Spurgeon: July PM
* 07/29/PM
"All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me."
--John 6:37
This declaration involves the doctrine of election : there
are some whom the Father gave to Christ. It involves the
doctrine of effectual calling : these who are given must and
shall come; however stoutly they may set themselves against it,
yet they shall be brought out of darkness into God's marvellous
light. It teaches us 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. All that the Father
gives to our Redeemer must come to Him , therefore none can
come to heaven except they come to Christ.
Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words " shall
come ." He does not say they have power to come, nor they may
come if they will, but they " shall come ." The Lord Jesus doth
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, not by any violation of the
free agency of man, but by the power of His grace. I may
exercise power over another man'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. 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, so to subdue the
whole man, that whereas he was once rebellious, he yields
cheerfully to His government, subdued by sovereign love. But how
shall those be known whom God hath chosen? By this result: that
they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ, and come to Him
with simple and unfeigned faith, resting upon Him as all their
salvation and all their desire. Reader, have you thus come to
Jesus?