The Father’s Will

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"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. And this is the will of Him thatsentMe, that everyone which
sees the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting life; and I
will raise him up at the last day." John 6:39,40.

SUCH is our impertinent curiosity that we would gladly peer between the
folded leaves of the Divine purposes. The eager thirst of man to
discover secrets, to solve mysteries, to draw aside the folded curtains
and to ascertain that which is past finding out, tempts him full often
to the wildest conjecture and the most adventurous speculation. How
many would rush to any part of the earth were it possible to light upon
a spot from which they could reconnoiter the times and the seasons to
get a sight of the future? To know that which God conceals seems to be
one of the depraved desires of the human heart. This presumptuous
enquiry is both foolish and sinful. What have you to do, O man, with
God's councils? To obey Him is your work, not to attempt to know what
He does not please to reveal.

But let us understand that the Gospel is an extract from the will of
God and such an extract that it contains the very essence thereof.
Certainly there is nothing in the will of God contrary to the Gospel.
Among the unrevealed things there cannot be anything in conflict with
the revealed things. None of the secrets can possibly contradict those
Truths of God which He has seen fit to unfold. O then, you that want to
know the will of God, here is something of it for you closely to
observe and diligently to study! If you want to read that will, here it
is given to you in two forms–"This is the Father's will, (the will of
Him which has sent Jesus, His only-begotten Son, to be our Savior),
that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day."

And here is that same will, again, opened up before you, if you have
but hearts to receive it–"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that
everyone which sees the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting
life: and I will raise him up at the last day." The will of God is our
salvation. It was from the will of God that the very thought of
salvation first arose. Had we been left to our own wills, we should
have been willing to wander further and further from God. No man
originated the idea of restoration for our race–God Himself willed it
and it is from the purpose of His Grace that all our hopes begin–and
the will which originated salvation shaped and formed it. It was God's
will that ordained salvation by faith, salvation through an atoning
Sacrifice, salvation by the way of the new birth, salvation by the way
of perseverance up to perfection.

God cast in His own mold the way and modus of salvation and it has been
His will that has shaped it. Like a vessel revolving upon the wheel
before Him, His fingers have made the form and fashion of it. According
to His own will He begat us that we might be a kind of first fruits of
His creatures. It is His will that has brought those of us who are
saved into the knowledge of the Truth, by which will, also, we are
sanctified and upon which will we rely as the motive force which shall
bear us onward throughout the entire of our lives. It will bear us over
the regions of death and bear us into the land of the perfect where we
shall see the face of God without sin.

Now, it is about this will of God that we are going to speak, taking
the two phrases as setting forth the Divine side of salvation and the
human side of salvation. You know, beloved Friends, that the general
custom is, with the various denominations of Christians, to take up one
part of the Bible and preach that part. And then it is the duty of all
divines on that side of the question not to preach anything but that.
Or if they find a text that looks in rather a different direction,
these gentlemen are expected to twist it round to suit their creed–it
being supposed that only one set of truths can possibly be worth
defending. It never having entered into the heads of some people that
there can be two apparently irreconcilable Truths which, nevertheless,
are equally valuable.

Think not that I come here to defend the human side of salvation at the
expense of the Divine! Nor am I desirous to magnify the Divine side of
it at the expense of the human. Rather would I beseech you to look at
the two texts which are together before us and to be prepared to
receive both sets of Truths as Truths of God. I think it a very
dangerous thing to say that the Truth lies between the two extremes. It
does not–the Truth lies in the two, in the comprehension of both– not
in taking a part from this and a part from that. Not in toning down one
and modulating the other, as is too much the custom of today, but in
believing and giving full expression to everything that God reveals
whether we can reconcile the things or not.

We must open our hearts as children open their understandings to their
father's teaching, feeling that if the Gospel were such that we could
make it into a complete system, we might be quite sure it was not God's
Gospel. For any system that comes from God must be too grand for the
human brain to grasp at one effort–and any path that He takes must
extend too far beyond the line of our vision for us to make a nice
little map of it and mark it out in squares. This world, you know, we
can readily enough map. Go and get charts and you shall find that men
of understanding have indicated almost every rock in the sea, almost
every hamlet on the land. But they cannot map out the heavens in that
way, for albeit that you can buy the celestial atlas, yet as you are
well enough aware, there is not one in 10,000 of the stars that can
possibly be put there.

When they are resolved by the telescope they become altogether
innumerable and so far exceed all count that it is impossible for us to
reckon them up in order and say that is the name of this, and this is
the name of that. We must leave them–they are beyond us. There are
deeps into which we cannot peer. Even the strongest glass cannot show
us much more than a mere corner of the starry worlds. Thus, too, is it
with the doctrines of the Gospel–they are too bright for our weak
eyes, too sublime for our finite minds to scan except at a humble
distance. Be it ours to take all we can of their solemn import, to
believe them heartily, accept them gratefully and then fall down before
the Lord and pour out our very souls in worshipping Him.

I. Well, now we come to our two texts. The first is the DIVINE SIDE OF
THE WORK OF SALVATION. It needs to come first–such is its dignity.
"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." Mark attentively the announcement, how Sovereign its
character–"This is the Father's will." Majestic words–"This is the
Father's will." No, "if." No, "but." No asking and requesting of men.
No bending the knee to their choice or caprice. No asking them if they
will please to have it so. But–"This is the Father's will."

That is the will which is altogether absolute and independent,
revolving on its own axis, the will that called creation out of
nothing, the will which cannot be thwarted, for it is Omnipotent. This
is the will which none may stand against, for it proceeds ever on its
eternal course. It is a fixed will, for God is not fickle as we are. He
does not will this today and that tomorrow. "I am God," He says, "and
change not." He is "the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of a turning"–a fixed, irresistible will, standing the
same from everlasting to everlasting–not subject to change.

Would you have it change for the better? How could that be? Can God be
better? Would you have it change for the worse? Would God be God if He
could be worse than He is? How can it be that perfection can change? It
must ever remain perfection–a change were to bring in imperfection
into that which is complete. To God's eternal mind there is no past,
there is no future–

"He fills His own eternal now, And sees her ages past."

Looking as He does, from Heaven, He takes in at one glance all those
periods of time which we are accustomed to call ages and cycles. They
are all as the twinkling of an eye to Him, for "a thousand years in His
sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the
night." Let me, then, again read these words. They concern the
salvation of His people. "This is the Father's will."

I say again, how grand they are! "This is the Father's will." O God, I
trembled at Your will until I read those lines! I knew not what Your
will might be and since I knew it must be accomplished I cowered down
at Your feet in terror until I read that mercy is the Father's will,
that love is the Father's will, that salvation is the Father's
will–and then my heart

flew into Your bosom with ecstasy and joy to think that Your
Omnipotent, unchangeable will should be such goodwill! So full of
benevolence, so full of love!

Following the current of this testimony, we are introduced to the
obedient Servant of that will. "This is the Father's will, which has
sent Me." Read the 38th verse–"For I came down from Heaven, not to do
My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." Christ, then, is the
obedient Servant of His Father's will. But why does He say, "not to do
My own will"? The meaning, I doubt not, as Dr. Owen well interprets it,
is first or primarily in reply to the malicious charge of the Jews,
"that He was not intent to accomplish or bring about any private
purposes of His own, distinct or different from those of His Father."
But more than this, "the will of God, which Christ came to fulfill, is
sometimes taken for the commandment which He received from the Father."

So He says in the 40th Psalm, "I delight to do Your will, O My God:
yes, Your Law is within My heart." As though He should proclaim, "all
that You require at My hand as Mediator I am ready to perform." Was it
not to this end that He did verily "take on Him the form of a Servant"?
And for the same cause did not the Father expressly call Him His
Servant, as you read in the 42nd chapter of Isaiah–"Behold My Servant,
whom I uphold, My Elect, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit
upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles"? Thus is He
the Servant of the Father in the accomplishment of that work for which
the Spirit was put upon Him.

Moreover, "will of God" may be taken for His purpose, His decree, His
good pleasure to fulfill, which Christ came into the world. It is thus,
little by little, that the full sense of the words breaks on our minds.
Now, as I turn that over in my mind, "not to do My own will, but the
will of Him that sent Me," I am prone to reflect, "It is for me to lay
down my will at God's feet." Well, it is but fit and right for all of
us to do so. For every one of us to say, "I came not to do my own
will," seems natural and proper. But Christ, Beloved–His will is
perfect! His will is as complete as the will of God, Himself! It is, in
fact, coincident, must be coincident, with the will of God. But He
speaks as God-Man–Mediator–and He puts it so that He may be to us the
pattern of complete resignation and perfect obedience.

"I, even I, who have no difference with God, who am God, who wills as
God wills, yet I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him that
sent Me." Why do you think it was necessary that He should say that? It
was necessary, as I have already said, as an example to us, but further
necessary that every one of us may know that Christ is no amateur
Savior come into the world to save without a commission and without
authority. He has come here willingly enough, but still, the reason of
His coming is His Father's will. When Christ forgives a sinner it is
His Father's will! When Christ receives a rebel to His bosom, it is His
Father's will!

He does not save us clandestinely or in any manner inconsiderate of or
contrary to the Divine purposes, nor yet in some such way as though by
the tenderness of a Friend He would rescue us from the sternness of a
Judge. No, no, in no wise–for all that Jesus does is the Father's
will, as He would say of us–"I say not that I will pray to the Father
for you, for the Father Himself loves you." The will which Christ is
doing is the Father's will! All that He is engaged to bring about is
according to the will of the Father. Let us bless His name for that.

Well now, it would appear that God, in His Divine will, was pleased to
give to Jesus, His obedient Servant, a number of men out of mankind who
were to be His. Is not that the plain meaning of the passage, "This is
the will of Him that sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I
should lose nothing"? The Father gave to the Son, then, a number. I
believe it is a number that no man can number–a number far beyond the
bounds of our thought. But He did give a certain number whom He,
Himself, had chosen from before the foundation of the world–and these
became the property of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They were put under a different government, being placed under the
mediatorial sway of the Son of God. They became disciples–not by their
own natural inclination, but by His gracious calling. They became
Christ's flock. He their Shepherd. They were to become Christ's body.
He was to be the Head. In due time they were to be Christ's bride. He
was to be the Husband. They were to be Christ's Brethren and they were
to be conformed to Him that He might be the first-born among many
Brethren. Now this is a great transaction full of sublimity–let us not
forget it or slight it. There was a day before all days when there was
no day but the Ancient of Days. And then the Ancient of Days, in His
eternal wisdom transferred a number of men whom He had chosen into the
hands of Jesus Christ. It is of no use quibbling at it! It is true! It
was so and it is so, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. God's
eternal and electing purpose severed from the mass of mankind a people
who were to belong to Jesus. Let us say "Amen" to the record.

The next thing we learn here is that all these persons Jesus Christ
undertook to keep. It was the Father's will that of all who were given
to Christ He should lose–what?–"lose nothing." This is a very
remarkable expression! It does not say He should lose none–that is
true–but lose no thing, "nothing." The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore,
has taken all those who were given of the Father to Him, into His
custody. He is the Surety, He is responsible for them and He keeps
them. In what way does He keep them? Seeing they were lost, He redeemed
them. Seeing they were far from Him, He fetches them back BY His Grace,
by the power of His Spirit. Seeing that they are still prone to wander
He restores their souls. Seeing that they are imperfect He sanctifies
them and He continues the work of sanctification. And He will make
them, one day, to be without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

But the text says He will, "lose nothing," by which He means that while
He will certainly not lose one that His Father gave Him, He will not
lose any part of one of them. For look at that child of God who died a
few months ago. We laid him in the grave with many tears, and we
believe his spirit is taken up to the right hand of God. But where is
his body? Ah, we should not like to exhume it–it would be a terrible
spectacle if we should take it out of that coffin, or open the lid and
look at all that mass of putridity! Surely this is part of one of
Christ's people that has been lost! Ah, but it is not His Father's will
that Christ should lose anything of what was given Him–and therefore
He adds, "I will raise it up at the last day."

When the trumpet sounds, the dead shall come forth from their graves
and there shall not be left in the grave a bone, nor a piece of a bone,
of one of the Lord's redeemed–they shall come again from the land of
the enemy–and leave nothing behind them. When Israel came out of Egypt
the great Master did not bring some of the people out and leave some
behind. Oh, no! Neither did He bring all the people and leave their
property behind. Did not Moses say to Pharaoh, "There shall not a hoof
be left behind"? Not a solitary lamb of all the flocks–there shall not
one be left behind. And so out of the entire company that God the
Father has given into the custody of Jesus, there shall not only not be
one soul lost, but no part of any one of them–neither of their body,
of their soul, nor of their spirit. Death shall yield up its captives,
they shall be completely free–

"Then all the chosen race

Shall meet around the Throne,

To bless the conduct of His Grace

And make His glories known." That is the Divine side of salvation, and
that is the Truth of God which this first part of our text teaches. Do
I hear somebody say, "I think that doctrine is dangerous"? My dear Sir,
who is it dangerous to but fools? If God has taught it there can be no
danger in it! At the same time there never was a Truth of God which
foolish persons could not distort and turn into mischief. Ropes are
good things, but many people have hung themselves with them. And there
is many a grand doctrine which men wrest to their own destruction. We
cannot be shaping the Truth of God down to consult the folly and sin of
man. The question is, is it in the Bible? If it is there, let none of
us ever say it is dangerous.

"Well, but," you say, "is it not all about secret things?" Is it so?
Then you need not be at all alarmed at our talking about it, for none
of us can divulge anything which is secret–therefore you need not be
under any concern that we shall do it. If it is secret, then so far as
it is secret we cannot intermeddle with it. But we do say
this–whatever of it has been revealed is for us and for our
children–and we are not ashamed to speak of what God was not ashamed
to declare. Moreover, we have proved it to be a good, comfortable,
solid, soul-sustaining, sanctifying doctrine, for if there is anything
in this world that can put force, life, energy into a man–it is the
belief that God has chosen him unto eternal life–has put into him an
unconquerable nature which is engaged to bring him safely to the right
hand of the most High! Why, the gratitude of a man that believes this
becomes the master power of his life!–

"Loved of my God, for Him again

With love intense I burn.

Chosen of Him before time began

I choose Him in return."

Slaves are whipped to the battle, but the free man goes cheerfully to
fight for the cause dear to his heart. The man that only lives a good
life because he is afraid of being damned is a mere hireling in the
House of God. But the man who knows that he is God's child and never
will be anything else–that God loves him and must love him–says now,
out of no desire of reward and no fears of punishment, being saved,
forever saved, "I love my Lord with all my heart and soul and

strength, and I will render to Him the obedience of a child which is
infinitely superior to the obedience of a slave." I question the
possibility of virtue to a man who cannot say–"I am saved." He that
does good works in order to his being saved, or in order to keep
himself from the peril of being lost, acts from a selfish motive and
believes in himself rather than his God.

But he, on the other hand, who feels that he is bought with a price and
is delivered, is saved, is a child of God, can say, "Now I have not
myself to consider but my God. Now will I live for Him. Now will I
spend and be spent, that I may glorify His name." The Lord grant to us
to be brought into that condition in which we can understand and enjoy
this doctrine and may we then, by our lives, prove our gratitude for
the great benefits we have received of Him.

II. Now I am going to take the HUMAN SIDE, and I think I hear somebody
say–"Though I liked the first part, I know I shall not like the
second." Dear Hearer, what right have you to quibble at anything that
is true? Somebody on the other hand may say, "I do not believe in this
first part, perhaps I may in the second." My dear Friend, I wish you
would give up that notion of picking and choosing parts of God's Word
that are agreeable to your taste, but rather take the whole, from the
beginning of it to the end of it, so you shall find pleasure and profit
all the way through.

Truly, Brothers and Sisters, it is shocking to think of the theoretical
difficulties that people make for themselves by a kind of smart
criticism that seems clever but lacks common sense! In this very
chapter, at the 27th verse, you read– "Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which
the Son of Man shall give unto you." The fact is, you get here two
paradoxes in one sentence. You are told not to labor for that meat
which no man can procure without labor, and you are told to labor for
that bread which no man can procure by labor, because it is a free
gift.

Nevertheless, the thing needs no explanation. It is clear as daylight
to every discerning heart. Here, then, is the human side of
salvation–"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which
sees the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." Observe, there is no lowering of
the tone. The same august words strike us on the threshold of each
announcement. "This is the will of Him that sent Me." The freest
proclamations of the Gospel that can ever be given are as much Divine
as are the plainest declarations of distinguishing Grace. Listen, then,
with equal attention to this second part, for this has the same
imprimatur, the same Divine stamp upon it–"This is the will of Him
that sent Me."

Notice again that there is the same obedient Servant engaged on this
occasion as before. Whether you look at the Divine side or the human
side of salvation, the most conspicuous object is still Christ Jesus.
If God looks down on men it is through His Anointed, or if men look up
to God, it is through God's Christ whom He has sent. The points of
difference we will therefore dwell upon. In this second verse the
persons described as partakers of the benefit of salvation are thus
described–"Everyone which sees the Son, and believes on Him." What are
we to understand by these words– "Everyone which sees the Son"? We
cannot see the Son now with our natural organs of sight, for Jesus has
gone up to Heaven. With these optics we cannot scan His features or
perceive His Presence.

But when we read of Him in the Evangelists, and when we hear of Him
from the mouths of His servants, we do, in effect, see Him evidently
set forth before us. The eyes of our understanding discern Him. The
sense offaith recognizes Him. Now if by that sight, that knowledge,
that information, we are led to believe on Him, then we have
everlasting life. Whoever he may be–"Everyone," it says–"Everyone
which sees the Son, and believes on Him," comes in for the same
privilege. This includes the man with great faith, but it equally
includes the babe with little faith. This includes the man of reputable
character, but it equally includes the man whose character has been, up
till now, disreputable. "Everyone that believes on Him."

Does it mean that if I believe on Him I have eternal life? Yes, whoever
you are. You may listen to it in the dark, I do not want to look at you
to discriminate between one individual and another. The assertion is
wide enough for all of you. Are you a black man, or a white man? Are
you a yellow man, or a brown man? It matters not. Are you rich, or are
you poor, one in the higher ranks, or one obscure and despised? It
matters not. Whoever you may be, every child of man that is born of
woman that sees the Son, and believes on Him, shall have eternal life.
Are there no exceptions? None whatever! Can it not be supposed that
some characters may be excluded? None are excluded, therefore, but
those who exclude themselves. The learned and polite, the ignorant and
rude–"everyone which sees the Son, and believes on Him, may

have everlasting life." That is to say, to go over the same matter yet
again, every man, woman, child–every one of the human race that trusts
his soul with the Son of God has everlasting life.

"Well, but," says one, "suppose I should not have been given by God the
Father to the Son?" You have no right to suppose that. If you believe
in Jesus Christ you have everlasting life. I could explain, I think, a
little to you, at least I have a way of explaining it to myself, how
these two meet. I do not care to explain it. I do not think it is
necessary at all, for it is so. There never was a soul that believed in
Jesus, yet, but God the Father had given that soul to Christ. There
never was a soul that trusted the Savior but it turned out that, after
all, that soul had been ordained to do so from before the foundation of
the world! We will not attempt to answer objections. There is the Truth
of God, the plain, naked Truth of God! This is the will of Him that
sent the Savior into the world, that everyone that sees the Son, and
believes on Him, should at once have eternal life. O what a splendid
Gospel that is!

Now, when I go out to preach I have not to say, "I am going to preach
to God's elect"–not at all–"Everyone which sees the Son, and believes
on Him, may have everlasting life!" Nor have I to say to myself, "Now I
shall pick out certain characters that I think must be a delineation of
God's chosen." I have no right to make any picking or choosing. There
is the Gospel–"Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." And
this, again, is the Gospel–"That everyone which sees the Son, and
believes on Him, may have everlasting life." There let it stand, then.
We will not clip its wings but we will rejoice in its simple Truth!

Now it appears that these persons who believe in Jesus, whoever they
may be, are already in a present state of safety, for as soon as they
believe on Him they have everlasting life. They are made alive unto
God. They receive a spiritual life which they never had before. The
Holy Spirit comes into them and quickens them. Whereas they were up to
then dead in trespasses and sins, the Holy Spirit makes them alive unto
God by Jesus Christ. And this is true of everyone that sees the Son and
believes on Him. This life which is thus given is a life that cannot
die, for it is everlasting. Everlasting life is freely and sovereignly
bestowed, so that every Believer has in him a vital principle which
cannot be destroyed any more than God Himself can. For as God's life is
everlasting life, so the life of every Believer is called "everlasting
life."

O see the blessedness of this, "that everyone which sees the Son, and
believes on Him, may have everlasting life." We do not seem to want to
preach upon that. I like to roll it over under my tongue. I should like
everybody here that is perplexing himself about the doctrines of the
Gospel and saying, "Perhaps I am shut out from the mercy of God," to go
home repeating these words. Therefore I will repeat them again–"that
everyone which sees the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting
life." And since notwithstanding this gift of everlasting life the
bodies of Believers die, Jesus Christ has added here that it is the
will of the Father that He should "raise him up at the last day." It
seems, then, Beloved, that no Believer shall be lost and nothing of a
Believer, for if his body must be put into the ground– corruption,
earth and worms shall but refine his flesh till at the sound of the
last trumpet he shall put it on afresh!

"I will raise him up at the last day." Then it seems that if I am a
Believer in Jesus I may conclude that God the Father gave me to Christ
to save me and that Christ will save me and keep me until He, Himself,
shall descend from Heaven with a shout and call His own redeemed out of
the graves. Thus the two truths are reconciled–may they be reconciled
in our experience as well as in our faith!

Now then, to close, let me say to any troubled person here
present–beloved Friend, never fear that there is anything in the
secret purposes of God which can contradict the open promises of God!
Never dream, if you are a Believer, that there can be any dark decree
that shuts you out from the benefits of Grace. Decrees or no decrees,
"this is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which sees the
Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting life." Lay hold,
therefore, on Christ with all your heart, poor Sinner! Ask not to know
whether your name is in the Book of Life. Come just as you are, by
God's own invitation, and lay hold on Jesus Christ!

The woman in the crowd could not tell whether it was written in the
book of the decrees that she should be healed, but she came behind the
Savior and touched the hem of His garment and was made whole. The dying
thief did not stop to enquire, "Was I chosen of God before time began?"
But he said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." Now
you, in like manner, act upon your present crisis and fit your prayer
to the present opportunity. The doctrine of decrees never operates upon
a man's ordinary life. What hungry man would stop, or hesitate and say,
"I cannot tell whether it is the purpose of God that I should eat"? But
when the provision is spread out before him he eats.

Would the weary man vex his soul with misgivings and say, "I need to
know whether it is the purpose of God I should sleep?" No, but he acts
like a sensible creature and goes to his bed at the time of rest,
grateful for the interval of deep repose that can renew his strength
and freshen his vital powers. Now you go and do likewise. Do not rebel
at the purposes, or deny them, but act upon the precepts and rejoice in
them! They are the guide for you. Rely upon the promises! That is the
way for you to realize them. And inasmuch as the clear promise rings
out from the Eternal Throne, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise
cast out," go and see if He will cast you out.

Come, you vile Sinner, you foul Sinner, you devilish Sinner–come you
who are stained with every sin–come and see if Christ will reject you!
And remember that the text that should encourage you stands hard by
that which may embarrass you–close to it–where Jesus says, "All that
the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and him that comes to Me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from Heaven, not to do My own
will, but the will of Him that sent Me." I do pray that those words may
encourage many souls to come!

And once more, fear not that if you believe, your believing will end in
failure. If you believe in Jesus Christ, the text says, "It is the
Father's will" that you should "have eternal life" and be "raised up at
the last day." The question sometimes comes to one's mind–"After I
have believed in Jesus and placed all my hope in Him, may I not, after
all, perish? Is there not something expected of me in which I may fail?
If I rest upon Him as a rock, yet still, are there not some other props
and buttresses needed, and if I shall not supply them shall I be safe
at last?" Well, I frankly confess if there is anything needed as the
ground of a sinner's hope beyond the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ, I, who preach to you, must certainly perish, for I can sing the
hymn we sang this morning with all my heart–

"Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on You. Leave, oh
leave me not alone, Still support and comfort me."

We desire to abound in good works. We desire to destroy every vice and
forsake all falsehood and all evil. But we cannot depend on these
things! We cannot mix them up with the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ! Our one hope lies here, that Jesus died, and God has said it,
"He that believes on Him has eternal life, and shall be raised up at
the last day." Now, suppose, after all, you should believe on Him and
find, at last, that you are not saved! Beloved, the supposition cannot
be entertained for a moment, for it is written, "It is the Father's
will." Is that will to be thwarted? It is written that He has sent
Christ–has Christ come in vain? God must be false to all His promises,
belie His oath, degrade His Son before He can suffer a soul that sees
the Son and believes on Him to perish!

You are all safe enough if you are resting there. Do not let a doubt
disturb you. Go your way full of peace and consolation, and the Lord be
with you! But, oh, if you have never believed in Jesus, may your
spirits never know any rest till you do! May you never be content till
you flee to Him and rest on Him! The Lord grant it, for His dear name's
sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–John 6:22.
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The Way To Honor