36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Introduction
I am of the belief that John chapter 6 is one of the great chapters in the entire Bible. It’s a large chapter with 71 verses and we find ourselves right in the thick of it, with some of the best words our Lord utters in verse 37. Think of what we’ve seen thus far in John chapter 6: the feeding of the 5,000; the crowds wanting to make Jesus king by force; Jesus walking on the waves; and now this epic conversation on the Bread of Life.
Unbelief
Before we focus on verse 36 and 37 I want you to notice Jesus’ flow of speech from verse 35 into verse 36. Jesus says in verse 35, “…whoever comes… whoever believes…” will never hunger or thirst. But then Jesus immediately says in verse 36, to the crowds, “but you have seen and do not believe.” Whoever believes in Jesus will never hunger or thirst again, yet not all believe.
The crowds saw, yet did not believe. They had just said in verse 34, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Yet Jesus here identifies their unbelief for what it is. The Bread of Heaven has come down from God to give life to the world, he has performed signs and wonders in their midst and speaks directly to them, yet they do not believe. These were not gentile pagans. These were Jews who had the law and the promises; the prophets and the covenants; and yet when the long awaited Messiah comes to them, they receive him not. He came to his own and his own did not receive him.
Clearly, they saw, not with the eyes of faith. Clearly, their vision was not clear, seeing with blind eyes, as it were. This is the blindness of their sin, and their hard hearts. This is what sin and unbelief does, it puts a hardening our hearts.
It is a sober warning to us that the crowds around Jesus physically saw Jesus. They witnessed his miracles, heard his teaching, and yet they did not believe. We are not in the same context as the first century Jews. I am preaching to the church of Jesus Christ, in a baptist church, wherein the body of the congregation is, by the grace of God, regenerate. However, we know that within the outward congregation of the church there are false professors and unbelievers. So in regard to being surrounded by such light, there is similarity between the Jews and the outward body of the church. So it is a sober warning for the one here today who is surrounded by the light of the gospel, seeing, as it were, the Bread of Life in the Church, and yet does not believe.
Do you not see the Bread of Heaven who came down from God to give life to the World, whose Church is here today, on earth, and is alive and eating and drinking of the body of Christ, in possession of eternal life? How could you look upon a body of redeemed sinners forsaking sin, desiring immortality, and partaking of the Bread of Life and yet not believe? It is the hardening of sin. You do not believe not because it is unbelievable, but because you love your sin. Because to come to Jesus Christ and receive the Bread of Life means to forsake your sin and put to death the flesh and take up your cross and follow him. And you would rather have your sin. Oh that you would not choose death over the life and light of the world that has come and given his body upon the cross for our sins.
I want to show you some more of the flow of Jesus’ speech here. Remember verse 33, Jesus says he is the bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Let’s keep that in mind with verse 35, 36, and 37. Let me put it to you this way: if Jesus came to be the bread of heaven that gives life to the world, and whoever comes to him will never hunger or thirst again, yet those he physically came to, saw him and yet did not believe, has Jesus failed? If he came to be the life of the world, and yet he is rejected, did Jesus fail in his mission? Not in the slightest. God forbid we ever utter such words. Verse 37 gives the answer to such a question that might arise from verse 36, as veres 37 tells us, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” All that the Father gives me will come to me. When Jesus says he came to give life to the world, the rest of these verses confirm to us the obvious that Jesus does not mean universal salvation, meaning every single individual is saved. And then verse 37 confirms to us that precisely every single individual that the Father has given to the Son will be saved. There is not a possibility that the mission will fail. It is successful.
There are two aspects to the first part of verse 37 that I want to discuss. “All that the Father gives me will come to me…” There are two aspects of that phrase here that secure the success of Jesus’ mission: election and effectual calling.
Election
So, if Jesus came to give life to the world, and whoever comes and believes in Christ will never hunger or thirst again, and yet some do not believe, yet Jesus did not fail in mission to save, what then is the difference between those who come to Jesus and those who do not? Sovereign grace and election. The difference is not human will or exertion. The difference is not merit or privilege. The difference is the grace of God: sovereign grace and election.
This is exactly what verse 37 is teaching us: the Father has given a particular people to the Son, that it was his mission to come and save.
We are given to Christ by the Father. What joy, comfort, and happiness it is to know that we are given to Christ by the Father from eternity past based upon his mercy and grace, and not upon anything in us or that we may do.
Remember the crowds who saw and did not believe. How could that be? How blind do you have to be to physically look upon the Son of God in flesh, witness his miracles, hear his teaching, and yet not believe? You see church, it takes the Father giving you to the Son, to be able to see and believe. We are hardened by sin, we need softened by election. There was one old preacher who said, “hard preaching makes soft hearts.” And I think the reverse is true also, soft preaching makes hard hearts.
People often despise the doctrine of election because they think that it limits those who will be saved. But in fact, it is the opposite. Election expands the number of those who will be saved from zero to a great multitude of every tribe, nation, and tongue, that no man can count, and no eye can see the whole host of. God has not elected a small number unto salvation, but a number so great and numerous as the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. Without the Father giving a particular people to the Son, none would be saved, because we are hardened in our sin, our will is enslaved to sin, unable to literally look upon the Son of God in flesh and believe in him.
Election does not indicate the number of individuals predestined unto salvation, but rather it indicates where that salvation comes from. We who know our own sin and our own flesh, but yet have received the grace of God ought to be able to say full throatedly, that Salvation is of the LORD! Friends, what great comfort it ought to bring to our hearts to know that the basis of our salvation is not our choosing of God, but his choosing of us. May we never get tired of hearing that. We love because he first loved us.
Effectual Calling
Often when people are struggling with the doctrine of election they will say things like, “well how do we know we are elect?” There are a lot of different ways we could answer that. We don’t know who all the elect of God are, but in terms of assurance we can have, we do know that all the elect will come to Christ. There are a lot of different ways we could answer this question, but just sticking with our passage for today, we are told that “All that the Father gives me will come to me…” We are not telling people, “be elect!” That’s nonsensical. We are telling people, “Come to Jesus Christ! Believe in the Son of God who gave himself for sinners and is the Bread of Heaven that has come down and gives life to the world! Come to Christ!”
We know that this gospel call, through the work of the Spirit and the decree of God, will be effectual for all that the Father has given to the Son. “All that the Father gives me will come to me.” They will come. Jesus did not come and die and rise in vain. All that the Father has given to him will come to him. Not maybe, not might, not if they will or work or choose or do. But by the grace of God they will come. Guaranteed. Mission success. God is not weak. Jesus is not a failure. We don’t serve a weak and failing God. We serve a God who is omnipotent and does all that he pleases, whose Son accomplishes all that he was set out to do.
Small Defense of Postmillennialism
I am a Postmillennialist. I believe that the Kingdom of God will continue to grow and increase as it has since Christ, until it fills the whole earth as we experience the millennial blessings in the reign of Christ. No bones about it, I want you all to become as optimistic about the success of the gospel in history as possible.
One of the common objections or hold ups with Postmillennialism is doubt or disbelief at the success of the nations flowing to the mountain of God in time and history. But because of John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me…” if the Father has given the nations to the Son for his inheritance and all the ends of the earth, then they will come to him. We must trust God and his promises and know that he keeps them. That is where our faith is and must be.
Preservation
I want us to look now at the last half of verse 37, “…and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” What another wonderful promise we have here from our Lord. Whoever the Father gives him will come to him and whoever comes to him, he will never cast out.
Not only do we have the grace of election, and the effectual call, but we also have the promise of perseverance.
The last part of verse 37 is often misunderstood. It’s often explained in a way that it is framed to be saying if you come to Christ, he will not turn you away at the door. While that is true, that’s not what is being said here. It’s not talking about a conversion moment here. It’s actually talking about perseverance. Jesus will preserve us. Those who come to him, past tense, will not be cast out. It’s talking about those who are already in Christ. You cannot be cast out of something you were never in. You can be turned away or denied, or something like that. But this is saying, those who come to Christ, once they are in Christ, they will never be cast out. This is confirmed by the context in which Jesus will go on to say that all those that are given him by the Father, will not be cast out, but will be raised up on the last day.
So why does the Son never cast out those who come to him?
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- Because they were given to him by the Father, elected unto salvation.
- Because their being given to the Son by the Father was not based upon anything in them or that they do, but in the sovereign mercy and grace of God and God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises in Christ.
- Because Christ shed his own blood for them. Their payment and redemption is secure in Christ.
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Confidence
These doctrines ought to bring great comfort to us that God will accomplish that which he purposes. This confidence is not an isolated doctrine, it is in Christ, that he actually accomplishes that which the Father gave him to do. He is not a hypothetical Savior, but a Savior that actually saves. We can have confidence that we can trust him and we can trust him with our lives. To save us and to keep us, and to never cast us away, because his blood pleads our name.
Comfort
This of course also brings us great comfort. We are Christ’s and in Christ’s because the Father gave us to him. Our basis in to be in Christ and kept in Christ is the Sovereign grace of God and not us. Given by the Father to be kept by Christ.
Calling
Finally, we are called to come to Christ. To come and eat and drink of him in faith, that we may never hunger or thirst, but be satisfied in him. Those that are given to Christ will come to him. If you are a sinner, lost in darkness and sin, there is a Savior with strong arms to save. There is a Savior who is the Bread of Heaven that gives life to the world. There is a Savior who is not a weak Savior or a failing Savior. There is a Savior who will cast none out who come to him. You can have confidence and assurance that if you come to him, your sins will be forgiven, you will be saved, and you will not be cast out. He will keep you. He will not lose you. This is what he came to do. Your sin is not too bad, your heart is not too dark. He takes the worst sin and gives the best righteousness. He takes the darkest hearts and gives new hearts of light. He is the light and life of the world that shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it, to save and satisfy lost and needy sinners. Come to him today. You can trust him. Come to him.
We come to Jesus because the Father gave us to Jesus, and because the basis of our coming to Jesus is the Sovereign Grace and election of God, we will not, no never be cast out of Jesus.
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