The Certainty And Freeness Of Divine Grace

The Certainty And Freeness Of Divine Grace

DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 13, 1864, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and him that comes to
Me I will in no wise cast out."

John 6:37.

LET it be forevermore remembered that the words of Jesus Christ are
full of Truth and Grace. And that in each of these two sentences,
whether we perceive the fact or not, there is the surest Truth and the
freest Grace. There will be some who from the peculiarity of their
minds, will prize most the first sentence. They will say, as they read
these words, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me"–why, here
is high doctrine! Here is the security of the Covenant, the purpose of
God effectually carried out! Here is the Truth of God which we love and
the Grace in which we glory."

Other Brethren, overlooking the first sentence lest it should raise
questions too hard to be answered, will rather grasp at the second
sentence, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." "Why,"
they say, "here is universality of description! Here is a freeness of
invitation! Here is a gracious overflow of liberality–this is good
free Gospel, indeed!" And they will therefore fall to proclaiming the
second sentence to the neglect of the first.

But, Brothers and Sisters, let us not sin by setting one Scripture
against another, or attempting to divide the living child of
Revelation. It is one and it is alike glorious in all its parts. You
who love to hear the Gospel preached to sinners do not be afraid of the
doctrines of Sovereign Grace! And you who love Sovereign Grace but
cannot well hear doctrine too high for your taste, do not be afraid of
the free invitations of the Gospel and the wide door which Jesus opens
for needy sinners in many passages of Scripture!

Let us receive all Truth and let us be willing to learn every lesson
which the Lord has written, remembering that if we cannot as yet
reconcile Truths of God, there is the promise–"What I do you know not
now; but you shall know hereafter." If we could know everything, we
would be gods! Being mortals, some things must be unknown to us. Let us
know our ignorance and despair of becoming infallible and thus we shall
be in the path to true wisdom! But, if we boast of our wisdom, we shall
be on the high road to great folly.

Let us consider the text carefully. And as it divides into two
branches, let us view them one by one. Here we have Grace and Truth
triumphant in specialty. And, secondly, we have Grace and Truth
triumphant in liberality. May God help us to handle these so that much
instruction may flow from them.

I. In the first sentence, we have GRACE TRIUMPHANT IN SPECIALTY–

"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." I would bring out the
meaning of this passage by a few observations.

1. You perceive here that the Lord Jesus leads us up to the original
position of all things–for since a people were given to Him by the
Father, it is clear that they must first have been in the Father's
hands. All men, then, are naturally, from the beginning, in the hands
of the Father. And so it should be, for He has fashioned them all and
made them for His pleasure. God, absolutely considered, created all
things and His kingdom rules over all. Having a right to make laws, to
issue rewards, or to threaten with punishments at His own pleasure,
Jehovah sits upon His Throne, judging rightly. The elect were specially
in the hands of the Father for He had chosen them.

The choice is ever described as being with the Father–"I thank You, O
Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because You have hid these things
from the wise and prudent and have revealed them unto babes. Even so,
Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight." They belong to the
Father, then, as Creator, as Governor and as the source and fountain of
election. How often do Believers forget the part which the Father has
in their salvation. And yet He is the basis and prompter of it all.
Remember, Beloved, that He who first of all chose you was no other than
our Father who is in Heaven. And though our Lord Jesus Christ undertook
your cause, yet it was because the Father, first of all, out of His
great love, gave you to His Son. Forget not the Father's Grace and
cease not to sing of His love–

"'Twas with an everlasting love That God His o wn elect embraced Before
He made the worlds above, Or earth on her huge columns placed. Long
before the sun's refulgent ray Primeval shades of darkness drove, They
on His sacred bosom lay, Loved with an everlasting love."

2. The Savior then proceeds to inform us of a great transaction. He
says that the Father gave His people to the Son and put them into the
hands of Christ–the God-man Mediator. As Jesus is God, these people
always were His own. But as Mediator, He received them from the hands
of the Father. Here was the Father's condescension in noticing us at
all and in bestowing us upon the Son–here was the Son's infinite mercy
and compassion, in accepting such poor souls as we are at the Father's
hands and counting us to be His precious jewels, His peculiar portion.
The persons referred to as being given by the Father are not all men,
although, it is true that the Father has delivered all things into
Jesus' hands and He has power over all flesh.

We must always interpret one passage of Scripture by another. And the
thirty-ninth verse of this chapter very clearly interprets the
thirty-seventh–"And this is the Father's will which has sent Me, that
of all which He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day." The given ones, it is clear, are by
appointment delivered from being lost and appointed to a glorious
resurrection which is not true of any but the chosen. In the tenth
chapter we find the same explained thus in the twenty-seventh
verse–"My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me: and
I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hands. My Father, which gave them to
Me, is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hands."

And if this should not explain the matter sufficiently, we have it
again in our Lord's prayer in the seventeenth chapter, sixth verse–"I
have manifested Your name unto the men which You gave me out of the
world: Yours they were and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your
word." So you see that the persons given were His own sheep. They are
brought to know the voice of the Good Shepherd and to follow Him. They
are in His hands and there they are safely kept beyond all fear of
harm. Jesus manifests the Father's name unto them and they learn to
keep the Father's word.

This does not respect any gift of all men which the Father has made to
the Son–though in a certain sense all men have been given to Christ in
order that they may be the unconscious instruments of His Glory, though
not saved by His redemption. They are, even as His enemies, compelled
to do His pleasure, though they shall never be lifted up to the
adoption of children, nor to the dignity of being Brethren of the Lord.

We see, then, that there was a certain period when the eternal God gave
into the hands of the Mediator a multitude which no man can number,
whom He had chosen from among men to be His choice and peculiar
treasure. The text speaks in the present tense. But then the
thirty-eighth verse speaks in the past tense. And the passages we have
been reading to you all have it in the past–therefore understand that
the gift of the elect to Christ was performed in the past–before the
skies were stretched abroad or the mountains lifted their heads to the
clouds God had given a people to Christ.

But the deed may well be said to be performed in the present, since
with God there is no time and what He did yesterday, He does today, and
will do forever. Moreover, in a certain sense Christ does receive from
His Father's hand His people in time as well as in eternity–the Father
giving by effectual calling in time, the very people whom once He gave
in secret Covenant in eternity. We are, by the words of our text,
admitted into one of the secrets of the Divine council chamber and
rejoice as we perceive that the chosen ones belonging to the Father
were transferred by Him into the hands of the Mediator.

3. Further proceeding, Jesus assures us that this transaction in
eternity involves a certain change in time. "All that the Father gives
Me shall come to Me." They may be living in sin and they may continue
so to do twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy years–but before
their time shall come to die, they shall be brought to Christ! To come
to Christ signifies to turn from sin and to trust Christ. Coming to
Christ is a leaving of all false confidences, a renouncing of all love
of sin and a looking to Jesus as the solitary pillar of our confidence
and hope.

Now every soul whom God the Father gave to Jesus must do this and this
is the token by which the secretly chosen are known–they openly choose
Christ because the Father has secretly chosen them. You can never know
your election by any other means. That you are not one of His sheep
will be proved by your continuance in unbelief. But if humbly and
hopefully you come to Jesus and make Him all your salvation and your
desire, let no doctrine of election alarm or keep you back–you are one
of His, for this is the seal which He sets upon His sheep. In due time
they hear His voice, are led by Him into the green pastures of Grace,
follow Him through life and are brought by Him at last to the hilltops
of Glory!–

"There is a period known to God, When all His sheep, redeemed by blood,
Shall leave the hateful ways of sin,
Turn to the fold and enter in.
At peace with Hell, with God at war,
In sin's dark maze they wander far,
Indulge their lusts and still go on
As far from God as sheep can run.
But see how Heaven's indulgent care
Attends their wanderings here and there
Still hard at heel wherever they stray,
With pricking thorns to hedge their way.
Glory to God, they never shall rove
Beyond the limits of His love.
Fenced with Jehovah'sshallsand wills,
Firm as the everlasting hills
The appointed time rolls on apace,
Not to propose, but call by Grace,
To change the heart, renew the will,
And turn the feet to Zion's hill."

4. Observe, yet further, that in the words of our text, Jesus hints at
a power possessed by Him to constrain the wanderers to return. He says,
"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." Oh, the power and
majesty which rest in the words "shall come." He does not say they have
power to come. He does not say they may come if they will, but they
"shall come." There is no, "if," no "but," no "perhaps," no condition
whatsoever! It is put down as an unconditional and absolute purpose of
God and will of Christ that all whom the Father gave to Him shall come.
"Well," says one, "but does Christ force any man to be saved?" I answer
"No," in the sense in which the question is asked. No man was ever
taken to Heaven by the ears or dragged there by the hair of his head!
But, at the same time, the Lord Jesus does, by His messengers, His
Word, and His Spirit, sweetly and graciously compel men to come in that
they may eat of His marriage-supper.

And this He does, mark you, not by any violation of the free will or
free agency of man! God never treats man as though he were a brute. He
does not drag him with cart ropes–He treats men as men. And when He
binds them with cords, they are the cords of love and the bands of a
man. I may exercise power over another's will and yet that other man's
will may be perfectly free because the constraint is exercised in a
manner accordant with the laws of the human mind. If I show a man that
a certain line of action is much for his advantage, he feels bound to
follow it, but he is perfectly free in so doing. If man's will were
subdued or chained by some physical process–if man's heart should, for
instance, be taken from him and be turned round by a manual
operation–that would be altogether inconsistent with human freedom, or
indeed, with human nature.

And yet I think some few people imagine that we mean this when we talk
of constraining influence and Divine Grace! We mean nothing of the
kind! We mean that Jehovah Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments
addressed to the understanding–by mighty reasons appealing to the
affections and by the mysterious influence of His Holy Spirit operating
upon all the powers and passions of the soul–to subdue the whole man,
that whereas it was once rebellious it becomes obedient! Whereas it
stood stoutly against the Most High, it throws down the weapons of its
rebellion and cries, "I yield! I yield! Subdued by Sovereign love and
by the enlightenment which You have bestowed upon me, I yield myself to
Your will!"

The weapons are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling
down of strongholds. They are the invincible artillery of the love of
Christ and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God! Of this
teaching no Arminian should complain when he remembers the strong
expressions used in Wesley's hymns! Let me quote an instance–

"O my God, what must I do?
You alone the way can show.
You can save me in this hour,
I have neither will nor power!
God, if over all You are
Greater than my sinful heart,
All Your power on me be shown,
Take away the heart of stone.
Take away my darling sin,
Make me willing to be clean.
Make me willing to receive
All Your goodness waits to give!
Force me, Lord, with all to part,
Tear these idols from my heart!
Now Your love almighty show,
Make even me a creature new.
Jesus, mighty to renew,
Work in me to will and do.
Turn my nature's rapid tide,
Stem the torrent of my pride!
Stop the whirlwind of my will,
Speak and bid the sun standstill.
Now Your love almighty show,
Make even me a creature new.
Arm of God, Your strength put on,
Bow the heavens and come down!
All my unbelief overthrow,
Lay the aspiring mountain low!
Conquer Your worst foe in me,
Get Yourself the victory!
Save the vilest of the race,
Force me to be saved by Grace."

There is an influence put forth by the Holy Spirit which makes men
willing in the day of God's power. And every soul that is numbered in
the Covenant of Grace shall. Let the devil do his worst and let the
human will do its utmost and let temptations strain themselves to the
last degree of intensity–they shall, I say, in obedience to Divine
decree, be brought to the foot of the Cross, to cry, "What must I do to
be saved?"

5. And to conclude our remarks upon this first sentence, the Savior
declares that there is no exception to this rule of Grace. He says,
"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." Not some of them, but
all! Not all but one or two, but every one! Each one in particular and
the whole collectively. It will be found when the archangel's trumpet
shall ring through earth and Heaven, that every soul whom God ordained
to eternal life has attained that eternal life to God's praise and
honor! And when the census shall be read of all the children of the
living God, not one of the blood-bought and blood-washed shall be
absent–they shall all come to Christ in Heaven as they all come to
Christ on earth.

Now, albeit that some stumble at this doctrine, here is the greatest
possible comfort to the preacher of the Word. Day after day we proclaim
our Master's Truth and yet to a great extent we have to cry–"Who has
believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" So
many are stony-hearted. So many resist the invitations of the Gospel.
So many turn a deaf ear to the warnings of almighty mercy–what then?
Have we sown in vain? Have we labored for nothing? No, verily, in no
way! The purpose of God is certainly fulfilled in every jot and tittle
and the Master's will is definitely and in every point accomplished!

Therefore we labor with no broken heart and we preach with no coward
spirit in this matter. You, O proud and haughty sinners, may resist
Him. But if you will not come, others shall–you are bid to come to the
wedding. And if you will not come, the highways and the hedges shall
find Him guests. His table shall not be empty. Think not that the blood
of Christ shall be shed in vain! You may count it an unholy thing, but
there are myriads who shall be washed in it and who shall rejoice in
its power to cleanse. You may put from you the kingdom of Heaven and
count yourselves unworthy of it–if it is a "savor of death unto death"
to you–yet it shall be a "savor of life unto life" to others!

The great plans of Sovereign mercy shall not be thwarted by the enmity
of man! Jehovah shall yet in the end get the victory. All ages shall
crown His head with fresh honors when they see how, despite all the
enmity of the human heart– its treachery and its hardness–that His
purpose did stand and He did all His pleasure and displayed the bounty
of His Grace as He would, according to the good pleasure of His own
will.

You will see, then, that this first sentence, if we understand it at
all, involves, first, the doctrine of election–there are some whom the
Father gave to Christ. It involves, next, the doctrine of effectual
calling–those who are given must and shall come–however stoutly they
may set themselves against it, they shall be brought out of darkness
into God's marvelous light, And it also teaches us, and here I leave
the first sentence, the indispensable necessity of faith–for even
those who are given to Christ are not saved except they come to Jesus.
Even they must come, for there is no other way to Heaven but by the
Door, Christ Jesus.

I must not expect, whoever I may be, that I shall be saved by my
morality! I must not reckon to enter Heaven by my integrity or my
generosity! All that the Father gives to our Redeemer must come to Him.
Therefore none can come to Heaven except they come to Christ. And it
becomes indispensably requisite for princes and for peasants, for sages
and for savages, for the polite and for the uneducated, for the most
virtuous and the most vile to come just as they are and accept the
mercy of God which is freely presented to them in the Person of Christ
Jesus. And, mark, by this shall those be known whom God has
chosen–that they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ Jesus and
come to Him with simple and unfeigned faith, resting upon Him as all
their salvation and all their desire!

Some of you do not like this doctrine. Well, I cannot help that. I find
it in the Scriptures and I preach it. There is the text–to me it means
nothing if it does not mean what I have now stated. It is as plain and
expressive as the Saxon language employed in it could possibly make it.
Do not kick at the doctrine because you do not like it! If it is taught
in Scripture, like it or not like it, receive it. Perhaps however, it
does some people good to grow angry over a doctrine for they would
never think of it at all if they did not! And while this doctrine, like
an arrow in a wound, rankles and frets them, it nevertheless is the
means of making them consider spiritual things and so they are brought
to Jesus.

I believe this is one of the virtues of this doctrine–that it excites
people's prejudices and they grow vexed. But since they cannot get rid
of it, it follows them–they dream of it, they argue about it–and at
last there is a joint in the harness through which the good Word of the
Gospel cuts its way and they come to receive Christ in the fullness and
plenitude of His mercy.

II. In the second sentence we have GRACE TRIUMPHANT IN ITS
LIBERALITY–"Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out."

1. Please observe the liberality of the character–it is "him that
comes"–there is no description given whatever, except, "him that
comes." It means the rich man, the poor man, the great man, the obscure
man, the moral man, the debauchee, those who have sunken into the worst
of crimes and those who have mounted to the best of virtues. Those who
are next akin to devils and those who seem, by the correctness of their
lives to be somewhat like angels are all included– "him, him"! "Him
that comes!" "What him?" says John Bunyan. "Why," says he, answering
his own question, "any him in all the world that comes to Christ shall
be in no wise cast out."

"Him that comes." To come, as I have explained before, is to leave
something and to go to something. There is motion. We leave all other
grounds of trust and we take Christ to be our solitary hope. We come to
His blood to be washed, to His righteousness to be cleansed, to His
wounds to be healed, to His life for life eternal and to His death for
the death of our sins. We come to Jesus for everything! And the promise
is that any man who comes, whoever he may be, shall find that he is not
cast out. "But suppose," says one, "that the poor condemned wretch
should come who has committed a foul and cruel murder?" Well, if he
comes, he shall not be cast out!

If in addition to murder, or without murder, he should have been guilty
of uncleanness impossible to describe– suppose he to have wallowed in
it year after year and to have brought himself to such a state that he
is scarcely fit to be touched with a pair of tongs! Suppose he to be
such an outcast that he is only fit to be swept into some back corner
in Hell. Well, what then? If he comes to Christ, he shall not be cast
out! I like to put it in such a light that he who deems himself to have
gone furthest into sin may yet see that this text sets a door wide open
whereby he may come for mercy!

It says, "him that comes," and this shuts out no comer. John Newton was
a blasphemer of so gross a kind that even the sailors in the vessel in
a storm said that they should never get to port with such a sinner as
John Newton on board! But he came to Christ and was not cast out! He
lived to preach the Word of God! John Bunyan was so foul a blasphemer
that even a woman of the street, who passed him by and heard him swear,
said that he was enough to corrupt the whole parish. And he was
astonished that a woman of so bad a character should so rebuke him!

John Bunyan came to Jesus and he was not cast out! He lived to have the
honor of suffering for his Master and to be the winner of multitudes of
souls. Saul of Tarsus had stained himself with the blood of saints! He
was a very wolf after Christ's sheep! He was not satisfied with
worrying them in his own land, so he obtained power to persecute them
in Damascus. But when he fell upon his face and cried for mercy he was
not cast out! Manasseh was blood-red with the murder of God's Prophets.
It is said that he cut the Prophet Isaiah in two with a saw. And yet,
when out of the low dungeon he cried for mercy, he was not cast out!

So that any kind of "him," though he may have been a persecutor even
unto blood–though he may have been exceedingly mad against God till he
could not speak without blasphemies against the name of Christ–though
he hated everything which is good and despised everything held precious
by believing men and women–yet if he comes to Christ, he shall not be
cast out! Every man, woman and child in this Tabernacle this morning is
included in such a word as this, if he comes to Christ! That is the
point–if you come to Christ, no matter what your past character may
have been, nor yet what your present feelings may be, "him that comes
to Me I will in no wise cast out." I thank God for so generous a
liberality as that!

2. Then the next point of liberality is in the coming. Please notice
it. "Him that comes to Me." Here is no adjective to qualify it–here is
no adverb to set out the manner. It is, "him that comes to Me." That is
the point, "to Me." We must come to Jesus as crucified and bearing our
sin. We must come to Christ as pleading before the Throne of God and
see the acceptance of our prayers there. It is not coming to Baptism!
It is not coming to the Lord's Supper! It is not coming to the Church.
It is not coming to worship–it is coming to Christ! "Him that comes to
Me."

Take heed that you do not come elsewhere–for if you rest short of
anything but Christ–you rest short of the promise. But, O Soul, if you
build on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. If you touch
the hem of His garment. If you look out of self entirely to Him–then
rest assured of this–there is no other qualification to your coming
but that you come to HIM!

Some come to Christ at once. The very first time they hear the Gospel,
they lay hold of it and are saved. They are not cast out. Some are
months in coming–they go from strength to strength in this matter and
their faith is a thing of long growth. Well, they shall not be cast
out! Some come running! Some come walking! Some come creeping on all
fours! Some have to get others to carry them, as that man did who was
borne of four! But so long as they do but come, He does not cast them
out! Some feel as if all their bones were broken and they can only
writhe into His Presence, as it were, wriggle themselves to the Mercy
Seat all full of aches, pains, woes, doubts, fears, whispers,
distrusts, bad habits and sins. But if they do but come, they shall not
be cast out!

One man comes with a long prayer. Another comes with nothing but two
words. One comes with many tears. Another could not shed a tear if it
would save his soul, but he groans. Another can scarcely groan, but his
heart feels as if it would burst. One has intense conviction, another
has very little of it. One is shaken over Hell's mouth, another is
attracted by the beauties of the Savior. One has to be thundered at as
from the top of Sinai, another is but beckoned and His willing heart
runs to Calvary. But, however you come, Sinner, He will not cast you
out if you come to Him–that is the point!

Do not waste time questioning what your experience is, or raising the
point of how you came or when you came– for here it stands, "him that
comes to Me"–not him that comes in this way, or that way, but, "him
that comes to Me"!

Oh, the liberality of this precious verse! It shuts me in, it does not
shut you out poor Sinner–"him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast
out."

3. Observe the liberality of the time. "Him that comes." It does not
say when. He may be seventy–if he comes he is not cast out! He may be
but seven–and, thank God there have been many boys and girls who have
come even at that age–but He will not cast them out! Your candle may
be little more than a snuff, but He will not quench it. Or it may be
but newly lit–He will accept either. The full-blown rose or the flower
in the bud shall alike be received by His gracious hand!

Some came to Jesus when He was on earth–He did not cast them out. A
long file of sinners saved by Grace has been streaming up from the
Cross to the Throne ever since then and not one of them has ever been
rejected! We have fallen upon 1864, and the year is almost spent, yet,
think not that we have come to the dregs of Christ's mercy! Do not
imagine that, because time grows old, Christ's love grows decrepit! Ah,
no! He will not cast us out in 1864 any more than He did the thief who
looked to Him upon the Cross and found mercy that day! What a blessed
thing it is that there is no limit as to time!

I was remarking to myself the other day that the most of the
conversions which occur in our place of worship are among new
people–persons who come in once or twice and perhaps before they have
heard a dozen sermons God blesses them. While those who have been
hearing us for seven or eight years are not converted in anything like
the same proportion. It is a very sad reflection, but still I couple
with it this thought–"Well, if they have not come yet, still it is not
too late. If they have been invited to come for seven, eight, nine,
ten, twenty years–and oh, there are some of you who have heard the
Gospel ever since you were children–yet it does not say that you shall
be shut out because you come so late, but, "him that comes"!

You may have turned a deaf ear until you are now growing gray. You may
have despised Christ times without number–He waited to be
gracious–with outstretched arms He bade His minister woo you to come
to Him, but you would not come! But still, if now, by Grace, you are
led to come, He will not cast you out! At the last moment of life, if
you come, He will not cast you out. And now this morning–God make it
an auspicious hour to you–come and try Him this hour, it is just
twenty minutes past noon, but you will find if you come that He will
not cast you out, for the gates of the City of Mercy are never shut!

4. Further, notice that there is no limit as to the duration of the
promise. I mean, He does not merely say, "I will not cast you out when
you have come," but, "I will NEVER cast you out." The original reads,
"I will not, not cast you out," or, "I will never, never cast you out."
The text means that Christ will not at first reject a Believer. And
that as He will not do it at first, so He will not to the last. If I
come to Christ today, He will accept me. And He accepts me in that act
forever–He will never cast me out!

Suppose the Believer sins after coming? "If any man sin we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Suppose that
Believers backslide? "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them
freely: for My anger is turned away from him." But Believers may fall
under temptation. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that you are able. But will, with the temptation, also
make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." But the
Believer may fall into sin as David did! Yes, but He will "Purge them
with hyssop and they shall be clean. He will wash them and they shall
be whiter than snow,"

From all their iniquities will He cleanse them–

"Once in Christ, in Christ forever, Nothing from His love can sever,"
and that doctrine this text teaches most expressly–"him that comes to
Me I will never, never cast out." He will never suffer one who has once
been grasped in His hands to be wrested from them! No member of
Christ's body can ever be cut off, or else Christ would be mutilated.
No sheep of His flock shall ever be torn by the lion–He will rend the
lion and, as David did, He will take the lamb out of the jaws of the
lion and out of the paws of the bear. "I give unto My sheep," says He,
"eternal life. And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of My hands."

What do you say to this, Sinner? Is not this a precious mercy–that if
you come to Christ you do not come to One who will treat you well a
month or two and then send you packing about your business, but will
receive you and make you His child and you shall abide forever, no
longer receiving the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of
adoption whereby you shall cry, Abba, Father? Oh, the Grace of this
passage! Would I had an angel's tongue to set it forth!

5. Still we have not exhausted it. Something of the liberality of this
passage is to be found in its certainty. "Him that comes to me I will
in no wise cast out." It is not a hope as to whether Christ will accept
you–it is a CERTAINITY! Oh, if there were only half a shadow of a hope
that the Lord Jesus would have mercy upon such a poor worm as I am,
would I not go into His Presence hoping against hope? If it were a case
of sink or swim, yet, since I could lose nothing by trusting Him, I
would gladly do it, as the hymn puts it–

"I can but perish if I go! I am resolved to try! For if I stay away, I
know I must forever die."

But, dear Friends, we must not put it in that way, or at least, only
for the sake of bringing out a thought–for there is no "but" about
it–you cannot perish if you go! O, try at once and you will find that
him that comes in no wise can be cast out! We sometimes sing–

"Venture on Him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude," but there
is no venture in the case–it is an absolute certainty. Merchants will
often speculate at a high figure. But there is no speculation here. We
drink the medicine which the physician gives us in the hope that it may
cure–but this will cure–here is water that will quench your thirst!
Here is a balm that will heal your wounds–"him that comes" He will
receive–"He will in no wise cast out."

What a hammer that word "no wise" is with which to smash your fears to
pieces. "Perhaps," says one, "He will reject me because I do not repent
enough"–"in no wise." "Perhaps He will reject me because I have been
so long coming"–"in no wise." "But He will reject me because I do not
pray aright"–"in no wise." You cannot mention any shape or form of a
fear which this does not slay upon the spot–"I will in no wise cast
out." I say again, I wish I had an angel's tongue to put the liberality
of this before you. The devil, I know, will be suggesting twenty
reasons why you should not come–let this one reason why you should
come be enough to answer all of his–that Jesus says, "I will in no
wise cast out him that comes."

6. I must conclude by observing that there is great liberality in the
text, if you notice its personality. Reading over this verse carefully
I observed that in the first sentence, where everything was special,
Jesus used a large word and He said, "All that the Father gives Me
shall come." But in the second sentence, which is general, He uses a
little word, a word which can mean only one and He says "him." There is
a personality here–"him that comes." It does not say they that come,
but "him that comes." Why? Why, because sinners want personal comfort!
They need something that will suit their case. Do you see, Sinner, He
does not take men in the lump, but He picks you out as if you were the
only sinner in the world! He says to you, "him that comes to Me I will
in no wise cast out"!

Had he put it in the plural, you might say, "Ah, but He did not think
of me." But now He has put it so that it just fits your case. This is
no medicine in the bottle of which many may drink, but here is a glass
set for you! It is not a cordial which may be passed round the table,
but it is put at your place! Drink and be satisfied–"him that comes."
Lord, does "him" mean me?" Yes, it means you, if you will come. Come
now! Put your trust in Jesus. What do you say? I hope the Spirit is
speaking to you in these words of mine! And if He speaks to you as I
speak to you, then shall it be well with you. Sinner, come!

There is a dying Savior! He died in the place of sinners. In the place
of what sinners? Why, of all sinners who trust Him. Will you trust Him?
Is it a hard thing to trust God to save you? To trust God who became
man and so proved His love to you? To trust Him? "Why," says one, "that
is simple enough," but that is all the plan of salvation. When I am
preaching from such a text as this I feel as if I have no scope for
metaphors and figures and illustrations–I do not need any–because
this saving Truth of God must always he proclaimed as plainly as
possible! And then if souls are saved by it, it is not the excellency
of words, but the Truth itself which shall get the honor.

Now, do you see it, Soul? If you do, I am content–if you trust Christ
to save you, you shall not be cast out! You have come to Him! Your
coming to Him proves that the Father gave you to Him! You are saved!
You are one of His chosen! You shall never be cast out! Your Heaven is
secure! You shall sit at the right hand of God and sing the new song,
as surely as they do now, who, white-robed, are hymning the Redeemer's
praise! This is not an affair of months and weeks, is it? It does not
need a moment–to look, is the work of an instant. But the moment that
faith is exercised, perfect pardon is given! There is no sin in God's
book against a soul that trusts Christ and there never can be–

"There's pardon for transgressions past,
It matters not how black their cast!
And, O my Soul, with wonder view,
For sins to come, here's pardon too."

What? Are there none who will accept this? Are there none here who say,
"I will trust my soul in Jesus' hands"? What? Will you build on your
own righteousness? Ah, Fools! To pile up the sand which the next tide
must sweep away! What? Do you despise the mercy of my God? Will you
turn away from the bleeding wounds of His own dear Son? What? Is
forgiveness not worth your having? Is God's free mercy a thing to be
scoffed at? O Heavens, hear and be astonished! O Earth, hear and be
amazed! God sends the Gospel unto men, but they refuse it! That Gospel
says unto them, "Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

But though God calls, they refuse and will have none of His Words! May
His mighty Spirit come and make a difference in some of you and bring
you now to the foot of the Savior's Cross to look up! Do nothing else
but look up! And looking there you shall never perish, but have eternal
life! May the Master bless these words, feeble of themselves and only
mighty because of the Truth they convey, for Jesus' sake. Amen.