I want you to turn with me to
the book of Isaiah. We place around here great importance
upon folks who have not finished high school getting their GED,
but there is a greater certificate to have, and that's your GOD. Isaiah 54, verse 13, And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord. And great shall be the peace of thy children. And then let's go to the book
of Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 33. But this shall
be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, After
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts
and will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor. In other words, there's not going
to be this law of repetitiveness that you have to memorize the
Ten Commandments. You have to do this. You have
to do that. Because they've got a new heart. Their inward parts have been
educated by the great educator, God Himself. They've gotten their G.O.D. And
they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know
Me. From the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more." What a glorious thing it is to
have your G.O.D. to some degree having graduated, to have a certificate of heart, not to be ignorant of why you're
here, where you came from, or where you're going when you die. Knowledge is a wonderful thing.
The Apostle Paul in the Philippian letter said, oh, that I might
know Him. He talked about a knowledge,
an excellent knowledge. How many today, even in religion,
not just those in the crack house, but those in religion, are ignorant. They have not been taught of
God. ignorant of the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. Many of you here are kindergartners. You really have not got your
G.O.D. yet. You still have to be spoon-fed. I would give you meat, but you're
not ready for meat. You have to be fed the bottle.
And you're still drinking milk when you ought to be on meat.
I hope that and believe that those who have passed from death
into life truly have in their heart a longing, a desire to know God. I said, well, pastor, I think
I know God. I'm not talking about I think
I know God. I'm talking about the Apostle
Paul after 30 years of preaching the Gospel in the book of Philippians
said, oh, that I might know Him and be found in Him. I'm talking
about that. I'm talking about a desire to
be taught of God. Let's go to John 6. I want to begin reading with
verse 44. These are familiar verses. No man can come to me. No man, no woman can come to
me. They cannot. They cannot and they will not. No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me
draw him. I want you to think about this,
believer. Every person who comes to Christ
has been drawn. It is not a work of self-will
or self-effort. It is a work of God. Drawn to Jesus Christ. I often tell you this. When I
was a child, I would spend my summers with my grandmother Tutte
in Carlisle County, Kentucky. And we didn't have running water
in Tutty's house. We drew water out of the well.
And she often would say to me, can a boy go draw me a bucket
of water? I didn't go down to the well
and throw the bucket in and tell the water to get in the bucket
and then tell the bucket to come up. She had a A thing rigged
there where you would draw the bucket up. It had a rope around
the handle of the bucket. And when the bucket would sink
to the bottom, I would draw the bucket up. What did the bucket
have to do with getting to the top of the well? Nothing. I was
the drawer. No man can come to Me, Jesus
said, except the Father which has sent Me draw him. I want
every one of you just to give God a hand clap if you've been
drawn. And by that you are acknowledging
that it was not me. It was God who drew me. So often we read these verses
that we're so familiar with and we just kind of pass over them
without entering into them. That's why I wanted you to do
a little hand clap. So you think about it. I've been
drawn by God Himself to Jesus Christ. Isn't that something? Drawn by the power of God. Called out of darkness into glorious
light. Isn't that something? I am special
to God. Wonderful truth. And I will raise Him up at the
last day. What a great promise that is.
If we all stay around here long enough, we are going to leave
here. We are going to die. And those
of us who do die, we have a promise. Everyone that Christ draws to
Himself, He is going to raise them up one day. That will be
a great day too. Verse 45, it is written in the
prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Taught of God. They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard, that is, hath learned of the Father, Simple truth, cometh unto me. Everybody who is taught of God
comes to Jesus Christ. Not to the baptismal pool. Not
to the Ten Commandments. Not to the Church of God. Not
to the Church of God in Christ. not to the church of God in Christ,
first Pentecostal, comes to Jesus Christ. Just as
I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, O
Lamb of God, I come, I come. Everyone who is taught of God,
simple truth, plain truth, unadorned truth, if you have been taught
of God, you come to Jesus Christ. That's it. Period. That's it. How difficult is that? We have
so adorned the Gospel. Our churches are so ritualistic,
so formal. There is so much stuff to try
to get through to see a wounded, bleeding Savior. But this is
the truth. Every person who has been taught
of God comes to Jesus Christ. And in most churches, people
ought to stand up and say to their elders, to their pastors,
and to the deacon board, sirs, we would see Jesus. We're tired
of your speculation and your corny jokes and your administrative
fits. We want to see the Lord Jesus
Christ. When you get into the pulpit, powerfully display Jesus
Christ. So, I want to ask you again today,
Have you been taught of God? This is very plain in Scripture. You are as stupid as an animal
when it comes to spiritual matters. All truth is revealed truth. You need a teacher that not only
teaches you, but reveals to you what he teaches. Otherwise, you
don't get it. You need more than a preacher
who is filled with the Spirit of God. You need the Spirit of
God in the pew to reveal the truth to you. All truth is revealed truth.
Don't care how educated you are. Don't care how many degrees you
have. Unless truth is revealed to you, you will never know truth.
You ought to give God another hand clap if He's revealed truth
to you. You could still be blind. You
could still be lost. But now many of us sing the old
song, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch
like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see. That's the truth of Scripture.
Have you got your G.O.D. yet? Everybody God saves, He takes
them to school. You've got to go to school. You've
just got to go to school. And usually God takes us to a
very distinct university to teach us. Because we are so ignorant
prone. We are so anti-gospel. We are so anti-to-God-be-all-the-glory
that He has to take us to a very special school. In order for
you to get your G.O.D., you have to go to Wales Valley University. You've just got to go to Wales
Valley University. Otherwise, God will tell you
to go one place and you'll go another. God will tell you to
do one thing, and you'll say, no, I don't want to do that.
So God has to take you to the school of life, Wales Bella University. And some of us are a little more
stubborn, it seems like, than others. And so some of us have
to go to the crack house. Some of us have to hide out popping
pills at home. But we're hanging out somewhere. Some of us try to get in church
and camouflage ourselves. You know the best place people
think to hide from God is in church? There's a lot of people
in a lot of churches out there hiding from God. They haven't
got their G.O.D. They pretend like they're in
the university, but they're getting failing grades. And the professor
knows it too. Lord, you've been to Wheelsbilly
University? Has God taught you some things? All of us have to be brought
down before He lifts us up. David was in the miry clay. He
was in sinking sands. And the songwriter wrote, from
sinking sands He lifted me. With tender hands He lifted me. From shades of night to planes
of light, O praise His name, He lifted me. That's my testimony. Wales Ballet
University. And if you study the book of
Jonah, you will find out, I just don't know how many times It
says, and Jonah went down. I'm going to tell you this. When
God takes you to school, you're going down. You are going down
and He's going up. He must increase and I must decrease. Have you got your G.O.D. yet?
Listen, if you know this, God save me, you have your G.O.D. You say, well, Pastor, I think
most of us know God saved us. Then why don't you talk like
it? Why don't you just simply say it? Instead of, oh, yeah,
I've been baptized. Oh, yeah, I'm a Baptist. Oh,
I'm a Lutheran. I'm a Presbyterian. Oh, yes. You don't have your
G.O.D. yet. You haven't been to Whale's Belly
University. where you're down there caught
up in the seaweed of life. All those digestive juices in
Wales Valley University. Stinking messy. You know, one of the big things
that God is going to teach you is that you are a filthy rag. You ever been taught that you're
a filthy rag yet? Until God teaches you, you are
a filthy rag, you don't need a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Immanuel's vein. You ever find out, you ever get
taught by God, if it's ever revealed to you that you are a sinner
by nature, by choice, and by practice, and that you need a
fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's vein. The thought of God. I said, well,
pastor, you know, I didn't come over here to church. Some of
you, this is going to be your last time with us. Because you're going to leave
here saying, you know, I went over there. Instead of that pastor
building my self-esteem, he cut my legs right out from under
me. Glory to God. That's what I'm trying to do.
Cut your legs right out from under me. If you're not lost,
you can't be found. If you're not a sinner, you don't
need a Savior. All you good folks here today,
I have nothing to say to you. Nothing to say to you except
flee from the wrath to come. You don't have your G.O.D. yet. You know, the first message from
the cross is this. Something is wrong with man. In other words, if you can be
saved some other way than through substitution, what is Emmanuel doing on that
cross? I mean, don't you think it is
Don't you think something important must be happening? If God comes
down here in the person of His Son and hangs on the tree of
the cross, don't you think something important is happening? One of the old philosophers said, either the world is coming to
an end or deity suffers when that midnight midday darkness
hovered over the earth. You could be saved by being good.
Listen, you may be here and really, you're beginning to think now,
as I speak, it's kind of running through your head. Maybe you've
never been in church. Maybe this is your first time
in church. I know there are many people who attend here that are
not churchy. I love you. Thank God for you. Churchy people give me problems.
Churchy people are the ones that crucified the Son of God, you
know. Self-righteous folks. But maybe this is making a little
sense to you. Maybe you've been thinking for
months and months now, you know, maybe there is a God. I know
this. I've been in Wales Valley University
for 30-some years now, and I'm getting tired of it. Maybe there's
something better than crack and heroin and church anody that
fails me. Maybe there's something better.
And it's kind of beginning to, you know, fit a little bit here. You're listening to me. Maybe
God is teaching you today. You see, if my poor voice is
the only voice you hear, you will leave here none the better.
But if in the providence of God, through my voice, you hear the
voice of God and are taught of God, you will leave here born
again. Isn't that something? It has
pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. You ought to listen with both
ears. Maybe it will begin to make sense. Do you wonder why
so many bad things are happening? Bad things happening all around
you and in you. It's called sin. God is going
to teach you, if He's going to save you, that you are a sinner. Sin is not what you do. Sin is
what you are. We need to learn that. We need
to learn that. Nobody here taught their three-year-old
how to steal, how to lie and stick out his or her tongue at
mommy when mommy turned her back. You ought to see what goes on
behind your back, mommy, with your little angel. You know why? Because sin is what they are. Sin is what they are. I am very
much aware that our little angel, Hayden, is going to grow up and
have the nature of a daddy. That she's going to be a sinner.
I've already prayed that God will save her. That God will
teach her. That grandpa and grandma and
mom and dad and auntie will live before her where she will see
Christ in us. and that the Spirit of God will
deal with her in power and take the scales off her eyes, let
her see herself for what she is, and then transform her and
regenerate her and born her again. That's the way it happens. Taught
of God. Wales Ballet University. What
a great professor we have. What a great professor. Professor
God. Isn't that something? My father
is my professor. To be taught by daddy, papa,
papa. To be taught with one who loves
me more than I love myself, because my self-love is wicked and self-centered. God's love is gracious and unmerited. Oh, I'm way over my head today.
To be taught of God. Think about that. Do you know
that the Holy Spirit enrolled you? Do you know you have been
a student and a prospective student from the foundation of the world?
It was God who chose you. Before you were ever formed in
your mother's belly, the professor already had his class. Isn't
that something? And your names were written in
the class book records. And you know, in that ultimate
day, when the roll is called up yonder, all the kids are going
to be there. All the kids are going to be there. Professor God teaching you. Teaching you. He sent the Holy Spirit to seek
you out. Time to go to school. Let me tell you this. You know,
Jonah, after he got out of the university, as soon as he hit
the bank, he said, salvation is of the Lord. That's the way God's children
taught. That's their first words. He said, well, you know, Pastor,
when God saved me, I didn't know anything about election. I didn't
know anything about predestination. I didn't know any theology, but
I knew God saved me." That's right. That's the children's
first words. Salvation is of the Lord. You know, I'm waiting for Hayden's
first words to be paw-paw. And Darren keeps saying, who's
your daddy? So we're in a little race there.
You forgive me for mentioning her so much. You know how grandpas
talk. But you know, I'm sure she's
not going to remember her first words. Amber and Darren will have to
tell her, your first words were pawpaw. They'll have to tell her her
first words because she won't remember. You know the truth is that when
God borns us again, we don't know much. Regeneration is a
sovereign act of the Spirit of God. He comes to Lance, and Lance
is in his spiritual dead state, in the cemetery of deadness,
dead to God, inactive toward God. And he says to Lance, Live! And Lance begins to have strange
thoughts. Thoughts that he never had before
because now he has spiritual life. We call that the new birth. You know, eventually, Hayden's
going to find out she's alive. That she's a person. Right now
she doesn't know that. God borns us again and we know
very little except I was glad when they said, let us go up
to the house of the Lord. For some reason, instead of,
you know, being out there this morning watching the remnant
of the Woodward Cruz go by, I'm here in this inner city church
in a very toasty building because I want to be here. I don't know
why I want to be here. I just want to be here. It really
doesn't even make sense to me. Except I was glad when they said,
let us go up to the house of the Lord. And you know, today
I learned something. I learned that God is my teacher. I learned that all of these years
I've been in Wales Valley University. I love to hear the story how
many times I've heard this story in 25 years, how the bus Somebody
got on the bus in Detroit. Didn't know where Pontiac Rescue
Mission was. And the bus came up Woodward,
you know, into Pontiac, wound around, and stopped right in
front of the old Pontiac Rescue Mission. And you got off the
bus and said, how's that for luck? But it wasn't luck at all. It was called the providence
of God. It was Onesimus. A story again. And Philemon, the runaway slave. Professor God, have you been
taught of God? This is eternal life that you might know God.
You say, well, I know Billy Graham, and I know the Pope, and I've,
you know, I know, I know. Do you know God? Well, I don't roller skate, and
I don't play cards, and I don't go to movies, and I don't have
a television, and I'm not at... You know, one of the reasons...
Now, you Baptists, forgive me here. One of the reasons I dropped
the Baptist name is because I got tired of people saying to me,
oh, you're a Baptist? You visitors, excuse me now.
I got tired of people saying to me, you're a Baptist, you
don't smoke, right? I don't want people to say when
I say I'm a Christian, I want them to know I'm a Christian.
If I say I'm a Baptist and they say you don't play pool and you
don't roller skate and you don't dance and you don't... I don't
want to be noted for what I don't do. I want to be noted for who
I know. Oh, you know Christ. Oh, you
folks say... Now, if Baptists could ever get
known for this. Oh, you say that salvation is
by grace. You say salvation is of the Lord. It's all of the Lord. You know,
I really think this. People ought to have to come
in here to find out what we believe. Oh, that's the Baptist church.
You know, I came as close as I could in naming this church.
Grace Gospel. Grace Gospel Fellowship. You
know what we fellowship around here? The grace gospel. It's
that grace gospel. It's that free gospel. It's that
sovereign grace gospel. It's that God giving me what
I don't deserve. It's God having mercy on me. It's God first finding me before
I find Him. God was never lost, by the way. He came to me. Salvation is of
the Lord. He's a professor. And the criteria
is the Bible. Listen, the healthy, wealthy,
wise folks who are constantly proclaiming that, you know, when
you get saved, you ought to never get sick, You ought to have all
kinds of money, and if you muster up enough faith, and the only
reason those things aren't happening is because you're failing, you're
not successful, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, and oftentimes
I hear people say this, God told me. Now, if God tells you something,
that makes it Scripture. You need to go to the last book
of the Bible, get your pen out, and write, Thus saith the Lord
to me, and put it in there so we can all read it. I'm going
to tell you this. Be careful about saying that.
I know God does reveal truth to us and reveals His will. Somebody said, I want to know
the will of God. Get you a Bible. Get you a Bible. The Bible is
our only rule of faith and practice. This is the school book. God
would say no more if He were here today than He has said in
His Word. Did anybody say amen on that? And when somebody comes up to
you... You know, I've had such wonderful radio listeners and
experiences, but a young lady said to me, call me on the phone
after I got off the radio, and she said to me, a prophetess
so-and-so said to me, I'm not to marry Bill, I'm to marry Joe,
but I'm in love with Bill. I said, tell the prophetess to
get lost. God wouldn't have gone to her,
He'd come to you. If you're a believer, God can
take a shortcut. He just comes to you. He doesn't
have to come to me to tell you. He'll tell you. That's why we
don't have the little priest in the box and you confess your
things to the priest and then he tells you how bad you are
and you say how many Hail Marys. Go to God yourself. Go to God
yourself. Amen. Go to God yourself. He's
your daddy. Confess to Him. The Bible. Now what's this Bible all about?
We've gone to Wales Valley University. We've got the great professor.
And now we've got the school book. Here's what Jesus said to the
churchy folks in His day, the Pharisees. He said, search the
Scriptures. Literally, it kind of reads like
this. You do indeed search the Scriptures. And in them you think you have
eternal life. But they are they that testify
of Me. And you will not come to Me.
Moses spoke of Me. The Bible is a hymn book. Say, well, Pastor, don't go through
that again. We've heard you say that 10 billion
times. And if I live a few more years,
you're going to hear it 10 billion more. Because this book is not
about you. Not about you. It's not about
you getting more money and a bigger house. It's not about you wearing
flashy clothes. and a big gold cross around your
neck. The book is not about that. It's
about a bloody sacrifice for sin. It's about this one who
left heaven and came to this sin-cursed earth. Do you have
your G.O.D. yet? If you have your G.O.D.,
you're hitting on middle C. You're hitting on middle seat.
Not part of the time, all the time. I'm determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You're
hungry for Christ. You don't want me to preach on
Wednesday night how to lose weight. You want me to tell you how to
have a perfect righteousness that cannot be forfeited, that
cannot be mired, that cannot be tarnished. You don't want
me to just necessarily talk about how to help you through your
divorce. You want me to tell you about there is One that will
bear your burdens. And if you're heavy laden, come
unto Him and He will give you rest. You want me to tell you
that. That's the right answer. That Lamb in the Old Testament
that was sacrificed That lamb that was shut up for 14 days,
sprinkled on the two sides of the door lintel, that was a picture
of the coming Lamb of God. That scapegoat where the sins
of the people were confessed on his head, that was a type,
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who was going to bear our sins
away. That ark in the Old Testament
during the flood had one window looking up. That window said
salvation is of the Lord. Look up. He will protect you
from the storm of life and the sin of life. The Lord Jesus Christ. That dove, those two doves, one
dove had its neck cut off and the blood put in the basin. And then that other white dove
was dipped in the blood of the one that was killed and thrown
up into the air and flew away. Blood marked. That was a type
that our sins were going to be taken away by the blood of Jesus
Christ. Type. Type. That rock in the
Old Testament that Moses was to speak to that first time.
that he was to smite that first time and speak to the second
time. Moses didn't go into the Promised
Land because he mired the type of Christ. Christ was that rock
that was to be smitten one time for the remission of our sins.
This Bible concerns itself with Jesus Christ. He's the bread
of life. He's the water of life. He's
the door to heaven. He's the lily of the valley.
He's the fairest of ten thousand. He's the bright and morning star. He's the Savior. That's what
this book is all about. I want to ask you, are you in
love with Jesus Christ? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Watch what you love. I just love
my church. That's really not the best language. It's alright to really love the
fellowship of the saints. But I love Jesus Christ who has
made that fellowship possible. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look
square in His wonderful face. And the things of this world
will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Christ Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God. You have
your G.O.D. We keep pressing up there in
the Learning Center, get your GED. Get your GED. The GED is not nearly as necessary
as your GOD. It's not nearly as important.
I want you to get your GOD here. Where'd you get your GOD? Oh,
over there at Grace Gospel Fellowship. That's where I came to know the
Lord Jesus Christ in the free pardon of my sins. I hope you
get centered on that. Not anger classes. Not life skill
classes. Not churchiness. If you're not
careful, some of you who are living in the suburbs and driving
up here, you'll get caught up in the ministry of the inner
city church. You'll get caught up in feeding,
clothing, and sheltering the drug addict. You'll get caught
up in homelessness. You know what makes people homeless?
Sin! Drudge! I'm going to tell you
this. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. I believe this with all my soul.
It's impossible to go from no faith to faith with no change. Quentin is out from under the
bridge. And that's his testimony. If God ever saves you, you will
never be what you once were. You cannot be. If I could put
a sheep in a hog, that hog would act like a sheep. If I could
put the nature of a sheep in a hog, when God saves us, He
puts His very nature in us. Somebody said, well, you ought
to love holiness. If you're saved, you do. You ought to hate sin. If you're saved, you do. You
hate it in you. You hate it wherever you see
it. You hate sin. Because you're a new creature.
You have a new nature. Is that right? Say, well, pastor, I hope you're
not preaching sinless perfection. Ha! Lord have mercy. Just follow me around one day.
You'll see enough unholiness To fill your bag. I'm talking about this. The tenor
of my life, the desire of my heart is to be free from this
mess. Free from my flesh. Free from
this world. My greatest joy is this. This
world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My
treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. Let's stand
together and sing the praises of our God.