Thank you, Tom. That hymn has helped me to prepare for what
I want to try to say in John chapter 6, if you'll open your
Bibles with me there. We're reminded from that hymn
what the Lord said when he said, my sheep will hear my voice and
they'll follow me. And here in John chapter six
at verse 45, it is written in the prophets,
and this is from Isaiah 54. They shall be all taught of God. They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the father cometh unto me. How do I know if I've been taught
of God? I've come to Christ. What does that mean? Before we answer that question,
I'd like for us to have another time of prayer together. Zobey's
sister, Audi, has been struggling with, suffering with cancer for
quite some time and she's in a very difficult place right
now. Audi's been here with us on several occasions over the
years and of course that would be Mary, Zoby's mother's daughter
and Mary has already lost two children, maybe three, this will
be. So I want us to pray for Mary and Zoby's family and Audi
and also, I don't know what happened to Lord Grace. Ah, there she
is. Her due date is Wednesday and
the doctor is talking about inducing by Friday if she doesn't deliver
before Wednesday. So, you pray with us as the Lord
enables you to remember her and little Alice and Grace. We're very excited and looking
forward to that. So, let's pray together. Our
Heavenly Father, thank you. for that throne of grace that
we're called to come to and call you our father and look to you
and the person of our savior and know that we have not only
acceptance in him, but that we are loved in him even as he is
loved by you. Lord, that is beyond our understanding,
but we believe it because you've said it. Lord, might we find
our faith strengthened this day as you speak to our hearts and
lead us again to Christ. Lord, we do pray for Audi and
pray for Mary and Lord, pray for your hand of mercy and your
comfort and your care, especially as they find their need in Christ
during this very difficult time. Lord, pray for Lord Grace and
ask that you would give her safe delivery we might be able to
rejoice together in the birth of a new life. We ask it in Christ. Amen. I've titled this message, Taught
of God, Taught of God. And I'd like for you to turn
with me to 1 John 2, Before we answer the question
as to what it means to be taught of God, I want us to consider
the means by which God teaches his people. And in 1 John 2,
at verse 18, we read these words, little children, it is the last
time and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come even now. Are there many Antichrists whereby
we know that it is the last time? Now the Bible speaks of the last
time as that entire period of time between the first and second
coming of Christ. So the church has been living
in the last time and the spirit of Antichrist was here in the
early years of the last time. And so John is warning the church
of those doctrines that would deny Christ his glory in salvation. And... And he goes on to say
in verse 19, he says, these are these false prophets who came
in and they pretended to be part of the church, but then they
were carried away by a false gospel. And the Lord said, even
the elect would be deceived if it were possible. If it were
possible, it's not possible for God's elect to be deceived. They
may be distracted, but they'll never be deceived. but these
are those who have been deceived into destruction. And he goes
on to say, they went out from us because they were never of
us for the had they been of us, they would have remained. In verse 20, but you, what does
it mean to be taught of God? But you have an unction, you
have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things The
Spirit of God has taught you. I have not written unto you because
you know not the truth. So John is reminding them of
things that they already know. And that's what we do when we
preach the gospel to believers. We're reminding them. of things
they already know. I've not written unto you because
you didn't know the truth, but because you knew it, and that
no lie is of the truth. You know the truth. If you're
a child of God and you have the Holy Spirit, what does the Holy
Spirit say? The Lord said, it's expedient
for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. He's gonna lead you into all truth. And he's
gonna point you to Christ. It's what he's gonna do. It's
what the Holy Spirit does. And so John is just reminding
us, if you have the Spirit of God, I'm not telling you something
you don't already know. He's exposing these anti-Christ
doctrines. He's exposing these false prophets
who are preaching a works gospel, a freewill works gospel. And, Those who already know something
need to be told again the same thing. How often Tom leads us
in that hymn, tell me the old, old story. Don't change it up. Just tell me the old story. Tell
it to me again. I have a need to know it. That's what John's saying here.
Does that mean that God doesn't use the means of preachers and
teachers to remind us of these things? Clearly not. I've heard people take verse, the next verse, let's look at
verse 27. Let's go down to verse 27. But
the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you. you have the Holy Spirit abiding
in you. And it's the Holy Spirit that
enables you to discern between a gospel that depends upon you
for something, a gospel that gives you no comfort, a gospel
that gives you no hope because it points you away from Christ
and causes you to find, to try to find some hope of your salvation
somewhere else. If you have this anointing, you
have not need that any man teach you. But as the same anointing
teaches you all things, that is truth and is no lie. And even as it has taught you,
you shall abide in him. Now, one of the last things the
Lord told the disciples, they were commissioned and Matthew
chapter 28, before his ascension back into glory, was that they
were to go into all the world and baptize men in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. So what the Lord is telling us
in 1 John chapter 2 is not that God doesn't use teachers. Ephesians chapter 4, God has
given to the church, he has given to the church prophets, apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the edifying
of the saints. So it's a blessing that the Lord
would would cause a man, as the Lord tells us, as Paul reminded
Timothy and Titus, when he talked about the qualifications of an
elder, he said that they must be apt to teach. I've heard people
take, you have an anointing and you have no need that any man
teach you. I've heard men take that one
verse out of the context of what's being said in all of scripture,
in particular here in this one chapter and say, well, I don't
need to teach. I'm a priest, I can go straight to God. I don't
need anybody to teach me anything. That's not what Paul's saying.
That's not what John's saying here. He's saying if you have
the Holy Spirit, you don't need to be convinced of these things.
You don't need for me to tell you already know it. But that's
the reason I'm telling you, because you do know it. I'm not telling
you because you don't know it. How many times the Lord tells
us, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians. There's another place where Paul
used a similar language concerning the means by which God teaches
his people. 1 Thessalonians chapter four, look
at verse nine. But as touching brotherly love,
you need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. But then he goes on to say, and
indeed you do it toward all the brethren which are in Macedonia,
but we beseech you brethren that you increase more and more. So
you've been taught of God to love the brethren, but God's
going to use me to remind you to increase in that. John's saying
you've been taught of God that a works gospel is not of God
and the foes of when out bomb us were never really of us but
that's why I'm reminding you of it because you already know
it's true and this affirmation will serve to convince you more
more truly that This is truth. I need to be taught. I need to
be reminded of the things that the Spirit of God has taught
me. And when I hear them in the voice of another man, I read
them from the words of a gospel preacher, they're comforting
to me because he's telling me what I already know. But it doesn't
mean I don't need a teacher. You have no need that a man should
teach you because you have an unction of the Holy Ghost. I
don't need a teacher. Oh, I do. I do. You're right there in 1 Thessalonians.
Look at chapter five. Paul uses a similar language
again in verse one. But of the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes to the thief of
the night. You already know these things. And then he goes on to
elaborate on the second coming of Christ. So, Ezekiel chapter 44, the Lord
talks about the shepherds that he's going to raise up to lead
his people. And he says, they shall teach
my people the difference between the holy and the profane and
cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. Thank God that he's given to
the church. He's called out men to spend
their lives preparing messages and discerning God's word so
that we can be taught. He said to Peter, Peter, Simon,
lovest thou me three times, feed my sheep. That's what it is to
be fed, is to be taught. We eat through our ears. We see
through our ears. Faith comes by hearing and how
important it is. But it's not the voice of a man.
The voice of a man is just the audible means. It's the voice
of God that must speak. And a man that's been son of
God knows that. He knows that he can't convince
anybody of anything. He knows that his responsibility
is to feed the sheep and just tell men what God has already
said and tell them what they know by the Holy Spirit is true. And the Lord will confirm it
again and again to the hearts of his people. and they shall all be taught
of God." Now you all know, well, it doesn't
matter what I think about it, it matters what the Lord thinks
about it. Twice in the churches of Asia Minor in the first chapters
of Revelation, rebukes two of the churches by telling them
that they have men in the church who are teaching the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans. And then the Lord Jesus says
this, of which I hate, of which I hate. Now many men have speculated
over the years what the doctrine of the Nicolaitans is, but that's
all they've been able to do is speculate because the Bible doesn't
say. The Bible never explains the
doctrine of the Nicolaitans anywhere. So in order for us to understand
the doctrine of the Nicolaitans as it is revealed in scripture,
the only thing we can do is interpret the word Nicolaitan. And the
word Nicolaitan comes from the name Nicholas and the name Nicholas
means master over the people. And the Lord warns his pastors
not to beat the sheep and not to force the sheep into submission
but to earn their respect by love and by faithfully preaching
the gospel. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans
is clergy laity. It's practiced in every religion.
And God says, I hate it. And I hate it. And I hope that
you hate it. One of the worst forms of the
doctrine of the Nicolaitans is practiced among reformed Calvinists. where the elders crack the whip
of the law and make everyone in the congregation submit to
their authority and the young people can't date anyone without
getting permission from the elders and they have to get permission
from the elders to pursue a career and they have to get permission
from the elders for this and that. The elders go around and
interrogate the members of the church to make sure they're living
the way they should be living. That's the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. God says, I hate it and I hate
it. But we don't throw the baby out
with the bathwater. We don't say because the rule
of elder and bishop and pastor and all three of those are the
same ministry in the church are being abused that therefore we
just discount it altogether. No, we have a need. We have a
need to be taught. And when we're being taught,
if it's of God and the man is of God, the spirit of God confirms
to our hearts, this is true. And we're comforted by being
affirmed in the truth. Amen? And they shall be all taught
of God. And this is the means by which
the Lord teaches his people. One of the means at least, you
have access to God's word, you have the spirit of God. What did we see in the first
hour? The word of the Lord is tried, the way of the Lord is
perfect. Oh, let us individually Take
time aside from the sea of words that the world is drowning in
and find comfort in God's word. And ask the Lord to teach us,
teach us and they shall all be taught of God. And what is the
evidence of being taught of God? And everyone that has been taught
of God cometh unto me." What does it
mean to come to Christ? Well, it means to trust Him.
To trust Him. Love is a wonderful thing in
a relationship but the foundation of any good relationship whether
it be a marriage or whether it be a business partnership But
whether it be a friendship, it's trust. Trust. I can't love somebody not in
an affectionate way. We love our enemies. We love
all men in that we want the best for them. I can't think of a single person
in this whole world I wouldn't rejoice for God to reveal more
of himself to them than to me. That's the best that can happen
to a man is for God to bless him with his presence and my
worst enemy I would rejoice, I would delight, I'd be so thankful
to God if he would do for them more than he's ever done for
me. That's love. We love our enemy, we love all
men. Do we trust everybody? No. No. Trust has to be earned. I'd be
a fool if I trusted everybody. A relationship has to be built
on trust. Trust has to be earned. A man must be found faithful.
A man must be true to his word. A man must be reliable in order
for me to trust him. Who is more trustworthy than
God? Who is more worthy of my trust? It's what faith is. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. What is it to believe on him?
It's to trust him. It's to trust him, it's to rely
upon him, it's to rest in him. We look to Christ in trust. It is the foundation of our relationship
and he's always been faithful. He's never let us down. He's
never not kept any of his word. He's trustworthy. So if I've been taught of God,
all that are taught of God cometh unto me. They look to the Lord
Jesus Christ through the eyes of faith in trust. For what? Well, for their righteousness
to begin with. They trust the Lord Jesus Christ
for all their righteousness. They can't find any hope of righteousness
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. They look to themselves, they
look to the world. They've been deceived in taking
comfort and boasting in something good they did. And then they
find themselves in the presence of God and they say, all of my
righteousness as are as filthy rags, I am as a sheep that's
gone astray. I can't find any righteousness
anywhere in the world or in myself apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. I must trust him for all of my
righteousness before God and I must believe that God made
him who knew no sin to be made sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. I cannot trust in my law keeping
for my righteousness. Men, by nature, are ignorant
of the righteousness of God. And in their ignorance, they
go about trying to establish their own righteousness, not
knowing that Christ Jesus the Lord is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that trusts him, believe in him, If I've been taught of God, I've
been brought to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of the hope of
my righteousness. My law keeping, that's what righteousness
is. I can stand in the presence of
a holy God And the all seeing law of God cannot charge me with
any violations of God's law. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. I've been taught of God because
I've been brought to that place where my only righteousness is
in Christ. How do I know I've been taught
of God? Well, there's a good measure right there. Who am I
trusting for my righteousness? What about my justification?
Not only must I have a positive righteousness, but my sin must
be put away. And I try to justify myself before
men, and I do. We all do. But when I stand in
the presence of a holy God, I can't find a single word to justify
any of the sin in my life. I can't justify myself before
God. And then I find this, who shall
lay any charge against God's elect? For it is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, is risen from the
dead. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I've been taught of God. If I'm
looking to what Christ did on Calvary's cross and his resurrection,
he was offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our
justification. The only hope that I can have
that I'm justified in the sight of God, that all my sins have
been paid for. and that I'm sinless. I'm sinless in the sight of God.
It's been put away. It's been buried in the depths
of the sea. It's been separated from me as
far as the east is from the west. God remembers it no more. The
only way that I can have any hope of that is by trusting what
Christ did. If I've been taught of God, I'm
trusting Christ for my righteousness and for my justification. I try to figure things out in
this world. God gives us some reasoning ability
to look at the things that we have to deal with and try to
figure out what to do. But when it comes to wisdom,
when it comes to discerning the holy from the profane, When it
comes to knowing who God is, when it comes to understanding,
at least in part, my need for him as a sinner, when it comes
to believing what the Lord Jesus did to save me from my sins, I need Christ to be my wisdom. I can't trust my own discernment. I can't trust my own thoughts.
I can't trust my own feelings. I can't trust my own heart. You
hear people say, well, trust your heart. Don't trust your
heart. The proverb says a man trusts his heart's a fool. Yeah, we can't trust ourselves. If I've been taught of God, then
not only am I trusting Christ for all of my righteousness and
all of my justification but I'm trusting him for all my wisdom.
I can't really have any wisdom outside of him. I've got to... Nebuchadnezzar because of his
pride was turned into a mindless beast crawling around on his
hands and knees and eating grass. And it's a spiritual picture
of what happens to all men when they in their pride think that
they've accomplished what they have and they don't give to God
the glory. What do you have that you've
not received? A man can receive nothing except to be given to
him from the Lord, from heaven. But, you know, we're proud men. And as a result of our pride,
we find ourselves on our hands and knees looking down at the
ground and eating grass. And the scripture says, and Nebuchadnezzar
looked up and his understanding returned unto him. the only way
that our understanding will return unto us. If we're looking down
and we're looking around and we're trying to figure things
out on our own we're going to be confused, we're going to be
discouraged, we're going to be distraught. But like Nebuchadnezzar who had
his face in the dirt when we look up our understanding will
return unto us. Why? because we will see in heaven
that there is a sovereign savior who is seated at the right hand
of the majesty on high and that he ever lives to make intercession
for us. And we will see that though we
might be confused about our circumstances and about the world in which
we live and about ourselves, he is not. not in the least. When we look up, our understanding
returns unto us. Why? Because we find ourselves
trusting Christ for our wisdom. Lord, I have no wisdom outside
of you. Whatever it is I think I know,
and whatever it is I try to figure out, Ultimately, in my pride, I end
up like Nebuchadnezzar. Look up, look up. Trust Christ, not just for your
righteousness and for your justification. Trust him for your understanding.
Trust him for your wisdom. That's how I know I've been taught
of God. I try to teach myself and I try to learn from other
men, but it's not until I'm taught of God that I find wisdom. So many trials, so many troubles,
so much fear and confusion. Look up, look up. You've been taught of God, look
up. And I can say with the Apostle
John and with Peter, those verses we read at the beginning, I'm
not telling you anything you don't know. But I'm just reminding
you and affirming to you what the unction of the Holy Spirit
has taught you, that in Christ lies all your
wisdom. God has made him to be our wisdom,
our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. What about my hope? You know, we, Men spend their
whole lives preparing for something, hoping
for this and hoping for that, only to be disappointed in their
hopes. And here's the main, for the child
of God, the hopes that the world has to offer never satisfy. They
never satisfy. If I've been taught of God, I know that apart from Christ,
apart from Christ, we are, as the Bible says, without God and
without hope in this world. I love the phrase that Zachariah
uses describing the believer when he says that they are prisoners
of hope, prisoners of hope. not prisoners of the lies and
deceit of this world, but prisoners of Christ, looking for that blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. How many times I've seen in my
life, more and more now as I get older, men work all their lives,
prepare for retirement, accumulating stuff, and then they die, some
not long after they retire. Some may have a few years, but
without God and without hope, where do we have our hope? Christ
is our hope. He's our hope. 1 Peter 1, we have a lively hope. It's not a dead hope. It's a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
The Lord Jesus is called the hope of Israel. If I've been
taught of God, I'm looking to Christ for my righteousness,
for my justification, for my wisdom, and for all my hope. What about strength? Oh, we We
pride ourselves in thinking we can handle that. We can do this
and we can do that. But when it comes right down
to it, particularly when it comes down to our salvation, what strength
do we have? When we were yet without strength,
not of little strength, but without strength, Christ died for the
ungodly. Paul's strength was threatened
by the thorns in his flesh and he prayed that the Lord would
remove him. And the Lord said this to the apostle Paul, my
grace is sufficient for thee. You're gonna keep these thorns
in your flesh and I'm gonna provide you with the strength that you
need. And Paul said, I'll glory in
my infirmities then because when I am weak, when I have no strength,
then I am strong because his strength is made perfect in my
weakness. Christ is all my strength. I
have no strength outside of him. If I've been taught of God, if
I've been taught of God, I know that I have no strength against
Satan. I have no strength against sin. I have no strength against
death. I've got to have Christ. He's
my shield. Isaiah put it like this, they
that wait upon the Lord. That's just another way of saying
they that trust him, they that believe on him, they that rest
in him, they that look to him, they that have come to him as
we see in our text, they that have been taught of God, they
all come to him. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. And that word renew means exchange,
exchange. They will exchange their strength
for His strength. They shall renew their strength
and in His strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
If I've been taught of God, I have no strength outside of Christ. I can't draw my next breath unless
He allows it. I believe that. If I've been taught of God, I
know that whatever faith I have came from Him. Came from Him. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
not with our faith, but for faith. for faith. Lord, make me to believe. Lord, help thou mine unbelief. I've been taught of God if I
know that I've got to have the Lord Jesus Christ in order to
have faith. He's got to birth me. He's got
to reveal himself to me. And Romans chapter 1 verse 17
says, The righteousness of God, that's Christ, is revealed from
faith to faith. The righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith, for as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. Faith is not some stalwart strength
of courage and individuality that we pull ourselves up by
our bootstraps and say, well, look at there's a man of faith.
No, it's just the opposite. It's just the opposite. Except
you have the faith of a little child, you should not enter the
kingdom of heaven. Suffer the little children to come unto
me. Faith is an admission of our dependence, our weakness.
That's what it is to come to Christ. Faith is not something
we pride ourselves in or something that we have strength. Faith
is our... And all my faith is in Him. I've
got to have Christ. I won't have faith. The evidence that I've been taught
of God. I can't look to my experience. I can't look to my feelings.
I can't look to my faithfulness. I must look to Christ. and they
shall all be taught of God. And everyone that learneth of him cometh unto
me." For what? For everything, for everything. For forgiveness of sin. You shall
call his name Jesus for he shall forgive his people of their sins. I have no hope of forgiveness.
I can't atone for my own sins. God must forgive me in Christ. And my ability to forgive can
only be found in Christ. Be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. I can't forgive unless I've been forgiven. How many people
are held in bondage with an unforgiving spirit? It goes back to, have
you been taught of God? If you've been taught of God,
you're looking to Christ, you're coming to him for your forgiveness
and having been forgiven, you have no choice but to forgive
others. Forgive others, love others,
love your enemy. Doesn't mean you have to trust
them. I go back to my opening comments
on that. I hope you understand what I'm saying. We don't just
go around trusting everybody. That's gotta be earned. But it
doesn't mean we can't forgive. It doesn't mean we can't love.
To all of our hearts, as we've been loved and as we've been
forgiven, if we've been taught of God, we've come to Him. Now I wanna close with a couple
of comments and some scripture. Because the greater, and these
are great things that we've been talking about, the greater is
tested by the lesser. If I can't lift 50 pounds, there's
no way I can lift 500 pounds. The greater is tested by the
lesser. How can I trust God for these glorious things that
I am so need of if I don't trust him for the things that he's
provided me in this world? How can it be? The greater is
tested by the lesser. I fear that there are believers
who are looking to Christ for their righteousness, for their
justification, for their wisdom, but they've yet to learn the
joy And I say this, God is my witness, they've yet to learn
the joy and the freedom of giving to the Lord what he's given to
them. This is not an obscure subject
in the Bible, brethren, it's not. Our responsibility, The best remedy for materialism
is to give it away. That's the best remedy. And we're
all prone, the love of money is the root of all evil. Lord,
there's so much in that. I've got a bunch of notes here,
what things I wanted to say and scriptures I wanted to read.
2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul is
talking to the church at Corinth and telling them about those
churches in Macedonia who in their great poverty gave. They gave themselves first to
the Lord and then they gave, and then they begged the apostle
that they might be able to give. And Paul said to them, no, there's
other churches that are much wealthier than you are. You keep
what you have. And they said, don't rob us of
this grace. Don't rob us of this blessing. And the apostle uses them as
an example to us. And he calls giving a grace. He calls it a grace. And I want
us to grow in that grace. I do. I want us to be delivered
from the bondage. No man can serve two masters.
Matthew chapter six, read that. Man can't serve the Lord and
serve mammon. He'll either be the slave of
one and the master of the other. And the Lord goes on to say,
don't worry about what you're gonna eat or what you're gonna
drink. Your heavenly father knows what you have need of. That's
the kind of stuff that Gentiles worry about. And the Lord talks to us all
throughout scripture about giving regularly, giving proportionately,
giving joyfully. And I would say, and all this
I've been saying about giving, ask the Lord to give you a willing
heart, because that's where it has to come from. God loves a
cheerful giver. If we can't be cheerful about
our giving, I tell you what, it's an indication about whether
or not we've been taught of God. The lesser proves the greater. How can we say we're trusting
God for those eternal matters? when he said, I'll give you everything
that you need in this life and in the life to come. And all
we're doing is acknowledging that we've been taught of God
and that everything we have belongs to him. And we're returning to
him a portion of that which he's given to us. And I hope, I hope
that I've earned your trust on this subject. You know, this
subject is so abused in religion. I know that. And I'm sure there's
somebody who's probably going to listen to this and say, look
at there, another preacher begging for money. No, I'm not doing
that. With God as my witness, I'm not doing that. I want you
to be taught of God. And I want you to know the joy,
the joy and the freedom of giving as the Lord has The Lord commended that widow,
didn't he? All these Pharisees are coming
in, throwing their money around. This little widow comes in, puts
the last two cents she's got. The Lord commended her. Why?
She gave it willingly, freely, lovingly. Lots of scriptures speak on this
subject. And they shall, and God has given
me the responsibility to teach you all things whatsoever he's
commanded us. And I'm just telling you what
God says. And they shall be taught of God and everyone that learneth
of him cometh unto me, cometh unto me. The 2nd Corinthians
chapter 8 text, chapter, the Lord who was rich became poor
that we might be made rich in his grace. How can we not? How can we not acknowledge that
everything we have belongs to him? and express our gratitude
and our love and our joy. He even calls it the proof of
love. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 he said the giving is the proof
of your love. The proof of it is what scripture
says. We sow sparingly, we reap sparingly. Believers who are free and generous in giving, it's been my experience. They don't have problems financially, they don't. The ones who struggle financially
are the ones that are trying to hold on to everything they
got. Now you say, well that doesn't make sense. Makes sense to me because that's
what God says. It makes sense in my experience. Let me give you one rule that
the scripture gives as far as finances are concerned. It's
very simple. Owe no man anything. I fear that the reason that a
lot of believers are strapped and unable to give is because
they're in debt over their head and they ought not to be. They
ought not to be. Oh, no man anything. Now, and they shall all be taught
of God. I hope over these years I've
earned your respect on this subject. And I'll say it again, I desire
I desire for us to be filled with joy and freedom and to be
taught of God. We come to Christ, it's one of
the things he's going to teach us. I remember hearing Henry
Mahan say one time, he asked a question, he said, do believers
give? Yes. Do believers need to be
taught to give? Yes. Let's pray. Our heavenly father,
thank you for your word. Lord, teach us, teach us, make
us look to Christ for everything. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. 36, let's stand together.