The Free Offer of the Gospel — John Murray

The Promise of John 6:37

The Gospel according to John, chapter six, verse thirty-seven. Gospel according to John, chapter six, verse thirty-seven. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

It is supposed by many in the professing Christian Church that the one thing man can do in the exercise of his own sovereign will is to believe in Christ for salvation. And it is thought that that is the one contribution that man himself makes in order to set the machinery of salvation in operation.

And that appears to be the assumption upon which a great many people proceed that faced with the claims of the Gospel, but who are unwilling to renounce their own ways and the attractions of this present evil world, they suppose that in one grand moment of final decision they will repent, they will believe in Christ and settle all their accounts with God for time and for eternity.

Human Depravity and the Inability to Believe

Now in that attitude there is a complete failure to assess human depravity and also a complete failure to understand the very nature of faith. As far as our depravity is concerned, we must bear in mind the word of the Apostle that the mind of the flesh is enmity against God and therefore the mind of the flesh recoils from every manifestation of the glory of God as the glory of God makes its demand upon us.

Now Christ himself is the supreme manifestation of the glory of God and it is in him that the demands of God's glory upon us are most urgently expressed. And so it is precisely at the point of the manifestation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that the enmity of the human heart is most violent in its expression.

The fact of the matter is that to believe in Christ is the one thing that the natural man will not do and cannot do. Is that not the explanation of what the Apostle Paul himself wrote? For the Jews, he says, require a spine and the Greeks seek after wisdom.

But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are all, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. But a greater than Paul, even though Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a greater than Paul said the very same thing and he said it even more simply and directly.

It is that very same truth that our Lord himself testifies to in this very chapter when he says, No man can come unto me except it were given unto him by my Father. No one can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him.

And that is the testimony of him who knows the Father as the Father knows him, who knows the working of the Father as the Father himself knows it, and who knows the will of the Father as the Father himself knows it.

And not only does he know the Father through and through, but he also knows man through and through. And that is the testimony of him who is himself the Savior and who is himself the truth. And it is to this very simple effect that it is a moral and spiritual impossibility for a man to come unto him except by the secret and efficacious drawing of the Father and by free gift from the Father.

It is just the very same witness of the Apostle himself again, that is the Apostle Paul, when he says, No man can say Jesus is Lord but by or in the Holy Spirit. Only that is the case. If it is a moral and spiritual impossibility for a person to believe in Christ apart from this efficacious drawing on the part of God the Father, and if man not himself in the exercise of his own autonomy and sovereign will is unable to believe in Christ, you might well ask, What hope is there then for man?

The Gospel Meets Human Impotence

And that is the thought of a great many people. They proceed on the assumption that if this is true, then there is no use proclaiming the gospel. For what hot, hot gospel can there be for man if the gospel proclaims man's impotence and helplessness even in respect of that very instrumentality by which he comes into the possession of salvation?

Well, the great truth is that it is just because of man's complete impotence and helplessness that the gospel exists. And blessed be the name of God, there is the gospel. And it is a gospel that does not ignore the fact of our total depravity.

A gospel that does not ignore the fact that the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. A gospel that is the provision for man's total impotence. And it is that gospel that meets the need of our desperation to which our Lord witnesses in this particular text.

This is the gospel, and it is the gospel from none other than the lips of our Lord himself. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And that is a gospel with the certification of him who came from heaven, that there might be a God.

It is the gospel by the certification of him who is the image of the invisible God, who is the brightness of the Father's low-expressed image. And there are three elements in this guarantee. And they're very simple.

They are these first, giving on the part of the Father, coming on the part of man, and receiving on the part of the flesh. Don't you see it's very simple? All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

The Father's Giving in the Operations of Grace

And so first of all we have giving on the part of the Father. All that the Father giveth me. Now what does that mean? It is true enough that a great multitude, commensurate of course with the multitude that will ultimately be saved, were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.

And they were chosen to be holy. They were predestinated in love to be conformed to the image of God's Son. That action on the part of God the Father before the foundation of the world is sometimes spoken of as giving on the part of the Father to the Son.

But there is very good reason for thinking that that is not the precise thought in this text. The giving spoken of in this text is the giving that occurs in the actual operations of grace. It is a giving that is simultaneous with the coming on the part of men and the receiving on the part of Christ.

And if you read this very chapter carefully, also the tenth chapter and the seventeenth chapter of this same gospel, I think you'll discover that. That is the precise thought of our Lord in this text.

The giving on the part of the Father in the efficacious operations of His grace. That it refers to that very same thing as Jesus speaks of elsewhere in this chapter when he says, No man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father.

No one can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me through him. Yes, we very commonly and quite properly think of the operations, the effectual operations of God's grace in the hearts of men as the work of the Holy Spirit.

That's quite proper. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Yes, right. My friends, we are failing to appreciate the manifoldness of God's grace and the richness of the provision of grace.

If we fail to recognize the action of God the Father Himself in the efficacious operations that occur in the hearts of men. God the Father draws men and He is directly and intensely active in that drawing.

He places holy constraint upon them. It is generally spoken of as calling them into the fellowship of His own Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And in this particular text, Jesus is referring to that action on the part of God the Father and He speaks of it in terms of a giving on the part of the Father to Himself.

And it simply means that God the Father in the effectual operations of His grace presents men to the Son as trophies of the redemption which the Son Himself. That's the grand truth that is drawn to our attention in this text.

Saul of Tarsus as a Trophy of Redemption

Now we are sometimes amazed at the conversion of certain people. There seem to be the most unlikely people to be savingly affected by the gospel. The most unlikely to be candidates for discipleship of Christ and members of the churches.

In the first century of the Christian era when the Christian church began to feel the full brunt of the opposition of the Jewish hierarchy there was one man who breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the people of God.

And this man went to the high priest and he desired of him letters to Damascus that if he found any of this way that is, any who belong to the Christian way whether men or women he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

And he just breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the people of God. And in that age people might well have said as we are oftentimes in subsequent times disposed to say with reference to others people might well have said if anyone is to be one to the faith of the gospel it is not Saul of Tarsus.

Enemies of the gospel might well have said if there is anyone on whom we can rely as the unrelenting enemy of Jesus Christ it is Saul of Tarsus. And I wouldn't be surprised that some of the high priests at Jerusalem and perhaps the high priests who gave him these letters might have said with reference to Saul of Tarsus well, his zeal and his animosity are very much greater than my own.

I can depend on Saul of Tarsus really more than I can depend upon myself. And behold! It is Saul of Tarsus who was converted and on the history of the church is thrown with similar surprises for the people of God and for the enemies of the gospel.

Now why have such people such people as Saul of Tarsus who later called himself the chief of sinners less than the least of all saints why should people such as Saul of Tarsus have become the trophies of redemption?

Now the answer which this text provides is simply this that God the Father has drawn them and donated them to his own sons. And think of it, my friends think of it if you haven't thought of it before that when a sinner comes to Christ in the whole Saul commitment of faith when a sinner comes to Christ because his will has been renewed it is because a mysterious transaction has been taking place between the persons of the Godhead.

That God the Father has been making a presentation a donation of that person to his own son. That's the reason. That's the reason why Saul of Tarsus was converted at Damascus. God the Father and God the Son were engaged in a very mysterious and precious transaction and God the Father presented to Saul of Tarsus the great arch enemy of the church of God the arch persecutor of Christ he presented him as a donation to his own son a trophy of the redemption which Jesus himself had brought.

And perish the thought, my friends that coming to Christ finds its explanation in the sovereign determination of the human will. Perish the thought it strikes at the very heart of the gospel. When Saul comes to Christ this event finds its explanation in the factual presentation of that person on the part of the Father to his own son.

And if any person has that childlike faith in Christ whereby he has made to that person wisdom, righteousness sanctification and redemption if he is all precious to that person if he is all and in all to you, my friend the explanation is simply this that God the Father took delight in you he set his heart upon you but he set his heart upon something even greater than delight in you he set his heart upon something greater and that is he set his heart upon the delight that it would cause to his own son that's the reason that God the Father had designed and had accomplished that raptures of holy delight would arise in the heart of his own son in the breast of his own son by presenting that person to the Son in the effectual drawing and that's the marvel to which our Lord here is giving us the index when he says all that the Father gives to you just as Christ gives to you as you think of the great issues of life and death of time and eternity is it only Christ that comes between you and the dismal outlook of everlasting perdition.

I ask you that question when you think of the issues of life and death of time and eternity is this your case that there was the only thing that comes between you and the flatness of darkness forever is Christ Jesus and that's your only resting place your only hope.

If that is your situation my friend if Christ is to you so precious that he is your all and your all and you vest all your interests and hopes in him against all the issues of life and death of time and eternity it is because God the Father took delight in you and he took such delight in his own Son that he presented you to his own Son in the factual operations of his grace and all for you life.

Don't fail to understand the implications you are doing dishonor to God the Father. If you fail to recognize that if Christ is supremely precious to you it is because God the Father made a presentation of you to his own Son.

And that's the explanation and in the sphere of his factual grace that's the only explanation. At least it's the ultimate explanation. You see what honor, dishonor oh what dishonor is done to the gospel.

And people say that the one thing the one explanation for salvation in procession is the sovereign determination of the human will. Don't you see it's right that that which is thankful in the grand gospel no second we are coming on the part of man does not only save all that the Father giveth me but he saves all that the Father giveth me shall come that he evolves.

Coming to Christ as Whole-Soul Commitment

Remember just as definitely upon the activity of the person concerned the person who is the subject of his salvation. And it might appear to us that which falls in this text upon the action of God the Father and upon the action of God the Son that it would be quite inconsistent and quite alien to mention the activity on the part of the person who is saved.

And of course that's the way a great many people seem to think they are so much obsessed with one aspect of truth that they forget something that's pernicious but likewise attach the gospel because Jesus not only said all that the Father giveth me but he also said shall come.

And we must take account of the fact that the action of God the Father is in the most intimate way joined with the activity of the person simply believing on him. If you had been discerning you would have seen that in the part of the chapter that succeeds this verse just believing on him trusting him it simply refers to that commitment to him against all the issues of life and death of time and eternity.

And of course it is the Father that gives the person to the Son. But it is not the Father that comes to the Son. It is the person acted upon who comes or the person who is who is donated. And that coming is nothing else than that whole soul activity of commitment to Christ.

All activity. It is not something that is momentary it is not something that is evanescent. It is not something that as it were strikes the emotion but not the world something that strikes the understanding but not the emotion.

Oh my friends this is an action on the part of the person concerned that is whole soul commitment to Christ. I found already that it is a moral and spiritual impossibility for a person to come to Christ that is to believe in Christ in the whole soul commitment of faith unless there is the efficacious drawing on the part of God the Father.

And what we find now is that it is a moral and spiritual impossibility for the person who is drawn by the Father who is donated by the Father not. And the moral and spiritual impossibility is now just accentuated in this regard as it is in the other I say it again it is a moral and spiritual impossibility for the person who is donated by the Father to the Son not to come to Christ.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. It is not that he may come. It is not that he has the opportunity to come. It is not simply that he will in all probability come but that he will certainly come.

There is an absolute certainty. So it is not simply a moral and spiritual impossibility far more than that it is a divine necessity. Do you know that the order of heaven would be violated unless there would be this sequence.

Assurance for Those Who Come to Christ

Now my friends have you experienced the in principle attraction of Christ. Have you become so drawn to him that you invest your all in him. Are you able to stay with the apostle whom having not seen we love in whom though now we feel not yet believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Is that what you can say with reference to Christ. Well if that is the case I come back again to this that you may be assured that the Father gave you to his own Son. And that that is the reason why you have come to him in your poverty and in your need.

And I ask you also this question. Is Christ nothing to you. Can you get along perfectly well without him as it were perhaps in a very superficial way confront yourself with the issues of life and death of time and eternity.

When you think of your hope for the future may be indeed in a very superficial way. But when you think of your hope for the future what is it that looms up in your... I ask you that question very pointedly and very urgently as I ask it of myself.

What is it that looms up foremost in your thought and outlook. As you think of eternal issues it is well I have been a decent person. I have been a good neighbor. I never did anyone very much harm. Oh I have my peccadillos and all that.

But after all I have been a pretty decent person. My friends don't you see that in that that is disclosed the awful poverty of your spirit. And the explanation of that is just this that God the Father has at least not so far that mysterious transaction of God's grace has not taken place.

Because if it has your affection paramount in your thought paramount in your outlook paramount in your hope for all that the Father giveth me and that coming to him remember is the commitment of all souls faith of all souls to me.

Christ's Certain Reception and Preservation

I will in no wise cast times have been struck by the way in which Jesus faces. You might have expected him to say I will assuredly receive and make it very positive. He puts it in a negative way. I will in no wise cast times he put it in that way in order to give emphasis to the certainty of his reception.

The negative form is for the sake of emphasis for the sake of assuring us certainty of his reception. Christ will assuredly embrace in the arms of his saving and loving. To appreciate the significance of that statement I want to say three things.

First of all this receiving on the part of Christ is the reception of the Father's presentation. For what goodness it is to receive a gift from a friend. Do you think that in the proprieties of heaven God the Son would refuse a presentation on the part of God the Father.

If it has pleased God the Father to present to his own Son in the efficacious or in the efficacious operations of his grace it would violate all the considerations of divine propriety for the Son to reject the donation don't you see it is divinely impossible for that person to be rejected.

I have been speaking all along about moral and spiritual impossibility. Well you have here something that is far greater than moral and spiritual impossibility. You have divine impossibility. It's absolutely impossible for God the Son to reject that which is the donation on the part of the Father because the Son came down from heaven not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him.

And here is the will of God the Father in operation and he presents it to his own Son as the trophy of redemption which the Son himself cannot receive. He cannot refuse. Oh he has no disposition to refuse.

It's into the arms of his loving salvation and security that he receives that person who is the donation on the part of God the Father. But the second thing to be noted about this reception on the part of Christ is that the assurance includes not only the first reception but also the ever-continuing the ever-continuing embrace of Christ's love and preservation.

It is that of which Jesus himself speaks as we call it elsewhere in this gospel. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them me is greater than all and no one can pluck out of the Father's hand.

This is the Father's will which has sent me that of all which he has given me. I should lose nothing. I should raise it up at the last day and mark the emphasis. I should lose nothing. There will be absolutely nothing of what belongs to the personality of that person that will be finally lost.

There is nothing that belongs to the highest interest of that person that will be deceived. I should lose nothing. Not simply I should not lose one. Or I should lose not one. But I should lose nothing.

I should raise it up at the last day that my friends is the grandeur of the security that is involved in coming to Christ that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Free and Unfettered Gospel Invitation

And the third thing I want to say about this reception on the part of Christ here is the gospel in its free hold undone fettered overture. In this word of Christ the gates of hope and of grace are clung and I defy you to place any limitation whatsoever upon that simple word of the Savior Him that cometh unto me.

I will in no wise. That word I will in no wise cast out is surely but the screening of the gospel free undone fettered overture of Christ in the gospel. And we are advised of this great and precious truth that the sovereign operations of God's efficacious grace and the free overtures of grace in the gospel are not antithetical the one to the other they lie side.

That's the way the Lord put it Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out is just as emphatic in our Lord's word as is the preceding part of the text all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and my friends.

It is not only that the full and free overture of Christ in the gospel is placed side by side with the efficacious operations of God's grace but the full and free overture of the gospel comes to us as it were on the crest of the way of God's grace.

Remember that other precious word of our Lord in which the full and free overture of the gospel is so explicitly expressed in Matthew 11 25 to 30 we say I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto me even so Father for so it seems good in thy sight.

And you won't find any foreign scripture a word that so emphatically expresses the sovereignty of the Father's grace. And that when Jesus says even so Father for so it seems good in thy sight and you can speak of that as the close circle of the Father's mercy all things are delivered unto me of my thoughts.

And no one knows who the Son is but the Father and who the Father is but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal it. And there you have again just a sympathetic assertion of the sovereignty of the operations of grace on the part of God the servant he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal and the emphasis falls upon the sovereignty of the will of the Son just as in the preceding context it falls upon the sovereignty of the will of the Father.

And so you can now speak of the closed circle of the Son's. And it is just like this as if the closed circle of the Father's sovereignty passes into the closed circle of the Son's sovereignty. And what is the expression of all that as far as the overture of the gospel comes into confrontation with us it is that overture of Christ come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Or as it perhaps might be stated with a little more directness hither to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. And what's the significance of that correlation. It's not simply that they lie side by side.

It's this that the whole of the overture of the gospel proceeds out of the very heart of God's sovereignty it comes out of the very heart of the closed circle of the Father's sovereignty and the closed circle of the Son's sovereignty.

And it comes to us with all the sanctions of the Son of God himself. And it is just that prejudice that we can do to the correlation which the gospel itself establishes if we do not realize how precious to us that connection in relation to our opportunity in relation to our responsibility and in relation to our sovereignty of the whole free and unfettered overture of Christ in the gospel.

And I must say it with all emphasis that in this text the overture statically presented to us in this word of our own infallible Lord came that promisable to me I will in no wise cast out her my friends you cannot leave your own depravity of any reason for not believing or your own inability of any excuse for unbelief that you are confronted with the full and free overture of Christ in the gospel.

It confronts your responsibility. And it confronts your responsibility without all of actions which is the function of none other than our infallible Lord. And we are doing the gravest tragedy to the gospel of His grace.

And as we confront ourselves with that awe which is implicit in the full free and unfettered overture of Christ in the gospel they are correlative all the words all under heavy laden and I will give you rest.

And if you come in all the desperateness of human nature in all the dismal outlook of your life come to Christ in the simplicity of that self-commitment to Him in which He is freely offered in that very simple way by which He is supremely precious to you as your Redeemer as your Savior as your Lord not in the sovereign.