certain mysteries in Divine
things; for instance, to reconcile God's fixed decrees andinfallible
foreknowledgewith man's free will and responsibility. Our Lord plainly
declares, that "no man can come to Him except the Father draw him"; but, at
the same time, He gives the widest and most unlimited invitation — "Come
unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
"Whosoeverwill, let him take of the water of life freely." And He charges it as
entirely their own fault, if any refuse to come, and so perish: "Ye are not
willing to come to Me, that ye might have life."
(W. Hancock.)Iwas cruising one day in the westernHighlands. It had been a
splendid day, and the glorious sceneryhad made our journey like an
excursionto Fairy Land; but it came to an end, for darkness and night
assertedtheir primeval sovereignty. Right ahead was a vast headland of the
isle of Arran. How it frowned againstthe evening sky! The mighty rock
seemedto overhang the sea. Justat its base was a little bay, and into this we
steamed, and there we lay at anchorage allnight, safe from every wind that
might happen to be seeking outits prey. In that calm loch we seemedto lie in
the mountain's lap while its broad shoulders screenedus from the wind. Now,
the first part of my text, "All that the Fathergiveth Me shall come to Me,"
rises like a huge headland high into the heavens. Who shall scale its height?
Upon some it seems to frown darkly. But here at the bottom lies the placid,
glassylake of infinite love and mercy: "Him that comethto Me I will in no

29. wise castout." Steam into it, and be safe under the shadow of the greatrock.
You will be the better for the mountain-truth as your barque snugly reposes
within the glittering waters at its foot; while you may thank God that the text
is not all mountain to repel you, you will be grateful that there is enough of it
to secure you.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Characternot needed for salvation
J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.
In the mission at George Yard, Whitechapel, a convertedstreet-singer, who
had experiencedmuch difficulty in getting work for want of a "character,"
but who afterwards became a licensedhawkerand distributed tracts as he
walkedalong, said: "Bless God, I have found out that Jesus will, take a man
without a character."
(J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)
The essenceofthe gospel
W. Hoyt.
Pluck a green leaffrom a bough and look at it. That leaf, science tells us, is the
typical tree. The tree is built upon the pattern of that leaf. The tree is only the
leaf expanded, and with its various parts altered to suit new requirements; but
the idea manifest in the leaf is the idea according to which the tree is made
and shaped. For instance, science tells us that the seed — the starting-point of
life to the tree — is only a leaf rolled tight and changedin tissue and in
contents, and so fitted for its specialuses. The tree-trunk is only the leaf-stem
made to take columnar form, and greatly lengthened and strengthenedand
enlarged. All the mingling mass of branch and bough and twig, lifting their
manifold tracery againstthe sky, is but the reproduction and increasing of the
delicate tangle of veins striking through the greensubstance of the leaf. In
short, the tree is only the leafcut in larger pattern. Everything in the huge
tree is adjusted to the method of the little leaf. In the leafyou have the tree in
germ and type. So it is, it has seemedto me, with this short text I have read to
you, "Him that comethto Me I will in no wise castout." It is the typical
gospel. In this text we have the whole greatgospelin germ and type. The
entire system of the revelationof salvation is shaped after the pattern of this
text.

30. (W. Hoyt.)
The accessiblenessofChrist
C. H. Spurgeon.
Have you never read the story of the goodship that had been a long time at
sea, and the captainhad lost his reckoning;he drifted up the mouth of the
greatriver Amazon, and, after he had been sailing for a long time up the river
without knowing that he was in a river at all, they ran short of water. When
another vesselwas seen, theysignalled her, and when they gotnear enough for
speaking they cried, "Water!We are dying for water!" They were greatly
surprised when the answercame back, "Dip it up! Dip it up! You are in a
river. It is all around you." They had nothing to do but to fling the bucket
overboard, and have as much wateras ever they liked. And here are poor
souls crying out, "Lord, what must I do to be saved?" whenthe greatwork is
done, and all that remains to them is to receive the free gift of eternal life.
What must you do? You have done enough for one life-time, for you have
undone yourself by your doing. That is not the question. It is, "Lord, what
hast thou done?" And the answeris, "It is finished. I have done it all. Only
come and trust Me." Sinner, you are in a river of grace and mercy. Over with
the bucket, man, and drink to the full.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Human perversity
H. G. Guiness.
If a compassionateprince wrote over his palace gate — "Him that cometh to
Me I will in no wise castout," would poor beggars reading it need to have
these words explained before they could understand them? And if the good
man kept his word, and receivedall who askedhis help, would his porch be
ever empty night or day? Yet has Jesus, the Prince of Life, emblazoned these
words in large, shining letters above His gates ofgrace, and ever kept His
promise to help all the destitute and miserable who come to Him, and
thousands of sinners are found to this hour who will not understand them,
and millions of sinners who care nothing about them.
(H. G. Guiness.)
Abundant mercy

31. T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.
You say, "Do not getthe invitation too large, for there is nothing more
awkwardthan to have more guests than accommodation." Iknow it. The
Seamen's Friend Societyare inviting all the sailors. The TractSocietyis
inviting all the destitute. The Sabbath schools are inviting all the children. The
American and ForeignChristian Union is inviting all the Roman Catholics.
The MissionarySocietyis inviting all the heathen. The printing-presses of
Bible Societies are going night and day, doing nothing but printing invitations
to this greatgospelbanquet. And are you not afraid that there will be more
guests than accommodation? No!All who have been invited will not half fill
up the table of God's supply. There are chairs for more. There are cups for
more. God could with one featherof His wing coverup all those who have
come;and when He spreads out both wings, they coverall the earth and all
the heavens.
(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
None castout by Christ
H. O. Mackey.
In some of the hotels on the road to the lead and gold mines of California,
there is constantly to be found in the registerthe names of persons with
"D.B." opposite to them. This means "dead broke," and it is the customnever
to refuse a meal to these poor fellows who have riskedand lost their all in
these precarious ventures.
(H. O. Mackey.)
Whosoevercomes is saved
A messengercame to a Hasten as quick as you can, there is a Sunday-school
superintendent and said: "A boy in a garret that wants to see you: he is
dying." The Sunday-schoolsuperintendent hastenedto the place, and in the
garret, in the straw, lay a boy who had been crushed by a cart. He was dying;
and as the superintendent entered, the boy said: "Oh! I am so glad you have
come. Didn't I hear you say the other Sunday that ' whomsoevercomes to God
he would be saved?'" "Yes," repliedthe superintendent, "I said about that."
"Well," saidthe boy," then I am saved. I have been a bad boy, but I have been
thinking of that, and I have been saying that over to myself, and I am saved."
After he had seenhis superintendent, his strength seemedto fail, and in a few
moments he expired, and the last words on his lips were:"Whomsoever

32. cometh to God, He will in no wise be castout." He did not getthe words
exactly right, but he got the spirit.
Mercy for all
T. Guthrie, D. D.
Men are going to ruin; but not like the boat that was seenshooting the rapid,
and had reacheda point above the cataractwhere no power could stem the
raging current. To the horror of those who watchedit shooting on to
destruction, a man was seenon board, and asleep. The spectators ran along
the banks. They cried; they shouted; and the sleeperawokeatlength to take
in all his danger at one fearful glance. To spring to his feet, to throw himself
on the bench, to seize the oars, to strain every nerve in superhuman efforts to
turn the boat's head to the shore, was the work of an instant. But in vain.
Away went the bark to its doom, like an arrow from the bow. It hangs a
moment on the edge of the gulf; and then, is gone for ever. Suppose a man to
be as near hell! — if I could awakenhim, I would. The dying thief was saved
in the actof going over into perdition. Christ caught and saved him there.
And He who is mighty to save, saving at the uttermost cansave, though all our
life were wastedto its lastbreath, if that lastbreath is spent in gasping out St.
Peter's cry, "Save, Lord, or I perish!"
(T. Guthrie, D. D.)
A Saviour for the lost
"I am lost," saidMr.Whitefield's brother to the Countess ofHuntingdon. "I
am delighted to hear it," said the Countess. "Oh," criedhe, "whata dreadful
thing to say!" "Nay," saidshe, "'for the Sonof man is come to seek and to
save that which was lost'; therefore I know He is come to save you." O sinner,
it would be unreasonable to despair. The more broken thou art, the more
ruined thou art, the more vile thou art in thine own esteem, so much the more
room is there for the display of infinite mercy and power.
The gospelfor dying hours
C. H. Spurgeon.
You may know the name of Mr. Durham, the author of a famous book on
Solomon's Song, one of the most earnestof Scotland's ancientpreachers.
Some days before he died he seemedto be in some perplexity about his future

33. well-being, and said to his friend Mr. Carstairs, "Dearbrother, for all that I
have written or preached, there is but one Scripture which I can now
remember or dare grip unto now that I am hastening to the grave. It is this —
'Whosoevercomethunto Me, I will in no wise castout.' Pray tell me if I dare
lay the weight of my salvation upon it." Mr. Carstairs justly replied,
"Brother, you may depend upon it, though you had a thousand salvations at
hazard." You see it was a plain, sinner's text that He restedon. Just as Dr.
Guthrie wanted them to sing a bairn's hymn, so do dying saints need the plain
elementary doctrines of the gospelto restupon.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Jesus a greatSaviour
C. H. Spurgeon.
Remember He never did castany one out. Neveryet! Neverone! I have
declaredthis everywhere, and I have said, "If Jesus Christ casts any one of
you out when you come to Him, pray let me know; for I do not want to go up
and down the country telling lies." Again I give the challenge. If my Lord does
eastout one poor soul that comes to Him, let me know it, and I will give up
preaching. I should not have the face to come forward and preach Christ after
that; for He Himself has saidit, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast
out"; and He would be a false Christ if He acted contrary to His word. He
cannot castyou out; why should He? "Oh, but then I am so bad." So much
the less likelyis He to refuse you, for there is the more room for His grace.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ never fails
C. H. Spurgeon.
When a man brings out a patent medicine, he publishes verifications of the
efficacyof his physic. He gets a number of cases,and he advertises them. I
suppose they are genuine. I should not like to be hangedif they were not. I
suppose, therefore, they are all accurate and authentic. But there is one thing
which you never knew a medicine advertiserdo: he never advertises the
failures of the medicine. The number of persons that have been induced to
buy the remedy, and have derived no goodfrom it: if these were all
advertised, it might occupymore room in the newspaperthan those who write
of a cure. My Lord Jesus Christis a Physician who never had a failure yet —
never once. Neverdid a soul washin Christ's blood without being made

34. whiter than snow. Neverdid a man, besottedwith the worstof vice, trust in
Jesus without receiving power to conquer his evil habits. Not even in the
lowestpit of hell is there one that dares to say, "I trusted Christ, and I am
lost. I sought His face with all my heart, and He castme away." There is not a
man living that could say that, unless he dared to lie; for not one has with
heart and soul soughtthe Saviour, and trusted in Him, and then had a
negative from Him. He must save you if you trust Him. As surely as He lives
He must save you, for He has put it, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
castout." I will repeat it, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise castout."
You have never come if He has not receivedyou; for He must save those who
trust in Him.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The forgiving mercy of God
J. Spencer.
It is reported of Julius Caesar, thathe never entertained hatred againstany so
deeply but he was willing to lay down the same upon the tender of submission.
As when C. Memnius put in for the consulship, he befriended him before
others of the competition, notwithstanding that Memnius had made bitter
invectives againsthim. Thus the great Godof Heaven, to whom all the
Caesarsand kings of the earth are tributaries and homagers, doth never hate
so irreconcilably but that true humiliation will work a reconciliation— let but
the sinner appear before Him in a submissive posture, and His angerwill be
soonappeased.
(J. Spencer.)
How to come to Christ
Ira D. Sankey.
At a gathering in the WestEnd of London the Rev. CaesarMalanfound
himself seatedby a young lady. In the course ofconversationhe askedher if
she were a Christian. She turned upon him, and somewhatsharply replied,
"That's a subject I don't care to have discussedhere this evening." "Well,"
answeredMr. Malan, with inimitable sweetnessofmanner, "I will not persist
in speaking of it, but I shall pray that you may give your heart to Christ, and
become a useful workerfor Him." A fortnight afterwards they met again, and
this time the young lady approachedthe minister with marked courtesy, and
said, "The question you askedme the other evening has abided with me ever

35. since, and causedme very greattrouble. I have been trying in vain in all
directions to find the Saviour, and I come now to ask you to help me to find
Him. I am sorry for the way in which I previously spoke to you, and now come
for help." Mr. Malanansweredher, "Come to Him just as you are." "Butwill
He receive me just as I am, and now? Oh, yes," said Mr. Malan, "gladly will
He do so." Theythen knelt togetherand prayed, and she soonexperiencedthe
holy joy of a full forgiveness through the blood of Christ. The young lady's
name was Charlotte Elliot, and to her the whole Church is indebted for the
pathetic hymn commencing, "Just as I am, without one plea.
(Ira D. Sankey.)
None castout
C. H. Spurgeon.
I went the other day to St. Cross Hospitalnear Winchester. There they give
awaya piece of bread to everybody who knocks atthe door. I knockedas bold
as brass. Why should I not? I did not humble myself particularly and make
anything specialof it. It was for all, and I came and receivedas one of the
people who were willing to knock.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The comfort of the gospelin a dying hour
DeanStanley.
When the greatBishop Butler was lying on his death-bed, he was observedto
be unusually pensive and dejected, and on being askedthe cause, ha replied,
"ThoughI have endeavoured to avoid sin and please God to the utmost of my
power, yet from the consciousnessofperpetual infirmities, I am still afraid to
die." A friend who stoodby read him this text. "Ah," saidthe dying man, I
have read that a thousand times, but I never felt its full force till this moment,
and now I die happy.
(DeanStanley.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

36. (37) All that the Fathergiveth me.—There is something startling in this power
of the human will to reject the fullest evidence, and to remain unbelieving,
after the proof which it has itself demanded as a foundation for its belief. In
that assemblythere are representatives ofthe differing stages offaith and
non-faith in Him, which every age of Christianity has seen. Here are men in
the pride of human wisdom rejecting Him because He does not fulfil their own
idea of what the Messiahshouldbe. Here are men of humble heart finding in
Him the satisfactionof the soul’s deepestwants, and believing and knowing
that He is the Holy One of God (John 6:69). Here are men of the Nicodemus
type, passing from one stage to the other, almost believing, but held back by
their will, which willeth not to believe. Here are men, too, of the Judas type
(John 6:64; John 6:71), traitors even in the faithful few. For these varying
effects there must be a cause, and in the next few verses Jesus dwells upon
this. He finds the reason(1) in the eternal will of God, of whose gift it is that
man willeth; and (2) in the determination of the will of man, of whose
acceptanceit is that God giveth. Men have seizednow one and now the other
of these truths, and have built upon them in separationlogicalsystems of
doctrine which are but half-truths. He states them in union. Their
reconciliationtranscends human reason, but is within the experience of
human life. It is, as St. Bernard said, following the words of Jesus, “If there is
no free will, there is nothing to save;if there is no free grace, there is nothing
wherewith to save;“or, in words more familiar to English ears, “. . . . the
grace ofGod by Christ preventing us, that we may have a goodwill, and
working with us, when we have that goodwill” (the Tenth Article of Religion).
And him that comethto me I will in no wise castout.—It is not easyto
improve the English rendering of this verse, and there is a sacrednessin the
sound of the old, old words; but still, they conveyto few readers the full
meaning of the original. The word “come” is made to serve, within two or
three lines, for three different Greek words. Literally, we should read, All that
the Fathergiveth Me shall arrive at Me, and him that is on the wayI will in no
wise castout: for I am come down. . . . The present tense of “giveth” should be
noted. The giving is not of an actin the past, but of a ceaselesslove everin the
present. The word “all” is the neuter of the collective whole, thought of
without reference to individual action. It is repeated, and still with reference
to the gift in John 6:39; while in John 6:40, with the thought of eachman’s
coming, it passesto the masculine, which marks out the separate life and faith
of every unit in the mass.
It may be that the words “come” (arrive at) and “cometh” (is on the way),
contrastedas they are in this verse, refer to the different positions of those

37. who seek Him—to the ninety and nine in the fold, and the one who in the far
distance hears His voice and comes in doubt and fear; but the context seems
rather to point out the fulfilment of the Messianic kingdomas the Father’s
gift, and the individual difficulties of, and individual help given to, those who
strive to enter it, and shall in no wise be castout. There were men among
those who heard Him who in darkness and difficulty were feeling their way:
these men were guided and strengthened by an unseenhand until they found
it; there were men there who were being castout but not by Him.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
6:36-46 The discoveryof their guilt, danger, and remedy, by the teaching of
the Holy Spirit, makes men willing and glad to come, and to give up every
thing which hinders applying to him for salvation. The Father's will is, that
not one of those who were given to the Son, should be rejectedor lost by him.
No one will come, till Divine grace has subdued, and in part changedhis
heart; therefore no one who comes will ever be castout. The gospelfinds none
willing to be savedin the humbling, holy manner, made known therein; but
God draws with his word and the Holy Ghost; and man's duty is to hear and
learn; that is to say, to receive the grace offered, and consentto the promise.
None had seenthe Father but his beloved Son; and the Jews must expectto be
taught by his inward power upon their minds, and by his word, and the
ministers whom he sent among them.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
All - The original word is in the neuter gender, but it is used, doubtless, for the
masculine, or perhaps refers to his people consideredas a mass or body, and
means that every individual that the Fatherhad given him should come to
him.
The Fathergiveth me - We here learn that those who come to Christ, and who
will be saved, are given to him by God.
1. God promised him that he should see ofthe travail of his soul - that is, "the
fruit of his wearisome toil" (Lowth), and should be satisfied, Isaiah53:11.
2. All men are sinners, and none have any claim to mercy, and he may
therefore bestow salvationon whom he pleases.
3. All people of themselves are disposed to rejectthe gospel, John5:40.
4. God enables those who do believe to do it. He draws them to Him by His
Word and Spirit; "He opens their hearts to understand the Scriptures Acts
16:14;and He grants to them repentance, Acts 11:18;2 Timothy 2:25.

38. 5. All those who become Christians may therefore be said to be given to Jesus
as the reward of his sufferings, for his death was the price by which they were
redeemed. Paul says Ephesians 1:4-5 that, "he hath chosenus in him (that is,
in Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love; having predestinatedus unto the adoption
of children to himself, according to the goodpleasure of his will."
Shall come to me - This is an expressiondenoting that they would believe on
him. To come to one implies our need of help, our confidence that he can aid
us, and our readiness to trust to him. The sinner comes to Jesus feeling that he
is poor, and needy, and wretched, and casts himself on his mercy, believing
that he alone can save him. This expressionalso proves that men are not
compelled to believe on Christ. Though they who believe are given to him, and
though his Spirit works in them faith and repentance, yet they are made
willing in the day of his power, Psalm110:3. No man is compelled to go to
heaven againsthis will, and no man is compelledto go to hell against his will.
The Spirit of God inclines the will of one, and he comes freely as a moral
agent. The other choosesthe way to death; and, though God is constantly
using means to save him, yet he prefers the path that leads down to woe.
Him that cometh - Everyone that comes - that is, everyone that comes in a
proper mariner, feeling that he is a lost and ruined sinner. This invitation is
wide, and full, and free. It shows the unbounded mercy of God; and it shows,
also, that the reason, and the only reason, why men are not saved, is that they
will not come to Christ. Of any sinner it may be said that if he had been
willing to come to Christ he might have come and been saved. As he chooses
not to come, he cannot blame God because he saves others who are willing, no
matter from what cause, andwho thus are made partakers of everlasting life.
In no wise - In no manner, or at no time. The original is simply, "I will not
castout."
Castout - Reject, or refuse to save. This expressiondoes not refer to the
doctrine of perseverance ofthe saints, but to the fact that Jesus willnot reject
or refuse any sinner who comes to him.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
37-40. All that, &c.—This comprehensive and very grand passageis expressed
with a peculiar artistic precision. The opening generalstatement (Joh 6:37)
consists oftwo members: (1) "All that the Father Giveth me shall come to
me"—that is, "Thoughye, as I told you, have no faith in Me, My errand into
the world shall in no wise be defeated;for all that the Father giveth Me shall
infallibly come to Me." Observe, whatis given Him by the Father is expressed

39. in the singular number and neuter gender—literally, "everything"; while
those who come to Him are put in the masculine gender and singular
number—"every one." The whole mass, so to speak, is gifted by the Father to
the Sonas a unity, which the Son evolves, one by one, in the executionof His
trust. So Joh 17:2, "that He should give eternallife to all that which Thou hast
given Him" [Bengel]. This "shall" expresses the glorious certainty of it, the
Father being pledged to see to it that the gift be no empty mockery. (2) "And
him that comethto me I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT." As the former was
the divine, this is just the human side of the same thing. True, the "coming"
ones of the secondclause are just the "given" ones of the first. But had our
Lord merely said, "When those that have been given Me of My Fathershall
come to Me, I will receive them"—besides being very flat, the impression
conveyedwould have been quite different, sounding as if there were no other
laws in operation, in the movement of sinners to Christ, but such as are wholly
divine and inscrutable to us; whereas, thoughHe does speak ofit as a sublime
certainty which men's refusals cannot frustrate, He speaks ofthat certainty as
taking effectonly by men's voluntary advances to Him and acceptanceof
Him—"Him that cometh to Me," "whosoeverwill," throwing the door wide
open. Only it is not the simply willing, but the actually coming, whom He will
not castout; for the word here employed usually denotes arrival, as
distinguished from the ordinary word, which rather expresses the act of
coming (see Joh8:42, Greek), [Websterand Wilkinson]. "In no wise" is an
emphatic negative, to meet the fears of the timid (as in Re 21:27, to meet the
presumption of the hardened). These, then, being the two members of the
generalopening statement, what follows is meant to take in both,
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Here ariseth a greatquestion amongstinterpreters of various persuasions,
what giving of the Father is here meant; whether an eternal designationof
persons to eternal life, in order to the obtaining of which the persons so
predestinated are given to Christ, as he who was to be the Messiah, Saviour,
and Redeemerof the world; or the infusing the habits of special, saving grace,
by which persons are enabled actually to believe. If the former, the words do
not only infer an infallible connexion betwixt faith and eternal life and
salvation;but also betwixt the decree of electionand the collationof special
grace, by which men are enabled to believe, and, believing, are saved. That
which seemethto favour the latter opinion is, that the verb is in the present
tense;it is not, all that the Fatherhath given, but

40. all that the Fathergiveth; which would incline us to think, that though in
other texts the Father’s giving of souls to Christ may signify his eternal
election, yet in this text it rather signifieth the donation or giving the habits of
specialgrace. Butthere are very learned and pious interpreters of another
mind, who think by the Father’s giving, is meant the Father’s choosing souls
in him, Ephesians 1:4. Certainit is, that there are some chosento life, and the
certain means by which that life is to be obtained, Ephesians 1:4,5. And as
certain it is, that persons so chosenin him, shall neither miss of that life, nor
yet of that effectualmeans by which it shall be obtained. Whether that eternal
election, or donation, be here intended or no, is not so momentous to
determine. For the Jesuits’argument, that if we understand it of such an
eternal gift, our Saviour rather excuses than accuseththem for their unbelief,
by telling them they could not believe, because they were not given unto him;
it holdeth as strong againstspecialgrace as againstparticular election;so as if
that were true, it could be interpreted in neither of those senses:but by their
leaves it doth not at all excuse them, unless they did what in them lay to come
to Christ: but this question belongs rather to polemicalwriters than
interpreters. Certain it is, that it is such a giving here mentioned, as shall be
followedby a coming to Christ; that is, believing in him, and by a true faith
receiving of him.
And those that do so, our Lord saith, he
will in no wise castout. Out of heaven, saysome; others understand it of
perseverance;but certainly the phrase denotes no more than the freeness and
readiness of Christ to receive every one who truly believeth in him, and to
preserve him to eternal life and salvation. Who they are that are given to
Christ, and that will or shall believe in him, is a secretthat is knownunto God
alone:but this may be known to all, that Christ will not throw off any soul
that is willing to receive him as its Saviour, and that no such soul shall perish
for ever.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
All that the Father giveth me,.... The "all" designnot the apostles only, who
were given to Christ as such; for these did not all, in a spiritual manner, come
to him, and believe in him; one of them was a devil, and the son of perdition;
much less every individual of mankind: these are, in some sense, givento
Christ to subserve some ends of his mediatorial kingdom, and are subject to
his powerand control, but do not come to him, and believe in him: but the

41. whole body of the electare here meant, who, when they were chosenby God
the Father, were given and put into the hands of Christ, as his seed, his
spouse, his sheep, his portion, and inheritance, and to be saved by him with an
everlasting salvation;which is an instance of love and care on the Father's
part, to give them to Christ; and of grace and condescensionin him to receive
them, and take the care of them; and of distinguishing goodness to them: and
though Christ here expresses this act of his Father's in the present tense,
"giveth", perhaps to signify the continuance and unchangeablenessofit; yet
he delivers it in the past tense, in John 6:39, "hath given"; and so all the
Oriental versions render it here. And it certainly respects anactof God,
antecedentto coming to Christ, and believing in him, which is a fruit and
effectof electing love, as is clearfrom what follows:
shall come unto me; such who are given to Christ in eternalelection, and in
the everlasting covenantof grace, shall, and do, in time, come to Christ, and
believe in him to the saving of their souls; which is not to be ascribedto, any
powerand will in them, but to the power and grace ofGod. It is not here said,
that such who are given to Christ have a "power" to come to him, or "may"
come if they will, but they shall come;efficacious grace willbring them to
Christ, as poor perishing sinners, to venture on him for life and salvation:
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout; such who come to Christ
in a spiritual manner, and are brought to believe in him truly and really, he
not only receives kindly, but keeps and preserves them by his power, and will
not castthem out, or thrust them from him into perdition: the words are very
strongly and emphatically expressedin the original, "I will not, not, or never,
never, castout without"; or castout of doors. Christ will never castthem out
of his affections;nor out of his arms; nor out of that family that is named of
him; nor out of, and from his church, which is his body, and of which they are
members; nor out of a state of justification and salvation; and therefore they
shall never perish, but have everlasting life. The three glorious doctrines of
grace, ofeternal election, efficaciousgrace inconversion, and the final
perseverance ofthe saints, are clearlycontained in these words.
Geneva Study Bible
{8} All that the Fathergiveth me shall come to me; and him that comethto me
I will in no wise castout.
(8) The gift of faith proceeds from the free electionof the Father in Christ,
after which everlasting life necessarilyfollows:therefore faith in Christ Jesus
is a sure witness of our election, and therefore of our glorification, which is to
come.

42. EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
John 6:37 ff. Through this culpable οὐ πιστεύετε, they were quite different
from those whom the Father gave Him. How entirely different were all these
latter; and how blessedthrough me, according to the Father’s will, must their
lot be!
πᾶν] Neuter, of persons as in John 3:6, John 18:2; 1 Corinthians 1:27. It
designates them as a “totam, quasi massam,” Bengel.
ὁ δίδ. μοι ὁ πατ.] viz. by the efficacious influence of His grace (John6:44-45),
whereby He inclines them to come, and draws them to me; οὐ τὸ τυχὸν
πρᾶγμα ἡ πίστις ἡ εἰς ἐμέ. ἀλλὰ τῆς ἄνωθεν δεῖται ῥοπῆς, Chrysostom. Moral
self-determination (John 5:40, John 7:17; Matthew 23:37) may obey this
influence (John 6:40), and may withstand it; he who withstands it is not given
Him by the Father, Php 2:13. “There is implied here a humble, simple,
hungering and thirsting soul,” Luther. Explanations resting on dogmatic
preconceptions are:of the absolute electionof grace (Augustine, Beza, and
most others[233]), ofthe natural pietatis studium (Grotius), and others.
πρὸς ἐμέ] afterwards ΠΡΌς ΜΕ. But ἘΜΈ is emphatic. The ἭΞΕΙis not
more (arrivera jusqu’à moi, Godet)than ἐλεύσεται, as John 6:35 already
shows;comp. the following Κ. Τ. ἘΡΧΌΜΕΝΟΝ, withwhich ἭΞΩ is again
resumed.
Οὐ ΜῊ ἘΚΒΆΛΩ ἜΞΩ] I certainly will not casthim out, i.e. will not
exclude him from my kingdom on its establishment; comp. John 6:39-40;
John 15:6; also Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:13. The negative expressionis a
litotes full of love; Nonnus adds: ἀλλὰ νόῳ χαίροντι δεδέξομαι.
John 6:38-39. “How could I castthem out, seeing that I am come only to fulfil
the divine will? and this requires of me, not the rejectionof any one, but the
blessedopposite.”
οὐχ ἵνα, κ.τ.λ.]Comp. John 5:30.

43. ΤΟῦΤΟ ΔῈ … ΠΈΜΨ. ΜΕ] impressive repetition of the same words.
ΠᾶΝ Ὁ ΔΈΔΩΚΕ, Κ.Τ.Λ.]Nominative absolute, unconnectedwith the
following, and significantly put first. Comp. John 8:38, John 15:2, John 17:2;
and see on Matthew 7:24; Matthew 10:14; Matthew 10:32;Matthew 12:36;
Buttmann, N. T. Gr. p. 325 [E. T. p. 379]. Here the Perfectδέδωκε, because
spokenfrom the standing-point of the future.
μὴ ἀπολ. ἐξ αὐτοῦ]sc. τι; see Fritzsche, Conject. p. 36. The conceptionof
losing (i.e. of letting fall down to eternal death; see the antithesis ἀλλὰ, etc.)is
correlative to that of the ΔΈΔΩΚΈ ΜΟΙ. Comp. John 17:12.
ἈΝΑΣΤΉΣΩ, Κ.Τ.Λ.]of the actualresurrectionat the last day (comp. John
5:29, John 11:24, John 12:48), which, as a matter of course, includes the
transformation of those still living. The designationof the thing is a potiori. It
is the first resurrectionthat is meant (see on Luke 14:14; Luke 20:34; Php
3:11; 1 Corinthians 15:23), that to the everlasting life of the Messianic
kingdom. See on John 5:29. Bengelwellsays:“hic finis est, ultra quem
periculum nullum.” Comp. the recurrence of this blessedrefrain, John 6:40;
John 6:44; John 6:54, which, in the face of this solemnrecurrence, Scholten
regards as a gloss.
[233]See, on the contrary, Weiss, Lehrbegr. p. 142 ff.—Schleiermacher
rationalizes the divine gift and drawing into a divine arrangementof
circumstances;see L. J. p. 302 ff. Thus it would be resolvedinto the general
government of the world.—According to Beyschlag,p. 162, there would be in
this actionof the Father, preparing the way for a cleaving to Christ (comp. vv.
44, 45), an oppositionto the light-giving action of the Logos (vv. 4, 5, 9), if the
Logos be a personality identical with the Son. But the difference in person
betweenthe Fatherand the Sondoes not exclude the harmonious action of
both for eachother. Enlightening is not a monopoly of the Son, excluding the
Father; but the Father draws men to the Son, and the Sonis the way to the
Father. Weiss has rightly rejectedas unjohannean (p. 248 f.) the idea of a
hidden God, as absolutelyraised above the world, who has no immediate
connectionwith the finite.
Expositor's Greek Testament

44. John 6:37. No;for πᾶν ὃ δίδωσι … ἥξει. “Everything which the Fathergives”;
the neuter is used as being more universal than the masculine and including
everything which the Fatherdetermines to save from the world’s wreck,
viewed as a totality. Cf. John 6:39. ἀναστήσω αὐτό:and the collective neuter,
as in Thucyd., iii. 16, τὸ ἐπιόν for τοὺς ἐπιόντας. Lampe thinks the neuter is
used, “quia hae personae spectanturut reale peculium, haereditas, merces,
genus, semen, sacerdotium, sanctuarium Domini”. What is meant by δίδωσι?
It is an acton God’s part prior to the “coming” on man’s part; the coming is
the result of the giving. Calvinistic interpreters have therefore identified the
giving with election. “Donandiverbum perinde valet ac si dixisset Christus,
quos elegitPater, eos regenerat”—Calvin. “Patremdare filio esteligere”—
Melanchthon; and similarly Beza and Lampe. On the other hand, Reynolds
represents a number of interpreters when he says, “It is the present activity of
the Father’s grace that is meant, not a foregone conclusion”. This identifies
the Father’s “giving” with His “drawing,” John 6:44. It would rather seemto
be that which determines the drawing, the assigning to Jesus ofcertain
persons who shall form His kingdom. This perhaps involves electionbut is not
identical with it. Cf. John 17:6. Euthymius replies, from a Semi-Pelagianpoint
of view, to the objections which arise from an Augustinian interpretation of
the words. The purpose of the verse is to impart assurance that Christ’s work
will not fail. καὶ τὸν ἐρχόμενον… ἔξω. Grotius thinks the “casting out” refers
to the Schoolof Christ; Lücke thinks the kingdom is referred to. It is scarcely
necessaryto think of anything more than Christ’s presence or fellowship. This
strong asseverationοὐ μὴ ἐκβάλω, and concentratedGospelwhichhas
brought hope to so many, is here grounded on the will of the Father.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
37–40.Digressiononthe blessednessofthose who come to Christ as believers
37. All that the Father giveth … him that cometh] There is a significant
change of gender in the Greek which is obscured in the English version: ‘all
that’ is neuter, all that which; what is given is treatedas impersonal, mankind
en masse;what comes, with free will, is masculine. Men are given to Christ
without their wills being consulted; but eachindividual can, if he likes, refuse
to come. There is no coercion. Comp. similar changes of genderin John 1:11,
John 17:2.
shall come to me, and him that cometh … For I came down] The verb ‘come’
here represents three different Greek verbs, but there is no such great

45. difference betweenthem as to make it worth while to change so familiar a
text; yet it would be more literal to translate all that the Father giveth Me, to
Me shall come, and him that approachethMe I will in no wise castout; for I
have descended, &c. The second‘Me’ is emphatic, the first and third are not.
Bengel's Gnomen
John 6:37. Πᾶν) all. A most weighty word, and, in comparing with it those
things which follow, most worthy of consideration;for, in the discourses of
Jesus Christ, what the Father hath given to the SonHimself, that is termed,
both in the singular number and neuter gender, all [omne]: those who come to
the SonHimself, are describedin the masculine gender, or even the plural
number, every one [omnis], or they [illi]. The Fatherhath given, as it were, the
whole mass, in order that all whom He hath given, may be a unity [unum]:
that whole the Son evolves individually [one by one], in the carrying out of the
Divine plan. Hence that expression, ch. John 17:2, that ALL which [πᾶν ὅ,
omne quod] THOU HAST GIVEN Him, HE SHOULD GIVE THEM [αὐτοῖς,
eis] eternallife. In the Greek style of the New Testament, especiallyof John,
wheresoeverfastidious minds would saythe constructionwas a solecism, an
elegancetruly divine, which to the Hebrews never seemedharsh, is usually
found to lie beneath. That remark especiallyholds goodof this passage. It is
owing to it that this 37th verse has two members, which are presently handled,
the same words being repeated; and indeed the former of the two, at John
6:38-39, where the all [πᾶν ὃ δέδωκε, omne, etc.] is mentioned in conjunction
with the Father;the secondmember, at John 6:40, “This is the will of Him
that sent Me, that every one which seeththe Son, and believeth on Him, may
have everlasting life;” where the every one [πᾶς, omnis] is mentioned in
conjunction with the Son. The former, by means of the ὅτι, for [John 6:38],
and the latter, by means of the γάρ, for [John 6:40 : δέ is the common reading;
but γάρ, [128][129][130][131][132][133][134]Vulg.], are connectedwith John
6:37.—δίδωσι μοί, giveth Me)by means of that drawing, John 6:44, “No man
can come unto Me, except the Father, which hath sent Me, draw him.” The
present tense. Afterwards the past, John 6:39, “This is the Father’s will,—that
of all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing,” with reference to their
preservation. The Fathergiveth to the Son: the Son chooseth, i.e. gives as it
were to Himself; John 6:70, “Have I not chosenyou twelve?” Believers are
given; it is given to believers;John 6:32; John 6:65, “My Father giveth you the
true bread from heaven.—No man can come unto Me, except it were given
unto him of My Father.”—πρὸς ἐμέ)The emphasis rests on this; in other
places it is usually written πρός με.—ἥξει) shall come. It is only that all [which
the Fathergiveth Me]which shall come unto Me. Jesus speaksthose things,

46. which [such—as]if the Jews wouldreceive, they would be believers in reality:
and, after their unbelief has been brought home to them, He now offers them
faith: and what He had before spokenunder a figure, He now declares
plainly.—οὐ μὴ ἐκβάλω ἔξω, I will not castout) This signifies not merely the
first reception, but the lasting preservation, through all changes and
progressive steps in their course, even up to the resurrection—thatgoal,
which takes for granted all things anterior to it; John 6:39-40, “This is the
Father’s will, that—I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day;—that every one which seeththe Son, and believeth on Him, may have
everlasting life; and I will raise Him up, etc.;” John 6:44; John 6:54. There is
a Litotes [the meaning is strongerthan the literal words]: I will not casthim
out, but by all means will preserve him; ch. John 10:28, etc., “Theyshall never
perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave
them Me, is greaterthan all; and none is able to pluck them out of My
Father’s hand:” a passagewhichcloselycorresponds to the passagehere.
Comp. ἔξω, out, ch. John 15:6, “Castforth as a branch, and is withered;”
ἐβλήθη ἔξω.
[128]the Alexandrine MS.:in Brit. Museum: fifth century: publ. by Woide,
1786–1819:O. and N. Test. defective.
[129]Cod. Basilianus (not the B. Vaticanus): Revelation:in the Vatican:
edited by Tisch., who assigns it to the beginning of the eighth century.
[130]Ephræmi Rescriptus:Royallibr., Paris:fifth or sixth cent.:publ. by
Tisch. 1843:O. and N. T. def.
[131]Bezæ, or Cantabrig.: Univ. libr., Cambridge: fifth cent.:publ. by
Kipling, 1793:Gospels, Acts, and some Epp. def.
[132]Vercellensis ofthe old ‘Itala,’ or Latin Version before Jerome’s,
probably made in Africa, in the secondcentury: the Gospels.
[133]Veronensis, do.

47. [134]Colbertinus, do.
Pulpit Commentary
Verses 37-40. -
(b) Episode or, the blessednessofthose who "come" to Christ. Verse 37. -
Many suppose a time of stillness, a break in the conversation, "a significant
asyndeton," from the absence ofall connectionbetweenthis and the previous
verse. Vers. 39, 40 would seemto have been addressedmore directly to the
disciples, the less susceptible hearers retiring from him or engaging in eager
conversation(cf. ver. 41). Nevertheless, the Lord takes up the continuous line
of his self-revelation, and ver. 37 clearlyrefers the "non-coming" and "non-
believing" in their case to their moral obliquity, and to the apparent
inadequacy of sufficient proof to induce the faith which will satisfy spiritual
hunger. This spiritual dulness on the part of all suggestssome internal and
necessarycondition, which is, though yet absent, not said to be inaccessible.
Seeing ought to issue in believing, but it does not; therefore there is something
more than the manifestationof the Christ absolutelynecessary. To that Jesus
now reverts. All (πᾶν, the neuter is also usedof persons in John 3:6 and John
17:2, used concerning the whole body of realbelievers, the whole mass of
those who, when they see, do come - the entire company of believers regarded
as a grand unity, and stretching out into the future) all that which the Father
giveth me. The subsequent descriptions of the Father's grace (vers. 44, 45)
throw light on this. The "drawing of the Father," the "hearing and learning
from the Father," are there declaredto be conditions of "coming to Christ."
All those influences on the soul, all the new-creating and spirit-quickening
energies ofthe Holy Ghost, the new heart and tender conscience, the honest,
serious desire for holy things, are broadly described in this passageas God's
method and actof giving to the Sonof his love. There is no necessity(with
Augustine) to suppose that our Lord refers to an absolute predestinating
decree. Forif God has not yet given these particular men to him, it does not
say that he will not and may nut do so yet. The Father's giving to the Son may
indeed assume many forms. It may take the characterof original constitution,
of predisposition and temperamerit, or of special"providential educationand
training, or of tenderness of conscience, orof a truthful and sincere and
unquenched desire. The Father is the Divine Cause. "The giving" implies a
present activity of grace, nota foregone conclusion. All that which the Father
giveth me shall reachme - all souls touched by the Father in a thousand ways
to the point of making a moral surrender to my claims, will reachme - and
him that is coming to me - i.e. is on the way to me, is drawing near to me - I

48. for my part will not castout. Thus authority to refuse is claimed by Christ,
and powerto exclude from his fellowshipand friendship, from his kingdom
and glory. (Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:13). Admission is not the working of
some impersonal law, but the individual response of him who has come down
to give life. As far as man is concerned, it turns on his voluntary coming, on
his bare willingness to be fed with heavenly food. It is impossible, so far as
responsibility is concerned, to get back of personalwish and individual will.
The process ofgenuine coming to Christ does show that the Fatheris therein
giving such soul to his Son. Archdeacon Watkins says, "Menhave now seized
one and now the other of these truths, and have built upon them in separation
logicalsystems of doctrine which are but half truths. He (Jesus)states them in
union. Their reconciliationtranscends human reason, but is within the
experience of human life." The greatness ofthe self-consciousnessofChrist
appears in the further proof that he proceeds to supply of this relation to the
Father.
Vincent's Word Studies
All that (πᾶν ὃ)
The neuter singular of the adjective and pronoun. All believers are regarded
as one complete whole. Compare John 17:24, according to the correctreading,
"that which Thou hast given me."
Shall come (ἥξει)
Emphasizing the idea of reaching or arriving.
Cometh (ἐρχό
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
ALAN CARR
John 6:37-40
THE INVITATION OF CONFIDENCE
Intro: We have just read one of the most profound passagesin the Bible
today. These verses containtruths that will never be fully comprehended by
the mind of man until we stand complete in His image in glory. In these verses

49. short verses there are 110 words. 98 have just one syllable. Eleven have two
syllables. One has three syllables. Jesus uses the simplest language possible,
yet He teaches us a truth that is so deep that no man who has ever lived can
comprehend it completely. Still, it is truth so simple that even small children
can graspthe heart of it.
In these verses we find yet another invitation from our Lord. It is an
invitation designed to inspire confidence. These words speakofthe confidence
that restedwithin the heart of our Savior as He lookedtowardCalvary. These
words speak of the confidence that sinners can have as they see the horror,
and understand the penalty, of their sins. These words speak ofthe confidence
that can be possessedby the saints of God as they journey toward their home
in Heaven.
This is The Invitation Of Confidence and it has much to sayto us today.
Let’s take some time and considertogetherthe greatblessings that our Savior
has embedded for us in His words.
I. v. 37a THE SAVIOR’S GIFT
(Ill. Jesus has just declaredHis identity to the Jews. He has declaredHimself
to be the Bread of Life, v. 35. He tells them very clearly that any one who will
receive Him will neither hunger nor thirst. Then, in verse 36, Jesus makes a
sad statement. He says, “ye also have seenme, and believe not”. This
statementbrings into sharp focus the fact that the Jews had rejectedJesus as
their Messiah. In fact, John went so far as to say, “He came unto his own, and
his ownreceivedhim not”, John 1:11.
Some people might have seenthis rejectionby the Jews as an indication
that the ministry of Jesus Christwas a failure. The very people He had come
to turned a deaf earto His preaching. If anyone thought the ministry of Jesus
was a failure, they were missing the big picture.
The first part of verse 37 tells us about the Father’s gift to the Son. This
gift is given to Jesus as His reward for all that He suffered here on earth. This
gift is the proof and the promise that His mission into this world was not in
vain. This gift, though hard to comprehend for us mortals, is a greater
blessing than we can fathom. Let’s examine it for a moment.)
A. The CharacterOf This Gift – “all that the Father giveth me” – The
characterof this gift is seen in the word “all”. That word encompasses within
it every sinner who will ever be saved. That word speaks ofevery redeemed
sinner from the sweetlittle girl savedin her Sunday Schoolclass, to the

50. brazen streetwalkersavedfrom a life of debauchery. That word speaks ofthat
small boy who places his faith in Jesus and is savedat a young age;it also
embraces that drunkard who has lived his life in a drunken stupor. That word
speaks allof those who would ever place their faith in Jesus for salvation.
If you are saved, or if you will ever be saved, you are God’s gift to His
Son! You are God’s love gift to Jesus forcoming into this world and dying on
the cross. Frommy perspective, that doesn’tseemlike too much of a gift. I
know what I was when the Lord found me, Rom. 3:10-23. And, I am pretty
sure that you weren’t much better than I was!So, God gave us to Jesus and
He died for us on the cross. It sounds like Jesus gotthe short end of the stick,
but He got just want He wanted, Luke 19:10;Heb. 12:2.
B. The Contributor Of This Gift – “the Fathergiveth Me” – I have already
made mention of this, but Godis the One behind the gift. Yet, the entire
Trinity is involved in this greatgift of salvation. The Fathergave us to His Son
in eternity past, Eph. 1:4. Jesus died for us when He went to the cross, John
15:14-16. The Holy Spirit drew me to Jesus and savedme when I was a sinner,
John 6:44; 65.
I believe the Word of God is very clearabout the matter of salvation.
No one simply choosesto be saved; they are chosen!No one just comes to
Jesus Christ of their own free will. The sinner’s will is fallen and he is
incapable of coming to Jesus onhis own. The sinner cannotrespond to Jesus
unless Jesus first comes to the sinner. Left to himself, the lost sinner will
always seek the things of the world and of the flesh, Eph. 2:2-3. Like it or not,
the lostsinner is dead in trespassesandsins, Eph. 2:1, and he cannotcome to
God. In this thing calledsalvation, God must make the first step. He calls us to
Jesus so that we might be saved! (Ill. 1 John 4:19)
C. The ConsequencesOfThis Gift – “All…shall come to me” – The work that
God beganin eternity past will be carried out fully in time. Every person the
Father has given to the Son will be savedby the grace of God! According to
this verse “all…shall…come”. I came to Him because He first came to me!
When we speak ofthese matters, we have steppedout into deep waters.
We are treading in waters that the greatesthuman minds have not been able
to fathom. We are discussing concepts so difficult to understand that few can
articulate them accuratelyorwith understanding. We are talking about the
greatmatters of electionand human responsibility.
There can be no doubt that salvation is based on God’s choice. Salvationis
a matter of grace and He saves whomsoeverHe will! But, there is also no
denying the factthat man is responsible to believe in Jesus and to receive Him

51. as Savior. Here is the truth; if anyone is savedit will be because ofGod’s free
grace. Godwill getall the glory! If anyone goes to Hell; it will be their own
fault! They will have no one to blame but themselves.
God makes a universal offer of salvationto all people. He cries that
“whosoeverwill” may come! Anyone who will come to Jesus will be saved.
Those who will not come to Jesus will never be saved. That is the bottom line!
(Ill. Once when Spurgeoncommented on God’s electionand human
responsibility, he describedthem as a pair of railroad tracks. Theyrun
parallel to one another and never meet, but if you look far enough into the
distance, they appearto come together. These doctrines are confusing and
often appear to be contradictory in this life, but in eternity they will make
perfect sense!
On one occasionsomeone askedSpurgeonhow he reconciledthe doctrine
of electionwith the doctrine of human responsibility. Spurgeonsaid, “I never
reconcile friends!” While we may not understand election, predestinationand
human responsibility, they are all still biblical doctrines that must be believed.
As Spurgeon said on another occasion, “Ifyou try to explain election, you will
lose your mind; but if you try to explain it away, you will lose your soul.” We
have a hard time understanding these things down here, but we must still
believe them!)
(Note:This is a verse brimming with confidence. It looked, from a human
perspective, like the ministry of Jesus was a failure. Jesus knew, however, that
God had given Him many sheep. He could face the rejectionand go to the
cross to die knowing that His death would not be in vain, but that He would
actually save every one that the Father and given to Him.
II. v. 37b THE SAVIOR’S GRACE
(Ill. Jesus had confidence because ofthe Father’s gift. He knew that His death
would accomplishsalvation for the elect. But, sinners also have confidence in
this thing calledsalvation. We can have confidence because ofthe Savior’s
grace.)
A. The Extent Of His Grace – “him that cometh to me” – The phrase “cometh
to me” is essential. It declares the way of salvation!Being savedis not about
joining a church, being a better person, stopping sinning, or doing good

52. things. Being saved is coming to a Person. Being savedis about coming to
Jesus Christ by faith.
That phrase is explained in verse 40. The phrase “every one which seeth
the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life” describes the plan of
salvation. All you have to do is see Jesus forWho He is and place your faith in
Him. When you do that, He will save your soul.
Of course, all those who see Jesus as He is will see themselves as they are!
When they see the holiness of the Savior, they can be no longerblind to the
wickednessofself! This realization of sin leads the sinner to come to Jesus
Christ for salvation.
Being saved is not some difficult, mystical process. You don’t have to
“pray through” to be saved. You don’t have to memorize the “sinner’s
prayer”. You don’t have to walk the “RomanRoad”. All you have to do is
look awayto Jesus by faith and trust that His death on the cross andHis
resurrectionare sufficient to save your soul, Rom. 10:9. The rest is up to Him!
B. The EnergyOf His Grace – “I will in no wise castout” – Jesus promises all
those who hear God’s call and come to Him that He will not turn them away.
The words “castout” have the idea of “driving someone away”. Theyare
violent words!The lost sinner need never fearcoming to Jesus:He will not
drive them away! Regardlessofwhere the path of life has takenyou, Jesus
will not turn you awayif you will come to Him.
The personalpronoun “him” covers a lot of ground! Jesus opens the door
for any person, from any race, any place, or any background to come to Him.
He doesn’t care what you have done. He doesn’t care who you are. He
promises you that if you will come to Him, He will not turn you awayfrom His
offer of salvation.
Your past sins are no hindrance to His saving grace!Your present
condition is no hindrance to His saving grace!Your future failures are no
hindrance to His saving grace either! If you will come to Him, He will not turn
you away, but He will save your soul.
Ill. When Jesus was here in earth, He raisedthree people from the dead.
He raised the daughter of Jairus, Mark 5:41-42. He raised the widow of
Nain’s son, Luke 7:11-15. He also raisedLazarus, John 11. Eachof these
individuals was dead. Now, these three shared a similarity and they shared a
difference.
The one thing similar betweentheir cases was the fact that eachone was
dead. Lazarus, who had been dead four days, was no deader than the widow

53. of Nain’s sonor Jairus’daughter, they were all dead. The only difference was
in the degree of their decomposition.
The same is true when it comes to lost sinners. Every lost sinner is dead in
trespassesandsin, and none is deader than another. The lostchurch member
is just as dead as the drunkard, the harlot or that goodold redneck boy. If
they are lost they are all dead.
The only difference in them is the degree of their decomposition. While the
lost church member is dead is just as dead as the drunk, the drunk smells
worse!His sins have workedmore corruption in his life than they have in the
life of the lost religious person.
So, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve been. If you are lost,
Jesus will save your soul if you will come to Him by faith. That is His promise!
He will not castyou out!
III. v. 38-40 THE SAVIOR’S GUARANTEE
(Ill. The truth that “all the father gives” to Jesus “will come” to Jesus gives
the Saviorconfidence. The truth that “him that cometh to” Jesus He will “in
no wise castout” gives confidence to the repenting sinner. The rest of our
verses give greatconfidence to the saints of God. In these verses we find the
personalguarantee of our Saviorto all those who come to Him.)
A. v. 39-40a ConfirmedBy His Plan – God’s plan is to save the sinner by
“grace through faith”. When lost people come to Jesus forsalvation, God will
save them. When He saves them, He saves them for time and eternity. It is the
Father’s will that Jesus should“lose nothing”. The word “lose” has reference
to being lost in Hell. When Jesus saves a soul, the savedperson will never,
ever be lost again!
Jesus saidthat this was the Father’s “will”. There are two Greek words
translated “will” in the New Testament. One is the word “boulomai”,
pronounced “boo-lom-ahee”.This word refers to a “wishor a fond desire”.
The other word is the word “qelema”, pronounced“thel-ay-mah”. This word
refers to “whatone has determined will be done”. The boulamai is a hope so
thing while qelema is a divine, sovereigndeclarationof that which will come
to pass!
God does not just hope that none of His people will be lost. He has
declaredthat not a single one of those He has savedby His grace will ever be
lost! God did not send Jesus to this world to live and die so that some people
might be saved, if they canhold out. Godsent Jesus here to die for His people

54. so that everyone who lookedto Jesus by faith for salvationwould have the
guarantee of eternallife. That is His plan!
B. v. 40b Confirmed By His Promise – “may have everlasting life: and I will
raise him up at the last day” – What a promise! Jesus tells all those who trust
Him that they are safe in this world and in the world to come. If you are
saved, you are saved forever! Callit “once savedalways saved”. Callit
“eternalsecurity”. Call it “eternallife”. Call it anything you want to, but
when you are saved, you can never be lostagain. The Bible is very clearabout
that. Considerthe following verses:
· We are kept by His power – 1 Pet. 1:5
· We are promised “everlasting life” – John 3:16; John 5:24 (Ill. 11
times!)
· We are promised “eternallife” – John 10:28;1 John 2:25
· We are promised that we will “neverperish” – John 10:28
· We are promised that we cannot be “pluckedout” of His hand – John
10:28-29 (Ill. “Pluck” = “To seize or carry off by force”)
There are many more, but you get the picture! When He saved us, He did
so forever! Praise His name! By the way, if you ever do lose your salvation,
you cannever be savedagain, Heb. 6:4-6!
C. v. 38 Confirmed By His Performance – It is God’s will that we will never
be lost again. It is the Savior’s promise that we will never be lost again. These
things are guarantee by the Savior’s performance. When Jesus came to this
world, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and died on the cross, He did
those things to purchase our salvation. When He died on the cross, Jesus was
able to declare “It is finished”, John 19:30. That simply means that He
perfectly completed the task that had been assignedto Him.
He came to this world to pay our sin debt and He did just that. He
came to this world to shed His blood so that God’s wrath might be turned
awayfrom all those who receive Jesus andHe did just that, Rom. 3:25; 1 John
2:2; 1 John 4:10. (Ill. “Propitiation” = “Satisfaction” Jesus satisfiedthe just
demands of a holy God and now all those who receive Him as their Savior are
guaranteedeternal life!)
Now, if you want to miss hell and go to Heaven, you must come to Jesus!If
you want your sins to be forgiven, you must come to Jesus!If you want to be
savedby the grace of God, you must come to Jesus!

55. Conc:What kind of confidence do you have today? If your life came to an end
today and you went out into eternity, what kind of confidence do you have?
Have you trusted Jesus as your personalSavior? Have you “come to” Jesus as
these verses invite you to? Are you savedby the grace ofGod?
I praise the name of Jesus that He died in our place. He paid it all, all to
Him we owe!Now, all we have to do to be savedis come to Him. If you are lost
today, you need to come to Him. Is He calling you? Is He speaking tenderly to
your heart and drawing you to Himself? Don’t delay! Run to Jesus and be
saved! Don’t put it off! Don’t waitfor a more convenient day! Come to Jesus
now!
Has He spokento you? Come to Jesus!Do you want to thank Him and love
on Him for what He did for you? Come to Jesus!Do you want to come back
home to Him and make some things right? Come to Jesus!Have you
wandered far awayfrom home? Come to Jesus!Whateverthe need, come to
Jesus!
STEVEN COLE
The CertainSuccess of Jesus’Mission(John 6:35-40)
RelatedMedia
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56. 00:00
November10, 2013
Although it sounds heretical to ask, have you ever
wondered whether Jesus failedin His mission? His
missionwas to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

57. And yet, Jesus left this planet with only a small band
of followers comparedto the vast numbers, both in
Israel and aroundthe world, who remainedlost. After
2,000 years of church history, there are still thousands
of people groups that have not heard the gospel, and
even among those who have heard, the majority of the
world’s populationremains unbelieving. So did Jesus
fail? Has God’s purpose failed?
I would hesitate to raise the questionat all, except that
the apostlePaul raisedit in Romans 9. In light of the
Jews’ widespreadrejection of Jesus as their Messiah
and Savior,Paul deals with whether God’s promises to
Israel have failed. He answers that God’s promises
have not failed, becauseGod never determined to save
all Israel, but only an elect remnant. Also, the
salvationof that chosen group does not depend on the
fallenwill of man, but on the sovereignworking of
God. As Paul says (Rom. 9:16), “So then it does not
depend on the man who wills or the man who runs,
but on God who has mercy.” And, God does not have
mercy on all (Rom. 9:18), “So then He has mercy on
whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”
Paul shows that God’s purpose to glorify Himselfby
savingHis elect and judging the wicked cannot fail.
That is Jesus’point in our text. These verses occur in
the context of those who ate the miraculousmeal of the
loaves and fish asking Jesus to do a greater sign so

58. that they may believein Him (6:30). They want Him to
go one up on Moses, who gave them the manna (6:31).
Jesus corrects their impudent demand by pointing out
that it was the Father, not Moses, who gave them the
manna. Also, the bread that God is giving now is not
just temporary food to satisfytheir stomachs,but the
true bread out of heaven to satisfytheir souls (6:32).
And, unlike the manna that God gave Israel in the
wilderness to sustainlife for a few years, the true
bread out of heaven gives eternal life to the whole
world (6:33).
But these Jews were still focusedon the temporal
when they asked Jesus to give them this bread (6:34).
They wanted a lifetime supply of food. Jesus replies by
offering Himself as the bread of life who satisfies
everyone who comes to Him and believes in Him
(6:35). But even though they had seen Jesus, they still
did not believe in Him (6:36). That’s the context for
Jesus’words in 6:37-40, where He takes comfort in
God’s sovereigntyover the salvationof sinners (cf.
Luke 10:21-22).The point is, those who reject Jesus do
not thwart God’s sovereignplan.
Also, note that after Jesus gives this extended
discourseon being the bread of life, some who had
professedto be His disciples stumbleover what He
says and stop followingHim (6:60, 61, 66). If Jesus had
been trying to build a large following, He could have

59. become discouragedover this. But His focus was on
the Father’s will and the fact that He had come to do
that will (6:38). There is nothing more certain than
that God will accomplishHis purpose(Isa. 46:10;Job
42:2). That purposecenters on the fact that He has
given a large number from every tribe, tongue, people,
and nationto His Son. Jesus will see the result of the
anguish of His soul because He poured out Himself to
death and bore the sin of many (Rev. 5:9; Isa. 53:10-
12). So when people rejected Jesus, even those who
had professedto be His disciples, He rested in God’s
sovereignplan for the ages.
As a teacher of God’s Word, I must do the same. I
hope not, but it’s possiblethat some of you will hear
this message and say, “I’m out of here!” I’d appreciate
it if you’d talk to me about what Scriptureteaches on
this, but usuallypeople just leave. Many who profess
to believein Christ do not like the biblical truth that
God sovereignlychose some, but not all, for salvation.
They say, “That’s not fair!” They believethat God
wills to save everyone, but people by their free will
cast the deciding vote. God’s hands are tied to actually
save anyone, because He can’t overrideman’s free
will. So accordingto them, the success of God’s eternal
purpose rides on whether sinners chooseto respondto
Jesus.

60. But Jesus soundlyrefutes that error in our text. God’s
sovereignplan to glorify His Son does not rest on the
sinful will of man, but on God’s mighty power to save
all whom He chooses to save. If sinners have a part in
their salvation,then they can share the glory with
Christ. But as Paul argues in Ephesians 1:3-12,God
chose to saveus so that we would be “to the praise of
the glory of His grace” (1:6). God predestinedus
“accordingto His purposewho works all things after
the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the
first to hope in Christ would be to the praiseof His
glory” (1:11-12).By the way, if God cannot override
the fallen human will, you should give up praying for
the salvationof the lost. Why pray if God can’t do
anything aboutit?
So while it may be hard to get our finite minds around
it, the doctrineof God’s sovereigntyover our salvation
runs through all Scripture, alongsidethe doctrine of
human responsibility. God determined before the
foundationof the world to put Christon the cross, and
yet the evil men who did it were responsiblefor their
sin (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28). God determined before the
foundationof the world to give a chosen bride to His
Son, and yet all peopleare invitedand commanded to
believein Jesus. Remember, this doctrineis a part of
God’s inspiredWord, which is for your spiritual
benefit (2 Tim. 3:16-17). If you resistit or dodge it or

61. try to explainit away, you’ll be spirituallyimpaired.
Even if you don’t understandit, you need to submit to
it (Rom. 9:19-20). Whileall Scripture is equally
inspiredby God, our text reports the very words of the
Lord Jesus. His point here is:
Jesus’missionto saveand keep all whom the Father
has given to Him will certainlysucceed.
Christoffers eternal life to all (6:35), but not all
believe(6:36). All those whom God has given to Jesus
will come to Him (6:37a). He will savethem and keep
them for all eternity (6:37b-40).
1. Christoffers Himselfas the livingbread that gives
eternal life to all who believein Him (6:35).
John 6:35:“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life;
he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who
believes in Me will never thirst.” As Leon Morris
points out (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans],
p. 366), Jesus’ words are not an abstractstatement,
but rather an appeal for people to come to Him and
believein Him. As I mentioned last week, this is an
astoundingclaim that no mere man could make. Jesus
says that if we will come to Him and believein Him,
He will eternally satisfyand sustainus spiritually.
It’s importantto affirm that the doctrine of election
does not in any way restrictoffering the gospel freely
to all. Whoeverbelieves in Jesus will have eternal life
(John 3:16). The Bible ends with this open invitation

62. (Rev. 22:17),“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one
who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the
water of life without cost.” The Bible never says, “If
you’re one of the elect, come.” It invites every sinner
to come to Jesus just as you are and know that He will
welcome you. But …
2. Peopleare so hopelesslylost in sin that they will
reject even the best reasons to believe(6:36).
I might add, “Even religious, morallyupright people
are so hopelesslylost in sin that they will reject even
the best reasons to believe.” Jesus was speakingto
religious,moral Jews. They were zealous about
keeping the Sabbathand the many Jewish rituals.Yet
here they’ve seen Jesus miraculouslyprovidebread
and fish for a huge multitude and they’ve watched
Him heal many of their sick, but Jesus’tragic
assessmentis (6:36), “But I said to you that you have
seen Me, and yet do not believe.”
Peopledo not reject Christbecause they lack solid
evidencefor believingin Him. Sometimes skeptics will
say, “Show me a real miracleand I’ll believe.”No,
they wouldn’t. People reject Jesus becausethey love
darkness rather than light (3:19-21).Peopleapart
from Christare spirituallydead in their trespasses
and sins (Eph. 2:1-3). They cannotunderstand

63. spiritualtruth (1 Cor. 2:14)because Satan has blinded
their eyes (2 Cor. 4:4).
In John 8:43, Jesus asks the unbelievingJews, “Why
do you not understandwhat I am saying?” He answers
His own question, “It is becauseyou cannothear My
word.” He did not say “becauseyou will not hear My
word,” but “becauseyou cannot hear My word.”
That’s why He says (John 6:44), “No one can come to
Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (also,
6:65). Because of sin, it’s impossiblefor anyone to
believein Jesus apartfrom God’s opening their blind
eyes (Rom. 3:10-18). In the words of Charles Wesley’s
hymn, before Christsends His “quickeningray,” we
are “fastbound in sin and nature’s night.” Leon
Morris writes (ibid., p. 367), “Peopledo not come to
Christbecause it seems to them a good idea. It never
does seem a good idea to natural man. Apart from a
divinework in their souls (cf. 16:8)men remain
contentedly in their sins.” Yet at the same time, we are
responsiblefor our unbelief. So, then, how can anyone
be saved?
3. All whom the Father has given to Jesus will
certainlybe saved(6:37a).
John 6:37a:“All that the Fathergives Me will come to
Me ….” This refers to the elect, whom the Father
chose before the foundationof the world to give to His
Son. Jesus refers to those the Father has given Him in

64. 6:39 and in 10:29 (see, 18:9). He repeats it five times in
His prayer in John 17:
John 17:2:“… even as You gave Him authorityover
all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He
may give eternal life.”
John 17:6 [2x]: “I have manifestedYour name to the
men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were
Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept
Your word.”
John 17:9:“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on
behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given
Me; for they are Yours ….” (Note that the Father has
not given everyone in the world to Jesus, but only
some.)
John 17:24:“Father, I desirethat they also, whom
You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that
they may see My glory which You have given Me, for
You loved Me before the foundationof the world.”
Many argue that the elect, whom the Father gives to
the Son, are those whom God foreknew would believe
in Christby their own free will. But as we’ve seen, left
to their own fallen will, none would chooseto believe
in Christ. Furthermore, the foreknowledgeruse robs
God of His sovereigntyand makes man sovereign. But
the Bible is clear that God did not make up His plan
for the ages after He saw what sinful people would do!

65. John Bunyan wrote a wonderful book on John 6:37,
“Come and Welcometo Jesus Christ” (in The Works
of John Bunyan [Baker], 1:240-299). He makes the
point (pp. 256-257)that Jesus’statement here is
unconditional. It will happen without exception
because it rests on God’s will, which He is able to
accomplish. It’s sometimes called “irresistiblegrace.”
This does not mean that God drags people to Christ
kicking and screaming againsttheir will. No one
comes to Christunwillingly. Rather, it means that God
makes sinners willingto come to Christ(Ps. 110:3).
When Paul preached the gospel to Lydia, we read
(Acts 16:14), “And the Lord opened her heart to
respond to the things spoken by Paul.” If God had not
opened her heart, she would not have responded
favorably.
If you have believedin Christ, it’s because the Lord
opened your heart to believe. You believedbecausethe
Holy Spiritimparted new life to you, apart from
anything in you. You believedbecause in His sovereign
grace, before the foundationof the world the Father
chose you in love to give to His Son. All whom the
Father has given to Jesus will certainlybe saved. No
sinner can thwart God’s mighty will to accomplishHis
purpose (Ps. 115:3).
4. Salvationis absolutelyand finallysecure for all
whom the Fatherhas given to Jesus (6:37b-40).

66. These verses are a wonderful foundationfor assurance
of salvationfor all who have come to Jesus and
believedin Him. Note four things:
A. Jesus will keep all whom the Fatherhas given Him
(6:37b).
John 6:37b:“… and the one who comes to Me, I will
certainlynot cast out.” That phraseis often
understood, even by the greats like John Bunyan and
Charles Spurgeon (who has at least seven sermons on
this verse), to mean that Christwill welcome all who
come to Him. That is certainlytrue, whether it’s the
thief on the cross or Paul, the persecutor of the
church. But I agree with D. A. Carson(The Gospel
According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 290) that
that is not the meaning of this phrasein its context.
Rather, what Jesus is saying is that all that the Father
gives to Him (who will surely come to Him) He will
certainlykeep or preserve unto eternity. In modern
terms, He won’t “kick out” any whom the Father has
given to Him.
There are two reasons that this is what Jesus means
here. First, the Greek verb translated“castout” in
almostall of its parallel occurrences refers to casting
out something that is already“in.” For example, John
uses it (9:34)to refer to the Pharisees expellingthe
man born blind from the temple (cf. 3 John 10).
Second, the next three verses show that this is Jesus’

67. meaning. He repeatedly emphasizes that He will
eternallykeep all whom the Father has given Him.
At Christmas, you may receive a gift that you have
absolutelyno use for (except for a white elephant gift
to unloadon some poor victimat next year’s
Christmas party). Jesus doesn’t do that with the gifts
that the Father gives Him. He uses a strong double
negative (in the Greek text) to underscorethat He will
keep every gift from the Father. If you have believed
in Jesus, you’re one of God’s gifts to His Son. (Don’t
let that go to your head!) As a member of Christ’s
body, He will tenderly nourishand cherish you (Eph.
5:29).
B. Jesus will keep all whom the Father has given Him
because He came down from heavento do the Father’s
will (6:38).
John 6:38:“For I have come down from heaven, not to
do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
Jesus bases the success of His missionnot on whether
or not peoplerespond to Him, but rather on the fact
that He came down from heaven(John 6:33, 38, 41, 42,
50, 51, 58), where He sharedthe glory of the Father
(17:5), to do the Father’s will, which is absolutely
certain. If any whom the Father gave to the Son do not
make it to heaven, it would mean either that Jesus was
incapableof performing what the Fathercommanded
Him to do or that He was flagrantlydisobedient, both

68. of which are unthinkable(Carson, p. 291). But what is
the Father’s will?
C. The will of the Father who sent Jesus is that of all
that He has given Him, He losenothing, but raise it up
on the last day (6:39).
John 6:39:“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that
of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raiseit
up on the last day.” “The lastday” is a phrase that
occurs only in John (5:28, 29; 11:24;12:48).It means
that Jesus will keep us until we’re in heaven. Morris
states (ibid., p. 368), “This thought is of the greatest
comfort to believers.Their assuranceis based not on
their feeble hold on Christ, but on His sure grip of
them.”
You may wonder, “Whatabout Judas or what about
the disciples in John 6:66 who turned away from
Jesus?”The answer is, they never truly believedin
Jesus. In John 17:12, Jesus prays with reference to the
twelve, “WhileI was with them, I was keeping them in
Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded
them and not one of them perishedbut the son of
perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”
There are many like the seed sown on the stony
ground or the thorny ground, who spring up and at
first look genuine, but when trials and temptations hit,
they wither and die (Matt. 13:20-21). They never truly

69. believedin Christ. But those to whom Jesus gives
eternal life will never perish (John 10:28).
D. To sum up, the will of the Father is that everyone
who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have
eternal life and Jesus will raise him up on the last day
(6:40).
John 6:40 sums up what Jesus has been saying: “For
this is the will of My Father, that everyone who
beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal
life, and I Myself will raisehim up on the lastday.”
Again, this is a staggering claim that Jesus has already
made (5:28-29), that He will raiseus from the dead on
the last day so that we will be with Him forever.
Note that rather than referring to those whom He will
raiseup as those whom the Fatherhas given to Him,
here Jesus goes back to the invitationmode of 6:35.
There it was “he who comes to Me” and “he who
believes in Me.” Here, it is “everyonewho beholds the
Son and believes in Him.” “To behold” implies
knowledge of who Jesus is. You can’t believe in one
you know nothing about. John wrote this gospel to
show us who Jesus is—the Christ, the Son of God—so
that we may believein His name and have eternal life
(20:31). It’s interestingthat none other than John
Calvin(Calvin’sCommentaries[Baker], p. 254)here
calls “madmen” those who seek salvationin what he
calls “the whirlpoolof predestination,”rather than by

70. faith in Christ. He’s saying, to be saved, don’t probe
into whether or not you’re one of the elect. Rather,
focus on answering the question, “Who is Jesus?”and
on the basis of the apostolicwitness, put your trust in
Him.
Conclusion
Some preachers do not teach on God’s sovereignty
over our salvationbecausethey say that it’s too
controversial or divisive. Some argue that these
doctrines are just theoretical theologythat have no
relevancefor how we live. I’ve heard seminary
professorssay that you should never talk about the
doctrine of electionwith unbelievers, becauseit will
drive them away from Christ.
Yet here Jesus speaks plainly about electionas He
confronts these unbelievers (He will do it againin
10:26). The thought that you may not be one of God’s
elect should drive you in panic to believein Jesus!
Also, God’s sovereignelectionis a comforting doctrine
for us who truly believein Jesus because it’s the
foundationfor our eternal security. Jesus will keep all
whom the Fatherhas given Him. His missionwill not
fail.
God’s sovereignelectionthe only doctrinethat
produces true humility in us as we give all glory to
God, who graciouslysaves unworthy sinners (1 Cor.
1:18-31). The doctrineof electionencourages us to

71. share the gospel even with immoral, idolatrous
“Corinthians”(Acts 18:9-10), becauseGod will save
all whom He has purposedto save. And, Jesus’words
here give comfort to preachers who preach on God’s
sovereignty, only to have people leavethe church,
which I hope that none of you will do!
ApplicationQuestions
Some say that the doctrine of electiondiscourages
evangelismand missions.Why is this false? What
Scriptures refute it?
Some argue that if sinners can’t believeby their own
free will, it is mockery to encourage them to believe.
WhatScriptures refute this error?
Since some (like Judas or those in John 6:66) seem to
be saved for a while and then fall away, how can we
know that our faith in Christ is the real thing?
Should we assurea professingChristianwho is living
in sin that he is eternallysecure in Christ? Why/why
not? WhichScriptures give guidance on this?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2013, All Rights Reserved.
THE EFFECTUALCALL OF GOD
Dr. W. A. Criswell
John 6:37
6-28-87 8:15 a.m.

72. And once againwelcome the throngs of you who are listening on radio. This
is the pastorof the First Baptist Church in Dallas delivering a sermon, a
textual sermon. Mostof the times the messagespresentedby the pastor will
be an exposition. It will be a passage;this morning it is a textual message
from John 6:37; John 6:37, and I have named it The Effectual Callof God.
The text is in two very distinct parts. First clause:“All that the Fathergiveth
Me shall come to Me.” Secondclause:“And him that comethto Me I will in
no wise castout” [John 6:37]. The first clause speaks ofpredestinating grace:
“All that the Father giveth Me shall surely, certainly come to Me.” You have
two verbs here in the English translatedalike:“shall … All that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me; He that comethto Me” [John 6:37], in English,
both verbs translated in the same English word. They are altogetherdifferent
verbs; they move in a different world. “All that the Father giveth Me hekō,
shall surely and certainly and must come to Me”:hekō. You have an instance
of the use of the verb in the story of the prodigal son [Luke 15:11-32]. “Thy
brother hekō, has come; he has arrived, and the father hath killed for him the
fatted calf” [Luke 15:27]. Hekō:“is arrived, is come, is certainly here.” The
other verb, erchomai, is just the usual word for “come”:“He that cometh,”
erchomai.
Predestinating grace:“All that the Fathergiveth Me shall certainly and
inevitably and inexorably come;they will come” [John 6:37]. Apparently,
what God said to our Lord in glory: “You go down and be incarnate, a man in
that earth, and You suffer and die on the cross, and I will give You a people.
You will not suffer and die in vain; I will give You disciples and believers and
converts, and they will certainly come.” Predestinating grace;Godhas given
to our Saviora people. “All that the Fathergiveth Me shall certainly and
surely hekō, arrive, be there, is come” [John6:37].
The other part is free will: “And him that comethto Me I will no wise castout
[John 6:37]. The man that chooses to come, the one who accepts the love and
grace ofour Lord, I will acceptHim. If he will come, I will love and receive
him as My very own.”
There are two distinct lines of grace and revelationin God’s Holy Word. One
is God’s elective purpose and His effectualcalling, His predestinating grace;
that’s one line. The other line is free will: “I choose,I accept, I turn, I confess,
I repent, I believe.” And those two lines are parallel through all of human life
and experience:God’s predestination and our free will choice. I cannotmake
them meet; they are always parallel. I cannotunderstand the mystery of

73. them; but no one is able to make them cross. No one canmake them
contradict.
When a man is saved, he’s an Arminian. Arminius was the greatDutch
theologianwho was the expounder of free will, of free choice. Whena man is
saved, he’s an Arminian, always. “Look whatI did. I acceptedthe Lord. I
repented of my sins. I confessedthe Lord Jesus. I came to Him. It was at
such and such service, atsuch and such hour, and I was saved. I repented,
and I confessed, and I turned, and I believed, and I was saved.” He’s an
Arminian: “I did it.” But as surely as God lives, as he grows in grace and as
the days pass, he becomes a Calvinist, always:“God did it. Looking back,
God touched my heart, God called me, and Godsaved me. It was by God’s
love and by God’s grace and in God’s goodness thatI came to know the Lord,
always” [John6:44].
Long time ago, I forever settled in my mind those two greatdoctrines of the
Bible, and I have never been bothered by them since. There are two
nomenclatures in the kingdom of God, two of them, and if you’ll keepthem
separate, you’ll never have any problem, never. There are words, there is a
nomenclature that belongs up there. And when we speak ofHim up there, we
talk about almightiness, and sovereignty, and immutability, unchanging
immutability; we talk about omniscience and omnipresence and omnipotence,
and we talk about predestination and electionand foreknowledge. That’s the
language up there where God is. Downhere where we are, we use an
altogetherdifferent kind of language. We talk about free will; we talk about
choice;we talk about confession, repentance,salvation;we talk about
commitment and consecration. Theseare the words down here. And if you’ll
keepthem separate, you’ll never have any trouble. Up there it’s God, it’s
foreknowledge, it’s electionand predestination, it’s the omnipotence of
almightiness of the heavenly Father; and down here it’s confession, and
repentance, and choice, and free will.
Now having spokenof the text, may I expound upon its two parts? “All that
the Fathergiveth Me shall hekō, surely and certainly come to Me” [John
6:37]; these that God hath chosen, predestinatedin His sovereignchoice, has
given them to Christ. “Theywill certainly come to Me.” In God’s Holy
Scriptures we are told that up there in heaven, in the presence of the Lord
God, is a Book ofLife [Revelation20:12-15]. And in the seventeenthchapter
of the Revelation, it says that in that book are the names of all of those who
are saved, whose names are in that Book of Life, written before the foundation
of the world [Revelation17:8]. Before Godcreatedthis universe and flung
this planet out into space, Godwrote in that Book ofLife the names of those

74. who are given to Jesus, those who are saved, those who are in the kingdom.
We can’t look upon that book. There’s only One who is worthy. There’s just
One who is worthy to take the book and to break the seals and to look upon its
mysterious pages [Revelation5:2-9]. He is described as “the Lamb of God,
slain before the foundation of the world” [Revelation13:8]. I can’t see it, I
can’t read those names, I can’t look upon it; just the Lamb of God. But oh,
what a comfort to me to know that there is such a book, and in that book are
the names of those that God hath given to our Lord, who shall surely come to
Him [Revelation20:12, 15, 21:27;Luke 10:20].
There are those who will not come; they refuse to respond. Here in this
chapter, “No man can come to Me, exceptthe Fatherdraw him” [John 6:44],
and in the tenth chapter out of which you read, “You cannot believe because
you are not My sheep” [John 10:26]. There are some who will not respond.
No matter how you pray, or how you weep, or how you witness, or how you
testify, or how you make appeal, there are some who will not respond. But
there are some who will always turn; there are some who will always believe;
there are some who will always accept. The blood and suffering of Christ
[Matthew 27:32-50], shall not be poured out into this world in vain, and the
man that preaches the gospelwill not go without a recompense anda reward.
There will always be some who will turn and be saved, always. Some will
come, some will believe, some will turn, some will look to Jesus. Always, some
will come [John 6:37]. God’s predestinating grace grants to us who make
appeal and who pray and who preach, God’s predestinating grace willalways
bring us some [John 6:37].
If there were a greatplague in the city, and some are saved, why not you? If
there was a greatfamine in the land and many are starving, but some will live,
why not you? Your coming, your responding is a sign that God hath chosen
you.
How do they come? Is it because oftheir goodworks? Is it because they
merit salvation? The Scriptures say that our righteousnesses,our works, are
like filthy rags in His sight [Isaiah64:6]. How is it that they come? Is it
because ofsome intrinsic worth? Paul said, “I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh,) there is no goodthing” [Romans 7:18]. How do they come? Theycome
because ofthe constraining love of God in their hearts. God puts in their
hearts a love for the Lord and a wanting for Christ [2 Corinthians 5:14-15].
And if they want Christ, a thousand times over againChrist wants them.
Oh, the love of God that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace ofGod that brought it down to man!

75. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
When He gave us Jesus on Calvary!
[from “At Calvary,” William R. Newell]
That is God’s predestinating grace [John 6:37], and as I say, when you grow
older and experiencedin the faith and in the Lord, more and more and more
do you praise Godfor His goodnessesto you. It is less and less and less and
less of us, and more and more and more of Him, until finally it is nothing of us
and all of Him—God’s grace that reacheddown and savedme [John 6:37].
Now the secondone:“And him that cometh to Me I will in no wise castout”
[John 6:37]; free choice, my coming to the Lord. It’s an unusual thing the
way the text says. It begins with a plural, “all,” pan, “All, all that come to
Me.” But when we come to our secondverse, it becomes a singular: ton, “the
one,” translatedhere “him.” All that God has given to Jesus will certainly
come [John 6:37]. Then it becomes singularand particularly and personal:
“And him that cometh to Me I will in no wise castout” [John 6:37] There is a
solicitude on the part of God for eachone of us that is marvelous to
contemplate.
You, you, that “him”—”Him that cometh unto Me” [John 6:37]—that “him,”
that “him” can be from a drunkard’s hell; it can be from a brothel; it canbe
from the outcasts of humanity; it canbe from the slums of the city; it can be
from the gambler’s den. That “him” canbe any “him”; that “him” canbe
any sinner. All sinners, all of us, with our weaknessesandour foibles and our
failures, “Him that comethunto Me,” that “him” can be the brokenhearted
and the weary, these who have striven and have failed in life. That “him” can
be a young person, a child; it canbe an old somebody. If you’re old enoughto
sin, you’re old enough to die. “And him that cometh unto Me”:that “him”
can be anybody. It canbe I. It can be we.
“Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise castout” [John 6:37]. You know,
the Greek is sometimes unusual. If you use a double negative in English, it
contradicts itself; it’s not—you just don’t use double negatives:“no, not
never.” Greek is just the opposite:it will pile up double negatives. And here
is one of them: “Him that cometh unto Me ou me, no not never will I casthim
out.” The Lord is so approachable. “We who are far off,” says Paul in
Ephesians 2, “are made nigh by the blood of Christ” [Ephesians 2:13]. The
greateighth chapterof the Book of Romans begins, “There is therefore now
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus” [Romans 8:1].
“Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise castout” [John 6:37]; the
approachablenessand the availableness andthe nearness ofour Lord. In the

76. days of His flesh, there thronged Him and crowdedaround Him the poor, and
the sick, and the blind, and the lame, and the halt, and the lost. He said, “I am
come to seek and to save those who are lost” [Luke 19:10]. And now that our
Lord is in heaven, He hasn’t changed:He is still our available Christ
[Hebrews 4:14-16].
“It is expedient for you,” He said, “that I go away” [John 16:7]. Were He still
in the days of His flesh and living in Jerusalem, how would we get to Him?
The throngs from the ends of the earth, the ships would clog the sea;the city
would be multitudinously pressedon every side. Our Lord now, this moment,
He is as near as your breath, He is closerthan your hands and your feet, and
you cantalk to Him, and you cantell Him all about every providence and
experience in life.
I was greatlymoved one time by a man telling, a pastor telling of an old
gentleman who, when his wife died, went to live with his daughter. And they
built a room for him, and there he lived the last of his life and his days in that
room in his daughter’s house. And one day the old gentleman came to see the
pastor who’s speaking, and saidto him, the old gentleman said, “You know, I
have a hard time feeling that God is near me, and I just wish I knew how to
get close to the Lord.” And the pastorhad an inspiration; he said, “I tell you
what you do, dad. You getyou a chair, an empty chair, and you put it by
where you sit, and you talk to the Lord Jesus in that chair, and He will hear
you and He will answer. You just talk to Him.” In the night, the old
gentleman, the old dad, went to be with the Lord. And when the funeral
arrangements were made, the daughter in the house saidto the pastor who’s
telling this story that I was listening to—the daughter said to the pastor,
“Pastor, it is the strangestthing, the strangestthing. When I went to see my
dad in the morning, in the night he had drawn up an empty chair, and I found
him there. He had died with his hand on that empty chair.”
Jesus is available! Jesus is approachable! Jesus is near. “He that cometh
unto Me,” any he, “he that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast him out”
[John 6:37].
A concluding remark on the text: that’s the waywe are saved, by coming to
the Lord Jesus. Itis that simple and it’s that plain [John 6:37]. There is
never ever anything mysterious about the way we are saved. We are savedby
coming to the Lord, always. Our Lord said it like this: “As Moseslifted up
the serpentin the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” [John 3:14-
15; Numbers 21:8-9], and we’re saved by a look at the crucified One.

77. Could I add to it like this? I have flown severaltimes over the mouth of the
Amazon River. So greatis the pressure of that stream that for five hundred
miles out into the Atlantic the wateris fresh; the push of that river out into
the Atlantic. There was a ship without water, destitute, and the sailors dying.
And they calledto another passing ship, “Whatshall we do? We have no
water!” And the answercame:“Justdip it up and drink! Just dip it up and
drink!” That’s the abounding grace of our Lord for us: just eat, my brother;
eat the bread of life [John 6:35, 41, 48, 51]. Just drink, my brother; drink the
waterof life [John 4:13-14]. It is that simple. There is not one wayto be
savedfor Peter, Paul, and James, and John, and anotherway for us; we all
are savedalike [John 6:37]. There’s not some mysterious door through which
those apostles enteredinto the love and grace and heart of Christ, and we
come in another way; all of us come in the same way: just loving the Lord,
just coming to Jesus [John6:37], just believing in Him [John 3:14-16], just
trusting in Him [Acts 16:30-31]. And when I do that, I have eternal life:
My sheephear My voice, and I know them . . .
And I give unto them eternallife; and they shall never perish, neither shall
any one pluck them out of My hand.
My Father, who gave them Me, is greaterthan all; and no one is able to pluck
them out of My Father’s hand.
I and My Father are one.
[John 10:27-30]
I’m saved, and I’m safe, and I’m secure. No lion of the pit will ever be able to
take awayone of the sheepof His flock, and no demon from hell will be able to
wrestfrom the hand of God the Fatherthe humblest one who has sought
refuge in Him [John 10:29].
And repeatedand repeatedin this passage, 39:“All that the Father hath given
Me will come, and I will raise him up at the lastday” [John 6:39]. The next
verse:“This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one that seekeththe
Son, and believeth on Him, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the
last day” [John 6:40]. Forty-fourth verse:“Any one that comes to Me the
Father will draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day” [John 6:44].
Again, “Whoso eatethMy flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and
I will raise him up at the lastday” [John 6:54]. In that little passagethere,
four times: “I will raise him up at the last day” [John 6:39-54].
Sweetpeople, Jesus notonly saves our souls [Hebrews 10:39], and saves our
spirits [1 Thessalonians 5:23], but He also has promised to resurrect and to

78. immortalize and to re-create our human bodies [John 11:25-26]. The whole
purchased possessionshallbe immortalized and redeemed[Ephesians 1:14].
Paul closedthe third chapter of Philippians, “Forour citizenship is in
heaven,” our home is in heaven. It’s not here; it’s in heaven [Philippians
3:20]. Our reward is not here; it’s in heaven:
For our citizenship is in heaven;from whence we look for the Savior. . . Who
shall change our vile bodies, that they may be fashioned according to His
glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all
things unto Himself.
[Philippians 3:20-21]
We are saved and saved forever, and somedayGod will raise, out of
corruption and death, these bodies [1 Corinthians 15:50-57;1 Thessalonians
4:14-17]. And we’ll be fashionedand made like unto our Savior[Philippians
3:21]; He our elder Brother, and we of His household of faith [Galatians 6:10].
Oh, bless God, and praise His name forever!
In this moment, when we sing our hymn of appeal, thus to come to the Lord
[Romans 10:9-10], to answerthat callin your heart, or with a family you, to
put your life in the circle of our dear church or to answera call of God to you
in your heart, on the first note of the first stanza, come, and a thousand times
welcome. Makethe decision now, and when we sing our song, down one of
those stairways, down one of these aisles:“Pastor, this is God’s day for me,
and here I stand,” while we sing, while we stand, while we come, while we
wait, while we pray.
GreatTexts of the Bible
Christ’s Doctrine of Election
All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise castout.—John6:37.
1. After claiming to be the Bread of Life, and condemning the Jews’attitude
towards Himself, Jesus announced His assurance that notwithstanding their
unbelief all that the Fathergave Him would come to Him, and then
immediately uttered the gracious words whichhave given confidence and
courage to all approaching Him through the centuries, “Him that cometh to

79. me I will in no wise castout.” In this twofold declarationthe Lord revealed
two aspects ofone greateffect, the heavenly and the earthly. The heavenly
takes in the whole result, “All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto
me.” The earthly declares the individual responsibility, and utters the word
creating confidence, “Him that comethto me I will in no wise castout.”
2. The tone in which the words are spokensupplies another element in the
picture. Jesus seems to pause after saying, “Ye have seen me, and yet believe
not.” It is a sorrowfulfact, and it is very mysterious. Here are His own people
rejecting Him, or at any rate coming to Him in such a wrong fashionthat He
has to discourage them. It looks as though God’s plan of salvation were not
working out right. Is it going to fail at the outset? Suchquestions must crowd
into the Saviour’s mind, as He faces the fact that these people will not accept
Him. But they are not allowedto cloud His faith for an instant. At once the
Son acquiescesin the Father’s plan. It is all right; it cannot fail. “All that
which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.” Nobody will be lost whom
the Fatherdesignedto save. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out.” I am doing My part correctly. So all must be well.
The Commander-in-Chief at the base of operations decides upon the plan of
campaign, and entrusts its execution to another Generalwho never doubts the
strategythough it does not appear successfulimmediately, and never doubts
His own perfectfulfilment of the plan.1 [Note: J. E. Roberts.]
Mark well this passage, “Iwill in no wise casthim out.” Our Saviour doth
plainly import that there neither is nor can be devised—no, not by God
Himself—any one considerationwhatsoeverwhichmight occasionHim to put
off or saynay to any person that doth come. No considerationin the world, I
say, can so aggravate a man’s condition, could he make it as bad as the devils
themselves, yet, if there be a coming to Christ, there can be no consideration
in the highest pitch of sinfulness for Christ to reject, or put by, a person
coming to Him. Foryou must know, beloved, Christ is well acquainted with
all the objections the heart of man (nay, the devil) can objectagainstthe
freeness ofHis grace and life by Him. To save labour, therefore, in this one
passage(I will in no wise castout) Christ at once answers allthe objections
that could be made. And I dare be bold to maintain, in the name and stead of
Christ, let a personbut sayand lay down this for granted, that come he
would—that he would have Christ rather than his life,—letthis be granted for

80. a truth, I will be bold with Christ out of this passageto answerten thousand
objections, evenfully to the silencing of every objectionthat canbe made; “I
will in no wise casthim out”; I will in no wise, that is, I will upon no
considerationthat can be imagined or conceived.2 [Note:Tobias Crisp.]
I
The Father’s Part
“All that which the Fathergiveth me shall come unto me.”
At once the question suggestsitself, Who are given by the Fatherto the Son?
The context supplies an answer. The charge brought by Jesus againstthese
Jews is, “Ye see and believe not.” He has declaredalready, “This is the work
of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” It seems evident,
therefore, that “that which the Father giveth” includes all who believe on the
Son. That may include everybody. “Whosoeverwill” may believe. But to
believe is the essentialcondition. Therefore the greattruth of our text is that
all who believe are saved. It sounds a commonplace:but considerwhat it
means. Take a few cases. A is a denizen of the slums, poor in pocketand in
education; B is a University professor, ofhigh moral instincts and intellectual
attainments; C is a RomanCatholic scientist; D is a cannibal on a mission
station on the Congo. Now suppose eachofthese convictedof sin and desiring
to trust Jesus. Theircircumstances vary enormously. Coming to Christ and
reaching Him mean very different experiences. A never uttered a prayer in his
life, and scarcelyunderstands any article of the Christian creed;B has
consideredthe creed carefully and critically, and has been accustomedto
reverent worship; C has to acceptdogmas on the authority of the Church,
though his reasonmay contradictthem; D has dim conceptions of Godand is
governedby savage instincts which cannotbe eradicatedin a brief time. Does
it seemat all likely that four men placedin such different circumstances
should eversucceedin finding God in Christ? Jesus says they shall. “All that
which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.” No lack of knowledge, no
spirit of caution, no church dogma, no savage instinctshall hide the face of
God in Christ or keepa seeking soulfrom the Saviour. Coming from Eastand
Westand North and South, the guiding starshall gather them all at the feet of
the Sonof God.

81. The Christian doctrine of electionusedto be freely preached; but it was
sometimes mis-stated, and therefore it was misunderstood. So it fell into
disuse. Now it seems to be too much neglected. If it means what some people
think it means—that God electeda certain number of individuals without
reference to their moral fitness for salvationand consignedall the restof
mankind to eternalperdition—I do not wonder it is neglected. Suchteaching
conflicts with our knowledge ofGod and has no shred of evidence in the
Scriptures. Its true meaning is given in this verse. God has electedfor
salvationnot this or that individual, but all people who believe in His Son
whom He hath sent. This may be all. God wants it to be all. All who believe
are saved. That is, God elects, not the individuals, but the means, and
guarantees that all who use the means shall be saved.1 [Note:J. E. Roberts.]
As to this matter of election, I would to God that some who objectto it had as
much common sense in this matter as they have in the daily actions of
ordinary life. I ask for no higher degree ofcommon sense. Let me assume that
a purse has been lost in the street adjoining our place of meeting; the purse
contains a thousand guineas; whoeverfinds that purse may keepit. “Ha!” we
say, “well, only one canfind it; therefore what is the goodof a thousand
seeking it? Only one can have it; and if I am electedto be the man, it will come
in my way.” I never heard people reasoning so with regard to an affair of that
kind. Though only one may have it, ten thousand will strive for it if they know
the conditions. There is a prize to be given in the school. It is one prize; there
are five hundred scholars in the school. The boys say, “Well, only one of us
can getit, why should five hundred of us be toiling and fagging for it?”
Another boy says, “I know if I am to have the prize, I will getit; so I shall read
no books, and make no preparation.” You would not allow a boy to reasonso.
Yet there are men who say this, “If we are calledto heaven, we’ll getto
heaven; if we are electedto be saved, we need not make any effort about it.”
Thou wickedand slothful servant; out of thine ownmouth I condemn thee;
the whole actionof thy evil life shall be thy answeron the day of judgment,
and thou shalt be condemned to an ignominious silence because ofa self-
accusing conscience.1[Note:J. Parker.]
I am thankful to believe that my final salvationdoes not depend wholly on
myself. If it did, it would be at stake to the very last! Salvationinvolves so
much. It includes deliverance from sin, development of character, fitness to

82. dwell with God. Man’s faith is often such a frail thing. It were a poor refuge, if
there were no Divine purpose to support it. It becomes a sure defence if God
says, “I pledge that man’s deliverance.” Here is a man battling with a rough
sea. A belt is flung to him. What hope of deliverance canhe have by clinging
to a few pounds of cork? This hope, that there are fifty strong arms pulling
him through the surf to the shore. Do not push the simile too far. The
Christian life is not simply clinging to a belt; it is a daily conflict with
temptation. But it is gloriously true that faith in Christ transfers the
responsibility of salvationto the Saviour, and makes deliverance certain.
Though I graspthe hand of Christ I might lose it in a moment of doubt or
weakness,orwhen my feet enter the chill waters of the river of death. Thanks
be unto God for the assurance that if I claspthe hand of Christ He grips mine,
and none can pluck me out of that strong clasp. It is my sheetanchor amidst
the storms of life and the floods of death.2 [Note: J. E. Roberts.]
BecauseI seek Thee not, oh seek Thoume!
Becausemy lips are dumb, oh hear the cry
I do not utter as Thou passestby,
And from my life-long bondage setme free!
BecausecontentI perish, far from Thee,
Oh seize me, snatchme from my fate, and try
My soulin Thy consuming fire! Draw nigh
And let me, blinded, Thy salvationsee.
If I were pouring at Thy feet my tears,
If I were clamouring to see Thy face,

83. I should not need Thee, Lord, as now I need,
Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,
Nor dreads the outer darkness of this place—
BecauseI seek not, pray not, give Thou heed!1 [Note:Louise Chandler
Moulton.]
II
Man’s Part
“Him that cometh to me.”
1. “Coming” is the only way of salvation. If there could have been any other
way, this one would never have been opened. It is not conceivable that God
would have given His only-begotten and well-belovedSon to die upon the
cross ofCalvary in order to save sinners if there had been any other wayof
saving them that would have been as consistentwith the principles of infallible
justice. If men could have enteredinto everlasting life without passing along
the path stainedand consecratedby the blood of Jesus, surelythat blood
would never have been “shedfor many for the remissionof sins.” The very
fact that this new and living way has been openedproves that there is no
other, for God would never have provided it unless it had been absolutely
necessary.
2. But what is “coming”? The people He was addressing had followedHim for
miles, and had found Him and were speaking to Him, but they had not
“come” to Him. To come to Him is to approachHim in spirit, and with
submissive trust; it is to commit ourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to restin
Him as our all; it is to come to Him with open heart, accepting Him as He
claims to be; it is to meet the eye of a present, living Christ, who knows what is

84. in man, and to sayto Him, “I am Thine, Thine most gladly, Thine for
evermore.”
An Irish boy was askedwhat was meant by saving faith. “Grasping Christ
with the heart,” said he. The truest answerpossible. And faith is only another
word for coming. The man who grasps Christ with the heart, “comes.”1
[Note:R. D. Dickinson.]
3. The one essentialin coming is the desire to come. Christ pledges His gift to
readiness of heart. As to the open eye the light pours in, and to the listening
ear the music enters, so to the longing heart Christ gives the pardon and the
purity and the peace which, though it has not shaped its need into those
words, are in reality the gifts for which it yearns. The value of a photographic
plate consists not in what it is, but in its readiness to receive the impression
when the shutter of the camera is opened and the light streams in. If a mere
piece of common glass were there insteadof the plate, the light might shine on
it for everand no impressionwould be made; it is the prepared plate that
receives the impression which the light conveys. So, too, it is the prepared soul
that receives the gift of Christ. The one thing that the Saviour asks for is
readiness, willingness, some movementof the life towards Him; if there is that
within us we need not fear that Christ, who is light, will fail to bring His
blessing to us or to leave His mark on us. Everything is possible to us if we are
open to the influence of God. What is it that we want Christ to do for us? Is it
to cleanse awayour sin? He points us to His cross. Do we want restfrom an
accusing conscienceand from the weary load of loneliness? “Come unto me,”
He says, “and I will give you rest.” Is what is deepestin us still unsatisfied,
although we have been seeking many fountains and drinking from many
cups? “He that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
At one critical time during this period of soul-conflicthe stated in one of his
addresses that the question, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” was made a
word of life to him. He writes: “I was very near death; I was almost
despairing. The only thing that kept my head above waterwas the promise,
‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.’ I repeatedit againand
again, and prayed very earnestly, when the word came to me with such power,
and with such a rebuke, ‘Believe ye that I am able to do this?’ He was able,
and I believed Him, and He did it.”1 [Note:K. Moody-Stuart, Brownlow
North, 41.]

85. (1) Unfitness is no barrier to coming.—It is strange how people are inclined to
wait a little, to try to prepare themselves for Christ! They know how unlike
Him they are, and how unfit they are for His presence and service;so, as a
youth who waits awhile to prepare himself for some important examination,
or as a soldierwaits awhile to perfect himself in drill for some promotion—so
they think they can wait. But their waiting never changes their nature or
renews their heart. Fortheir case is rather like that of those who suffer from a
malignant disease.No amount of waiting or even of attention to the outward
signs of the disease is of any avail, and the time spent over that but increases
the danger;for the disorder is within, the whole system is poisonedand needs
renewing, and it is to save their life that they at once put themselves in the
hands of a qualified physician. Christ Jesus is the qualified physician, and His
blood is a “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfactionfor
the sins of the whole world.”
I have heard of a cavalierwho lost his life because he stopped to curl his hair
when Cromwell’s soldiers were after him. Some of you may laugh at the
man’s foolishness;but that is all that your talk about fitness is. What is all
your fitness but the curling of your hair when you are in imminent danger of
losing your soul? Your fitness is nothing to Christ. Remember the hymn—
Let not consciencemake you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.2 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]
(2) Emptiness and not fulness is required.—Before a building is erectedit is
necessaryto excavate fora foundation, which involves the removal of much
that seems important. And it is literally true that Christ wants not our fulness
but our emptiness, that He may “build us up in our most holy faith.” We think
ourselves full, and are reluctant to part with anything; whereas we are
“poor”—destitute ofeverything that is necessaryto appear before Godwith;

86. we are “wretched,” being altogetherout of harmony with the eternal joys of
heaven; and we are “blind” to our actualcondition, to our own welfare, and
even to the salvationso freely provided and so fully revealedby Christ our
Saviour, till the eyes of our understanding are opened, and we are led to see
and desire the many things we need. And the faith that saves is that which
takes us out of ourselves, where there is nothing, to Christ, where there is
fulness for all we need—purity, peace, and joy, “without money and without
price.”
From all thou holdestprecious, for one hour
Arise and come away,
And let the calling Voice be heard in power;
Desertthyself to-day;
If with thy Lord for once thou turn aside,
With Him thou’lt fain abide.1 [Note:J. E. A. Brown.]
4. The coming is a personal coming to a personalSaviour.—How personalthe
text is concerning both the one coming and the One to whom he is to come:
“him that cometh to me.” That is the long and the short of the whole matter,
its Alpha and Omega, its beginning and its end; there must be a personal
coming to the personalChrist. It will not suffice for us to come to Christ’s
doctrines. We must, of course, believe what He taught; but believing His
teaching will not save us unless we come to Him. It will not be enough merely
to come to Christ’s precepts, and to try to practise them,—an utterly
impossible task for our own unaided strength; we must first come to Christ,
and then, when we trust in Him for salvation, His gracious Spirit will “take of
the things of Christ, and shew them unto” us.
In simple trust like theirs who heard

87. Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.2 [Note:Whittier.]
III
Christ’s Part
“I will in no wise castout.”
1. Christ’s accessibility.—“Jesusneverslept in a walledtown” is the striking
remark of a literary writer. There never lived so open a man, so accessible
always to all. Sitting at the well of Sychar, and talking freely to the first
comer; receiving Nicodemus by night; listening to the Syro-Phœnician
mother, who breaks through His concealment;preaching to the five thousand,
who disturb His retirement,—He is the property of every man that wants
Him, and leaves us an example to follow His steps.
2. Christ’s longing for response.—“Ionce knew a mother,” says Canon
Duncan, “who had a sonwho suffered from paralysis of the brain. Yet, how
she loved and caredfor him! But the cause ofher greatgrief was this; she
said: ‘I have nursed him from childhood, cleansed, fed, and clothed him,
watchedover him and supplied his every want, tried to please him, and to
teachhim little things, and now, though in years he is a man, yet he does not
even know me, and shows no return of my love, but just lies there to eat and
drink and sleep!And I feel that I cannotgo on; I am just longing for some
recognition—someresponse to my lifelong love and care!” How many are
there, though not afflicted like that son, who nevertheless treattheir God and
Saviour much the same!He sacrificedHis very life for them; fed, clothed, and

88. caredfor them day by day; and has called them by His providence, by His
word, and by every token of love, and yet they give no response.
He utters this word Himself, that, howeverlong men may neglectit, however
long it may be that they see and hear, and yet believe Him not, when they do
finally come, He cannot, and will not, and must not castthem away.1 [Note:
Schleiermacher.]
It is the greatness ofThy love, dear Lord, that we would celebrate
With sevenfold powers.
Our love at best is cold and poor, at best unseemly for Thy state,
This best of ours.
Creatures that die, we yet are such as Thine own hands deigned to create:
We frail as flowers,
We bitter bondslaves ransomedat a price incomparably great
To grace Heaven’s bowers.
Thou callest:“Come at once”—andstill Thou callestus: “Come late, tho’
late”—
(The moments fly)—
“Come, every one that thirsteth, come—Come prove Me, knocking at My
gate”—

89. (Some souls draw nigh!)—
“Come thou who waiting seekestMe—Come thou for whom I seek and
wait”—
(Why will we die?)—
“Come and repent: come and amend: come joy the joys unsatiate”—
—(Christ passethby …)—
Lord, pass not by—I come—andI—and I. Amen.1 [Note: Christina G.
Rossetti, Poems, 164.]
3. The certainty of Christ’s welcome.—Everyone who will come to Christ is
sure of a welcome. Thatis the emphatic messageofthe text. The words used
by our Lord are the strongestpossible. Sweetlyfamiliar as the music of the
English version is, it scarcelyrepresents their double emphasis. Literally they
read, “Him that comethto me I will not, not castout.” That is to say, to use a
modern phrase, there is not the slightestfearof his being castout. A heart
burdened with a spiritual need will never be repelled; a man panting with a
spiritual desire may be absolutelycertain that when he comes to Christ he will
be welcome. “Oh!” cries Bunyan, “the comfort that I have had from this word
‘in no wise,’as who should say, by no means, for no thing, whatever he hath
done But Satanwould greatlylabour to pull this promise from me, telling me
that Christ did not mean me. But I should answerhim again—Satan, here is,
in this word, no such exception, but him that comes, him, any him—‘him that
cometh to me I will in no wise castout.’ ” Bunyan was right. The welcome is
for all, without any reserve or any exception, or any condition, save that of
willingness to come.
Of other ten adults at this time admitted, one was speciallynoteworthy. She
was about twenty-five, and the Elders objectedbecause hermarriage had not
been according to the Christian usage onAniwa. She left us weeping deeply. I

90. was writing late at night in the coolevening air, as was my wont in that
oppressive tropical clime, and a knock was heard at my door. I called out—
“Akaiera?” (= Who is there?)
A voice softly answered,—“Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with me!”
This was the rejectedcandidate, and I at once opened the door.
“Oh, Missi,” she began, “I cannotsleep, I cannot eat;my soul is in pain. Am I
to be shut out from Jesus? Some ofthose at the Lord’s Table committed
murder. They repented, and have been saved. My heart is very bad; yet I
never did any of those crimes of Heathenism; and I know that it is my joy to
try and please my Saviour Jesus. How is it that I only am to be shut out from
Jesus?”
I tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all very eagerly.
Then she lookedup at me and said—
“Missi, you and the Elders may think it right to keepme back from showing
my love to Jesus atthe Lord’s Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus
has receivedme; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to
Glory and present me to the Father.”
Her look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and submit her
appeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them with
convincing effect. She was baptized and admitted along with other nine. And
that Communion Day will be long remembered by many souls on Aniwa.1
[Note:John G. Paton, ii. 282.]
4. The fulness and freeness ofChrist’s welcome.—Aman may have been
guilty of an atrocious sin, too black for mention; but if he comes to Christ he
shall not be castout. To that atrocious sin he may have added many others, till
the condemning list is full and long; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be
castout. He may have hardened his neck againstthe remonstrances of

91. prudence, and the entreaties of mercy; he may have sinned deeply and
wilfully; but if he comes to Christ he shall not be castout. He may have made
himself as black as night, as black as hell; yet, if he shall come to Christ, the
Lord will not casthim out.
This is the Charter of Christianity—that there lives no sinner too bad for
Jesus to save. A year ago I met a doctor possessedof far more than ordinary
gifts in dealing with one of our most fataldiseases.Fromall parts of the
country men and womenwhose lives have been despairedof by their own
physicians have journeyed to this man’s consulting-room, and have placed
their last hope of recoveryin his mysterious powers. And he described to me
the pathos of his work. Foragain and again he has to face a body of anxious
patients who are waiting from his lips their sentence oflife or of death; and,
while he is able to restore many to perfect health, he knows that he will find
others for whom he cando nothing. Such is the lot of every physician but One.
There is One to whom no case is hopeless;who never yet sent patient away
unhealed. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.”1 [Note:H.
Bisseker, Sunday Evenings in Methodism, 153.]
Lord, dost Thou me invite
To sit in white
At the greatFeastwhich for Thy friends is spread?
I could not be so bold,
In raiment poor and old;
Rather without Thy gates would stand unfed.
Thy messengermistook
My hungry look,

92. As claiming seatat table of the pure;
I am too wise to dare
My worthless presence there,
Nor could my spirit that clearlight endure.
Hedge-rows for me instead,
Their berries red
Enough of sweetnessformy lips contain;
The glow-wormis my lamp
’Mid herbage damp;
To tread Thy bright courts would be only pain.
Yet still He callethme—
“Come, for I wait for thee,
It is the lost and hungry that I need;
Not luxury and pride,
Already satisfied,

93. The humble and the poor My feastshall feed.”2 [Note:J. E. A. Brown.]
Christ’s Doctrine of Election
THE FATHER'S GIFT TO THE SON
"All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that comethto Me I
will in no wise castout."--John 6:37.
IN THESE chapters we are engagedin catching up some of the favourite
thoughts and words of the Redeemer, thinking them over again, and trying, so
far as we can, to look at them with his eyes and from his stand-point. And we
cannot leave this marvellous chapter without accentuating an expression
which comes into prominence here for the first time, but is destined to re-
appear more than once or twice--that expressionis, those whom the Father
giveth Me. And may it be that all who read these lines shall be included in that
casketofvery precious jewels which the Father has given to his Son! There is
nothing higher in this world or the next to which any human being can aspire.
I. WHO ARE THEY?
We may not look into the Book of Life, and read the names written there from
before the foundation of the world. One only cantake that book, and break its
seals, andlook upon its mysterious pages. The Lamb alone, whose blood
purchased eachindividual mentioned there, may scanits records. But it is not
necessarythat that book should be opened or read ere we know its contents.
There is anothermethod of ascertaining the names it records.
The verse quoted above contains an identical proposition. Its extremes may be
reversedin their order, for eachis the other's equivalent. And if, on the one
hand, it is true that all the given ones shall come;it is also true, on the other
hand, that all who come are included among the given ones. Would you know
whether you are one of these? Ask yourselfif you have truly come to Christ,
or believed in Him as Saviour, Friend, and King; for if you have, you may rest
assuredthat you were included in that Divine donation, which dates from the

94. eternity of the far past, and shall be a theme of praise in that which is to come,
world without end.
This is Christianity. It does not consistin the acceptanceofthe Bible as the
Word of God; though Christians do acceptit to be such, and accountit the
stable foundation of their hopes. It does not consistin the belief of a creed;
though Christians necessarilyhold certain definite beliefs. It is not adhesionto
any visible church, or body of Christians; though Christians do for the most
part associatethemselves together. It is coming to Christ. And it is evident
from comparing the parallel clauses ofthe thirty-fifth verse, that coming to
Him and believing in Him are one and the same thing.
To come to Christ is to lift your heart to Him; if not in prolongedprayer, yet
in trustful confidence, in desire and aspiration, in mute expectancy. To come
to Christ is to despair of yourself and all others, and to venture all on Him. To
come to Christ is to turn your back on the sinful past, and your face towards a
glimmering streak of dawn, now visible on the horizon, but destined to grow
into a greatlight. Have you so come to Him, who, though the meekestofmen,
proposes Himself as the panacea for the world's ills, the bread for its hunger,
the satisfactionof its need? If so, then you are certainly amongstthe given
ones.
Look at that stone, agitatedfor ages in the depths of primeval oceans, and
rounded by the attrition of the currents of unnumbered centuries;or at those
hills composedof the remains of infinite myriads of infinitesimal organisms,
falling through the still depths of untroubled seas;or at the moon, which
bears the evidence of the terrific convulsions to which she has been exposed:
and, as you consider any one of these, you are almost overwhelmedby the
thought of their antiquity. Yet know, O soul of man, that, before any of these
were made, before the silence of eternity was brokenby the first angel-voice,
in the infinite azure of the immeasurable past, you were named, and passedin
deed of gift by the Fatherto the Son. There was no surprise, therefore, when
you came to the Sonof Man--this had been anticipated before time began; and
it was the answerof your life to the summons of the foreknowledgeofGod.
You have come in time, but you were given in eternity.
Suppose that a geologist, amid his explorations of the traces of earth's earliest
life, were suddenly to come across a slabinscribed with his own name and a
prediction of the precise date of his coming. With what amazement would he
scanthat mysterious tablet, and with what awe recognise the Divine
omniscience!He did not come because he knew that he was expected, but
because ofwhat, as he thought, were the promptings of his own sweetwill;
but, having come, he discoveredthat his advent had been long anticipated. So

95. we come to the Saviour under a sense ofsin or the stress of sorrow, unaware
of any mysterious influence at work: but, having come, we find that we have
been the subjects of the drawing grace of the Father (John 6:44); that the very
grace to come had been given by the Father(John 6:65); and that we were
included in the Father's gift, so that of us the Soncould say, "Thine they were,
and Thou gavestthem Me, and they have kept thy word."
In dealing with the unconverted, we have only to reiterate the invitation,
"Come to Him." This is the one legend that stands over the doorwayof the
House of Mercy. But, having entered, we learn that all who enter have been
given, as a flock of sheep, to the care of the GoodShepherd, whose name is
branded on them, defying time and age to erase it (John 10:29; Ga 6:17).
II. THEIR PRIVILEGES.
It is a marvellous list; and, as we write and read, it is through a blinding mist
of tears, because we have made so little of our marvellous prerogative--ours
by an inalienable right.
(1) They obtain Eternal Life.
Outside this charmed circle there is existence, but no life (John 5:53). Men
may live in pleasure, but they are dead while they live (1Ti5:6). Eternal life is
as much above the ordinary life of men as that in turn is above the brute's. It
partakes ofthe nature of that world which awaits us, unseen and eternal, in
those glorious ages whichwe are nearing with every heart-beat. So that of the
regenerate it may be said that they are already the children of eternity.
Christ gives eternallife. He not only has life in Himself, but He has received
from the Fatherauthority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to
those whom He has given Him (John 17:2). The life which man forfeited in
Eden is given back in the secondMan, the Lord from heaven. He is the tree of
life, to eat of whom is to become impervious to death; and no swordnow turns
every way to hinder us from taking and living for ever.
We cannotexplain the mystery of the imparting of this eternal life; and we
know as little of the life itself. We are sure that it cannotbe acquired, but
must be given. We are sure that life is not the result of knowledge,but
knowledge the result of life. "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christwhom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). We
are sure that to have it is to drink draughts of blessednesswith which no
earthly joy can compare. And we know that by this the religion of the Bible is
distinguished from all other religions whatsoever, that it provides for the
communication of this life to all who believe. Whatever a man professes and
knows, without this life he is no Christian; but, with this life, the humblest and

96. weakestbelieveris a child of God, a member of Christ, and an inheritor of the
kingdom of heaven. And this is the life which Jesus gives to all who come to
Him, at the first moment of their coming.
(2) They are safe for ever.
Notice how He reiterates this, as if to exclude the possibility of mistake. I will
in no wise castout. The Greek is very strong, "I will never, never, castout."
So great was the pressure brought to bear on the Patriarch that he was
obliged, though againsthis will, to castout the slave-girland her child; and
they nearly perished in the desert-wastes. Butno pressure shall ever avail with
Christ to castout one who has come to Him. No matter how weak and sinful;
though a wreck through sin, with only a fragment of a life to give, He will
never, never, castout. Once inside, there is no putting out. Again, He says that
it is the Father's will that He should lose nothing of all that He has given (John
6:39). In fulfilment of that will, He stoodforth in the garden, accostedthe
armed band, as their swords were flashing in the gleaming torchlight, told
them that He was the objectof their search, and bade them let the terror-
strickenband of disciples go their way (John 18:8-9). An image this of how He
stands betweenus and all assailants, whetherthey be the righteous demands
of the Divine law, or the dark and malignant powers of hell. Ever like this He
is inserting Himself betweenour enemies and ourselves;covering us with his
feathers;acting as our shield and buckler; and receiving into his own royal
heart the blows meant for our worthless selves.We cannotbe lost, unless we
be very Judases, who deliberately open our hearts to admit the prince of hell
(John 13:26; John 17:12).
And to make assurance doubly sure, the Lord speaks ofthose whom the
Father had given Him, as enclosednot only in his own hand, but also in the
graspof his Father's hand (John 10:29). There we lie within the double
safeguard:first of the hand of the Son of Man, and then of that of the Eternal
Father. No member of his body canbe amputated. No sheepof his flock can
be torn by the lion of the pit. No Jonah shall be castout to lighten the ship of
the Church. We are kept by One who neither slumbers nor sleeps, but guards
his flock with ceaselessvigilance;exercising his gracious oversight, not by an
iron restraint which we cannot resist, but by a sweetpersuasivenessoflove
from which we do not wish to escape (John17:11, 12).
(3) They are the subjects of his intimate solitude.
For these He gives his flesh and blood to be meat and drink indeed (John
6:54). To these He gives choice revelations ofhis Father's name (John 17:6);
and passes onthe very words which He receives fresh and living from his

97. Father's voice (John 17:8). These He leads into a certain and settledbelief in
his Divine mission (John 17:8). For these He specially prays, excluding at
times the very world from his thought, that He may concentrate all his
attention on their interests (John 17:9). For these He prognosticatesa unity
like that betweenHimself and the Father. Concerning these He wills that they
may be with Him where He is, so as to behold his glory, and to receive those
further communications concerning the name of God which shall lead to their
fuller reception of the love of God, through the untold ages ofthe hereafter
(John 6:24-26). Oh, destiny of surpassing wonder! Oh, mystery of love! Oh,
rapture of delight! And does all this hang on our coming to Jesus? Who then
will delay? Ah, purblind race, to hesitate, and miss privileges so exalted, bliss
so supreme!
(4) They shall be raisedup at the lastday.
That expression, the last day, was frequently on his lips (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54;
11:24;12:48). It is an indefinite expressionfor those final scenes in which the
history of our race is to be consummated through resurrectionand judgment.
Our Lord does not discriminate betweenthe successive scenes in the last great
act; but bulks the whole together, leaving the Holy Spirit to show the various
stages throughlater writers.
It is, however, noticeable how much stress He lays on the Resurrectionas
essentialto the completeness ofhis work on behalf of those who come to Him.
Four times in this discourse He reiterates the assertion(John 6:39, 40, 44, 54).
It is not enough to impart eternallife. That would bless the spirit, but leave
the body untouched. And the Saviour will not rest until the whole of our
complex nature shares the emancipationand blessing of his salvation. A
transfigured manhood and a glorified body must be the crownof his work for
his own; and so, by his mighty power, He will raise us up in the likeness ofhis
glory, and make us sharers of his royal and exaltedstate (Php 3:21).
It seems incredible, and yet it must be so. Nothing less can explain those
mysterious yearnings which thrill within our hearts, and which, unless the
structure of our nature is in this single particular abortive, must have their
satisfaction. And nothing less will undo the devil's masterpiece ofmischief,
and bring glory to God out of it all.
But in speaking thus of the given ones, let it not be forgottenthat they are
given, not for their enjoyment, but for service. The disciples to whom our
Lord so often referred under this designation, were the first preachers,
teachers, workers, andmartyrs of his church. To them, more than to any
others, are due the sacredScriptures of the New Testament, and the structure

98. of the Church. And if we be in the same category, we must never forget, that
though we are not of the world as to our calling, yet we are in the world for
ministry; and that we have been given to the Saviour to be allied with Him in
the service ofmen, He fulfilling through us the purposes on which He set his
heart, and we sharing with Him the travail of his soul, and his ardent, patient,
undiscouragedtoil. https://www.preceptaustin.org/gospel_of_john-f_b_meyer-
2#8
A DIVINE CALL AND A WILLING RESPONSE JOHN 6:37 • TV176B
A television broadcastsermondelivered SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER12TH,
1982 By HENRY T. MAHAN
__________
Transcribed, edited and published FEBRUARY 19TH, 2013 HENRY T.
MAHAN TAPE LIBRARY Zebulon BaptistChurch 6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
__________
John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise castout. ForI came down from heaven, not to
do mine own will, but the will of him that sentme. And this is the Father’s
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
A man stoodin my study recently. He was a little older man than I am; I
would say in his early 60’s. He came by the office to purchase some tapes of

99. our televisionmessages andhe said to me, “I just want to thank you; you have
helped me more than you can possibly imagine.”
He said, “I have a foundation now; I was floundered around for years. I have
gone to this church and that church; I have listened to this preacherand that
preacher.”
“But”, he said, “I started listening to your television broadcast, and now my
feet are upon the rock. I have been establishedin my heart and in my soul. I
have someone in whom to believe and someone in whom to trust and to rest
and I want to thank you.”
Now, that makes everything worthwhile; that is what I am trying to do on this
television. We are not entertainers, we are not promoters, and we are not
politicians. God calledus to preachthe Gospel.
A DIVINE CALL AND A WILLING RESPONSE JOHN 6:37 • HENRY T.
MAHAN
2
He said to His disciples; “you go into all the world and preach the Gospel.”
He didn’t send us to reform this world or to straighteneverybody out
politically or even to feed the world. He sentus to preach to men the Gospel
of his incarnate, crucified, resurrected, ascended, reigning Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I am determined to do that. If you will stay with me this morning, if God will
give you the grace, understanding, and the wisdom to look into his Word and
examine yourself, examine your profession, examine your foundation, “give
diligence to make your calling and electionsure.”

100. I may saysome things today that will upset you. I may say some things that
trouble you. I may saysome things that you have never heard before, but will
you weighit by the Scriptures? “Will you searchthe scriptures to see if these
things be so?”
The Bereans were noblerthan those in Thessalonica because“theysearched
the scriptures daily to see if these things be so.”
I’m preaching this morning on this subject: “A DIVINE CALL AND A
WILLING RESPONSE.” Mytext is John 6:37, 38, and 39, a very
controversialpassage ofScripture.
I am not afraid of controversy. I am not trying to be consistentwith a
denomination or even with myself. I am trying to be consistentwith the Book,
the Word of God.
Now listen to John 6:37: Christ said, “All, (eachword is weighty and heavy);
all that my father giveth me shall, (not might), shall come to me and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise castout: For, I came down from heaven, I
came down from heaven.”
He was already in heaven; He was reigning in heaven. He came down from
heaven, “not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me from heaven.”
God sent His Son into the world. “I came to do the will of him that sent me
and this is my father’s will which sent me, that of all which he hath giveth me,
I will lose nothing but raise it up againat the lastday.”
“This is the will of him who sentme that everyone, that everyone that seeth
the Son, (not with these natural eyes, but with eyes of faith, seeththe Son and
believes, seeththe Son in His true character, in His grace and glory), seeththe
Son and believes on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at
the lastday.”
My friends, humanly speaking, three things ought to characterize our
preaching. I think three things make goodpreaching, humanly speaking.

101. First of all: Experience and knowledge
Paul warns us againstordaining a novice to teachand preach. That is one of
the things wrong with our churches right now. There are too many
uninformed, inexperiencedpeople are trying to teachthe Word of God, who
know nothing about the Word of God.
A DIVINE CALL AND A WILLING RESPONSE JOHN 6:37 • HENRY T.
MAHAN
3
You can’t teachwhat you don’t know. You can’t tell what you haven’t
experienced. A man can’t preachrepentance who has never repented, or faith
who has never believed. A man cannot tell you about Christ if he has never
met Christ.
We need not to lay hands suddenly on any man. We are turning people loose
in the pulpit and the classroomthat have no business being there. Theyhave
never been students; they become teachers before they ever have become
students.
The Bible tells us not to covetto be a teacherbecause a teacherhas the
greatestresponsibility. He said, “If any man offends (is one thing, but if he
offends and teaches menso), it would be better for him that a millstone was
hanged about his neck and he was thrown into the sea.”
So, we have to have some experience. We have to preachfrom the Word, but
you don’t believe what you haven’t experienced. You don’t believe what you
haven’t learned; we have to be taught of God before we canteachothers.
Secondly: We must characterize our preaching by its simplicity

102. The apostle did not preachthe Gospel“with wisdom of words (or with
enticing words of man’s wisdom), lestthe cross ofChrist be made of none
effect.” If men do not believe what we preach that is one thing; we can’t force
them to believe it. But, we can at leastpreach the Word so that men can
understand what they don’t believe.
Now, that is what we can do; we can preachthe Word so clearly, our Lord
did. Our Lord never spoke in words more than one, two, or three, syllables.
He never used these great, high-sounding phrases that preachers are using
today. He just used simple language.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Fatherbut by
me. I am the door; by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and go in and
out in find pasture. I am the waterof life. Ho, everyone that thirsteth; come
to the water. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water;this he spake of
the spirit.”
These are very clearwords. A man cannotcall on Him in whom he hasn’t
believed and he can’t believe in Him of whom he hasn’t heard and he can’t
hear unless somebody who has alreadyheard preaches it to him. That is what
Paul said in Romans.
Thirdly: What characterizes ourpreaching is sincerity; we have to have that.
Preaching the Gospelof Christ is not a game. We are not in the
entertainment business. Mostpreachers seemto think that we are. They are
trying to hold men’s attention with music, glamour, glitter, and all of these
other things.
We are not in the entertainment business. We are not in the reforming
business. We are not trying to straighten out the government. We are not in
politics; we are sent to preach the Word of God. That’s our commission.
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103. 4
We are not the servants of men; we are the servants of God Almighty. Paul
said, “If I please men I am not the servant of Jesus Christ.” Our message is
not “thus saith our denomination; it is “thus saith the Lord.”
God’s servant is a bond-slave of Jesus Christ who has separatedto one thing,
one goal, and one objective, and that is the Gospelof Jesus Christ. He is sold
out to the Gospel, he is dedicated to the Gospel, he is separatedunto the
Gospeland when he opens his mouth he is going to preach the Gospel, not
about it, he is going to preach it.
You know, one old preachersaid this years ago;he said, “it’s not amazing to
me, that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has continued all these centuries
in spite of hatred, persecution, and trial.” Forhe said, “The blood of martyr’s
is the seedof the church.”
“What is amazing to me (he continued), is the fact that the church has
survived such bad preaching, so many religious con-artists, and those who
claim to be the friends of Christ, but in truth, they are the greatestenemies
that the church of Jesus Christ has ever had; they are like the Pharisees of
old, but the church has survived.”
Why has it survived? How has it survived? I will tell you how and I will tell
you why: It has survived because it is His church. He said, “On this rock I
will build my church and the gates ofhell (all the subtlety and craftiness of
Satancannot destroy it), cannotprevail againstit.” It is His church and that
is why it has survived.
Secondly: The church has survived by His grace and by His power. Jude said,
“Now, unto him, who is able to keepus from falling.”

104. The church has survived because He purchasedit with His blood; it belongs to
Him. It is God’s gift to Him. It is the Father’s gift and He purchased it. Paul
said to the elders at Ephesus; “Feedthe church of God which he purchased
with his own blood.”
Thirdly: Another reasonit survived is that in the midst of all the con-artists,
in the midst of all the religious entertainers, in the midst of all the
covetousness,proud priests and preachers of all the generations;God
Almighty has always had, He has always raisedup from among men,
preachers who have the grace and the courage andthe dedicationto preach
his Word.
His sheepwill hear their voice. Theywill seek out the sheepand the sheepwill
seek out them. Somebody said, “A sheepwill go a hundred miles for a field of
clover” and God’s sheepwill go a long way to hear the truth. They won’t
listen to one who doesn’t preachthe truth and they won’t follow a false
shepherd.
They will getout of compromising positions and be not unequally yoked
togetherwith them or support them because I will tell you this: “Evil
companions corrupt goodmanners.”
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Those men whom God raises up, they speak where God speaks,and they are
silent where God is silent. Theyare more concernedabout being consistent
with the Word, with the Scriptures, than they are being consistentwith
human logic.

105. This is one of the problems of the liberal preachertoday. He is more
concernedwith being consistentwith what his congregationthinks and more
concernedabout being consistentwith philosophy and human logic than he is
with the Word of God.
That’s the reasonthat men deny the creation. That’s the reasonthey deny the
miracles of the Old Testament. That’s the reasonthey deny the virgin birth;
it is not consistentwith human logic, with human philosophy.
Where have you ever seena virgin born person? We have never seenone.
How then can Christ be virgin born? BecauseGodsaid He was. You see, we
are consistentwith the Word of God, not with human logic and human
philosophy.
These men whom God raises up, their messageis Christ, Christ crucified.
They don’t talk about the Gospel. I hear so many of these televisionpreachers
who are always raising money to preachthe Gospel. I never hear them
preach the Gospel.
I hear them raise money to preach. I hear them raise money to send
somebody somewhere to preach, but I never hear any of them preaching the
Gospel. Theyare talking about religious things, but they are never really
preach Christ. Paulsaid, “We preach Christ and him crucified;” These men
(the apostles)and their business is to proclaim the Gospel, not to explain away
the Gospel.
Now, there are some of the things that I want to setforth for you this morning
that are consistentwith the Word of God. I want you to think about them. I
want you to considerthem; I want you to regard them prayerfully and
carefully. I want you to measure them by what God said, not by what you
think, not by what you have always heard, but by what the Word of God says;
will you do that?
First of all: Searchthe Scriptures; “Faithcometh by hearing and hearing by
the Word of God.”

106. God says, “There’s a way that seems right to you but the end thereofis death
(destruction).” He says, “Myways are not your ways and my thoughts are not
your thoughts.” If a man repents and returns to God, he is going to turn from
his ways to God’s way. He is going to be under new management.
Now;I want you to listen to some of these things. I am going to give them to
you with sincerity and simplicity, and I trust, from experience:
First of all: Godis absolutely, unchangeably, infinitely, sovereignin salvation
“Salvationis of the Lord.” That’s what I am saying, from the beginning to
the end; it is of the Lord. Our Mastersaid; (do you remember the text I read
when I started this program); “all that my father giveth me shall come to me.”
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That is what I am saying; Godis absolutelysovereignin creation, we know
that. With whom did He take counselwhen He made the rivers, the deserts,
and the mountains and the trees and when He made man and the animals and
the birds and the fish? With whom did He take counsel? Who was in the
counsels ofeternity? With whom did He take counseland from whom did He
seek advice?
Well, you say; “He made it like he wanted to.” “He breathed the breath of life;
man became a living soul.” God did it all; God said, “Let us make man.”
He is sovereignin creation. The desert is hot because He made it that way.
The Arctic’s cold because He made it that way. The mountain’s high; He
made it that way. The valley’s deep; He made it that way. The oceans deep;
He made it that way. Do you believe that? I sure do!

107. Fourthly: God is sovereignin providence.
“He workethall things after the counselof his own will.” Do you believe that?
Who has controlof the sun, the stars, the moon, the oxygen, the carbon
dioxide, and the plants? Who makes the flowers to grow and the trees to grow
and shed their leaves?
“Have you entered into the treasures of the snow?” Theytell me that not any
two snowflakesare alike. Who designs them? GodaskedJob that. He spoke
to Job out of the whirlwind. He said, “Who taught the birds to fly south in the
winter? Who taught the birds to give birth to their young and to build their
nest and to feed their young?”
Who teaches animals these things? You might say, “Instinct;” it is God’s
powerand God’s might. He is sovereignin providence. “He workethall
things in heavenand in earth according to his will.”
Fifthly: He is sovereignin salvationtoo!
Jonahsaid, “Salvationis of the Lord; it is of the Lord in its planning, in its
purpose, in its execution, in its application, in its sustaining power, and in its
ultimate perfection. “He is the author and finisher of our faith.”
Paul said in Romans 9; “So then, it is not of him that willeth nor of him that
runneth, but of Godthat showethmercy.” Psalm115 says, “OurGod is in the
heavens;he hath done whatsoeverhe pleased. Whatsoeverthe Lord pleased
that did he in heaven, earth, and the seas,and in all deep places.”
Ephesians 1:11, Paul says;“He workethall things, (all things in creation,
providence, and salvation, in death and resurrection, in eternity) according to
the councilof his own will.”
Daniel wrote this in Daniel4 when Nebuchadnezzarcame to his senses;he
said “My understanding (my mind) returned to me and I praisedthe most
high God who ruleth in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of

108. this earth and giveth it to whomsoeverhe pleaseth.” Godis sovereignin
salvation.
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At the same time; now you listen to me; at the same time, our Lord Jesus said;
“All that my father giveth me shall come to me.” Thatis a fact; that is a
truth; that is an undeniable factand our Lord statedit. He said, “him that
cometh; I will in no wise castout.”
What are you saying preacher? I am saying that at the same time every son of
Adam listening to me is a responsible, accountable, creature who is
accountable to God for his sins. “Everyman shall give an accountof himself
to God.”
He is accountable forhis sins; he is responsible for his rebellion; he’s
responsible for his condition, and he is responsible to walk in the light that
God gives him; that is so!
There is no reasonto deny either one. There is no reasonto over emphasize
one at the expense of the other or againstthe other. If a man is convicted, if
he is converted, if he is changedby the grace of God into the image of Christ,
he will forever praise God for giving him the gift of life. He will forever praise
God for redeeming his soul. He will forever give Godall the glory for the
redemption of his soul.
If a man refuses to hear the Gospeland perishes in his sin and unbelief, he will
forever curse himself and blame himself for not listening, believing, and
responding to the Gospelof Jesus Christ.

109. Our Lord said, “Father;I will, that those thou hast given me be with me
where I am that they may behold my glory.” He turned right around and said
to the people: “You will not come to me that you may have life;” you will not.
“O Jerusalem, how oft would I have gatheredyou unto myself as a hen doth
gather her brew, but you would not.”
If you are saved it will be God’s fault. If you are damned, it will be your fault.
That’s just so! I am not trying to be consistentwith the Baptists, Catholics,
Presbyterians, Jews,oranybody else;I am trying to be consistentwith the
Word.
My Lord said as plain as a man can make it and in words that are
understandable; “all that my father giveth me will come to me and him that
comes to me; I will in no wise castout.” Will you come? Will you receive
Christ, will you lay hold upon Christ?
Secondly: I want you to hear that God did electa people.
There is no argument there; there is no room for argument. He electeda
people to salvation“out of every tribe, kindred, nation and tongue, under
heaven.” Thatis what the Bible says. God gave them to Christ. He made
Christ their Surety.
Christ came down here and redeemedthem. There is no room for argument,
it is scriptural. He electedmen, not angels. He said, “He took not on him the
nature of angels;he took on him the seedof Abraham.” There is no argument
there; that is what God’s Word says.
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110. The angels fell first and then man fell. The angels fell before man was ever
created. Then, the leading angel Lucifer, who led the rebellion, tempted man,
deceivedthe womanand they fell. God purposed to save, not the angels, but
men. That was God’s choice.
Then, in the Old Testament, God chose Israel. He passedby the Egyptians
and passedby the Babylonians. He passedby the Hittites and the Amorites
and all the restof the “ites.” He gave the tabernacle to Israel, the prophets to
Israel, the Word to Israeland the atonementto Israel. There is no argument
about that is a fact; it is the Word of God.
Israelwas God’s chosenpeople. Even so, today, the Scripture says, “there is a
remnant according to the electionof grace. Youhave not chosen me, I chose
you, Christ said.”
Ephesians 1:3 and 4 says;“Blessedbe the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who hath blessedus with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in
Christ according as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world
that we should be holy without blame before him in love. He predestinatedus
to the adoption of children.”
In 2nd Thessalonians 2:13 Paulsays, “We are bound to give thanks to God
for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, because Godhath from the beginning
chosenyou to salvationthrough sanctificationof the spirit and belief of the
truth.”
For Paul said, “Whom he foreknew, he predestinatedto be conformed to the
image of his Son that he might be the first born among many brethren: In
whom he predestinated, he called, and whom he called, he justified, and whom
he justified, he glorified. What shall we sayto these things; for we say, if God
be for us, who canbe againstus?”
Let me ask you three questions;will you answerthem truthfully, scripturally,
biblically?

111. First of all: Did you choose Godor did He choose you?
Well, you say; “He chose me.” That is what the Bible says. Whendid God
choose you? “He chose you before the foundation of the world.”
Why did God choose you, why? Are you better than anyone else? Are you
smarter than other people? Are you less sinful? You are not a son of Adam?
You are not identified with the human race? Who are you?
Why did he choose you? He chose you “according to the good pleasure of his
own will. Even so father, it seemedgoodin thy sight.”
My friend; there is no argument with that. There is an electionof grace;it is
not basedon the foreknowledgeofhuman merit. It’s not basedon God
foreseeing whata man would do. Left to ourselves we won’t do, and we won’t
come. Christ said; “You will not come.” Leftto ourselves we won’t seek God.
“Here is love, not that we loved God; he loved us.”
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At the same time, it is true that all who repent and all who believe and all who
receive Christ will be saved. It is still true that if any man desires to be saved
God says, “come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden; I will give you
rest.”
He says, “Ho everyone that thirsteth; come to the water; come without money,
without price. Buy wine and milk without money and without price. The
Spirit of the bride say come. Let him that heareth, say come. Let him that is
athirst, come. Whosoeverwill; then take the waterof life.”

112. How can you preach both of those brother Mahan? I do it because theyare
both in the Word of God. As I said to you in the beginning I am not trying to
be consistentwith myself I am trying to tell you what the Book says.
In what we are trying to do in this day is to make God’s Word fit our
understanding. We better bring our understanding in conformity with God’s
Word. God electeda people. If He hadn’t nobody would ever come.
Yes, we do love God but he loved us first. Yes, we do call on God but He
calledus first. We are the calledof Christ Jesus. Yes, we do seek Godbut He
sought us first. “There is none that doeth good;there is none that
understandeth there is none that seekethafterGod.”
“He lookeddown from heavento see if there were any good.” He said, “They
are all gone aside, every imagination of man’s heart is evil continually.”
Jeremiahsaid, “Canthe black man change his skin? Can the leopard change
his spots? Neithercanyou do goodthat are accustomedto doing evil.”
Yes, we do, we do learn from God but He teaches. Yes, we do confess His
name but He confessedours first. He said, “I know my sheep, and they know
me.”
Who knew whom first? Well, who was first? He knew me before I knew him.
“My sheephear my voice;I give them eternal life.” He won’t leave us and we
won’t leave him.
Now, you get this; electionis not salvation, it is unto salvation. “God’s people
are made willing in the day of God’s power.”
I will close with this: In John 6:39 he says; “This is my father’s will which has
sent me that of all which he hath given me and all who see the Son and believe
on him, I will lose nothing but I will raise him up at the lastday.”
Now, the Scriptures teacha two-fold security. I have heard so many
arguments on what they call “once savedalways saved,” eternalsecurityfor

113. the believerand that entire sort of stuff. I have heard so many arguments
that I don’t even want to stand still and listen anymore.
I’m going to tell you what the Bible teaches:
First of all: It teaches the preservationof believers
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Do you know what it means to preserve something? Has your momma put up
preserves in a bottle or a jar? It is to keepthem; it is to preserve them so they
won’t spoil.
The Bible teaches the preservation of the saints. I know there is a lot of men
who abuse this doctrine and misuse it, confuse it, and everything else. Christ
said, “Mysheep hear my voice; they follow me. I give them eternallife and
they shall never perish.”
That is what he said, “Neithershall any man pluck them out of my hand. My
Father which gave them me is greaterthan all. No man canpluck them out of
my father’s hand.” That is the Bible.
In Philippians 1:6, it says;“He that hath begun a goodwork in you will
complete it in the day of Jesus Christ.” Godnever starts anything that He
doesn’t finish. When God does a thing, it can’t be added to nor anything
takenawayfrom it.
Jude 1:24 says, “unto him that is able to keepyou from falling and present us
faultless before his presence ofhis glory with exceeding joy.”

114. So, God will preserve us, God will keepus and we shall never fall. “If one
sheepof Christ could fall awayI would fall a thousand times a day.” But God
keeps us, “we are kept by the powerof God through faith.”
Secondly: The word of God also teaches the perseverance ofthe saints
They will continue in Christ; He will continue His mercies on them and they
will continue to repent and continue to believe. He says, “I won’t forsake
them but they won’t forsake me either.”
In Colossians 1:21-23 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be
things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wickedworks, yetnow hath he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled,
and be not moved awayfrom the hope of the gospel.”
God has no unwilling children, no unwilling disciples.
“The soul that on Jesus Has leaned for repose I will not, I will not, desertto its
foes.
That soul though all hell Should endeavor to shake I’ll never, no never, no
never, forsake.”
He will never forsake us either; we are united and joined together. He is the
True Vine and we are the branch. He is the head and we are the body. He is
the shepherd and we are the fold, the flock.
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115. 11
The believer’s life is a paradox; he is a mystery to others and he is a mystery
to himself. He makes no boastof his love for Christ and yet he says, “Lord;
you know that I love you.”
He mourns over his sins and infirmities, yet he knows that they are forgiven
and he is free from sin.
He knows that he is not under the law but under grace but he still loves God’s
law and longs to be holy.
He wrestles with sin yet he rejoices in a complete pardon. Can you explain
that? You who have experiencedit canexplain it.
He weeps over his dullness of spirit and yet praises God for sweetfellowship.
He mourns over trials. He weeps in trials but he thanks God for every one of
them knowing that they are working togetherfor his good. David said; “it is
goodthat I have been afflicted.” “I wasn’thappy during the affliction but it
was goodfor me and I acceptit.”
He is the most happy, miserable person, the most empty, full, person, the
poorest, richest, person. John Newtonsaid, “I’m not what I ought to be; I’m
not what I want to be; I’m not what I’m going to be, but thank God I’m not
what I use to be.”
“O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge ofGod. How
unsearchable are his judgment, his ways past finding out.” Learn them; learn
them! You won’t learn them from your literature or from your imagination
or from your philosopher, you will learn them in His Book, the Bible. Submit
your mind to the Word of God!

116. High Doctrine and GoodHope By Henry Mahan
Bible Text: John 6:37
Henry T. Mahan Tape Library Zebulon Baptist Church 6088 Zebulon
Highway Pikeville, KY 41501
Website: http://www.sovereign-grace.com/13thstbap.htm Online Sermons:
http://mahan.sermonaudio.com
From John chapter six verse 37 I will readthe text and then proceedwith the
introduction. In John 6:37 the Scripture says, “All.” Now these folks had just
let the Lord Jesus Christ know that they weren’t impressed. They weren’t
impressed. He said, “You don’t believe me. You don’t believe me, but all that
my Fathergiveth me shall come to me. All that my Fathergiveth me shall
come to me.”
There is no doctrine in the whole Word of God, not one that has generated
more hatred, more hatred among religious people, now not especiallypeople
of the world, but church people. There is no doctrine in the Word of God that
has generatedmore hatred among religious people than the truth of God’s
absolute sovereigntyin all things.
Now let this be establishedand everyone will have to agree the fact that the
Lord God reigneth is indisputable. Is that correct? The Lord God reigneth.
That is indisputable. God reigns.
The Scripture says in Psalm 99, “The Lord reigneth. The Lord ruleth. Let the
people tremble. The Lord sitteth betweenthe cherubims. Let the earth be
moved.”
That is indisputable. God reigns.

117. Nebuchadnezzarsaid, “The Lord reigns in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and giveth it to whomsoeverhe will. None can stay
his and or sayunto him, ‘What are you doing?’” None.
Isaiahsaid...andI wish you would turn to this Scripture, Isaiah46. Listen to
this. Isaiah 46, we will begin our reading with verse nine. And Isaiah wrote,
remember, Isaiah chapter 46 verse nine, “Rememberthe former things of old.
I am God. There is none else. I am God. There is none like me. I declare the
end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done saying, ‘My counselshall stand and will do all my pleasure.’Calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executethmy counselfrom a far
country. Yeah, I have spokenit I will also bring it to pass. I purposed it. I will
do it.”
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Is that true? That is an indisputable fact. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
He reigns in heaven. He reigns on the earth. David said, “He doeth according
to his will. He doeth as he pleases inheaven, earth, the seas and all deep
places.”
Now one other Scripture. I would like you to look at this, the book of Psalms,
the book of Psalms chaptertwo. Now listen to this, Psalm chapter two. This
is an indisputable fact that I am establishing. The Lord reigns. The Lord
ruleth. “Why do the heathen rage?” Psalmtwo verse one. “Why do the
people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth setthemselves. The rulers
of the earth take counseltogetheragainstthe Lord, againsthis anointed, the
Lord Jesus, saying ‘Let’s break their bands asunder. We won’t have this man
reign over us. Let’s castawaytheir cords from us.’ He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall
have him in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex
them, trouble them, in his sore displeasure.”
The Lord reigns. That is indisputable.

118. Who art thou to reply againstGod?
All right, secondly. I want, personally, speaking for myself, I want to be
among those who know the living God as he is revealed in his Word. I want to
know him. I want o be among those who willingly, willingly and humbly bow
before his majesty. I want to buy. I don’t mean at the judgment. I mean
before the judgment. I want to believe him.
One of the hymn writers says, “Godis the king of power unknown, firm are
his decrees,firm is his throne. If he purposes, who shall dare oppose or ask
him why or what he does?”
Now listen to this. Here is the third thing. God has a right. I want you to
listen to this. Some man...one of the men in the study, Jim Eckels,prayed that
I could preach the gospeltonight. This is the very foundation on which that
gospelis gloriouslydisplayed. God has the right to act as he will when he will
and through whom he will because, number one, he is the Creator, Charlie.
That gives him that right. He said, “CanI not do with my own what I will? I
made it. It’s mine. I will dispose of it as I please.” Is that not true? He is the
Creator. “In the beginning God createdthe heavens and the earth.”
It rested with Godwhether to make a world or not make a world. Listen to
the book of Colossians chapterone. Listen to what this says so clearly.
Colossians chapterone beginning with verse 16, Colossians 1:16. It says, “For
by him were all things made, createdthat are in heaven, earth, visible,
invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all
things were createdby him and, Tom, for him, for him” Are you listening?
God has the right to do what he will when he will with whom he will, Charlie,
till he made it. It’s his. Don’t tell me what I cando with my own. It’s mine. I
want to burn it that’s my business. I made it. It’s mine.
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Revelation4:11, listen to this. Revelationchapterfour, verse 11. “Thou art
worthy, oh Lord. Thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and power, for
thou hast createdall things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

119. That’s fact, Jerry. He made it. Its his business what he does with it. He has
the right as the Creatorto do what he will with his own.
“Hath not the potter power overthe clay?” It restedwith God to make the
world or not make it. It rested with God to make man or not make him. It
was according to his will to make one creature a worm and another an eagle.
That’s right.
Thinking about the other day. We went fishing up in...sure, we went fishing.
We caughtabout 130 in five hours. They were pretty goodsize, too. We went
out with some of those night crawlers, worms, worms. And one of the boys
lookedup and he said, “I saw an eagle right over there the other day.” And I
thought as I held that worm in my hand, a lot of difference betweena worm
and an eagle.
Who made the difference? Goddid. It rested totally with him. It is by his
decree that you are a female and he is a male. It is by God’s decree. You are
what you are because Godmade you what you are. It is by his decree to make
one walk on the earth and another swim in the sea. It is by his own will and
decree that one is born in Russia and one is born in China and you was born
in the USA.
I am always so gladwhen that plane touches down in the United States. And
your physical body, short, tall, fat, lean, your mental capacity, your
temperament, your talents and your gifts are determined by almighty God.
That’s right.
“Shallthe thing formed say to him that formed it, ‘Why did you make me like
this?’”
If you want proof of that turn to 1 Samuel two. Don’t tell me any of this is by
chance. It is not by chance. It is by choice. God’s choice. Somebodysaid,
“Every believer ought to read Hannah’s prayer at leastonce a week.”

120. 1 Samuel two verse one Hannah prayed and said, “My heart rejoicethin the
Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlargedover mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none as holy as the Lord
for there is none beside thee. Neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no
more so exceedinglyproudly. Let not arrogancycome out of your mouth, for
the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. The bows of
the mighty men are brokenand they that stumble are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread and they that were
hungry see so that the barren hath born sevenand she that hath many
children is waxed feeble. The Lord kills and the Lord makes alive. The Lord
brings down t the grave and brigs up. The Lord maketh poor. The Lord
maketh rich. The Lord bringeth low. The Lord lifteth up.”
Who does these things? God does. He is the Creator. The Lord is king. Who
then shall dare to resisthis will or distrust his characteror murmur at his
wise decrees ordoubt his
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steadfastpromises? The Lord is king, child of the dust. The Judge of all this
world is just. Holy and Righteous are all his ways. So let every creature sing
his praise.
All right. Now listen to me. Those are the indisputable facts. [?] The Lord is
an indisputable, absolute sovereignmonarch who reigns over all his creation
because he made it.
Secondly, God has the right to do—watchthis, now—to do what he will when
he will with whom he will not only because he is the Creator, of all things and
it belongs to him by those rights of creation, but he has the right to do with
you and me what he will because he is the Judge of this earth. He is the Judge.
He is the Judge, not a judge, the Judge.
Now an illustration. This is highly important right here. Change your whole
way of thinking if you see this. Here is what I am saying. The Constitution of
the United States of America of which I am a citizen guarantees me freedom,
the right to go where I please, live where I please, work where I please and do

121. as I please so long as I don’t offend or break the laws. Is that correct? Thatis
correct. The Constitution guarantees me the right to live where I want to. I
can live...if I want to move to Florida, Wisconsin, I can do it. I cango where I
please as long as I don’t break the law. But if I commit a murder or if I
commit a robbery or if I commit treasonI lose my freedom and I am brought
under the law and I will be put in prison with other criminals and then the
Judge is going to determine my future. My future is no longerin my hands. I
forfeited my right. Is that correct? My future is in the hands of the man who
sits on the bench. He has a book before him that lets him know the maximum
he can give me. That’s right.
All right. The law of God, the law of God is the law of the universe. And the
law of God says, “Do this and live.” That’s all there is to it. Obey God, mind
God, worship God, live perfectly before God, walk in holiness before God and
you canbring before God the claim to freedom. That’s right. You gotthe
right.
But if you sin you are no longerfree. You are now under the law and your
case rests in the hands of the Judge. Is that right? You are not going to tell
him where you are going to live, what you are going to do. That’s right. No
more. You could have if you had walkedperfectlybefore God, if you hadn’t
been guilty of murdering his only begottenSon. That’s what you did. You
murdered God’s Son. And you committed treasonagainstthe king. And you
have lost your freedom. Every sonof Adam has losthis freedom and he is now
in the hands of the Judge. The trial is over. You are not on probation. God
said, “The soul that sinneth will die. The soul that obeyethshall live. What
saith the law of Moses? Do this and live and be free. Go where you will. Go to
heaven if you will.” Once you break the law you are not free anymore. You
are now under condemnation and you are now in the hands of a Judge who
said, “I will by no means clearthe guilty.” Isn’t that what he said? You are
in the hands of a Judge who said over and over again, “The soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. The Judge of the earth shall do right.”
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He is not like these judges we got on our benches, coddle criminals, setfree
criminals, put them on the streetafter they ought to be in the electric chair.

122. No, sir, this Judge will do right. His judgments are just. And the soul that
sinneth, will surely as God is in heaven die. I guarantee you they are going to
die. We are going to die.
What claim do you have on God? Just come on. Bring it forth. You have as
much claim on God as that rapist and murderer has who is sitting there on
death row. Do you know what kind of claim he has got? Nothing. And that is
how much claim you have got in heavenly places. None. You forfeited it.
So I say, secondly, first of all God has the right to do what he will with
everybody here, everybody in this world, everything in this world, every bolt
of lightning and floating cloud and drop of rain and snowflake and every
creature, fowl and fish and whateverand ever son of Adam because he made
it. He made it. It’s his. And, secondly, he has got a right to do with you what
he will because you are a criminal on death row who is a traitor, a murderer
and a thief and a robber and a liar. And you tried to tear up God’s kingdom
and you have lostall your claims to freedom. You are in the hands of a judge
who must do right.
Now then, God has a right to do...to put us away in condemnation. But...and
what I have said so far is so. Whether this generationlikes it or not it is so.
But if the living God, if the sovereign, living God is pleasedin his own counsel
and purpose and will and goodpleasure and in his love and mercy if he is
pleasedand if he wills and if he sees fit to pardon, to pardon and justify and
setfree a people out of our race—now watchit— consistentwith his principles
of justice, righteousness and truth, then he has gotthe right to do it, hasn’t he
if he wants to, if he wants to.
I say, if he cansave a people, if he can pardon and justify and set free and
redeem and deliver a people I sayconsistentwith his justice, with his holiness
and righteousness,he can do it if he will. He doesn’t have to, but he can. God
can do what he will. And he always does what’s right. Do you know that? He
always does what is right.
And this is what Paul addresses in Romans three. Will you turn over there a
minute? This is...whatI am talking about here is the very thing that Paul
lookedin the eye in Romans three and deals with. We forfeited any claim on

123. God, heavenor salvation. We have forfeited any claim to freedom. But if God
consistentwith his judgment, consistentwith his holiness, consistentwith his
holiness, consistentwith his truth is pleasedto have mercy upon somebody,
then he can do it.
It says here in Romans 3:19, now this is what Paul addresses. “Nowwe
know...We know this. This is so, that what things soeverthe law saith it saith
to them who are under the law. That’s you and me. We forfeited our claim.
So let every mouth be stopped. There is no plea. There is no appeal. And all
the world just become guilty, subject to the judgment of God. That is what it
says in the margin of God, guilty before God, before who? Before God. He is
the judge. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, the works ofthe
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flesh there shall no flesh be justified in God’s sight for by the law is the
knowledge ofsin.
“But, wait a minute, now the holiness of God,” and I said it, Mike, it must be
consistentwith his holiness and consistentwith his justice. “But now the
righteousness ofGod without the law, without our obedience to the law, is
manifested being witnessedby the law and the prophets. It is even the
righteousness ofGod which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. But there is no difference for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. But being freely justified or justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth
or foreordained to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
God’s righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the
forbearance ofGod and to declare, I say, at this time God’s righteousness that
he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Willyou
hear me?
In Christ, through Christ’s perfectlife as a man, fulfilling God’s holy law
through Christ’s death and atonement on that cross, almighty God according
to his own will and purpose and goodpleasure has made a way by which he
can honor, satisfyand glorify all the claims of his inflexible justice and his
inflexible holiness and yet bestow mercy on the guilty.

124. Now they let me go over there. I want you to observe three rights which
belong to God, only to God, three rights and learn something about the living
god. You know, Job said one time, “Lord, I have heard of you.” And there is
nobody here that hasn’t heard of God and there is nobody that will hear this
tape that hasn’t heard of God. But whether or not we have heard of the living
God depends upon the knowledge ofthe one who is telling about it. A man
can’t tell what he doesn’t know.
So these are the rights of God, the God of the Bible, the living God. Number
one, as Creatorall sovereignrights belong to God. “Hath not the potter
powerover the clay?”
Number two, as the supreme one and only judge of the universe he has not
only the right, but the requirement to punish the guilty. He must punish sin.
He must. And he must put all evil where it will do no more harm. He must
being God.
We...he has got to put evil out of the universe. I tell you we have...letme tell
you. You have enough evil and I have enough evil in my heart to destroy that
new heaven and new earth. Do you know that?
Barnard used to say, “Godis not going to let you in heaven in the shape you
are in. Why you would start a revolt in heaven. You would ruin it.”
God’s... See, “Thereis nothing there that workethor maketh alive. It is
God’s kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness.” And you just...you don’t
have the equipment. You can’t meet the requirements. I’m sorry. I can’t
either. No human being can. God has gotto judge us like we are.
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But, now wait a minute. Wait a minute. In his divine wisdom as the originator
of the everlasting covenantas the founder of that covenantof mercy and
grace, as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the giver, the

125. merciful giver of his only begottenSon, as the fountain of ever grace, Godhas
the right to show mercy in Christ to whom he will. Do you know that?
Now wait a minute. If we have a claim on God’s gift, it is not a gift. Right? If
we have a claim on God’s gift, it is not a gift. If we have a claim on mercy it is
not mercy. If we have one single claim on God’s grace it’s not grace. If any
man by his works or by his merit deserves to be saved, then salvation is not by
grace, it is by works.
Moses says,“Show me your glory, God.”
He said, “I’ll make all my goodness pass before you. I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.”
That is his right. That is his right.
If any man, listen to me. If any man, woman, boy or girl, comes to God, this
God of the Bible, sovereignCreator, Judge and Redeemer, if any man comes
to God expecting to receive of him any favor because ofany right, merit,
claim, worth or work he comes to this God on a false foundation. And this
God will not tolerate it for one moment, not this God. I am telling you the
truth. You will come empty handed or don’t come.
The hymn writer said, “Here I raise my Ebenezerhither by thy help I am
come and I hope by God’s goodpleasure safelyto arrive at home. Jesus
sought me when a strangerwandering willingly from the fold of God and he,
to restore me from danger interposed his own precious blood. Oh to grace
how great debtor daily I am constrainedto be. Lord, let thy goodness like a
fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. I am prone to wander, Lord, I feelit,
prone to leave the God I love. Here is my heart. Take it. Sealit. Sealit for thy
courts above.”
Do you know that is so? God has the right as Creatorto dispose of all that he
has made as he wills. God has the right as Judge to deal with us in accordance
with his holiness and justice. But as a sovereignRedeemerout of the good
mercy of his own heart if he is pleasedthrough the righteousness ofhis Sonto

126. save one here and one there then he has got the right to do it and to pass by
the others. That’s right.
Now some call this high doctrine on which they turn awayin hate. Some call it
heresy. But I call it high doctrine and goodhope, goodhope. In fact, that is
where the hope is, not in you. It’s in him. My hope is not in the fact that I
won’t change. I will. My hope is in that he won’t change, he can’t. My hope is
not in the fact that I will keeploving him. My hope is in the fact that he will
never stop loving me.
You are a fool to hope in anything else. I don’t know about tomorrow, but I
know who holds tomorrow and that is my hope. I callthis high doctrine and
sweetassurance. Icall
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it high doctrine and goodnews. But watch it. Sure it is high doctrine. It is as
high as the throne of God.
But now wait a minute. It is from that throne that all blessings come so we
better get some high doctrine hadn’t we? If your doctrine doesn’t reachto the
throne you better getyou some more doctrine.
Somebody said, “Don’t preach that high doctrine.”
Oh, yeah, yeah. I want to getup there where the throne is. That’s what’s
wrong now, that they are not preaching any high doctrine, Cecil. They are
preaching this low down stuff. God says, “You thought I was altogethersuch a
one as you. You have reachedup and tried to bring me down to your level and
that won’t work. You had better get those folks up here where I am and let
them look around.”
Sure it is high doctrine. It is as high as the throne of God, but it is from that
throne that mercy comes. “Letus come boldly before the throne of grace that
we may find mercy to help in the time of need.”

127. Sure it is high doctrine. It is as high as the throne of God. But I tell you this.
You are going to stand at that throne some day. It would be better to stand
there this Wednesdaynigh in August 1986 than to stand there then. Sure it’s
high. Sure it’s high. Sure it’s high doctrine. But I will tell you this. It is true.
It has to be high to have anything to do with God because the Scripture says,
“He is high and lifted up and his train fills the temple.”
Now turn to our text, again in John six and I’ll let you go. Here is some of
that high doctrine. And the Lord Jesus said, “All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me,” in other words there are some folks out of our race that are
going to be saved. And, secondly, do you know why they are going to be
saved? Two reasons: The Father willed and they come to the Son.
That’s right. The Father willed it and the Sonperformed it. And so this is
true, too. Then if I come to Christ I must be one of the elect. Thatis the
evidence that I am one of the electbecause I came to Christ.
“We know we pass from death to life,” John says, “Becausewe love the
brethren.”
All right. Look at the next line. “And him that cometh to me I will in no wise
castout for any reasonunder any circumstances. If you come to me I will
never castyou out.”
Everybody who comes to Christ has one common character. They come to
Christ. That is what we gotin common. We came to Christ. They have one
common goal. They come to Christ. Some walk and some run. Some take
longer. Some come out of the gutter and come some out of the pulpit, but they
all came to Christ. Come and go. That’s right. They have one common need.
They came for help. Where is sin bred? And they have one common result.
He will never castthem out.
Page 9 of 9

128. I read this today out of one of the old, old hymnals by JosephHart. It says,
now listen to this. This is good. “Whatmakes mistakenmen afraid of
sovereigngrace to preach? The reason, if truth be said, is because they are so
proud. Why so offensive in men’s eyes does God’s electionseem? Becausethey
think themselves so wise that they must have chosenhim. Why is imputed
righteousness a truth so little known? Becausemen think they all possessa
righteousness oftheir own. Election, ‘tis a word divine, the Lord, I plainly
see, had not your choice preceded mine I would never have chosenme. So
empty, bare, I come to thee for righteousness divine. Oh, Lord, may life and
merit be by imputation mine? His counselstands forever sure, immortal and
divine and justice, mercy, truth and power unite in Christ to make it mine.”
Isn’t that good? High doctrine. What’s so high about that? They mean by
high, impossible to enter into. That is not at all, is it, not at all. It is given God
the glory which is rightfully his.
HENRY MAHAN
High Doctrine and GoodHope By Henry Mahan
Bible Text: John 6:37
Henry T. Mahan Tape Library Zebulon Baptist Church 6088 Zebulon
Highway Pikeville, KY 41501
Website: http://www.sovereign-grace.com/13thstbap.htm Online Sermons:
http://mahan.sermonaudio.com
From John chapter six verse 37 I will readthe text and then proceedwith the
introduction. In John 6:37 the Scripture says, “All.” Now these folks had just
let the Lord Jesus Christ know that they weren’t impressed. They weren’t
impressed. He said, “You don’t believe me. You don’t believe me, but all that
my Fathergiveth me shall come to me. All that my Fathergiveth me shall
come to me.”

129. There is no doctrine in the whole Word of God, not one that has generated
more hatred, more hatred among religious people, now not especiallypeople
of the world, but church people. There is no doctrine in the Word of God that
has generatedmore hatred among religious people than the truth of God’s
absolute sovereigntyin all things.
Now let this be establishedand everyone will have to agree the fact that the
Lord God reigneth is indisputable. Is that correct? The Lord God reigneth.
That is indisputable. God reigns.
The Scripture says in Psalm 99, “The Lord reigneth. The Lord ruleth. Let the
people tremble. The Lord sitteth betweenthe cherubims. Let the earth be
moved.”
That is indisputable. God reigns.
Nebuchadnezzarsaid, “The Lord reigns in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and giveth it to whomsoeverhe will. None can stay
his and or sayunto him, ‘What are you doing?’” None.
Isaiahsaid...andI wish you would turn to this Scripture, Isaiah46. Listen to
this. Isaiah 46, we will begin our reading with verse nine. And Isaiah wrote,
remember, Isaiah chapter 46 verse nine, “Rememberthe former things of old.
I am God. There is none else. I am God. There is none like me. I declare the
end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done saying, ‘My counselshall stand and will do all my pleasure.’Calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executethmy counselfrom a far
country. Yeah, I have spokenit I will also bring it to pass. I purposed it. I will
do it.”
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Is that true? That is an indisputable fact. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
He reigns in heaven. He reigns on the earth. David said, “He doeth according

130. to his will. He doeth as he pleases inheaven, earth, the seas and all deep
places.”
Now one other Scripture. I would like you to look at this, the book of Psalms,
the book of Psalms chaptertwo. Now listen to this, Psalm chapter two. This
is an indisputable fact that I am establishing. The Lord reigns. The Lord
ruleth. “Why do the heathen rage?” Psalmtwo verse one. “Why do the
people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth setthemselves. The rulers
of the earth take counseltogetheragainstthe Lord, againsthis anointed, the
Lord Jesus, saying ‘Let’s break their bands asunder. We won’t have this man
reign over us. Let’s castawaytheir cords from us.’ He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall
have him in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex
them, trouble them, in his sore displeasure.”
The Lord reigns. That is indisputable.
Who art thou to reply againstGod?
All right, secondly. I want, personally, speaking for myself, I want to be
among those who know the living God as he is revealed in his Word. I want to
know him. I want o be among those who willingly, willingly and humbly bow
before his majesty. I want to buy. I don’t mean at the judgment. I mean
before the judgment. I want to believe him.
One of the hymn writers says, “Godis the king of power unknown, firm are
his decrees,firm is his throne. If he purposes, who shall dare oppose or ask
him why or what he does?”
Now listen to this. Here is the third thing. God has a right. I want you to
listen to this. Some man...one of the men in the study, Jim Eckels,prayed that
I could preach the gospeltonight. This is the very foundation on which that
gospelis gloriouslydisplayed. God has the right to act as he will when he will
and through whom he will because, number one, he is the Creator, Charlie.
That gives him that right. He said, “CanI not do with my own what I will? I

131. made it. It’s mine. I will dispose of it as I please.” Is that not true? He is the
Creator. “In the beginning God createdthe heavens and the earth.”
It rested with Godwhether to make a world or not make a world. Listen to
the book of Colossians chapterone. Listen to what this says so clearly.
Colossians chapterone beginning with verse 16, Colossians 1:16. It says, “For
by him were all things made, createdthat are in heaven, earth, visible,
invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all
things were createdby him and, Tom, for him, for him” Are you listening?
God has the right to do what he will when he will with whom he will, Charlie,
till he made it. It’s his. Don’t tell me what I cando with my own. It’s mine. I
want to burn it that’s my business. I made it. It’s mine.
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Revelation4:11, listen to this. Revelationchapterfour, verse 11. “Thouart
worthy, oh Lord. Thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and power, for
thou hast createdall things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
That’s fact, Jerry. He made it. Its his business what he does with it. He has
the right as the Creatorto do what he will with his own.
“Hath not the potter power overthe clay?” It restedwith God to make the
world or not make it. It rested with God to make man or not make him. It
was according to his will to make one creature a worm and another an eagle.
That’s right.
Thinking about the other day. We went fishing up in...sure, we went fishing.
We caughtabout 130 in five hours. They were pretty goodsize, too. We went
out with some of those night crawlers, worms, worms. And one of the boys
lookedup and he said, “I saw an eagle right over there the other day.” And I
thought as I held that worm in my hand, a lot of difference betweena worm
and an eagle.
Who made the difference? Goddid. It rested totally with him. It is by his
decree that you are a female and he is a male. It is by God’s decree. You are
what you are because Godmade you what you are. It is by his decree to make

132. one walk on the earth and another swim in the sea. It is by his own will and
decree that one is born in Russia and one is born in China and you was born
in the USA.
I am always so gladwhen that plane touches down in the United States. And
your physical body, short, tall, fat, lean, your mental capacity, your
temperament, your talents and your gifts are determined by almighty God.
That’s right.
“Shallthe thing formed say to him that formed it, ‘Why did you make me like
this?’”
If you want proof of that turn to 1 Samuel two. Don’t tell me any of this is by
chance. It is not by chance. It is by choice. God’s choice. Somebodysaid,
“Every believer ought to read Hannah’s prayer at leastonce a week.”
1 Samuel two verse one Hannah prayed and said, “My heart rejoicethin the
Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlargedover mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none as holy as the Lord
for there is none beside thee. Neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no
more so exceedinglyproudly. Let not arrogancycome out of your mouth, for
the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. The bows of
the mighty men are brokenand they that stumble are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread and they that were
hungry see so that the barren hath born sevenand she that hath many
children is waxed feeble. The Lord kills and the Lord makes alive. The Lord
brings down t the grave and brigs up. The Lord maketh poor. The Lord
maketh rich. The Lord bringeth low. The Lord lifteth up.”
Who does these things? God does. He is the Creator. The Lord is king. Who
then shall dare to resisthis will or distrust his characteror murmur at his
wise decrees ordoubt his
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133. steadfastpromises? The Lord is king, child of the dust. The Judge of all this
world is just. Holy and Righteous are all his ways. So let every creature sing
his praise.
All right. Now listen to me. Those are the indisputable facts. [?] The Lord is
an indisputable, absolute sovereignmonarch who reigns over all his creation
because he made it.
Secondly, God has the right to do—watchthis, now—to do what he will when
he will with whom he will not only because he is the Creator, of all things and
it belongs to him by those rights of creation, but he has the right to do with
you and me what he will because he is the Judge of this earth. He is the Judge.
He is the Judge, not a judge, the Judge.
Now an illustration. This is highly important right here. Change your whole
way of thinking if you see this. Here is what I am saying. The Constitution of
the United States of America of which I am a citizen guarantees me freedom,
the right to go where I please, live where I please, work where I please and do
as I please so long as I don’t offend or break the laws. Is that correct? Thatis
correct. The Constitution guarantees me the right to live where I want to. I
can live...if I want to move to Florida, Wisconsin, I can do it. I cango where I
please as long as I don’t break the law. But if I commit a murder or if I
commit a robbery or if I commit treasonI lose my freedom and I am brought
under the law and I will be put in prison with other criminals and then the
Judge is going to determine my future. My future is no longerin my hands. I
forfeited my right. Is that correct? My future is in the hands of the man who
sits on the bench. He has a book before him that lets him know the maximum
he can give me. That’s right.
All right. The law of God, the law of God is the law of the universe. And the
law of God says, “Do this and live.” That’s all there is to it. Obey God, mind
God, worship God, live perfectly before God, walk in holiness before God and
you canbring before God the claim to freedom. That’s right. You gotthe
right.
But if you sin you are no longerfree. You are now under the law and your
case rests in the hands of the Judge. Is that right? You are not going to tell

134. him where you are going to live, what you are going to do. That’s right. No
more. You could have if you had walkedperfectlybefore God, if you hadn’t
been guilty of murdering his only begottenSon. That’s what you did. You
murdered God’s Son. And you committed treasonagainstthe king. And you
have lost your freedom. Every sonof Adam has losthis freedom and he is now
in the hands of the Judge. The trial is over. You are not on probation. God
said, “The soul that sinneth will die. The soul that obeyethshall live. What
saith the law of Moses? Do this and live and be free. Go where you will. Go to
heaven if you will.” Once you break the law you are not free anymore. You
are now under condemnation and you are now in the hands of a Judge who
said, “I will by no means clearthe guilty.” Isn’t that what he said? You are
in the hands of a Judge who said over and over again, “The soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. The Judge of the earth shall do right.”
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He is not like these judges we got on our benches, coddle criminals, setfree
criminals, put them on the streetafter they ought to be in the electric chair.
No, sir, this Judge will do right. His judgments are just. And the soul that
sinneth, will surely as God is in heaven die. I guarantee you they are going to
die. We are going to die.
What claim do you have on God? Just come on. Bring it forth. You have as
much claim on God as that rapist and murderer has who is sitting there on
death row. Do you know what kind of claim he has got? Nothing. And that is
how much claim you have got in heavenly places. None. You forfeited it.
So I say, secondly, first of all God has the right to do what he will with
everybody here, everybody in this world, everything in this world, every bolt
of lightning and floating cloud and drop of rain and snowflake and every
creature, fowl and fish and whateverand ever son of Adam because he made
it. He made it. It’s his. And, secondly, he has got a right to do with you what
he will because you are a criminal on death row who is a traitor, a murderer
and a thief and a robber and a liar. And you tried to tear up God’s kingdom
and you have lostall your claims to freedom. You are in the hands of a judge
who must do right.

135. Now then, God has a right to do...to put us away in condemnation. But...and
what I have said so far is so. Whether this generationlikes it or not it is so.
But if the living God, if the sovereign, living God is pleasedin his own counsel
and purpose and will and goodpleasure and in his love and mercy if he is
pleasedand if he wills and if he sees fit to pardon, to pardon and justify and
setfree a people out of our race—now watchit— consistentwith his principles
of justice, righteousness and truth, then he has gotthe right to do it, hasn’t he
if he wants to, if he wants to.
I say, if he cansave a people, if he can pardon and justify and set free and
redeem and deliver a people I sayconsistentwith his justice, with his holiness
and righteousness,he can do it if he will. He doesn’t have to, but he can. God
can do what he will. And he always does what’s right. Do you know that? He
always does what is right.
And this is what Paul addresses in Romans three. Will you turn over there a
minute? This is...whatI am talking about here is the very thing that Paul
lookedin the eye in Romans three and deals with. We forfeited any claim on
God, heavenor salvation. We have forfeited any claim to freedom. But if God
consistentwith his judgment, consistentwith his holiness, consistentwith his
holiness, consistentwith his truth is pleasedto have mercy upon somebody,
then he can do it.
It says here in Romans 3:19, now this is what Paul addresses. “Nowwe
know...We know this. This is so, that what things soeverthe law saith it saith
to them who are under the law. That’s you and me. We forfeited our claim.
So let every mouth be stopped. There is no plea. There is no appeal. And all
the world just become guilty, subject to the judgment of God. That is what it
says in the margin of God, guilty before God, before who? Before God. He is
the judge. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, the works ofthe
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flesh there shall no flesh be justified in God’s sight for by the law is the
knowledge ofsin.

136. “But, wait a minute, now the holiness of God,” and I said it, Mike, it must be
consistentwith his holiness and consistentwith his justice. “But now the
righteousness ofGod without the law, without our obedience to the law, is
manifested being witnessedby the law and the prophets. It is even the
righteousness ofGod which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. But there is no difference for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. But being freely justified or justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth
or foreordained to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
God’s righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the
forbearance ofGod and to declare, I say, at this time God’s righteousness that
he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Willyou
hear me?
In Christ, through Christ’s perfectlife as a man, fulfilling God’s holy law
through Christ’s death and atonement on that cross, almighty God according
to his own will and purpose and goodpleasure has made a way by which he
can honor, satisfyand glorify all the claims of his inflexible justice and his
inflexible holiness and yet bestow mercy on the guilty.
Now they let me go over there. I want you to observe three rights which
belong to God, only to God, three rights and learn something about the living
god. You know, Job said one time, “Lord, I have heard of you.” And there is
nobody here that hasn’t heard of God and there is nobody that will hear this
tape that hasn’t heard of God. But whether or not we have heard of the living
God depends upon the knowledge ofthe one who is telling about it. A man
can’t tell what he doesn’t know.
So these are the rights of God, the God of the Bible, the living God. Number
one, as Creatorall sovereignrights belong to God. “Hath not the potter
powerover the clay?”
Number two, as the supreme one and only judge of the universe he has not
only the right, but the requirement to punish the guilty. He must punish sin.
He must. And he must put all evil where it will do no more harm. He must
being God.

137. We...he has got to put evil out of the universe. I tell you we have...letme tell
you. You have enough evil and I have enough evil in my heart to destroy that
new heaven and new earth. Do you know that?
Barnard used to say, “Godis not going to let you in heaven in the shape you
are in. Why you would start a revolt in heaven. You would ruin it.”
God’s... See, “Thereis nothing there that workethor maketh alive. It is
God’s kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness.” And you just...you don’t
have the equipment. You can’t meet the requirements. I’m sorry. I can’t
either. No human being can. God has gotto judge us like we are.
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But, now wait a minute. Wait a minute. In his divine wisdom as the originator
of the everlasting covenantas the founder of that covenantof mercy and
grace, as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the giver, the
merciful giver of his only begottenSon, as the fountain of ever grace, Godhas
the right to show mercy in Christ to whom he will. Do you know that?
Now wait a minute. If we have a claim on God’s gift, it is not a gift. Right? If
we have a claim on God’s gift, it is not a gift. If we have a claim on mercy it is
not mercy. If we have one single claim on God’s grace it’s not grace. If any
man by his works or by his merit deserves to be saved, then salvation is not by
grace, it is by works.
Moses says,“Show me your glory, God.”
He said, “I’ll make all my goodness pass before you. I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.”
That is his right. That is his right.
If any man, listen to me. If any man, woman, boy or girl, comes to God, this
God of the Bible, sovereignCreator, Judge and Redeemer, if any man comes
to God expecting to receive of him any favor because ofany right, merit,

138. claim, worth or work he comes to this God on a false foundation. And this
God will not tolerate it for one moment, not this God. I am telling you the
truth. You will come empty handed or don’t come.
The hymn writer said, “Here I raise my Ebenezerhither by thy help I am
come and I hope by God’s goodpleasure safelyto arrive at home. Jesus
sought me when a strangerwandering willingly from the fold of God and he,
to restore me from danger interposed his own precious blood. Oh to grace
how great debtor daily I am constrainedto be. Lord, let thy goodness like a
fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. I am prone to wander, Lord, I feelit,
prone to leave the God I love. Here is my heart. Take it. Sealit. Sealit for thy
courts above.”
Do you know that is so? God has the right as Creatorto dispose of all that he
has made as he wills. God has the right as Judge to deal with us in accordance
with his holiness and justice. But as a sovereignRedeemerout of the good
mercy of his own heart if he is pleasedthrough the righteousness ofhis Sonto
save one here and one there then he has got the right to do it and to pass by
the others. That’s right.
Now some call this high doctrine on which they turn awayin hate. Some call it
heresy. But I call it high doctrine and goodhope, goodhope. In fact, that is
where the hope is, not in you. It’s in him. My hope is not in the fact that I
won’t change. I will. My hope is in that he won’t change, he can’t. My hope is
not in the fact that I will keeploving him. My hope is in the fact that he will
never stop loving me.
You are a fool to hope in anything else. I don’t know about tomorrow, but I
know who holds tomorrow and that is my hope. I callthis high doctrine and
sweetassurance. Icall
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it high doctrine and goodnews. But watch it. Sure it is high doctrine. It is as
high as the throne of God.

139. But now wait a minute. It is from that throne that all blessings come so we
better get some high doctrine hadn’t we? If your doctrine doesn’t reachto the
throne you better getyou some more doctrine.
Somebody said, “Don’t preach that high doctrine.”
Oh, yeah, yeah. I want to getup there where the throne is. That’s what’s
wrong now, that they are not preaching any high doctrine, Cecil. They are
preaching this low down stuff. God says, “You thought I was altogethersuch a
one as you. You have reachedup and tried to bring me down to your level and
that won’t work. You had better get those folks up here where I am and let
them look around.”
Sure it is high doctrine. It is as high as the throne of God, but it is from that
throne that mercy comes. “Letus come boldly before the throne of grace that
we may find mercy to help in the time of need.”
Sure it is high doctrine. It is as high as the throne of God. But I tell you this.
You are going to stand at that throne some day. It would be better to stand
there this Wednesdaynigh in August 1986 than to stand there then. Sure it’s
high. Sure it’s high. Sure it’s high doctrine. But I will tell you this. It is true.
It has to be high to have anything to do with God because the Scripture says,
“He is high and lifted up and his train fills the temple.”
Now turn to our text, again in John six and I’ll let you go. Here is some of
that high doctrine. And the Lord Jesus said, “All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me,” in other words there are some folks out of our race that are
going to be saved. And, secondly, do you know why they are going to be
saved? Two reasons: The Father willed and they come to the Son.
That’s right. The Father willed it and the Sonperformed it. And so this is
true, too. Then if I come to Christ I must be one of the elect. Thatis the
evidence that I am one of the electbecause I came to Christ.

140. “We know we pass from death to life,” John says, “Becausewe love the
brethren.”
All right. Look at the next line. “And him that cometh to me I will in no wise
castout for any reasonunder any circumstances. If you come to me I will
never castyou out.”
Everybody who comes to Christ has one common character. They come to
Christ. That is what we gotin common. We came to Christ. They have one
common goal. They come to Christ. Some walk and some run. Some take
longer. Some come out of the gutter and come some out of the pulpit, but they
all came to Christ. Come and go. That’s right. They have one common need.
They came for help. Where is sin bred? And they have one common result.
He will never castthem out.
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I read this today out of one of the old, old hymnals by JosephHart. It says,
now listen to this. This is good. “Whatmakes mistakenmen afraid of
sovereigngrace to preach? The reason, if truth be said, is because they are so
proud. Why so offensive in men’s eyes does God’s electionseem? Becausethey
think themselves so wise that they must have chosenhim. Why is imputed
righteousness a truth so little known? Becausemen think they all possessa
righteousness oftheir own. Election, ‘tis a word divine, the Lord, I plainly
see, had not your choice precededmine I would never have chosenme. So
empty, bare, I come to thee for righteousness divine. Oh, Lord, may life and
merit be by imputation mine? His counselstands forever sure, immortal and
divine and justice, mercy, truth and power unite in Christ to make it mine.”
Isn’t that good? High doctrine. What’s so high about that? They mean by
high, impossible to enter into. That is not at all, is it, not at all. It is given God
the glory which is rightfully his.

141. WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • TV99A
A television broadcastsermondelivered SUNDAY, AUGUST 26TH , 1979
By HENRY T. MAHAN
__________
Transcribed, edited and published AUGUST 4TH, 2016 HENRY T.
MAHAN TAPE LIBRARY Zebulon BaptistChurch 6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
__________
What Is It To Come To Christ?
John 6:37-45 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise castout. ForI came down from heaven, not to
do mine own will, but the will of him that sentme. And this is the Father’s
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him
that sent me, that every one which seeththe Son, and believeth on him, may
have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came
down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the sonof Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from
heaven? Jesus therefore answeredandsaid unto them, Murmur not among
yourselves. No man can come to me, exceptthe Fatherwhich hath sent me
draw him: and I will raise him up at the lastday. It is written in the prophets,
And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and
hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”

142. WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
2
I’m going to speak to you today from a very familiar passageofScripture,
John Chapter 6:3745.
Now, I would like very much for you to follow in your Bible while I read the
Word. But if you do not wish to open your Bible and follow with me while I
read; will you just listen carefully as I read the Scripture and see how many
times the Lord talks about our coming to Him (coming to Christ).
Now, that’s my subject: “WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST?” That’s
our subjectand our text is the 6 chapter of John beginning with verse 37.
Now listen carefully; I am going to read about three or four verses of
Scripture.
Our Lord said: “All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.”
Now listen to verse 44 “No man cancome to me except the Father which has
sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the
prophets and they shall be all taught of God, every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Fathercometh to me.”
You see, coming to Christ is a phrase that is frequently used in the Word of
God; it’s very common to the Word of God. It’s the same as receiving Christ,
“to as many as receivedhim, to them gave he the power (right and the
privilege) to become sons of God.”
Coming to Christ is the same as receiving Christ. It’s the same also as
believing on Christ. “Believe onthe Lord Jesus Christand thou shalt be

143. saved.” That’s the same as coming to Christ. It’s the same as trusting Christ,
“In whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth.”
Now, what is it to come to Christ? Now, that’s what we are going to talk
about in the first part of the message. And I’m going to try to answerthat
question for you. So often preachers ask questions and then never getaround
to answering the question; but what is it to come to Christ?
Let’s get right into the answer:
Now remember that coming to Christ is the same as believing on Him, as
receiving Him, and as trusting Him.
First of all: Coming to Christ is coming to Him personally!
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
3
He said: “You come to me and I will give you rest,” not come to the minister.
The minister can’t give you peace, pardon, rest and eternal life. He cannot
give you hope.
It’s not “come to the law;” the law says nothing but “guilty.” The law cannot
save;it only condemns. It is not “come to my church,” it is not “come to my
doctrines,” and it’s not “come to my ordinances.”
Christ says: “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout and every man
that hath heard and learned of the Fathercometh to me.” So, coming to
Christ first of all is coming to Him personally, coming to Christ as my prophet
to reveal the Father.

144. Way back there in the Old Testamentin the book of Genesis andExodus
Moses talkedaboutthat prophet whom Godwould send, that prophet that
God would, “raise up among the brethren;” you must listen to Him.
And when the Lord Jesus came, the Father said: “Now, this is my beloved
Son; you hear him. No man knoweththe Father but the Son and he to whom
the Sonwill revealhim.” So, we come to Christ; we come to Him as the
Prophet to reveal the Father, the mercy of God, the wisdom of God, the love
of God, and the grace of God is revealedin Christ.
And we come to Christ as our Priest, not only to atone for us by His
substitutionary death but also to intercede for us as our Mediator. He is our
Priest. We have a Priest. Believers are priests through Christ. “They are
priests and kings unto God. They are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” But
they also have a greatHigh Priest, and that personis the Lord Jesus Christ
who by His own blood maketh atonement for our souls and by His own
pleading intercedes for us.
Then it’s coming to Christ as King to reign over us, to rule over us; He is our
Lord, our Prophet, Priestand King. So, coming to Christ first of all is coming
to Him personally, not to anyone who represents Him but to Him. Notto
anything that represents Him but to Him.
In Psalm 130:7 the Scripture says: “Let Israelhope in the Lord for with the
Lord there’s mercy and with him there is plenteous redemption.” It doesn’t
say: “Let Israelhope for mercy;” it says, “letIsraelhope in the Lord for with
him there is mercy.”
It doesn’t say, “Let Israelhope for redemption;” it says, “LetIsrael hope in
the Lord.” Redemption is in the Lord. Do you see that? If I have the tree I
have the fruit. If I have the PhysicianI have the cure. If I have the giver I
have the gift.
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN

145. 4
So, our faith, our hope, our trust, is not in the blessings ofChrist but in
Christ. If we have Him we have the blessing. We are not to setour affections
on the benefits of Christ; we are to set our affections on Christ.
If we have Him we have all the blessings and all the benefits. It’s foolishto
make peace your aim, to make peace and rest your aim. Make Christ your
aim. Make Christ the object of your love and your faith.
And if you have Him you have all that Christ brings and all that Christ gives.
He said, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.” It’s possible for Satan, for
evil spirits to give you a false peace and a false rest and you miss Christ.
So, the first thing in coming to Christ is coming to Him personally!
Secondly: Coming to Christ is coming to Him as He is revealedin the Word
of God!
Now listen to Romans 10: “Whosoevershallcall upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. But how shall they callon him in whom they have not believed
and how shall they believe in him of whom they’ve not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher?”
You can’t trust an unrevealed Christ. You can’t come to an unknown Christ.
And the only way you can have Christ revealedto you and the only way you
can know who Christ is and what Christ did and why He did it and where He
is now is from the Scriptures.
“Faith comethby hearing and hearing by the Word of God;” we’ve gotto
come to the Christ who is revealed in the Scriptures, not the Christ of some
denomination, not the Christ of some preacher’s imagination, not the Christ
of some person’s thoughts.

146. We are going to have to find out who He is as He is revealedin God’s Word
because Paultalkedabout preachers preaching “anotherJesus,” and
preaching “anothergospel” andpreaching “anotherspirit.”
My friend; we are going to have to find out who He is. The Scripture says:
“He’s the Lord from heaven. The first man is of the earth earthy, the second
man is the Lord from heaven.” That’s who He is. Thomas found that out and
Thomas fell at His feet and cried: “My Lord and my God.”
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
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Christ is not only our Saviour; He’s our Lord. “Godwas in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself.” He said to those Jews in His day: “I and my Father
are one.” And they took up stones to stone Him.
He says, “Now, many goodworks have I done among you. Forwhich of these
do you stone me?” They said in John 10:31: “We stone thee not for a good
work but because youare a man and you claim to be God.”
And that’s who He is. We’ve gotto call upon Him who is the God-Man, who
is revealedin the Scripture as our God and as our Lord and as the Son of
man. Then, we callupon Him as He is revealedin the Scripture, the only way
to God.
There are not two ways to God. There are not two foundations upon which
we can build. There are not two ways of salvation; Christ said: “I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man comethto the Father but by me.”
The apostle said, “Other foundation canno man lay than that which is laid,
which Christ the Lord.” The Lord said, “I am the door. By me, if any man

147. enter in he shall be saved; he that climbeth up some other way is a thief and a
robber.” There’s no other way to be savedexcept through Christ, the Christ
of the Bible.
He’s the only Mediator. The Bible says: “There’s one God and one mediator
betweenGod and men and that’s the man Christ Jesus.” The Scripture says
He’s our only righteousness;He is, “The Lord our righteousness.”
Those people in Romans 10 soughtanother righteousness. Theywould not
submit to the righteousness ofGod but they soughtto make themselves
acceptable before Godby their ownrighteousness and would not submit to
Christ who is God’s righteousness provided in the gospel.
Everything the believer needs is in Christ. Everything that the Father gives is
in Christ. Everything that the Father requires is in Christ. “He of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, andredemption,” all we
need. We are complete in Christ!
So, coming to Christ is coming to Him personally. It’s coming to Him who is
revealedin the Scriptures, as He is revealedin the Scriptures. Now that’s
important!
Who is your Saviour? Who is your Lord? Well, it’s the Christ of God.
Where did you learn about Him? I learned about Him in God’s Word:
“These things are written that you might believe on the name of the Son of
God and believing that you might have eternal life.”
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
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Are you with me? What is it to come to Christ?

148. Thirdly: It is to come to Christ leaving all things that are contrary to Christ!
Coming to Christ is not only coming to Him personally, it’s not only coming to
Him as He’s revealedin the Scriptures but when you come to Christ you leave
something else. If you turn your face towardChrist you turn your back on
evil and unrighteousness. You turn your back on something.
Listen to the Scripture in Luke 14:33: “Whosoeverhe be of you that
forsakethnot all that he hath; he cannot be my disciple.” Listen to Matthew
10:37: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
He that loveth sonor daughter more than me is not worthy of me. No man can
serve two masters.” A man canhave more than one friend but not more than
one master. He can have more than one companion but he can’t have but one
Lord. Jesus Christ demands to be all. If Christ is not Lord of all; He’s not
Lord at all.
So, when I come to Christ and bow to Him as my God and my Lord and my
Masterthen I turn my back on everything that’s contrary to Jesus Christ. I
must be willing to. I must turn awayfrom my works to His righteousness;as
Paul said, “We ceasefrom our labors and enter into his rest.”
We turn our backs on our tradition and receive His truth. This is what
happened to the Pharisees. Theycouldnot turn loose oftheir tradition. They
could not bow to the truth. That’s the reasonour Lord said, “Ye shall know
the truth and the truth shall make you free.” But to them, tradition was more
important than truth.
We turn from our will to His Word. We turn from our worldly companions
to walk with and be identified with the people of God. Paulaskedthis
question when he says, “Whatfellowshipdoes darkness have with light?
What communion does Baal(the god of evil) have with the Lord Jesus
Christ?” “Come apart and be ye separate saiththe Lord.”
It’s impossible for me to walk with the world and walk with Christ. “He that
would save his life, (that is he that would deliver his life, that would have his

149. own way), shall lose his life. But he that will give up his life and lose his life
for my sake, shallfind it,” Christ said.
So, coming to Christ is coming to Him personally. It’s coming to Him as He is
revealedin the Scriptures. It’s coming to Him forsaking all others. It’s
looking to Christ and Christ alone, first in your life, first in your heart, first in
your home, first in your present and first in your future.
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
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Fourthly: Coming to Christ is coming to Him; now listen to me, continually!
Now my friend, repentance is not an isolatedact. Somebodysaid: “Well, I
repented one time.” No, repentance is a state of being. I have repented, I am
repenting, and by God’s grace I shall continue to repent.
“I have believed.” Faith is not an isolatedact. You don’t talk about faith as
something you did 30 years ago. This thing of faith is an attitude; it’s a
principle of life. It’s a state of the heart. It’s a condition: I have believed and
I am believing.
You know, the Bible regards salvationin three tenses. In Ephesians 2:8 and 9
the Scripture says;“Forby grace have you been saved, (that’s right; that’s the
correcttranslation of that Scripture, ask your minister), for by grace have you
been savedthrough faith and that’s not of yourselves;(faith’s not of
yourselves), it’s the gift of God, not of works lestany man should boast.”
And then in 1 Corinthians 1:18 the Scripture says: “The preaching of the
cross is to them that are perishing foolishness but to us who are being saved;
it’s the power of God.” And then Paul in Romans 13:11 says this: “Our
salvationis nearer now than when we believed.”

150. So, we have been saved. We are being savedand “our salvationis nearer than
when we believed.” When I come to Christ it’s a continual coming to Christ
as Peterwrote in 1 Peter2:4, “To whom coming,” always coming to Christ,
always believing Christ, always feeding on Christ, and always looking to
Christ. It’s a continual coming to Christ. We obtain all that we need and all
that is required for time and eternity from Him to whom we continually come.
“Out of my bondage Sorrow and night Jesus I come (and I keepcoming) Into
thy freedom Gladness and light Jesus I come to thee,
Out of my sicknessInto thy health Out of my want Into thy wealthOut of my
sin
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
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And into thyself Jesus I come (and I keepcoming)
Out of unrest And arrogant pride Jesus I come, Into thy blessedWill to abide
Jesus I come to thee
Out of myself To dwell in thy love Out of despair Into raptures above Jesus I
come to thee.”
What is it to come to Christ? Well, it’s a whole lot more than just turning
over a new leaf. It’s a whole lot more than just getting religion. It’s a whole
lot more than just raising your hand in a revival meeting. It’s a whole lot
more than just walking down an aisle and shaking a preacher’s hand and
accepting a few facts.

151. It is coming to Christ, and those are the ones who are saved, who come to
Christ. “Come to me and I will give you rest: “All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.”
It’s to come to Him personally. It’s to come to Him, not another Jesus, nota
Jesus ofyour imagination, but the Christ of the Bible. It’s to come to the
Christ of the Bible.
And it’s to come leaving everything behind. Like the old Roman generalwho
took a half a dozen ships and invaded a country and when he landed on the
shores of that country and all of his men and all of the supplies were brought
ashore he gave orders to burn the ships, just burn the ships in the bay.
And one of his men lookedout there and saw those ships burning and he said:
“General;what are we going to do if we have to retreat?” He said, “We
didn’t come here to retreat.” Whatare we going to do if we have to go back?
“We didn’t come here to go back;we came here to stay.” That’s what coming
to Christ is. You’ve come to stay.
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
9
And it’s coming to Him continually, continually. Now then; take your Bible
and look at John 6:37 again. In these verses our Lord has some important
things to sayabout these people who do come to Christ.
First of all: He says this about them in John 6:37; he says: “All that my
Father giveth me shall come to me.”
The first thing I know about those who come to Christ is that they were given
to Him by the Father. Who are these people given to Christ? Well, they are

152. out of Adam’s race, fallen sinners. “Our Lord came to seek and to save the
lost.”
1 Timothy Chapter 1:15 says: “This is a faithful saying; it’s worthy of
acceptationby all men that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.”
Who are the people that the Father gave Him; they are sinners, guilty sinners.
Christ came to die for sinners. “He died for the ungodly.” He saves the lost.
Well, why were these people given to Christ? Well, the Bible says: “Thathe
might be the first born among many brethren.” That’s the reasonGod the
Father gave Him a people that He might populate heaven with a people like
Christ; “that he might be the firstborn among men and brethren.”
I’ll tell you another reasonwhy the Fathergave the Son a people as
“numerous as the stars of the skyand the sand of the seashore;out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven that in the ages to come he
might show in them the riches of his grace.” That’s right!
And then that all might honor the Son as they honor the Father that
throughout the ageless ions of eternity we might forever praise the Lamb,
“worthy is the Lamb.” Christ is going to be praisedand, “At his name every
knee should bow and every tongue should confess thatJesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father.” That’s why the Fathergave Him a people.
When did the Fathergive Him these people? When were they given to the
Son? Well, the Bible tells us, “I thank God for you brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because Godhath from the beginning chosenyou unto salvation
through sanctificationof the Spirit and belief of the truth.”
In Ephesians 1:3 and 4: “Blessedbe the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who hath chosenus in Christ before the foundation of the world.”
That’s when God the Father gave the Son a people, “before the foundation of
the world.”
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN

153. 10
And Christ says: “All that my Father giveth me they shall come to me.” Isn’t
that what is says in John 6:37?
Now watchthe secondthing he says about them:
Secondly: “And him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout”
The gifts and calling of God are without repentance: “Whomhe did foreknow
(foreordain) he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. And
whom he predestinatedhe calledand whom he calledhe justified and whom
he justified he glorified.”
That’s right! Everybody whom the Father gave to the Son they will come to
Christ and they will never be castout. Theywill never be ashamed. Theywill
never be confounded. They will never be brought into judgment. They will
never be brought into condemnation. They will never be castout of his
presence.
Readthat 8th chapterof Romans beginning with verse 28 and go down and
see those four questions that are asked. After the apostle Paul wrote this great
chapter he said: “We know that all things work togetherfor goodto them
that love God, to them who are calledaccording to his purpose.”
Downin verse 31 he says this: “If God be for us who can be againstus?” If
God’s for us in eternal mercies, if God’s for us in redeeming graces,if God is
for us in effectualcalling, if Godis for us in persevering and preserving
power; who canbe againstus?

154. The law can’t; it’s God’s law. Satancan’t because he’s under the dominion of
Christ. His power has been crushed by the blood of Christ. “Who can be
againstus?”
And then in the next verse, verse 33, it says: “Who canlay anything to the
charge of God’s elect;it’s God that justifieth?” Thenverse 34 says: “Who is
he that condemneth? It’s Christ that died.” Then verse 35 says, “Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress, famine,
nakedness, perilor sword? Nay;in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.”
So, here are two things the Lord Jesus says about those who come to Him.
They come because my Fathergave them to Christ and the purpose of God
cannot be defeated. And when they come I will never castthem out.
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
11
Fourthly: Look at verse 44;says;those who come supernaturally; they come
powerfully drawn by God the Father: “No man can come to me except my
Father which sent me draw him”
You know, the average persondescribes coming to Christ as the simplest,
easiest, thing in the world. They say; “There’s nothing to it, anybody can
come to Christ.” That’s not what the Lord says here; no one is able. He said:
“No man cancome to me.”
The Bible says, it’s utterly impossible for any man apart from the Holy Spirit,
apart from the heavenly Father to come to Christ. Why? It’s not a physical
inability. It’s not a mental inability. The inability is in the sinner’s nature; he
does not want to come. He must be made willing to come. There must be a
drawing upon his soul and heart by the powerof God.

155. Take for example the sheep; a sheepeats grass. Well, a wolf can but he won’t;
it’s not his nature. The sheep come when the shepherd calls. The shepherd
calls the sheepby name and he comes. The wolfwon’t come.
He can hear the shepherd but he won’t come because he doesn’t want to come.
It’s not in his nature to come. Our Lord said: “You will not come to me that
you might have life. How often would I gatheryou unto myself but you
would not.”
Something must happen. “No man (whoeverhe may be, whatever his natural
ability is; can come to Christ in a saving and in a believing fashion) exceptthe
Father which sent me draw him.” And Psalm110:3 says: “Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power.”
Someone says: “Wellpreacher; men canbe savedif they will.” My dear sir;
that’s absolutely correct, men can be savedif they will, but who will? Do you
know anybody who will? They’ve got to want Christ, desire Christ, covet
Christ, and seek Christ. That’s the only way.
And that desire and that will to come to Christ is a work of God. Menmust
be awakenedfrom the dead condition, quickenedby the power of God,
begottenby the Holy Spirit, or they will not come. But when they do come
they come willingly, they come willingly, and they come completelyand they
come forever.
Fifthly: Verse 45: “And everyone that heareth of the Father and learneth of
the Fathercometh to me. It is written in the prophets; they shall be taught of
God and everyone that is taught of God and learns of God cometh unto me.”
WHAT IS IT TO COME TO CHRIST? JOHN 6:37-45 • HENRY T. MAHAN
12

156. The Fatherteaches men by the Holy Spirit. The Fatherteaches men by the
Word of God. The Fatherteaches men through anointed messengerswho are
ambassadors ofChrist. What does He teachthem?
Well, let me give you four or five things and I will close:
First of all: He teaches them who He is!
Who is God? Job said, “I’ve heard of thee by the hearing of the earand now
mine eyes seeththee.” Saul of Tarsus, very religious, very devout, very
consecrated, andvery holy, didn’t know God and on the road to Damascus he
said: “Who are you Lord?”
What does God teachmen who come to Christ? He teaches them who He is,
to whom they come.
Secondly: He teaches them who they are!
He teaches them that they are sinners. A man will never be saveduntil he is
lost. He’ll never be found until he’s lost. He’ll never be raiseduntil he’s dead.
God’s got to teachus what we are.
We will never cry for mercy until we need it. The law’s got to shut our
mouths. Paul said: “I would have never known sin if the law had not said
thou shalt not covet.”
Thirdly: He teaches us who Christ is! “Whatthink ye of Christ? Whose Son
is he?”
He teaches us what Christ did for us: “He was wounded for our
transgressions.”
Why He did it, “that God might be just and justify.”

157. Christ said; “And all those who are taught of God, they will come to me, they
will come to me. Those given me by the Father, (those taught of the Father,
and wooedand drawn by the Father); they will come to me and I will never
castthem out!”
“The Father’s Gift to His Son” December15, 2013 Text: John 6:36-40
There are doctrines in Scripture we do not fully understand, and which,
frankly, seem to contradictother doctrines. And yet the Bible clearlydeclares
them both true. Q: How are we as Xns to deal w/ this dilemma? A: We open
our hearts to God’s Word, as little children are open to whatevertheir trusted
fathers teachthem. If that results in a system of thoughts that don’t all
logicallymatch up w/ one another, so be it; we simply assume that God’s
thoughts are too grand for our finite human brains; That His mind follows
paths that range too far afield beyond our understanding, for us to map them
out; But that whatever He has revealedto us about those things we cannot see,
is absolutely true/reliable, because ourFather wouldn’t deceive us. What we
don’t do, is try to harmonize 2 seeminglycontradictory doctrines, by toning
down one to accommodate the other; Nor to adopt a modified position
betweenthe 2 extremes. We assume the truth is found w/i them, just as they
are revealedin Scripture; not in some speculative middle ground between
them, that we invent.
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It is very dangerous to become either selective/creative w/God’s truth, rather
than believing all that He reveals, simply learning to live w/ what seemto be
contradictions, from our myopic p.o.v. Today’s text contains a prime example
of this principle. John 6:37 (Jesus)=> “All that the Father gives Me will come
to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not castout.” Take that
1stclause=> “All that the Father gives Me.” That is a statementof the fact
that God has electedand foreordainedcertain people to eternallife. Eph 1:4
tells us He chose them in eternity past. They are the ones whom the Father has
given to His Son. Referring to man’s salvation, Paul writes (Rom 9:16)=> “It
does not depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God who
has mercy.” Jn 1:13 says=> “[they] were born, not of blood nor of the will of

158. the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” You may be uncomfortable w/
God’s sovereignelection, but you cannotavoid this doctrine in Scripture
w/o twisting the clearmeaning of the Bible’s words. Now look at the 2nd
clause in Jn 6:37 where Jesus says=> “The one who comes to Me [by an act of
his ownwill] I will certainly not castout.” That is an equally clearstatement
of man’s free agency, by which he comes to Jesus basedon a decisionhe
himself makes, and entrusts his soul to X as his Savior.
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He has chosento come, & X certainly won’t casthim out. So, is a personsaved
because he/she is among the elect;or because that person has decided to
believe in Jesus? The answeris both; but the minute we saythat, someone is
going to protest, “It has to be either one or the other.” Our answer=>
Scripture declares both, we believe both, but we cannot explain how the 2 fit
togetherlogically. And we are OK with that. What we know for sure from
God’s Word is that people who come to X & trust in Him are among those
given by the Father to His Son—youcannot deny that is true & continue to
claim you believe Jesus orHis words. A corollarytruth: Those who refuse to
come to Jesus have not been given to X by the Father, & they are among those
Jesus describedin Jn 10:26-28 when He said=> “You do not believe because
you are not of My sheep. / My sheephear My voice, & I know them, & they
follow Me; / and I give eternallife to them.” Who gave Jesus those sheep?
His Father, who had claimedthem for His own before the beginning of time.
And yet, because man is responsible for his choice to believe or withhold his
faith in X, the blood of those who don’t believe will be upon their own heads,
because ofthe choice they’ve made.
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We freely admit that the final solutions to such mysteries lie (at present) in
God’s mind, not ours; I.e., from the p.o.v. of God’s infinite mind, there is no
conflict, but from our limited p.o.v., they are mysteries. ** We can, however,
at leastidentify some of the principles that serve as the building blocks of
those mysteries we ultimately don’t understand. In today’s text we can
identify 4 principles, that help us understand a little about the mystery of our
salvation… * The principle of human freedom: Man has the freedom not to
believe in Jesus (we will meet some people who didn’t) * The principle of
divine election: The Father sovereignlygives believers to the Son, and He
chooseswhichones, on that basis of His own holy discretion, and His own
inscrutable purposes. * The principle of divine preservation: Believers are
sovereignlypreserved, and resurrected, by Christ, so they can never lose their

159. salvation. * The principle of human faith: Believers receive eternallife, as
they behold Jesus, andbelieve in Him.
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* The Principle of Human FreedomAgain, this refers to the fact that man has
the freedom not to believe in Jesus, disregarding all the evidence to the
contrary, if he so chooses.[John6:36] (Jesus to a crowd)=> “‘But I said to you
that you have seenMe, and yet do not believe.’” Jesus had demonstratedHis
divine power to these people, but they had chosennot to be convincedby the
evidence He had given them, and not to believe in Him. One might argue that
they viewed Him merely as a prophet who workedmiracles (like Elijah in the
OT), but that they hadn’t seenenoughyet, to regardHim as the Son of God.
But even if that were the case, they could have come to Him, & askedopen-
mindedly who He was. Theydidn’t, because the only thought on their minds
was, “How canwe getHim to do more miracles for us?” People like this can
be shown astounding miracles, & it will only serve to stiffen their unbelief.
God has given you enoughfreedom over your own mind so that, if you are
determined to disbelieve/disobeyHis revealedWord, even knowing that your
unbelief will somedayland you in hell, forever, you can choose to do so. That
is your God-given prerogative.
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Jesus told the Galileancrowd, “You have seenMe,” & He used a word that
refers to seeing with perception/discernment. These people’s unbelief was not
due to ignorance. Theyhad enough visual evidence/experience ofJesus and
His miracles, so that they should have perceived something of His divine
nature. But His miraculous actions had not led them to discern that He was
the Sonof God, because that’s not what they were looking for—it’s not what
they wanted to see. As Heb 4 (vs 2) says, what they heard/saw of Jesus didn’t
profit them, because it was not united w/ faith. That hadn’t been the case w/
Jesus’owndisciples as He walkedout to them on the Sea of Galilee, & rescued
them/theirboat from deadly winds. When He had abruptly stopped the wind
that was about to capsize their boat, the disciples prostrated themselves before
Him, in worship. But this Galileancrowd, seeing Him healpeople & watching
Him create bread/fish, just came back for more of the same the next day.
Human nature shamefully uses man’s God-givenfreedom in refusing to

160. believe, even when it’s logicalto believe. Left to himself, no one would believe,
apart from God’s miraculous intervention, drawing a personto Jesus by faith.
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So X says laterin this chapter (vs 44)=> “No one can come to Me unless the
Father who sent Me draws him.” Man has receivedenough freedom to reject
Jesus X, and no matter how strong the evidence may be to the contrary, he
can/constantly-does so. * The Principle of Divine Election[Verse 37](Jesus)=>
“‘All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me
I will certainly not cast out.’” The Fathersovereignlychoosescertainpeople
to be among those He has given as a gift to His Son. Being well aware of this,
Jesus prays to the Father Jn 17:2=> “You gave Him [X] authority over all
flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” Verse
24=> “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me
where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me.” John’s
Gospelclearlyindicates God the Father has given some people (not all people)
to His Son, as a gift. In the past these people had once used their human
freedom to reject Jesus, but now they have come to believe in Him. That is
only true because they are included in God’s gift to His Son, so the Spirit has
intervened to change their will. * He has granted them repentance from their
sins. E.g. Acts 11:18=> “Godhas granted to the Gentiles also the repentance
that leads to life.” Why? So they would come to Jesus. * In addition, He has
granted them the faith to believe in X.
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Eph 2:8=> “By grace youhave been savedthru faith; & that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God.” If they had not been among those the Father
has given to X, they never would have come to Jesus, orbelieved in Him. But
because Godhad chosenthem before time began, for the great/gracious
privilege of salvation, He had targetedthem for this specialgift of His
grace/love. As a result, they have come to believe in X. The refusal of some
people to believe in Jesus does notfrustrate God’s eternal purposes
whatsoever. His divine sovereigntywouldn’t allow human freedom to do that.
Nor did He choose others becauseHe knew they’d later believe. He chose
them according to His ownsovereign/inscrutable purposes. But men’s refusal
to believe undoubtedly createdsadness in X’s heart, knowing the eternal
destruction they would face because ofit. God, in His sovereignty, does not
choose to include every man/woman in that specialrelationship w/ its special
treatment by which He changes sinners’hearts, so that they willingly come to
X. Those who would accuseGodof unfairness, for leaving some out, forget
why God’s plan of redemption was even necessaryin the first place.

161. - 9 -
They forget that it all beganw/ man’s rebellion againsthis Creatorin the
Garden, & that if our 1st forefatherhad not sinned, none of us would need to
be redeemed/forgiven. But Adam did sin, and as a result, we were all born in
sin, & it is our inherited nature to rebel againstGod. Nobody deserves from
God the specialgrace of salvation. The Lord could have let the whole human
race go, & end up in hell, w/ no remedy & no recourse by which any could be
savedfrom sin. It would have been perfectly just for Him to do that, because
our sin had been our own choice. Butat greatsacrifice to Himself, He sent His
only begottenSon to become an atoning offering for human sin, to save us
from it. When unbelievers, w/ their God-hating nature, disdain that sacrifice,
God is under no obligationto save them, by some other means. Instead of
shifting the blame for their wickedness onto God, people should praise Him
for the promise X has given us=> “The one who comes to Me I will certainly
not castout.” “Coming to Jesus”is more than believing the doctrinal facts
about Him in the Bible—that He is both God/man, & that He died/rose-again
as man’s Substitute to pay sin’s penalty.
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That is indeed necessaryto know, but “coming” to X makes all that very
personal. It is a movement of the heart, that looks-to, trusts-in, & rests-on
Jesus, as the Sacrifice forone’s ownsin. It moves us awayfrom the sins we’ve
loved; to be made holy. Jesus’offerhere is wide enough for anyone who will
acceptit. * Anyone who choosesto come to Jesus is heartily welcome. *
Anyone who will reach out to Him by faith, seeking forgiveness ofhis sin, &
for His gracious gift of new life, is guaranteedthat His prayer will be
answered. * Anyone who, being sick/tiredof his sin, hungers for
righteousness, & comes to Jesus seekingit, as an unmerited/gracious gift from
Him, will receive it. * Anyone who comes to Jesus finds that X willingly
receives, pardons, justifies him, & will somedayglorify him. There is no
possible disqualification for you or anyone else, other than an unwillingness to
come to Jesus. * Those who view themselves as so unimportant that the God of
this universe wouldn’t bother w/ them, may come, and they will joyfully
discoverthat Jesus won’tcastthem out. * Those who are odd/eccentric are
welcome to come to X.
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* Those who have committed greatsins—adulterers, thieves, prostitutes, even
murderers—are welcome, if they will only come to Jesus. That has to be the
case, because Jesus has saidnothing here about one’s character—onlyhis

162. coming. * Those who have resistedthe H.S., covering up a troubled conscience
for years, Jesus stillwelcomes to come. * Those who fear they are apostates
because they once professedto believe in X, but walkedaway& went back to
the world. God says to them in Jer 3:22=> “Return, O faithless sons, I will
heal your backslidings.” * If hearing Jesus’words puts a lump in their throats
& a desire to really have the relationship w/ Him they once claimed to have; *
And if they come to Him, sincerelyseeking forgivenessoftheir unfaithfulness,
they aren’t really apostates, afterall, because X’s promise holds true for them
too=> “The one who comes to Me I will certainly not castout.” * Those who
fear they aren’t repentant enough, can still come. Peter=> “He [X] is the one
whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince & a Savior, to grant
repentance to Israel, & forgiveness ofsins” (Ac 5:31). It is not for us to bring
our repentance to Jesus, but rather to come to Him for our repentance.
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Don’t let Satanuse that to confuse you, & keepyou from coming to X. But
having come to Jesus, under any/all of these circumstances, look back to God,
& praise Him in Jesus’name, knowing you could never have done so, if He
hadn’t enabled you to. Praise His name that, in spite of all the wrong you’ve
ever done, in His view you are part of a precious gift that He has given to His
beloved Son—amazing, but true. * The Principle of Divine PreservationThe
principle=> Jesus sovereignlyprotects/preservesa believer’s salvation, & will
faithfully perfect/resurrecthim in the end. [Vss 38-39]--“‘ForI [X] have come
down from heaven, not to do My ownwill, but the will of Him who sent Me. /
[And] this is the will of Him who sentMe, that of all that He has given Me I
lose nothing [of it], but raise it up on the last day.’” Jesus would never castout
anyone who came to Him, not only because He loves the person, but even
more to the point of our text, the Father loves him, & it’s the Father’s will
that Jesus save him—not lose him. The Son’s will is always in perfect
harmony w/ the Father’s will. Jesus told His disciples (4:34)=> “My food is to
do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplishHis work.” Jesus sacrificed
the glories/joyofheaven, & came to earth that He might save to uttermost-
perfection, eachone of God’s elect, whom the Father had given to Him—not
losing even one.
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The job won’t be done until X resurrects us all in regenerated, glorified
bodies, filled w/ new life like X’s life; And He matches those bodies up w/ our
sanctified/perfectedsouls. Whatwas the Father’s will, which Jesus came to
do? The preserving of our faith, & the resurrection of our bodies. Notonly
does Jesus welcome allof God’s elect, who come to Him to be savedfrom their

163. sin; Once He has savedthem, He keeps them saved. This is the greatdoctrine
of the perseverance (orthe preservation) of the saints. You sometimes hear it
referred to as our “eternalsecurity.” Someone:“But what if a Xn just walks
awayfrom the faith?” A: If he’s truly one of those the Father has given to His
Son, he will come back to the faith, before he dies. Godwon’t let go of him, or
let him enter eternity unsaved. We know that, because ofJesus’words in Jn
10=> “My Father, who has given them to Me [again, the electare God’s gift
to the Son], is greaterthan all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father's hand.” Couldn’t someone snatchhimself out of God’s hand? Only if
his hand were bigger/strongerthan God’s hand. I love the way Wm
Hendriksen put it=>
“Scripture teaches a counselthat cannot be changed, a calling that cannot
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be revoked, an inheritance that cannot be defiled, a foundation that cannot be
shaken, a sealthat cannot be broken, and a life that cannotperish.”
I grew up thinking not only that I could lose my salvation, but believing that I
was actually doing so every week. Ican tell you from personalexperience, that
is an absolutelymiserable/frightening way to live. To this day I bless the name
of the preacherwho taught me from Scripture these blessedtruths, that Jesus
X will never lose those, God has given to Him, and the Fatherwill never
loosenHis grip on their souls. Paul wrote to the Philippians=> “I am confident
of this very thing, that He who begana goodwork in you will perfectit until
the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6). He explained it to the Romans like this=>
“We know that God causesall things to work togetherfor goodto those who
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose [that’s the elect]. /
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to
the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many
brethren; / and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom
He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also
glorified”(Rom8:28-30). There are no weak links in this chain, & X will never
lose a single believer, from His foreknowing us in eternity past, to our
glorificationin eternity future. When it’s all said/done, we’ll look back & say
“Praise God, He really did work all things togetherfor good.”
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Charles Spurgeonsaid of certain preachers, that they seemto be

164. “busy trying to shut sinners out of the Kingdom of God… afraid that more
people should get savedthan ought to be… afraid lest there should be in the
Heavenly fold one that is not the Lord Jesus Christ’s sheep.”
But when Jesus’people getto heaven, they will find that everyone who should
be there, will be there, because X hasn’t losta one, & they’ve all been
perfected. That’s why Jude 24 extolled the glory of “Him who is able to keep
you from stumbling, & to make you stand in the presence of His glory
blameless with great joy.” * The Principle of Human Faith The principle=>
Beholding/believing into Jesus Christ is the means by which believers receive
eternal life. Again, Jesus frames this as the Father’s will for us=> [Verse 40]=>
“‘Forthis is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Sonand
believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the
last day.’” By the word “behold,” Jesus means to look at Him carefully. To
gaze at Him, to examine His words/deeds/life, andto contemplate the meaning
of what we see/hearin Him. If we do so w/ faith, we will discoverthat X is
God’s Son. It takes more than a passing glance—it’s a continual beholding for
the purpose of understanding. Yet by the same token, it’s a simple looking,
just as the Israelites who had been bitten by snakes in Num 21:9 simply
lookedat the bronze serpent on a pole, & were healed.
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“Believing,” as we have seenbefore, is taking all that we have discovered
while beholding Jesus, & personalizing it, weaving it into a personal
relationship w/ Him. It’s more than “believing in” Jesus intellectually, since
the wording is literally “believing into” Him, forming an identification w/
Him, and a relationship of trust w/ Him, by which we rely on Him (& Him
alone)to forgive/save/regenerateus. Jesus saidthat everyone who
beholds/believes-into Him “has eternallife”—it reads as a future tense, but
it’s actually a presenttense verb. The moment anyone/everyone believes, he
has eternallife. In vs 27 of this chapter, Jesus had told the crowd to seek the
food “which endures to eternal life”—the bread of life (Jesus Himself) who
gives man abundant life. Jesus gives life, preserves life, & will raise it up on
the lastday. Then/there eternal life will be consummated in us, as our
humanness is restored/glorifiedto all God intended for us, when He originally
createdus in His image. All that is required of man in order to attain such
wonderful, abundant life is that he behold/believe-into Jesus. Butthis is where
man’s will comes in, because the person himself must do so, as an act of his
will. As Jesus put it verse 29 of this passage=> “This is the work of God, that
you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

165. - 17 -
Some people fear they cannot be saved because Godmay not have included
them in His gift to His Son. But right here Jesus has given us the answer=>
“Everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have [has] eternal
life.” So behold/believe, and receive eternal life—that proves you have been
included, & are 1 of Jesus’sheep. If you weren’t included, you couldn’t have
beheld/believed. The thief on the cross didn’t stop to ask Jesus, “Am I one of
those who were chosenby God?” He just said, “Jesus, remember me.” A
hungry man doesn’t wonderif it’s God purpose that he eat, nor a tired man if
it’s Godpurpose that he sleep. They just eat/sleep, & feel grateful to God for
these blessings. So you too, just look to Jesus, place your faith in Him, and
then gratefully worship Him, for what He has done for you=>
washed/cleansed/clothedyou, & fed you the bread of life. Jesus is worthy of
your trust/worship, for He is indeed the obedient Sonof God.
- 18 -
“The Father’s Gift to His Son” December15, 2013
Text: John 6:36-40
1. There are doctrines in Scripture which seemto contradict other doctrines;
yet the Bible clearly declares them both [10 true]. Jn 6:37; Eph 1:4; Rom
9:16; Jn 1:13; 6:37
2. Is a personsavedbecause he or she is among the elect, or because that
person has decided to believe in Jesus? [10 Both]. Jn 10:26-28
3. The final solutions to such mysteries lie in God’s mind, [8 not] ours.

166. In today’s text we can identify four principles that help us understand a little
about the mystery of our salvation… * The Principle of Human Freedom
[John 6:36] 4. Jesus had demonstratedHis divine powerto these people, but
they had chosennot to be convinced by the evidence He had given them and
not to [16 believe] in Him. Heb 4:2
5. Human nature shamefully uses man’s God-given freedom in refusing to
believe even when it is [16 logical]to believe. Jn 6:44
* The Principle of Divine Election[Verse 37] 6. The Father sovereignly
choosescertainpeople to be among those He has given as a [10 gift] to His
Son. Jn 17:2, 24; Acts 11:18;Eph 2:8
7. The refusal of some people to believe in Jesus does not frustrate [12
God’s] eternalpurposes whatsoever.
8. Coming to Christ is a movement of the heart that looks to, trusts in, and
rests in Jesus, as the Sacrifice for one’s [8 own] sin.
- 19 -
9. Anyone who comes to Jesus finds that Christ willingly receives, pardons,
and justifies him; there is no possible disqualification for anyone, other than
an unwillingness to [10 come] to Jesus. Acts 5:31
* The Principle of Preservation10. Jesus sovereignlyprotects and preserves a
believer’s salvation, and will faithfully perfect and [20 resurrect]him in the
end. [Verses 38-39]
Jn 4:34
11. What if a Christian walks awayfrom the faith? If he is truly one of those
the Fatherhas given to His Son, he will come [10 back]to the faith. Jn
10:29;Phil 1:6; Rom 8:28-30

167. 12. Christ will never lose a single believer, from His foreknowing us in
eternity past, to our glorification in eternity [14 future]. Jude 1:24
* The Principle of Human Faith 13. Beholding and believing into Jesus Christ
is the means by which believers receive [16 eternal] life. [Verse 40]Num
21:9
14. “Believing” is taking all that we have discoveredwhile beholding Jesus
and personalizing it, weaving it into a [18 personal] relationship with Him.
Jn 6:27, 29
15. Look to Jesus, place your faith in Him, and then gratefully [16 worship]
Him for what He has done for you.
http://www.mastersbible.com/documents/Sermons/John/48.John%206.36-
40.pdf
C. SIMEON
CHRIST’S WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE SINNERS
John 6:37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.
IT is a pleasing reflectionthat there is a people securedto Christ, who, having
been given to him by the Father, shall, eachin his appointed time, “be
gatheredunto Shiloh,” to be the fruits of his travail, and the spoils of his
victory. This pleasure howeverwould be greatly damped, if we believed, that
there were any infallibly, and from eternity, given over to perdition, who
should be sent into the world for no other purpose than to fill up the measure
of their iniquities, and to fit themselves for the place, to which they had been
doomed by an eternal and irreversible decree. We confess that we cannot so
draw the line betweenpr ζterition and predestination, as to satisfy in all cases
a cavilling, or perhaps a scrupulous mind: but the same difficulties occur, if
we attempt to mark the distinct boundaries of free will, and free grace;or to
shew how the existence ofsin could ever consistwith the holiness of God. This
howeveris not our province: we must leave to God to reconcile the difficulties
that occur;and receive the truths he declares, notbecause we can

168. comprehend every thing respecting them, but because they are revealedby an
unerring God. That some are securedto Christ appears from hence, that, if
they were not, it might eventually happen, that none might come to him; and
consequently, that he might shed his blood in vain. We are not howeverleft to
found this sentiment on any uncertain reasonings ofour own; since our Lord
himself, in the very words before the text, says, “All that the Fatherhath given
me, shall come to me.” But are all others therefore of necessitysealedup unto
perdition? no; for he adds, “And him that cometh unto me I will in no wise
castout.”
To improve this blesseddeclaration, let us consider,
I. What we should come to Christ for—
[In general, we answer, that we must come to him for every thing; since all
fulness is treasuredup in him, on purpose that we may receive out of it
according to our necessities. Butmore particularly, we must come to him for
pardon, which we all need; which we cannototherwise obtain; and which he is
exalted to give [Note:Acts 5:31.]. We must come for peace, since allpeace
derived from other quarters, is delusive, and he, as the Prince of peace, has
promised to bestow it [Note: Isaiah9:6. John 14:27. Ephesians 2:17.]. We
must come for strength, since without him we cando nothing [Note:John
15:5. 2 Corinthians 3:5.], and by him, every thing [Note:Philippians 4:13.];
and St. Paul himself applied to him in prayer, and obtained from him, as we
also shall do, grace sufficientfor him [Note:2 Corinthians 12:9.]. Lastly, we
must come to him for eternallife and glory; since he frequently claims it as his
prerogative to give it [Note: John 10:28.], and will surely be the author of it to
all them that obey him [Note: Hebrews 5:9.].]
II. In what manner we should come to him—
[Of course, our Lord meant not that we were to approach him with our
bodies; since many thronged him, and pressedupon him, who nevertheless
were castout. It is therefore, not to the motion of our bodies, but to the frame
of our minds, that we are to have respect, when we come unto him. We must
come unto him empty. If, like the Laodiceans, we think ourselves rich and
increasedwith goods [Note:Revelation3:17.], our application to Christ will be
vain and fruitless [Note:Luke 1:53.]. We must be deeply convinced of our own
guilt and helplessness;and be thoroughly persuaded that we must perish if be
receive us not. We must be like the Prodigal, when dying with hunger, or like
the Disciples in jeopardy, crying, Save, Lord, or we perish [Note:Matthew
8:25.]. Moreoverwe must come believing. This is more particularly intended
by our Lord, the words “coming” and “believing,” being perfectly

169. synonymous [Note: ver. 35.]. To come filled with unbelief, would be to insult,
rather than to honour him. We should be convincedof his suitableness to our
necessities, his sufficiency for our relief, and his willingness to receive us. We
must regard him as the only way to life, the only door of hope [Note: John
14:6; John 10:9.]. We must believe in him as appointed of God to be our
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption [Note:1 Corinthians
1:30.]; and then we shall find by happy experience that he is “able to save us
to the uttermost.”]
III. The encouragementwe have to come to him—
[Though our Lord sometimes delayed answering the requests of those who
came to him in the days of his flesh, he never finally refusedany. Thus, though
he may not instantly manifest his acceptanceofus, he will not reject any who
thus come unto him. No past iniquities shall cause him to rejectus. This is
evident from many strong and express declarations of Prophets [Note:Isaiah
1:18.], of Apostles [Note:Acts 10:43 and 1 John 1:7.], of Christ himself [Note:
Matthew 12:31.]. If it be thought that the sin againstthe Holy Ghostis an
exception, let it suffice to say, that no man, who desires to find acceptance
through Christ, can possibly have committed that; since he would in that case
have been given over to judicial blindness and obduracy, and consequently,
would have continued altogetherregardless ofhis eternal welfare. The same
may be proved from manifold instances, whereinthe vilest of the human race
have found acceptance withhim. We need only look at Manasseh[Note:2
Kings 21:16. with 2 Chronicles 33:9; 2 Chronicles 33:12-13.], David[Note:2
Samuel 12:9; 2 Samuel 12:13.], and above all at the Apostle Paul, who was in
this particular intended for a pattern [Note:1 Timothy 1:16.], and this blessed
truth will be establishedbeyond a possibility of doubt. Nor will any present
infirmities cause our Lord to rejectus. For his Disciples, long after they had
found acceptancewith him, betrayed manifest symptoms of pride [Note:
Mark 9:33-34.], revenge [Note: Luke 9:54.], and cowardice [Note:Matthew
26:56.];and Peter, whose misconductwas by far the most glaring, receivedby
far the most striking tokens of our Lord’s regard [Note:Mark 16:7 and John
21:15-17.]. We saynot this to encouragesin, but to illustrate the tender
mercies of him, who carries the lambs in his bosom, and who, instead of
breaking the bruised reed, will bring forth from it the sweetestmelody [Note:
Isaiah40:11; Isaiah42:3.].]
Address—
1. Those who are afaroff from Christ—

170. [Can it be supposed, that, if we will not go to Christ, we can ever participate
his benefits? Doubtless we cannot: if we keepat a distance from him in this
world, there will be an “impassable gulf betweenus” in the world to come. Let
us remember then, that we must go to him or perish. Let not any one object, I
cannot go:for the truth is, we will not [Note:John 5:40.]. Yet,
notwithstanding our past obstinacy, we may go to him, with a full assurance
that he will in no wise castus out. Let us not then delay, lest death seize us,
and the door of mercy be for ever closed.]
2. Those who are coming to him—
[We are told of one in the Gospel, whom, when coming to our Lord, the devil
castdown, and tare, and left to appearance, dead[Note:Mark 9:20; Mark
9:26.]. Such enmity will Satandiscoveragainstus also as soonas ever we
attempt to come to Christ. He will raise every obstacle in his power: he will
assaultus by “fightings without, and fears within.” But the more earnesthe is
in his endeavours to draw us from Christ, the more determined let us be in
going to Christ: so shall we most effectually defeathis malice, and secure
beyond a doubt our own salvation.]
3. Those who have come to him—
[Whence is it that so greata difference has been put betweenyou and others?
Is it that you were of yourselves more inclined to good, and that you made
yourselves to differ [Note: 1 Corinthians 4:7.]? No:you were once as far from
God as any; nor had the smallestinclination to seek him till God gave you the
will [Note:Philippians 2:13.]; nor could you then have come to Christ, except
the Fatherhad drawn you by his Almighty power[Note:John 6:44.]. Be
careful then to give all the glory of your salvationto Godalone. And
remember that you are still to be coming to Christ every day you live [Note:1
Peter2:4-5.]. “All your fresh springs are in him;” and “out of his fulness you
must continually receive.” Live then a life of faith on the Son of God; and the
communion, which you enjoy with him on earth, shall soonbe perfectedin the
realms of glory.]
THE BIG GATES WIDE OPEN NO. 2954
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER21, 1905.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,AT THE METROPOLITAN

171. TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD’S-DAYEVENING, JUNE 6,
1875.
“All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and him that comes to Me I
will in no wise castout.” John 6:37.
A COUNTRYgentleman is expecting a number of persons to come and dine
with him. He has a little side swing-gate, atthe entrance to the park, through
which people generallycome; but, on the day when he expects company, he
says to one of his men, “John, be sure that you setthe big gates wide open, for
we are expecting severalpeople to come in;” and that is the order which I
have receivedfrom my Master. He is expecting company. The evangelistic
services in the South of London will, I trust, bring large numbers of people to
feastwith my Lord at His banqueting table, and I believe it is His will that I
should setthe big gates wide open, so that some sinners, who might be going
by, would take that act as an invitation to them to come in. I feel sure that
they will come in, for God is going to bring them in. He is about to stretch
forth His almighty arm, and to compelthem to come in, that His house may be
filled. So my objective, in this discourse, is to proclaim the fullness and
freeness ofthe grace ofGod, in the hope that some may be led to come to
Christ, and so to obtain eternal life. But, first, our text sets before us a rather
knotty point; yet it reveals to us an excellentway of untying the knot. This is
the knotty point. It would seem, from the text, that the Fatherhas given some
souls to Christ; and not only from this text, but also from a greatmany other
passagesofScripture, it is clearthat Godhas a people whom He has chosen
unto eternal life, and that Christ has redeemeda people from among men. It
is no use trying to shut your eyes to this truth, as some do, for it is there; and
unless we really wish to twist the plain meaning of words, and to make
something out of Scripture which Scripture does not naturally teach, we shall
never be able to escape fromthe doctrine of divine predestination—the
doctrine that God has foreordained certain people unto eternal life. Now, if
you like, you can make any number of difficulties out of that truth. If you wish
to do so, here is a whole forestbefore you, and you caneasily find wood
enough to make a gallows to hang yourself upon. It is true that if you wish to
wrestthe Scriptures to your own destruction, you will have to use very bad
reasoning in order to do it; but it will be no worse reasoning than many other
people have used before you. It is true that everything is predestinated, and
that everything that happens is ordered according to the unfailing purpose
and will of God; yet you will go to bed tonight, and get up tomorrow morning,

172. and go about your business, never thinking of that predestination, but, acting
like people of common sense, guidedby the ordinary rules of sound judgment.
That is to say, you will do that in ordinary matters, but there are some of you
who will not act in the same sensible wayin spiritual things, but you will twist
this doctrine around, and look at it in all manner of strange ways till you are
dizzy with gazing at it, and trying to make some excuse out of it for not
coming to Jesus Christ. My text, however, cuts the ground from under your
feet if you seek to actthus, for it tells you this, which is all you need to know—
that all who are God’s chosenones may be known by this mark, that they
come to Christ, as He said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me.”
So that those who come to Christ are God’s chosenpeople, and those who live
and die without coming to Christ are not God’s people. If you come to Christ,
and trust in Him, you are one of those whom the Father gave to His Son. If
you refuse to come to Christ—it matters not what excuse you may make—
your blood will be upon your ownhead. You will perish if you do not come to
Christ; and if you do not come to Him, it will be because you were not one of
His sheep;neither did the Father give you to Christ. RowlandHill, when he
was askedto preach only to the elect, saidthat he would do so if somebody
would chalk them on the back. That cannotbe done; but Goddoes, in process
of time, mark them all, not on the back, but on the heart. He that believes on
the Sonhas everlasting life, and his faith proves that he was chosenof God to
that life; but he that
2 The Big Gates Wide Open Sermon #2954
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believes not on the Son, if he persists in that unbelief, will assuredlyperish, for
there shall be no deviation from this divine declaration, “He that believes and
is baptized shall be saved;but he that believes not shall be damned.” That is
the matter with which we have to deal; may God help us, like prudent men, to
deal with it earnestly! I. Leaving that knotty point altogether, I notice in our
gloriously free and open text, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast
out,” that there is A NECESSARYACT, and that is, that we come to Christ.
Before we go any further, let me ask, “How many of us have come to Christ?”
I believe that by far the largerproportion of those now present have done so,
and I am grateful that I am able to believe that. If any of you, who have
thought of coming to the Lord’s Table, have never come to Christ, I implore
you not to come to the communion until you are truly converted. None have
any right to the sacredemblems but those who have already enjoyed true
communion with Christ by believing in Him. If you have not come to Christ,
you must not act as if you had done so, for that would not benefit you, but it

173. would insult the Lord, and bring greatguilt upon your own conscience. No,
brethren and sisters, we must come to Jesus Christ; that is our one business if
we would be saved—to come to Christ is not only the main point in it, but it is
the top, and bottom, and midst, and whole of it. “What is it to come to
Christ?” asks someone.Here I feel a solemntrembling come over me, for, too
often, in trying to explain what faith is, and what coming to Christ is, we
darken counsel“by words without knowledge;” and God forbid that I should
do that! Look at the words which Christ used, “Him that comes to Me.” He
speaks ofan action, a movement, but not of an actionor movement of the
body, for there were many who came to Christ in a physical sense, but they
were not savedby such a coming as that. This coming is an action, or
movement, or turning of the mind; you know readily enough what it is for the
mind to come to such-and-such a point. But, observe that the pith of the
matter lies here, “Him that comes to Me.” Saving faith is a coming to Christ—
to the personof Christ. It is not merely to believe that Christ is God, though
you must believe that if you would be saved. It is not merely to believe that
Christ is a sacrifice forsin, though you must believe that. It is not merely to
believe that Christ lived, and died, and rose againfor our salvation, though
those three blessedfacts must be believed. But it is to come unto HIM. If you
had seenHim when He uttered these words, perhaps you would have
understood them better, for there He stood, the “Manof sorrows, and
acquainted with grief”—the very Personof whom John the Baptisthad said,
“Beholdthe Lamb of God, which takes awaythe sin of the world.” He says,
“Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.” Everybody knows whatit is
for the mind to trust in a doctrine, but you will perish if you trust only to
doctrine. The true way of salivation is trusting to the living person of Jesus
Christ, who is the God-appointed Savior. Perhaps some of you know what it is
to trust to baptism, confirmation, sacraments, but you will perish if you trust
only to them. You must come, not to them—to sprinkling or immersion, to the
mass or to the communion—but to HIM, to the Christ who, upon the accursed
tree, has made expiation for all who trust in Him. You must come, by faith, to
that cross, andacceptHim as your Substitute. He has gone up into heaven,
but He is pleading there for sinners, and you must dart the eye of your mind
upwards to Him in such a waythat you will trust in Him who has risen from
the dead, and gone up into glory. That is coming to Christ—the mind resting
in His person and in His atoning sacrifice. It is clear, too, that when we come
to a certain thing, we come from something else, so that coming to Christ
implies that you leave something behind you and he who would be saved must
leave behind the sins he formerly loved. He must come to the Holy Savior to
be himself made holy; he must come to sit at Jesus’feet, to learn His

174. commands, and to be willing to obey them. Jesus Christ will not save any man
who abides in his sins; he came to save His people from their sins. The
salvationof Jesus Christ is a salvation, not merely from the guilt and the
penalty of sin, but from the sin itself, from the foulness and degradationof it.
If we would come to Christ, we must come awayfrom sin. Repentance must
make us turn from sin, and faith must make us turn to Christ; and we must
also come awayfrom self-righteousnessif we are to come to Christ. It is very
difficult for some people to part with their self-righteousness. Theyhave
lookedin the mirror till they are in love with themselves, and they cannot bear
to be separatedfrom their beloved self. They feel so good, so proper, so
respectable, so excellent, so amiable, so lovely, and so dear to themselves that
they would gladly hang about the neck of their self-righteousness, and
embrace it as long as they can. But, sirs, you must come awayfrom it; you
must learn to look at it as a loathsome thing, and such it would appearto you
if you could see it in the light in which God sees it; and you must
Sermon 2954 The Big Gates Wide Open 3
Volume 51 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. 3
give up every trust excepttrust in the Lord Jesus Christ. This, then, is coming
to Him—coming awayfrom your sinful selfand your righteous self, and
putting your trust alone in the one greatSurety and Substitute for sinners.
When we come to a person, in the full sense ofthe word come, we also stay
with that person. If I walk past a man in the street, I have certainly come to
him in a sense;but I have also gone beyond him, and so I have also gone from
him; and when a soul really comes to Christ, that soul stays with Christ, and
rests in Him. Does it not need anything else? No. Surely it needs some more
holiness? No. Does it not need a fuller pardon? No. Does it not need additional
support? No. Does it not need some addition to its robe of righteousness?No.
Does it not need another washing? No, for the apostle says to those who have
come to Christ, “You are complete in Him.” Having come to Him, you stay
with Him, and rest in Him. The savedsoul does not take temporary lodgings
with Christ, but abides in Him. Now, dearfriends, I cannot put this question
personally to every one of you, but you can eachone put it to yourselves,
“Have you come to Jesus Christ?” Thatis to say, is He your only confidence,
or have you any other hope? Are you trusting in Jesus Christ alone? If so, you
have come to Him, and the promise in the text is yours: “Him that comes to
Me I will in no wise castout.” II. This brings us to the next point, which is, A
NEEDLESS FEAR BANISHED. There are some persons, who saythat they
would gladly come to Christ, but they fear that if they did come to Him, He

175. would reject them. Ask them why, and one of them says, “I am too old to come
to Christ.” Will you kindly read the text, my venerable friend? “Him that
comes to Me I will in no wise castout.” Now, if Christ castout anyone who
came to Him because he was too old, the text would not be true. There is
nothing written betweenthe lines; you may look as long as you like, but you
will not find there anything like this, “Him that comes to Me up to seventy-
five years of age, I will in no wise castout.” Christ says nothing of the kind. If
you were a hundred years old—if you were two hundred—it would make no
difference to Him; He would still say, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise
castout.” Perhaps another says, “I am too young to come to Christ.”
Possiblythere are some children here who have had the thought in their
minds, “We are too young to come to Christ.” But that cannot be, for He said,
“Theythat seek Me early shall find Me;” and He also said, “Sufferthe little
children to come unto Me, and forbid them not.” You cannotpossibly be to
too young to come to Christ, for He says, “Him that comes to Me”—andHe
intends that the youngestone who comes should be included—“I will in no
wise castout.” Many persons, however, see no difficulty as far as they are
concerned, but they suppose that there is some difficulty because oftheir
position. “MayI come?” one asks,“Iam so very poor.” The pooreryou are,
the more welcome you are to come. There is not a syllable here about
property; Christ simply says, “Him that comes to Me.” It does not matter
though you come in rags, or though you come in the workhouse suit; whatever
your outward apparel may be is of no consequence to our blessedLord!
Though you are as poor as poverty itself, if anybody has any preference, I
think that you will be all the more welcome to Jesus Christ because ofthat
very poverty, for of old it was especiallymentioned that the poor had the
gospelpreachedto them, and God has often chosenthe poor of this world, and
made them, by His grace, rich in faith. Come along with you, my poor brother
or sisters. “Oh!” says another, “but it is not poverty that is the difficulty with
me, it is my lack of education.” Well, my friend, I am very sorry for you if you
cannot read or write; that is a misfortune for you in many ways, but it has
nothing to do with your salvation. I should think that there were very few of
the early Christians who could reador write. Certainly, those who put up the
inscriptions over the tombs in the Catacombs made all sorts of mistakes in
spelling and grammar, and I suppose that they were as well educated as the
most of the Christians who were buried there. What has the gospelof Christ
to do with education? You do not need a degree from a university—you do not
need to be a masterof arts, or a bachelorof arts, in order to find Christ.
Knowledge sometimes misleads in spiritual things. I would not commend
ignorance;but, certainly, it is a fact that the shepherds of Bethlehem, when

176. they wanted to see the newborn King, went straight to Him, but the wise men
from the Eastwent a long wayround before they came to Him. Augustine
used to say, “While Pharisees andphilosophers are fumbling to find the latch
of God’s door, the poor and illiterate have entered into the kingdom of
heaven.” If you did but believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and did
but restyourself wholly upon Him, even if you were half an idiot, Christ
would not castyou out. Yes, if there were only a faint glimmer of intelligence
within your
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soul, yet if there were enough to catchthe flame of faith, you would be saved;
so let not that matter keepany of you back. “Ah!” says another, “I should
not be kept back by such a thing as that, but it is my past characterthat is my
hindrance.” Well, dear friend, I will not inquire into your past character, but
will take it for granted that it has been as bad as it could be; yet, even then,
what does Christ sayin our text? Does He sayanything about character? No;
He simply says, “Him that comes to Me;” and if the person, who comes to
Him, should have committed every crime of which it is possible for humanity
to be guilty, my text would not allow even him to be excluded. I do bless my
Lord and Masterthat He did not put any exclusions orexceptions here.
Neither thief, nor drunkard, nor harlot, nor adulterer, nor even murderer is
shut out here: “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.” So it stands,
and so it shall remain. If he will but come to Christ, he cannot be castout on
accountof his sins; but his sins, which are many, shall all be forgiven him; he
shall be pressedto the heart of everlasting love, and the kiss of pardon shall be
imprinted upon his cheek. I fancy that I hearsomeone else say, “I have not
been guilty of any of those gross sins. I have almost wished—thoughperhaps
it is a wickedwish—that I had been, for then I think I could feel more than I
do now. Through the gracious arrangements ofprovidence, I have been kept
from gross outwardsin, and I cannot feel what I want to feel of repentance.”
No, dear friend, but the Lord does not ask you to repent of sins that you have
not committed. Just look at what you have done, and do not wish that your sin
was any greaterthan it is, for that would be indeed a wrong thing. “I do look
at what I have done,” says one, “yetI cannot repent.” And do you expectto
repent before you come to Christ? Is that your idea of the gospelplan? The
gospel, as I understand it, is—to quote JosephHart’s well knownlines—
“True belief and true repentance, Every grace that brings us nigh, Without
money, Come to Jesus Christ and buy.” I remember also that Petersaid to
the high priest concerning Christ, “Him has God exaltedwith His right hand

177. to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give (mark that term, to give) repentance.”
It is not for you to bring it to Him, but to come to Him for it. Some of you
have been looking to the law to make you consciousofyour sin. Do you not
know that— “Law and terrors do but harden All the while they work alone”?
But if you will come to Jesus, andtrust in Him, then— “A sense of blood-
bought pardon Will dissolve the heart of stone.” You are to trust Jesus fora
new heart, for repentance, for a tender conscience;if you cannot come to Him
with them, come to Him for them. O you broken-heartedcome to Christ, but
do not plead your broken hearts; and you, who want to have your hearts
broken, come to Christ to break them! He is able, with the mighty hammer of
His gospelgrace,to break the heart of stone. “Ah!” says another, “I believe I
have come to Christ; I know that I do wish to have Him as my only trust, but I
have not the experience that I have read about in others. I have read of some
people being dreadfully cut up, distressed, and alarmed under a sense ofsin,
but I have not been like that.” Who ever said that you should be? Listen again
to the text, “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise castout.” Does Christ say
anything about experience, and law-work, and all that sort of thing? Blessed
be God, though men may set up those barriers around the cross ofChrist, the
Lord has not set them up. If you come to Him, if you are trusting in Him,
whateveryour experience may be or may not be, He will not—He cannot—
castyou out. There are certainpreachers whom I have heard, who seemto me
to be wonderfully busy trying to shut sinners out of the kingdom. They are
terribly afraid that more people should get savedthan ought to be. They look
upon heaven as a sort of close borough, into which a certain number of £10
householders may be admitted, but nobody else will. They are dreadfully
afraid lest there should be found, in the heavenly fold, one that is not the Lord
Jesus Christ’s sheep. Such a fear as that never yet penetrated my heart; I
bless His name that I have an ardent longing that many may come to Jesus,
and I think that kind of spirit ought to be in all Christians, for Christ’s words
suggestit: “Him that comes to me”—notone specialsortof “him” or any
other sort, but any “him” who comes, whoeverhe may be—“Iwill in no wise
castout.”
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“Ah!” says another, “but I have such a little faith.” Bless Godthat you have
even a little. Have I not often told you that, if you have only starlight, you
should bless God for it, and He will give you moonlight; and if you have
moonlight, and bless God for it, He will give you daylight? Be thankful for any

178. genuine faith that you possess.DoesChristsay, “Him that comes to Me with a
greatfaith”? No, brethren, if you come to Christ with only a grain of faith in
your heart, the text must shut you in, it cannot shut you out. Do but come to
Christ, do but trust in Him, and, howeverfeeble your faith, if it is but sincere
faith in Jesus, you are saved by Him, for He is all your salvation and all your
desire. It is not the strength of your faith that saves you, but the strength of
Him upon whom you rely; Christ is able to save you if you come to Him, be
your faith weak or be it strong. “But,” I think I hear another say, “I am
afraid I am not one of the elect.” I have already answeredthat objection; if
you believe in Jesus Christ, you are one of the elect. Beyondall doubt, if you
come to Him, He cannot shut you out because of some secret reason, for He
has said, “I will in no wise” that is, for no reason, and in no way, and never—
“castyou out.” Therefore, there cannotbe any secretreasonin that unopened
book of destiny, for your being shut out. If you do but come to Christ, He
must receive you, or He will have brokenHis word, and that He can never do.
“But,” says another, “if I come to Christ, I should never hold on to Him.”
That is very likely, but suppose He held you on, what then? “Ah, but I should
not have the strength to persevere.” But suppose that nobody, on earth or in
hell, can separate you from Him, for “He keeps the feetof His saints,” what
then? Suppose, when you come to Him, He says to you, “I give unto you
eternal life, and you shall never perish, neither shall any pluck you out of My
hands”? Why, soul, as you have not to take the first stepin salvationof
yourself without Christ, so you have not to take the second, or the third, or the
fourth, or any other step; you must rest only in Him for the whole of the way
betweenhere and heaven. I believe that, if you and I were to getas far as the
very doorstepof heaven, if we were to get our fingers on the latch of the gate,
we would never get in if the grace ofGod did not take us the last inch of the
way. But, then, the grace of Godwill do this. Trust in Jesus, for— “His honor
is engagedto save The meanestof His sheep;All that His heavenly Father
gave His hands securelykeep. Notdeath, nor hell, shall ever remove His
favorites from His breast; In the dear bosom of His love Theymust forever
rest.” So, any “him” in all the world, and any “her” also, if they do but come
to Christ, shall not be castout. III. We have seen, in the text, first, a
necessaryact;and, next, a needless fearbanished; now we are to see A MOST
REASONABLE CONFIDENCE SUGGESTED. I hope that there are many
here who desire to be saved. If so, let them remember what the apostle Paul
wrote to the Corinthians, “Behold, now is the acceptedtime; behold, now is
the day of salvation.” I trust that you all understand that the whole process of
salvation, so far as you are concerned, is for you to give up every reliance
exceptreliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work. It has been

179. often said that there are but two steps to heaven, and that those two are but
one—outof selfand into Christ. If you are, at this moment, holding on to any
other confidence, I pray you to let go of it, and drop into the arms of Jesus,
and know—forGodhas said it—that the instant you believe in Jesus, youare
saved; there is conferredupon you a share in the divine life which will never
die out. At the same moment, there is takenfrom you the whole mass of your
sin, so that it cannot condemn you, and will never return upon you. There is
also imputed to you a perfectrighteousness whichshall never be takenfrom
you, and in this spotless robe you may boldly stand even at the last great
judgment day. Can we not all come, just now, and trust Jesus Christ? I mean
not only you who have never trusted Christ before, but I would gladly hope
that all of us, who have believed in Jesus Christ, would begin trusting in Him
again. I wonder how many times I have had to begin my spiritual life over
againat the foot of the cross. Iam always doing it, and I am never so happy,
so safe, or, I believe, so holy, as when I stand just as I did at first, at the footof
the cross, andlook up, and say to my dear Lord and Savior— “Nothing in my
hands I bring; Simply to Your cross I cling.”
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If any brother thinks that he has become perfect, he canappear in that
characterbetter than I can, for I cannot go to God in that fashion. The
moment I think I am getting on in “the higher life,” if I go back to the cross,
my “higherlife” all vanishes. In fact, I have no “higherlife.” I have nothing
but what Christ gives me; I am a wretched, miserable beggar, dependent upon
Him for everything, and I am never so right before Him as when I feelthat it
is so, and just look to Him as I did when I first came to Him, and put my trust
in Him. Some brethren have a dreadful tumble down, because they have been
building up their pretty little fancied experiences something like a platform
that I have seenon the top of a mountain. Certainpeople always want to see a
little further than anyone else can, so they build a little woodenplatform, and
stand on that; it is, no doubt, very delightful to stand up there, and feel that
you are so many feet higher than anybody else. But that platform gets rotten
in time, and all of a sudden it breaks, and all on it come down with it, and they
are very apt to say that the mountain itself is crumbling. Nonsense, the
mountain is all right, but you tried to get above the mountain. If you had kept
down where you ought to have been— on the granite rock—youwould not
have tumbled. I charge every child of God to strive after perfect holiness with
all his might, but never to think that he has gotten any further than this,
“Jesus Christis Allin-all to me, and I am just nothing at all apart from Him;

180. on Him do I hang, and in Him alone do I trust.” The comfortable assurance
of the text is this, “If Jesus Christwill not castme out, He will take me in.” He
must do either the one or the other, there is no middle course. I never readof
anybody but those He blesses and those He curses—those to whom He is a
savorof life, and those to whom He is a savorof death. Then, as I just said, if
He will not castme out, I know what He will do, He will take me in, He will
washme, He will cleanse me, He will clothe me, He will feed me, He will reveal
Himself to me, He will make me His brother and His friend, He will keepme
in life, keepme in death, and bring me to be with Him where He is, that I may
behold His glory. Now, who will begin with Jesus, orbegin again with Jesus?
By His grace, I will. Savior, I have no confidence but in Your precious blood. I
have preachedYour gospelfor many a year, and, by so doing, have been the
means of bringing many sinners to You; but this I count less than nothing as
the groundwork of my hope of eternal life. For that, I rest on You, and on You
alone. Now, sinners, come along, and may the Holy Spirit graciouslyleadyou
to do as we are now doing. And then, as you go your way, eachone of you can
say, “He will never castme out, for I have come to Him.” Trust Jesus, I
implore you. He is worthy of your trust, for He is the Son of God, and He has
died to put awaythe guilt of all who trust Him. I wish someone wouldsay, “I
have tried to save myself, but I cannot do it; I will trust Him to do it, and I
believe that He can, and that He will.” Ah, my friend, you will never be
disappointed if you make such a blessedresolve as that. May God, by His
grace, enable you to do it, and to Him shall be praise forever and ever. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:ISAIAH 55.
Verse 1. Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no
money; come you, buy, and eat;yes, come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price. The descriptionof gospelblessings growssweeteras it
advances. “Waters” first, “wine and milk” next, and still all “without money
and without price.” 2. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not
bread? And your labor for that which satisfies not? Hearkendiligently unto
Me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. All
your largestdesires you can long for you will find in Christ; you shall have not
only necessities, but delicacies,delights that shall satisfyyou to the full; you
shall not be able to conceive ofanything that shall be more rich and full than
the grace ofGod. 3. Incline your ear, and come unto Me; This is the gate by
which salvation enters into man—Ear gate;by hearing and believing; “Incline
your ear,” bend it forward as if you would catch every word; “and come unto

181. Me:—” 3. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting
covenantwith you, even the sure mercies of David. Only think of a covenant
made with needy sinners, thirsty sinners, God striking hands with guilty men
in the personof Jesus Christ. It is a sure covenant, too; not made up of “ifs”
and “buts” and “perhapses”—
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but a covenantsealedwith blood, and signed by Him who gives an oath with it
that He will never turn from it, that you may have “strong consolation.” 4.
Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leaderand commander
to the people. He who is our greaterDavid comes to us to bear witness of the
immutable love of God, and to be to us our Captain and our King. Happy are
the souls that accept this David to be their Leader. You remember how David,
in the cave Adullam, gatheredto himself “everyone that was in distress, and
every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, and he
became a captain over them.” Even so, the greatAntitype, David’s Son and
David’s Lord, is willing now to gatherto Himself those who are spiritually
bankrupt, discontented, and wearywith the world, and God says, “Ihave
given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.”
5. Behold, You shall call a nation that You know not, and nations that knew
not You shall run unto You because ofthe LORD Your God, and for the Holy
One of Israel; for He has glorified You. What joy this gives to you who love
Him! Jehovahhas glorified His Son, and given to Him the powerto callto
Himself a people that He knew not in a saving sense, and He shall so call
nations that knew not Him that they shall run unto Him. We do not preach
the gospel, dearbrethren, at haphazard; we are sure of results. If we speak in
faith, in the name of Christ, men must be saved, they must run to Christ. It is
not left to their option; there is a divine hand that secretlytouches the springs
of the will of men, so that when Christ calls them, they run to Him. Oh, that
He would just now callthem, even those that are furthest off, that they may
run to Him, and that He may be glorified! 6. Seek you the LORD while He
may be found, In these happy gospeltimes when Christ is set forth on
purpose that “He may be found.” 6. Call you upon Him while He is near:
And He is very near when the gospelis preachedwith holy unction, when
Christians are praying, when hearts are breaking for the conversionof
sinners, and when His Spirit is working in their hearts, that they may repent
of sin. 7. Let the wickedforsakehis way— It is a bad way, it is a downward
way, it is a way that will end in destruction; do not follow it any longer: “Let

182. the wickedforsakehis way,”— 7. And the unrighteous man his thoughts:
“Thoughts!” says one, “we shallnot be hanged for our thoughts.” Oh, but you
may be damned for your thoughts! No man has really forsakenthe way of
wickednessuntil he hates the very thought of wickedness. If your thoughts run
after evil, your tongues will soonutter evil, and your hands will soondo evil.
7. And let him return— He is like one who has wanderedfrom his father’s
house: “lethim return.” He is like the dove that flew awayfrom Noah’s ark,
and was ready to faint: “let him return.”— 7. Unto the LORD, and He will
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. What
a blessedword “abundantly” is here! Abundant pardon to coverabundant
sin, abundant provocation, abundant rejectionof His Word! 8. For— Says
God, as if He would not leave the prophet to speak any longer on His behalf;
He Himself appears upon the scene and speaks:“For”— 8. My thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD. No
doubt He refers here to the pardon of sin. Our thoughts are narrow; we find it
hard to forgive greatoffenses, to forgive many offenses, to forgive many
offenders, to continue completely to forgive—allthis is very difficult to men.
9. Foras the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than
your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Think of the biggest
thought you ever had concerning God’s forgiveness ofsins; try again, let your
thoughts rise higher still; you cannot have reachedthe utmost height yet, “for
as the heavens are higher than the earth,” so are His thoughts and ways
higher than yours. 10, 11. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from
heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth
and bud, and gives seedto the sower, and bread to the eater:so shall My
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word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but
it shall accomplishthat which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it. If you believe this greatpromise, you shall have the full
benefit of it. Let this gracious rain drop on you, and it must refreshyou. Let
these blessedsnowflakescome downon you, and they shall melt into your
bosom, and remain there to bless you forever; they shall not go back to God
with their mission unfulfilled. As for us who preach that Word, or teachit in
the Sunday school, we may have a full assurancethat we shall not labor in
vain, nor spend our strength for nothing. No, no; the raindrops go not on an
errand that can fail, and the snowflakesthatfall to the earth accomplishthe
end for which they are sent. Much more shall the purpose of God’s Word be
accomplished!Behold, it drops like the gentle rain; like snowflakesfly the

183. messages ofmercy from the lips of the Lord Himself, and they shall not fall in
vain, blessedbe His holy name! 12. For you shall go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace:the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. There shall seem
to be joy everywhere when there is joy in your heart. When you receive
Christ, you have put everything around you into its true position. The whole
creationis a vast organ, and man puts his tiny fingers on the keys, and evokes
thunders of harmony to the praise of God. When the heart is filled with joy
and peace, mountains and hills break forth before us into singing, and all the
trees of the field clap their hands. 13. Instead of the thorn— Which is
everywhere today, pricking our feetand maiming our hand: “Instead of the
thorn,”— 13. Shall come up the fir tree, Where is the thorn then? I see it
upon the bleeding brows of Christ; He has taken it away, and worn it as a
crown. 13. And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall
be to Jehovahfor a name— It shall make men know what He is like, what
gracious powerHe has, what goodness dwells in Him: “It shall be to Jehovah
for a name,”— 13. Foran everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. That sign
is exhibited, today, in the eyes of men. An evil and adulterous generation
calledfor a sign, and this is the signthat God has given—His converting grace
in His Church. Instead of miracles, we have the work of the Holy Spirit in the
hearts of sinners; and if any will not believe when this sign is sent to them,
neither would they believe though one rose from the dead. It stands as “an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
THE CERTAINTYAND FREENESS OF DIVINE GRACE NO. 599
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER13, 1864,
BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN
TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I
will in no wise castout.” John 6:37.
LET it be evermore remembered that the words of Jesus Christ are full of
truth and grace, and that in eachof these two sentences, whetherwe perceive
the factor not, there is the suresttruth and the freestgrace. There will be

184. some, who from the peculiarity of their minds, will prize most the first
sentence. Theywill say, as they read these words, “All that the Fathergives
me shall come to me,” “Why! here is high doctrine, here is the security of the
covenant, the purpose of God effectuallycarried out, herein is the truth which
we love and the grace in which we glory.” Other brethren, overlooking the
first sentence, lestit should raise questions too hard to be answered, will
rather grasp at the secondsentence,“He that comes to me I will in no wise
castout.” “Why!” say they, “here is universality of description, here is a
freeness ofinvitation, here is a gracious overflow of liberality, this is goodfree
Gospelindeed,” and they will therefore fall to proclaiming the second
sentence to the neglectof the first. But, brethren, let us not sin by setting one
Scripture over againstanother, or attempting to divide the living child of
revelation. It is one, and it is alike glorious in all its parts. You who love to
hear the Gospelpreachedto sinners, do not be afraid of the doctrines of
sovereigngrace, andyou who love sovereigngrace, and cannotwell hear
doctrine too high for your taste, do not be afraid of the free invitations of the
Gospel, and the wide door which Jesus opens for needy sinners in many
passagesofScripture. Let us receive all truth, and let us be willing to learn
every lessonwhich the Lord has written, remembering that if we cannotas yet
reconcile truths, yet there is the promise, “What I do you know not now; but
you shall know hereafter.” If we could know everything, we should be gods,
being mortals, some things must be unknown to us, let us know our ignorance,
and despair of becoming infallible, and thus we shall be in the path to true
wisdom, whereas, if we boastof our wisdom, we shall be on the high road to
greatfolly. Let us considerthe text carefully, and as it divides into two
branches, let us view them one by one. Here we have grace and truth
triumphant in specialty, and secondly, we have grace and truth triumphant in
liberality. May God help us so to handle these, that much instruction may flow
therefrom. I. In the first sentence, we have GRACE TRIUMPHANT IN
SPECIALTY, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me.” I would bring
out the meaning of this passage by a few observations. 1. You perceive here
that the Lord Jesus leads us up to the original position of all things, for since a
people were given to Him by the Father, it is clearthat they must first have
been in the Father’s hand. All men, then, are naturally, from the beginning, in
the hand of the Father, and so it should be, for He has fashioned them all, and
made them for His pleasure. God, absolutelyconsidered, createdall things
and His kingdom rules over all. Having a right to make laws, to issue rewards,
or to threaten with punishments at His own pleasure, JEHOVAH sits upon
His throne, judging rightly. The electwere especiallyin the hand of the
Father, for He had chosenthem. The choice is ever describedas being with

185. the Father, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heavenand earth, because you
have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealedthem unto
babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemedgoodin your sight.” They belong to
the Father, then, as Creator, as Governor, and as the source and fountain of
election.
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How often do believers forgetthe part which the Fatherhas in their salvation,
and yet He is the basis and prompter of it all. Remember, beloved, that He
who first of all chose you, was no other than our Father who is in heaven, and
though our Lord Jesus Christundertook your cause, yetit was because the
Father first of all, out of His greatlove, gave you to His Son. Forgetnot the
Father’s grace, and ceasenot to sing of His love—
“’Twas with an everlasting love That God His own electembraced; Before He
made the worlds above, Or earth on her huge columns placed.
Long ere the sun’s refulgent ray Primeval shades ofdarkness drove, They on
His sacredbosomlay, Loved with an everlasting love.”
2. The Savior then proceeds to inform us of a greattransaction. He says that
the Fathergave His people to the Son, and put them into the hands of
Christ—the God-man Mediator. As Jesus is God, these people always were
His own, but as Mediator, He receivedthem from the hand of the Father.
Here was the Father’s condescensionin noticing us at all, and in bestowing us
upon the Son, here was the Son’s infinite mercy and compassion, in accepting
such poor souls as we are at the Father’s hand, and counting us to be His
precious jewels, His peculiar portion. The persons referred to as being given
by the Father, are not all men, although, it is true, that the Father has
delivered all things into Jesus’hands, and He has power over all flesh. We
must always interpret one passageofScripture by another, and the thirty-
ninth verse of this chapter very clearly interprets the thirty-seventh—“And
this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which He has given me I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up againat the last day.” The given

186. ones, it is clear, are by appointment delivered from being lost, and appointed
to a glorious resurrection, which is not true of any but the chosen. In the
tenth chapter we find the same explained thus—twenty-seventh verse—“My
sheephear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greaterthan all, and
no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” And if this should not
explain the matter sufficiently, we have it againin our Lord’s prayer in the
seventeenthchapter, sixth verse, “I have manifested your name unto the men
which you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them to
me; and they have kept your word.” So you see that the persons given were
sheep, they are brought to know the voice of the Good Shepherd, and to follow
him, they are in His hand, and there they are safelykept beyond all fearof
harm, Jesus manifests the Father’s name unto them, and they learn to keep
the Father’s word. So that this does not respectany gift of all men which the
Father has made to the Son, though in a certainsense all men have been given
to Christ in order that they may be the unconscious instruments of His glory,
though not saved by His redemption, in order that they may, even as His
enemies, be compelled to do His pleasure, though they shall never be lifted up
to the adoption of children, nor to the dignity of being brethren of the Lord.
We see, then, that there was a certain period when the eternal God gave into
the hands of the Mediatora multitude which no man can number, whom He
had chosenfrom among men to be His choice and peculiar treasure. The text
speaks in the present tense, but then the thirty-eighth verse speaks in the past
tense, and the passages we have been reading to you, all have it in the past,
therefore understand that the gift of the electto Christ was performed in the
past, before the skies were stretchedabroad, or the mountains lifted their
heads to the clouds, God had given a people to Christ, but the deed
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may well be said to be performed in the present, since with Godthere is no
time, and what He did yesterday, He does today, and will do forever.
Moreover, in a certain sense Christ receives from His Father’s hand His
people in time as well as in eternity, the Father giving by effectualcalling in
time, the very people whom once He gave in secretcovenantin eternity. We
are by the words of our text, admitted into one of the secrets ofthe divine

187. council chamber, and rejoice as we perceive that the chosenones belonging to
the Fatherwere transferred by Him into the hands of the Mediator. 3.
Further proceeding, Jesus assuresus that this transactionin eternity involves
a certain change in time. “All that the Father gives me shall come to me.”
They may be living in sin, and they may continue so to do twenty, thirty, forty,
fifty, sixty, seventy years, but ere their time shall come to die, they shall be
brought to Christ. To come to Christ signifies to turn from sin and to trust
Christ. Coming to Christ is a leaving of all false confidences, a renouncing of
all love of sin, and a looking to Jesus as the solitarypillar of our confidence
and hope. Now every soul whom God the Father gave to Jesus must do this,
and this is the tokenby which the secretlychosenare known, they openly
choose Christbecause the Fatherhas secretlychosenthem. You can never
know your electionby any other means. That you are not one of His sheepwill
be proved by your continuance in unbelief, but if humbly and hopefully you
come to Jesus and make Him all your salvationand your desire, let no
doctrine of electionalarm or keepyou back, you are one of His, for this is the
sealwhich He sets upon His sheep—andin due time they hear His voice, are
led by Him into the greenpastures of grace, follow Him through life, and are
brought by Him at lastto the hilltops of glory—
“There is a period known to God, When all His sheep, redeem’d by blood,
Shall leave the hateful ways of sin, Turn to the fold, and enter in.
At peace with hell, with God at war, In sin’s dark maze they wander far,
Indulge their lust, and still go on As far from God as sheep can run.
But see how heaven’s indulgent care Attends their wanderings here and there
Still hard at heel where’erthey stray, With pricking thorns to hedge their
way.
Glory to God, they ne’er shall rove Beyond the limits of His love; Fencedwith
JEHOVAH’S shalls and wills, Firm as the everlasting hills.
The appointed time rolls on apace, Notto propose, but call by grace;To
change the heart, renew the will, And turn the feet to Zion’s hill.”

188. 4. Observe, yet further, that in the words of our text, Jesus hints at a power
possessedby Him to compel the wanderers to return. He says, “All that the
Father gives me shall come to me.” Oh! the power and majesty which rest in
the words “shallcome.” He does not saythey have power to come, He does not
say they may come if they will, but they “shall come.” There is no “if,” no
“but,” no “peradventure,” no condition, it is put down as an unconditional
and absolute purpose of God and will of Christ that all whom the Father gave
to Him shall come.
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“Well,” says one, “but does Christ force any man to be saved?” I answer
“No,” in the sense in which the question is asked, no man was evertaken to
heaven by the ears or draggedthere by the hair of his head, but, at the same
time, the Lord Jesus does by His messengers,His Word, and His Spirit,
sweetlyand graciouslycompelmen to come in that they may eat of His
marriage supper. And this He does, mark you, not by any violation of the free
will or free agencyof man. God never treats man as though he were a brute.
He does not drag him with cart ropes. He treats men as men, and when He
binds them with cords, they are the cords of love and the bands of a man. I
may exercise poweroveranother’s will, and yet that other man’s will may be
perfectly free, because the constraint is exercisedin a manner accordantwith
the laws of the human mind. If I show a man that a certain line of actionis
much for his advantage, he feels bound to follow it, but he is perfectly free in
so doing. If man’s will were subdued or chained by some physical process,if
man’s heart should, for instance, be taken from him and be turned round by a
manual operation, that would be altogetherinconsistentwith human freedom,
or indeed with human nature, and yet I think some few people imagine that
we mean this when we talk of constraining influence and divine grace. We
mean nothing of the kind, we mean that JEHOVAH Jesus knows how, by
irresistible arguments addressedto the understanding, by mighty reasons
appealing to the affections, and by the mysterious influence of His Holy Spirit
operating upon all the powers and passions ofthe soul, so to subdue the whole
man, that whereas it was once rebellious, it becomes obedient, whereas it
stoodstoutly againstthe MostHigh, it throws down the weapons ofits
rebellion, and cries, “I yield! I yield! subdued by sovereignlove, and by the
enlightenment which You have bestowedupon me, I yield myself to Your

189. will!” The weapons are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling
down of strongholds, for they are the invincible artillery of the love of Christ,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Of this teaching, no
Arminian should complain, when he remembers the strong expressions used
in Wesley’s hymns, let me quote an instance—
“O my God, what must I do? Thou alone the waycanst show;Thou canstsave
me in this hour, I have neither will nor power: God, if over all Thou art,
Greaterthan my sinful heart, All Thy poweron me be shown, Take awaythe
heart of stone.
Take awaymy darling sin, Make me willing to be clean;Make me willing to
receive All Thy goodness waits to give: Force me, Lord, with all to part, Tear
these idols from my heart; Now Thy love almighty show, Make e’enme a
creature new.
Jesus, mighty to renew, Work in me to will and do; Turn my nature’s rapid
tide, Stem the torrent of my pride; Stop the whirlwind of my will; Speak, and
bid the sun stand still; Now Thy love almighty show,
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Make e’enme a creature new.
Arm of God, Thy strength put on, Bow the heavens, and come down; All my
unbelief o’erthrow, Lay th’ aspiring mountain low: Conquer Thy worstfoe in
me, Get Thyself the victory; Save the vilest of the race, Force me to be saved
by grace.”
There is an influence put forth by the Holy Spirit which makes men willing in
the day of God’s power, and every soul that is numbered in the covenant of
grace shall, let the devil do his worst, and let the human will do its utmost, and
let temptations strain themselves to the last degree of intensity, they shall, I
say, in obedience to divine decree, be brought to the foot of the cross, to cry,
“What must I do to be saved?” 5. And to conclude our remarks upon this

190. first sentence, the Savior declares that there is no exception to this rule of
grace. He says, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me.” Not some of
them, but all, not all but one or two, but every one, eachone in particular, and
the whole collectively. It will be found when the archangel’s trumpet shall ring
through earth and heaven, that every soul whom God ordained to eternal life
has attained that eternallife to God’s praise and honor, and when the census
shall be read of all the children of the living God, not one of the blood-bought
and blood-washedshallbe absent, they shall all come to Christ in heavenas
they all come to Christ on earth. Now, albeit that some stumble at this
doctrine, here is the greatestpossible comfortto the preacherof the Word.
Day after day we proclaim our Master’s truth, and yet to a greatextent we
have to cry, “Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the
LORD revealed?” So many are stony-hearted, so many resistthe invitations
of the Gospel, so many turn a deaf earto the warnings of almighty mercy—
what then? Have we sownin vain? Have we labored for nought? Nay, verily,
in no wise. The purpose of God is certainly fulfilled in every jot and tittle, and
the Master’s willis definitely and in every point accomplished. Therefore we
labor with no brokenheart, and we preach with no cowardspirit in this
matter. You, O proud and haughty sinners, may resistHim, but if you will
not come, others shall, you are bidden to come to the wedding, but if you will
not come, the highways and the hedges shallfind Him guests, His table shall
not be empty. Think not that the blood of Christ shall be shed in vain, you
may count it an unholy thing, but there are myriads who shall be washedin it,
and who shall rejoice in its powerto cleanse.You may put from you the
kingdom of heaven, and count yourselves unworthy of it, but if it be a “savor
of death unto death” to you, yet it shall be a “savorof life unto life” to others.
The greatplans of sovereignmercy shall not be thwarted by the enmity of
man, JEHOVAH shall yet in the end getthe victory, and all ages shallcrown
His head with fresh honors when they see, how, despite all the enmity of the
human heart, its treacheryand its hardness, that His purpose did stand, and
He did all His pleasure, and displayed the bounty of His grace as He would,
according to the goodpleasure of His own will. You will see, then, that this
first sentence, if we understand it at all, involves, first, the doctrine of
election—there are some whom the Fathergave to Christ. It involves, next,
the doctrine of effectualcalling—these who are given must and shall come,
howeverstoutly they may setthemselves againstit, yet they shall be brought
out of darkness into God’s marvelous light. And it also teaches us, and here I
leave the first sentence, the indispensable necessityof faith, for even those who
are given to Christ are not savedexceptthey come to Jesus. Eventhey must
come, for there is no other way to heaven but by the door, Christ Jesus. I must

191. not expect, whoeverI may be, that I shall be savedby my morality, I must not
reckonto enter heaven by my integrity or my generosity. All that the Father
gives to our Redeemer
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must come to Him, therefore none can come to heaven except they come to
Christ, and it becomes indispensably requisite for princes and for peasants,
for sagesandfor savages, forthe polite and for the uneducated, for the most
virtuous and the most vile to come, just as they are, and acceptthe mercy of
God, which is freely presented to them in the person of Christ Jesus. And,
mark, by this shall those be knownwhom God has chosen, that they do
willingly and joyfully acceptChrist Jesus, andcome to Him with simple and
unfeigned faith, resting upon Him as all their salvationand all their desire.
Some of you do not like this doctrine. Well, I cannot help that, I find it in the
Scriptures, and I preach it. There is the text, to me it means nothing if it does
not mean what I have now stated. It is as plain and expressive as the Saxon
language employed in it could possibly make it. Do not kick at the doctrine
because you do not like it, but if it be taught in Scripture, liked or not liked,
receive it. Perhaps, however, it does some people goodto grow angry over a
doctrine, for they would never think of it at all if they did not, and while this
doctrine, like an arrow in a wound, rankles and frets them, it nevertheless is
the means of making them considerspiritual things, and so they are brought
to Jesus. I believe this is one of the virtues of this doctrine, that it excites
people’s prejudices, and they grow vexed, but since they cannotget rid of it, it
follows them, they dream of it, they argue about it, and at last there is a joint
in the harness through which the goodword of the Gospelcuts its way, and
they come to receive Christ in the fullness and plenitude of His mercy. II. In
the secondsentence we have GRACE TRIUMPHANT IN ITS
LIBERALITY—“Him that comes to me I will in no wise castout.” 1. Please
observe the liberality of the character, it is “him that comes.”There is no
description given whatever, except “him that comes.”It means the rich man,
the poor man, the greatman, the obscure man, the moral man, the debauchee,
those who have sunken into the worstof crimes, and those who have mounted
to the best of virtues, those who are next akin to devils, and those who seemby
the correctnessoftheir lives, to be somewhatlike angels. Him! him! “him that
comes!” “What him?” says John Bunyan, “Why,” says he, answering his own

192. question, “any him in all the world that comes to Christ shall be in no wise
castout.” “Him that comes.”To come, as I have explained before, is to leave
something and to go to something. There is motion. We leave all other
grounds of trust, and we take Christ to be our solitary hope. We come to His
blood to be washed, to His righteousness to be cleansed, to His wounds to be
healed, to His life for life eternal, and to His death for the death of our sins.
We come to Jesus for everything, and the promise is, that any man who
comes, whoeverhe may be, shall find that he is not castout. “But suppose,”
says one, “that the poor condemned wretch should come who has committed a
foul and cruel murder”—well, if he comes, he shall not be castout. If in
addition to murder, or without murder, he should have been guilty of
uncleanness impossible to describe, suppose him to have wallowedin it year
after year, and to have brought himself to such a state that he is scarcelyfit to
be touched with a pair of tongs, suppose him to be such an outcast, that he is
only fit to be sweptinto some back corner in hell. Well, what then? If he
comes to Christ, he shall not be castout. I like to put it in such a light, that he
who deems himself to have gone furthest into sin, may yet see that this text
sets a door wide open, whereby he may come for mercy, it says, “Him that
comes,” andthis shuts out no comer. John Newtonwas a blasphemer of so
gross a kind, that even the sailors in the vesselin a storm said that they would
never get to port with such a sinner as John Newtonon board, but he came to
Christ and was not castout, but he lived to preach the Word. John Bunyan
was so foul a blasphemer, that even a woman of the street, who passedhim by
and heard him swear, saidthat he was enough to corrupt the whole parish,
and he was astonishedthat a woman of so bad a charactershould so rebuke
him. John Bunyan came to Jesus, and he was not castout, he lived to have the
honor of suffering for his Master, and to be the winner of multitudes of souls.
Saul of Tarsus had stainedhimself with the blood of saints, he was a very wolf
after Christ’s sheep. He was not satisfiedwith worrying them in his own land,
so he obtained powerto persecute them in Damascus, but when he fell upon
his face and cried for mercy, he was not castout.
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Manassehwas blood-redwith the murder of God’s prophets. It is said that he
cut the prophet Isaiah in two with a saw, and yet, when out of the low
dungeon he cried for mercy, he was not castout. So that any kind of him,

193. though he may have been a persecutoreven unto blood, though he may have
been exceedinglymad againstGod till he could not speak without blasphemies
againstthe name of Christ, though he hated everything which is good, and
despisedeverything held precious by believing men and women, yet if he
comes to Christ, he shall not be castout. Every man, woman, and child in this
Tabernacle this morning, is included in such a word as this, if he comes to
Christ. That is the point, if you come to Christ, no matter what your past
charactermay have been, nor yet what your present feelings may be “Him
that comes to me I will in no wise castout.” I thank God for so generous a
liberality as that. 2. Then, the next point of liberality is in the coming. Please
notice it. “Him that comes to me.” Here is no adjective to qualify it, here is no
adverb to setout the manner. It is “Him that comes to me.” There is the point,
“to me.” We must come to Jesus as crucified, and bearing our sin, we must
come to Christ as pleading before the throne, and see the acceptance ofour
prayers there. It is not coming to baptism, it is not coming to the Lord’s
Supper, it is not coming to the church, it is not coming to worship—it is
coming to Christ. “Him that comes to me.” Take heed that you do not come
elsewhere,for if you rest short of anything but Christ, you rest short of the
promise. But, O soul, if you build on nothing less than Jesus’blood and
righteousness, ifyou touch the hem of His garment, if you look out of self
entirely to Him, then restassuredof this, there is no other qualification to
your coming, but that you come to Him. Some come to Christ at once, the very
first time they hear the Gospel, they lay hold of it and are saved. They are not
castout. Some are months in coming, they go from strength to strength in this
matter, and their faith is a thing of long growth. Well! they shall not be cast
out. Some come running, some come walking, some come creeping on all
fours, some have to get others to carry them, as that man did who was borne
of four, but so long as they do but come, He does not castthem out. Some feel
as if all their bones were broken, and they can only writhe into His presence,
as it were, wriggle themselves to the mercy seatall full of aches, and pains,
and woes, anddoubts, and fears, and whispers, and distrusts, and bad habits,
and sins, but if they do but come, they shall not be castout. One man comes
with a long prayer, another comes with nothing but two words, one comes
with many tears, another could not shed a tear if it would save his soul, but he
groans, anothercan scarce groan, but his heart feels as if it would burst, one
has intense conviction, another has very little of it, one is shakenover hell’s
mouth, another is attracted by the beauties of the Savior, one has to be
thundered at as from the top of Sinai, another is but beckoned, and his willing
heart runs to Calvary. But, however you come, sinner, He will not castyou out
if you come to Him—that is the point. Do not split upon the rock of

194. questioning what your experience is, or raising the point of how you came or
when you came, for here it stands, “Him that comes to me”—not him that
comes in such a way, or such a way, but, “Him that comes to me.” Oh! the
liberality of this precious verse! It shuts me in, it does not shut you out poor
sinner, “Him that comes to me I will in no wise castout.” 3. Observe the
liberality of the time. “Him that comes.” Itdoes not say when. He may be
seventy, if he comes he is not castout, he may be but seven—and, thank God,
there have been many boys and girls who have come even at that age—but He
will not castthem out. Your candle may be little more than a snuff, but He
will not quench it, or it may be but newly lit, He will accepteither. The full
blown rose or the flower in the bud shall be alike receivedby His gracious
hand. Some came to Jesus when He was on earth, He did not castthem out. A
long file of sinners saved by grace has been streaming up from the cross to the
throne eversince then, and not one of them has ever been rejected. We have
fallen upon one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and the year is almost
spent, yet, think not that we have come to the dregs of Christ’s mercy, do not
imagine that, because time grows old, Christ’s love grows decrepit. Ah! no, He
will not castus out in one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four any more
than He did the
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thief who lookedto Him upon the cross and found mercy that day. What a
blessedthing it is that there is no limit as to time! I was remarking to myself
the other day, that the most of the conversions which occurin our place of
worship are among new people, persons who come in once or twice, and
perhaps before they have heard a dozen sermons God blesses them, while
those who have been hearing us for sevenor eight years, are not converted in
anything like the same proportion. It is a very sad reflection, but still I couple
with it this thought—“Well, if they have not come yet, still it is not too late, if
they have been invited to come for seven, eight, nine, ten, twenty years—and
oh! there are some of you who have heard the Gospelever since you were
children—yet it does not say that you shall be shut out because you come so
late, but “Him that comes.” Youmay have turned a deaf earuntil you are now
growing gray, you may have despisedChrist times without number, He waited
to be gracious, withoutstretched arms He bade His minister woo you to come
to Him, but you would not come, but still, if now by grace youare led to come,

195. He will not castyou out. At the lastmoment of life if you come He will not cast
you out. And now this morning—God make it an auspicious hour to you!—
come and try Him this hour, it is just twenty minutes past twelve o’clock,but
you will find if you come that He will not castyou out, for the gates ofthe city
of mercy are never shut. 4. Further, notice that there is no limit as to the
duration of the promise. I mean, He does not merely say, “I will not castyou
out when you have come,” but, “I will never castyou out.” The original reads,
“I will not, not castyou out,” or “I will never, never castyou out.” The text
means that Christ will not at first reject a believer, and that as He will not do
it at first, so He will not to the last. If I come to Christ today, He will accept
me, and He accepts me in that actforever, He will never castme out. Suppose
the believersins after coming? “If any man sin we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Suppose that believer backslide? “Iwill
heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my angeris turned away
from him.” But believers may fall under temptation. “Godis faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will, with the
temptation, also make a wayto escape, that you may be able to bear it.” But
the believermay fall into sin as David did. Yes, but He will “Purge them with
hyssop, and they shall be clean: he will washthem and they shall be whiter
than snow,” “Fromall their iniquities will he cleanse them.”—
“Once in Christ, in Christ forever, Nothing from His love cansever;”
and that doctrine this text teaches mostexpressly—“Himthat comes to me I
will never, never castout.” He will never suffer one who has once been
graspedin His hands to be wrestedtherefrom. No member of Christ’s body
can ever be cut off, or else Christ would be mutilated. No sheep of His flock
shall ever be rent by the lion, He will rend the lion, and, as David did, He will
take the lamb out of the jaws of the lion, and out of the paws of the bear. “I
give unto my sheep,” says He, “eternallife; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” What do you sayto this,
sinner? Is not this a precious mercy, that if you come to Christ you do not
come to one who will treat you well a month or two and then send you packing
about your business, but will receive you and make you His child, and you
shall abide forever, no longer receiving the spirit of bondage againto fear, but
the spirit of adoption whereby you shall cry, Abba, Father? Oh! the grace of
this passage!Would that I had an angel’s tongue to setit forth! 5. Still we
have not exhaustedit. Something of the liberality of this passageis to be found
in its certainty. “Him that comes to me I will in no wise castout.” It is not a
hope as to whether Christ will acceptyou—it is a certainty. Oh! if there were

196. only half a shadow of a hope that the Lord Jesus would have mercy upon such
a poor worm as I am, would I not go into His presence, hoping againsthope?
If it were a case ofsink or swim, yet, since I could lose nothing by trusting
Him, I would fain do it, as the hymn puts it
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“I can but perish if I go; I am resolvedto try; For if I stay away, I know I
must forever die.”
But, dear friends, we must not put it in that way, or at least, only for the sake
of bringing out a thought, for there is no but about it. You cannot perish if
you go. O, try at once, and you will find that him that comes, in no wise can be
castout. We do sometimes sing—
“Venture on Him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude;”
but there is no venture in the case, it is an absolute certainty. Merchants will
often speculate at a high figure, but there is no speculationhere. We drink the
medicine which the physician gives us, in the hope that it may cure, but this
will cure, here is water that will quench your thirst, here is a balm that will
heal your wounds—“Him that comes” He will receive, “He will in no wise cast
out.” What a hammer that word “no wise” is with which to smashyour fears
to pieces. “Perhaps,”says one, “He will reject me because I do not repent
enough”—“inno wise.” “Perhaps He will rejectme because I have been so
long coming”—“inno wise.” “ButHe will rejectme because I do not pray
aright”—“inno wise.” You cannotmention any shape or form of a fear which
this does not slay upon the spot—“Iwill in no wise castout.” I sayagain, I
wish I had an angel’s tongue to put the liberality of this before you. The devil,
I know, will be suggesting twentyreasons why you should not come, let this
one reasonwhy you should come, be enoughto answerall of his, that Jesus
says, “I will in no wise castout him that comes.” 6. I must conclude, by
observing, that there is greatliberality in the text, if you notice its personality.
Reading over this verse carefully, I observedthat in the first sentence, where
everything was special, Jesususeda large word, and He said, “All that the

197. Father gives me shall come,” but in the secondsentence, whichis general, He
uses a little word, a word which can mean only one, and He says “him.” There
is a personality here—“Him that comes.” It does not say they that come, but
“Him that comes.” Why so? Why, because sinners want personalcomfort,
they need something that will suit their case. Do you see, sinner, He does not
take men in the lump, but He picks you out as if you were the only sinner in
the world, He says to you, “Him that comes to me I will in no wise castout.”
Had He put it in the plural, you might say, “Ah! but He did not think of me.”
But now He has put it so that it just fits your case. This is no medicine in the
bottle, of which many may drink, but here is a glass setfor you. It is not a
cordial which may be passedround the table, but it is put at your place. Drink
and be satisfied—“Himthat comes.” Lord, does him mean me?” Yes, it means
you, if you will come. Come now, put your trust in Jesus. Whatdo you say? I
hope the Spirit is speaking to you in these words of mine, and if He speak to
you as I speak to you, then shall it be well with you. Sinner, come!There is a
dying Savior, He died in the place of sinners. In the place and stead of what
sinners? Why, of all sinners who trust Him. Will you trust Him? Is it a hard
thing to trust God to save you? to trust God who became man, and so proved
His love to you? To trust Him? “Why,” says one, “that is simple enough,” but
that is all the plan of salvation. When I am preaching from such a text as this,
I feel as if I have no scope for metaphors, and figures, and illustrations, but I
do not want any, because this saving truth must always be proclaimed as
plainly as possible, and then if souls are savedby it, it is not the excellencyof
words, but the truth itself which shall get the honor. Now, do you see it, soul?
For if you do, I am content—if you do trust Christ to save you, you shall not
be castout. You have come to Him! your coming to Him proves that the
Father gave you to Him. You are saved!you are one of His chosen!you shall
never be castout! Your heaven is secure, you shall sit at the right hand of
God, and sing the new song, as surely as they do now, who, white-robed, are
hymning the Redeemer’s praise. This is not an affair of months and weeks, is
it? It does not want a
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moment. To look, is the work of an instant. But the moment that faith is
exercised, perfectpardon is given, there is no sin in God’s Book againsta soul
that trusts Christ, and there never canbe—

198. “There’s pardon for transgressions past, It matters not how black their cast;
And, O my soul, with wonder view, For sins to come, here’s pardon too.”
What, are there none who will acceptthis? Are there none here who say, “I
will trust my soul in Jesus’hands”? What! will you build on your own
righteousness?Ah, fools!to pile up the sand which the next tide must sweep
away. What! do you despise the mercy of my God? Will you turn awayfrom
the bleeding wounds of His own dear Son? What! is forgiveness not worth
your having? Is God’s free mercy a thing to be scoffedat? O heavens, hear,
and be astonished!O earth, hear you, and be amazed! God sends the Gospel
unto men, but they refuse it. That Gospelsays unto them, “Come now, and let
us reasontogether, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow;though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” But
though God calls, they refuse and will have none of His words. May His
mighty Spirit come and make a difference in some of you, and bring you now
to the foot of the Savior’s cross to look up. Do nothing else but look up, and
looking there you shall never perish, but have eternal life. May the Master
bless these words, feeble of themselves, and only mighty because ofthe truth
they convey, for Jesus’sake. Amen.
Volume 52 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. 1
NO. 3000—OR, COME AND WELCOME NO. 3000
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1906. DELIVERED
BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 19, 1876.
“Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.” John 6:37.
[This sermon is the 3000ththat has been published in regularweekly
successionsince No. 1, “The Immutability of God,” was issued in January,
1856. The Lord’s-Daymorning sermons, with many of those preachedin the

199. evening, were published during Mr. Spurgeon’s lifetime. The rest of the
evening sermons are now being issued, and there are still sufficient
unpublished manuscripts to lastfor some years. The whole of the 3000
sermons are kept in stock, andany quantity of any of them canbe obtained of
the publishers, Messrs. Passmore & Alabaster, PaternosterBuildings,
London, EC. No. 3000 has been especiallyselectedin harmony with Mr.
Spurgeon’s custom of issuing, on such memorable occasions, a striking and
simple sermonthat might be even more widely distributed than the ordinary
issues. Those previouslypublished have been as follows:Volume 17,
NUMBER ONE THOUSAND—OR, “BREAD ENOUGHAND TO SPARE”;
Volume 25, NUMBER 1500—OR,“LIFTING UP THE BRONZE
SERPENT”;Volume 33, NUMBER 2000—OR, “HEALING BY THE
STRIPES OF JESUS”;Volume 43, NUMBER 2500—OR, “ENTRANCE
AND EXCLUSION.” The publishers are always pleasedto quote special
terms for quantities, and to send post free to all applicants their Textual Index
of over 2900 sermons, and a full List of C. H. Spurgeon’s books at reduced
prices. It is almost needless to say that in the whole history of religious
literature, there has never before been such an event as the issue of 3000 of
one Preacher’s sermons in weeklynumbers for nearly 52 years!It is a
remarkable fact that more than 750 of these sermons have been published
since Dr. Spurgeon was “calledhome” on January 31, 1892. Will all believing
readers pray for the Lord’s blessing upon the whole of the 3000 sermons now
issued?] [Thought you might enjoy this quote of the original publishers—
EOD]
WHILE I was trying to prepare a sermon for this evening, someone calledat
my door—I daresaythe friend is here tonight, (I hope so)—andleft this little
note—“Ientreat you to pray, especiallythis evening, for a most unhappy
case—forone who is in greatagony of mind, that God, in His infinite mercy,
would send one ray of light into the dark soul. Please askallthe converted
ones in your congregationto pray for me, that grace may be restoredto a
most unhappy soul.” Well, I am sure that all Christians here will earnestly
pray that the light may break into the thick darkness, and that the troubled
spirit may find rest, but, after all, there is a very strong temptation to a heart
in trouble to rest in the prayers of others rather than to go immediately to
Christ for relief. Yet all the prayers in the world cannot, by themselves, help a
man who is in despair. The light can never come into that dungeon except
through one window—andthat is a window through which the tearful eyes
may always look—the window of everlasting love as revealedin the atoning

200. sacrifice ofJesus Christ! I thought that the text which I have selectedmight,
by the blessing of the Spirit of God, be made the means of comfort, not only to
that personwho wrote to me, but to many others who may be seeking the
Savior. There was also anothercircumstance which led me to selectthis text.
A gentleman who pressedmy hand very earnestlyone day, saidto me, “Do
you remember preaching at the sawmills in the Old Kent Road?” Ireplied,
“Yes.” “Ialso remember it,” he said, “indeed, I can never forget it. You
preachedfrom this text, ‘There shall in no wise enter into it anything that
defiles.’My comfort was that towards the close ofthe sermon, you said, ‘I
have preachedupon this terrible no wise. Now, before I have done, I will
preach upon a blessedno wise,’and then you began to talk to us about that
text, ‘Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout,’ and that message
yielded me comfort which I have never lost.”
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Well, medicine that has workedso wellin one case may, perhaps, be just as
efficacious in another! And if the Holy Spirit blessedthe text when it was only
brought in at the end of a sermon, perhaps He will bless it even more, now
that we set it in the very forefront of our discourse. No, we know that He will,
for we have askedHis blessing upon it, and, therefore, we expectthe blessing
to come! Dearfriend in trouble of soul, I hope it will come to you! I. I am
going to make five brief observations upon this passage, “Him that comes to
Me, I will in no wise castout.” The first observationis that OUR TEXT IS
FROM THE LIPS OF JESUS HIMSELF. And because Christ Himself said
it, we dare not doubt that it is absolutely true. Imagine that you see Him
standing here just now—that same Jesus who fed the multitude, and loved the
souls of men even unto death. And then imagine that you hear these words
from His lips which are like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Oh, with
what wondrous accents wouldHe say, “Him that comes to Me, I will in no
wise castout!” I canbut feebly repeatwhat He must have uttered in the
purest heavenly tones, yet I still pray you to remember that it is Jesus who still
speaks to you, from His Word, even from heaven! Do not dare to doubt this,
or to question the truth of what He said. It was true before He died, but now
that He has sealedHis testimony with His most precious blood, and proved
His love to sinners by laying down His life for them, oh, do not doubt the truth
of His utterance, but confide fully in Him who thus speaks to you from
heaven! The message,“Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout,”
must be true, for it fell from the lips of Jesus!And next, it is eminently
consistentwith His character. You cannot conceive ofHim as casting out a

201. soul that came to Him! The scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman
takenin the very act of adultery, yet He did not condemn her, but said to her,
“Go, and sin no more.”— “His heart is made of tenderness; His heart melts
with love.” He was sometimes angry, but it was with self-sufficientPharisees,
and self-righteous hypocrites who flaunted their lies before His face—butHe
wept over the doomed city of Jerusalem. He had a gentle word for the woman
in the city who was a sinner, and tender compassionforthe little ones that
were brought to Him. To those who would have driven them away, He said,
“Let the little children come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the
kingdom of God.” Look up into His face, and then look upon His hands and
His feetwhich still bear the scars ofHis passion, and ask yourselves, “Is it
consistentwith the characterof Christ—with the heart of Christ—with the
person of Christ—with the greatobjective for which He came to this earth—
for Him to castout any soul that comes to Him?” No, the words of our text
must be true, for Jesus uttered them, and His whole life tallies with them!
Remember, too, that when Jesus spoke these words, He spoke as One who
knew everything. If you and I make a promise, or a statement concerning our
future mode of procedure, we may not be aware ofthe position in which we
may one day be placed—andit may become impossible for us to keepthe
promise; or the course of actionwhich we thought we would surely follow may
become too difficult for us. But our Lord Jesus Christ knew all things—all
things about Himself, and all things about sinners— and when He said, “Him
that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout,” He included all possible
contingencies withregard to Himself—if there can be any contingencies with
Him—and all possible contingencies thathave to do with those who come to
Him. “He knew what was in man,” and He also knew what was in His own
heart, and, therefore, when He spoke, He spoke deliberately and accurately—
and with full knowledge ofall the surroundings and circumstances ofthose
who would come to Him! Let me also remind you, brothers and sisters, that
this messagehas beentrue up to now. What Jesus saidto these Jews has stood
fast for more than 18 Centuries!There is not a sinner, now living, who can
bear testimony that he has come to Christ, and that Christ has casthim out.
There is not a soul in hell that, with all the fully-developed sin of that dreadful
place, dares, even in blasphemy, to say, “I came to Jesus, andHe castme out.”
Nor shall there ever live in the universe one soul, howeverguilty and
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202. defiled, that shall be able to truthfully say, “I came to Him, but He shut up His
heart of compassionagainst me, and castme out.” Well, if it is so—thatJesus
spoke this message, and therefore, it is true. If it is just, like He and exactly
according to His whole method of procedure, then let us believe it, and let us
plead it! If you want to come to Him, but have the haunting fear that He may,
perhaps, castyou out, oh, lay hold upon Him, and sayto Him, “Lord, You
have said, ‘Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.’” Remind Him of
His own words!PleadHis promise, and you will never find Him run back
from it, or revoke the word which has gone forth out of His lips! In your direst
despair, when it seems as if He frowned upon you—when you call unto Him,
and yet receive no answer—when, as He spoke to the Syrophenician woman,
He seems to give you harsh words instead of gracious promises—layhold
upon Him, graspthe hem of His garment, and say to Him, “I will not let You
go, for You have said, ‘Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.’ Lo, I
come to You! I know You cannotlie—give me a welcome, orelse I shall die! I
know You cannot be false to Your word, and here, if I perish, I will perish
pleading the precious promise on which my soul would gladly stay herself!”
II. The next observationis this—THESE WORDS WERE SPOKENIN THE
SINGULAR. “Him that comes to Me.” This is all the more remarkable,
because the first part of the verse is in the plural—“All that the Fathergives
Me shall come to Me.” And, naturally and grammatically, the secondclause
should run, “and those that come to Me I will in no wise castout.” But it is not
so worded. There is a change from the plural to the singular, and Jesus says,
“Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.” And I think, with
admirable reason, forthe Lord is always wise even in the choice ofnumbers,
and there is a motive for this change. It may be this—here is personality
recognized. You have been one of a crowd before, but you are all alone now.
You used to think of a sortof national Christianity, and say, “Yes, we are all
Christians because we are Englishmen.” But you know better than that now.
You used to reckonthat you might consideryourself a Christian because your
father and mother were godly people—you belongedto a Christian family.
But you know better than that now. You know that the mere hereditary faith
which comes to men by natural birth is of no spiritual value, for “that which is
born of the flesh is flesh.” “You must be born-again.” You feel one by
yourself—to use an old metaphor, you are like the wounded stag which retires
into the glades of the forestto bleed and die alone. I daresay, when you now
hear a sermon, if it is full of threats, you think that it is all meant for you! You
have begun to read the Bible, and to look for texts that may speak to you. And
though, as yet, you have not lighted on a promise that seems like a lone star to
shine especiallyfor you, yet you are looking for such a promise, and you hope

203. that you will find it. At any rate, you are now cut loose from everything and
everybody else—youfeelyourself to be a separate individual that is to be
judged, before long, before the bar of God, and you fear to be castaway
forever beneath His wrath! Think now—Jesus puts this message inthe
singular—“Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout,” and you, also,
are in the singular! Does notthis messagejust suit your personality? It is very
possible that there is also in you a singularity suspected. You think that there
never was anybody exactly like you. If you were like others, you would have
hope, but there are certain points about your sin, certainaspects ofyour
character, and certain doubts and fears with which you are assailedwhichset
you apart as a lot out of all catalogs. Youfeel that you are quite alone—you
are the odd man or the odd woman. You cannotthink that even the most
generalpromises can relate to you. You considerthat the act of indemnity
exempts you from its operations—evenif it does not exempt anybody else, it
exempts you! It is for this very reasonthat Jesus Christ puts the matter as He
does. He speaks to you odd people, to you solitarypeople, to you singularities,
to you odds and ends of the universe, and He says, “Him that comes to Me”—
though such a man as he has never lived before— though he is the one
exceptionto all rules, yet, “Him that comes to me”—any“him” or “her” in all
the
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world “that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.” What a blessedthing it is
that thus, by using the singular number, Christ seems to meet our suspicions
of being singular, and calls the singular ones, the odd ones, to come to Him!
And here, too, perhaps, there may be a kind of desertionsupposed. You think
you could come to Christ if the friends of your youth were with you. You
could come if a beloved teacheror a godly parent could pray with you. But,
possibly, you have sinned yourself out of society—yourtransgressions have
made you to be like the leper whom they put outside the camp, and they will
not allow you to come in among the tribes of Israellest you should pollute the
rest. Well, poor leper, you that are setapart—you that feel yourself to be
given up even by those who once had some sort of hope concerning you—you
for whom goodpeople scarcelyventure to pray because youseemto have
committed the sin which is unto death—you have staggeredtheir faith, and
disappointed all their hopes, yet here still stands the text, and it is addressed
to you, desertedand alone as you are! If nobody will help you, and nobody
will pray for you—if your tears of repentance must fall in secret—ifeveryone
who hears about you thinks you are only a hypocrite, trying to whine yourself

204. into favor—yet, still come to Christ all alone, for He has said, “Him that
comes to Me, I will in no wise castout!” Perhaps this message is put in the
singular for one more reason—emptiness confessed. Some people, whenthey
come to Christ, bring with them a greatdeal that is not worth bringing. That
is a false coming. But there are others who are so destitute that they feel that if
they do come to Christ, they will have to come alone, because they have
nothing to bring to Him. Yet Christ does not say, “If you come to Me with
goodfeelings. If you come repenting. If you come with this, or that, or another
Christian excellence, I will in no wise castyou out.” No! If you come to Christ
as naked as you were when you were born, and as nakedas you will have to be
when you go back to the earth—if you come with nothing whatever—as long
as you come!Christ puts the word in the singular that it may mean you, and
only you—bringing with you nothing but that which is your own, namely,
your sin and your misery, your emptiness, your needs, your inability, your
spiritual death, and everything else which now crushes you well-near to
despair—if you come, you, you, you, you, whoeveryou may be—if you come
to Him, He will in no wise castyou out! Thus have we tried to saysomething
which God may bless to the comfort of the singular ones. III. Notice, next,
that THE TEXT DESCRIBESTHE PERSON COMINGTO CHRIST WITH
VERY WONDERFULSIMPLICITY. “Him that comes to Me.” JohnBunyan
truly says, “Thatmeans any ‘Him’ or “Her” in all the world.” And I venture
to say that it means anyone in all the world who does but come to Christ! In
Christ’s day there were some who came to Him doubtingly, like that man who
said, “Lord, I believe;help You my unbelief,” yet He did not castthem out!
There were some who came to Jesus limping, for they were lame. There were
some who came to Him with very greatdifficulty, for they were paralyzed in
part of their bodies—but they did come to Him, and He did not castthem out.
And there were some who came blindly. They could not see who He was, nor
what He was, but, nevertheless, they came to Him, and He did not castthem
out because theywere blind. There were some who had to be carried to Him,
yet, since it was with their own consentthat they were carried, as long as they
did but come, He did not castthem out! One man, you remember, came to
Him through the ceiling—his friends had to take awaythe covering of the
house to let him down into the presence of Jesus. Well, if you get to Jesus over
hedge or ditch, over the wall, or through the ceiling, or down the chimney—if
you do but come to Him, it matters not how you come as long as you do but
come! IV. My fourth observationshall be this—THE TEXT CONTAINS AN
ABSOLUTE NEGATIVE. “Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.”
Indeed, it is more than one negative, for it might be rendered “I will not, not
castout,” or, “I will never, never castout.” In our language, one negative

205. cancels another, but in the Greek language,negatives strengthenone another.
Indeed, we sometimes use similar expressions, anddo so very properly in
order to make our meaning clearand forcible, as when we sing—
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“The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, He will not, He will not depart
to his foes. Thatsoul, though all hell should endeavorto shake, He will never,
no never, no never forsake!” The difficulty which many feelis this—perhaps
they are not elect—andif they are not, then, even though they come to Jesus,
He must castthem out. Now, that is supposing what never did occur, because
no non-elect soul evercame to Jesus!But I need not go into that matter, for
my text suffices without any explanation. Read the first part of the verse—
“All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me.” There Christ is speaking
about election, and with that subject distinctly before His eyes, not forgetting
the predestinationof God, and His eternalwill and purpose, Jesus, knowing
what He was saying, said, “Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.”
So, predestination and electioncannotbe inconsistentwith the truth in this
text, and though you may sometimes fearthat your ship will split on that rock,
it really is not a rock in the harbor’s mouth when Christ is the harbor! If you
come to Him, you need not trouble about the secretdecreesand purposes of
God. There are such decrees andpurposes, but they cannot, any one of them,
be contrary to the truth which Christ so explicitly declares here, “Him that
comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.” In the prophecy of Isaiah, the Lord
says, “I have not spokenin secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto
the seedof Jacob, SeekyouMe in vain.” I have often blessedthe Lord for that
text—it does not tell us what God has said, but it tells us what He has not said,
and that is, that He said not unto the seedof Jacob, “Seek youMe in vain.” He
never tantalizes us! He never bids us seek Him with the reserve in His own
mind that we shall not find Him. So, speaking broadly, yet truthfully, Christ
says, “Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.” There is no secret
purpose of God, nothing written in the greatbook of human destiny, nothing
in the mysteries of eternity which canever make this declarationof Christ
untrue to you, or anyone else!“Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast
out.” “I am not troubled about that matter,” says one. “My difficulty is of a
more practicalkind. I can leave the mysteries, but there is something that I
cannot leave, and that is my past sin.” Well, friend, when the Lord Jesus said,
“Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout,” He lookedright down the
centuries to the end of time. He did not say, “Him that comes to me today, I

206. will in no wise castout.” The declaration, “Him that comes to Me, I will in no
wise castout,” is as true at this moment as it was when the words first fell
from Christ’s lips. He knew then, for He knew all things, what a sinner you
would be, and you were in His mind then, for that mind of His is infinite and
divine! And He knew that there would be such a man, or such a woman, as
you are—andthat you would sin just as you have done. Yet, taking all that
into consideration, He said, “Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.”
I do not know what your specialsin may have been. Perhaps it would be
wrong for me to try to guess, but this I do know, if you come to Christ,
“though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;though they
are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” It may be that you have to mourn
over long years of aggravatedtransgression—sins againstlight, and sins
againstknowledge. Icannot read your life story, and I do not want to read
it—it is sufficient for me that Jesus said, “Him that comes to Me, I will in no
wise castout.” If you came to Him, and He casts you out because ofthese long
years of sin, His declarationwould not be true. If you had lived as long as
Methuselah. If you had sinned as grosslyas Manasseh. If you had lived a life
of dishonesty and unchastity, yet, if you really came to Him, He could not,
being a true Christ, castyou away!If all the sins that men have ever
committed could be laid to the charge of one poor sinner, yet if that sinner
came to Christ, He could not castHim away!The phrase, “in no wise,” has
such a wonderful sweepthat it comprehends the grossestofcrimes, and the
most heinous transgressions. “Ah,” says another, “it is not my past sins which
trouble me so much as my presenthardness of heart. My heart is like the
nether millstone. My eyes never weepfor sin. No, I can even think of sin
almost without alarm.” So, dear friend, you judge yourself, but probably your
judgment is a great
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mistake. Yet, even were it true, remember that Christ has not said, “Him that
comes to Me, I will only castout because his heart is hard,” or, “becausehe
refuses to weep.” He has not put in any exception! He met your case whenHe
said, “Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise—notevenfor that reason— cast
out.” If your heart is like iron, where will it everbe softenedexceptin the
furnace of His love? “Oh,” says another, “I have been thinking of my sins,
and I have tried to repent.” Yes, but you must remember that— “Law and
terrors do but harden All the while they work alone. ‘Tis a sense of blood-
bought pardon That dissolves the heart of stone.” When a soul comes to
Christ, then it gets repentance, it gets tenderness ofheart, and it gets all that it

207. really needs! And all attempts to getthese things before you come to Christ
are like trying to getthe effectbefore you get the cause—togetthe fruit before
you getthe root! O soul, howeverold your condition may be, come to Christ,
for He can cure you! A gooddeal of preaching has been addressedto persons
of a certain character, and sinners who listen to that character-preaching,
keepasking, “Is that our character?” In this way, their eyes are fixed upon
themselves, and their own characters, insteadofupon Christ! That is a gospel
which will do them no good!But Christ’s gospelturns a man’s eyes away
from his owncharacter. It says to him, “Admit, once and for all, that your
characteris incorrigibly bad, and that you deserve to be sent to the lowest
hell. But, that being the case, the gospelstill says to you, ‘Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.’” Some gospels might help a man if he
could get a certaindistance on the way to heaven, but the goodSamaritan
came just where the poor wounded traveler was—andJesus Christcomes to
sinners just where they are, and just as they are—hard-hearted, callous,
thoughtless, careless, yetoften conscious ofall this, and, strange to say,
lamenting that they cannot lament, and crying, “I would feel if I could! I feel
that it is a pain to think I cannot feel. I am sad to think I am not sad, and
wearyto think I am not weary.” Well, then, Jesus says, “Justas you now are,
come unto Me. Leave your care, just as it is, in My hands, and I will
undertake it for you.” Did I hear somebody say, “Oh, but I am so ignorant”?
Well, my dear friend, so are all of us! The only difference betweena very wise
man, and a very greatfool is that the wise man knows that he is a fool, and the
other does not! When all the knowledge ofour wisestmen is put together, it
makes but a very small book compared with the vast volume that contains
what they do not know. Why, the most highly-educated man, now living, has
only just gone to an A. B. C. schoolas yet, and as for those very learned
divines—the D. D.s and the LL. D.s, and those doctors who think they know so
much that they know better than the Bible—well, after all, their knowledge, as
compared with what is yet to be known, is only the information of an ant or a
magpie—nothing more! We are all fools together, and what a mercy it is that
the Lord Jesus Christdoes not require a lot of knowledge ofus! It is to know
Him that suffices us. To know yourself as a sinner, and Christ as your Savior
is all the knowledge you really need in order to find eternal life! Neverlet your
ignorance stand in your way, for Christ virtually puts the matter thus, “Him
that comes to Me—though He cannot read a letter in the Bible, and hardly
knows that twice two are four—if he does but come to Me, I will in no wise
casthim out.” “Ah, yes,” says another, “but I am so poor!” Well, that is the
very last thing that you should ever mention as a hindrance to your coming to
Christ, for His gospelis especiallypreachedto the poor. One of the proofs that

208. He gave of His Messiahshipwas this, “the poor have the gospelpreachedto
them.” And, oftentimes, He has “chosenthe poor of this world, rich in faith,”
to be the “heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to them that love
Him.” So that you cannot truly saythat you are too poor to come to Christ.
“Ah,” says another, “but I am so tried and troubled.” Suppose you are? You
do not imagine that the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Him that comes to me, I will
not castout unless he is tried and troubled,” do you? Why, poor soul, if there
is one who could not be left out, it is just the one who is most troubled! What
is it that moves the heart of Jesus towards us? Nothing but His pity and love.
And the more trouble
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you have, the more cause there is for His pity to display itself upon you.
Instead of keeping back from Christ because youhave so many troubles, come
to Him to find comfort under them! “Everybody has been so unkind to me,”
says one. “My heart is broken.” Well, the Savior, who uttered our text, could
truly say, “Reproachhas broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness:and I
lookedfor some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I
found none.” So He understands all about you, and He will bind up your
broken heart! “Ah, but I am so despised, and slandered, and misrepresented.”
So was He. They called Him “a gluttonous man, and a winebibber.” He is
exactly the Savior you need. “Ah, but I have lost my husband, and all my
friends are dead and gone. I hardly know where to find my daily bread.”
Christ said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;but the
Son of man has not where to lay His head.” He cansympathize with you in the
deep affliction of your poverty, so go to Him! You should go, above all
others—youwho have not a comfortable home, before whom the whole earth
seems a desert—youwho seemto have been turned out of paradise, and there
is nothing before you but the land which brings forth thorns and thistles—it is
in your ears that I would especiallyrepeatthe ancient promise, “The Seedof
the womanshall bruise the head of the serpent.” You shall overcome all your
enemies if you but come to Jesus Christ! It is a sweetthing to think that the
text is so comprehensive—“Himthat comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.”
Have you ever read Mr. John Bunyan’s “Come and Welcome”?He very
wonderfully expounds this text, and, if I remember rightly, he makes the
sinner say, “But I am so greata sinner.” “I will in no wise cast you out.” “But
I have sinned againstknowledge.”“Iwill in no wise castyou out.” “But I have
been a thief.” “I will in no wise castyou out.” “I have been a fornicator and

209. adulterer.” “I will in no wise castyou out.” “But I have been a murderer.” “I
will in no wise castyou out.” “But I cannot believe as I would.” “I will in no
wise castyou out.” And he keeps on, page after page, supposing all things that
he can well think of—but I will not keepon so long—I will just say this—
Suppose what you like, and though it is a fact, yet, still my text covers it—
“Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout!” V. My last observationis
this, OUR TEXT PLEDGES OUR LORD’S PERSONALACTION. “Him
that comes to Me, I will in no wise castout.” He does not say anything here
about what His servants will do. Some of them look with disapproval at big
sinners. They have been knownto do so before now, and some of them are still
a little like that elder brother who said, “As soonas this, your son, was come,
which has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the
fatted calf.” But Christ says to the prodigal, “I will not castyou out. Your
brother may be unwilling to receive you, but I will welcome you.” Now, if the
Lord Jesus Christ does not castus out, it really does not matter who else
wants to do so. So long as the Masterof the feastdoes not rejectus, we may
keepour place at the table! It is a very suggestive thing that my text is in the
very chapter which records the greatfeastwhen thousands sat down upon the
grass, and were fed by Christ. I daresaythey were some very strange
characters there that day. None of them were too good, but I expect that
among that crowd of loafers around the Savior—forloafers many of them
were, for they had followed for the sake ofthe loaves, and that is just the
meaning of the word, “loafer”—therewere some fine gentlemenfrom
Jerusalemwho said, “Well, if that is the Messiah, He has a pretty following,
indeed!” On another occasionthey calledHim “a friend of publicans and
sinners.” And they said, “This man receives sinners, and eats with them.” He
never denied it, He rather gloriedin it! He said that He was sent to the lost
sheepof the house of Israel, and that “they that are whole have no need of the
physician, but they that are sick:I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance.” He loved to have them about Him—loafers and vagabonds as
they were!I do not read that He said to Philip, and Peter, and Andrew, “Now,
look. We are going to give a feast, but it must be on the principle of the
Charity OrganizationSociety, and we must not give anything to people who
are undeserving.” It is true that God gives to the unthankful, and the
unbelieving, but modern charity says, “Thatis wicked!” Well, I daresay there
is a gooddeal to be saidfor that view of the matter, but
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210. Jesus Christ did not believe in that view! There were many undeserving
people there, and He fed them all! Christ did not feed any man there because
he was good, but because he was hungry. He saw that they were tired and
faint, so he multiplied the loaves and the fishes, and fed them till they were
satisfied. And today, Jesus Christdoes not give His mercy to any man because
he deserves it, or because there are any goodqualities in the man that may
merit the display of His grace—He saves people becauseHe loves to save the
unworthy—and He would not have them perish. “As I live, says the Lord
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked;but that the wickedturn
from his wayand live.” That is His only reason, and, blessedbe His name that
it is His only reasonfor saving sinners, because youand I, who are among the
most unworthy persons who have ever lived, may come and sit at the feet of
His grace, andknow that He has pledgedHis personalhonor, and His own
private characterfor it, that him that comes to Him, He will not castout! If
HE does not castus out, who can? As He says, “I will in no wise castyou out,”
rest assuredthat all His servants, and all His enemies, even if they wantedto
castus out, would be quite unable to accomplishthe task! When Jesus says,
“I will not castout Him that comes to Me,” He means that He will let him stay
with Him. If you get into Christ’s family by simply trusting Him, you shall
always be in His family! If you get into my Lord’s house by simply trusting
Him, you shall always be in His house! He will not castyou out, but He will
receive you, pardon you, cleanse you, and bless you. You shall have the power,
the right, the authority to become a son of God—and you shall have the
nature of a sonor daughter; you shall receive the Spirit of adoption whereby
you shall be able to cry, “Abba, Father.” You shall have the blessings ofa
son—youshall be provided for, educatedand trained for the skies. You shall
not be denied any blessing or favor which is given to God’s family. If you do
but come to Christ, His grace shallbe free to you, His house shall be free for
you, His city and His kingdom shall costyou nothing, His heart shall be free
for you, and, by-and-by, His heaven shall be free for you, for where He is,
there shall you be also—andas He sits at His Father’s right hand, so shall you
sit down with Him upon His throne! I have knownthe time when if I had
heard such a sermon as this, I think I would have leaped for joy to think that
there was such mercy to be had by me! I would not have needed any fine
speaking, orany display of oratory. I would only have neededto be assured
that Jesus would receive me, and I would at once have come to Him! And this
I know—everytruly hungry soul here will come and feed on this truth
tonight, and every thirsty soul will come and drink! But if there are any here
who think they are goodenough—if there are any who fancy that they have
not sinned againstGod, and so do not feelthat they are in any greatdanger,

211. or have any greatneeds—well, it will be according to the old rule, the full will
loathe the loaded table, but to the hungry man even bitter things will be sweet!
I can only give you the gospelinvitation, and leave it with the Lord to incline
you to acceptit. May you be led to come to Jesus by a spiritual act of faith this
very hour!
HIGH DOCTRINEAND BROAD DOCTRINE NO. 1762
A SERMON DELIVERED BYC. H. SPURGEON, AT EXETER HALL.
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I
will in no wise castout.” John 6:37.
THESE two sentences have been lookedupon as representing two sides of
Christian doctrine. They enable us to see it from two standpoints—the
Godwardand the manward. The first sentence contains whatsome call high
doctrine. If by “high” they mean “glorious towards God,” I fully agree with
them, for it is a grand, God-honoring truth which our Lord Jesus declaresin
these words—“Allthat the Fathergiveth me shall come to me.” Some have
styled this side of truth Calvinistic, but while it is true that Calvin taught it, so
also did Augustine, and Paul, and our Lord Himself, whose words these are.
However, I will not quarrel with those who see in this sentence a statementof
the greattruth of predestinating grace. The secondsentence setsforth blessed,
encouraging, evangelicaldoctrine, and is in effecta promise and an
invitation—“Him that comethto me I will in no wise castout.” This is a
statementwithout limitation of any kind, it has been thought to leave the free
grace ofGod open to the free will of man, so that whosoeverpleasesmy come
and may be sure that he will not be refused. We have no permissionto pare
down either sentence, noris there the slightestneed to do so. The first
sentence appears to me to say that God has chosena people, and has given
these people to Christ, and these people must and shall come to Christ, and so
shall be saved. The secondtruth declares that every man who comes to Christ
shall be saved, since he shall not be castout, and that implies that he shall be
receivedand accepted. Theseare two greattruths, let us carry them both with
us, and they will balance eachother. I was once askedto reconcile these two
statements, and I answered, “No, I never reconcile friends.” These two

212. passagesneverfell out, they are perfectly agreed. It is folly to imagine a
difference, and then setabout removing it. It is like making a man of straw,
and then going out to fight with it. The grand declarationof the purpose of
God that He will save His ownis quite consistentwith the widestdeclaration
that whosoeverwillcome to Christ shall be saved. The pity is that it ever
should be thought difficult to hold both truths, or that, supposing there is a
difficulty, we should have thought it our duty to remove it. Believe me, my
dear hearers, the business of removing religious difficulties is the least
remunerative labor under heaven. The truest wayis to acceptthe difficulty
whereveryou find it in God’s word, and to exercise your faith upon it. It is
unreasonable to suppose that faith is to be exempted from trials, all the other
graces are exercised, and why should not faith be put to the test? I often feela
joy within my spirit in having to believe what I cannotunderstand, and
sometimes when I have to say to myself, “How can it be?” I find a joy in
replying that it is so written, and therefore it must be so. Instead of all
reasoning stands the utterance of God. Our Father speaks,and doubts are
silenced, His Spirit writes, and we believe. I feel greatpleasure in gliding
down the river of revelation, upon a voyage of discovery, and hour by hour
obtaining fresh knowledge ofdivine truth, but where I come to an end of
progress, and see my wayblockedup by a sublimely awful difficulty, I find
equal pleasure in casting anchorunder the lee of the obstacle, and waiting till
the pilot tells me what to do next. When we cannot go through a truth, we may
be led over it, or around it, and what does that matter?
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Our highestbenefit comes not of answering riddles, but of obeying commands
by the powerof love. Suppose we cansee no further into the subject—what
then? Shall we be troubled about that? Must there not be an end of human
knowledge somewhere?Maywe not be perfectly satisfiedfor God to appoint
the boundary of understanding? Let us not therefore run our heads against
difficulties of our owninvention, and certainly not againstthose which God
has seenfit to leave for us. Take, then, these two truths, and know that they
are equally precious portions of one harmonious whole. Let us not quibble
over them, or indulge a foolishfavoritism for one and a prejudice againstthe
other, but let us receive both with a candid, large-heartedlove of truth, such
as children of Godshould exhibit. We are not called upon to explain, but to
accept. Let us believe if we cannot reconcile. Here are two jewels, let us wear
them both. As surely as this Book is true, God has a people whom He has
chosen, and whom Christ has redeemedfrom among men, and these must and

213. shall by sovereigngrace, be brought in due time to repentance and faith, for
not one of them shall ever perish. But yet is it equally true, that whosoever
among the sons of men shall come and put his trust in Christ shall receive
eternal life. “Whosoeverwill, let him take the waterof life freely.”
“None are excluded hence but those Who do themselves exclude. Welcome the
learned and polite, The ignorant and rude.”
The two truths of my text are by no means inconsistentthe one with the
other, they are perfectly agreed. Happy is the man who can believe them both,
whether he sees their agreementor does not see it. I was cruising one day in
the westernHighlands. It had been a splendid day, and the glorious scenery
had made our journey like an excursionto Fairy Land, but it came to an end,
for darkness and night assertedtheir primeval sovereignty. Right aheadwas a
vast headland of the isle of Arran. How it frowned againstthe evening sky!
The mighty rock seemedto overhang the sea. Justat its base was a little bay,
and into this we steamed, and there we lay at anchorage allnight, safe from
every wind that might happen to be seeking outits prey. In that calm lochwe
seemedto lie in the mountain’s lap while its broad shoulders screenedus from
the wind. Now, the first part of my text, “All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me,” rises like a huge headland high into the heavens. Who shall scale
its height? Upon some it seems to frown darkly. But here at the bottom lies the
placid, glassylake of infinite love and mercy, “Him that cometh to me I will in
no wise castout.” Steaminto it, and be safe under the shadow of the great
rock. You will be the better for the mountain-truth as your barque snugly
reposes within the glittering waters at its foot, while you may thank God that
the text is not all mountain to repel you, you will be grateful that there is
enough of it to secure you. First, I shall bid you view that goodly mountain,
and then we shall sail into that pleasant loch. I. Consider, then, with
reverential joy THE ETERNALPURPOSE. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when
He found that the mass of the people rejectedHim, turned round upon them,
and said, “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.” He knew in His
own heart, however, that if they refused Him all would not do so, a number
would assuredly believe on Him. Therefore He boldly said, “All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me.” He threw this grand fact in the teeth of
His fierce revilers. It was His own comfort, and their rebuke. Now, I do not
want to throw it at anybody tonight, on the contrary, I desire to use it as a
beckoning finger to any troubled heart that longs to come to Jesus and be
saved. I saw the other day, round a gentleman’s park, a very strong and lofty

214. palisade, and to recomplete the exclusive apparatus, a superabundant number
of tenter-hooks were nailed upon the top of the fence, and a liberal quantity
half-way up. I somewhatjocoselyobservedupon the kindness of the
proprietor, in placing so many nails for the boys to climb up by, and so many
more for them to hold on by when once
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they were up. “Why,” said my companion, “those tenter-hooks would tear
fingers and clothes to pieces, they are no help to climbers.” “No,” Ireplied,
“No more help to climbers than the remarks which your minister made upon
the sovereigntyof God could be consideredto be a help to seekers ofthe Lord
Jesus.” The goodman setforth the truth in the most awkwardand pernicious
manner possible, not making thereof steps for earnestclimbers, but tenter-
hooks for unwelcome intruders. I never yet saw such a crowddesirous of
salvationthat there was the slightestcallfor fences and tenter-hooks to keep
them out, but I do see so many tremblers needing encouragement, andso
many doubters needing instruction, that I delight to turn every word, and
promise, and doctrine of the Lord into sweetinvitations to all around me to
come and welcome to the greatheart of the Crucified. I am not afraid that too
many will come, my fears are all in the opposite direction. Oh, that I could
hope that all my present hearers would come to Jesus at once! First, notice
carefully, that if all that the Fathergives to Christ shall come to Him, then
some people shall most surely come to Christ, and why should not you be
among them? This seems to me to be a sweetsuggestionforthe help of
despondencywhen she is at her worst, some must come to Christ, why should
not I come? Whenthe devil says to you, “You cannotcome to Christ,” and
you yourself feelas if you could not come, when sin hampers you, when doubt
drags you down, when you cannot do what you want to do—still it is decreed
and determined that some people must come, then why not you? By divine
decree they shall come, why should not you be among them? Does notthat
help you? If God blesses it, you will no longer sit on the borders of despair.
Suppose there is a plague in the city, but there are some people predestinated
to be healed. I should be glad to know of that fact. I should be almost glad of it
if it was sure that I was not one of the favored ones, for I rejoice in the goodof
others, but I would be still more glad to press to the physician with this
assurance upon my mind—some must be healed, why should not I? There is a
famine in the land. I hear that it is revealedby a sure prophet that a certain
number never shall die of famine. Then why should not I outlive the dreadful
days and be among them? Why not? I hearone say, “Suppose I am not one

215. of God’s elect?” To Him I answer, “Suppose youare?” Betterstill, suppose
that you leave off supposing altogether, and just go to Jesus Christ and see. To
go to Him is your wisdom, your immediate business, as laid down in His
Word, therefore, delay not. Instead of shutting myself out, as some do,
because it is written, “All that the Fathergiveth me shall come to me,” I shut
myself in, and say, “ThenI will be among them.” Why should I not? Oh,
Lord, if You have ordained that some shall come, then I see that to them no
difficulties canbe insuperable, and I will therefore come to You myself, and in
Your name enter in where every coming one is welcome. In the next place, I
find that those that come to Christ, according to this text, come because ofthe
Father and the Son. Read it. “All that the Fathergiveth me shall come to me.”
That is, they come to Jesus. Why is it that they are made to come? Becausethe
Father has given them to Christ. Why is it that they shall come? Is it because
there is some goodthing in them? No, there is nothing said upon that point
either one way or the other. Is it because they have strong wills and firm
determinations, and therefore come? The Scripture is equally silent upon that
point, exceptthat it says elsewhere thatthe New Birth is not of the will of
man. The reasonthat is given why they shall come to Jesus is because
something was done for them by the Father and by the Son. Why, then, should
I not come? Suppose I am weak, suppose Iam sinful, suppose I am seven
times more sinful than anybody else, yet since this “shallcome” depends not
on the characterof those to whom the promise is made, but upon a certain
something done for them by the Father and the Son, why should not I be
among those for whom the Father and the Son have done this certain thing,
and why should not I therefore be made to come to Jesus? There never was a
soul that really wanted to come to Jesus but what it could come and did come.
There never was a pining, longing sinner that was long kept away from
Christ. When he wanted Christ, Christ wanted him a hundred times as much.
If you have the leastdesire or the faintestlonging after the Lord Jesus Christ,
then the cords of love are about you, and His mighty hands are drawing home
those
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cords. Yield to the sweetpressure and you shall come, not because ofwhat you
are, or what you have ever been, but because ofwhat the Father is doing, and
because ofwhat the Son is doing. It is written, “No man can come to me,
exceptthe Father which hath sent me draw him,” but when He is drawing you
can come. The Father is drawing you, since you are longing to come, and are
anxious to find a Savior. Now, do not turn this truth about so as to setit

216. edgeways,and make a chevaux de frise of it to keepyourself from getting to
Christ. The doctrine of the divine purpose is not a thorn hedge to keepyou off
from the tree of life, on the contrary, you are bound to regardit as an open
door. “Some must come. Why not I? Those that come do so because of
something done for them of the Father and of the Son, why should not that
have been done for me? Why should not I also draw near to God?” Notice,
thirdly, that these people are all of them savedbecause they come to Christ.
Observe the words—“Allthat the Father giveth me shall come to me.” They
are not savedin otherwise than by coming to Christ. Here are certain people
that are different from others, for the Fatherhas given them to Christ. Yes,
but it does not matter how different they are from others, they have to be
savedin the same way as other people. There is no wayof salvationspecially
prepared for these peculiar people, they must follow the King’s highway. The
one common way of salvationis by coming to Christ, and all that the Father
has given to Christ must come in by this gate. This is the one door that God
has opened, there is no other, there never shall be any other. Come, pluck up
heart, my dear friend—you that are bowing your head like a bulrush—the
best saint in heaven found his way thither by a simple trust in Jesus Christ.
Why cannot you get there in the same way? Many sinners of the deepestdye
have been savedthrough Jesus Christ, and why should not you be savedin the
same way? Ask Peter, and James, and John, and Paul, and all the rest of
them, whether they entered into heaven by a private bridge thrown across for
them alone, and they will tell you that they were saved by the one Redeemer.
As no Scripture is of private interpretation, so be sure that there is no private
and secretSaviorfor a few favored persons. “Otherfoundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” God’s electcan only be
savedby coming to Christ. Jesus says, “Allthat the Fathergiveth me shall
come to me,” for they cannot be saved else. Coming to Christ is the one
essentialthing. “Oh,” says one, “I sometimes wish that I knew whether I was
one of God’s elect.” Why should you wish to know anything out of its turn,
when you can learn every truth that you need by studying other truths which
lead up to it? You come to Christ, and you will know that you were given to
Christ, for none come to Him but those who are His, and by their coming to
Him they give the best evidence of their election. You know what the brother
in Cornwall saidto Malachi, who was rather a stout Calvinist. He said, “Now,
Malachi, I owe you £2. Before I discharge the debt I want you to tell me
whether I am predestinatedto pay you.” Malachiopened wide his hand and
said, “Put the £2 there, and I will tell you directly.” Like most sensible folk, he
preferred to prophesy after the event, and there are many advantages in
keeping to that method. It is evidently the natural order of things for

217. uninspired folk. Whether the Father gave me to Christ or not, I cannot
discovertill I know whether I have come to Christ. When I know that I have
truly come to Christ with all my heart, then I am certain that I was given to
Christ, and I find no difficulty in so believing, yea, my heart is glad to think
that I am saved in the same wayas others are saved. Yet, once again, from
this text it is most clearthat, if I come to Christ, the Father gave me to Christ.
If I, whoeverI may be, do but simply trust Jesus—forthat is the coming here
meant—then I am one whom the Fathergave to His Son. If, just as I am, I
castmyself upon His blood and righteousness, andbecome His disciple, sworn
to follow Him, hoping by His help to tread in His footsteps, then I may know
that, long before the daystar knew its place, or planets ran their round, the
Eternal Fatherhad lookedupon me with eyes of everlasting love, and that He
still accepts me, and will never castme away. Is it not so? “All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me,” and if I have come, then the Father has given me
to Christ, the greatquestion is answered, the eternal mystery is unveiled, and
my spirit may
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rejoice in God my Savior, and in all the precious things of that everlasting
covenantwhich is ordered in all things and sure So much about that huge,
overhanging mass of rock. Of that I am going to say no more, only under its
lee I have anchored long ago, and at that anchorage Imean still to remain.
Since I have come to Jesus I know that I belong to Him by the Great Father’s
gift, and I am right wellassuredthat the purpose of God shall be fulfilled in
me, and that He will assuredlybring me, with all the restof His elect, to His
kingdom and glory, where we shall see His face forever. This may be called
old-fashioned doctrine, I care not what it is called, it is my life, and I dare rest
my soul’s weightupon it for time and for eternity. II. Now we enter into
smooth water, the mystery is opened, let us partake of the joy of it. We have,
in the secondplace, to speak to you for a little time on THE EVERLASTING
GOSPEL—“Himthat comethto me I will in no wise castout.” You may
forgetmy first head if you like, especiallyif you are troubled by it, but I
earnestlybeseechyou recollect the second. “Him that cometh to me I will in
no wise castout.” This is one of the most generous Gospeltexts that I do
remember to have met with betweenthe covers of this Book. Generous, first,
as to the characterto whom the promise is made. “Him that cometh to me,”
that is the character. The man may have been guilty of an atrocious sin, too
black to mention, but if he comes to Christ he shall not be castout. To that
atrocious sin he may have added many others, till the condemning list is full

218. and long, but if he comes to Christ he shall not be castout. He may have
hardened his neck againstthe remonstrance of prudence, and the entreaties of
mercy, He may have sinned deeply and willfully, but if he comes to Christ he
shall not be castout. He may have made himself as black as night—as black as
hell, yet, if he shall come to Christ, the Lord will not casthim out. I cannot
tell what kind of persons may have come into this Hall tonight, but if burglars,
murderers, and dynamite-men were here, I would still bid them come to
Christ, for He will not castthem out. I suppose that the most of you are
tolerably decent as to moral character, andto you I say, if you come to Christ
He will not castyou out. Children of godly parents, hearers of the word, He
will not castyou out. You who lack only one thing, but that the one thing
needful, He will not castyou out. Backsliders!Are there some such here, who
have almost forgottenthe way to God’s sanctuary, for whom the Sabbath bell
proclaims no Sabbath now? Come you to Jesus, andHe will not castyou out.
Oh, you Londoners, you have grown wearyof God’s house, and of God’s
day—millions of you, but if with all your irreligion you are here tonight, the
truth holds goodof you also—ifyou trust in Jesus, He will not castyou out.
If, amidst this company, there should be some whose characters we had better
not describe, and who already shrink into themselves at the very idea of being
picked out, and mentioned by name, yet if such persons come to Jesus, He will
gladly receive them. Be your characterwhat it may, you who are wrapped in
mystery, you shall not be castout. I wish that I could put this to those who are
troubled about a life of grievous sin, for to the life-long transgressorthe text is
still true. My Lord proclaims an act of oblivion concerning all the past. It
shall be as though it had never been. Through Jesus Christ, if you will but
believe in Him, the whole past shall be rolled up, and put away, as though it
had never known an existence, and you yourself shall be born again. When
Naamancame up from washing in the Jordanwe read that “His flesh came
againlike unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean,” andso it shall be
with you. The old man took the fair-haired child upon his knee, and ran his
fingers through its locks, and said, “Young child, God keepyou from the sin
into which I have plunged. My old life is full of evil. It is now almost over and
I am pasthope. Would God I were a child again!” Lo, the angelof mercy
whispers to anyone in that condition, “You may be a child again!” The man a
hundred years of age may yet be made a child, and he that is a grey-beard in
infamy may yet become a babe in innocence through the cleansing powerof
the waterand the blood which flowedfrom the riven side of Jesus. Go you,
and write it athwart the brow of night, write it in new stars if you can—“Him
that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.” Then hang it up over the midday
heavens, and let the sun castall his

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beams upon it, till it seems written in the splendor of God—“Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise castout.” The characterwho will be received is not
mentioned, lest in mentioning one sinner another should seemto be excluded.
No limit is setto the extent of sin, any “him” in all the world—any
blaspheming, devilish “him” that comes to Christ shall be welcomed. I use
strong words that I may open wide the gate of mercy. Any “him” that comes
to Christ—though he come from slum or taproom, betting ring or gambling
hell, prison or brothel—Jesus will in no wise castout. Further, this text is a
very generous one because it gives no limit to the coming. The only limit to the
way of coming is that they do come to Christ. I have knownsome come to
Christ running to Him—a willing, speedy, earnestpace. You read of that in
the Gospels.Theywere so glad to hear of a Savior that they flew to Him at
once. Many young children and young people do this, and they are blessedin
the deed. Come along with you, you lively and tender spirits, He will not cast
you out if you leap and rush to Him. If you run all on a sudden to Him
tonight—if you make a dash for Christ—He will not castyou out. Alas! a
greatmany, when they come to Christ, advance very limpingly. They are
burdened with a huge load of sin and fettered with doubts and fears, and so
they make slow progress. Theydo not look to Jesus and live, all at once. They
keeplooking here and looking there, instead of looking to Him. They are a
long while in coming, for they are afraid, and ignorant and dull. Nevermind,
brother. The snail got into the ark, and if you come to Christ He will not cast
you out though your pace be sadly sluggish. Some look to Christ as soonas
they hear of Him, with clear, bright eyes like those of Rachel. Oh, such a look!
They seemto drink in Christ and His salvationall at once with those bright
eyes. But I have met with many whose look is like that of Leah, who had
tender eyes, they look through the mists of their doubt, and the showers of
their tears, and they do not half see Christ as they should. Ay, but that
halfclouded look will save them. Any looking will save you if it is looking to
Christ, and any coming if it is coming to Christ, will save you. Coming to
sacraments may condemn you, coming to priests will ruin you, but coming to
Christ will save you. If your simple faith takes hold of Christ’s salvationthere
is life in that grip. If your thoughts think of Him, if your heart embraces Him,
if your soul trusts Him, howeverweaklyand imperfectly you do it, He will not
castyou out. Oh, this is glorious truth to my mind, is it not so to yours? So
long as we do but come to Him, our Savior will not castus away, I feel glad to
be preaching this Gospelin ExeterHall, are you not glad to hear it? If you are

220. not you are a sorry set. Thirdly, there is no limit here as to time. “Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise castout” is a glorious, free utterance,
compassing everyage. There may be some little children here, indeed, I am
glad to see boys and girls mingling with the congregation. Listen to me, my
children! I am always gladto see you, and we preachers make a great mistake
if we do not preachto you. Oh, dear John and Jane, Mary and Thomas, I wish
you would come to Christ while you are yet young, and put your trust in Him,
and become young Christians. There is no reasonwhy you should not. You
are old enough to die, and you are old enough to sin, and you are old enough
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why should you not do so at once? When
I was just about fifteen years of age I was helped by God’s Spirit to cast
myself upon Christ, and did I ever repent that I came to Jesus so soon? No, I
wish that I could have come fifteen years before, and that I had known Christ
as soonas I learned to know my mother. Some of you have heard about Jesus
from your infancy, His name was part of the music with which your mother
sang you to sleep. Oh, that you may know Jesus by faith as wellas by hearing!
Do not think that you have to wait till you are grownup before you may come
to Jesus. We have baptized quite a number of boys and girls of ten, eleven,
and twelve. I spoke the other day with a little boy nine years of age, and I tell
you that he knew more about Christ than ever so many grey-headedmen do,
and he loved Jesus most heartily. As the sweetchild talked to me about what
Christ had done for him, he brought tears into my eyes, to see how happily
and brightly he could speak of what he had felt in his own soul of the Savior’s
powerto bless. You young
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children are like rosebuds, and you know everybody likes a rosebud better
than a full-blown rose. My Lord Jesus will gladly receive you as rosebuds.
Offer yourselves to Him, for He will not castyou away. I am sure He never
will. If any here are in the opposite extremity of life, I would remind them
that “him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout” applies to the agedas
well as to the young. I heard it said by a minister—a very earnestman—that
if persons were not convertedbefore they were five and forty, he hardly
believed that they would ever be converted afterwards, and he gave it as a
note of his observationthat he had not seenany persons convertedafter five
and forty. I wished that I had been in his pulpit. I should not have questioned
his statements, but I would have overlaid them with others of another
character. Surely this brother had been living in some minute hamlet or other,
or else he had not preachedthe Gospelin its fullness to every creature.

221. Perhaps he did not believe in the conversionof the aged, and consequently no
agedpersons were convertedby his means. I have seenas many people
convertedof one age as another, that is to say, in proportion to the number of
them, for there are not so many people in the world over fifty as there are
under age fifty, and consequently a large proportion of those persons who
make up our congregationsare young. We have in our regular gatherings a
fair number of all ages, and as to the additions to the church, I have noticed
that there is about the same proportion of very young children as of very old
men and women. We have baptized, upon professionof faith, men and women
over eighty years of age, aboutwhose conversionwe had as firm a conviction
as we had about the conversions of the little ones, neither more nor less. Who
shall dare say that there is an age after which God’s grace does notwork? I
challenge anyone to bring a text which looks that way, furthermore, I
challenge the truth of any observations which arrive at such a result. My own
preaching has been such that young and old in equal proportions have
attended it, and in equal proportions they have been saved. Howeverold you
may be, my Masterbids me sayto you, “Him that cometh to me I will in no
wise castout.” Come along, come along, dear old friend, though you cannot
come without your stick. Come along, though your eyes are failing, come in
your spectacles. Thoughyou cannot do much for my Master, He can do
everything for you. Though you have only a little time to live on earth, you
will have all eternity in heaven through which you can praise Him. I am sure
you will be one of the most eagerat that work. I think you will be like an old
woman of my acquaintance. WhenI spoke to her about her conversionat an
advancedage, she said, “Sir, if the Lord Jesus Christ ever does save such a
poor old sinner as I am, He shall never hear the last of it.” That is just why I
want Him to save you, for then He will never hearthe last of it. You will
praise Him forever and forever for what He has done for you. Will you not?
Oh, my dear hearers come to Jesus!Come in the morning when the dew is on
your branch, for He will not cast you out. Come in the heat of noon, when the
drought of care parches you, and He will not castyou out. Come when the
shadows have grown long, and the darkness ofthe night is gathering about
you, for He will not castyou out. The door is not shut, for the gate of mercy
closes not, so long as the gate of life is open. Oh, fly to Christ, and find mercy
now! Once again, dear friends, I want you to notice in my text the blessed
certainty of this salvation. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.”
Two or three negatives in the Greek language make a negationstronger,
though they would have no such effect in the English tongue. It is a very
strong negative here. “Him that cometh to me I will not not castout,” or, “I
will never never castout.” As much as to say—Onno account, or for no

222. reason, or on no pretence, or from no motive whatever, will I ever in time or
in eternity castout the soul that comes to Me. That is how it stands—a
declarationof absolute certainty from which there can be no escaping. What
a blessedthing it is to get your foot on certainties!Certain preachers, who are
much cried up nowadays, are very uncertain preachers, for they do not
themselves know what they will be propounding tomorrow. They make their
creedas they go along, and a very poor one it is when they make it. I believe in
something sure and certain, namely, in infallible Scripture, and that which the
Lord has written therein, never to be alteredwhile the world stands. My text
is certain as the truth of Christ Jesus, andif
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we have ever seenthat beautiful face of His we could not distrust Him. Can
your imagination picture for a minute the ever-blessedface ofthe Son of God?
Could you look into that face, and suspectHim of a lie? And when He says,
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in me has everlasting life,” the
saying must be true. If you believe in Him, you have everlasting life. When He
says, “him that comethto me I will never never castout,” the declaration
must be true. He never, never, can castyou out, whoeveryou may be, however
long you may live, or whateverelse may happen, if you but come to Him.
There are plenty of reasons, apparently, why He should castyou out, but He
has knockedthem all on the head by saying, “I will in no wise castout,” that
is, “In no way, and under no pretext, will I ever castout a soul that comes to
me.” Now, if Christ does not castus out, then He receives us, and if He
receives us, we are receivedinto the heart of God, we are receivedinto eternal
life, and by and by we shall be receivedinto everlasting blessedness. Oh, the
joy of my text, in that it is so certain! So I shall close here, dear friends, with
just a word or two of further encouragementby noticing the personality of my
text, for in this a part of the liberality consists. Do you observe that the first
part of the text began with, “All that the Fathergiveth me shall come to me”?
Ay, but when Christ beganto deal with sinners with brokenhearts, He
dropped the “all” and every form of generalstatement, and He came to the
personalpronoun singular—“Him that comes to me I will in no wise castout.”
Now, herein He meant to say to everyone in this Hall, “If you do come to Me, I
will not castyou out.” It is not, “If you and another come,” for, if so, it would
be put in the plural, “If you come.” But it is, “Him that comes.” Youalone,
your servant alone, your child alone, but especiallyyourself alone, if you come
to the Lord Jesus He will not castyou out. You cannotdoubt this. Come,
then, my dear hearers, believe your Savior. I am not talking tonight to persons

223. who doubt the veracity of the Sonof God. I am not talking to persons who
think Christ a liar. You know that He would receive you if you would come.
Then, why do you not come? But you mean to come, do you, by and by? Then
why not now? What is it that holds you back? How do you dare delay? Will
you be alive next week? How canyou be sure of a day or an hour? When
money is to be given away, I do not find that persons generallydelay to
receive it, and say, “I would rather have it next year.” No, they say, “A bird in
the hand is worth two in the bush.” Oh, to have Christ in the hand, and to get
Him now! And why not now? Is it because you really do not understand what
it is to receive Him, or to believe in Him? It is indeed the simplest thing in the
world, and that is the only reasonwhy it is so difficult, it is so exceedingly
simple, that men cannot believe that it can be as we put it. Indeed, it is so.
Faith is simply to trust Christ, and trusting Christ brings with it the new life
and salvationfrom sin. I sometimes put it in Watt’s way—
“A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, On Christ’s kind arms I fall.”
But after I had once been preaching, a young man said to me, “Sir, I cannot
fall.” “Oh dear,” I said, “then I do not know how to talk, for I meant not a
thing you could do, but the cessationofall your efforts, just falling, or if you
will see it better, just tumbling down—because youcannot stand upright, and
that is it.” BecauseI cannot save myself, I fall into Christ’s arms. Ceasing to
hold to anything of my own, I just drop upon Him. “Still,” you say, “there
must be something more than that.” There is nothing more than that. If you
believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God. “He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved;but he that believeth not shall be damned.” “He that
with his heart believeth, and with his mouth maketh confessionofHim, shall
be saved.” “Oh, but I must—I must—I must do something mysterious, or feel
something which at present, is far beyond me.” Thus you give God the lie, and
put awayfrom you life eternal life. Have you never read the story of the good
ship that had been a long time at sea, and the captain had losthis reckoning,
he drifted up the mouth of the greatAmazon, and after he had been sailing
for a long
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time up the river without knowing that he was in a river at all, they ran short
of water. When another vesselwas seen, they signaledher, and when they got
near enough for speaking they cried, “Water!We are dying for water!” They
were greatly surprised when the answercame back, “Dip it up! Dip it up! You

224. are in a river. It is all around you.” They had nothing to do but to fling a
bucket overboardand have as much wateras they liked. And here are poor
souls crying out, “Lord, what must I do to be saved?” whenthe greatwork is
done, and all that remains for them is to receive the free gift of eternallife.
What must you do? You have done enough for one lifetime, for you have
undone yourself by your doing. That is not the question. It is, “Lord, what
hast you done?” And the answeris, “It is finished. I have done it all. Only
come and trust me.” Sinner, you are in a river of grace and mercy. Over with
the bucket, man, and drink to the full, for you will never exhaust the stream of
grace. A river is free to every dog that runs along the bank, every cow that
stands by the river may drink to the full. So is the mercy of God free to every
sinner, be he who he may, that does but come to Jesus. Thatriver runs near to
you tonight. Stoopdown, you thirsty one, and drink and live. But you say, “I
must feel different from what I do now.” But you need not, come with your
bad feelings. “Oh, I have not yet a broken heart,” says one. Come to Christ,
and He will break your heart. “But I do not feel my need as I ought.” Come to
Christ and He will help you to feel your need. “Oh, but I am nobody!” You
are the very person that Christ delights in, for to you He will be everybody.
Do you see that beautiful tree in the orchard loaded with fruit? It is a pear
tree. From top to bottom it is coveredwith fruit. I think I never saw such a
sight, every branch is bowing down. Some boughs are ready to break with the
luscious burden. As I listen to the creaking boughs, I can hear the tree speak.
What does it say? It says, “Baskets, baskets, baskets!Bring baskets!” Now,
then, who has a basket? “Ihave one,” cries yonder friend, “but it is of no use,
for there is nothing in it.” Bring it here, man, that is the very kind of basket
the tree wants. A personover there says, “Oh, I have a basket—a splendid
basket. It is just the thing. It is full from top to bottom.” You may keepyour
basketto yourself. It is of no use to my loadedtree. Where is there an empty
basket? Who has an empty basket? Come along with you, come and pick from
the tree as long as you like. Bring all your baskets.Bring thousands and
thousands of baskets, allempty, and fill them all! Do you notice as we fill the
baskets that the fruit begins to multiply? There is more when we have filled
the baskets thanthere was at first, for this inexhaustible tree produces more
and more fruit, as fast as we pluck from it. What is wanted by the Lord Jesus
is an empty soul to receive out of the fullness which God has treasuredup in
Him. God bless every one of you, for His name’s sake. Amen.
LETTER FROM MR. SPURGEON

225. DEAR FRIENDS—Itis with very sincere regretthat I find myself obliged to
prolong my absence. I have been exceedinglyfull of pain, and have been very
much a prisoner to my room, or I should have returned upon the appointed
day. The deacons judged it better for me to remain till I could recover, and
certainly there is a far better hope for a man here in the sunshine than in a
London fog. I rejoice to say that I already feel much better, and though I
cannot quite maintain the erectfigure which is becoming an upright man, yet
the pains of lumbago are less acute than they were. I am full of confidence
that I shall soonbe well, in answerto your prayers. My heart is at home. I
long to be preaching Christ and winning souls. May your work be blessed
while I am silenced. Innumerable are the forms of your holy activity, may the
Holy Spirit fill them all with His power.
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I send my love to all who are in Christ Jesus, andfor those who are not in
him—what shall I say? No blessing can come to the soul which refuses the
Lord Jesus. Maythere be none such among us. Wishing you a glorious
Sabbath,
I am your willing but suffering Pastor, C. H. SPURGEON Mentone,
January 17
THE LAST MESSAGE FOR THE YEAR NO. 3230
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER29, 1910
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN
TABERNACLE, NEWINGTONON LORD’S-DAY EVENING, DECEMBER
28, 1873
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I
will in no wise castout.” John 6:37

226. [Mr. Spurgeon preachedmany sermons upon this verse, among those already
published are #1762,High Doctrine and Broad Doctrine, #2349, All Comers to
Christ Welcomed, #2954,The Big Gates Wide Open, and #3000, No. 3000—
Or Come and Welcome.]
WE have come to the lastSabbath evening, and the last public Sabbath
service of another year, with some of us it may be our last Sabbath on earth,
and our last public Sabbath service in this life. It becomes us then to fix our
thoughts upon solemn and weighty themes, those which are of the utmost
importance to us, and those which most closelyconcernour eternaldestiny. I
pray that the Holy Spirit may cause the deepestpossible seriousness to rest
upon this whole assembly, and that He may very speciallyguide me to speak
as I ought upon the familiar but most weighty words that I trust He has
moved me to selectonce againfor your very earnest considerationtonight. I
have preachedmany times upon this text, but on this occasion, I am going to
speak briefly upon three topics that it suggests to me. The first is that there is
only one wayof salvation, “All that the Fathergiveth me shall come to me.”
“Him that cometh to me.” This topic will teach us the exclusiveness ofdivine
grace. Secondly, this waywill be used by some, “All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me.” This teaches us the omnipotence of divine grace. Thirdly,
all who come by this wayshall be saved, “him that comethto me I will in no
wise castout.” This teaches us the fullness and freeness ofdivine grace. I.
First, then, we learn from our text THE EXCLUSIVENESS OF DIVINE
GRACE, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY OF SALVATION, “All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me.” “Him that comethto me.” To come to
Jesus is the one and only way of salvation. If there could have been any other
way, this one would never have been opened. It is not conceivable that God
would have given His only begottenand well-belovedSon to die upon the cross
of Calvary in order to save sinners if there had been any other wayof saving
them that would have been as consistentwith the principles of infallible
justice. If men could have entered into everlasting life without passing along
the path stainedand consecratedby the blood of Jesus, surelythat blood
would never have been “shedfor many for the remissionof sins.” The very
fact that this new and living way has been openedproves that there is no
other, for God would never have provided it unless it had been absolutely
necessary. Thatthis is the only wayof salvationis againand againemphasized
in Scripture with a sacredintolerance whichnone ought to mistake. Writing
to the Corinthians, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul says, “Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” and to

227. Timothy, his own son in the faith, he writes, “There is one God, and one
MediatorbetweenGod and men, the man Christ Jesus,”and the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, who had a more loving heart than everbeat in any merely
human being’s breast, most solemnly said, in almostHis last words on earth,
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not
shall be damned.”
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So there is no other way of salvation, and sinners are most faithfully warned
that howeverpleasantand attractive any other ways may appear to be, the
end of those ways is death and “everlasting destructionfrom the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” When Jesus said, “I am the Way,”
He clearly intended to exclude all other ways, so beware lestyou perish in any
one of them. Be not like the foolish and wickedpeople of Jeremiah’s day to
whom the Lord said, “Standye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths,
where is the goodway, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”
But alas!they said, “We will not walk therein.” Be you not like unto them.
But what is this exclusive way of salvation? In our text it is twice describedas
coming to Christ, but what is meant by that expression? It does not mean any
mere locomotion, any moving of the body from one place to another. There
were many who came to Christ in that sense while He was upon the earth,
they thronged around Him, and pressedupon Him, but the mere proximity of
their bodies to Christ did not bring salvationto them, for many of them
turned away, and walkedno more with Him, when His heart-searching
teaching was too faithful for them. Well, then, what does coming to Christ
really mean? Coming to Christ means, first, turning awayfrom all confidence
in ourselves or in others, and trusting alone in Jesus. In order to come to a
certain person, you must turn awayfrom another person who is in a different
direction, so if you want to be saved, you must come right awayfrom trusting
in yourselves, you must cease to have any confidence in anything that you
have ever done, or ever hope to do, you must not place any reliance upon the
alms you have bestowedupon the poor, the prayers you have presentedto
God, the services you have attended, or anything of your own. You must
utterly abhor all hope of salvationfrom yourself, even as Paul did when, after
recounting the things in which he had formerly trusted, he wrote, “But what
things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellencyofthe knowledge ofChrist Jesus my
Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own

228. righteousness, whichis of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness whichis of God by faith.” If you are resolvedto
come to Christ, you must also give up all trust in others as a means of
salvation. If you have hitherto been placing any reliance upon your godly
ancestry, your Christian father and mother, or if you have been depending
upon your close connectionwith goodpeople, if you have trusted to a man
who calls himself a priest, if you have put any dependence upon what he can
do towards your salvation—I pray you to castawayall such confidence and
dependence, for if you do not, you cannot come to Christ. If you have been
relying upon any rite, or ceremony, or “sacrament” relating to wateror bread
and wine, any “priestly” performance, or posture, or ritual, or anything apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ, I implore you to abandon all those soul-
destroying delusions, for no one of them nor all of them combined will help
you into the one and only way of salvation. Forobserve, that the text
speaks—andit is the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks through the text—of
coming to a Person, “All that the Father giveth ME shall come to ME; and
him that comethto ME I will no wise castout.” Note how personalthe text is
both concerning the one coming and the One to whom he is to come, “him that
cometh to ME.” That is the long and the short of the whole matter, its Alpha
and Omega, its beginning and its end, there must be a personalcoming to the
personalChrist. It will not suffice for you to come to Christ’s doctrines, you
must, of course, believe what He taught, but believing His teaching will not
save you unless you come to HIM. It will not be enough merely to come to
Christ’s precepts, and to try to practice them—an utterly impossible task for
you to perform in your own unaided strength, you must first come to Christ,
and then, trusting in Him for salvation, His gracious Spirit will take of the
things of Christ, and show them unto you, and teachand enable you to walk in
His ways, and to obey His precepts. Does someone ask,“Who and what is he
to whom I am to come?” Listen. The eternal Son of the eternal Father—He
who made the heavens and the earth and all things that are, whose almighty
word fashioned this round globe, and sent it spinning on its wondrous course
around the sun—the Creatorand Lord of all the angelic host, before whom
cherubim and seraphim bow down in reverent adoration—this
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greatKing of kings and Lord of lords, in His amazing love and wondrous
condescension, “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness ofmen: and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the

229. death of the cross.” Itis to HIM that you are to come, you are to believe in
Him as the incarnate God, equally and just as truly Son of man and Son of
God, and then, (and this is the crux of your faith, your faith in the cross, that
“cross”in which Paul gloried—not a cross ofwood, or stone, or ivory, before
which people idolatrously prostrate themselves, but the doctrine of the cross,
which is today as greatan “offence”as it was in Paul’s day), you must believe
that God laid upon His incarnate and immaculate Sonthe sins of all His
people whom He had given to Him from all eternity, and that He even took
pleasure in bruising Him because of the wondrous results that were to follow
and flow from His atoning sacrifice on the cross. Do you think I am speaking
too strongly? Remember the words of the inspired prophet Isaiah, “All we like
sheephave gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the
LORD hath laid on him (made to meet on Him) the iniquity of us all....It
pleasedthe LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his
days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosperin his hand.” If you, my
brother or sister, rely upon this greatexpiatory sacrifice, and believe that,
when Christ died upon the cross, He died as your Substitute and
Representative, youare saved, you have enteredthe one and only way of
salvation. But be assuredof this, if you reject the incarnate God, if you will
not trust in Him, if you will not come unto Him that you may have life, there is
no other wayof salvation, and there will never be any other. Neverforget that
this same Jesus, who was takenup into heaven, shall so come againin like
manner as He went up into heaven, and “when he shall come to be glorified in
his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,” there will be others to
whom His secondadvent will bring nothing but dismay and terror, for then,
“the Lord Jesus shallbe revealedfrom heavenwith his mighty angels, in
flaming fire taking vengeance onthem that know not God, and that obey not
the gospelofour Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence ofthe Lord, and from the glory of his power.”
It will be utterly in vain for you then to cry to the mountains and the rocks,
“Fallon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and
from the wrath of the Lamb: for the greatday of his wrath is come;and who
shall be able to stand?” II. Now, secondly, we learn from our text THE
OMNIPOTENCEOF DIVINE GRACE, SOME WILL USE THIS ONE AND
ONLY WAY OF SALVATION, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me.” So first, there are some who were given to Christ. We believe that it is
clearly revealedin the Scriptures that, long before this earth was created, the
Lord lookedforward upon the race of human beings that He intended to live
upon it, and that out of them He chose unto Himself a people whom He gave

230. to His Son to be the reward of the sufferings He would endure on their behalf.
Peterwrote to the electstrangers, “Ye are a chosengeneration, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the
praises of him who hath calledyou out of darkness into his marvelous light,”
And Paul wrote to Timothy, “The foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal, The Lord knoweththem that are his.” We do not know them, but
He knows every one of them, and He counts them as His own peculiar
treasure, “Theyshall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels.” Thesepeople have been given to Christ by His Father.
Again and again, in that greatintercessoryprayer of His, He spoke of this
truth, in fact, the prayer begins with an emphatic declarationof it, “Father,
the hour is come;glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee; as thou
hast given him powerover all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him.”
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In our text Christ says that these people shall come to Him, “All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me.” There is no question about whether they
will come, or will not come, Christ says that they “shallcome” to Him. “But,”
asks someone, “willGod force them to come to Christ againsttheir will?” Oh,
no, but He has a gracious wayof making them willing in the day of His power.
By His Spirit’s divine teaching, He will instruct them, illuminate them,
persuade them, constrainthem, so that every one of those who were given to
Christ will come to Him. “But they are blind,” says another. The Lord says,
“I will bring the blind by a way that they know not.” “But they are very
obstinate.” The Lord says, “I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.” “But they are dead.” Yes, that
is true, but the Lord quickens those who are dead in trespassesand sins.
Without violating our wills, and leaving us still to act as free agents
responsible for our own actions, He makes us willing to yield ourselves up to
Christ, body, soul, and spirit, to be foreverHis. Why does Christ tell us this?
I think He does it partly to comfort His ministers. Oh, it is heart-breaking
work to keepon preaching Christ to sinners who will not come to Him,
holding up Christ before eyes that see no beauty in Him, praising Him to ears
that are not charmed with the music of His name! So our Mastersays to us,
“My servants, you shall not labor in vain, nor spend your strength for nought.
‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.’ If all those who were first
invited to the great Gospelfeastmake excuses fornot coming, others will
acceptMy invitation, and the feastshall be fully furnished with guests. If

231. scribes and Pharisees still rejectMe, publicans and harlots will be only too
glad to come to Me, and I will castout none who come, so still go on, My
servants, publishing the glad tidings of salvation, for all that My Father gave
Me must and shall come to Me.” I think Christ also speaks thus as a rebuff to
those who seemto imagine that Christ’s work will be a failure if they do not
come to Him! You know how many talk, nowadays, about the Gospelbeing
oldfashioned, and worn out, and not adapted to this enlightened age!Oh, yes,
sir, I know what you think, and how you talk! But are you foolish enough to
suppose that Christ’s greatsacrifice onCalvary will prove to have been
offered in vain just because yourefuse to trust to it? Oh no! “He shall see of
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Here is a poor silly fly drowning
in a glass of water, he might as well imagine that his dying struggles would
convulse all the empires of the earth as an atheistmight think that he can
demolish the whole system of Christianity by the nonsensicalwhimsies that he
harbors in his stupid brain. I tell you, man, that you cannot frustrate the
eternal purposes of God, or rob His Son of a single grain of His glory. What if
you will not come to Christ? He never expectedthat you would come, so He
will not be surprised or disappointed, but if you will not come to Him, others
will. If you will not enlist in the army of the cross, andjoin the innumerable
hosts that rally round His blood-stained banner, others will, and the greatSon
of David will never lack brave soldiers who will do and dare for Him more
than even David’s mighty men did for their royal leader. Voltaire saidthat he
lived in the twilight of Christianity, but if so, it was the twilight of the
morning, not of the evening. Julian the apostate vowedthat he would put
down the Nazarene, but his dying cry was, “O Galilean, thou hast
conquered!” Yes, and so He always will, and they who oppose Him, and reject
Him, will find that the stone which the builders refused will become the
headstone of the corner in the greattemple of His church, and also a stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense to those who rejectHim. Woe be unto those
upon whom that stone shall fall, for it will grind them to powder! I think that
Jesus also intended these words, “All that the Fathergiveth me shall come to
me,” to be a cause for jubilation in the hearts of His people. We often feel very
sad concerning the times in which we live, and there is more than enough to
make us sighand cry because ofthe abominations and iniquities in the world,
and alas!because ofthe many evils in the professing church, but those who
love the Lord, and seek to serve Him, are not left without many consolations
and compensations. The purposes ofGod shall all be fulfilled. There shall not
be one soul the less in heaven notwithstanding all that Romanism, Ritualism,
Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohammedanism, and every

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other ism may do. Christ shall not be robbed of the reward of His soul-travail
by anything that infidelity cando. Satan may rage and roar, and all his
legions may come up from the bottomless pit, and league themselves with
wickedmen to overthrow the church of God, but founded upon the Rock, “the
gates ofhell shall not prevail againstit.” The kings of the earth may set
themselves, and the rulers take counseltogether, againstthe Lord, and against
His Anointed, but “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall
have them in derision,” And when the history of this poor little planet is
finished, it shall be found that Christ was speaking nothing but the truth when
He said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.” III. Now I come to
the lastand perhaps the sweetestpart of the whole discourse, whichis to be
concerning THE FULLNESS AND FREENESS OF DIVINE GRACE, ALL
WHO COME BY THIS ONE WAY SHALL BE SAVED, “Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise castout. This means that everyone who comes to
Christ shall certainly be saved, for if Christ will not casthim out, nobody else
can do so. As soonas ever he comes to Christ, he is accepted(not repelled) by
Christ, and being accepted by Christ, he is saved with an everlasting salvation,
and there is no power on earth or in hell that canever make him into an
unsaved man after Christ has savedhim. “But,” says someone, “supposehe
comes to Christ, and then finds that he is not one of those who were given to
Christ by His Father?” You must not suppose what never canbe true, for
there never was a sinner yet who came to Christ who was not first given to
Christ. All who come to Christ are divinely drawn to Him, and no one is
drawn to Him without having been from all eternity given to Him, so there is
nothing in our friend’s supposition that ought to be a stumbling block in the
way of any seeking sinnerhere. I am quite certain that God has an elect
people, for He tells me so in His Word, and I am equally certainthat everyone
who comes to Christ shall be saved, for that also is His own declarationin the
Scriptures. When people ask me how I reconcile these two truths, I usually say
that there is no need to reconcile them, for they have never yet quarreled with
one another. Both are true, and both relate to the same persons, for those who
come to Christ are those who were from eternity given to Christ by His
Father. Jesus Christ still says to us, “Him that comethto me I will in no wise
castout.” “But Lord,” objects someone,“this man’s life has been an
outrageouslybad one, will You accepthim if he comes to You?” “Oh, yes!
‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.’” “But Lord, he has been an
habitual drunkard, and he has also been a greatblasphemer.” Well, suppose

233. you were obliged to add that he has been an adulterer, a liar, a thief, a
perjurer, or even a murderer, Jesus Christ would still say, “‘Him that comes
to me I will in no wise castout,’ whatever his past charactermay have been, if
he truly repents of his sin, and trusts in My atoning blood to cleanse him from
all his guilt, his sins and iniquities shall be remembered againsthim no more,
forever.” If I had the biggest, blackestsinner in the whole world here, I would
say to him or to her, “My dear friend, if you will here and now trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior of sinners, I canassure you, on the
authority of God Himself, that ‘though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow;though your sins be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,’
and that your sins, which are many, are all forgiven, and then, like the woman
in the city who was a notorious public sinner, you will love Christ much
because you have been forgiven much.” “Ah!” says some poor sinner here,
“but I do not feel that I have repented enough, I do not feel that my heart is
tender enough, I do not feel that I have wept enough over my many offenses.”
Stop a moment, friend. If you have your Bible open, or if not, listen while I
read the text again, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.” Is there anything in Christ’s
words about how much you are to feel? Is there anything at all about your
feelings? Nota word, not even a syllable, if you do but come to Christ, which
means, if you do but trust Him, if you rely upon His finished work, if you
truthfully say, as we often sing—
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“I do believe, I will believe, That Jesus died for me; That on the cross He shed
His blood From sin to setme free,”—
then that glorious “Gospelin miniature”—as Martin Luther calledit, applies
to you as well as to every other sinner who believes in Jesus—“Godso loved
the world, that he gave his only begottenSon, that whosoeverbelieveth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.” There is nothing in that verse
about feelings, everything depends upon faith, and then, when you have
believed in Jesus, right feelings will be given to you by God’s goodSpirit.
Gratitude, love, joy, hope, peace, courage, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness,
temperance, and every other “fruit of the Spirit” will spring from the blessed
rootgrace offaith in Jesus, and so you shall have yet further confirmation of
the factthat you are saved, for the Lord’s own test is, “By their fruits ye shall

234. know them.” Possiblythere is someone here, on this last Sabbath night of
another year, who is saying to himself, “I hardly know why I came into this
building tonight, for I have been everything that I ought not to have been, and
nothing that I ought to have been.” But friend, do you desire to begin a new
life even before the new year dawns on you? Are you willing to leave your
sins? Do you long to be a holy man? In a word, is it the one wish of your heart
that you may be saved? Then I refer you also to my text, and remind you that
the Lord Jesus Christsaid, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise castout.”
There is nothing there to shut out the most irreligious man if he will but come
to Christ. You say that you are an odd man—well, I have often said and
others have said that I am an odd man, a lot that cannotbe put in any catalog,
you are self-condemned, and so was I before I came to Christ, you feelthat
you are, as George Whitefield used to say, one of the devil’s castaways, so bad
that even Satanhimself would not own you. Why, you and I ought to shake
hands, for that is just how I felt when that poor localpreacherpointed to me,
and said, “Look, young man, look!Jesus Christsays to you, ‘Look unto me,
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else.”’ I did look, and was savedby the same GospelI preach to you, and as
this is the last Sabbath night in another year, and as it may be the last Gospel
invitation you will ever have the opportunity of hearing, I repeat to you the
very last invitations recorded in the Word of God, “The Spirit and the bride
say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst
come. And whosoeverwill, let him take the water of life freely.” This agrees
with John 3:16 which I have already quoted to you, and it also agrees with
Christ’s words in our text, “Him that cometh to me”—JohnBunyan said that
meant any “him” in all the world— “I will in no wise castout,” that is, for no
reason, for no conceivable motive, for no possible cause will Christ castout
one who comes to Him by faith. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out” is a grand old Anglo-Saxonexpressionthat sweeps round the man who
comes to Christ, and guards him like a swordof fire protecting him from
every possibility of being castout by Christ. What say ye, my hearers, to all
this? I have pleaded with some of you hundreds of times, and now, in this my
last Sabbath messageforthe year, I ask you once again—Willyou come to
Christ? When will you come? Tomorrow? Thatmeans never, for tomorrow
never comes. By and by? That means that you do not intend to come to Christ
at all. The text is in the present tense, “Him that cometh to me,” for “now is
the acceptedtime; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Trustin Jesus now,
sinner, trust your soul to Him as you do trust your money to your banker, and
your body to your doctor. “Believe onthe Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved.” Oh, that the Holy Spirit may enable you to say, at this moment,

235. “This is a sinner’s salvation, and as I am a sinner, it exactly suits my case. I
acceptit, my Lord, praising and blessing You that I, a poor, foul, lost,
condemned sinner, coming to You, am saved, savednow, and savedforever,
glory be unto Your holy name! Amen!”