No One Driven Away

"HIM THAT COMETH TO ME I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT" (John 6:37).

"WHOEVER COMES TO ME I WILL NEVER DRIVE AWAY" (John 6:37, NIV).

This verse swings the broad gates of heaven wide open and promises that Jesus will receive all who come to the Father by Him. It means that the gospel is for you if you will hear it and come to Christ. It is for you personally.

Years ago there was an old farmer by the name of Klein. He was an ungodly man. Although he lived across the street from a church, he never went in; and, of course, he did not believe the gospel. To his way of thinking, the gospel was for other people, not for him. One day, however, the Bible school began to teach the children the chorus of the hymn that goes:

Grace! Tis a charming sound,

Harmonious to the ear;

Heav’n with the echo shall resound,

And all the earth shall hear.

Saved by grace alone!

This is all my plea:

Jesus died for all mankind,

And Jesus died for me.

From his listening post across the street Mr. Klein heard the children singing. He heard most of the words clearly. But when they came to the line "Jesus died for all mankind," he thought they were singing "Jesus died for old man Klein." The thought that Jesus died for him personally finally sank into his heart. Klein crossed the street to the church, attended services, and eventually committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the message of John 6:37. Put your name in that song and say, "Jesus died for Mary Jones, John Smith, Paul Brown, Betty Harris, or whatever your name might be." Jesus died for you. WHOEVER COMES TO HIM HE WILL NEVER DRIVE AWAY.

I. HOW DOES A PERSON COME TO JESUS. The answer is: BY FAITH.

To come to Jesus means to have faith in Him. This channel of salvation is always spoken of in the Bible. "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith," Paul wrote to the Ephesians (Eph. 2:8). "Without faith it is impossible to please God," said the author of Hebrews (11:6). Faith in Jesus is commitment to Jesus based upon a belief that He is who He said He is and that He will do what He has promised to do for everyone who trusts in Him.

Once a man introduced himself to James Montgomery Boice, former pastor of Philadelphia’s historic Tenth Presbyterian Church, with the remark that he was a "C and E" Christian.

"What do you mean?" Boice asked.

"Christmas and Easter," he answered. I am the kind of Christian who goes to church on Christmas and Easter." Boice could easily have insulted him, but he held back and instead reminded himself of another Christian, an old saint from England, who called herself a "T and P" Christian. She wrote these letters in her Bible opposite of promises that she personally had found to be true. The letters stood for "tried and proven."

Which are you? Are you a "C and E" Christian? In most cases that is no Christian at all. Or are you a "T and P" Christian, one who has tried God’s promises by faith and has proved them personally? Faith is trusting God and proving his promises. (adapted from James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John, vol. 2, 495)

The great Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once wrote about faith: "Faith is not a blind thing; for faith begins with knowledge. It is not a speculative thing; for faith believes facts of which it is sure. It is not an unpractical, dreamy thing; for faith trusts, and stakes its destiny upon the truth of revelation. . . . Faith is believing that Christ is what He said to be, and that He will do what He has promised to do, and then to expect this of Him." Since Jesus said that He was dying for the sin of mankind and that He would save any who would commit themselves to Him, saving faith is therefore just believing this and putting your life into the hands of the Savior.

Suppose there is a fire and you are trapped on the third-story ledge of a building. The building is burning down around you and will soon fall. You are clinging to the ledge for dear life. Below are the firemen with their net. Will you let go and fall into the net that will save you? That is all God asks. Merely release your hold on all that keeps you from Him—whether that is your desire to run your own life, your good works, whatever it is—and fall into the net of salvation, into the waiting arms of the Savior. Jesus said, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away."