Turn in your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of John. Picking back up this morning, John chapter 6, verses 35 to 40. And if you're using one of the Chair Bibles, Lord willing, you can find that on page 1,772. verses 35 to 40. Last time together was a few weeks ago now, but you remember we looked at John 6, verses 28 to 34. And there we saw our Lord instruct the multitude of his hearers concerning God's greatest desire for men Two men. You remember we learned from those verses that God indeed desires all men, desires all men to receive the true bread which He gives. And now this morning from verses 35 to 40 of John chapter 6, we'll see our Lord identify Himself as the bread of life given by the Father to men for the reception and preservation of all who have been given by the Father to Him." All who have been given by the Father to Him. And then from this, this morning, our verses will learn and apply the truth that Jesus, is the receiver and the preserver of every elect believer. Jesus is the receiver and the preserver of every elect believer. And so, beloved, with that in mind, let's hear God's word. We'll start in John chapter six. Verse 22, we'll start in verse 22, and we'll read through verse 40 again this morning, focusing on verses 35 to 40. This is, again, the very word of God. On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there except that one which his disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone. However, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks. When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures. to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. And they said to him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent. Therefore they said to him, What sign will you perform then, that we may see it and believe you? What work will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. And Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. 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. Amen to that, and thus ends the reading of God's Word, and may He be pleased to bless it, and especially the preaching of it in our midst this morning. Will we see, beloved, verse 35, that right after speaking of the bread of God more vaguely, And right after these followers of His He was speaking with requested that Jesus would give them this bread, Jesus responds by expressly and plainly as day identifying Himself As the bread of God, as God's bread given from heaven, as the living and the life giving bread given by the father to men. And we know that bread was seen as the staple food in these days, and indeed it is still around the world. And we know that in the Lord's Prayer, right, when we pray for God to give us our daily bread that stands in and represents all of our most basic needs in this life. And so when Jesus identifies and presents Himself as the Bread of Life, As the living bread, as the living water, He's presenting Himself as that which man's soul absolutely needs. He's presenting Himself as that spiritual food which man's soul must have if it would live. And thus He declares that the one who comes to Him shall never hunger and the one who believes in him shall never thirst. We see here with coming and believing being parallel that just as in chapter 1, verse 11, when believing and receiving are parallel, teaching us that it is of the essence of believing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. So with the parallel here, we're being taught that it's of the essence of saving faith and belief to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, that believing just is a coming to Christ. We could say that it's the movement of the soul to Christ and it's finding its permanent rest in him and in him alone. And our Lord says here that the one that so comes and believes in him, again, they shall never hunger. They shall never thirst. So not merely you see that they shall not hunger or they shall not thirst, but they shall never, ever, never, ever hunger or thirst. We should understand our Lord's promise here that the one who comes to Him shall never hunger or thirst really in the way that we understand David's statements in the Psalms that speak of the believer never stumbling. Right? We've seen that many times in the Psalms and we remember that when David says something like, My foot shall never slip or I shall never stumble, he doesn't mean that the believer will never ever stumble in any way into sin. He doesn't mean that they will never fall into sin and even continue therein for some we know that the believer does that often even, but rather when David says, I shall not slip, I shall not stumble, he's saying, I shall not slip the slip unto death, right? I shall not stumble in such a manner that I never am lifted up again. Again, and so likewise here when Jesus is promising that the believer in Him shall never ever hunger or thirst, He is not saying, that the true believer will never in their Christian life, in their pilgrim journey in this wilderness, will never experience seasons of experiential hunger and thirst. He's not saying that the true believer will never experience seasons of spiritual drought and dryness. What he's promising is that the true believer, for them such seasons of hunger, thirst, drought, and dryness will not be the end of them, will not tend towards their starvation, if you will, unto death. So just as the believer will not stumble unto death fatally, and finally, so the Lord Jesus Christ is promising that the true believer will never starve spiritually unto death. You see, it's a promise that He will sustain as the bread of life and the living water. He will always sustain. He will always feed. He will always give what the believer needs to endure and persevere all the way to the end. And so we have here, you see, beloved, in our Lord's words in verse 35, really both of the themes of our kind of primary teaching this morning that Jesus is the receiver and the preserver of every elect believer, we see both coming in. We're taught that he will receive all who come to him and that of all he receives, he will preserve. But. Our Lord says, verse 36, though this be true, that all who come to him, all who believe in him will never hunger or thirst unto death. It is nonetheless true, he says, that those whom he was speaking with, it's nonetheless true that they had seen him and yet had not believed. He says to them, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Certainly recalling here what he said to them back in verse 26 when they were seeking Him and He exposed the true motivation of their heart and reproved them for not seeking Him for the forgiveness of their sins, but merely for seeking Him for their belly's next fill. And then notice the contrast here with our Lord's words down in verse 40, where He speaks of those who see and believe. These, He says, will have everlasting life. But you see, the ones whom He was speaking with, though they had seen, even with their very eyes, His power manifested, Yet they did not believe. And so we're reminded here of what we've seen really over and over in a variety of ways and places in the Gospel of John so far, which is that there are many, right, who seek the Lord, who profess the Lord, profess faith in Him who do not actually believe in Him. We see here again that not all who see, not all who seek, not all who come to the Lord Jesus Christ actually come in a saving and a justifying manner. That many come to Him. That many seek Him for selfish and worldly ends. That not everyone who professes the name of Christ, who bears the name of one of the brethren, is a true brethren. Right? Paul speaks of false brethren. And that's what we see here. So I'd simply ask you this morning, which are you? Which which are you? Are you one? Who has seen the Lord Jesus Christ with the mind, right? You've perceived him. You've come to him, you've even professed his name, and yet you do not actually believe in him. Are you one of those whom he says, to whom he gives everlasting life, who not only see him, but believe savingly unto him? So beloved, which one are you? No more important question could a man, woman, or child ask themselves this morning. But notice verse 37. Nonetheless, though Jesus said to these who were with him that they saw and did not believe, notice it's not as if God's plan of redemption was thereby failing. For though these did not believe, yet it was and is an eternal and infallible truth. says our Lord that all, all that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. Children, you may be familiar with the children's catechism question for whom did Christ obey and suffer? For whom did Christ obey and suffer? And you may know the answer is that for all whom God the Father gave to Christ, for all whom God the Father gave to Christ, And so we see that here in scripture, in a context like this, giving language is really the other side of the coin of election language. Right. We were elected in all eternity and Christ was given. in all eternity. We were chosen and Christ was given. Christ was gifted. And so our Lord's making clear here that though his present hearers, at least most of them, were not true believers, that nevertheless, in all eternity, the Father had elected a people and had gifted, had given to His Son this people as a bride. And it was a certain and infallible fact that His bride and each and every member of her would come to Him. in due time. And our Lord says that the one, okay, and indeed anyone who truly comes to Him, He will by no means. He's being emphatic here. He doesn't just say will not be cast, but will by no means whatsoever, no fathomable means or situation Will one who comes to Him ever be cast out? So again we see that after the mention of election and giving, the two themes of our passage again being mentioned as they are throughout, reception and preservation. Our Lord is saying that the one who truly comes to Him, He will receive. He won't turn one away who truly comes to Him. He won't cast them away. He won't cast them out. But also, necessarily implied, and perhaps in the Greek, even in the forefront here, is that the one who truly comes, once they have been received by Him, once they are in Him, they're always in Him. They can never be cast out. Every elect believer, you see, will surely be received and preserved. And we see this truth of election flowing unto reception from John 6, 37, really illustrated. in Acts 13, 48, when we read that all here, John, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and He will by no means cast them out. Listen, Acts 13, 48. Now, when the Gentiles heard this, okay, that is the gospel being preached there by Paul. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. In other words, through the free and indiscriminate preaching of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, those who had been given to the Son in all eternity came to Him in time. And before we move on to the rest of our passage, what an encouragement I'd say that we should take from our Lord's words and example here in verse 37. Because what we see is that our Lord's confidence in the plan of redemption, was not rooted in man's unqualified free will and neutrality and openness to the things of God, nor was our Lord discouraged when He shared the Gospel Himself with people and yet only received unbelief in return. We see rather that Jesus' confidence in the plan of redemption was rooted and anchored in the Father's predestination of a people in all eternity. And His encouragement was constantly drawn from the fact that it was through the preaching of the gospel and the free offer of it that all those whom the Father had predestined, it was through that that they would inevitably come to him. And so we see, beloved, that the reformed or we could just say the biblical faith that Jesus preached, OK, truly appropriated. It really anchors and fuels evangelism, anchors, anchors our hope that there's a people that will come. anchors and encourages when we go out and all that is returned to us is Unbelief we have this certain hope that fueled the Lord Jesus Christ That the father's given him a people and it's through the preaching of himself That that people will come to him Picking back up here in our passage, our Lord goes on to give certain and sure ground for his statement that the one who comes to him, he will by no means cast out. He says that everyone, everyone can be infallibly certain of this truth. Notice, for, verse 38, or because He says that He has come down from heaven. Let's just pause on that real quick. Children, what does that mean? If Jesus is speaking, He's talking to this people, and He says that He's come down from heaven, it means that He existed. before He came to earth. It teaches us here His pre-existence as the Son. It teaches us that His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary was no mere passive event or conception like ours. but that His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary was 100% active. It wasn't a mere conception. It was an incarnation. The Son of God came down from heaven and, as it were, entered into the womb of the Virgin Mary and by the power of the Holy Spirit. took to himself a human nature, body, and soul. I just didn't want us to miss that little glorious nugget of truth. But again, coming back here, we're being told Jesus is telling us that all can be certain that all who truly come to Christ will not be cast out precisely because He has not come down from heaven to do his own will, but the will of him who sent him. You may remember, we have a statement here very similar to the one our Lord made in chapter five, verse 30, where he said that his judgment as the son of man, as a true man, His judgment was righteous because he did not seek his own will, but the will of the Father. And so here, like there, we see the two wills of the Lord Jesus Christ being taught that he as one divine person as Jesus of Nazareth had one divine will and he had one human will. But here as in chapter 5 verse 30 Our Lord's point is that though his human and his divine will are distinct, they're never, ever in conflict or out of conflict. You see, He's teaching us and comforting us with the truth that though His human will as the Son of Man is distinct and is technically speaking changeable, because it's mutable, it's a human will, though His human will is distinct and technically changeable, It was yet always and unchangeably submitted to and governed by His and the Father's and the Spirit's unchangeable divine will. And so you see, beloved, it's for the sake of assurance that our Lord Jesus here is teaching us that our reception and preservation are not rooted in anything that is even technically changeable. But our reception and preservation are rather rooted in the one rock of the unchangeable will of our God and Father in heaven. And it is his will, Jesus says, verse 39, it is his will that of all he has given his son, it is his will that his son should lose none. but that He should raise up each and every one at the last. If you want a verse in the Bible that teaches as clearly as any, the pea of the tulip, or let me put it your way, the pea of the tulip, the perseverance of the saints, the preservation of the saints, you won't find a more clear statement of that than our Lord makes here. He's saying as clearly as he can, that every elect believer will be preserved. It's the infallible will of God the Father. But then also verse 40, such also is the Father's will that every sinner who truly comes to Him, who not merely sees, but sees and believes it's the Father's same infallible will that every one of them will be received and will be given everlasting life and will be raised up to it in glory at the last day. Again, every elect believer will be received is what our Lord is saying here. And so, beloved, we've just seen in the opening of our passage, our Lord identify himself as the bread of life given by the Father to men for the reception and preservation of all who have been given by the Father to him. And I hope we've seen that our passage teaches that Jesus is the receiver and the preserver of every elect believer. But we see also that this teaching of our passage is taught elsewhere, and we don't even need to leave the gospel of John to find our teaching confirmed. John 10 verse 9, our Lord says, I am the door. Hey, I am the door. Children, what did doors do? They receive, in a sense, right? They receive those who enter in by them. Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. Jesus is the door. He's the receiver of every elect believer. And then we see John 10, 28, Jesus says, I give them that is my sheep. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. He's the strong and the good shepherd. He's the preserver of every. elect believer. And then lastly, John 17 to Jesus as the son speaking to his father of himself as the Christ says you have given him that is the father has given the Christ the son authority over all flesh. Why? that so that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. So why did the father give the son all authority in heaven and on earth that through his kingly office he could bring to fruition the redemption he accomplished through his priestly office and the redemption he proclaims through his prophetic office. That's precisely why Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. And so, beloved, we see confirmed the truth of our passage this morning that Jesus is the receiver and the preserver of every elect believer. And in making use of the truth of our passage this morning, I want us to first apply and make use of the truth of the first part of it, that Jesus is the receiver of every elect believer. Jesus is the receiver of every elect believer. The truth that every single person, every one of them, who has been elected and given to Him by the Father in all eternity will come to Him in time. But here's the thing that I want us to see first with that truth. It's the important thing. And it's this, that no one, okay, this talk about election and reception, you need to know that no one comes into this life with an infallible and innate knowledge of their election. No one comes into this life with an infallible and innate knowledge of their election. Which is to say that no one knows for certain that they are elect before they believe. So we see that though election in one sense comes before reception, right? Election occurs in all eternity before the day even was. It precedes faith in that sense. Though election precedes reception, Nonetheless, we see that one's knowledge of their election comes after their reception, their reception of the Lord Jesus Christ. For unless and until one believes in Christ in time, they have absolutely zero ground for believing that they were elected in Christ. in all eternity. You have the old illustration, right, of the door that has the free offer of the gospel on it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. And there's response, right? Coming through the door, through the gate and entering onto the narrow path that leads to the heavenly city. And as such a one who believes, they hear the door shut behind them, and they turn. And it doesn't say, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, but elected from before the foundation of the world. And so you see the call, Christ's call this morning, is come. Come to me, he says. He says to all, come, feed on me. Take freely for yourself and eat that food which does not perish, in which endures to everlasting life. He says, come and take freely. Stop, stop prioritizing and inordinately chasing after the bread that perishes. Stop exalting the work and the things of this life in such a manner that the food for your soul is neglected and hindered. He's saying stop, stop seeking satisfaction for your soul in the bread and the breads of this world, which are simply bread, breads of death. It's the bread of the devil. The bread that dulls and blinds. The bread which leads one to really just indulge themselves blindly all the way into hell itself. And Jesus says, stop. Stop laboring for such. Stop longing for such. And instead, come and feed on me. Receive the bread of life. as food for your soul. Turn from your sins, he says, and make your calling and election sure by believing and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. But we see, beloved, as well, we know from our passage that our Lord Jesus was not only given for the reception of sinners, But he was given for the constant reception and for the preservation of the saints. And beloved, you and I need to be constantly reminded of these two truths. That Jesus is not only the receiver of sinners. But he's the constant receiver and preserver of the saints. Why do we need to hear that so often? Well, because even though it is true, absolutely, infallibly true, that none of the elect will ever fully or finally fall away, yet in this life, in this life, you and I may and often due to varying degrees by the way of temptations from the devil in the world, by way of the corruption remaining within us, and by our sorrowful neglect of the means of our preservation, which are the private and the public means of grace. We know that we may fall and often do fall to varying degrees into grievous sins and even for a time continue in them. And by this, we incur God's fatherly displeasure. We grieve his spirit and we come to be deprived of some measure of our graces and comforts. have our hearts hardened, our consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and even bring temporal judgments on ourselves. And because of this reality, beloved, of our Christian lives, because of this, you and I need called, often called back. to the Lord Jesus Christ, called to believe on him afresh, to renew our faith and repentance in him. We need called constantly to be watchful, watchful against those things which harm our assurance in this life. But then, beloved, comforted, Comforted that in spite, in spite of the truthfulness of these things that we bring upon ourselves, and in spite of these, Jesus Christ is always a ready receiver of sinful saints, that the Father again is always ready to receive, always as running unto you as the father ran to the prodigal son. Comfort, beloved, that there's always reception for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. Comfort that even though, beloved, we do such things, neglect the means of our preservation, we fall into differing sins and grievous sins, comforted as well, that even though we do such, even though we do such, that if we've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, our perseverance is still certain. It's still infallible and never in doubt. How can that be? Because it doesn't depend on you at all. What does your perseverance depend upon? Four things. Four things. The immutable decree of God flowing from his eternal and infinite love. That's number one. Number two, the infinite merit and efficacy of Christ's work and intercession on your behalf, that he laid down his life once for all and that he continues to pray for you. Three, the fact that the seed of faith, the Holy Spirit, will never leave you, will never leave you. Four, the nature of the covenant of grace that God, I believe Jeremiah 32, 40, has promised in it. As well as all of these other places. But it's of the essence of the covenant of grace. That he will preserve you. Decree of God. Merit of Christ. Seed of the Spirit. Nature of the covenant of grace, beloved. These are the grounds of your preservation. And so in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have a sure, immovable, infallible anchor for your soul, even when you're acting a fool. Even when you're acting a fool, you have this anchor in Christ that if you've come to him, you will never be cast out. You will never be cast out. And so, beloved, even when, even when in the guilt and sorrow of your sin, even when you would condemn yourself, even when you would say, Lord, depart from me and cast yourself out of his arms because you're ashamed. of being so filthy and lying on His chest, as it were, even when you would cast yourself out of the arms of your God and Savior, even when, beloved, and even then, the Lord Jesus Christ does not and will not condemn you. Even then, He will not cast you out. Even when you grieve the Spirit with the same old sins over and over again that you can't seem to overcome, He still refuses, refuses to leave you or forsake you. As much as you stain, beloved, His holy temple with all of your daily sins of thought, word, and deed, you have this assurance that He will never, ever tell you, enough is enough, I'm done, I'm leaving. Though you stray, though you stumble, Though you injure yourself to the point, and I'm talking injure yourself through your own neglect and sinfulness. Though you injure yourself to the point of not being able to go any further, you have his promises that he'll never, ever leave you behind. That he will always leave the 99. You have the promise that when you fall in the darkness of your sin, that his hand is always reaching out. It's always reaching out. He's always coming back. He's always looking at you. He says, I've got you. And even when you look at him and say, Lord, I can't. He says, I got you. And he picks you up. And he brings you back. And he's going to take you all the way. And you have that promise, for it's the will of our father that all he's given the son, the son should lose none. Jesus, beloved. is the receiver and the preserver of every elect believer. Let's pray and then praise our Lord together for these things. Our Father in heaven, how we thank you for the gift of such a Savior, such a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who cannot be prevented by anything, or by anyone from carrying out your will, that none can be snatched from his hand, that even when we have no strength to go any further, it doesn't matter because we ride on his shoulders and he takes us all the way. And so we praise you, O God, that you've given such a one as the Lord Jesus Christ to be the receiver and the preserver of every elect believer. We pray, O God, that we would believe these things as believers. And everyone in this room would believe these things unto the salvation of their soul. We pray them all in Christ's name. Amen.