Good morning. I invite your attention to John's
Gospel, chapter 6. The church in Louisville that
I have pastored for 15 years has called Fred Evans to be her
pastor. He's a capable young man, former
preacher in Lincolnwood Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, pastored
by David Pleasure. I had fully intended to be out
of the country by this time, but we have run into difficulties
with getting a container that would meet the requirements.
I think we finally have it, but it's been a little later than
we had hoped. Of course, it might have been
providential that our container has not been on the open seas
the last two weeks with these storms passing through. But I've
been endeavoring to just get away from Louisville at least
on the Lord's days. He doesn't need me around. Fred
does not. He's quite capable himself. So
I wanted to come up this way and visit with you folks and
am delighted be here today and hope the Lord will be pleased
to meet with us as we have gathered in the name of His Son. I was born in 1948, sixty years ago in the city of
Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And shortly after that time,
the Lord began to rather remarkable spiritual awakening. I do not
know the names of all that were involved, but two in particular
are known to me. The first was a preacher-pastor
from Louisville, Kentucky named A.D. Muse. A.D. Muse had been invited to
preach in Winston-Salem My father was a young man who had just
recently become religious. He attended that night and sat
on the front row, and the express purpose for his being there was
that he was praying that the Lord would shut the mouth of
this false prophet, as my father called him, who was preaching
this damnable doctrine of election. as my father called it. My father
learned the gospel that night. The Lord was pleased to use my
father in a gospel ministry to some degree. The second gentleman was a professor
in a local seminary His name was Rolf Barnard. He caused no small stir in a
number of places, including your fair city, and he caused a stir
also in Winston-Salem. My father was blessed to have
a friendship with Rolf Barnard, and when my father began pastoring,
Rolf held a meeting for us just about every year. both in North
Carolina and where my father pastored in Raynell, West Virginia. Rolf stayed in our home a few
times and we heard him just about every fall. My father returned to Winston-Salem
in 1966 and there commenced a pastorate from which he finally retired
because of failing health last month, some forty-some years.
And the Lord was pleased to bless that ministry, raised up a few
young men to the ministry, including Don Fortner and myself, hopefully
myself. Now I take you to 1975, third week of June, Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. Another spiritual awakening of
some degree occurred at that time. The venue was Victory Chapel
on Tice Avenue on the north end of town. It was a small residence. Some walls had been knocked down
and had been converted into a church building. The pastor was Fred
Wood, a very dear friend of mine. and a visiting preacher had been
brought in to preach for a week, and the attendees saw the mighty
hand of God at work that week. We also saw the nefarious hand
of the adversary. Two a.m. one morning someone
climbed under the church building and set a fire in the hope of
burning the building down, but that scheme failed. A good number
of attendees that week became deeply concerned about the condition
of their souls. One of these was a classmate
of mine in the local school of religion, and toward the end
of the week he spoke with me at considerable length. He had
been made to feel that perhaps he was lost, but his seminary
professors, and particularly his wife, were trying their best
to convince him otherwise, that he had been listening to a false
prophet and that had this grief brought upon him for no reason.
He tearfully told me toward the end of the week that he was lost,
but to the best of my knowledge, he heeded the counsel of his
wife and professors and not that of the At least three men, claiming
to be gospel preachers at that time, were also convicted of
their sins. They experienced not that sorrow
of the world that produces death, but rather that godly sorrow
that produces repentance, leading to salvation and not to be regretted. These three, to the best of my
knowledge, were gloriously converted to our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. I eventually lost contact with
them after I relocated abroad in 1979. The second young man
was a slender, red-haired butcher on the north end of town, a young
man by the name of Tim James. He now pastors and has been for
many years in Cherokee, And the third preacher that the
Lord saved that week was myself. I was at that time a devout Calvinist
and an ardent Baptist. The first night I attended, Monday
night, sat on the preacher's right. He took his text from
John 6.45, wherein it is written in the
prophets that they shall all be taught by God. Therefore,
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me."
So that was his text and he announced he was going to preach on the
subject of what God teaches a sinner. That first night he preached
on what God teaches a sinner regarding himself, the sinner's
self. He preached on total depravity.
When he preached to me, he was preaching to the choir. I believed
it, believed every word he said. I let everybody know that I believed
what he said. Amen. And vocally gave my approval,
as though that meant anything. But nevertheless, I did come
back the second night, the 17th of June, 1975, my wife's birthday. She was with me. against the wall on the preacher's
right-hand side, about the second or third row back against the
wall. He took the same text, John 6,
45. He took the same topic, what
God teaches a sinner. And having already set forth
what God teaches a sinner about himself, this night he said he
would set forth to us what God teaches sinners. about his son,
Jesus Christ. He had not progressed far into
his message before I realized I did not know Christ. And I
was finally learning something about myself, the lost preacher
that I was. And when the realization of that
fact first struck me. I said aloud, I'm lost. And the preacher said, leave
him alone. The Lord will deal with him and
continue to preach him. And the longer he preached, the
more lost I became. And I said aloud a second time,
I'm lost. And the preacher said, Leave
him alone. The Lord will deal with him.
And then, after he had preached a while longer, I jumped to my
feet and I exclaimed, O God, O God, I have been given a counterfeit,
referring to the gospel I had embraced while in Pentecostalism.
And I ran out of the building. There was a little room at the
front door and I ran into the little room. And there, all alone
with the Lord, I begged Him to save me. God was pleased that night to
reveal to this sinner Christ and all His saving glory. And
He was pleased that night to draw me to Christ. And He was
pleased that night to give me both the will and the strength
to flee to Him and the faith with which to embrace Him. And
on this occasion, I want to take that same text, John 6, 45. This is a precious text to me,
as you probably would well understand. I want to preach to you on this
subject. They shall all be taught by God. We're going to observe, first
of all, the gist of being taught by God. What is it? Second, the
necessity of being taught by God. Third, the promise of being
taught by God. Fourth, the persons taught by
God. Fifth, the lesson taught by God. And sixth, the result of being
taught by God. Let's go to that first point,
the gist of being taught by God. What is it? It is to have the truth of God
revealed in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit in order to
spiritually apprehend a true knowledge of self and of Christ.
Long definition, let me break it down. It is to have the truth
of God, not of religion, not of a dogma, not of a confession,
not of The truth of God revealed in the heart, not merely in the
mind, not merely in the brain. We're not talking about having
a head knowledge of something. We're talking about the truth
of God revealed in the heart of man. It must be done by the
Holy Spirit. I cannot do it. Your pastor cannot
do it. All of us together could not
show this to one single sinner. And this is in order to spiritually
apprehend a true knowledge of self and of Christ. But just
being taught by God is this. You finally come to know whom
you are. And you finally come to know
whom Christ is. God must do it. Now that's what
it is, my friend, to be taught of God. The natural man does
not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness
to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. I can preach this message to center after center
after center after center, and it will make no sense at all
to the center until the Spirit of God makes it effectually,
until God teaches. God must teach. if we are ever
to learn. Second, the necessity of being
taught by God. The necessity is found in verse
number 44. No one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him. Now there is your necessity.
The necessity of being taught by God to come to Christ for
salvation arises from man's natural inability to come to Christ.
Man is unable to come to Christ. He must be taught to come to
Christ because naturally man is unable to do so. And this
natural inability to come to Christ is coupled with a natural
unwillingness to come to Christ. Man is both incapable and man
is unwilling. Jesus said in the previous chapter,
you are not willing to come to me. that you may have life. Man is incapable of coming to
Christ because he's unwilling to come to Christ, and he is
unwilling to come to Christ until God teaches him to do so. Man, untaught by God, will not
come to Christ for salvation, and I'll give you two reasons.
First, man, untaught by God, thinks much too highly of himself
And second, man untaught by God thinks much too lowly of Christ. A man must be taught whom he
himself is and then must be taught Christ. When he sees himself,
he'll behold himself in the gutter. When he beholds Christ, he'll
see him highly exalted as he truly is. Man untaught by God
thinks too highly of his own personal righteousness. He does
not perceive that the imputed righteousness of Christ is the
only righteousness that will suffice before God. Preacher,
you're telling me I've got no righteousness? No, none of us,
none of us, nor all of us together has ever performed a righteous
deed, ever uttered a righteous word. ever imagined a righteous
thought. And the more righteous we try
to make ourselves, the more unrighteous we prove ourselves to be. Man
has no righteousness, contrary to his own opinion of himself.
Not a shred, not a glimmer, not a hope, no righteousness, absolutely
none. This offends man. He wants to
think, My good deeds will outweigh my bad. Surely along the way
somewhere I have done something that God will accept. But no,
you do not. This offends man. He does not
appreciate hearing this. He does not appreciate knowing
that he must rely upon the righteousness of someone else. A righteousness
that is imputed to him through faith alone in Jesus Christ by
God's grace. This truth is so offensive to
the natural mind that on the very occasion Jesus preached
these words, when he declared this truth, almost all his disciples
got up and left him. Probably thousands of them. He
had just fed the thousands, and here they are listening. He preaches
this. They up and leave. Oh, I tell
you, my friend, this truth is offensive to the natural mind.
God therefore must give to man not only an ear to hear the truth,
but also a heart of flesh to understand it and believe it.
Third, the promise of being taught by God. Here is the promise.
It is written in the prophets. If God wrote it, it is promised.
If it is promised, it must be fulfilled. Now reference here
first is to the prophecy of Jehovah to his bride. recording in Isaiah
54, verse 13, where he says, All your children, this is God
speaking to His bride, all your children shall be taught by the
Lord. It is written in the prophets.
But a promise being taught by God was given throughout the
writings of the prophets. For example, being taught by
God is prophesied when He said, I will put my law in their minds.
And I will write my law in their hearts, and no more shall every
man teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. Why? Because I will teach them. No
need for a man to teach his brother. I will teach them. It is written
in the prophets. And the blessed truth we would
hear emphasizes this, that God in His strict justice could have
left all mankind in our natural ignorance so that none of us
would ever come to Christ. But God in His sovereign grace
has taught a great host of men, opened their ears so that they
may hear, opened their hearts so that they may receive. They
have heard the truth. They have learned the truth.
They have come to the truth. The promise has been fulfilled. Fourth, the persons taught by
God. Jesus said they all shall be
taught by God. Who is this all? Well, it is
most evident that this all does not include every member of humanity
because every member of humanity will not come to Christ. As in the present passage on
this instance, many who begin to hear of him leave him and
depart from him, and yet there are some that shall be taught
by God. Who are they? Christ had earlier identified
them all when he said in verse 37, All that the Father gives
me will come to me. and the one who comes to me I
will by no means cast out." So who is the all? They have two
marks. First, they are all God's elect,
all that the Father gives to me. These are those whom God,
as we learned earlier this morning, in His sovereign grace foreknew. chose unto salvation. These are
those whom God, before the foundation of the world, chose to behold
Him without blame, before Him in love. These are those whom
God, before the foundation of the world, predestined as sons
unto Himself. These are those whom God, before
the foundation of the world, accepted in Christ His beloved
Son. These are those whom God, before
the foundation of the world, said, They are Mine! And Christ
says, And every one of them will come to Me. Every one. These are those whom God chose
to salvation, and these are all who come to Christ for that salvation. This also was written in the
prophets. Both Isaiah and Micah declare,
many people shall come and say, come and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob. He will
teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths. For out of
Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. I want to ask you, my friend,
are you one of these? Let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. Why? Because
He there will teach us His ways. Why did you come here this morning?
Got a new dress you want to show us? Maybe you want to exhibit
your talent in singing or something or whatever. Why did you come
this morning? Your wife made you? You didn't
want to let your mother down. Why did you come this morning?
I would hope that with every one
of us, we would say this. Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and
He shall teach us His ways. I hope we have come this morning
to learn of God. What was the song sung earlier?
Teach me Thy way, O Lord, teach me Thy way. That's why we should
have come here today, that God speak, desiring that God speak
to us, open our ears and our hearts that we may receive and
that we might learn something from Him. That's why we should
have come today. Let us go up and He shall teach
us His ways and we shall walk in His paths. Not one single
solitary one of these. who is taught by God will fail
to come to Christ or ever be separated from him, not a single
one. These are the persons taught
by God, all whom the Father gave me and all who come to me. Fifth, the lesson taught by God
is this. Although all men in their natural
state are unwilling and incapable to come to Christ God will cause all His chosen
people to come to Christ. That's the lesson. The lesson
taught is this. You're not willing to come of
your own, but you are when God teaches you. You'll learn that
lesson. That when God teaches you, you
will learn. I can teach and teach and teach
and you may learn nothing. When God teaches you, you'll
learn. Men prove they have not been
taught of God when they boast. We may of our own free will and
strength come to Christ any time we choose. That's a man untaught by God. When a man is taught by God,
he will confess. Your people shall be willing
in the day of your power. They may have heard the gospel
years and years. I was raised in a Christian home.
Sat under the ministry of a gospel preacher for many years. And
I was 27 years old before I ever really learned the gospel. Heard
it over and over and over and over. And not until I was now
on to being a grown man Did God say, okay, you've rebelled long
enough, now I'm going to teach you a lesson. And He did. And
He did. He made me a volunteer. He made
me willing. No longer wanting to talk about
man's free will or what I can do and what I should do and what
I've done for the Lord. A man taught by God says, thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. And oh, may it be today. Men
prove they have not been taught by God when they boast. We have
our own personal righteousness, and we need not go to Christ
by trusting in His imputed righteousness alone. Oh, this ugly demon of
personal righteousness and self-righteousness rears its ugly head in some of
the most unlikely places we would think. It pops up in my heart from time
to time. It pops up in our churches from
time to time, thinking that maybe God will be pleased with what
I just did. That's a man who needs to learn something from
God, folks. A man who wants to talk about
his own personal righteousness and what he's done for the Lord.
When God teaches a man, that man will say, I will go to Christ
in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness
and thine only. The psalmist said that. I like
that. I will go to Christ in the strength
of the Lord when He makes me willing, when He makes me a volunteer. when He gives me the wherewithal
to do so. I will go to Christ in the strength of the Lord,
and I have learned this, I will make mention of His righteousness
and His only." That's a man taught by God, folks. You don't learn
that lesson in religion. You don't learn that lesson in
your creeds and confessions. You learn that lesson when God
teaches you. And then sixth and last, the
result of being taught by God. Therefore, everyone, Jesus says,
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
Now, this is the gracious result to all wretched sinners who confess,
I'm lost. Now, is there a lost one here
today? I'm lost. May the Lord deal with you today
in doing this with you. Three things occur when God teaches. They hear from the Father when
He speaks comfort to them, telling them their warfare is over and
their sins are pardoned. Speak comfort, the Lord says
in Isaiah 40, verse 2. Interestingly, for 39 chapters,
Isaiah had preached woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto you,
and woe unto you, and finally In the 40th chapter, the Lord
says, now speak peace to them. What is the duty of a gospel
preacher? It is to disturb the comfortable and then comfort
the disturbed. And the Lord disturbs His people,
reveals the mask of whom they are, and shows them whom they
are, and shows them their unworthiness before Him. He says, tell them
their warfare is over, and tell them, I won, I won. They have rebelled long enough,
it's now they learn they lost. I won, and I will teach them
of me. Second, they hear, then they
learn from the Father when He shows to them Christ as their
only hope of salvation. God must teach that. In your
city this morning, there are hundreds if not thousands being
told you'll find salvation in the baptistry. You'll find salvation
in the church. You'll find salvation at the
altar. You'll find salvation by coming
down and shaking the preacher's hand. You'll find salvation by
keeping the Sabbath day. You'll find salvation by catechizing
and being taught in the confessions and the creeds. You'll find salvation
in this, that, or the other. When God teaches you, you'll
be taught that salvation is in Christ alone. They learn from
the Father when He shows to them Christ as their only hope of
salvation. Now they hear. They learn. And the third result of being
taught by God is this, they come. They therefore come to Christ
through believing in Him, trusting and relying on His person, trusting
and relying on His blood, trusting and relying on His righteousness,
trusting and relying on His sacrifice for their justification and acceptance
with God. They come to Christ empty-handed. wretched sinners, full of the
leprosy of sin and shedding off their filthy rags of self-righteousness. They come fleeing to Christ with
all the strength that God will give them. They come to Christ
acknowledging their unworthiness. They come to Christ knowing that
He alone is marvelous in salvation. They come to Christ knowing that
He receives all that the Father gives Him. And they come to Christ
knowing that He never casts one away. They come to Him knowing
that He never puts an obstacle in the way of anyone coming to
Him. They come knowing He freely receives. O sinner, listen. He freely receives. And God promises all whom He
teaches that with great mercies I will gather you in Christ.
I learned that lesson on the 17th of June, 1975 when I finally
realized I was lost. God showed me what a sinner I
was and what a Savior Christ is. And I would hope that he
might be pleased to do the same even today. That he might show someone who is lost that
he is lost. Show you the depravity of your
sin, your worthlessness, and your great need of a Savior.
And show you Christ greater than your sin. Teach me your way,
O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear
your name. Pastor.