Please turn with me in the Gospel of John to chapter 6. I know that Pastor Gordon just recently preached through the Gospel of John, and I'm sure you have all of those sermons firmly in mind, so if this is just a bit repetitive, I hope you'll forgive me, but I find most of the time we don't remember absolutely everything in a sermon. And this is not His sermon, after all. It's mine. John chapter 6. We'll take up the reading at verse 25. At verse 25 of John chapter 6. Let us hear God's own word. When the crowd found Him, that is Jesus, on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has sent his seal. And then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. So they said to him, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father 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. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day. So the Jews grumbled about Him, because He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by the Lord. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life, I am the bread of life. So far the reading of God's Word. some years ago there was something of a movement that was constantly saying that we ought to ask this question, what would Jesus do? It's not a bad question, but it was never quite as good a question as its proponents made it out to be, because after all, Jesus would do any number of things that we couldn't do, and maybe we even shouldn't do. And so, I always felt a better question than what would Jesus do is, what has Jesus done? What has Jesus done for His people? and what is Jesus doing. And when we ask those questions about what Jesus has done and what Jesus is doing, we know that the Bible tells us any number of things to answer that question. Jesus is doing a great number of things for us. And the Scripture contains a great number of promises about what Jesus is doing and will do for us. And tonight I would like to focus on just one of those promises, a promise that I think is particularly encouraging, and a promise that I think may be particularly necessary in this time where we do feel that the world is sort of going crazy, where we may wonder who's in control, what's happening, where is the world going? And in those sorts of moments, it's particularly valuable to focus on the promises that God has made to us. And the promise that I want to focus on this evening with you is the one that we find in John chapter 6 verse 39, where Jesus says, and this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is the will of God, that Jesus would lose nothing, that Jesus would lose no one that God has given him. but that every one of those given to Him would be raised up on the last day. In a time when I think we begin to wonder, is God's will being fulfilled? Is God accomplishing His purpose? It's important to turn to a promise with such clarity and such specificity. That we might be encouraged and built up in the faith. And this promise, I think, can be summed up perhaps in the simple words, no failure. There's no failure in Jesus. Jesus does not fail to accomplish what he sets out to do. Jesus does not fail to fulfill the work that the Father has given him to do. And the work the Father has given him is to save all of the elect. That's what he's really saying here. That God has given to him, the Father has given to Jesus a people. And he will save them all. Not one will be lost. He will raise them all on the last day to the praise of God the Father. It's a wonderful promise. It's almost an amazing promise, almost a shocking promise. It is so bold. It is so clear. It is so unavoidable that you think it would make everyone a Calvinist. Because that's really what this promise is. The Father has a purpose that He has willed in eternity, to give a people to the Son. And the Son is declaring He receives from the hand of the Father that people, and He will save that people, and every one of that people will be raised on the last day. It's a wonderful promise. It's a wonderful assurance. It's a wonderful encouragement. God's will cannot be frustrated. The world cannot frustrate it. Satan cannot frustrate it. I can't frustrate it. You can't frustrate it. Jesus will not fail to do the work that God has given him. And he will not fail to save his people. It's a promise that is so clear here, that is so wonderful here. And yet, John knows that perhaps not everyone is quite ready to receive such a promise. To be reassured by such a promise. And so John, in the presentation of this promise, reiterates it. Again and again in his gospel. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, remember when they come to arrest him, John 18 verse 9 says, Of those whom you gave me, I have not lost one. Of those whom you have given me, I have not lost one. That's the purpose he declared in John 6. It's the purpose he reiterates in John 18. it's the promise that we can rest our souls on. What he sets out to do, he will do. There is no failure in Jesus. In John 17, he declares, I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. not one lost. And then Jesus, knowing how we think, says, in effect, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, well, he did lose one. He lost Judas. And Jesus is saying here, I did not lose Judas. It was prophesied he would be lost. He was never one of mine. I did not fail with Judas. I preached a whole part of a sermon on that, so I don't need to go over that again, because you remember all that. But here Jesus is reiterating, you see. Here He's stating again and again that He will not fail. He will not lose. He will not be defeated. But everyone given to Him by the Father, He will save and raise up at the last day. He not only makes the promise, John not only reiterates the promise, but in a wonderful way, the promise is demonstrated here in John for us. Earlier in John chapter 6, Jesus has gone out into the wilderness and the crowd has followed Him. And Jesus recognizes that this is a place of some danger. And particularly, it's dangerous that they've traveled out into the wilderness and they don't have food to eat. And Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fishes and he blesses them and multiplies them. And we read that everyone ate and was satisfied. No one died of hunger in the wilderness that day. None was lost. And then Jesus said, I have filled the bellies of everyone. I have satisfied everyone. Collect now the leftover food. I don't know if they had a refrigerator, and I don't know if they had saran wrapped to cover it with, but there wasn't going to be any waste. And so they gathered the leftover food. And what do we read? There were 12 baskets gathered of food. And what is the comment that was made? Jesus says, John 6, verse 12, Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. Even the leftover fragments of food are gathered in part to say to us, none of the work that Jesus does is ever lost. None of it ever goes to waste. None of it ever fails in His purpose. None will be lost. And then I've often sort of wondered why in the middle of John 6, well, not exactly in the middle, but about a third of the way through, do we have the story of the disciples crossing the sea and Jesus walking on the sea to meet with them? When I study the Bible, I'm always asking the question, why. Why is the story told this way? Why does one event follow another? I always want to see how they connect, how they hold together. Sometimes it's easy to see, sometimes it's not so easy to see. And here in John chapter 6, I have asked myself, why is it that Jesus gives them bread at the beginning of John 6, and then in the latter part of John 6, he talks about how he is the bread, why is there this sea crossing episode in the middle? It doesn't seem to relate to the bread. And in studying for this sermon, it suddenly dawned on me. Once again, John is saying nothing is lost. The disciples are in a boat. The disciples are in a storm. The disciples are afraid. The disciples wonder what's going to happen to them. People in boats in a storm sometimes drown, but no one is lost. Jesus comes to them. Jesus says, fear not. Jesus calms the storm and brings them to the shore. Once again, John is showing us that Jesus keeps His promise that none will be lost, that he will preserve his own, that he will fulfill his promise. And here we see in John chapter 6 where so much of what's happening relates to Moses and the experience of the children of Israel at Sinai and in the wilderness and how they're fed with manna from heaven. John is saying, do you see how much better than Moses Jesus is? Joseph led them through the Red Sea. Moses led them through the Red Sea. Moses called upon God to send manna from heaven, but how many died in the wilderness? How many did not reach the promised land? Moses was not successful and could not say, not one has been lost. But Jesus, who feeds with the true bread from heaven, Jesus who calms the sea and brings his disciples over it, Jesus is able to say, I have not lost one. I will not lose one. Now, everyone the Father has given to me, I will save and raise up at the last day. It's a promise John wants us really to hear, really to grasp, really to hold on to. It's an important promise because it relates to what our forefathers, when they read Romans, used to refer to as the golden chain. Have you heard that phrase? the golden chain. It's the connected links of God's work in salvation. And in Romans 8, 8 is the chapter, Romans 8 verses 29 and 30, we have that golden chain laid out for us. Those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. And those whom He predestined, He called. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He glorified. And they call this a golden chain because it was a chain of linked activities of God that would never break, that would never fail, that would never be undone. God in eternity planned the salvation of His elect, and then in time He called the elect to faith, and in faith He justified them, and all He justified, He glorified. And you see, this is almost identical to what's being said in John chapter 6. What God plans in eternity, He accomplishes in history so that none are lost but all glorified on the last day when they are raised again to life. It's so beautiful to see how crucial this revelation of the work of God is. God is at work and will not fail. There is no failure in Him. If we were to talk about the golden chain in John chapter 6, we might say the links of the chain are these. The planner, the Father, sends the bread. That is the Son. And the bread gives life. And the life is received by faith. and faith is given by the one who draws. And all those who are drawn will never be lost, but raised up at the last day. And this is a beautiful picture of our salvation, of what our God has planned for us and what our Savior is doing for us, and it is all making the great point that God is sovereign in salvation. This is part of the great heritage of our churches. It's what the canons of Dort are all about, to declare and to explain, to clarify. This morning I said you could read the Bible and the catechism. You can also read the canons of Dort. They're a wonderful help. They're a wonderful assurance. And they all have this great message. The message summarized in John 6, 39. Jesus never fails. He accomplishes his purpose for his people. No failure, point one. If you're taking notes, point two is this. No fuss. No failure, no fuss. There are people who in the history of the church has fussed about this teaching. In fact, we have fussing in the text, don't we? The text that we read, John 6, 41. After Jesus has made this problem, we read, so the Jews grumbled about him. There's a lot of grumbling in John 6. Why would people grumble about a wonderful promise? Why would people grumble about the sovereignty of God? Why would people grumble about the assurance that God will save? It's because that great truth is humbling. That great truth says you cannot save yourself. And there are a lot of people who go through the whole history of the church who have not wanted to hear that. I want to be able to save myself. I'm going to be saving myself. If I can't save myself, I don't want to be saved. Later in John 6, we'll read that some of his own disciples turn away and follow him no more because they don't want to hear this hard saying. Now, those who have fussed about this teaching through history have often raised various philosophical and theological objections, and I don't want to minimize those. But I want to remind all of us that the root of objection is almost always at this point, that we don't want to place our souls in the hands of God. We don't want to say that it must be all God's doing It cannot be our doing. We have to humble ourselves and confess our utter need for the Father and the Son and the Spirit to do all the work of saving. Now, part of the fuss is, well, doesn't such a teaching make us sort of fatalistic? Won't such a teaching just cause us to sit back and say, well, good, I don't need to do anything. I don't need to be active. I don't need to take responsibility. Some might say, why in the world did we take an offering for mercy work in Mexico? If God's going to save those people, He'll save them. Well, that kind of a reaction fundamentally and rather deliberately misunderstands what Jesus is saying here. He doesn't say we don't have responsibility. He doesn't say we mustn't do evangelism. He certainly isn't saying we mustn't do teaching and preaching. Why did He gather up those 12 baskets of bread? so that he could give them to his 12 apostles to suggest their work in carrying the bread of life to the world. Jesus makes very clear in this text that we're to call people to faith. And he makes very clear in this text that everyone called who comes will be saved. That's what's sometimes suggested against this teaching, that there are all sorts of people who would like to come, but they're not called. And so this teaching becomes arbitrary and grotesque. And Jesus says, that's not the truth at all. He makes another promise. We don't have time to look at it at such length, but He makes another important promise in this chapter. John 6, verse 37, Whoever comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. If you're sitting here tonight and you're wondering, am I one of the elect? If you're doubting as to whether you really belong to Jesus, if you're sitting here tonight wondering whether the promise of John 6, 39 really applies to you, Jesus says there's a way of knowing. Jesus says to you, have you come to me? Have you come to me? Because if you come to me, I will never cast you out. In fact, if you come to me, you'll know that it is I who have drawn you. Because you couldn't come on your own. You can only come if I draw you. And so, if you're coming, if you're desiring to be mine, Jesus says, then it's a sign that I'm drawing you. Everyone who comes to me, Jesus promises, without any kind of qualification, everyone who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. But when you've come, when you've come, then you realize you didn't come out of your wisdom or out of your strength or out of your goodness, but you came out of the gift of God, and you'll praise Him, and you'll rejoice in Him, and you'll cherish that promise that you are one of those whom the Father has given to the Son and one of those whom the Son will never let go of, but rise up at the last day. So, no fussing about this wonderful teaching. Now, early in this chapter, in a really wonderful moment, these members of the crowd who've been following Him, say, what must we do to be doing the work of God? They're really saying, what must we do to earn salvation? What kind of work does God require of us to save us? And Jesus has a wonderful answer. This is the work of God. You can see they almost have their notebooks out. Maybe they're wondering, is he going to have a three-point answer because he's a preacher? What is the work that I have to do? Jesus says, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom the Father has sent. Jesus has turned their work religion upside down. And saying, it isn't works that will bring you to God. It's faith that will bring you to God. And why will faith bring you to God? Because faith says, I can't do it. God must do it. I can't look at myself. I must look to Jesus. I must find in Jesus my hope, my salvation. And so the promise is, whoever believes in me, Jesus says, will never thirst. If you think today, I'm not sure if I've come, then give yourself another test. Have I believed? Have I trusted Jesus? Have I recognized that Jesus is the one the Father sent into the world to save the world? Do you trust him? Do you believe in him? Do you acknowledge him to be the true and only Savior? Then Jesus says, you'll never thirst. You'll never be cast out. You belong to me. Remember at the end of John 6, there's that poignant scene where many of Jesus' disciples have turned away, and Jesus turns to the twelve, and He says, will you also go away? And Peter, the one who usually gets everything wrong, gets one absolutely right, and he says, to whom shall we go? For you have the words of eternal life. That's what it means to believe. That's what it means to trust, to know that it is Jesus who has the words of eternal life. So no failure in Jesus, no fuss on the part of his people, and so therefore no fear in our hearts. We don't need to fear the world in all of its opposition. Oh, the world will oppose us. The world might even kill us. Probably not. I don't think it's that interested in most of us. But the world will oppose us. And we need have no fear. The church may be confused. And in many parts of the world, parts of the church today are pathetic having wandered away from the faith. but the confusion of the church cannot harm us. We need have no fear. We may feel challenged in our own hearts about our sinfulness, about our propensity not to embrace as firmly as we should the promises of God. But the wonderful thing is we don't even have to fear ourselves. because Jesus has made us a promise that stands outside ourselves, everyone that the Father has given to me. I will not lose one and will raise him up at the last day. Speaking regrettably from experience, as you get older, you have a variety of worries. And one of the worries can sometimes be, my mind begin to fail and I may not remember Jesus. And the wonderful promise of the word is if you don't remember him he'll remember you. He'll never leave you or forsake you. He has promised that you belong to him and he will not fail in accomplishing his purpose. And so we must not fear we must be full of faith and full of confidence because Jesus never fails and he will not fail you may God fill us with that hope and confidence in believing Amen let us pray Lord we are amazed that we have a Savior who makes such glorious promises to his people and reveals in the promise itself His great saving purpose and His sovereign power and authority. He, indeed, is the one who has the words of eternal life. And He is the one who gives eternal life to His own. And help us in all of the distress of life, all of the doubts of life, all of the burdens of life to be people who know that Jesus never fails, but will raise us up on the last day to the glory of God the Father. Hear us, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.