The Word of God comes to us tonight from John chapter 6. I invite you to turn there with me to John chapter 6. We will read verses 32 through 59 together. John chapter 6. When you have found that, I invite you also to turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to page 94. I wanted to consider just one more article in particular with you from the first head of doctrine before we move on to the second head. We've spent a little bit of time on this first head, which again is foundational for all five points of doctrine, and we most likely will not spend as much time on the other points. But I wanted to consider this Article 11 really because of what it says in connection with what we just sang. Jehovah's counsel stands secure. His purposes of heart endure forevermore. They stand, considering tonight God's unchangeable purpose. John chapter 6, as you know, begins with the episode, the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000, followed by Jesus walking on the water as His disciples were crossing the lake and He goes out to meet them, followed by the multitude who had been fed coming to find him, looking for him. And of course he challenges them and says, well, you're only looking for me not because of the miraculous sign, but because of the food, because of the physical food you had. And he calls them to believe in the one the Father had sent, and they request a sign from him. And he gives his discourse about the bread of life, and it's that discourse that we read together. And I would draw your attention, especially in connection with article 11 to verses 37 through 40. Beginning at verse 32 though, through verse 59, as we hear now the Word of God. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Sir, they said, from now on, give us this bread. Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me, and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do My will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. For My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. At this the Jews began to grumble about Him, because He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, I came down from heaven? Stop grumbling among yourselves, Jesus answered. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, they will all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to Me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. Only He has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, And I in him, just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died. But he who feeds on this bread will live forever. He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. There ends the reading of God's Word. Again, we ask our Lord tonight to bless it to us. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed from our consideration so far of this first head of doctrine, we understand the truth of God's Word about His grace of unconditional election. We understand that before the beginning of time, God chose some out of all of sinful humanity to save them. Not because they would believe. Not because they deserved it. not because they were better or more worthy than those who were not chosen, but only because of God's mercy and grace and good pleasure. We understand that, don't we? Yet, when we truly look at ourselves and are brought to know ourselves and our sin, that's a temptation for some to still question, why? Why me? I can't really be elect. Or maybe God changed His mind about me somewhere along the line after seeing just how sinful I would be, just how much I struggle with sin. In fact, I doubt whether this is for me. I doubt whether I'm elect. There are some who question God because of their own sinful doubts. And it's at a time like that, beloved, that we are called to stop once again looking at ourselves. Interestingly, ironically, Arminianism looks to itself to get saved, while there are some even well-meaning Reformed believers who look at themselves to keep from being elect, to keep from being saved. In the sense, I'm too sinful. I'm just too bad. Certainly, God could never love me. Certainly, He could never want anything to do with me. It's at a time like that that we are called to stop looking at ourselves and to look to Him, to look at God, to look at God's unchangeable purpose. In John chapter 6, Jesus makes it clear that God's purpose, God's will, includes that He has chosen some to give to His Son, that they will come one and all and be saved and be kept. That's the will of God. And maybe you noticed in just those few verses, verses 37 through 40, we find three of the five points of the doctrine of grace that the Canons of Dor deals with. Of course, unconditional election, but also along with that, we see their irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints. But on the top is God's purpose. God's will. And God's purpose for those Jesus speaks of is that He be to them the bread of life. that bread that gives spiritual and everlasting life, that gives eternal satisfaction, and the One who then sustains that spiritual life, that eternal life, and keeps them in it. Yet again, there are some, even well-meaning Reformed believers, who can hear these words and who can hear the certainty with which our Lord says them, and even say that they believe in Jesus, but at the very same time, if you ask them if they are saved, the only answer they can seem to give is, I hope so. I hope so. But God wants I know so. Not in an arrogant, prideful sort of way. Indeed, in a humble way. But we are to have, beloved, and we can have that assurance and that certainty again by looking away from ourselves and looking to His purpose, which is unchangeable. First of all, because of His sovereignty. You have the back of the Psalter hymnal open. Notice article 11. And as God Himself is most wise, unchangeable, omniscient, and omnipotent, so the election made by Him can neither be interrupted nor changed, recalled, or annulled, neither can the elect be cast away nor their number diminished. You see, God's unchangeable plan is intimately connected to His being, to all that God is. And all that God is, we know, is included in His every action. And His sovereignty is seen in His attributes. Our God has many attributes which we are given a glimpse of into the Word of God. Article 11 points out four of them for a specific purpose. God's wisdom, God's immutability, the fact that He is without change, God's omniscience, that He knows all things, and God's omnipotence, that His is all power. Now, it's not our purpose, and we don't have time to consider all of them in depth, but simply to highlight them tonight. First of all, the Article 11 says He is most wise. The theologian A.A. Hodge gives a definition of wisdom and talks about the wisdom of God. He says, Wisdom presupposes knowledge. In other words, there must be knowledge to go along with wisdom. And is the practical use which the understanding makes of the material knowledge. I heard it put this way. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. And then with regard to God's wisdom, Hodge says, God's wisdom is selecting the highest possible end, which he says is the manifestation of His glory, and selecting and directing in all He does the best possible means to secure that end. God's wisdom is selecting the highest possible end, which is His own glory, and then selecting and directing the best possible means in order to reach, to secure that end. Beloved, God's wisdom is manifested in creation. It's manifested, revealed in His providence, in His grace. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, he says the cross is the wisdom of God. He says Christ is the wisdom of God. It's also revealed in His election unto salvation. Election unto salvation displays the glory of God's grace and it glorifies Him. And because he is all-wise, or most-wise, as the article says, he makes no mistakes, not in his selecting of the proper end, nor in his selecting of the means to achieve that end. He makes no mistakes. He never regrets the means that he has chosen. He never retraces his steps. He never tries another path. There is never a better way than the means that he has chosen. Along with being most-wise, he is unchangeable, immutable. Without change, in His being, in His decrees, in His will and works, He is the eternal I Am. Not I was, not I will be, but I Am. He is constant. We can't fathom that because we are not. He does not grow older. He does not increase or decrease in His being or power or glory. He is most wonderful. The Bible talks about Him as the rock, which points to His unchangeableness, His steadfastness. And this means that He never changes His mind so that all of His works, all of His counsel, all of His plan, His will is finished from eternity. It is set. It has been. It is. And it will be carried out just as He has planned it. Because He is also omniscient. He is all-knowing. He knows all things. God knows all things and Himself perfectly and completely. As David says in Psalm 139, He knows our thoughts before we think them, our words before we say them. And that means that nothing exists, nothing happens apart from His knowledge because He has determined all that is or shall be or shall happen. Nothing is a surprise to God, not even our continual struggle with sin and our rebellion at times. That's not even a surprise to God. even within the context of His elect and grace. And there's one more that the article points to. God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He is almighty to accomplish all that He determines and pleases. Psalm 115 says He does whatever He pleases. Apart from Him, we know there is no power. All power is derived from Him. That means no one and nothing can undo what He has done, can undo His will or His plan. And that includes even us. Not even our doubt can undo it. Not even our doubt in Him can or will change His mind about us. And because God is sovereign in His being and in His attributes, it must be true then that He is also sovereign in His will, in His decrees, in His plan, in His purpose, and also of election. He is sovereign not only in planning to choose and not only in actually choosing, but also in carrying it out to its completion. That's what Jesus is saying here in essence. God's will, every bit of it, will happen. Article 11 speaks of the election made by Him. And it says that it can never be interrupted. one cannot and will not be elect one moment and reprobate the next. Satan cannot interrupt God's work of election as God knows even his every thought and action and he uses it for God's own purpose. God uses it for his own purpose. We cannot interrupt God's work of election not by what we do, not by what we don't do. In fact, our faith and our perseverance flows unchangeably, as Article 9 says, out of the fountain of His election. It's a part of that fountain. And even our weaknesses and our unfaithfulness and our failures are known to God and they are under His power and direction. He uses them, but He does not lose us. The article says that his election cannot be interrupted. It also is unchangeable, the article says. That means God won't change it. We can't change it. His mind is made up from eternity. It is also never recalled. That means there will never be a new or better or revised plan. And it is never annulled. It will never be broken off or canceled out. One commentator says in response to Article 11, Because God is unchangeable, election cannot be changed. Because God is most wise, it need not be changed. Again, we understand why, right? Because God chooses the best possible means to secure the best, the most high end. He goes on, because God is omniscient, it cannot be foiled. God will not be tricked. And because God is omnipotent, it cannot be thwarted. or obstructed. Beloved, in John 6, 37-40, Jesus points to and emphasizes the will of God. That it is unchangeable. That it is set. That it will not be altered. It will not be changed. Because it will take place. And that will includes that God the Father again has given some, verse 39, to His Son. And His will is that they will come to Jesus by faith, verse 37, drawn by the Father, verse 44. And His will is that Jesus not only will never drive them away, verse 37, but He shall lose none of them, verse 39, and He will instead raise them up at the last day, also verse 39. This is God's unchangeable purpose for His elect. This is how it is. This is how it will be. And because God is sovereign, therefore, so is His purpose, so is His plan. And this is, in the second place, for the believer's assurance. This is to be for your assurance and my assurance, first of all, of being elect. Well, again, there might be someone who is tempted to say, okay, I understand. Yes, I understand that God is sovereign. I understand that God has chosen, He has elected to save some and that He passes by others. I understand that. I can even agree with that. I understand that what God plans and says, He will do perfectly and completely. I believe that. But it doesn't mean that it includes me. It doesn't mean it is for me. Beloved, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I can say to you with confidence if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's for you. It includes you. Yours is the assurance of being an elect child of God. That assurance is only through believing in Jesus Christ. Through a true faith in Him. Trusting in His finished work alone. Knowing oneself, knowing myself that I do not deserve, that I deserve to be cast away forever But instead, as Paul says in Ephesians 1 and in 2 Timothy 1, that the Father elected me before the beginning of time, before creation, in Him, in Christ Jesus. And Jesus says in verse 40, For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. You see, it's not difficult. God doesn't demand that we do something great or perform some great heroic task before He will grant us salvation. And it's not because of us, but it's in spite of our sin and misery. Now, you may be able to sense I've got a bit of a burden here. And it's true. My burden is this, that we rightly understand that we cannot be saved by our own doing. It's not about anything about us. Only because we're sinners, of course. We need it. But not because we deserve it or can contribute to it at all. We understand that. Yet, there are some who are tempted to think that because of how they feel or because of how they see themselves, that God can't and God won't elect or save them because of their sin. That God is not able to. That God is not able to love one who is such a sinner as they are. it's not because of us, but it's in spite of our sin and misery. There are some who try to find the assurance of being an elect child of God in their level of holiness or in the depth of their sorrow for sin or in the quantity of their tears of sorrow or in their humility or in their great desire to spend more time with God in His Word and prayer or by whatever standard of measurement we might come up with. And when they find that they are lacking, they doubt God's Word. Beloved, if that's what gives assurance, the level of holiness or how sorry I am, then all one can ever say is, I hope so. Yes. Article 12 points out in a general way the fruit of election Along with true faith in Christ, there is a filial, a childlike fear. There is a godly sorrow for sin. There is a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc., it says. There's lots of fruit. But that's what it is. It is fruit of election. There will be fruit by the working of the Holy Spirit. However, it may only be in the first stage of budding for someone. Or it may be somewhat matured in someone else. It may be more visible times or less visible at other times. There will be fruit and it will grow by the work of the Holy Spirit. But the Word of God says nothing about just how spiritual you and I are. That that is what is to give us assurance. In fact, it says quite the opposite. The Word of God says a bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax. He will not snuff out. This fruit of election does not make us elect, but it is to give us assurance that God has elected us with the primary assurance that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not make us elect, and it also does not keep one elect. Yet, we are to have assurance of staying elect. Because of God's unchangeable purpose. Because what He has willed will come to pass. It is not the strength of our assurance or the holiness of our life or the quantity or quality of the good that makes or keeps us elect. It does not depend on our striving. You see, you and I may not always hate evil and sin as strongly as we should. We may not always desire good as strongly as we should. We may not always be as sorry or repentant as we ought to. In fact, I dare say, we're not. It does not depend on our striving. It does not depend on our efforts to perform. If it did, King David and the Apostle Peter would be lost. And not one would be saved. You see, beloved, every single day, God finds plenty of reasons to blot us out of the book of life. But He doesn't. He doesn't. Because of His unchangeable purpose. He says believe. He says believe. And for those who believe, He will not change His mind. And He will not turn His back on His people just because we still offend Him daily. Because He has given a perfect and an eternal salvation in Jesus Christ from all of our sins. Indeed, the Holy Spirit works in us, molding and shaping more and more, a little bit more, each and every day. So that by the grace of God, we do grow in our holiness. We do grow in an understanding of our sin. You see, as we grow and as we mature in the faith, we are to understand more and more just how great our sin and misery is. That is to humble us. Not to take away our assurance, but to illumine the grace of God in Christ Jesus. His purpose is unchangeable. Yes, all of this also means that the reprobate will never be anything but reprobate. That too is unchangeable. Yet it does mean that the elect, Even one with struggling faith will always be elect and will believe, will be saved, will be preserved. If you are still tempted to say, I'm not worth it, God says you are absolutely, 100% right. You're not. So stop looking at yourself, how you feel, how you perform. Stop questioning my power to save and my grace which is greater than all of your sins and look to Jesus Christ who is worthy. My election of you is in Him, not in yourself. And as you prepare to come to my table, indeed recognize your sin and hopelessness in yourself and the fact that you don't deserve to be elect or saved, but then also remember my electing love and grace that I have set upon you in Christ Jesus and that nothing can change that or take that away. Not even you yourself. So be comforted, believer, that you belong to Him and that that belonging to Him is unchangeable because neither our own terrible sins or sinfulness or lack of assurance or our struggle with it, nor the hatred or attack of the evil one, nothing, as the article closes, can cast the elect away or diminish their number. That number has been set by God. That number is made up of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, including you and me, and He who keeps the stars in their courses and the planets in their orbits and our feet firm on the ground by His law of gravity. He keeps us firm and secure in His electing love and grace. And dear people of God, He says to His believers, you will have eternal life. I guarantee it. I already have. In Christ Jesus. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that as You continue to work in our hearts and lives as You have promised, as that work of the Holy Spirit sanctifying us and cleansing us continues day by day, that You would increasingly turn our eyes upon Jesus and Him alone to Your Word, to its truth, its bounty, its beauty, that we might more and more look away from ourselves except to be reminded, Lord, that we do not deserve your grace but you have given it to us fully and freely, completely, unchangeably, without end. Father, we praise your most holy name for your love and compassion for your people, for us, In Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.