to the third chapter of John. And then if you would, if you
all have a bulletin for today, I'd like to read the scripture
on the front of today's bulletin. In the 25th Psalms, verses 1-5,
we read, Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God,
I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not
my enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Show me thy ways, O Lord. Teach me Thy paths. Lead me in
Thy truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation.
On Thee do I wait all the day. We just sang the psalm, more
about Jesus, let me learn. More of His holy world, more
of His holy will discern. Spirit of God, my teacher be. showing the things of Christ
to me. My title this morning is Taught
of God. In Matthew 16, 17, you don't
need to turn there, but our Lord said, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. Our Lord had just asked his disciples,
who do men say that I am? And they gave him this name and
that. And then he asked, well, who do you say that I am? And
Simon Peter answered, and he said, thou art the son of the
living God. Well, flesh and blood could not reveal these things,
for they are spiritual. And flesh is dead spiritually. We all died in the spirit when
Adam sinned in the garden. He brought death upon all of
creation by his rebellion against God. Therefore all mankind come
into this world dead in trespasses and sin. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. We are carnal, which means that
we are lustful, we are licentious, we are physical, we are bodily,
we have desires. We sin because that's what we
are and that's our nature. If you took a lion who will eat
meat because that's his nature, and a deer who will eat grass
because that's their nature, and if you try putting meat in
the cage of the deer, it will recoil. Whereas a lion will just
lay down on the grass that you put in his cage. But if you put
meat in the cage of a lion, it will eat. And so on with the
deer. You put grass in their cage,
they will eat. The other day I was having a conversation about
knowledge of scripture and study of scripture. Paul was a very,
very learned man. And unfortunately, this person...
Bill, the back door is swinging open through the wind. This person was all about Paul
and neglected to take any consideration of the rest of the disciples
and the apostles. See, most of the apostles were
just fishermen. or men who worked with their
hands. They were just simple men. Yet Paul was different,
wasn't he? Paul was a very learned man. His schooling in Old Testament
Scripture was right up there with the best. He was a Sanhedrin,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, one of the most learned by men. He
was zealous for the law of God. Yet in Philippians 3, he writes
this, this is Paul speaking of that very thing that we just
talked about, all that he had learned. In verses four through
eight of Philippians, he says, though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, and he had all the confidence he needed as far
as the Old Testament scripture was concerned, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. circumcised at the eighth day
of the stock of Israel. Look at that. This is what I
was at one time. I have all the pedigree to stand
behind me, he says. Of the tribe of Benjamin and
Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law. A Pharisee concerning
the zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is of the law. Blameless. But what things were
gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but lost for excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I
do count them but dung that I may win Christ. Paul himself tells
us in his word, all that knowledge that I had of scriptures, all
that stuff that I used to do, meant nothing. And I'll leave
the parents to describe what the word dung means. It meant
that. It was worthless. It was stuff
to be thrown away, buried. All the knowledge that he had
gotten from reading the books and doing this. Think about this.
How much do you think the Catholic Pope and the Catholic, whatever they are, bishops and
all the other stuff, How much do you think they study? They
probably study a lot, huh? A lot. They could memorize everything
and tell you every word of the Bible. But yet they don't preach
the gospel. No, instead they preach instead
about how you need to pray to Mary, or pray to Saint Peter,
or pray to this person or that person. all the knowledge that they have.
How much you want to bet that Joel Olsteen could just about
quote any scripture he wanted him to? What is Zechariah 2,
5, and a half? And I'll bet you he could do
it. That's what he gets paid to do. But he has no idea what
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is. I've never heard him
speak of it. Lance Heller was sharing with
me one time when he was there at one of his meetings. I can't
remember why he said he was there, but he said that Joel Osteen
guy, oh no, no, I'm sorry, he was watching it on TV. He caught
his eye and he says, well, who is this guy? What is this guy?
And he listened to him. Not once did he mention anything about
Christ. Not once in the 30 minutes that they did the interview on
the TV. Not once did he mention about
who Christ is. what he has done and what he's
doing right now. With all that knowledge that
he has of studying in Scriptures, all that he does, he had no knowledge
of who Christ is. All that he, speaking of Paul,
had learned over the years regarding Scripture and the things that
taught of God was but dung. You see, anyone can read Scripture.
Anyone can preach the word and come away with a mental knowledge
of whatever their interpretation may be. And there's a lot of
interpretations of what scripture is, isn't there? If you just
took the Baptist alone, I'm telling you, you go back to, if you've
ever been to Kentucky or Tennessee where they call the Bible Belt,
there's a church on every corner and 90% of them are Baptists.
And if you go into one, you'll hear something. You go into another,
you'll hear something else. You go into another, you'll hear
something else. They are completely different. They come away with a mental
knowledge of whatever their interpretation may be. All the different interpretations
that are of God's Word, but to know Christ is to know the themes
of Christ. And to know the things of Christ,
one must be taught of God. Man can only speak to one's mind. You may hear me with your ears,
but do you hear me with your heart? Do you hear the Word of
God? Let me quote some scripture from
the Word of God, Romans 8, 5. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. That means enemy. That means you can't understand
it. We come into this world with
a nature that cannot even understand the spiritual things of God and
Scripture. For it is not subject to the
law of God. That's why our world is in such
shambles as it is. The law of God no longer exists
in the world around us. That's why lies have become the
truth. And anyone who's been watching
the politics of this country lately know that lies have become
the truth and the truth has become a lie. No, for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The natural man can no
wise perceive or understand is what that word means, the kingdom
of heaven. Well, dead men can't do anything, can they? Unless
they're on TV, of course. All mankind, every man, every
woman, every child is born spiritually dead. Every one of us fell in
Adam. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Are you with me in the third
chapter of John? Beginning at verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night.
Interesting, He came by night. He was a ruler of the Jews. Couldn't
go on open day. Christ went to all the different
synagogues, did He not? He says, I went to the synagogue
and preached here, I taught here, and here in Nicodemus, a ruler came by night and said unto Him, Rabbi, or
teacher as that word means, We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. And Jesus said to him, said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see, cannot perceive the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
said unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? How can
he enter in the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
And Jesus answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto ye,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. There
is the born again right there. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and now hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell which it cometh,
and whither it goeth. Well, so is every one that is
born of the Spirit." Now turn over to the sixth chapter
of the same book, if you would, please. Join me in verse 44, chapter
6, verse 44. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up the last day. Now what are the churches that
have interpreted the scriptures to say that God loves everybody?
God loves entire creation. He loves everything. He's just
waiting for you to come to Him. For you to walk down the aisle,
or to say a prayer, or make a decision. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me draw him. That's the Word of
God, folks. That's God's Word. That's not
my interpretation of it. That's God's word. He's the one
who says that. And He is truth. And I will raise Him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Not
that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of the God,
he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." Our Savior,
He who is life itself, He who is life itself, gives life to
as many as the Father has given Him. In the 17th chapter of John,
you don't need to turn to it, it says, "...as Thou hast given
Him power over all flesh." In other words, the Father has given
the Son power over all flesh. That He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. Folks, what I'm doing here
is I'm eliminating anything that you might think you can do. Especially
when it comes to salvation. And I'm pointing you to the One
who is salvation. The One who is able to save to
the uttermost. Salvation is of the Lord and
of the Lord alone. All glory belongs to Him and
to Him alone. His name is Jesus, for He shall
save His people. That's God's Word also. Doesn't
say He might, doesn't say He maybe, but He shall save His
people. And the only way to know this
is to be taught of God. To come to the knowledge of who
Christ is, you must be born again. The natural man cannot understand
the things of heaven, for they are spiritual things. So what
exactly is it that God must teach us? Well, we've already spoken
of the natural man and how the natural man is dead, totally
depraved, completely bankrupt before a thrice holy God. We've
already spoken of how men have nothing to offer God. Our Lord is so holy that He cannot
even look upon the sin, the unrighteousness. Unrighteousness is an abomination
to Him. That's a word that describes
so powerfully what sin is to our Lord. It's an abomination. Something that you would throw
up with force. Sin must be put away. And we
come into this world condemned by what we are. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, three distinct persons, yes, yet of one mind
and of one purpose. God the Father made a covenant
giving a particular people to the Son. God the Son ransomed
His people by providing Himself a sacrifice, an offering for
the sins of that people. The blood of God was shed upon
that cross as you sang in your song. He paid the price in full. His people are redeemed unto
the Father. He who knew no sin was made sin,
that we who are His people would be made righteous in Him and
only in Him. I know that's hard to believe.
We look at our own selves and we say, well, righteousness,
there's no righteousness in me. Do you realize that to look at
yourself and really, really know that has to be something that
the Lord has taught you? Because in our very nature, is
it not that we, look what I did. How often can we say, that's
my son. See what my son did over here?
He did such a good job. Look at what my wife does, isn't
that so great? Look at what I've done today,
I've fed the poor. Look how our pride, isn't that
what pride is? Our Lord Jesus has saved us to
the uttermost. The blood of God was shed upon
that cross. That means it was perfect. No
flaw. Completely righteous. Yet it
paid the price for every one of his people. And it paid the
price in full. One of my hardest things to understand
is how can I be as wide as my Savior? But that's what our Lord
tells us. I put away your sin. I remember
it no more. This is the grace of our God
to His people. This is the grace and mercy that
we see, the love that He has for His people. It's not a little
bitty love like us. I love my wife, but I make mistakes
and mess up all the time. Christ never makes a mistake. It's always perfect. And if His
love is for you, it's perfect for you. That's why saying that God is
waiting for you to do something to accept His love makes it worthless. It really does. Think about that. What they're saying is that Christ
went to the cross and shed His blood for you to maybe come to
Him. That makes His blood worthless,
and that's not true at all. It's the blood of God. God the Spirit is going about
right now, this very moment, calling that people that were
given to Him. Giving life, making alive, in
other words, quickening, as the word says, as it is written in
Ephesians 2, all for whom the Father hath given the Son, In
John 10.27, you don't need to turn there, My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. This
is good news indeed, folks, especially if you see yourself as a sinner.
Do you see your need of a Savior? Turn over to Luke 19, please. I'm sorry, Luke 10. What did I do here? I left something out in my notes.
I didn't lose a page, did I? Nope. Forgive me. I know I marked 19. But then
I didn't mark where I was supposed
to read in there. Wait a second. All right, I'm just gonna have
to pick it up wherever. We must be taught the things
of God, and by God, only God can turn the hearts of men. If
all you hear is the voice of the man standing before you,
then you will miss the truths of scripture. If you could rememberize
the entire Bible, you could not be saved unless God does a work
in your heart. To God be the glory, you see,
great things He hath done. In Luke 10, verse 19, we read,
Behold, I give unto you the power to tread on serpents and scorpions,
and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall be any
means hurt you, notwithstanding in the rejoice. Rejoice not that
the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because
your names are written in the heaven. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in the Spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered to me
of my Father, and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father. and who the Father is, but the
Son, and here's what I want you to see, and He to whom the Son
will reveal Him. We must be taught of God. Spiritual
things. Now, look at chapter 24 of this
same book. Just a few pages over to the
right. Chapter 24, and let's begin reading at verse 13. And behold, two of them, speaking
of the disciples of God, two of them went that same day to
a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three
score furlongs, about seven and a half miles. And they talked
together of all these things that which happened. And it came
to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus
Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden
that they should not know Him." Interesting. They had just walked
with Him a few days ago before the crucifixion. They had just
seen Him preach and teach in the synagogues. They knew what
He looked like. By supernatural power, He stood
right next to them and they didn't even know who He was. But their eyes were holden, that
they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner
of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye
walk and are sad? And the one of them whose name
was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass in these days? And he said unto them, What things?
And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet mighty in the deed and word before God and all the
people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him
to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted
that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside
all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
Yea, a certain woman, also of our company, made us astonished,
which were early at the sepulchre, and when they found not His body,
they came saying, and they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that He was alive. And a certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so, as the
women had said. But him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
All the way from the first book in Genesis, all the way to the
end of Revelation, it speaks of Christ. Yet if you read it without Christ,
you will not know that. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses,
Genesis chapter 1, the writer of that book, beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded, explained unto them in all the
scriptures, what was He teaching them? What does God teach? The
things concerning Himself. not to things concerning himself."
We'll leave it at that. And they drew nigh unto the village
where they went, and he made it as though he would have gone
further. But they had constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for
it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went
to Terry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat
at meat with them, and he took bread, and he blessed it, and
break, and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened, And they
knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. Did these two men learn of God
through studying the books? Through memorizing? No. Look back at verse 27 again.
And at the beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
God the Son expounded, He taught, as only God can speak to the
hearts of men. Look at verse 32, and they said
one to another, did not our heart burn within us while He talked
with us by the way and while He opened to us the Scriptures?
I was asked the question once, well, how do you know if you're
saved? How do you know? How do you know you're in the
right place, doing the right thing? And I explained, I had
come for a reason that was not of this church. Most of you have
heard the story how I came here looking for my brother because
I had problems in my life and I needed a shoulder to cry on.
Yet as I sat in that pew and heard a man, nothing but a man,
a man who spoke the truth from God's word, my heart began to
burn. And I didn't know what it meant.
Many a days I went to the elder Steve Doyle and Pastor Gene and
said, what in the world is going on? This is not John Reeves.
I usually drink on Sunday. I usually watch football. But
something kept drawing me back to this chair to hear him speak
about this one. This one who is truly called
God. This one who can only be called
God. I needed to hear more about Jesus.
I went through the trials that go through in the beginning where
you... Why would God have anything to
do with me? I drink heavily, I smoke, I cuss, I'm a truck
driver. That's what truck drivers do.
And just so you know, I'm going to ask for your forgiveness now
if it ever slips out. It's been a long, long life before that
time. But I knew through the teaching
of God's Word what I really was. I knew what it was to need a
Savior. I saw the truth. The truth that
only God can show us. That only God can teach us. And my heart began to burn. I
had to come back. I had to hear more about Jesus.
I had to hear more about my Savior. There was a time when I was on
the freeway going to Reading. I listened to the radio all day
long and there was a time when Harold Camping was a preacher
of the truth before he went off on whatever the Lord led him
to go off on. Craziness. About the end times. And he was preaching about sin
and how it affected the body and how it affected
the mind. And then He brought me back around to who my Savior
is. And why He saved me. And why
He did what He did. Going to the cross, shedding
His blood for me. I couldn't drive anymore. I had
to stop. Being saved is not easy, folks.
It's a tough thing to go through when the Lord starts calling
you. But as you go along hearing more about who the Lord is and
His love for you, you begin to realize He's in control of it
all. All that stuff that I went through, all the things that
I go through now, today, all the problems I have inside myself,
the Lord still allows me to do. Like running from the Ninevites.
That was allowed. There's a lot of stuff we could
put in there, couldn't we? That the Lord allows us to do.
So that we might learn who our Savior is. So we might learn
that we need a Savior. Desperately. Desperately. What does your heart burn for
today? Does it burn for football that's going to play in a little
bit? Does it burn for golf? You know where my heart is in
that area, don't you, Donna? Yes, you do. What does your heart burn for
today? Does it burn for something to
do? You know, some people, that's what it is. Some people it burns
just to go and do something for others. This is what my heart
burns for, is I need to go help others, help the poor, give them
stuff, do this, do that. Does it burn for something that
the flesh will fulfill? Does it burn for works? If I
do this, maybe I can get into heaven. Or does it burn for the grace
of Christ? Is it more about Jesus? Or is
it more about you? It can't be both. If I belong to Jesus, then He
will teach me His way. And sometimes that teaching can
be pretty painful. Consider what Jonah went through
again. Consider the reeds that were wrapped around his throat,
and he knew this. He knew he was inside of a fish dying. And
he did die. Sometimes the teaching can be
harsh, hurtful to the flesh, boggling, misunderstanding. But if I belong to Jesus, then
He will teach me to rest in Him. If I belong to Jesus, then He
will teach me to look to Him. If I belong to Jesus, then He
will teach me to trust in Him. If I belong to Jesus, then nothing
can separate me from the love that is in my Savior, Jesus Christ
the Lord. O Spirit of God, my teacher be,
showing the things of Christ to me. What burns in your heart today,
folks? I love to hear about Jesus. And
I love to preach about it. And I thank you, I thank you
all for allowing me that privilege to stand here and preach about
my savior. I just pray, I just pray that he will make your heart
burn for him as much as he makes my heart burn for him.