Let me read to you verses 37 through
45 to bring you a message on God's children taught. God teaches
all of His children. All that the Father giveth me,
John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came
down from heaven. not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. The Jews then
murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down
from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then that he saith, I come down from heaven? Our Lord answered
and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can
come to me except the Father which hath sent me to call him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. And this is what my
subject is. It is written in the prophets,
And they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me." God
teaches His children. God teaches His children. Now,
when you get a map, you get ready to go someplace, and you look
at a map, and you get it all laid out there, and you're going
to make your journey, does that map have any literary value to
you? No. No, of course not. What it's
for is to find, you know, you use it to get directions. Find
out how to get from one place to another. It's given the maps,
you use it to find the best and the quickest way to wherever
you want to go. And that's what I seek to do in my preaching.
I want to show you the way to guide you to Christ by the
simplest way. by the way that God says. And
that's what I want to do. And you know, when our Lord Jesus
Christ, when He taught and He preached, His words always had
aim. He just wasn't speaking words just for speak. And He
says, the words that I speak unto you, they come from my Father. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit in their life. And so, He said, except a man
believe that I am he shall die in his sin. So our Lord Jesus
Christ, our Lord always had an aim in His words. And it says
there in verse 41, it says here, the Jews then murmured at Him,
because He said, I am that bread which came down from heaven.
The Jews were always murmuring at Him. You go through the scriptures
and find how often they murmured. And you find the first time they
murmured in the Exodus, and oh my, it's amazing what God done
to them for murmuring. Murmuring means they were complaining.
They were griping. They were finding fault. They
weren't satisfied with the way things are. They weren't satisfied
with what they were learning. And they always opposed our Lord
Jesus Christ. They always whispered among themselves,
always finding fault with Him. But our Lord Jesus Christ didn't
come down to their level. And He didn't try to explain
Himself to them. That's something our Lord didn't
do. He just had a name and He's preaching. And He didn't try
to explain Himself to them. And here's some of the things
that they used to disbelieve in him. And they said in verse
42, they used this as part of their trouble in not believing.
And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he said that
I come down from heaven? We know his father, we know his
mother, we know where he is raised at. How in the world can he say,
since we know his father and his mother, that he came down
from heaven? That He's that bread that He gave His flesh to save
us and His blood to cleanse us. How can He say that? Well, let
me tell you what our Lord, how He answered them. Now, He wasn't
a soul winner the way people are today. He's not a mealy-mouthed
preacher the way most are today. He didn't try to convince these
fellows, you know, of the error of their ways. He didn't try
to say, well, listen, I didn't mean to offend you. I will do
my best to make you believe on me. I want to really, really
knock on your heart's door just a little while longer. Not what
he said here. Look what he says. Verse 43,
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among
yourselves. Just, you know, murmur not among
yourselves. Don't think that I'm disappointed
or frustrated because you don't believe in me. Because I'm not. Don't think your unbelief will
frustrate my Father's purpose to save his people, and that
your unbelief surprises him, because it certainly doesn't.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I shall in no wise cast out." And what he's saying
is this, your rejection of me will make no difference to anyone
but yourself. And that's what it boils down
to. Your rejection of me will make
no difference to anyone but yourself. It will not change God's will
or purpose. It won't change my will or purpose. The only person
it's going to affect is you. You. And on your own head shall
be the guilt of your own blood. On your own head. And he said,
I knew you would not believe in me because look what he says.
For no man, verse 44, No man can come unto me except the Father
which hath sent me drawing, and I'll raise him up at the last
day. And my friends, I may plead with you. I may plead with you. I may even weep over you. And
the church pleads with you and prays for you. And I'll try by
God's grace to nourish you and to cherish you and to feed you
and to teach you and instruct you. But when you refuse to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, when you refuse to believe to not
have this man reign over you, I fall back and the church falls
back on the eternal purpose of God. No man can come unto me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And as it is
written in the prophets, they, all that the Father giveth me,
they shall come to me. And they shall all be taught
of God. And everyone that hath heard
and learned of the Father, that's the man that's going to come
to me. And when he comes to me, I'll never cast him out. I'll
never cast him out. And the Father's promised to
teach his children. Ain't that what it says there
in verse 45? Look what it says. It is written in the Prophets.
It is written in the Prophets. They shall all be taught of God. You know, our Lord Jesus could
have spoken upon His own authority without the authority of the
Scripture, without quoting the Scripture. For in Him dwelt the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. He was the image of the invisible
God. He was God manifest in the flesh,
so He could have used His own authority, but He Our Lord, true
and a faithful witness, that prophet, he used the Old Testament
scriptures all the way through his ministry, and here he calls
the law and the prophets. What authority! Look with me
over in Isaiah 54, just a minute. What authority! What a conclusion! Our Lord Himself said, It is
written! That's what He used on the devil when the devil comes
attempting those 40 days in the wilderness. He said, It is written!
It is written! It is written! It is written! And what an authority,
what a conclusion here that our Lord gives written. I'll tell
you something, beloved, in Isaiah 54. I'll get there in a minute.
You just wait with me a minute. Every man must have an infallibility. Every man has to have something
to drop his anchor on. It may be his own opinion. It
may be his philosophy. It may be his education. It may
be the pope. It may be the church. But everybody's got something
to drop their anchor on. But I'll tell you what, I'll
tell you where God's people find their anchor. They find it in
It Is Written. They drop their anchor in the Word of God. They
say, like the Lord Jesus did, said, It Is Written. And oh,
how firm a foundation you saints of the Lord has laid for your
faith. Where? In His excellent Word. What more
can He save than to you who for refuse to Jesus hath fled? And oh, beloved, I tell you,
we find the Word of God. Now listen, Isaiah 53, 54, 13,
look what it says here. That's where he said it is written. Here's where it was written at.
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord.
Whose children? God's children. And great shall
be the peace of thy children. You know, this is the promise
of God Himself, and it's written in the Prophets. And you know,
this promise here follows Isaiah 53. And Isaiah 53 talks about
how our Lord Jesus Christ, He was no comeliness about Him,
no beauty about Him that we should desire Him. And that He was wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, and we all
like sheep when astray. And the Lord laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. Chastisement of our peace was
upon him. And it pleased the Lord to bruise
him and make his soul an offering for sin. And then there in Isaiah
54, the Lord says, Rejoice and sing all thou barren. And after
we read Isaiah 53 and what Christ did for us, how he laid his life
down for us, wounded for our transgressions, bruised, beaten
and bloodied for our transgressions. Bearing our sins is our substitute
that gives us reason to rejoice. And God said, I'm going to teach
you about that death. I'm going to teach you about
that substitution. That's what the thing He says.
He said, all thy children, I'm going to teach you about Isaiah
53. I'm going to teach you about the Messiah. I'm going to teach
you about that suffering. I'm going to teach you about
that blood shedding. I'm going to teach you about my will and
my purpose and my blessed Son. And oh beloved, this promise
is to the Lord's people, all thy children. shall be taught
of God. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. This is to the elect, this is
to the chosen, whose names are written in the book of life from
the foundation of the world, all whom Christ redeemed by his
own blessed blood. They shall all, now listen to
me, they shall all in due time be taught of the Lord. They shall
be taught of God. Now let me show you something
else over here at Jeremiah 31. To your right, Jeremiah is right
after Isaiah. Jeremiah 31. Here's another promise God makes,
as written in the Prophets, talking about going to teach us. All
thy children shall be taught of the Lord. Every one that hath
heard, learned of the Father, he comes unto me. Now look what
it says here, in verse 31. Behold, the days come, Jeremiah
31, 31, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in that day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, not that law that I gave Mosinai,
which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord. shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
Watch it now. I'll put my law in their hearts, in their inward
parts, right in their hearts. And listen, I'll be their God
and they shall be my people. And listen, and they don't have
to teach every man no more every man to know his neighbor. How
come you don't have to teach them? Every man say, knowing
the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them,
saith the Lord, to the greatest. For I will give their iniquity
and their sin, I will remember no more." This is a promise of the new
covenant. What is that? This is an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, ensured. And God made it with Christ,
our representative, on our behalf, and all represented, all that
our Lord Jesus came into this world to represent, by virtue
of our union with Him, our partaker, and all the blessings of that
covenant. On our side, it's finished. It's done. It's accomplished. And then God says on His side
is this, I will, and they shall. Isn't that what it says down
in the last part, verse 33? I will be their God, and watch
this, and they shall be my people. And guess what? They don't have
to teach no more and say, oh, listen, I don't have to teach
you to know the Lord. Why don't I? Because he says, you know
me. How do you know him? He taught
you. What did he teach you? Their sins and iniquities, I
will remember no more. Their sins, I will remember against
them any more. Why? Because He taught us that,
huh? Oh, what a promise. Unconditional. Freely made. Freely made to His
elect. And let me tell you something,
beloved. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He teaches somebody something,
oh, He teaches them. And listen, let me tell you something.
This is a promise. They shall all be taught of the
Lord. This is a promise to each and every one that God gave to
Christ in the covenant of grace. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Everyone that hath heard and
learned of the Father cometh to me. And that's how you know
whether anybody... That's how you know if it's the
gospel. That's how you know if it's Christ. That's how you know
if it's the Holy Spirit. Are you learning of Christ? You know,
people want to learn a prophecy. They put out these big posters,
come over here and learn this prophecy. Come over here and
learn how to speak in tongues. Come over here and learn how
to live. Come over here and learn how to have a good marriage.
Come over here and learn how to raise your children. You know, come
over here and learn how to teach about the angels. Come over here
and get a book and we'll teach you how to be born again. And
God says, All thy children shall be taught as a father, and every
one that hath heard and learnt What does He do? He comes to
me. That's what Christ teaches us about Himself. He don't teach
us how to, how to. We don't need no how-to's. God's
going to teach us. And oh, listen, it's a promise,
may they shall all be taught of God. Not one child of God
should be left out of God's school. Go to God's school. Let you know
a man who can't read, God can teach him. A man who can't hear,
God can teach him. A man who is blind, God can teach
him. How can He do that? It's the
Holy Spirit that does the teaching. And I tell you, not one child
of God should be left out of God's school. He's going to take
you to school. And if He takes you to school, believe me, you're
going to learn. And I tell you, when you get into school, you
don't ever graduate. You don't ever graduate from
it. Do you know when your graduation will be? When you go to be with
Him in glory. Huh? And they shall all be taught,
they shall all be trained to the Lord. And this is the thing
I want to know. Am I one of these numbers? Am I one of these children? Am I one of those who have been
taught of the Lord? Have you ever? Have you truly been taught
of the Lord? Has God really taught you? Well,
it says back over here in John 6, 45. It is written
in the prophets, they shall be all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me. And verse 44 says, No man can come unto me except the
Father which sent me to draw him. Now what does he teach? When God takes us to school,
starts teaching us, what does he teach? And teaching and drawing
is the same thing. He draws you by teaching. And
God draws men to himself by instruction, not just persuasion. He persuades
you with the truth. That's why Paul said, I'm persuaded
that whatsoever I committed unto him, how was he persuaded? God
taught him. I'm persuaded that neither life
nor death shall separate me from the love of Christ. Who persuaded
him? God persuaded him. God taught him. And he said so
many times throughout his letters, brethren, I would not have you
to be ignorant. And so what does God do? He draws us by instruction,
by teaching, not just persuasion. And He doesn't draw us to Christ
by a force that's contrary to our nature and our will. We're
not stones. We're not like this right here.
We've got brains. We've got hearts. We've got wills.
We've got affections. We've got understandings. We've
got emotions. And God deals with all of those parts of us. And
He deals with us as reasonable, rational human beings, and He
draws us by teaching us, by instructing us. And what's the first thing
He teaches you? What's the first thing He teaches
you? I'll tell you the first thing He teaches you is that
you're a sinner. And not just a sinner, the sinner. An awful
sinner. A miserable sinner. I mean your
center from the top of your head to the sole of your foot, from
the inside of your heart to the outside of your flesh. He makes
you know that there's nothing to you, that you're a zip, a
zero, a nada, a nothing. And like Scott Richardson says,
you know what nothing is? It's just like a hole in a donut. Nothing. And that's what we are. We're just a hole in a donut
until Christ teaches us. And He teaches us that. We're not talking about pretended
sin here. We're not talking about pretended
sin. We're not talking about just certain sins. We're talking
about being made sinners. Sinners. We're like that publican
when he smote upon his heart and said he couldn't even lift
up his eyes to heaven and said, Oh God, be merciful to me, the
sinner. I mean, we sin with our thoughts,
we sin with our emotions, we sin with our imagination, we
sin with our tongues, we sin with our feet, we sin with our
hands, we sin with our eyes, we sin with our ears, we sin
with all our being! And God teaches us that. You
never, you know, you're a pretty good person until God made you
a sinner. You was all right. You was as
good as anybody else till God made you a sinner. You was as
good as anybody else till God made you a sinner. You wasn't
a hypocrite till God made you a sinner. Everybody else was,
but you wasn't. Oh, you'll quit being just, I'm
as good as anybody else when God makes you a sinner. You'll
quit being too, I'm Mr. Too Good when God makes you a
sinner. You'll quit being one of these days, I'm going to join
the church when God makes you a sinner. You'll quit bragging about the
things that you've accomplished when God makes you a sinner.
You'll quit talking about what a good church member and how
faithful you are when God makes you a sinner. And He makes you
a sinner. And when He makes you one, I
don't care what mama says about you, daddy says about you, husband
and wife says about you, you know what you are. Huh? Oh my! That's what I read to
you men ago. It said when He, the Holy Spirit
comes, He'll convince you of what? Sin. Christ Jesus came
into this world to save His people from what? Sin. Everybody wants
to be saved from hell and wants to go to heaven, but you ain't
going to do neither one until God saves you from your sins.
Huh? I ain't a spot on your person
nowhere. Not a spot inside of you or a
spot outside of you that God can find anything good about. That's right. I'm telling you
the truth. I'm giving you Scripture for that. There's none righteous,
no, not one. There's none that understand.
There's none that seeketh God. We've all together gone out of
our way. We've become tilted. All of our righteousness. You
think your righteousness is good? All of our righteousness is our
filthy right? Huh? But I'll tell you what else
he teaches. Not only does he make you a sinner.
A sinner. Oh, Paul said he was the chief
of sinners. That was before he got ready to die. He was the
chief of them. And then what he does, and oh,
bless his holy name for this. He don't just leave us as sinners.
He takes Christ and makes Christ. He starts. That's what he says
there. Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father, what
does he do? He comes to me. He teaches us of Christ. He said, I am that bread that
came down from heaven. He said, your father's eight
men and the wilderness, they're dead. But he said, I'm that true
bread. If a man eats me, he shall never
die. Believe us now this. Oh, Lord,
I believe. Evermore give us this breath.
And oh, God sent Him into this world. God brought Him into this
world. And, beloved, He came as a virgin
born, Son of God. And that woman, that mother who
hung on her breast, she was... He was her Savior. He was her Redeemer. He was the
blood that was going to be shed to save her from her sins. Yes, she was the mother of Christ,
but she, beloved, had to be saved by her own son. That's why she called him. She
says, my Savior, my Redeemer. And oh, beloved, he teaches us
that Christ came into this world to be our representative. We
have a representative that represents us in this district up there
in Washington, D.C. He can't represent every one of us the
way we want to be represented. Some of them do this, some of
them do that. But I tell you, when Christ came into this world,
He represented these people that was given to Him. And He represented
them before God. He represented them for the law. He represented them for justice.
And beloved, everything He did, we did in Him. He wasn't a private
person, He was a public person. And that's why he says, you know,
I'm going to go back to my father and you won't see me for a little
while. And beloved, and then he was, God will teach us he's
our substitute. Behold the Lamb of God. What's
a lamb for? What was a lamb for? For slaughter? Shed his blood? Put it on the
altar? To make a propitiation for sins?
To put sin away by the sacrifice of himself? He was wounded. That's what a substitute does.
He is wounded for our transgressions. Bruised, fried, and naked. God
made His soul, His soul, an offering for sin. And when He hung on
that cross, beloved, He wasn't hanging there for sins of His
own. He was hanging there with the sins of His people on Him.
Those sins that we just talked about being sinners. When you
find out you're a sinner, you'll start looking for somebody to
have mercy on you. And how in the world can God
have mercy on me and show me mercy when I'm such a sinner?
How can He save me as sinful as I am? How can He save me and
be just in doing it? I'll tell you how He does it.
He takes our sins and He puts them on Christ. God made Him
to be sin, whom you know sin, and takes His righteousness and
made us the righteousness of God and put it on us. He got
our sin, we get His righteousness. He got our death, we get His
life. He got our disobedience, we get
His obedience. He was forsaken of God, then
we've been accepted in the beloved. He suffered death, that we might
have life. He become cursed of God, then
we become the sons of God. Amen. And that's what the Father
teaches you. Our Lord says this, no man comes
unto the Father but by me. There's no other way. I'd love
to tell the world of this. I'd love to stand before the
world and tell the Muslims, tell the Catholics, tell the Buddhists,
tell the Confucians, tell the free willers, tell everybody,
there's only one way to God. And our Lord said, no man. No
man, no man can come unto Me except the Father which sent
Me to draw him. No man can come unto the Father
but by Me. That's the message this world's
dying to hear. They're hearing how many ways
there is to come to God. There's only one way. Our Lord
said, I'm that way. You cannot be confused with that.
If you're confused in religion, it's not God that confuses you.
And our Lord, as the Lord is teaching, as God the Father is
teaching, He's drawing. I can stand up here and cry,
believe, believe, believe, but it'll do nobody no good until
I tell you what you are to believe. Ain't that right? And oh, listen,
I'll tell you something else. This is heavenly teaching. This teaching comes from heaven
itself. It is written, they shall all be taught of God. You're talking about a misnomer. David Pledge wrote an article
about this. I read it this last week. It's an old church sign. God has all power. Let him have his way. Why say
he's got all power if you've got to let him have his way?
That don't even make sense. If you have to let Him have His
way, then He don't have all power. If He has all power, then you
can't let Him have His way. He'll do what He wants to. This teaching, you reckon God
can teach you anything? People say, I think the Lord's
trying to teach me something. We've heard that all our lives.
Oh, God's trying to teach me something. If God intends you
to learn something, believe me, you're going to learn it. When I went to school back then,
you know, now the teachers can't whip you, can't even raise your
voice at you or nothing. Back then, boy, if you didn't get
it right, there's a teacher stood there with a pointer. Whack!
She'd bust you upside your head, she'd hit you in the tank of
rulers, bust your hand, said, you gonna learn this or else!
Catch you not paying attention, she'd come back there with that
pointer. Whack! God don't use pointers, He don't use rulers.
He don't beat you over the head, but He teaches you. The best preachers, the best
books, without the teaching of God Himself will avail nobody
nothing. And I'll tell you this, one of
the things He teaches us is this, we learn that we need to unlearn
Everything we've ever learned until He teaches us. We have to unlearn everything
that we learned when He starts teaching us. Because we all learned
the wrong things. We learned, oh, we got all the
power. God can't save us unless we let
Him. We learned that salvation is by chance. You know, when
God gives you a chance, if you cooperate when He gives you a
chance, then you can be saved. No, no, no, we have to unlearn. And we've learned that, you know,
if we, if we was all just living a good, holy life, prayed enough
and studied enough and gave enough, then eventually we'd be saved
and we'd get to go to heaven by doing the best we could. We
find out, we found out that our righteousness is as ours as a
filthy rat. That our praying don't save us.
That our reading don't save us. that our holy living don't save
us. Christ saved us by Himself. And God teaches us that. And
through His teaching, not only does it come from heaven, God
Himself does, but His teaching through means. What He says there,
Every man therefore that hath heard. Heard. Oh my, what is
He talking about heard? What do you hear? Now, keep John
6 and look over here with me in Romans chapter 10, just a
minute. Romans chapter 10. Verse 13. You know, it's teaching
through means. God uses means. He uses His Word. He uses the Gospel. It says in
Romans 10, 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. That's true. That's true. And we want you
to call on the name of the Lord. Now watch this, but he asks this
question. How then shall they call on in Him in whom they have
not believed? How are you going to call on
somebody you've not believed? And how shall you believe in
Him of whom you have not what? Heard? Oh, every man that hath heard
what? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they preach except they be saved? So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's
what he says. Ever been to that herd? Oh my,
what ear do you hear with? Old John Bunyan in his Holy War,
he says, you know, the first place that they stop bombarding
is the ear gate. He starts letting those engines
go at the ear gate. Boom, boom. Boom, starts hitting
that ear gate, starts getting in through that ear. Did I hear
him right? Did I hear, is that what he said,
really? Oh, listen, listen. Mr. Spurgeon tells of a little boy
that sat on the front pew with his father. And his father turned
and heard Mr. Spurgeon say, you know, if God's
ever going to save you, you got to hear his voice. The hour is
coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God, and they that hear shall live. And that little fellow
sat on the front pew, and he'd just have his ear turned this
way. Thessalonians said, Why are you doing that, son? Well,
Mr. Spurgeon said, if God's going
to save us, we've got to hear. He said, I'm listening. Are you
listening? Do you want to hear? Are you
listening? Seeking? Don't be content with
just coming to the service. Don't be content with just coming
and sitting among God's people. You don't go to the store without
buying something. Don't come to a service without
listening with an intent, with the desire for God to do something
for you, to teach you. And that's what you say, Lord,
what I don't know, teach me. What I don't have, give me. How
many times have we prayed, Lord, take us in hand and set us at
your feet and teach us? Teach us. And I tell you something,
this blessed teaching is effectual. Look what else it says here,
back over in John 6, 45. Every man that hath heard, and
watch this, and hath learned, You don't have learned. If you've
heard, you learn. Where He teaches you, when He
teaches you, you really learn about sin. You learn about the
law, that you can't be saved by the laws and knowledge of
sin. You're not justified by it. You learn about Christ and
His virtue and His merit and His glory. and His power and
His fullness to save. And no one's ever been taught
of God. No one has ever been taught of
God and remained a fool. There's a highway, and it shall
be called the way of holiness. And a fool shall not err therein.
You won't stumble into this way. God will put you in this way.
He'll teach you. He'll teach you. Oh, to be taught
of God. I remember when I first started
learning some things and God began to teach me some things,
I started looking for preachers that knew some of these things.
Teach me, and I'd write them letters and ask them questions.
Get their messages and listen to them. Studying through James
right now, and I'll tell you what, I'll read everything and
listen to everything I can get on the book of James. Listen
to Brother Henry. Listen to other men. Why? Because I want to learn. God
uses these means. And, oh, look at the blessed
results of this teaching now. Verse 45, And they shall be all
taught of God. Remember, it's written in the
Prophets. God said, All thy children shall be taught of the Lord,
and great shall be thy peace. And there that hath heard, and
I mean, you know, faith cometh by hearing. It's a heavenly teaching.
God teaches it. And you hear and you learn. And
watch this. And look at the results of this
teaching. They cometh unto me. Are you coming to Christ? Are you coming? He that cometh
to me. Everyone taught of God, you know
what they do? They come to Christ. They come
to Christ. And any teaching that takes you
anywhere else, it's not of the Father. It's not of the Father. Everyone that hath heard and
learned of the Father cometh unto me." And all sound teaching
leads to Christ. Have you come to Christ? That's
the question. I didn't ask you if you'd come
to the church. I didn't ask you if you'd come to the baptistry. I ask you if you've come to Christ.
Do you really know Him? And coming to Christ is a simple
thing. It is. Yet no man does it until he's
taught of the Father. Nobody does it until they're
taught of the Father. Once they're taught, you can't run them off
then. You can't unteach them. You can't
unteach them. It's like Naaman. Naaman, that
great general, that great general of Syria, you know, he's a great
man of valor and honor. Great warrior. But he was a leper,
a sinner, with all of his uniform on, and all of his power, and
all of his prestige. And he heard about a prophet
over in Israel that could cleanse him of his leprosy. So he'd come
driving up there in his chariot, and a whole bunch of men with
him, and a whole entourage with him, dressed in his general's
uniform, with all of his ribbons on. And he thought, That prophet,
you know, he'll come out here. He brought that prophet a whole
bunch of clothes, brought him some silver, brought him some
gold. He's going to pay the preacher. He said, boy, he'll do something
good for me. He said, I'm paying him good. I'm somebody. Well,
the preacher didn't even get out of the house. Well, Elijah
just sat in the house. He sat in there drinking ice
water. Told his servant, said, go out there and tell that fellow
to go down to River Jordan. Take off all of his clothes.
Expose his nakedness, because that's what he is. Expose his
leprosy to everybody that can see. And tell him to jump in
that water and duck seven times, and his leprosy will leave him.
Man, David gritted his teeth. He said, I ain't doing that.
I am somebody. I'm an accomplished man. I'm
somebody and I ain't fixin' to get in that water. There's better
rivers where I'm from than that River Jordan." And one of his
little old entourage says to him, Master, he said, if that
prophet give you something great to do, he said, you'd have tackled
it. You'd have said, oh my. And that's
what preachers do. You know, they try to give you
something great to do. Trying to give you something great to
do. Oh, if you'll just do this, God'll save you. If you'll do
that, God'll save you. Cut your hair, God'll save you.
Change your dress, God'll save you. Quit your smoking, God'll
save you. Quit your chewing, God'll save you. Quit your drinking,
God'll save you. Quit your honky-tonking, God'll
save you. Gotta quit something, poor God'll save you. That's
what they told old man. They said, if he gave you something
big to do, something great to do, you'd have done that. He
said, but this is such a simple thing. So old Naaman, he's done
what he's told to do. He went down there and took off
all his clothes. There he is. He's exposed. He's
a leper. Out of nothing. Got in that water. First time he come up, he didn't
have, still had his leprosy. Second time he went down, still
had his leprosy. Third time he went down and come
up, he still had his leprosy. Fourth time he went down and
got up, still had his leprosy. Fifth time he went down and got
up, still had his leprosy. Six times he went down and got
up and still had his leprosy. Seventh time when he come up,
he says, my flesh has a newborn baby. Now you say, that's the way it
is coming to Christ. You're going to come His way,
like Naaman did that way, or your leprosy is going to stay
with you. Let me tell you something, only
God can humble the heart. Only God can make us stoop. Only
God can make us be willing to be saved by the doing and accomplishing
of someone else, the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're taught
of the Lord, if God has taught you this, come to Christ. If God's taught
you what I've taught you of sin and of Christ, come to Him now. Come to Him and trust Him. No
man comes, but those that have been taught, they come to me.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that what I have committed unto him against that day, he is able
to keep it. And oh, every man therefore cometh unto me. And
I'll tell you what that cometh means. That didn't always come.
If it is saying he that came to me, But He, that coming, that
implies, that teaches us that we're continuing. It's always
in the present. He, that coming to me. You know, when you don't
come just once, you just keep on coming. The faith that saves
us in all day, 24 hour, 365 days a year faith, day and night,
24 hours a day, coming to Christ. We believe today. We'll believe
tomorrow. And we'll believe forever. We've
come to Christ yesterday. We've come to Christ today. We'll
come to Christ all day. We'll come to Him tonight. We'll
come to Him when we wake up in the middle of the night. We've
come to Him. And everyone that's called the
Father, in proportion as he's taught, he comes nearer and nearer
and nearer to Christ until one day he'll come perfectly to Christ
and the glory, when that glory is yet revealed. One of these
times, we'll come to Him, our last time here, and then we'll
go to Him there. All right. God help you. They
told the Lord, You come to Christ. You trust Him. You know, Christ
is trusted from here. Christ is trusted from here,
from the heart. You don't come to Christ by physical
movements, by coming to the front. Christ sits at the right hand
of the Father. You come to Him in faith, from your heart. Our Father, in the blessed name of
the Lord Jesus Christ,