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And please turn in your Bibles 
to John, chapter six. John, chapter six, and when you 
get there, you can navigate to verse thirty five. John six, verse thirty five, 
we'll read that in a moment, but just something of an extended 
introduction, this will be another reformed Baptist sermon on doctrine. A brief warning to any to any 
eye rollers and those who are could be unjustifiably bothered. I will refer to the term Calvinism 
in this sermon and I'll do so favorably and render no apology 
for doing so. I will likewise use the term 
Arminianism Use it unfavorably and offer no apology for doing 
so. If anybody would like to see 
qualification, hopefully some will certainly come out within 
the pages within the pages within the time of this sermon. But 
you can come and speak with me afterwards. But more on this, 
I imagine. And I don't think vainly that 
when the early church in the book of Acts continued steadfastly 
in the apostles doctrine, that that included wholesome repetition 
in the things most surely believed among them. instruction in doctrine 
while bringing to bear the whole counsel of God, to be sure, but 
instruction in doctrine and a frequent return unto it. If you despise 
doctrine or a perusal of it that we'll be doing this morning, 
I would be curious to see if your heart would even burn within 
you were you to walk the Damascus Road with the resurrected Lord. I would be curious to see if 
you would eat broiled fish and honeycomb with him, but then 
yawn and depart as he was about to bring forth his pre-ascension 
Bible study. A perusal of doctrine, an affirmation 
and a reaffirmation of our Calvinism is something that is a wholesome 
exercise. And it is, in one sense, a tragedy, 
however, that we cannot simply and joyfully employ and use the 
word Christianity or the term Christian without the necessity 
of having to qualify it with further labels so that we can 
wholesomely separate ourselves from those who err and those 
who are erroneous. It is, in another sense, a tragedy 
that those who have drank from the refreshing well of that system 
of theology we call Calvinism will be such as who abandon their 
benefactors and patriarchs, scorn the labels for contempt upon 
those who remain in that system and consign us to the province 
of cold dogmatism or dead religion. It seems to be a pious and a 
trendy thing these days to malign Calvinism, even from those who 
have sat under the providential and biblical blessings of instruction 
in that sacred truth. with confidence and in the full 
support of the infallible word of God and being the sure foundation 
of what we call Calvinism. I echo these words of C.H. Spurgeon, 
which many of you have heard before. I have my own private 
opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and 
him crucified unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the gospel and nothing 
else. I do not believe we can preach 
the gospel if we do not preach justification by faith without 
works, nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God and his dispensation 
of grace. nor unless we exalt the electing, 
unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah, nor 
do I think we can preach the Gospel unless we base it upon 
the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people 
which Christ brought out upon the cross. Nor can I comprehend 
a Gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called and 
suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation 
After having once believed in Jesus, such a gospel I abhor. Brethren, when we stand taught 
and stable and with confidence upon the doctrine of our profession, 
upon Calvinism, we do not wander a desolate landscape. We're not 
a party of five. We're not a collective few. We 
can glance back upon the history of Christendom, and we can wave 
at friends and defenders that are multitudinous. We can travel 
back, if you will, to biblical history, and we can speak before 
patriarchs and prophets of the glories and the riches of the 
potter's freedom, and they will return to us smiling approval. We can travel back to the first 
century, to first century Palestine, to the inner ruins of Jerusalem, 
and we will find our brothers and our sisters steadfast in 
our doctrine. We can travel back to that day 
when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and where the ministering 
spirits looked upon that babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 
lying in a manger, and we can join in with their theology-filled 
refrain, Glory to God in the highest. And brethren, when we 
pick up our hymn books, When we pick up our hymn books and 
we stand and we belt out hymns to the glory of God, it is as 
if we are at the same time reaching forward to the eternity of Emmanuel's 
land, yanking it back to our present, to our here and now, 
and singing with glorified Calvinistic saints, glory to God in the highest. Salvation belongs to the Lord. We're going to begin this morning 
a perusal of our doctrine by looking at our foremost instructor, 
teaching the crowds at Capernaum. So now, John 6, beginning at 
verse 35, And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who 
comes to Me shall never 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 the Father gives Me 
will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no 
means cast out. For I have come down from heaven 
not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This 
is the will of the father who sent me that of all he has given 
me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last 
day. And this is the will of him who sent me that everyone 
who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the 
last day. The Jews then complained about 
him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father 
and mother we know? How is it then that he says, 
I have come down from heaven? Jesus, therefore, answered and 
said to them, do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to 
me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise 
him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets 
and they shall all be taught of God. Therefore, 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. Most assuredly, I say to you, 
he who believes in me has. everlasting life. I am the bread 
of life. Your fathers ate the manna in 
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes 
down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the 
living bread who came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this 
bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give 
is my flesh. which I shall give for the life 
of the world. Amen. Well, let us open again 
with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you that we 
can come to your holy scriptures and consider them. We thank you 
for what you have revealed to us. We thank you, Lord God, for 
doctrine as it comes from the pages of your holy scriptures. 
And might it never be, Lord God, that we cast off doctrine, but 
might it also never be, Lord God, that we approach it with 
a cold and dead heart. Might we always rejoice in your 
instruction. Might we always rejoice in your 
teachings. Might we always look upon them 
as those teachings given to us by a gracious and a loving father 
of eternal loving kindness. And Father, might we know what 
you have revealed in your scriptures and might we grow thereby. We 
pray now for the Spirit's aid in Christ's precious name. Amen. Well, what we're going to look 
at this morning and also this evening, because the sermon has 
been separated, is five observations on Christ's doctrine of salvation. Five observations on Christ's 
doctrine of salvation, what our foremost instructor and our chief 
professor gives to us concerning the doctrine of salvation. Now, just a review of the context, 
a brief review of the context. Jesus is speaking here to a crowd 
gathered to him or assembled before him at Capernaum, as the 
text previously notes. These are the same people who 
had followed him from the previous day when he fed the five thousand. These people are seeking after 
signs and food, but Jesus very quickly cuts to the quick, or 
he cuts to the vital, he cuts to the important, and he says 
to them, or he rightfully identifies himself as the bread of life, 
as the source of all spiritual nourishment and soul satisfaction. He then issues an indictment, 
verse 30, verse 36. But I said to you that you have 
seen me and yet do not believe. Then Jesus explains their unbelief 
and he explains their unbelief by, and I'm being deliberately 
anachronistic, teaching Calvinism, by teaching divine sovereignty 
and the exclusive divine rights in the realm of salvation. So 
let's go to our master now and look at what he instructs concerning 
the doctrine of salvation. And we're going to use and I 
and I mean that reverently. We're going to use John six as 
a base camp to explore the gospel of John and see Christ's instruction 
concerning the gospel, concerning the doctrine of salvation. And 
the first observation is this. The first of five observations 
is this, the comprehensiveness of sin. Jesus instructs and informs 
and testifies to the comprehensiveness of sin. In this particular scene, 
we very often, as Calvinists, want to jump to verse 34 or sorry, 
verse 37 or jump to verse 44. But it's very instructive and 
very revealing what we find in verse 
thirty six concerning the comprehensiveness of sin, because it is this problem 
that Jesus answers with what falls in his declaration of the 
sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. Verse thirty six. 
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Very simple statement, but we 
need to understand here that these were looking upon God manifested 
in the flesh. These were looking upon the word 
become flesh and dwelling among them. These were looking upon 
deity. And yet they do not believe these 
were looking upon the one to whom the scriptures that they 
apparently loved testified to. And not only that, these were 
looking upon the sum and the substance of Isaiah fifty five 
one. Oh, everyone who thirsts come 
to the waters. This is Jesus Christ was the 
sum and substance is the sum and substance of Isaiah 55, that 
wonderful, that wonderful declaration of where there is true satisfaction 
and where there is not true satisfaction. That place that flows with milk 
and honey is that place where we can go without money, where 
we can come by, eat and drink. That place being the richness 
and the excellency of Christ Jesus, who is the bread of life, 
who is soul satisfaction. who is eternal nourishment. And so this one is standing before 
them, but I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you 
do not believe. It is an indictment. It is a 
declaration of the comprehensiveness of sin. And on this day, Christ 
asserts a particular aspect of this. Notice at verse 44, no 
one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him 
and I will raise him up at the last day. We do not, and we should 
not, but I believe that we do not beat people over the heads 
with this just so that we can relish in self-congratulatory 
doctrine. We don't just pat our backs as 
Calvinists and then go beat unwitting Arminians over the heads with 
John 6, 44 so that we can feel better. Why do we do it, brethren? 
So that we can magnify the glory of God in amazing and victorious 
grace. John 644, no one can come to 
me unless the father who sent me draws him. That's a declaration 
of an aspect of the comprehensiveness of the sin of man and that they 
do not have that ability by nature to come to God. They are, at 
nature, at odds with God. They are, by nature, the owners 
of an ethical disposition that causes them, whether inwardly 
or outwardly, to shake the fist at a holy and a righteous God 
who gives them breath daily, who gives them the physical ability 
to walk, who grants them the ability to think and to process 
information. But even in that, even dwelling 
under the provisions of a gracious God, they nevertheless have the 
freedom, if you will, to affirm and reaffirm their atheism and 
their hatred of the God that created them. They are coming 
out of the womb, predisposed unto anger and hatred to the 
high king of heaven. And Jesus asserts that aspect 
of the comprehensiveness of sin, that man has total inability 
and that he cannot approach, he cannot merit, he cannot work 
himself unto spiritual things. There needs to be a divine happening. come upon him. And Jesus reasserts 
this in verse 65 of the text, John 6, 65. Therefore, I have 
said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted 
to him by my father. Again, an indictment concerning 
the comprehensiveness of the sin in man. And there is something 
that needs to take place as we get to those other particular 
points. We see that that that necessity comes from above, that 
necessity comes from God. in his amazing and his victorious 
grace. But as we look at the comprehensiveness 
of sin, and it's a good thing that we're not as well, it's 
a good thing that we're restricting ourselves to the gospel of John. 
That means your page flipping won't be won't be too intense. We're very nearby the text that 
we will survey and go over. But please turn to John 8 as 
we look at another aspect or another way in which the comprehensiveness 
of sin is described and as you're turning there we need to get 
this into our minds that a survey of sin. A survey of sin, as we 
as we looked at last week, a recollection or that historical retrospect, 
looking back upon our former selves, looking back upon our 
former conduct, isn't to relish in transgression, isn't to have 
sick fascination with dwelling upon sin, but rather it is, again, 
to magnify and to quickly cast our gaze to the amazing grace 
of God, the God of amazing and victorious grace. John, chapter 
eight, Jesus here, Jesus here, I believe, asserts three particular 
things regarding the comprehensiveness of sin. First off, the fact of 
the unbelievers slavery to it. Secondly, the fallacy of their 
claims to sonship. And thirdly, the reality of their 
true sonship. Notice in John chapter 8, beginning 
at verse 31, then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, 
if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and 
you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. 
They answered him. We are Abraham's descendants 
and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you 
will be made free? Jesus answered them, most assuredly, 
I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. We ought to see in just those 
few words something, brethren, of the reality and the gravity 
of sin, to be sure, but it's comprehensiveness in that those 
who commit sin are slaves unto it. And slavery implies slavery 
is bondage. There is no freedom implied. 
There is no wiggle room implied. Those who commit sin are slaves 
of it. They are in bondage to sin. And as we will get to in the 
discourse here, they are in bondage to their father. the master of 
sin, even the devil himself. But first off, the certain fact 
of their slavery, Jesus tells them in no uncertain terms that 
they are slaves against against their against their contestations, 
that they were actually free. And secondly, the fallacy of 
their claims to sonship. Notice what they say here as 
the discourse continues. I know that you are Abraham's 
defendants, Jesus says at verse 37, but you seek to kill me because 
my word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with 
my father and you do what you have seen with your father. They 
answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to 
them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. 
But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, 
which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You 
do the deeds of your father. Jesus would say later in the 
discourse that Abraham rejoiced to see his day and was glad. Abraham rejoiced to see Christ 
and he rejoiced in the promise of Christ. And yet in the person 
of Jesus Christ, these did not do so. So they were not true 
sons of Abraham. They make that false claim to 
sonship. They make that false claim, although 
it's true in a sense that they are descendants of Abraham. They 
are his physical descendants. Nevertheless, the greater meaning 
of spiritual descendancy is that or the greater meaning of descendancy 
in the case of the Bible. is that spiritual aspect, that 
they were not the spiritual sons of Abraham because they rejected 
his Christ and his teachings. And so Jesus instructs them concerning 
concerning their fallacious claims to sonship. And then it continues 
here. And Excuse me. And they claim 
they claim another aspect of sonship. The end of verse forty 
one. Then they said to him, we were 
not born of fornication. We have one father, God, very 
brazen of them. Most likely here they are mocking 
Jesus Christ because he was, according to them, born of fornication. They are certainly they are certainly 
engaged here in blasphemy, but they claim here again regarding 
sin that they have regarding this aspect of the comprehensiveness 
of sin that they had one father, God. And Jesus, of course, rightly 
responds here concerning their true sonship, because they're 
again falsely claiming to be the sons of God. And they, of 
course, are not the sons of God. And Jesus responds this way. 
Verse 42, Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you 
would love me. For I proceeded forth and came 
from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do 
you not understand my speech? because you are not able to listen 
to My Word. You are of your father the devil, 
and the desires of your father you want to do. It is the ramblings 
of the spiritually ambiguous in our present age to claim that 
everyone is a child of God. And as long as we just have some 
vague notion of faith in something, well, then we're okay, because 
that road leads us unto heaven. Well, that is a lie from the 
pit. An absolute lie. And we see from this text that 
that, of course, is not true. No, not everyone is a child of 
God. Jesus, in no uncertain terms, 
responds to paraphrase. You are not. You do not have 
one father, God, but rather you are of your father, the devil, 
and you happily do the desires of that father. Yes, it is, of 
course, true in the sense that God is the creator, not in a 
sense. It is true that God is the creator 
of all men, his creatures. But with regards to that particular, 
with regards to that special, with regards to that love of 
eternal mercy, God is the father of only those whom he has set 
that love, that mercy and that kindness upon. And these unbelievers, 
these ones who called Jesus one born of fornication, are those 
who did not manifest the fruits of of God. They did not manifest 
the fruits of those who are the children's had the children rather 
of a glorious God, but rather they were they were of their 
father, the devil, and they did the desires of their father. 
And notice also Jesus here alludes again to an aspect or the problem 
of why people do not or one of the aspects of the comprehensiveness 
of sin. Verse forty three. Why do you 
not understand my speech? Christ isn't looking for an answer 
because he doesn't understand. He's asking a question and then 
answering it. Why do you not understand my 
speech? Because you are not able to listen 
to my word language that he's already used in the text that 
we opened with reading this morning. The ability of men being not 
just crippled, being not just maimed, being not just a little 
bit hindered in sin, but rather being completely removed in sin. They do not have the ability 
to do those things which are pleasing to God because of the 
power of reigning sin. And one other place is we just 
before we move on to the next point that we should never skip 
over when we consider sin in the world, when we consider the 
reality and the truth behind all of the problems in the world. 
John chapter three. And you can turn there, please. 
John chapter three. This is Jesus, of course, telling 
that man Nicodemus that you must be born again. Jesus gives the 
reason as to why a man must be born again or born from above 
and why Christ came, why he came to procure that particular and 
perfect divine reality. And the reason is the comprehensiveness, 
the condemnation of sin. Now, Let's just read picking 
up at verse 18. He who believes in him is not 
condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already 
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten 
Son of God. And this is the condemnation 
that light has come into the world. And men love darkness 
rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone 
practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, 
lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes 
to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have 
been done in God. Now, when we think of what the 
problem is with depravity in our lower world, when we think 
of what the problem is with governments and people groups, with crime 
and all of these issues that affect us in this lower world. 
We do not have to seek an answer in the realm of psychology. We 
do not have to seek an answer in the realm of sociology. We 
do not have to seek an answer in the realm of cultural machinations. We don't have to go to medicine. 
We have to go to the word of the living and true God who says 
this is the condemnation that light has come into the world 
and men love darkness rather than light. The problem of all 
of these things is sin. And the answer is not legislation. 
The answer is not an appeal. The answer is not men by might 
with sword marching. The answer is Amazing and victorious 
grace. The answer is a God of amazing 
and victorious grace penetrating the heart, removing hearts of 
stone and replacing them with hearts of flesh that beat for 
righteousness and the Christ of it. And so the problem here 
is set forth to us as a problem of sin. And notice the language 
here. This is the condemnation that 
light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather 
than light. because their deeds are evil 
were evil. If you're sitting here today 
and you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to you need 
to you need to get you need to feel. You need to feel the weight 
of Holy Scripture and the testimony of the holiness of God, the righteousness 
of God, the sovereignty of God, the weight and the bearing of 
Scripture falling upon you and finding you as one not maimed 
and not crippled, but dead in trespasses and sins, one in bondage 
to sin, one whose lot is not good, one who loves darkness 
rather than light because your deeds are evil. Are you are you 
in the pews today And do you love darkness rather than light? 
Do you, when friends and family members, when perhaps a Christian 
wife or a Christian father or a Christian brother or sister 
or someone who is a Christian who wants you to come to know 
the love of Jesus Christ and his salvation, when they come 
to you and bring that message or discuss things of a heavenly 
matter, do you look the other way? Do you change the subject? 
Do you discreetly perhaps walk away? When friends and family 
members are discussing the riches and the excellencies of Christ, 
do you walk away from them? If that is the case, it is the 
truth of this passage, because you love darkness rather than 
light, because your deeds are evil. You do not want to come 
to the light. You do not want to come because 
you love that darkness. And when the light of Christ 
is shone, whether it's displayed verbally by a brother or sister 
in Christ preaching to you about his gospel, about his riches, 
about his excellencies, and you walk away and you want to change 
the subject or you discreetly leave the scene, that is a declaration 
of the fact that you are a lover of darkness. And you do not want 
to come to the light. Perhaps you're in the pews. And 
when the preacher is bringing to bear a message to you concerning 
the holiness of God, concerning your depravity, concerning the 
perfect savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, you look down at the 
ground and you readjust your jeans. You go to your shoes and 
you pretend that it's untied and you go to tie it. When the 
preacher is bringing to you the weight of holy law and the salvation 
as being only in Christ Jesus our Lord, perhaps you look dumbly 
at the ground or you look past the pulpit and fix your eyes 
upon a spot on the wall so that you can try and eliminate anything 
from your mind that brings into it Christ with eyes as of a flame 
of fire. That is a declaration or that 
is the evidence that you love darkness rather than light because 
your deeds are evil and sinner. Do you realize your slavery? Are you in the pews and you're 
not Christ's you're outside of him, you're here. Praise God 
for that fact, but if you are not Christ's and you are a sinner 
unsaved, do you realize your slavery? Sinners think themselves 
to be free, sinners very often boast in their liberty as they 
cast their their scorning gaze and their mocking gaze upon Christians 
whom they think are in bondage. Well, if you're one of those 
sinners who think themselves to be free, you need to realize 
the proper metaphor, the proper analogy that is true of you. Very often you have a twisted 
analogy. You think yourselves to be like 
an eagle. I know like is a simile. You 
think yourselves to be an eagle. Soaring above those poor Christians 
with glossy feathers as you as you screech with condemnation 
or screech with derision down upon them as those who cannot 
fly, as those who are like King Tantalus, always grasping at 
those things that satisfy, but never being able to grab upon 
them. Well, you need to realize a true analogy or a true metaphor 
concerning you. You are the frenzied Gadarene 
maniac of Mark, chapter five. You are that man, that man who 
was untamed, that man who broke shackles and chains, but was 
still shackled and chained to sin, transgression and his father, 
the devil. You are running about yelling 
and crying out and you're cutting yourselves with stones. You need 
to realize that that is you. You need to go to Mark 5 and 
you need to look into the mirror and you do need to see yourself. 
And when you do that, all of us former Gadarene demoniacs, 
all of us former frenzied Gadarene maniacs will declare to you the 
riches and the excellencies of that one who came to us and caused 
us to be fully clothed and to be in our right minds. It is 
a wonderful thing when we look upon that scene of that man who 
was frenzied, who was a maniac, who had that unclean spirit. 
And Christ Jesus comes to him. He punctuates his life. And He 
brings him, by amazing grace, into a place where that one who 
was crying out and cutting himself untamed and breaking shackles 
and chains, to a place where he's seated. And he's in his 
right mind. Blessed scene. I know we're not 
necessarily supposed to do this. But I think I'm going to try 
and get away with it. Christians, it would be a glorious thing 
or wouldn't it be a glorious thing that we when we enter, 
when we enter into Emmanuel's land and we're singing before 
we're brought before our king of grace to sing his praises 
and we open up our heavenly, heavenly hymnal, if you will, 
and we sing something like my chains fell off. My heart was 
free. I rose, went forth and followed 
the and we look to our right and it's the gathering maniac. 
You know, I know that Jesus Christ, the lamb is all the glory of 
Emmanuel's land, but looking to the right and seeing the gathering 
maniac. That'd be a wonderful thing that 
would all not all the more, but that would still be rendering 
glories unto Christ as the one who came and caused that man 
to be well clothed and to be peaceful in his right mind. A 
glorious thing. If you do not believe in Jesus 
Christ, See yourself as that gathering maniac. We're not puffed 
up. We're not elite Christians because 
we were that gathering maniac. We were frenzied. We were not 
in our right minds, but a graceful and a merciful and a kind God 
punctuated our lives by amazing and victorious grace and caused 
us to see a right, caused us to praise a right. And we would 
plead with you to believe in that same and saving Christ Jesus. Secondly, following the following 
the comprehensiveness of sin. Secondly, Jesus Christ instructs 
concerning the unmitigated and unsolicited divine prerogative 
in salvation. I'm going to repeat that and 
just sort of define that for you. The unmitigated and unsolicited 
divine prerogative in salvation, that is, it is absolute and pure. It is not mixed with human power 
or human merit, unsolicited. It is not initiated or and it 
is not adulterated by human activity. And divine prerogative, of course, 
it is the privilege and sole heavenly right of the creator 
to save whom he will save the unmitigated and unsolicited divine 
prerogative in salvation. John six, if you can turn back 
there and verse thirty seven. John 6 and verse 37, all that 
the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to 
me, I will by no means cast out. And also verse 44, no one can 
come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will 
raise him up at the last day. We see here, brethren, divine 
action carried out by God. As we move on to some of the 
next points later this morning and into the evening, we'll see 
Christ's golden chain of redemption and Christ's golden chain of 
redemption has God first, God last, God midst and throughout 
in the salvation of sinners. And man does not appear in their 
intermingled into that chain. It is divine. It is heavenly. It is a triune God saving to 
the uttermost to the praise of his glory. And here we have again 
the sole divine right in salvation. All that the father gives to 
Christ will come to Christ. God, in his infinite mercy and 
his eternal loving kindness, gives an elect people to Christ 
Jesus. And we need to see here again, 
brethren, that this isn't just some bare giving. There is divine 
love that serves here as that foundation, his eternal and merciful, 
loving kindness. God in love predestined us unto 
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. It is love that is 
behind the action of our divine Redeemer. Turn to John one for 
a moment. John one, because we see here. 
We see here, John, at the outset of his gospel, establishing and 
strongly emphasizing the divine activity in making worshipers 
who receive his son, John chapter one verse beginning at verse 
10. He was in the world and the world 
was made through him. And the world did not know him. 
He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as many 
as received him to them, he gave the right to become children 
of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not 
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
man, but of God. In doing this here, John ensures 
that there's no confusion concerning man's contribution to the economy 
of salvation. John ensures here that those 
who receive Christ or that we know that those who receive Christ, 
those who are children of God, those who believe in his name 
are those who have been born of God. wholly passive in that 
divine activity, God being wholly active, causing those who are 
dead in trespasses and sins to be raised unto Christ and unto 
faith in his precious name, born not of blood, nor of the will 
of flesh, nor of man, but of God. Very often, brethren, we 
need to see that in just the span of these words, there is 
strong emphasis concerning, again, that solely and wholly divine 
right in the salvation of sinners, that man is does not contribute, 
that man does not does not meet God halfway, that God does not 
do his 85 percent and man his 15, but rather that God is first 
and last, the alpha and the omega of our salvation. Jesus, in John 
5, 21, at the same time of asserting his full deity and his equality 
with the father, asserts something concerning the divine right, 
the sole divine right in the salvation of sinners. John 5, 
21. For as the father raises the 
dead and gives life to them, even so the son gives life to 
whom he will. Again, a small sentence, a short 
span of words, but a declaration emphasizing divine right in salvation. The son gives life to whom he 
will. He does this same thing again, 
were we to continue in the discourse. And now we will in John chapter 
eight, when he's dealing with those unbelieving Jews who claimed 
sonship to Abraham and to God and that they were not in slavery 
to anyone. Jesus brings home this message 
of divine will. and divine right in the economy 
of salvation. John 8 at 34. Jesus answered 
them. Most assuredly, I say to you, 
whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and a slave does not abide 
in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if 
the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Notice the contingency 
there. It is it is not. God's done all 
He can do, and now it's up to you. It is if the Son makes you 
free, you shall be free indeed. Jesus Christ releases us from 
our bondage. Jesus Christ brings us from out 
of bondage. Jesus Christ is Redeemer. Not 
one who offers hypothetical salvation, but rather one who saves to the 
uttermost. And it is His will, if the Son 
makes you free, you will be free indeed. if you're here. If you're here and you deny the 
absolute sovereignty of God, if you struggle with the creator 
who creates all things according to the word of his power, if 
you struggle with a redeemer who is the Alpha and the Omega 
of our salvation, who has that sole divine right and saving 
whom he will. If you are such a person, then 
I believe that in effect, you're calling Jesus before the bar 
of your own opinion and you're calling him to recant Matthew 
11. You're calling him to retent 
those words of praise that he renders to his father at verse 
25. I thank you, Father, Lord of 
heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the 
wise and the prudent and have revealed them to babes. If you 
deny the will, the soul and the whole will of God in the economy 
of salvation, if you deny the whole and absolute and unabridged 
sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners, you are calling Christ 
between the bar of your own philosophy and saying, recant that Christ. 
Well, even if we somehow struggle with the sovereignty of God, 
whenever we have theological hesitations or theological struggling 
with the sovereignty of God most high, we need to be wholly resigned 
unto Christ's declaration. Even so, father, for so it seemed 
good in your sight. We might not be able to work 
everything together. We might not be able to string 
and string together the most perfect, intelligent, articulate 
sentence or paragraph or essay concerning the sovereignty of 
God. But as the scripture clearly declares it to us. As God has 
clearly revealed it to us in his word, we need to be as sinners 
saved by grace, imperfect in this lower world, wholly resigned 
to Christ's words in verse 26. Even so, Father, for so it seemed 
good in your sight. That is always a good fallback. 
That is where that's where our hesitations, our strugglings, 
our wrestling's terminate upon the declaration of the son of 
God, thanking his God for divine sovereignty and divine ownership 
of rights in the realm of salvation. Thirdly, brethren, the precision 
as we move back to John, I know we move from out of the parameters 
and confines of John, but it is the word of God. So it was 
fine to navigate their turn, though, as we go to our third 
point back to John six. And we're going to consider now 
from the text the precision and impeccability of Christ's crosswork. The precision and impeccability 
of Christ's crosswork. When we read apostolic reference 
to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the death of Christ, 
to His blood, we are not reading or we're not to get the sense 
of bare terminology. In other words, when we hear 
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, we're not just supposed to think 
about a cross beam of wood. When we think about the blood 
of Christ, we're not just supposed to think about the stuff of the 
vascular system, the fluid of the vascular system. When we 
think about the death of Christ, we're not just supposed to think 
about the passing of life to death. We are supposed to think 
about what theologians have pressed regarding those terms. The cross 
of Christ, the blood of Christ, his death are theological shorthand 
terms for the curse bearing, wrath bearing, substitutionary, 
sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul says, 
God forbid that I should both save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, he wasn't looking at a crucifix. He wasn't looking 
at a cross beam of wood. He was thinking about the glory, 
the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ upon the cross, 
working out the salvation of sinners. And so when we come 
to when we look at those terms, we need to think about that his 
unfailing, his perfect, his curse bearing his wrath bearing his 
substitutionary sacrifice, that of a divine savior. But in the 
text here, as we consider precision and impeccability of Christ's 
crosswork, let's look first of all from our text of the fact 
that Christ affirms the alignment of his mission with the will 
of the one who sent him. This is very important. Christ 
affirms the alignment of his mission with the will of the 
one who sent him. Beginning at verse 37 of John 
6. All that the Father gives me 
will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no 
means cast out. For I have come down from heaven 
not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This 
is the will of the father who sent me that of all he has given 
me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last 
day. And this is the will of him who sent me that everyone 
who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the 
last day. Do you see the connectivity here 
between the divine savior and the divine father? Jesus comes 
as the one sent to do the will of the father, and he does the 
will of the father. What is the will of the father? 
But that of all he has given me, I should lose nothing but 
raise it up at the last day. Christ's saving cross work is 
central to this aspect, his aspect of procuring the perfect grace 
of the father. And in that activity, he does 
not fail to do the will of the one who sent him. Jesus says, 
I always do the will of the one who sent me. I always do the 
will of the father. I always do what pleases him. 
So when we come to this text as opponents to the sacred truth 
of the doctrines of grace and we say, well, yes, but God does 
have a will that everyone is to be saved. Christ comes to 
do it, but it is contingent upon the volition and the free will 
of the sinner in order to make that powerful. It hinges upon 
the exercise of the man in order to merit this salvation offered 
by God. We lose it. And that's that's 
being kind. We lose the thrust of the meaning 
of this text. The father has a will that not 
that no one that nothing is to be lost. He has this perfect 
will as God, the father, God, the son is sent by him to do 
his will. And Christ always does the will 
of the one who sent him. When we say that the Father willed 
for everyone to be saved, but that Christ came and didn't do 
that, but only saved those who rendered their free will act 
of psychic faith, then we say that there is disunity within 
the Trinity. If the Father wills that all 
are saved, but Christ comes and doesn't do it, is that not discord? Is that not inharmonious? There 
is no discord within the Trinity, brethren. There is full harmony. There is full concord. The Father 
wills, the Son does, the Spirit applies and guarantees and seals. It is perfect. And Christ's role 
in this is to come to do the will of the Father, which is 
that Christ should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. 
And notice the certainty of the chain of salvation again in verse 
44. No one can come to me unless 
the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up 
at the last day. The implication being Christ's 
work in this process, this golden chain of salvation, is that all 
of those who come to him have been drawn by the Father and 
he raises them up. The glorious truth of particular 
redemption, of the precision and the impeccability of Christ's 
crosswork, that Christ Jesus raises all whom the Father gives 
unto him. Turn to John 10 just as we close, 
and we will close on this third point. But John Chapter 10, as 
we consider again, the precision and the impeccability of Christ's 
crossword. And if you're tracking along 
with this, you'll notice five observations on Christ's doctrine 
of salvation, the comprehensiveness of sin. If we wanted to use perhaps 
a two word phrase, we could use total depravity. the unmitigated 
and unsolicited divine prerogative in salvation, we could say unconditional 
election. The precision and impeccability 
of Christ's crosswork, if we wanted to choose a couple of 
words, perhaps limited atonement might work. John chapter 10, 
Christ Jesus, the implications of the words concerning the great 
shepherd and the saving of the sheep imply limited atonement, 
definite atonement, particular redemption. And we're going to 
look at first verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good 
shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Verse 15, as the father 
knows me, even so I know the father and I lay down my life 
for the sheep. We have this fact, this certain 
indicative declaration of Christ Jesus that he does these things. He lays his life down for the 
sheep. He gives his life for the sheep. And then notice The party of 
people, the sheep, those people whom Christ gives his life for 
are particular. And that is exclusive of a particular 
group of people. Verse 25, Jesus answered them, 
I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's 
name. They bear witness of me. But 
you do not believe because you are not of my sheep, as I said 
to you. 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 hand. My father who has given them 
to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them 
out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. You 
see that perfect. The sheep, those body of people 
that are given to Christ by the father are those who are the 
sheep of verse 26 and 27. There are those who are excluded 
from that body by the wisdom and the eternal counsel of God. 
Verse 26. But you do not believe. Because 
you are not of my sheep, as I said to you, those who are Christ's 
sheep, he dies for and he does so perfectly. He gives them eternal 
life and they shall never perish. We ought to never back away. 
We ought to never come with whispered voices to the table of theological 
discussion to discuss the doctrine of limited atonement. We always 
ought to come with meekness and with fear and with reverence, 
but with a firm and trumpeting declaration that Christ is able 
to save. He does not fail. Christ is able 
to save and his blood shed upon Calvary's tree was perfect in 
doing what it was intended to do to save all those whom God 
had given to him. And fourthly, Or not fourthly, 
sorry, but with regards to Christ's precision and impact impact ability 
in his crosswork, we have the declaration of our divine Savior 
from the cross of Calvary. John, 1930. John, 1930. Beginning at verse twenty eight. 
Wonderful words from our Savior. Words of victory. Not of despair, 
not of dereliction, but words of victory from the mouth of 
our Savior. At verse 30, we'll move towards 
that as we begin in verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that 
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, 
said, I thirst. Now, a vessel full of sour wine 
was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put 
it on his thought and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had 
received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his 
head, he gave up his spirit. Three glorious words in our English 
that are wonderful concerning the finished and perfect, impeccable 
work of Jesus Christ. Christ's cry of victory from 
that bloody cross. It is finished. And we ought 
to see if we if we marvel at the unbelieving Jews from John, 
chapter six, when they're standing before God manifested in the 
flesh and they still reject him when they're standing before 
that perfect satisfaction, that perfect eternal soul nourishment, 
Jesus Christ, the word become flesh to dwell among them. And 
yet they reject him. You saw me, but you did not believe 
in me. We ought to marvel more as we 
get to Christ upon the cross, working out the salvation of 
sinners and these unbelieving Jews who knew their scriptures. 
They would have known the doctrine of the Passover or the celebration 
of the Passover. And yet they're looking upon 
their Passover lamb and rejecting him. They would know all of the 
scriptures that point to this particular act. They would have 
known that psalm of the cross, Psalm 22. But they didn't even 
know that in that song they themselves are indicted for shooting out 
the lip, for saying Christ Jesus ought to save himself. They're 
indicted and the weight of the movement of this passage carries 
along with it scriptural fulfillment. Again, the language of verse 
28, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the 
scripture might be fulfilled. Jesus is the fulfillment of all 
of those types and shadows that pointed forward to this one, 
this divine savior murdered upon Calvary's tree for the sins of 
his people. And yet they still reject him. 
But this declaration of it is finished, brethren, is that declaration 
of a victorious Christ who has perfectly shed his blood for 
the guilt of all those for whom he died for. All those whom God 
gave unto him to carry out that perfect work, aligning his will 
to the father and always doing that particular will. It is a 
cry of victory. Jesus Christ upon the cross, 
working out the salvation of sinners, not unto the possible 
rejection of those for whom he did not die. but rather for all 
those that he died for. When we sing that hymn, lifted 
up was he to die. It is finished, was his cry. Now in heaven, exalted high, 
hallelujah, what a savior. We know that those brethren who 
penned that hymn, or the brother who penned that hymn and the 
brethren who first sang it, held to our sacred truth. Particular 
redemption. Another verse, full atonement. 
Can it be the implication of the answer? Yes, full atonement. It is. Jesus Christ cried. It is finished. And that cry 
from that cry of victory from the cross of Calvary was not 
so that untaught and unstable evangelical preachers could say 
God's done all he can do. And now it's up to you. That's 
not why Jesus cried that Jesus cried that because he had fulfilled 
everything that was accomplished. Scripture was fulfilled. He died 
as the perfect sacrifice promised. And now we, as the beneficiaries 
of that completed and perfect work, get to sing his praises. Christ's crosswork is one of 
precision and impeccability and I was wondering as I was preparing 
and we'll close with this a brief message to the converted and 
to the unconverted and then pray. But I was thinking of this as 
I was preparing. Is it a violation of First Peter 
315? Is it a violation of First Peter 
315 to want to grab an Arminian by the ear and drag him unto 
Golgotha, to Calvary, to that place of blood and have them 
look upon that savior and see if they still wish to affirm 
their hypothetical atonement. Is it a violation of defending 
our faith with meekness and fear, with grace in our hearts to want 
to? I think it would be a wholesome exercise to say, come here a 
moment. to grab them by the ear and say, 
look upon Golgotha, look upon Calvary, look upon a beaten and 
a battered and a spit soaked and a whipped and a nail pierced 
and a beaten up and bruised and destroyed Savior. And you tell 
me if you still want to affirm your atonement, your redemption 
of maybe and perhaps You look upon that bloodied one at Golgotha 
and you bend a knee and you let your understanding return to 
you and recognize this is the Christ of perfect atonement. 
This is the Christ of perfect redemption and put away the meanderings 
and the philosophies of bad theology and embrace the theology of Jesus 
Christ, who died to perfectly secure the salvation of all those 
whom the Father had given to him. Spurgeon said it wonderfully, 
if the Arminian is right, redemption then becomes contingent. The 
cross quakes, the blood falls powerless to the ground and the 
atonement is a matter of perhaps. Believers, we rest upon a savior 
who is sure and steadfast and perfect in his saving work. We 
rest upon that solid ground of Jesus Christ, who died to shed 
his blood in fulfilling the will of his father and doing so perfectly, 
he did not fail. He's our perfect divine savior. 
And if you're here today and you don't know this Jesus Christ, 
know that the Christ that we present to you is perfect. He is unblemished. He is spotless. 
And he died to save sinners and to rise again for their justification. And before that, we present to 
you a holy God who cannot look upon sin. If you're again, if 
you're here today and you don't know Christ, you are like that 
one. That frenzied maniac. who isn't in his right mind, 
who rejects God, who can look up at creation, who can look 
up at the firmament and yet affirm atheism, can look at the glory 
of creation, can look at the riches of providence and yet 
reject the God of heaven and earth. You need to realize that 
there is a God in high heaven. He has a holy hatred for your 
transgressions, for breaking the law of him, of a righteous 
God. But there is that blessed Savior, 
this Christ of John 6, who came to do the will of the Father, 
that he will save and lose nothing of those whom the Father has 
given him. And the command of Holy Scripture is to bend a knee 
unto this one, crucified, resurrected, and ascended for guilty sinners. 
And we would pray that you would leave with us, singing with us, 
Hallelujah, what a Savior. Let's pray. Father, we thank 
you for your holy word. We thank you, Lord God, for what 
you have revealed in it. We thank you for doctrine, Lord 
God. And we would ask again that not a one of us would be puffed 
up in our doctrine. Not a one of us would be puffed 
up in the instruction that we have received from your holy 
word, but rather, Lord God, we would be like Paul and we would 
be like Peter, that we would sing doxologies unto you because 
of your because of divine election and predestination, because of 
perfect redemption by Jesus Christ, and because of perfect sealing 
and the perfect guaranteeing of the Holy Spirit. And we would 
ask, Lord God, that you would help us to, with meekness and 
fear, to defend the truths of Holy Scripture, to love them, 
to walk according to them, and to declare them to others, not 
beating them over the head with doctrine, but presenting before 
them a perfect Christ, His riches, His excellencies, and the true 
teachings of Holy Scripture. And we would pray, Lord God, 
that knowing everything that we know about Your holiness, 
about Your sovereignty, about Your majesty, knowing everything 
that we know about our own sin, about the fact that we were once 
like that frenzied Gadarene maniac, about the fact, Lord God, also, 
of a rich and an excellent and, yea, a perfect, impeccable Savior, 
that knowing all these things, we would go from here and live 
our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel by which we were 
called. Help us to live in this lower world as lights that shine 
in a crooked and prefers generation. And Lord God, help us to hold 
forth your word of truth with meekness and with fear and firmly 
resting upon the rock of our salvation. And it's in his name 
that we pray. Amen.