The Certainty Of The Church

For our Scripture reading tonight, we read from John 6, verses 22 through 44. The text for our consideration is verse 37 of John chapter 6. Verses 22 through 44. And in the few verses just previous to this, we read about Jesus walking on the water, coming to His disciples in the middle of the night, walking on the water. And verse 22 picks up as we consider the Word of the Lord. The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found Him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, you are looking for Me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you. On Him, God the Father has placed His seal of approval. Then they asked Him, What must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, The work of God is this, to believe in the One He has sent. So they asked Him, What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert. As it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, 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. Once again, verse 37, All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, have you ever received a gift that you didn't need or that you didn't particularly want? If that's been the case for you, and then possibly you took that gift back to the store and you got the cash for it, or maybe you exchanged it for something else. Or boys and girls, you know that the gifts that you receive might wear out, or they might break after a while, or in the case of clothes, you might outgrow them. But the point is, sometimes the gifts that we receive, they don't last, or we don't really want them. This text tonight, congregation, teaches us about an amazing gift and a wonderful promise. This gift will not be lost. It will not be stolen. It will not be destroyed. It will not be thrown away. It will be preserved forever. I preach to you tonight about the certainty of the church. First of all, given and drawn by the Father. And in the second place, received or accepted and kept by the Son. Now the context surrounding this text teaches us that the crowds that were following Jesus had been growing. And the first part of chapter 6 includes the miracle of our Lord feeding the 5,000 men plus women and children with the young boys five loaves of bread and two fish. And the crowds began to see in Jesus the kind of Messiah that they thought that He was supposed to be. An earthly Messiah, one who would provide for them physically and materially as He proved that He could do. As well, one who could provide physical protection for them from their enemies. In fact, verse 15 earlier says, Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. They were ready to make Him their earthly king. But then Jesus challenges the people in verse 26 when He says, I tell you the truth, you are looking for Me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. They were following their stomach. All that the people saw in the miraculous feeding was just another meal, but they became hungry again. But Jesus goes on to make application of the miraculous feeding by telling them that they needed the bread that does not perish. They ate the loaves and fish, but by breakfast time, they were hungry again. They needed more. And you see, congregation, as the episode unfolds, Jesus preaches to the crowds about Himself, the bread of life. He preaches the Gospel message which draws a line and divides, which is exactly what happened. Some in this same crowd who had wanted to make Him king the very night before began to doubt Him. They began to challenge Him. They began to question Him. And then when Jesus tells them about the bread out of heaven that is greater than the manna in the wilderness, they said, Lord, evermore, give us this bread. But still, they had their eyes focused on that which was earthly. And it was clear that many didn't believe. Jesus said in verses 35 and 36, 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. This was more than they could take as we read a little bit further down. How can He have come from heaven? We know His Father and Mother. We know what He does for a living. This Jesus was more than they could handle. Yet even though many rejected the Messiah to His face, our Lord wasn't discouraged. I'm not saying that sin doesn't anger our God. It does, but He wasn't discouraged in the sense that He makes it clear in this text that His work will reach its glorious goal because it is the will of the Father. As verse 39 points out, 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. Once again, our text says, verse 37, all that the Father gives Me will come to Me and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away. Those words were an indictment against those He had just spoken to the very verse before. You have seen Me and still you do not believe. But first of all, congregation, we must see that God has chosen a people for Himself. And He has given them to His Son. And they shall indeed come to Jesus. First, Jesus speaks in a collective sense. all that the Father gives to Me. And then he narrows it down to an individual sense. And the One who comes. All that the Father gives to Me and the One who comes. But you see, he's talking here about God's elect people. Those who, as Paul describes to the Ephesian church, God chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. You see, believers of all the ages, of all places, were already present to the eyes of the Father from before the beginning of time. Paul also says to the church in Thessalonica, for we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. God chose some, a people, the church, to be saved. In other words, it is God's decision that His people are saved. Not yours. Not mine. He didn't choose His people because they would decide to believe, because they were determined to be saved. He didn't choose the church based on the merit of those who are a part of Christ's church. Ephesians 2 makes it clear that all men are dead in trespasses and sin, but we that as believers live because God has made us alive. Paul says, For by grace you have been saved. But notice, God chose the church before the foundation of the world. That's finished. Yet, He is giving the church to Christ. Jesus says, all that the Father gives Me, and the word gives is in the present tense. This giving is a present, ongoing action. This is going on even today. as God's elect are brought to faith in Jesus Christ by the preaching of the Word, and it will continue to go on until every last elect child of God is gathered into the fold. Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem the entire church, past, present, and future. But the church is being gathered throughout time and it is not yet complete. Yet not one will be left out. Not one will be left behind. All that the Father gives me shall come to me, Jesus said. In other words, all that the Father has elected will get to Jesus Christ. Beloved, this is the true key behind the church growth movement. It's not our doing. We don't make the church grow. God may be pleased to use us, but it's His doing. He gives those He has chosen to Christ, and they come. Not on their own, apart from Him, but they come because He draws them to Christ. Notice what verse 44 says. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. Now notice again, to be saved and have eternal life, one must come to Jesus. It's as simple as that. Those who don't come, are simply not saved because He is the way and there is no other. Peter, James, John, Paul, Augustine, Calvin, Abraham, David, and all the rest, including all of our believing loved ones who are already in glory, would tell us there's no other way. Boys and girls, if there's one thing that our grandparents who have left this life could tell us, that's exactly what they would tell us. There's only one way to heaven through Jesus Christ. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.11, For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. To be saved, one must come to Jesus Christ. He said, Come unto Me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But one only comes to Him by being drawn by the Father. Now the Greek word used for draw does not mean simply to plead or suggest or beg one to come. This drawing is powerful or an irresistible activity. Think of a well. We wouldn't just look into the well and say, here, water, come water. Water, I'd like you to come. That water's not going to move an inch. But when the bucket is drawn in the water, we draw that water up with the bucket. That water comes irresistibly. It cannot resist. And that's the way it is with our God who draws His people to the Father. The same word is used in John 21 where the disciples catch a fish was so great that they couldn't draw or pull or drag the net into the boat. By nature, man resists, yet the irresistible grace of God, which transforms man's heart, making it new, overpowers his resistance and draws him to the Savior. The Holy Spirit of God powerfully influences the mind, the will, the heart, the entire personality, so that in their conversion they turn from sin and turn to the Savior with a desire for the Savior. Believers are drawn to Jesus by a change of heart. Congregation, it's clear that the certainty of the church, the reality of the church, the existence of the church is the work of God. Faith is not our doing. It does not depend upon the will of man. The elect come to Christ as they hear the Gospel and are transformed by the renewing of their mind, as Romans 12 says. And that renewing is the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. You see, this is a promise of church growth. Not by gimmicks, but by the Gospel. The church will never be smaller or larger than what God has planned. All of the elect will come. Yet not one who is not elect will be able to sneak in under God's nose. It will never be smaller or larger than he has planned. Yet, it grows throughout history until it is complete. But the unsettling truth is that not all men come to Christ. That's unsettling. That's disturbing. Those who refuse to believe are not Christ's and haven't been given to Him by the Father. And those who do not come to Him are responsible for their own neglect. Those not chosen by God who do not and will not believe in Jesus Christ will suffer eternal hell because of their own sin and their eternal punishment will be well-deserved. Yet those who are given to Christ by the Father and come to Him through the Spirit believe only by grace. It's humbling to realize that without the giving grace of God and the drawing influence of the Father, not one would come to Jesus. Not one of us here tonight would take advantage of Christ's saving work apart from God's grace. Not one of us. But the comfort here is that the church is certain. It is real because God has chosen to glorify Himself and demonstrate His sovereignty and majesty by saving an undeserving people for Himself. As well, beloved, our comfort must be that when we don't see the immediate results of our labors for the Lord, yet, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, the Lord knows those who are His. We may not, but He does. How do we know if God has given us to Christ Jesus? Do you believe in Him alone for salvation? that salvation which you so desperately need? Do you believe that Jesus Christ took your place, the place which you fully deserved when He died on the cross and paid for your sins and that He purchased you with His redeeming blood? Do you believe that you belong body and soul in life and in death under your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ? If you believe, then you have been given to Him by the Father. And it's only after that then when we come to believe that we understand these words, I sought the Lord and afterward I knew, He moved my soul to seek Him first seeking me. The church is an amazing gift which the Father has given to the Son, Jesus Christ, and then to those given to Christ, the church. He also gives a wonderful promise. The church is received and kept by the Son. The text says, And whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away. The church comes to Christ individually, one at a time. And each one must come himself. In other words, one is not saved because of his or her attachment or association with another. A son or daughter is not saved just because his or her father and mother was saved and were believers. A grandchild is not saved simply because grandmother has prayed for years for that child. The only relationship that is a saving relationship is one that is with Christ. Boys and girls, you ought to be thankful and I hope you are that God has placed you in a Christian family with Christian parents who desire that you go to heaven. They desire that you be taught about Jesus Christ, that He is the only way. But you too need to understand that just because you are in a Christian home, you have Christian parents, doesn't mean that that will save you. The only relationship that is a saving relationship is one that is with Christ. But the comfort here again is that anyone who comes to Christ in true faith will be received by Christ. He will not reject delivery and will be kept by Him. Romans 10, verse 13 says, For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And notice, beloved, there are no qualifications here, for example, in the sense of degrees of sin. What I mean is Jesus doesn't say if he or she didn't commit such and such a sin or if he or she kept the total number of their sins under a certain amount or anything else, that then He would not cast them out. Our Lord doesn't say that. He doesn't give any exceptions. One who has committed the most heinous of crimes, if he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God, is accepted just as much as one who has never committed a terrible crime. No one is too bad for God to redeem. No one is beyond hope. except we know that Scripture speaks of the unpardonable sin for which there is no possibility of forgiveness. That is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the complete and utter rejection of God with a stone-cold heart. But the comfort for you and me who by the grace of God know how terrible is our sin and misery is that we don't have to despair, we don't have to worry, that Christ will reject us. All those who come to Him pleading upon His cleansing blood, He will receive and He will keep. He will never drive away, the text says. Now, the Greek here is beautiful. There is a double negative in the Greek which in our English version simply says, never, I will never drive them away. But literally in the Greek text it reads, I will not, I will not, for emphasis, drive away. But the comfort goes even deeper here. And that's what we mean by saying that the church is received and kept by the Son. How often don't we receive a gift? And after a certain amount of time, we discard it, we throw it away, we sell it on a garage sale, we give it away. But the church is kept. Not only will Christ take in, into the kingdom, into the family of God, all those who come to Him as a gift from the Father, but He will never throw them out. Now again, I don't mean to give you a Greek lesson here tonight, but it says literally, I will not drive them away to the outside. And the reference is from the inside. Those who are outside are those who have rejected the grace of God. Revelation 22, verses 14 and 15 says, Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie. Those on the inside, those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and believe on Him by grace through faith, those who have been given a place in the family of God will not be ejected or driven out. As Christ drove out of the temple those who bought and sold on the Sabbath, Our Lord gives His church comfort of her certainty. That she is a wanted gift. That she is a prized possession by our Lord. In His high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus says He loses none of those given to Him by the Father, but instead gives them eternal life. And in John 10, He says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hands. The church shall not be destroyed. But as the Bible says, we shall reign with Him forever and ever. That's security. Beloved, that's preservation of the saints. We shall not be lost, stolen, destroyed, and He will not purposefully cast believers out. In other words, that little saying is true, once saved, always saved. Peter is an example of this truth, isn't he? He came to Christ and was saved. Later, Peter rejected Him, but Christ didn't expel him. Instead, He restored Peter. Congregation, this is the message of the Gospel which we are called to preach and we are called to take to our neighbors and to the nations. Jesus makes it clear in the verses to follow that all of this is the will of the Father, which is also the will of the Son. None shall be lost, but all those given and drawn by the Father and received by the Son shall be kept forever. That's God's plan. And the Jews back in Jesus' day couldn't change it. Satan or you or me can't change it. We will not change God's plan. It's invincible. Who are those who come? Acts 13 verse 48 tells us as many as are appointed to eternal life. But who are they? We don't know for sure, do we? We don't know. And that's why the message of the Gospel must go out indiscriminately to all that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, as well the warning that those who reject Him shall be lost forever. We don't know those whom God has or will give to the Son except ourselves if we have faith in Jesus Christ. Really, we can only be 100% positive about ourselves. And we ought to be if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We might very well be the means that God uses to bring some to Christ and to find in Him eternal rest, but we don't know. But as well, congregation, as long as it is still today, we are not to give up. We are not to give up, let's say, on our loved ones who were raised in the faith and maybe have fallen away for the time being. Yet for each of us here who confesses to believe in Him, we are to find comfort in this and not license. We are not to find unlawful liberty. What I mean is if you think that you are in God's family and therefore will never be cast out and therefore you have the freedom to live like you want because you're saved anyway then you are sadly mistaken and you're probably not in. Instead, those who are truly a part of the family of God find comfort in their undeserved adoption by the Father for Jesus' sake. And they find comfort in their eternal security and therefore they desire to live by the rules of the Heavenly Father's house seeking to be pleasing to Him in all obedience. Beloved, the church, if Christ is certain, steadfast because she is the bride of Christ for which He paid the redemption price. The Father gave. And the Son said, I accept. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you a part of His church? Boys and girls, listen up. You must answer these questions too. Many years ago, a well-known preacher said to the children in his congregation, 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. That's blunt. That's straightforward. But it's true. You can understand the comfort of what it means that Jesus Christ took the punishment for the sins of His people. We understand punishment, don't we? And you can also understand the warning that those who do not believe in Jesus, they themselves will be punished for their own sins. God's people never have to worry about being cast out from His presence. But we must know whether or not we are in His presence. Are you? When the last day comes, those who are out are out because of their own sin and their own rejection of Christ and they were never in. But those who are in are in because of God's electing grace and kept because of Christ's saving grace. The blood of Jesus will never run out. It will never run dry. It will never wear out. But it will last for all eternity. It's not about who you are. It's not about what you did. But it truly is about who you know. Those who find refuge in Jesus Christ, He will never desert to His foes. He will never cast out. The church is the Father's amazing gift to the Son. And the church, God's people, own the wonderful promise of the Son, Jesus Christ, that She will be His bride forever. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we come before You once again as a church. And Father, if any of us entered this place tonight with doubts in our mind, worries that even though we know we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are afraid that somehow we will be cast out, we pray that that person may leave with greater confidence. O Lord God, may we not be deceiving ourselves, but give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ wholly and completely and to enjoy that wonderful promise that the church has received and kept forever and ever. Father, we thank You for Your wisdom. We thank You that to show forth Your glory You have saved a church for Yourself to glorify Your holy name and may that be our desire each and every day of our lives to glorify God and enjoy Him forever hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name Amen