Everyone and No One (John 6:35-45) - Charles Leiter

If we could open our Bibles to John 6.

John 6 and we'll begin reading at v. 35.

"Jesus said to them,

'I am the bread of life.

He who comes to Me shall not hunger,

and he who believes in Me

shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen Me

and yet do not believe.

All (that is every one)

that the Father gives to
Me shall come to Me,

and the one who comes to Me

I will certainly not 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 of all that He has given Me

I lose nothing,

but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of My Father,

that every one who beholds the Son

and believes in Him may have eternal life,

and I Myself will raise
him up on the last day.'

The Jews therefore were
grumbling about Him

because He said 'I am the bread

that came down out of heaven.'

And they were saying,

'Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph

whose father and mother we know?

How does He now say

I've come down out of heaven?'

Jesus answered and said to 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 shall all (every one)

they shall all be taught of God,

every one who has heard

and learned from the Father comes to Me.

Not that any man has seen the Father

except the One who is from God,

He has seen the Father.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

he who believes has eternal life.'"

And then v. 64,

"But there are some of you

who do not believe.'

For Jesus knew from the beginning

who they were who did not believe

and who it was that would betray Him.

And He was saying, 'For this reason

I have said to you that no one

can come to Me

unless it has been granted him

from the Father.'"

Lord willing, I want
to speak to you tonight

on the subject of everyone and no one.

Everyone and no one.

Normally we might think
of everyone or no one,

but in this case,

many of the everyone's are the no one's.

And so it's everyone and no one.

And in John 6 here we find

the everyone and the no one

spoken in terms of 4 absolute certainties.

And we'll be using those
absolute certainties

as a framework to look at these

everyone's and no one's.

And we'll be moving around in this section

looking at these logically,

rather than chronologically.

Because the everyone's and the no one's

are interconnected and I think this will

help make it a little clearer as we go.

I trust that that's the case.

So first of all then, the first certainty

is given to us in the first half of v. 37.

"All that the Father gives Me

shall come to Me."

And before we look at the statement itself

I want us to make note
of a couple phrases here.

The first one is "come to Me."

And that in itself is an
incredible statement.

We see it repeatedly in this passage.

As you look down through here,

v. 35, "I am the bread of life.

He who comes to Me..."

In v. 37, "All the Father gives Me

shall come to Me."

And v. 44, "No one can come to Me

unless the Father draws him."

In v. 45, "Everyone who has heard

and learned from the Father comes to Me."

And v. 65, "For this reason,

I have said to you that no one can

come to Me unless it's been granted

by the Father."

And what a glorious phrase this is!

We can still - men still come to Christ.

It's been 2,000 years since
He walked this earth,

but it's still possible to come to Christ.

And we've been hearing that over and over

during this conference: Come.

It's possible.

You could come to Christ
tonight if you would.

You can still come to Him.

And it is a remarkable phrase.

And just in this phrase itself,

it shows the vast difference

between the Lord Jesus Christ

and all other religious teachers.

No other religious teacher
says "come to me."

The Lord Jesus offers salvation

by inviting men to Himself.

Come to Me.

It's totally different than Confucius.

It's totally different than Mohammed.

It's totally different than Buddha.

Matthew 11, "Come unto Me

all you that labor and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest."

So here He is offering

rest for your soul -

He goes on and says that -

rest for your soul.

Come to Me.

Not: follow this philosophy.

Not: follow this teaching.

Not: follow the noble eightfold path.

But come to Me,

and I personally will give you

eternal rest - rest for your soul.

Can you imagine Confucius saying,

"Come to me and I will
give you rest for your soul"?

It's totally unique with the Lord Jesus.

But not only that,

the demands that He places

on those who come to Him

are entirely unlike those

that any other religious
teacher would give.

For example, Luke 14:26,

"If anyone comes to Me..."

There it is again.

"...Comes to Me

and does not hate his own father

and mother and wife and children

and brothers and sisters,

yes, even his own life,

he can't be My disciple.

He who loves father or mother more than Me

is not worthy of Me.

He who loves son or daughter more than Me

is not worthy of Me."

So He's inviting us to Himself -
"Come to Me" -

and He's demanding that we have

a love for Him that's so much greater

than our love for the dearest loved one.

Now think of this.

Can you imagine Mohammed saying

you have to love me personally

more than you love your wife

or your father or your mother?

This is totally unique.

So here's this one, the Lord Jesus Christ,

saying come to Me

and if you come to Me,

you have to love and be devoted to Me

so much that by comparison

all other loves are hatred.

That's what He's saying.

Incredible statement.

Again, imagine Confucius saying

he who loves father or mother more than me

is not worthy of me.

It's unthinkable.

And these are not the only
"come to Me" statements

in the Bible, are they? Listen to these.

"You are unwilling to come to Me

that you might have life."

"I am the bread of life.

He who comes to Me shall not hunger.

He who believes in Me shall never thirst."

"Now in the last day,
the great day of the feast,

Jesus stood and cried out saying,

'If any man is thirsty,

let him come to Me and drink.'"

"He who believes in
Me as the Scripture said

out of his innermost being shall flow

rivers of living water."

Picture any other teacher

standing and saying "come to me."

"I am the bread of life. Come to me.

You'll never hunger. You'll never thirst."

Amazing! We just read these.

The Lord Jesus is in
such a different category

that we read these things

without even thinking about it.

Even the little phrase: "come to Me" -

nobody says things like that.

"Come to Me and I'll
give you eternal life."

"I give unto them eternal life

and they shall never perish."

He's so exalted that He can say things

that no other man could ever say.

And we just read them naturally

because they fit Him so well.

So let me ask you a question

before we go on.

Have you come to Christ?

Have you come to Christ?

Not: have you believed historical facts?

Not: have you turned over a new leaf

and tried to follow a
better path for your life?

But have you come to Him personally?

The Lord has been bringing this back to us

every message, again and again.

It's a serious thing to have heard

the things that we've heard

and not come.

How many times have we
heard the word "come"?

Well, there's a second phrase in v. 37

that I want to mention before we look

at the sentence itself,

and that is this phrase:

"All that the Father gives Me

shall come to Me."

"All that the Father gives Me..."

This is amazing too.

There are certain people

whom the Father gives to the Son.

He gives them.

In many, I suppose, many cultures

on a birthday or special occasion,

somebody gives you a gift.

And there have been people

that have even received slaves as a gift -

sorry to say.

But they made a gift.
They received these slaves.

Beloved, no mortal man has ever

been able to receive a
human soul as a gift.

That's not happening.

You can give a guy a slave,

but you can't give that person to anybody.

Because you have to be a divine person

to receive a soul as a gift.

Think of this right in what
Jesus is saying right here:

He says I'm able to
receive the souls of men,

but I'm able to receive people -

body and soul - as a gift,

and take them and accept them as a gift.

Isn't that amazing?

John 17:1-2,

"Father, the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son

even as You gave Him authority

over all mankind,

that to all whom You have given Him,

He may give eternal life."

He has authority over all mankind

to receive the souls and persons of men

and give eternal life to them.

John 10:28-29,

"I give eternal life to them

and they shall never perish.

No one shall snatch them out of My hand.

My Father who has given them to Me

is greater than all,

and no one is able to snatch them

out of the Father's hand."

Once again, certain people

the Father gives to the Son,

and to those people He gives eternal life.

What a glorious thing this is!

John Murray says this,

"Think of it.

When a sinner comes to Christ

in the commitment of faith;

when the rebellious will is renewed

and tears of penitence begin to flow,

it is because a mysterious transaction

has been taking place between

the Persons of the Godhead.

The Father has been making a presentation,

a donation to His own Son."

Amazing thing.

Listen to John 17:6,

"I manifested Your name to the men

whom You gave Me out of the world.

Yours they were,

and You gave them to Me,

and they have kept Your Word."

Yours they were.

And you remember back in Ezekiel,

God says, "All souls are mine."

The soul of the father,

the soul of the son.

I remember one time many years ago

I was praying for a lost loved one

and kind of trying to twist
God's arm to answer me,

and He brought this verse to mind.

That person - whether it's your mother

or your child or whoever -

they don't belong to you.

They're not yours. They're God's.

He says, "All souls are mine."

I'll decide about this.

It's in My power.

Now, He's made wonderful promises,

but we've got to go to God

and pray for our loved ones

on the basis that we know

He doesn't owe us anything.

We don't deserve anything.

Those souls belong to Him.

Every soul is His.

I remember Don Johnson told

about praying for his son James.

He said, "Mae, I'm going to go out

and pray for James again."

And he went out

and the first thing he said,

"Lord, he deserves to go to hell.

You can send him to hell

and you'd be right."

What's that? That's acknowledging:

Lord, I know he belongs to you.

His soul is not mine. It's Yours.

But if You could have mercy on him...

See, that's the attitude that we come.

And lo and behold, God did. He saved him.

Basically we're saying,

"Father, I know that that person's soul

is in Your hands to dispose of

as You see fit,

but if You could ever see fit

to give them as a gift to Your Son,

I would thank You so much."

Isn't that amazing?

That's what we're asking.

"Thine they were,

and You gave them to Me,

and they have kept Your Word."

Alright, we've made
note of a couple phrases

at the first part of v. 37,

but the phrase itself is this:

"All that the Father gives Me

shall come to Me."

So this is the first certainty.

Everyone - some translations have that.

Everyone that the Father
gives Me shall come to Me.

It's an absolute certainty, beloved,

that anytime the Father

gives a person to the Son,

that person comes.

Jesus just said that.

Everyone that the Father gives Me

shall come to Me.

There's no thought of anybody -

the Father wants to
give this gift to His Son

and that person refuses

the Father's good and kind intention

to be given to the Son.

That never happens.

We have the Lord's Word for that.

It's an absolute certainty

that that person will come.

You remember Saul of Tarsus.

Said he was separated from
his mother's womb.

God set him apart.

One day, I'm going to give him as a gift.

I remember one time

I was having a Bible study
with some Buddhist girls

and one of the girls said -

God began to deal with her -

she said don't pray for me.

I don't want to become a Christian.

Well, she did become a Christian

because the Father determined

to give her to the Son.

And "all that the Father gives
Me shall come to Me."

Every one of them.

Every one.

What a glorious thing!

You realize we're not dealing

with human frailties.

We're not dealing with
the fickle will of man.

We're not dealing with things

that can fall through and not happen.

We're dealing with things

that are absolute certainties.

Everyone that the Father gives Me

shall come to Me.

And nothing can stop it from happening.

Well, we'll return to this a little later

because the Lord says it in different ways

down through here.

Let's move on to the second certainty.

V. 44, "No one can come to Me..."

He just said everyone the
Father gives shall come.

Now He said "no one."

No one can come

"Unless the Father who sent Me draws him."

People say, well, that's true,

but God draws everyone.

You know, He's tugging at their heart,

at their heart strings,

and some people resist effectually.

Some people come.

Well, God does tug on people,

but that's not what the
Lord's talking about here.

(incomplete thought)

Well, let me just prove
it to you what it means.

In v. 64 and 65, He says it

in a different way.

V. 64, "Jesus knew from the beginning

who they were who did not believe,

and who it was who would betray Him.

And He was saying, 'for this reason

I have said to you that
no one can come to Me...'"

And He words it a little differently.

"...Unless it's been granted
him from the Father."

So He does not grant to everyone

to come to Christ.

Parallel statement -

He does not draw everyone.

You see that?

Same phrase said in a different way.

Same truth.

But not only that, the word "draw"

does not mean "tug," it means "draw."

In John 18:10, "Simon Peter

having a sword drew it."

Same word.

So what's that mean?

Here's Peter with his sword.

That's not what it means that he drew it.

Not: He tugged on it.

He drew it.

Isn't this amazing?

"No man can come to me

unless the Father draws him."

And He draws him to Christ.

It's this effectual thing again.

Same thing whenever it says

they dragged them -

let me just read it.

This is Acts 16:19,

"When her master saw

that their hope of profit was gone,

they seized Paul and Silas

and dragged them into the marketplace."

Same word. They drew them in there.

They didn't tug on them.

They drew them in.

And you get the feeling of the movement

that's taking place when the Father draws.

What a glorious thing this is!

Now think about this.

We don't want to get this wrong.

It says that no man can come to Christ

unless it's granted to him by the Father,

unless the Father draws him.

What the Lord is setting forth here

is man's moral inability
to come to Christ,

to respond rightly to the Gospel.

Men are not able to come to Christ

apart from this drawing

and work of the Father.

That's the only way.

And this movement takes place,

but we don't want to misunderstand this.

This is a moral inability.

It's not a physical inability.

It's a moral inability.

I've had people say things like this:

Well, you're saying that God

commands men to believe.

Yes.

But they can't believe.

Right? Yeah, they can't believe.

So then He sends them to hell

for something they can't believe anyway.

Right?

And I've literally read this.

It was compared to a father.

It said what father

would take his little boy -

you know, his five year old boy,

and say carry this
500 pound sack of grain?

He can't do it.

And then he beats him
for something he can't do.

Well, men can't come to Christ.

God says come to Christ.

They can't do it. Jesus said that.

He doesn't draw everybody

and He doesn't give it to everybody.

And so here the poor guy can't come

and then God puts him in hell

because he can't come.

Now that is a misunderstanding.

(incomplete thought)

See, this little boy not being able

to carry that sack of grain -

there's nothing wrong with that.

That's totally innocent.

But man's inability is a
totally different thing.

The inability to come to Christ

is a totally different thing.

I think one of the old Puritans

brought up the case of Joseph's brothers.

It says they hated Joseph

and could not speak a good word about him.

They couldn't do it.

That's not the idea that:

here comes that dreamer,

I think I'll speak a good word about him

and they try and can't get
it out of their throat.

That isn't it.

They hate him so much

that all that comes out of them

is hatred toward him.

You see that?

That is a culpable inability.

That is an inexcusable inability

that rises from hatred of the object.

And men can't come to Christ

not because they're
poor little innocent things

that can't come to Christ.

They can't come to Christ
because they hate Him.

They hate Him without a cause.

I think those Pharisees -

they were the religious -

I think they were shocked

when they saw themselves

shouting, "Crucify Him!"

They got put in a corner

and you know the evil -

you know, the rat began to snarl.

And I think they themselves
were shocked by it.

Because all men - all men - hate God.

They do. The Bible says that.

So when we talk about inability,

we don't want to get
the wrong end of this.

We're talking about something

that is an index of depravity.

It tells just how bad you are.

You're so bad, you hate God so much

you can't bring yourself

to do the right thing.

You don't want to.

When we're speaking to the lost,

we need to keep both
of these things in mind.

On the one hand, we need
to realize they're unable.

They need a miracle from God.

It's not a matter, and if you just said it

a different way

and just had a little
more of this and that

in what you say to them,

and if you just showed a
little more love and so on,

then they'd be saved.

It's like Brother John said the other day.

It takes God -

and He can use the slightest thing -

some little phrase or something

God brings home to the heart.

It doesn't have to do
with how eloquent you are

or how good you are presenting the Gospel.

A.W. Tozer - he was
so burdened for his mom,

he came into the room.

Now here's going to be an eloquent

presentation of the Gospel.

No, he just burst into tears

and said, "Mom, you're lost."

Sometimes that's about all we can do.

(incomplete thought)

They're not able.

And they won't be able

unless the Father draws them.

On the other hand, we've got to remember

that their inability - we don't start

feeling sorry for them in the sense

of blaming God.

You've got to be reminded,

you've got to realize why is it

that men can't believe?

I've seen parents that have two boys

and they're both Christians

and their parents harden themselves

to what their boys are saying. Why?

Why not listen to them?

Why would they not say

tell us about this?

Brother Gilbert gave that parable

of the great dinner.

(incomplete thought)

I'm sorry - Josue.

There's another similar one

you remember, of a king

who gave a wedding feast for his son.

Matthew 22.

And he says in there - now this is a king.

And he says my oxen, my livestock,

everything's ready.

He said the same thing:
everything's ready.

What an honor to get an
invitation from a king!

What does it say?

They paid no attention and went their way.

You've got an invitation from the king.

They come running up, show it to you.

They go their way, one to his farm,

another to his business.

They ignore.

That's an insult right there

when you don't do anything.

You don't respond.

You say, well, I'm not for Jesus

or against Him - I'm kind of neutral.

Well, as soon as you pay no attention

you're already slapping
the King in the face.

But what else does it say?

This is incredible.

"The rest seized his slaves

and mistreated them and killed them."

And that's going on, beloved, right now

around the world.

It's going on in one
country after another.

We know of Christians.

We know of them.

They come and they say to a person:

"Good news! There's a feast for you."

"Oh, I'm going to kill you."

Think of that.

Isn't that amazing?

They mistreat them and kill them.

We've got to remember both.

We've got to remember and pray.

When you think of this person,

they can't, they're helpless in sin.

We've got to pray for them.

They're not going to make it

if we don't pray that God
does some miracle in them.

But at the same time,

you don't start blaming God

for the fact that they're lost.

It's evil what they're doing.

If you're not a Christian here tonight

and you've heard these ones

like Brother Josue and different ones

pour out their hearts

and have this invitation,

it's evil if you don't come to Christ.

You just walk away,

one to his business.

Huh... ho hum.

We're not talking about an earthly king.

We're talking about
the King of the universe.

Well, you saw the "no one."

Everyone whom the
Father gives Me shall come.

No one can come unless...

There's none. There's none righteous.

No not one. There's
none that understandeth.

You see, moral inability
flows from moral depravity.

There's none that seeketh after God.

There's nobody.

Nobody in the whole world

apart from the Holy Spirit
working in their heart.

There's nobody that's
really seeking after God.

Men might be out here
laying on a bed of nails.

They're doing it because they want

to bolster up their pride.

But if anybody seeks God,

God will save them.

"All have turned aside,

together they have become useless."

There's none who does good -

no not one.

And so it's by grace through faith,

that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God

lest any man should boast.

No man can boast because nobody

is able to believe on his own.

Even that God has to do.

Now before we move on from this,

I just want to say, beloved,

you know you might have this idea -

He just said no man can come to Me

unless God draws him.

If you take this idea:

Well, I'll do that someday.

You know that offer's hanging out there.

I'll just do it someday.

You don't have that guarantee at all.

If you're feeling in your heart

the Holy Spirit - God said My Spirit

will not always strive with man -

and you're feeling the
Holy Spirit tugging on you,

you don't know, you have no guarantee

that you're going to
feel that way tomorrow

or down the line somewhere.

That is in the hands of God.

If He leaves you alone,

you're going to go right down into hell.

Putting it off.

It's like, well, the king said to come.

I don't want to do that now,

but I'll do it some other time

whenever I choose.

That's a really dangerous position.

Third certainty.

Number 3. Verse 45.

"It is written in the Prophets

they shall all be taught of God."

Everyone.

The third absolute certainty

is that everyone who
ever becomes a Christian

is personally taught by God.

Personally taught by God.

And this being taught by God is described

a little later in the verse

as hearing and learning from the Father.

Everyone who has heard and learned.

So being taught by God

is the same as hearing
and learning from God.

And going back up to the verse before,

it's the same as being drawn by God.

So He comes and teaches you personally.

You hear and learn from Him

and He draws you.

A little bit above that it says,

v. 40, "This is the will of My Father

that everyone who beholds the Son

and believes in Him..."

So there's an opening of the eyes.

You've got to get a glimpse.

When the Father teaches you,

He starts to teach you,

He starts to draw you.

You hear and learn from the Father.

And what happens is you get a glimpse.

You behold.

In a little measure, you behold the Son.

And it also tells us what it means

when He says "all that
the Father gives Me."

This giving of the Father

is what takes place

when the Father begins to teach a person

and they begin to hear
and learn from the Father

and He begins to draw them

and He draws them in this gift to the Son.

All those things fit together, you see.

Every Christian has been personally

taught by God and heard and learned

from the Father prior
to his coming to Christ.

Now how does that happen in practice?

Well, we've heard some of that.

Here's a person. They've gone
to church all their life.

They've sat in meetings year after year.

And one day, they hear and
learn from the Father.

It's like they've never heard before.

They've heard these words,

but now they hear.

And everyone who hears and
learns from the Father

comes to Christ.

So the question: have
you been taught by God?

What does the Father teach a lost person

prior to his coming to Christ?

Well, He teaches him that he's lost

and He teaches that Christ is the Savior.

It just boils down to that.

He teaches him that he's lost.

John talked about that

in terms of some of these different men.

He teaches a person that
he's lost and undone.

And He teaches him that there's a Savior.

He convicts him of sin and
righteousness and judgment,

and He leads him to Christ.

You remember Matthew 16?

"Who do men say that I am?"

Well, some say You're this. Some say that.

"Who do you say that I am?"

He says, "You're the Christ,
the Son of the living God."

"Blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah..."

You've been taught by God.

Flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you.

You saw.

You were taught by God.

2 Corinthians 4,

If our Gospel is hidden,

it's hidden to those that are lost.

And then the god of this world has blinded

the minds of the unbelieving

lest the light of the Gospel of Christ

who is the image of God
should shine unto them.

But what?

God who commanded light
to shine out of darkness

has shown in our hearts

to give the light of the knowledge

of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ.

So God shines in the heart.

We hear and learn from the Father.

And we see a glimpse of who Jesus is

and we believe on Him.

Now, there's one more certainty to look at

but before we do that, notice this:

The Lord Jesus repeats
this first certainty.

What was in v. 37 - He said

all that the Father gives
Me shall come to Me -

He repeats that here and He says

everyone who's heard and
learned from the Father comes.

Every single one of them.

It's just a different way
of saying it, you see.

This certainty that everyone who has

heard and learned from the Father

comes to Christ.

The teaching of the Father
is always effectual.

No one ever hears and
learns from the Father

and doesn't come to Christ.

You've got to get ahold of this.

Nobody rejects Jesus in that sense.

Once you begin to hear and learn

from the Father, you come to Christ.

It's a glorious thing.

Just an aside, for what it's worth

for you theologians,

I think this hearing and
learning from the Father

is what we see happening in Romans 7.

People look at that and they say

how could that be a man
who isn't converted?

How can he say such things as that?

Well, the answer is he couldn't.

But Paul is writing that as one

who is now a Christian
(incomplete thought).

The lost man coming to Christ

doesn't have a clue what's going on.

He couldn't begin to write these things

that Paul writes in Romans 7.

He's in a muddle and all he knows is

he's starting to realize
he's lost and he cries out.

But Paul as a Christian looking back

analyzes this whole thing.

(incomplete thought)

Listen to this, there is a hearing

and learning from the Father

that is qualitatively
different in the elect

than anything that ever
happens to a lost person.

And it always leads to them saying

thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

They always get converted.

This guy that's writing Romans 7 -

he's been converted.

And he's come to Christ.

Well, you can think about it.

Before we go on though,
let me ask you this:

Have you experienced

the irresistible attraction
of the Redeemer?

Have you experienced that?

Is He so lovely to you
and so precious to you

that you can't live without Him?

This thing of saying
"for me to live is Christ,"

that's not some super-Christian.

If you're a Christian and
you have the thought

I've got to go without Him;

I've got to go on and press
on forever without Him -

see, it's more than just
I'm going to be in hell.

It's the idea that I'm going
to be without Christ.

Every Christian can say that:

for me to live is Christ.

I don't have any reason to live

if I don't have Him.

That's a person that has experienced

the irresistible attraction.

They're drawn. They will come.

Every one of them will come to Christ

because they can't keep from it.

That's what it is to be drawn.

Philippians 3:3,

"We are the true circumcision..."

You remember the second one?

"They glory in Christ Jesus."

A true Christian can feel so weak.

They can question whether
they're even a Christian or not,

but you start talking to them about Jesus

and the glories of Jesus

and they glory in Christ Jesus.

They love Him!

They want to hear about Him.

Last one.

Verse 37

"All that the Father gives
Me shall come to Me..."

and the last half of the verse:

"The one who comes to Me,

I will certainly not cast out."

Absolutely certainty that Christ

will in no wise cast out
anyone who comes to Him.

Now the term "cast out" in this verse

is often taken in the
sense of "turn away."

The one who comes to Me,

I will not turn away; I won't refuse him.

I won't refuse to accept him.

And certainly that's true.

I mean, can you imagine the Father

wants to give a gift to His Son

and He says, "I don't want it."

That's not possible.

But that's not what Jesus is saying here.

The word translated "cast out"

is used with reference to something

that's already in that
is ejected or driven out.

Same word used with reference to demons.

They're in and they're cast out.

Or when Jesus drove
them out of the temple.

Same word.

He cast them out of the temple.

And what He's saying here is He's saying

if you ever come to Me,

if My Father ever gives you to Me,

I'll never get rid of you.

I'll hold on to you forever.

I will in no wise part with you.

Nothing could cause Me to part with you.

Douglas McMillan - he told a story.

He said he had a Bible
that his father gave him.

His father died.

But that Bible his father gave him

is up there on the shelf.

It's all worn out, falling apart.

And some friend came and
he's looking through his books.

He said you ought to
throw that Bible away.

It's about to fall apart.

He said no way I'll ever get rid of that.

My father gave that to me.

That's what Jesus is talking about here.

I will in no wise - nothing could cause Me

to get rid of them and throw them away.

I've received them as
a gift from the Father.

Beloved, if you're a Christian,

Christ is never going to part with you.

And He goes on to explain why.

Verse 38, "For..." now He says,

"he that comes to Me,
I will certainly not cast out,

for I have come down from heaven

not to do My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me."

He says the reason that I will never

cast away anybody who has been given to Me

is that I came down here
to accomplish a purpose.

I came down here to do the
will of Him who sent Me.

What's that, Lord? Well, the next verse:

This is the will of Him who sent Me

that of those that He's given Me -

all that He's given Me -

I lose nothing - not one -

but raise them up on the last day.

He said I came down here
to accomplish a purpose.

I came to save everyone
that the Father's given Me

and I'm not going to fail

at what I came to do.

Not one.

Have you ever noticed the
"not one" of Scripture?

Let me just read some of them to you.

This is out of Matthew 18.

"Whoever receives one such child

in My name receives Me."

Now He's talking about believers.

I'd have to go into
that to prove it to you.

"But whoever causes one

of these little ones who
believe in Me to stumble,

it were better for him
that a heavy millstone

were hung around his neck."

"See to it that you do not despise one

of these little ones."

"What do you think? If a
man has a hundred sheep

and one of them has gone astray,

does he not leave the 99 on the mountains

and search for the one?

Thus it is not the will of your Father

who is in heaven

that one of these little ones perish."

Again, He's talking about believers.

God the Father - it is not His will

that one believer perish.

It's the same thing as
He's saying here in John 7.

This is the will of Him who sent Me

that of that which He has given Me -

of those whom He has given Me,

I lose not one.

It's not His will for one of
the little ones to perish.

John 17:12

"While I was with them,

I was keeping them in Your name

which You have given Me

and I guarded them

and not one of them perished..."

but the son of perdition of course.

Judas was a different story.

He never did believe.

"That the Scripture might be fulfilled."

And again in John 18:8-9,

"Jesus answered, 'I told you that I am He.

If therefore you seek Me,
let these go their way,'

that the Word might be fulfilled

which He spoke, 'of those
whom You have given Me,

I lost not one.'"

And that's the initial fulfillment.

Even in this lifetime He was keeping them.

And He will keep us forever.

Right there in the high
priestly prayer so called,

He says, "Father I will that those

whom You have given Me

be with Me where I am."

That settled it right there.

I mean, is Jesus going to pray

contrary to the will of God? No.

Is He going to pray in unbelief? No.

As soon as He prayed the prayer,

"Father, I want all those

that You have given Me

be with Me where I am

that they may behold My glory."

That guaranteed the salvation

of every single one given.

That one day, it's just a matter of time,

everyone who's been given to the Son

in just a few heartbeats

is going to behold His glory.

It's going to happen.

I love these certainties, don't you?

I don't like this: well, maybe...

Gilbert, what if Jesus said

that of all whom He has given Me,

I lose only five?

Think of how horrible that would be.

See, God is concerned about the one.

And He's so powerful that He can

keep track of and take care of

one out of millions, out of billions.

Actually out of a lot more than that.

You remember how many stars?

Ten thousand billion trillion.

You have a trillion stars.

You have a billion of those trillions.

And then you have ten thousand

of those billion trillions.

This is what it says.

"Lift up your eyes on high

and see who has created these stars,

the one who leads forth
their hosts by number.

He calls them all by name

because of the greatness of His might

and the strength of His power

not one of them is missing."

Not one.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?

And yet not one of them will

fall to the ground
apart from your Father."

How many sparrows are there in the world?

Not one.

And in the parallel,

the Lord said these
things in different ways.

You know, He was saying
these things all over the place.

(incomplete thought)

Aren't you grateful?

Because it puts a little
different light on them.

"Are not five sparrows sold for two cents?

And yet not one of them
is forgotten before God."

He says it a little differently.

Not one of them is forgotten.

And I've shared this many times.

You may have heard it.

I love this idea of the forgotten sparrow.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?"

"Are not five sparrows
sold for two cents?"

Now wait a minute.

Two sparrows for a cent.

That would be four sparrows for two cents,

not five.

But they're considered so worthless,

you just throw in one.

It doesn't even cost.

The forgotten sparrow.

And He says I won't forget that one.

Not one of them will be forgotten

before your Father.

That's good to remember, isn't it?

Because sometimes you feel
like God has forgotten you.

Lord, don't You care that we perish?

He says you'll be delivered up

even by parents and brothers

and relatives and friends.

They'll put some of you to death.

You'll be hated by all
on account of My name.

Yet, not a hair -

not one hair of your head shall perish.

They may kill you, but not a
hair of your head shall perish.

That is, not anything can
happen bad to a Christian.

God's in control of every bit of it.

We may need these
things some day, you know?

We may need them tomorrow.

Or tonight.

Christ won't lose one.

Now before we quit here,

did you notice this phrase:

"...raise it up on the last day"?

It comes up over and over. V. 39.

"I lose nothing, but raise it up

on the last day."

V. 40,

"...May have eternal life

and I Myself will raise him up

on the last day."

Believe and you'll be raised up

on the last day.

V. 44,

"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 jumps from: you come to Christ,

and He jumps all the way
over your whole lifetime -

"And I will raise him up..."

He even jumps over all of history

to the last day -

the day of the resurrection.

He says, "And I'll raise him up

on the last day."

V. 54,

"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood

has eternal life

and I will raise him up on the last day."

So He jumps from our coming to Christ

all the way through history,

all the way through our lifespan

and all the way through human history

to the last day and says I'll raise him.

It's this and I'll do that.

Isn't that glorious?

That's what Paul does in Romans 8.

Whom He justified,

them He also glorified.

Jumps over the whole in between.

You know, some of these popular

movies and novels that are in series,

occasionally they do kill the hero off.

Usually it's in the
last book of the series.

You've got to do that.

But the hero occasionally gets killed off.

And sometimes you're not sure

whether the hero's
going to get killed off.

But if you look ahead and
read the last chapter

and he's still alive,

you don't have to worry about

whatever's going on in between.

And what God is giving us here

is the last day.

I'll raise him up on the last day.

Anybody that comes to Me,

anybody that's been drawn by the Father;

anybody that's heard and learned

from the Father -

I want to tell you this,

I'll lose nothing.

I'll raise him up on the last day.

It will happen.

Now once again, there's an action here

on the part of those who are given,

on the part of those who
hear and learn from God,

on the part of those
who are taught by God.

What is the action on their part?

They come.

We've talked about this a lot.

Different men that have been up here.

God doesn't come. You have to come.

You have to come to Christ.

So again, will you come to Him?

That's what we're left with.

I wonder if for an appropriate hymn

we could sing "I Know
Whom I Have Believed"?

I know not, I know not...

but I know whom I have believed.