Ephesians chapter 4, and I want
us to begin reading in verse 20. I want us to spend this morning
and this afternoon on these verses that I'm going to read to you.
But ye have not so learned Christ. You have learned Christ If so
be that you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the
truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. and that you put
on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness." I want to end there. I want us to think this
morning just this one thought. You have been taught there in
verse 21. You have been taught. We have learned Christ. We have
a teacher. Christ Himself is the teacher.
What a wonderful teacher. No wonder He's called our prophet.
And what a wonderful subject He teaches. You have learned
Christ. He teaches Himself. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of Me. Learn of Me, learn by Me. We
learn of Christ. You have been taught. How often
have we made this statement? You must hear a voice apart from
my voice. You must hear His voice. I cannot
teach the heart. It's Christ who must teach the
heart. Well, here the Apostle Paul reminds us, and he says
the same thing that we have said over and over for years. You
are taught of Christ. Christ teaches you. How does Christ teach us? You
are taught. How does He teach us? Every way imaginable is open
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He teaches you by reading His
Word. He teaches you by the preaching
of His Word. He teaches you by prayer. How
often have you heard someone pray, and He spoke to you, He
taught you through that prayer. How many have we heard say, while
we were in a song, singing with a congregation, the Lord taught
me something in that song. How often has He taught us through
sickness. Every way is available to the
Lord of glory, and He uses whatever means He's pleased. But He teaches
us. And whatever means He's pleased
to teach us, He always says this, My sheep hear My voice, and they
follow Me. I teach them, and they follow
Me. One of the reasons that the Apostle
Paul was so concerned about the Galatian believers, he said,
I'm so concerned about you, and I stand in doubt of you. He says,
you're leaving the Gospel of Christ. And here you want to
be circumcised and keep all of these ceremonies and these feast
days. He said, I stand in doubt of
it. What was he in doubt about? That Christ had even taught them.
That they had really learned of Christ. He tells them here in Galatians
3, he says this to them. This only what I learned of you. Did you receive the Spirit? By the hearing of faith? Was it what you heard or what
you did? It was what you heard. Well,
He said, who did you hear? If so, be that you have heard
Him. Christ teaches us. We hear Him. And whatever means that He is
pleased to teach us, we hear the Lord Jesus Christ. He teaches the heart, but He
does it so secretly. He teaches so secretly. There could be someone sitting
right beside of you this morning, and you have no idea that the
Lord is teaching them. Because He's teaching the heart.
He's speaking to the mind. It may be one of your children.
It may be your wife. It may be your husband. It may
be your friend. But the Lord teaches so secretly
that while He's doing it, you will never know that He's teaching
that person. That He's actually speaking to
that person. I think the thief on the cross
is a perfect example of this. Look how the Lord Jesus taught
this man. And look at what he had to break
through to teach it. Did you ever consider the pain
that that man must have been in, hanging there upon the cross?
You know, when peoples are in extreme suffering and pain, they
don't want to listen to you teaching them. I remember one time, I
went to a nursing home, and this poor lady, she was dying. And
her son wanted me to go there and talk to her about the Lord.
And I was trying to do that. And she stopped me. She said,
Sir, I don't want to be offensive. But she said, I'm in so much
pain and I'm so sick, I cannot endure to hear you talk. And
I quit. I had to quit. And I sympathized
with her. And can you imagine the pain
that that thief on the cross was in? Hanging there nailed? Can you imagine all the turmoil
that was going on in that crowd? How they were crying out against
the Lord Jesus, mocking probably the thieves. You're getting just
what you deserve. and the enmity of his own mind. The Scripture says that they
both railed upon the Lord Jesus. And yet, through the midst of
all of this, the Lord Jesus taught that man. And He taught him so
secretly, but He taught him so powerfully. I tell you, the Lord
Jesus Christ is a powerful Teacher. When He teaches us, we learn
of Him. And that man learned something
there that day from the Lord Jesus. And it thoroughly changed
him. He was mocking Jesus. And all
of a sudden, he started to pray unto Jesus. Ain't that amazing?
At first, he says, you're just a criminal like us. But finally, he said, no, you're
the Lord And you're coming into your kingdom. Your kingdom. At
first, he commanded the Lord Jesus, if you are the Christ,
save yourself and save us with you. He didn't see any need for
anybody to die there that day. But I tell you, when Jesus finished
teaching him, he saw the necessity of the death of the Son of God.
How the Lord Jesus teaches us. Ye are taught Ye are taught of
God. And what a miracle it was that
took place upon the cross of Calvary that day. And brothers
and sisters, if you're here this morning, and the Lord Jesus has
taught you, I tell you, it's a miracle. It's a miracle. Because He's had to break through
the darkness of your understanding. He's had to break through the
enmity that's there. The confusion that's there. And
He's had to teach you. And He's done it so secretly,
hasn't He? I get up here and I just rant
and rave and sling my hands and raise my voice. But He doesn't
do that. He speaks to the heart. He speaks
to the conscience of an individual. And I tell you, when He does
it, it's a miracle. James said, of His own will,
begot He us. with a word of truth. When He
begins to teach us, He makes us new. And there's another good
example, I think just as good, that we find about Saul of Tarshish
in Acts chapter 9. You remember when he was on the
road to Damascus? And he had letters in his hands
to persecute Christians. We often think of the light that
came and shone, the brightness of that light. And we often see
Saul down on his face in the dirt. But I'll tell you one of
the things that's so amazing, and that's not only how the Lord
taught this man, but what He taught this man. It's amazing
how quickly He can change our attitude and thinking. Here was
a man, for the first time in his life, he saw, he knew that
Jesus was Lord. Why, if you told him that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Lord of glory, he would never receive that.
But as soon as the Lord slowed him down, the first thing he
said, Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus of Nazareth. I am the Lord. And the apostle
knew that for the first time in his life. I bet you, well,
he just stoned Stephen, didn't he? Do you imagine Stephen was preaching
that Jesus Christ is the Lord? Well, I won't stand for that,
he said. I'll stone you for that. And
he did it. He did it. But when Jesus teaches,
brothers and sisters, we learn then. We learn then. But this apostle here learned
something else that he had never admitted before, and he learned
this. He knew that for the first time
in his life, he knew this. that all along he was against
God. All along he was against the
Lord of glory, because when the Lord spoke to him, he said, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? Why do you hate me? Why do you
hate God? Why are you against the Lord?
I've heard people say, and you have too, I've loved the Lord
all my life. I've never been against the Lord. I had a young fellow come one
time to date my daughter. And he was telling me that he
was a Christian. And I said, well, tell me about
when you were God's enemy. And he said, oh, I don't know
anything about that. He said, that would scare me to death
if I thought I was ever against the Lord. Well, when somebody says that,
what does that make you think of that person? That they've
never been taught. They've never been taught. Look over here with me in Jeremiah
chapter 31. What does the Lord teach us?
What does the Lord teach us? Look in Jeremiah chapter 31. If so be that ye have heard Him,
and have been taught, you have been taught by Him. What does He teach us? Well,
He teaches the truth, doesn't He? And one of the truths He
teaches us is this very thing, that we're contrary. We're contrary
to Him. Here in Jeremiah 31, and down
around verse 18, this is a very interesting story
here concerning Ephraim, the tribe of Ephraim. Not too long
before this, the Lord told Hosea to let Ephraim alone. He said,
Ephraim is joined to his idols. Let him alone. Let him alone. And Hosea left him alone. The
preachers left Ephraim alone because he was cleaving to his
idols. But I tell you, the Lord didn't leave him alone. The Lord
didn't leave him alone. Thank God for that. Larry was
talking about our children this morning. Sometimes I just want
to leave my children alone. Sometimes I say, just go on in
your sins and go on to hell. I've worried myself sick. Sometimes we have brothers and
sisters, friends and loved ones just going to hell. I'm finished.
I can't bear the burden anymore. But I tell you, if the Lord leaves
you alone, that's when you're in trouble. And he told Hosea,
he said, don't you bother him anymore. You leave him alone.
Don't worry about him. Don't even pray for him anymore.
Just leave him alone. I'll deal with him. I'll do it.
And bloody, the Lord did. Here's the grace of God. The
Lord began to teach him. And look here what happened in
verse 18 of Jeremiah chapter 31. I have surely heard Ephraim
be mourning himself. And this is what he's saying.
The Lord had dealt with him. Thou hast chastised me. Ye have
whipped me. And I was whipped. as a bullock
unaccustomed to the yoke. You know what happens when they
used to try to train those young stout bulls? Put a yoke on them. Boy, they'd twist and turn and
jerk. And finally, they'd just gall
their necks. Sometimes they'd be bleeding.
Rub all the hair and the hide off. That's where Ephraim said
I was. Oh, I was such a rebel. The Lord
chastised me and I just would not yield. And finally, here's what he said,
Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for you are the Lord
my God. What happened with your idol,
Zephraim? You was joined to your idol. That's before the Lord
began to teach me. That's before the Lord began
to chasten me. You know what the Lord does.
When we talk about the Lord teaches, teaching and chastening, they're
almost synonymous. If the Lord's going to teach
us, He chastens us while He teaches us. He gets our attention. My
dad used to whip me sometimes. He didn't whip me very often,
but boy, when he did, I'm like Ephraim. When he chastised me,
I was whipped. I'm telling you, I was whipped.
But here's what my dad used to do with me. If I did something
wrong and I disobeyed him, He pulled his belt off. My dad never
pulled his belt off. When he pulled his belt off,
forget it. He's going to use it. I've never
seen my dad pull his belt off and put it back on without using
it. If he cut a switch, he used it. He never threatened. He just
pulled his belt off. He'd come and get me by the arm.
He'd get me by the arm. And he says, Son, listen. I told
you to do this. And you didn't do it. And it
hit me two or three times on that belt. And I'm telling you
what, you started to wiggle and it kept burning. It hurt. And
he'd stop. And he'd say, now this is what
I told you to do, son. And I made it clear to you. Did
I not make it clear? Did I not make it clear? Yes,
Dad, you made it clear. Please, Dad, yes, yes, you made
it clear. And he didn't stop. Two or three
more whacks. Oh, man, it had you twisting.
If you put your hand back there, man, you didn't dare do that.
That hurt! He'd hit me two or three more
times, and he'd stop and talk to me some more. He said, son,
next time I tell you to do this, I want you to do it. I want you
to do it. Oh, daddy, I swear, I swear I'll
never do anything else that displeases you. And when he got finished
talking with me, he'd give me just a couple more good hard
licks. That's the way my daddy taught me. He chastised me and
He spoke to me. He taught me. That's what the
Lord does. That's what He did with Ephraim.
And look at what He said. Verse 19, Surely after that I
was turned, I repented. After that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed. Yea, I was confounded,
confused. because I did bear the reproach
of my youth. Boy, that days of idolatry. He's
made me bear that. And oh, I'm ashamed of it. And
I'm hurting for it now. Now look what the Lord says concerning
Ephraim in verse 20. It's Ephraim, my dear son. Is
he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him,
That's what the Lord teaches us. That we are against Him,
and He is against us. That there's this gulf between
us. I'm calling you to account, Ephraim. I'm angry with your idolatry. And I'm going to correct you
for it, and I'm going to make you admit that you're contrary
to Me. And I'm going to make you repent
of it. Boy, here's teaching indeed, eh? This is not your Billy Graham
crusades, where people's coming down the aisles, holding hands
with their little young lovers, blowing their bubble gum. This
is people taught of God, and He's whipped them, and they're
mourning, and their hearts are broken, and they're ashamed,
and they're crying, Turn me, Lord! Don't leave me alone! Save me! And the Lord said, well,
this must be my child. Since I spake against him, I
do earnestly remember him still. Look at this. Therefore, my bowels,
my heart, my emotions are troubled for him. I will surely have mercy
upon him, said the Lord. See what he does? He teaches
us that we're contrary. that we're sinful. He makes us
to know that. And when He does that, what does
He do? He has mercy upon us. Well, He's
been having mercy upon us all along. But then He reveals mercy,
you see. He makes mercy precious. He makes
us desire mercy. And then He reveals mercy. I
will have mercy upon Him. You're taught. You're taught. Look here in another place. Look
over here in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12. 1 Timothy 1. Here's Saul of Tarsus
that I was telling you about just a minute ago. Look at this
man again. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12. The Lord makes us to understand
that we're contrary to Him. That we're wrong. We're just
sinful. We're sinners. And He makes us
value mercy when He does that. Look in verse 12. Paul talking
about his farmer conversation. I thank Jesus Christ our Lord,
who hath enabled me, for He counted me faithful, putting me into
the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and persecutor and
injurious That's what you were, Paul. Who taught you that? Who taught you that? You are
taught of the Lord. They shall all be taught of the
Lord. But look at this, but I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of
our Lord Jesus was exceeding, abundant with faith and love,
which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause
I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show
forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter live, believe unto life everlasting. Mercy. Paul had been taught of
the Lord. I'm a blasphemer. I'm ungodly. I need mercy. And he was taught
where that mercy was. It was in Jesus Christ. Of all people. The very person
he had been persecuting. Mercy. Mercy. I read a very interesting
story that An old one-eyed Welsh preacher wrote way back in the
1800s, early 1800s, Christmas Evans was his name. And he talked
about mercy going out and standing daily at the gate of the cemetery. And every time mercy rets down
to open the latch to go into the cemetery, bring the dead
out of their graves, justice wretched forth his hand and said,
No. No. You can't go in there, Mercy.
And daily Mercy went there and wept at the gate. Mercy wanted
to go in and deliver those dead sinners. But justice said, No. And mercy said, Justice, what
will it take to open this door? and let me go and deliver these
poor miserable sinners, these dead from their graves. And justice
said he'll take Emmanuel's blood. Only Emmanuel's blood can open
the gate, mercy, and allow you in. And justice, Mr. Evans said, and mercy went together. Ain't that wonderful? They went
together to Emmanuel. And justice proposed the terms. Justice said, I require your
blood, Emmanuel. And then the gate will be opened.
And Emmanuel agreed and gave his blood. And then justice went,
flung the door of the cemetery wide open and went in and began
to deliver and raise the dead from their spiritual graves.
That's what the Lord teaches us. You're taught. You're taught. What does the
Lord teach us? That we're contrary to Him. That
we're poor, miserable sinners. But mercy has come through the
door that was opened through Calvary. Emmanuel's blood. And we've obtained it. We've
obtained mercy. Do you prize mercy this morning?
What's your opinion of mercy? How do you believe that it comes
to you? Oh, you know, don't you? We glorify God for His mercy,
Paul said, because He's taught us. He's taught us. The Lord
Jesus was preaching one day, and all these publicans and sinners
kept coming to hear Him. And the Pharisees came and said
to His disciples, Why does your Master eat with these publicans
and sinners? Why is He receiving these publicans
and sinners? And the Lord Jesus made this
statement, They that behold need not a physician, but they that
are sick. And then He says this to them,
Go learn what that means. But where are they going to learn
such a lesson? if the Lord Himself does not
teach them. I came, He said, not to solicit a sacrifice from
you. I came to have mercy. Go learn
what that means. Those publicans and sinners learned
it. Christ taught them. He taught
them. They shall all be taught of the
Lord. It's not so important. It's not
so important how the Lord has taught you. It's not so important
how the Lord has taught you. He teaches us differently. Sometimes
He breaks in upon people and teaches them so suddenly, there's
no doubt in their mind about it. There's no doubt about those
around them. The Lord has taught this man.
You find that out a lot in the days of the revivals. The Lord
would just come to a little service like this. And boy, He'd break
in upon two or three people. And He'd teach them almost suddenly.
But He don't always do that. Sometimes He teaches us a little
bit here, and He teaches us a little bit there. He gives us a little
light of our condition and our need of mercy here, and a little
bit more there. Until finally, He breaks us and
teaches us. But the important thing to ask
ourselves is this, have we learned that lesson? We sat in here this morning and
we know, there's no doubt about it, we know that we're poor sinners. And we know that mercy only comes
to us through Emmanuel's blood, through the cross. That's the
thing we must ask ourselves. Am I conscious of that? Am I
sensitive to it? Am I awakened to it? Are we really,
honestly conscious of our need of mercy? And are we conscious,
are we awakened, are we sensitive to this truth of how mercy comes
to us? It is through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look back over here in Ephesians
chapter 2. This is why I say this is what the Lord was teaching
them. You are taught, if so be that you have learned of Him.
You have heard Him and been taught by Him. Here in Ephesians 2,
look what Paul says about them. In Ephesians 2, he had been teaching
about how they were dead and trespassed and sinned. How they
walked according to the prince of the power of the air. They
were followers of Satan. That's what he kept telling them.
But look in verse 4 what he said. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved. Mercy. God is rich in mercy. But the only way for you and
I to begin to see that is to fill our need of it. And He teaches
us our need of it by showing us our misery, our sinfulness. This is covenant mercy. Listen
to how the covenant runs. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts and write them in their minds.
And I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I'll be merciful. I will be merciful. I will be
merciful. This is what I'm saying in a
nutshell this morning. The Lord teaches us, you're taught
of Him, that we're sinners against Him by our very nature. And we're
conscious of that mercy that comes through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then, somewhere, somewhere
during the time He's teaching us, He saves us. Sometime during the time He is
teaching our hearts, He regenerates us. He makes us new creatures. Mercy is revealed. And then that brings us here
to chapter 4 and verse 22. The fear in verse 22. That ye
put off concerning the farmer lifestyle,
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust."
If you compare verse 21 with verse 22, "...if so be that you
have heard him, and have been taught by him." What does the
Lord Jesus teach? That we are corrupt. That we're corrupt. That we have
this old man that is corrupt. Can you see that? If I said to a professing Christian,
there was a time in your life when you were dead in trespasses
and sins. There was a time in your life
when you were alienated from the life of God. And you were
enemies in your mind, by wicked words. And he said to me, now
wait a minute, now listen. I know that I haven't been perfect.
And I know I've done some bad things. But my heart has never
been that bad. I'm not that bad of a person.
What would you think about that fellow? What would you say about
him? Why, you say, you must have never
been taught of the Lord. Why do you say that? Because
here's what the Lord teaches us, that we put off concerning
the farmer conversation, the old man. If he hasn't taught
me that I'm an old, miserable sinner, how am I going to put
him off? I'm going to even deny that I
am such a preacher. See how important it is for the
Lord to teach us. See how important it is that
we get in the gate, this straight gate. That's the problem that we're
facing today, isn't it? We talk about can't find a sinner.
We can't find sinners. Everybody's pretty good people. What's the problem? The Lord's
not teaching. The Lord's not teaching. That's
our problem, ain't it? The Lord's not teaching. We're
teaching. I'm teaching. Glenn's teaching.
Larry's teaching. Terrence is teaching. But the
Lord's not teaching. That's our problem. And when
the Lord begins to teach, He makes us know, oh, we're corrupt. Oh, we're sinful. We're so sinful. And then, when He does His work
of regeneration within us, Then you can tell that man, here's
what you were. You were this old, corrupt, sinful
man. Now put him off. And you know
what they'll say? Oh, that's the truth. That's
the truth. This is what I am. And this is
what I did. And that's how I lived. And now
I see the necessity of putting him off. A sinner is a sacred thing, ain't
he? A sinner is a sacred thing. I
don't care if he's a lost sinner and the Lord has begun to teach
him, or if he's a saved sinner that the Lord has already taught
and is yet teaching him. He's a sacred thing. The Holy
Ghost has made him so. Oh, this morning you're new creatures.
If the Lord has taught you, you're a new creature. And you can't
deny it, can you? You shouldn't doubt it. If He's
taught you, He's not only taught you that you're contrary to Him
and that you have this old miserable man, but He's also taught you
that you're a new creature. Everything has changed, hasn't
it? Everything has changed. You heard about Jesus most of
your life, but now you know Him in a way that you never knew
Him before. Now you see something about Him
you never saw before. Oh, it's different now, ain't
it? This is what makes you to know, dear brothers and sisters,
that He's made you new. You see Christ now. You know
Him now in a way you never knew Him before. Now you see His beauty
as a Savior. You see merit about Him, worth
and power that you never saw before. You know Him now. Paul said it's an excellent knowledge.
Paul said, I didn't know Him one time either. But He taught
me. He revealed Himself to me. He
made me a new creature. And he said, now I count knowing
Him to be an excellent knowledge. Oh, just to know Christ. He said,
I've given up everything just to know Him. To you that believe,
He's precious. You can't deny that, can you?
He's precious to you, isn't He? And why? Because He's made you
new. You're a new creature. He's taught you. You look at
the people in the Gospel that the Lord Jesus saved. He'd heal
them and He'd save them. And they couldn't keep quiet
about it. Even some, he said, don't you speak a word about
what I've done to you. They couldn't hide it. They couldn't
keep quiet. They just went out and published
abroad what he had done for them. Could you have ever imagined,
dear brothers and sisters this morning, that you could have
delighted yourself in God? Could you have ever believed
that about yourself? that you of all people could delight in
God? I've told you before, the most
miserable day of the week for me was the Lord's Day. To go
sit under a man that would open the Bible and preach, that was
miserable. To sing the hymns of the Lord
and be around people that was rejoicing, I was miserable. I never dreamed that I could
be delighted in God. that I could have loved holiness? What is the problem? He's made
us new. We're new creatures. He's taught
us, and we can't deny it. We're different now, aren't we? Yes, we have this old man. Yes,
and he's corrupt. Yes, he's miserable. He's the
one that's caused us all the misery when we look back through
our past life. He's the one that led us into
it and kept us there. Our old sinful man. But we have
this new man too that loves God, believes in Christ, and loves
holiness. He's created in righteousness
and true holiness. There's something about you,
and when you begin to discern it, it makes you rejoice. Even though
you're a poor sinner in yourself, yet you're a new creature. You
have a new man within you that was never there before. And who's
taught you that? Who's made you to know these
things? How do you discern all of this? You had no discernment
before about you. You were just dead in sins. You
were just going along in this world, living your life, raising
your family, and the Lord comes and begins to teach you. And
when He's finished with you, you're discerning, I am an old
man. And He's miserable and He's wretched,
and I'm finished with it, and I'm a new man. Oh, there's somebody there that
never was there before. Don't you look at the world differently.
I even read my paper differently than I used to. I go outside
and I look up at the stars. I don't think about them like
I used to. When I go out and I look up, I say, oh Lord, that
created all of this. How could you be mindful of me? Everything has changed. Why? You're a new creature. You are
a new creature. And this is what the Lord Jesus
has taught you. And this fills us with joy. This
fills us with joy. There was a time when we were
just flesh, and that's all. But now, we're two people. We're
two people. And we're told to put off the
one and put on the other. And that's what we'll look at
in this afternoon service. Let's pray.