He that cometh unto Me (Security of the Believer)

John 6:37-47; John 10:27-29; 1^st John 5:11-13; [Matthew 20:16, 22:14]; Romans 8:28-33; Ephesians 1:4; John 12:32

Introduction

We spoke some time ago about the Bread of Life, as compared to the physical food of this world. We saw that the folks Jesus miraculously fed with the loaves and fishes had followed Him to His next stop, hoping to get more of the same. But Jesus challenged their thinking, and so they began to argue with Him, in John 6:30, asking for yet another sign. We will spend some more time on that passage later, but there is a specific passage, here, which we will address this morning:

John 6:37-47

³⁷All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. ³⁸For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. ³⁹And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. ⁴⁰And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

⁴¹The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. ⁴²And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

⁴³Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. ⁴⁴No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. ⁴⁶Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. ⁴⁷Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

He that cometh unto Me (v. 37)

³⁷All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Jesus added no qualifiers to this promise: In fact, He eliminated the possibility of any qualifiers: He said, “…I will in no wise cast out.” Under no circumstances will He cast out one who comes to Him in faith. Some may argue that “You can’t know that you are one of the “chosen” whom the Father has given to Jesus, the Son.” Then, perhaps, that is where we need to begin:

It is true that Jesus said, “…many are called but few are chosen.” He said it in two separate places: Matthew 20:16, and Matthew 22:14. In both cases, he was warning the unbelieving Jews that the call has gone out to the whole world, including the Jews and the Gentiles. The fact that the Jews were the “chosen people” did not mean that each of them was guaranteed a place with God in eternity. Nor, (in the Matthew 20 account,) did it the privilege of service with Him. In both cases, he pointed out the possibility of the “chosen people” losing out, even though they had seen themselves as being “privileged” and as already being “accepted with God” as a nation.

But, here, Jesus made an unqualified, unconditional promise, that “whoever comes to Him would never be cast out.” He seems to redefine who are “the chosen.” Whether in terms of salvation or service, it is possible to be “chosen”…or not chosen! In Matthew 20, the context is service, not salvation: Everyone in that passage was called for service, and they all served. But some were chosen for special treatment. God has the authority to make that choice.

**So…Who are “the chosen” in terms of Salvation?**

I had a young man at work—a believer—tell me, in very somber terms, that “We can accept the call of Jesus by faith. But we can’t know whether we are ‘one of the chosen’ until we die.” What a sad falsehood to teach in a church! I tried to allay his fears, by showing him from scripture how he could know today that he was “One of the Chosen.” But I’m not at all sure he accepted it.

We can see that, in Matthew 22, the question does apply to eternal life: the one “cast out” was doomed to eternal darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth! That would definitely contradict Jesus’s promise, if that person had ever been a believer. But he evidently was not: What we see in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, is that a person who approaches God in faith—believing that God’s promise is good, and that God’s chosen Sacrifice is sufficient to secure a full pardon from God—is completely safe in Him. (Remember that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were prophetic, looking forward to the sacrifice of the Messiah, at the Cross)

The example of Abraham

Abraham believed God, in Genesis 15:6, and God says that his faith was counted to him as righteousness. God calls this “Justification.” and confirms it, in Romans 4:1-4. We have had the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, by Grace, through Faith. We are eternally clothed in His righteousness.

The example of Lot

In contrast, we see Lot’s faith very dimly in Genesis 19, where he made his only known stand for righteousness, flawed and feeble though it was. And the last things we see of him are very bad indeed. However: in 2^nd Peter 2:6-8, we see that God saved Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah, as a righteous man, whose righteous soul had been vexed daily by the filth around him! (How could Lot be called righteous? The last thing we saw him physically do was (in a drunken stupor) to impregnate both his daughters, bringing into existence two nations, the Moabites and the Ammonites. Those people are bitter enemies of Israel still today!) According to God, the only way a person can please God is through faith. (Hebrews 11:6) Evidently Lot had that faith, though it surely was not easy to see.

The teaching of the New Testament

In Ephesians 1:1-14 Paul addressed the Ephesian believers. But all the truths listed there are true of every believer in Christ, regardless of their condition as a believer. They are all positional truths, having nothing to do with “how I am doing” in terms of faithfulness, obedience, piety, holy living, etc. They are unconditional truths. And: verse 4 says that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. But…who was called? And, How were we chosen?

Who are “The Called?” And, among them, Who are the Chosen?

In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jesus later said, in John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” Jesus stands as God’s invitation to an eternal relationship with God. Many (the whole world) are called. Those who respond in faith are comparatively few…Jesus said so. (Matthew 7:13, 14 says, “¹³Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” But those few are the chosen in Christ.

God chose before the Creation to make Jesus the Sacrificial Lamb; His only Plan of Salvation. (In Revelation 13:8, Jesus is called the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth.”) He invites us (calls us) to respond in Faith: we can choose either life or death. If we choose to receive Him as our Savior, placing our faith in Him (just as the Thief on the Cross did; just as Abraham did, just as every saved person since the beginning of time has done,) then we have chosen life, and we permanently belong to Him. 1^st Corinthians 12:13 says that the Holy Spirit places us into the Body of Christ, and, from that moment we are permanently in Christ. And so, collectively, we have been chosen, in Christ.

**Our Daily Choice: Faith is a choice.**

As believers, then, (moment by moment) we can choose either faithful service and obedience, or unbelief and disobedience… failure to serve. And the resultant rewards (or lack of rewards) will be justice…we will have reaped what we have sown. This is the Law of the Harvest. We reap what we sow. But Salvation is not a reward: it is a gift. We cannot earn it.

Jesus did all the work, there at the Cross, and we cannot add to it. He completely satisfied God’s Holiness and Righteousness through His death at the Cross. His Blood completely took away the sins of the World. But, as sinners, we can partake in His salvation only by simply believing in what HE has done as being complete and effective. Having made that choice, Romans 1:6 says we are the called according to His purpose. Ephesians 1:4 says we were chosen in Him, before the foundation of the World, that we should be Holy and without blame before Him in Love.

Jesus concluded His statements (John 6:47) saying “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Notice the tense: He did not say, “He that believes on me will have everlasting life:” He said you have it now, just as He promised back in John 5:24.

But: maybe you think His promises are only “good” so long as you keep believing: You need to ask yourself, “How long is everlasting?” Jesus says that the moment you believed, you received an eternal gift: “everlasting life!” And, in John 14:16, He said that the Holy Spirit will be with you forever. Finally, over in John 10:27, 28, He said “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.” Those are pretty solid promises! There really is no way around them!

So, Who will You Believe?

You have to decide, personally, whether to believe Jesus or to believe the arguments of the World. Whether to believe Jesus, who gave you an unconditional promise of Eternal Life, or to believe your Flesh, the old sin nature, arguing, “That can’t be right! You haven’t earned it!” (True! It can’t be earned!) Ultimately: will you believe Jesus, or will you believe the whispering voice of that ancient enemy of your soul who desires to destroy your faith, quench your love, and crush your Joy, so as to make your life fruitless in Christ?

**You have to choose, day by day, and moment by moment, who you will believe.**

This is why Ephesians 6:10-18 commands us to “put on the full armor of God,” so that:

Our loins are girded about with the Truth of God’s Word…we are secure in His Word.
Our feet are shod with the preparation of the good news that God will never again view us as His enemies: we are permanently at Peace with God.
Our hearts are protected by the Breastplate of the Righteousness of Christ which was imputed to us the moment we believed His promise.
Our minds are protected by the Helmet of Salvation: the secure knowledge that we are already saved for eternity.
And, when our Enemy attacks us with the doubts and lies and accusations that are his primary weapons, we can use the Shield of Faith to quench those “flaming darts” of guilt and fear. We choose to Believe Jesus!
Now we are arming ourselves daily with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and
We are empowered inPrayer: We enjoy the privilege of entering into the Holy place and bringing our praises and our petitions to the Eternal, Almighty God who loves us, who accepted us in the Beloved, and who chose us in Him before the creation of the Earth.

**You can Know that You have Eternal Life**!

This is how you can know you are “one of the Chosen:” If you have believed the promise of Jesus, then you are in Christ, by faith! And Jesus keeps His promises! If you believe His promise, then:

He promised that you have eternal life now.
He promised that you will never again be condemned by God.
He promised that you have permanently crossed over from death into life.
He promised that the Holy Spirit would be with you forever.
He promised that under no circumstances will He ever cast you out!
He promised that His sheep (those to whom He gave eternal life) shall never perish.

God says He wants you to KNOW that you have eternal life: 1^st John 5:11-13 says so!

You just need to decide who to believe.

Lord Jesus, raise us up as men and women of God who trust in you day by day, and step by step as we walk with you and serve you as lights in a dark world. Teach us to believe You in all things and to obey You as a result of our faith in you. Make us to be Your hands and Your feet, and Your voice in this dying world.