I am always so greatly encouraged
whenever we sing that hymn. That's my experience. James said, count it all joy,
my brethren, when you fall into divers, temptations, trials,
afflictions, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh
patience. But patience, when it is complete,
will make you perfect and entire, lacking nothing. There's only
one time that we are perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Only one time. And that's when
Christ is all. When he's everything to us, then
in him, We're perfect and entire, lacking nothing. And the Lord
uses, as we just sang, trials, our own sin, afflictions, troubles
in this world to bring us to the end of ourselves. Only when
we get to our wit's end, grace begins at our wit's end, always. What a blessing. the things that
the world calls a blessing, and all the prosperity and peace
that the world has to offer. For the believer, those things
often are not a blessing, they're a distraction. Sometimes the
greatest blessings are the greatest trials, and with great trials
comes great grace. May the Lord teach us that. I
love that hymn. Turn with me to John chapter
six. I've titled this message, Have I Been Taught of God? Have
I been taught of God? Or are the words that I'm speaking
just words that I've learned from another man? I need to know
that I believe what God says. that I believe God. And the only
way that that's gonna happen is if God teaches me. If he teaches
me, then I'll be taught. You know, we have a lot of school
teachers in our church and I'm sure that they struggle when
they have a difficult student wondering who bears the responsibility
for that student's inability to learn. Is it the, Is it the
student or is it the teacher? And you just think, if I could
just be a perfect teacher, I could make every student learn. Well,
we have a perfect teacher. And he never fails in making
sure that his children learn what he has to teach. In John
chapter six at verse 45, and this is a quote from Isaiah chapter
54, it is written in the prophets and they shall be all taught
of God. And then the Lord gives us the
evidence of having been taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard "'and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.'" I've been taught of God if I've
heard his voice. And that voice has caused me
to come to Christ. Coming to Christ. is the evidence
of having been taught of God. So the question that we have
to answer is, who is the Lord Jesus Christ? I've heard someone say one time,
What think ye of Christ? That's the pressing question.
What think ye of Christ? That's really not the pressing
question. It doesn't matter what think ye of Christ. As far as who he is, is concerned. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
That's what matters. That's the heart of the gospel.
Do I believe what the Bible says? about who Jesus Christ is. And I've been taught of God. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
11. 2 Corinthians 11. And look at verse four. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, another Jesus. It's unfortunate in our King
James Bible that that Jesus has a capital J to it, because it
ought to have a small J. Whom we have not preached. There's
a lot of Jesus's in the world. A lot of them. And they have
no more power to save than, you know, we've been to Mexico a
few times and, well, even here. You meet a person from a Spanish
culture whose name is Jesus. And I don't know why a parent
would ever give their child that name, but it seems like the ones
that I met are proud to carry that name. The problem is the Jesuses that
are being preached in most churches today have no more power to save
than the Jesuses in the Spanish culture. Another Jesus, and there's
about that many of them as well. There's about that many of them. And if you received another spirit,
There's as many spirits as there are Jesus's. Every unclean spirit carries
with it a small J, Jesus. And if you receive another spirit
which you have not received or another gospel, you hear people
talk about the gospel. And... And yet when you hear
them define the gospel, and really we could ask this question, the
pressing question, and it always comes down to this whenever we
have conversations with an unbeliever about the gospel, it always comes
down to who is Jesus Christ and what is the gospel? Because there's
a whole lot of other Jesus's and a whole lot of other spirits
and a whole lot of other gospels. What does the Bible say? Because
if I've been taught of God, I believe what God says about those things. I believe what God says if God's
taught me. And in believing what God has
said, I have done what these Corinthians did not do. And that's
what the phrase at the end of this verse means. Look at the
phrase that Paul makes at the end of this verse. In the King
James, it's kind of hard to understand. which you have not accepted,
you might well bear with him. And what that phrase means, Paul
is rebuking the church in Corinth because they have tolerated false
prophets that have come in and preached another Jesus and have
another spirit and preach another gospel. And he's rebuking them
for that. And they've, some of the people
in this congregation, I'm not gonna say they're part of the
church, I don't know. They preferred those false prophets over the
apostle Paul. And Paul is clarifying the gospel
that he preached as the gospel. And the Christ that he preached
as the Christ. And that these men are preaching
a false gospel. And if you believe them, you
have not been taught of God. But if you've been taught of
God, you believe the gospel as it's revealed in scripture. And you believe the Christ who
is revealed in scripture. And they shall all be taught
of God. And he that has heard from God
has come to Christ, the Christ of the Bible. So who is the Christ of the Bible?
We've been going through the gospel of John, turn back with
me to John chapter six. And we, the last couple of weeks
looked at the feeding of the 5,000 where the Lord took five
loaves and two small fish and he miraculously multiplied them
and provided food. And John doesn't tell us this,
one of the other gospel writers tells us that the count of the
5,000 was the men only, not counting the women and children. So a
conservative estimate would be 20,000 perhaps that the Lord
fed with five barley loaves and two small fish. And we find later
on in this chapter that these same people, when the Lord departed
from them, they followed him across over into Capernaum and
he rebuked them. He said to them, the reason that
you're following me is not because you saw the miracle. You didn't
understand the meaning of the miracle, but because you did
eat of the loaves and had your bellies filled. So these people did not believe on the Lord Jesus
as the Christ of the scriptures. They believed on him as one who
was going to provide for them their material needs. Paul said in the book of Romans,
they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. Most people are so preoccupied
with their temporal lives in this world that they have no
real concern for the state of their immortal soul.
They have no real concern for eternal life because they're
so bound up in temporal life. And if they ever do get an interest
in religious things, it only is to the extent that it provides
for them more comforts and more peace and more provisions and
more prosperity in this world. And that's exactly where this
group of people were. And nothing's changed. There's
nothing new under the sun. Solomon said, people are the
same today as they were 2000 years ago. People flock to churches,
to the Bible, to God in hopes of getting their bellies full. At the end of this chapter, the
Lord rebukes these people, and look with me at verse 66, if
you will. And from that time, many of his
disciples, and that doesn't mean disciples in the sense of the
12, it means followers, those who had flocked to him, those
who had jumped on the bandwagon of a social welfare program and
a good teacher, You know, that's who he's talking about. And from
that time, many of his disciples went back and they walked no
more with him. He had taken away the promise of material wealth
and made it clear to them that if you're going to follow me,
if you're going to follow me, you've got to be willing to deny
yourself, take up your cross and follow me. And the son of
man has no place to lay his head. And you're gonna suffer as a
result of the gospel in this world. Well, they weren't interested
in that. They were interested in a gospel
and in a Jesus and in a spirit that was gonna provide for them
more pleasures and comforts in this world. Not one that was
gonna make life difficult. And so they turned and they left. And then Jesus said unto the
12, will you go away also? Are you gonna lead me to? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We're interested in eternal life.
And the words that you speak are words that give us hope for
eternal life. Oh, that God would deliver us
from the bondage of this world and the interests of this world
and the things of this world and set our hearts to seek that
which only God can give, eternal life. And we believe, verse 69, and
are sure, we're certain of this, that thou art the Christ, the
Christ, the Son of the living God. If we go to John chapter 11,
Share them with me there. Verse 25, Jesus said unto her,
he's speaking to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. You know what people don't realize
that are so desperate for life in this world is that this world
is not life. This world is death, darkness.
There's no life in this world. Only life is in Christ. The only
life is to know God. This is life eternal that they
might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. It's the only life there is. No life outside of
that. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this, Martha?
And notice what Martha says. Yea, Lord, I believe that thou
art the Christ, the Son of God. Turn to John chapter 20. Verse 30, and many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book, only a sampling of the miracles that the Lord
performed are recorded in scripture. But these are written, these
are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name. Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter
eight said to Philip, after Philip preached the gospel to him from
Isaiah 53, The Ethiopian eunuch said, what doth hinder me to
be baptized? I've listened, I've heard what
you said. I want to identify with Christ.
And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And Philip said, I believe, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
son of God. And immediately they stopped
the chariot and took him down and baptized him. And in 1 John 5, verse one, the
Lord says this, whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. How do I know that I've been
taught of God? I believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is not just any Jesus. He is the anointed one. He is the Messiah. He is the one sent of God with
the full power of the spirit of God to accomplish the purpose
for which God sent him, the salvation of all of Israel. And I've cast all my hope on
him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he's able. Why? Because he's
the Christ. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him. I'm trusting him for
everything. He's the son of God. How could
he possibly fail? The Christ. That word means anointed
one. In the Old Testament, the Lord
had three offices amongst the children of Israel
that were symbolically anointed with oil and spiritually given
a portion of the Spirit of God to accomplish the task for which
God called them. And that was the prophet of God,
the priest of God and the king that got it ordained and purposed
over Israel. Prophet, priest, and king, they
were the anointed ones of Old Testament Israel. When the Lord
Jesus came, He came as the prophet of God. He came as the priest
of God and he came as the king of God to accomplish everything
that had been foreshadowed by those anointed ones in the Old
Testament. And all those scriptures that
we just read, the disciples, Martha, Ethiopian eunuch, I believe
that Jesus of Nazareth, not just any Jesus, but that Jesus is
the Christ, the anointed one. And all the hope of my salvation
rests in him. He cannot fail. He cannot fail. I am full of nothing but failures.
but he is a successful sovereign savior. And I believe everything
that the Bible says about him. Now, that was all introduction.
To take you to our text, if you look with me at John chapter
six, at verse, Verse 14, then those men, when
they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a
truth, that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would come and take him by force, To make him a king,
he departed again into a mountain himself alone. So these people who were only looking for a good
teacher, a king that would provide for their material needs, one
that would give them more comforts and pleasures in this world,
one that would speak a word of false hope and false peace for
their eternal salvation, giving them rest in their own righteousness
for the hope of their salvation. They declare right here, we're
gonna make him a king. How foolish. Here is the king of kings. Here is the Lord of lords. Here is the creator and sustainer
of all things. The self existent one, the sovereign
one, the omnipotent one, the omniscient one, the one who is,
oh, they're gonna make him a king? You're gonna make him a king?
You're gonna put your stamp of approval on him? Is that not
exactly what we hear men talk about today? Won't you make Jesus Lord of
your life? That is another Jesus. That is another gospel. And that
is led by another spirit. And there's only one other spirit
other than the Holy Spirit. Won't you accept Jesus and invite
him into your heart? Won't you make him king? Make
him a king. Make him Lord. Too late. God
already has. You can't make him something
that he already is. But what has happened? Men have
set themselves up on the throne of God and they think they have
power over God. They think God wants to save
everybody, God's hands are tied, but God needs our approval and
God needs our cooperation. That's not the Christ of scripture.
That's not the anointed one. That is a king. That is not the
king of kings. We're going to make him a king. No, you're not. Free will works gospel seeking
to obligate God and make him do something and put him in a
position of power in your life. I got news for anybody that would
listen to that gospel. He's not running for office. We don't accept him, he has to
accept us. He sits on the highest throne
and He's unthreatened. He's unthreatened by the foolishness
of man. Turn with me to Psalm 2. Here's what God says about that. Why did the heathen rage? and the people imagine. You see, that other Jesus is
nothing more than a figment of men's imagination. That's exactly
what he is. He's just a figment of men's
imagination, he's not real, he doesn't exist. And David's saying, why do the
heathen rage and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings
of the earth. men who have set themselves up
as king. He's not just talking about just
those who are in ruling office, all men, the captain of their
own ship, the master of their own destiny, they made themselves
to be kings. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed. Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us. We'll not have that man reign
over us. Now, this is a prophecy of what
would happen when the one and only time that God allowed man
to take him by force. And make sure that you know,
though he was taken by force, he was not forced. He was not forced. When they sent that group of
soldiers to the Garden of Gethsemane and they said to the Lord, the
Lord Jesus initiated the conversation, whom seekest thou? Jesus of Nazareth,
I am. And what happened? Those Roman
soldiers fell backwards. When the Lord Jesus stood before
Pilate and Pilate said to him, Don't you know that I have the
power to crucify you or the power to release you? The Lord Jesus
looked at him and said, you have no power at all except that which
is given to you from heaven. Let's see if that's what men
think. I want to make you a king. I'm going to make you Lord. I'm
going to, no, I'm going to take you by force. No, you're not
going to force him. And then when Pilate asked him,
are you a king? What did the Lord say? My kingdom's
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
my disciples would fight. But for this cause came I into
the world. And for this purpose was I born
to bear witness unto the truth. And they that are of the truth
hear my voice and follow me. Have I been taught of God? Have I heard his voice? Do I
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God? Or am I like
this crowd, just wanting my bellies filled, wanting somebody to speak
peace, peace, when there is no peace? Or has God done a work
of grace, causing my heart to bow and to confess him? You see, that's how this Psalm
two ends. Look, look, verse 11. You read the whole Psalm. The
Lord laughs at those who hold him and he holds them in derision. He laughs. Who are these people? If you don't make me king. I
think they have some control over me. They're gonna force
me to do something. And then he says, serve the Lord
with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, bow before him
lest he be angry and you perish in the way. He's the one who's
got sovereign control over you. Oh, what a blessing it is. to
be brought by the grace of God and the Spirit of God, to bow
before Christ, to fear Him, to worship Him, to serve Him, to
follow Him. This is what this crowd didn't
have. And this was the difference between
those who said, these sayings are too hard, we cannot bear
them. And what Peter said when he said,
to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal
life. We know and are sure that thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God. That's what Martha
meant. Yes, Lord. Yeah, Lord. I believe that thou
art the Christ, the son of God. One of the gospel writers, I
forgot which one it was, tells us that the centurion, and I
suspect that it was the same centurion that sent those soldiers
the night before to have the Lord arrested in the garden,
was now taking his same men and crucifying the Lord Jesus. And
one of the gospel writers says, and the centurion and his men
at the cross, When the Lord breathed his last breath and cried with
a loud voice, it is finished. And the earth shook and the graves
were opened. That centurion said this, truly,
this was the son of God. Even that Roman soldier believed. I suspect that those Roman soldiers
had never nailed a man to the cross like the Lord Jesus in
terms of his resistance. Everyone that they ever put on
a cross, it took two or three of them to hold him down while
the other one drove the nails. Can you imagine how The Lord
Jesus must have, he said he laid down his life for the sheep. He laid down. He laid down willingly. When God gave man an opportunity
to force him and nail him to the cross, but he was not forced. He was not forced. You're never
gonna force God to do anything. We bow to Him and we say to Him,
Lord, force me. Lord, make me. Lord, restrain
me. Lord, cause me to come and I'll
come. Make me to see and I'll see. Make me to believe and I'll believe.
Lord, I'm the one that has to be forced, not you. What a blessing it is when the Holy Spirit reveals
to our hearts Jesus as the King. Notice in our text, they wanted
to make him by force a King. What a blessing it is When we're
brought to stand before the Lord Jesus and say, with doubting
Thomas, my Lord and my God, and fall at his feet, say, Lord,
I'm the one in need of a king. I'm in need of one. What a blessing it is. when we're
brought by the Spirit of God, as was Saul of Tarsus on the
road to Damascus. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecuted. He heard the voice of God. And
they shall all be taught of God, and heed they that hear that
voice, and believe that Jesus is the Christ. They've been taught of God. Lord, what would you have me
to do? What would you have me to do?
Lord, you're my king. I'm in need of a loving, a benevolent,
a sovereign, an all-powerful, God to rule over me, to take
me. They did not see the Lord Jesus
as the King of kings. And they did not bow to him as
God. They just wanted to make him
aching to provide for their temporal needs. Turn with me, if you will, to
Deuteronomy chapter 18, Deuteronomy 18. You know, men by nature, and you and I
would do the same thing, will rest the scriptures to their
own destruction. In other words, they'll take
verses out of context, they'll take a portion of a verse and
try to make meaning of it. You know, I heard someone say
one time, you can prove anything from the Bible, you can even
prove that there is no God from the Bible. If you just take two words out
of context, For the fool has said in his heart, there is no
God. So just take no God out and there
you got no God. But that's about how foolish
it is when men take the Bible and they take it and make it
to mean what they want it to mean. You go to the Bible looking
for what you want it to say and it'll say what you want to say.
we go to the word of God looking for Christ, the Christ, the Christ,
the anointed one, the savior of sinners, the successful one. But I suspect that when this
crowd said, truly, this is the prophet that should come into
the world, They were clearly referring back to Deuteronomy
chapter 18 but they didn't understand or didn't believe what all the
Lord had said in Deuteronomy 18. They took it out of context. Verse 15, Moses is speaking to
the children of Israel and he says, the Lord thy God will raise
up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me." Oh, we're going to have a prophet
like Moses. And they would have left out the latter part of that.
Clearly they did because when he spoke to them later in the
chapter of John chapter 6 and told them who he was, they didn't
hearken unto him, they left. and you shall hearken unto him. You'll hear him and you'll believe
him and you'll follow him. For the words that he will speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. You will say with
Peter, to whom shall we go? Thou alone hast the words of
God. eternal life. We've got no other
prophet to go to. We've got no place else to go.
Lord, you are that prophet. So when this crowd said, truly,
this is the prophet that should come into the world, they didn't
believe everything. Look at verse 16, according to all that thou
desirest of the Lord thy God, and they would have stopped there. Well, this prophet's gonna give
us everything that we desire. You see what I'm saying? When
they said in John chapter six, truly this is the prophet that
should come into the world, they rested this scripture. They didn't
believe what God said here. They didn't hearken unto what
the Lord revealed. When the Lord reveals himself,
we'll leave Deuteronomy there. I was gonna try to read some
other verses there, but let's not now. Whatever interest these people
had in the Lord Jesus as a teacher, They were only interested in
the same way that men today are. I speak to people, well, you
know, Jesus was the best teacher there ever was. And if we'll
just follow his principles and his precepts, then we can take
the teachings of Jesus and benefit from them. We can have better
families and better life and better experiences in this world. And if we, follow his precepts
we can earn for ourselves by our obedience and by our righteousness
an acceptance before God that will give us hope of salvation. It's exactly what the Lord said
in Isaiah chapter 28 when he tells us Precept upon precept, line upon
line, here a little, there a little. That's how God reveals Christ
to us. But then in that same chapter,
he says, but unto you, it was nothing more than precept upon
precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that
you might stumble and fall. They saw Jesus as a good teacher,
a prophet, one who came with a word from God. to give us help
in this world. The Pharisees saw the same thing
when the Lord Jesus rebuked them and he said, you search the scriptures
because you think in them you have eternal life, but these
are they which testify of me. How do I know I've been taught
of God? Because Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the
king and the prophet. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word came
and was made flesh, and the Word of God dwelt among us, and we
beheld His glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and full of truth. We're looking to Christ as the
living Word of God, and whatever He says is true, and whatever
He says we follow. Lord, we believe you. We believe you. Everything you
say. It's not up to us to decide.
You know, we live in a world where everybody's got their own
standards. You know, while you think this
is okay and you say that's okay and this is that and that, it
doesn't matter what you think. It doesn't matter what I think.
When God has taught you, you bow to the Lord Jesus. What does
he say? Let's say it's the scriptures,
because that's the only thing that counts. Nothing else matters. Everything
else is just an opinion. What does God say about it? If I've been taught of God, I
want to know what God says. And whatever God says is what
I believe. It's what I believe, period. Plain and simple. Wasn't true with this crowd.
We're going to make him a king. And we believe that he's that
prophet that Moses was speaking of that's gonna give us everything
we need. They didn't believe and didn't
bow and didn't kiss the sun as the king of kings. And they didn't
believe that he was the very word of God himself. Have you been taught that? You
believe that? It's what these disciples say. Lord, thou art the Christ, you're
the anointed one. Now there's one very conspicuous
thing missing in this conversation that these people had with the
Lord Jesus. They believed him to be a prophet,
they believed him to be a king, but what's the other office that
the Christ refers to? It's priest. is a priest. What does a priest do? A priest
makes intercession for us. A priest does for us what we
cannot do for ourselves. A priest offers to God an offering
that is acceptable to God. We're not capable of offering.
We need a priest. Now we're not talking about the
priestcraft that's practiced in man-made religion. That's
practiced in Every form of religion has some form of priestcraft.
Even in the Reformed Calvinist movement. They've got elders
that, you know, they act like they're your priest. You can't
do anything without their approval and without, you know, without
them, you know, overshadowing you and looking out, you know. And all the way to that man over
there in Rome sitting on the throne thinking that he's some
sort of high priest. and every form of religion, every
single one of them. The scripture says that God has
made us to be priests, but we don't go to God by ourselves. We're in need of a high priest.
Now, when it says that we have been made priests, that means
that we don't need another man to go to God for us. We can go
to God through Christ ourselves. We're not looking to another
man to provide a way. This clergy laity, I even hear
it. I've got to say this. I hear
it in our circle sometimes. You know, we're just subtle implications
that the pastor has some sort of special access to God that
I don't have. And the pastor has some spirituality
that I don't have. That is not true. That's clergy
laity is all that is. And you know me, I've never put
pastor in front of my name. Pastor is never used in the Bible
as a title. And I see, you know, this subtle
clergy laity sometimes in places where it ought not to be. And
I want to encourage you to know that You go to God just like
you are in the person of your high priest who has made access for us. We cannot come before God apart
from him. But in him, you see, these people
weren't interested in a priest. They saw him as a prophet, they
saw him as a king, but priest? And what did the Lord Jesus do
in our text? He departed from them and went into a mountain
alone. Alone. What did the Lord Jesus
do when he went to Calvary's cross? When he went to Mount
Calvary, he went alone. forsaken of his father, forsaken
of his disciples all by himself. He bore the full burden of our
sin. He bore the full wrath of God's
justice all by himself without the contribution or help of anyone
else. And that's what men won't have.
They won't have a priest who gets all the credit and all the
glory for their salvation. They want one they can make some
contribution to. He went to a mountain alone. Alone. Have I been taught of God? Is the Lord Jesus Christ Am I
a king? Am I in need of a king? A king
to guide me, a king to overpower me, a king to make me, a king
to love me, a king to provide for me, a king to restrain me,
a king that I can follow, a benevolent, loving king, or if I had my fist
raised to heaven, I'd not have that man reign over me, I'll
be my own king. If I've been taught of God, I'm
in need of a king. If I've been taught of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ is that anointed one. He's the Christ, he's the
prophet of God who came as the word of God and every word that
he speaks is true and every word that he speaks is life. Thou
alone has the words of eternal life. And if I've been taught of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the Christ, he's the anointed priest
of God who went to Mount Calvary all by himself and did all the
work for my salvation by himself and he gets all the glory and
all the credit and I rejoice in that. And they shall all be taught
of God and they which have heard and believe come to Christ, the Christ. Our heavenly Father, bless your
word. Cause us to believe, to rest, to follow. We ask it in the name of thy
dear son, our savior, the Christ. Amen. Number 18, let's stand together,
number 18.