Good morning. The church in Louisville has
called their new pastor my successor. His name is Fred Evans. He was a preacher in the church
pastored by David Pledger in Houston, Texas, and he assumed
his pastorate earlier this month. And I still have a few days left
in the States, but my wife and I decided we'd just get out of
town on the Lord's Day and do some visiting and let him be
his own man. And we thank the Lord, though,
for having sent him there to Louisville and the promising
minister, his first pastorate, but your prayers for him would
be appreciated. I invite your attention to John's
Gospel, Chapter 6. John's Gospel, Chapter 6. I was born in the city of Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, in the year of our Lord, 1948. Sixty years ago. And the Lord, at about that time,
and particularly shortly thereafter, began to do a rather remarkable
work in that city. There undoubtedly were at least
a few faithful gospel pastors there, but the Lord used two
evangelists in particular. Their names were Rolf Barnard
and A.D. Mews. Rolf Barnard was a professor
in a seminary in that city in the late 40s, early 50s. Many of you know about him because
of the no small stir that was caused through his ministry in
Ashland, Kentucky in the early fifties and the raising up of a young
man named Henry Mahan. Rolfe and my father became fast
friends. My father had lived in Winston-Salem
some years prior to my birth. Indeed, my father was a pallbearer
in Rolf Barnard's funeral and preached a number of meetings
for my father. When my father pastored, he retired
last month for health reasons after some 50 years in the ministry. And many times I've heard Rolf
sing that hymn that you requested earlier. I've heard him stop
in a message and begin singing, A Sinner Like Me. The other preacher
was A.D. Mews. He pastored a church in
Louisville, Kentucky. He had been invited on at least
a couple of occasions to my hometown. of Winston-Salem to preach. On
one of those occasions, my father attended. He had just recently
become religious, but his purpose in attending
that night was to sit on the front row and to silently pray
that God would shut the mouth of this false prophet, as my
father called him, who was preaching that damnable doctrine of election,
as my father called it. But a strange thing happened
that night, because as A.D. Mews preached, my father found
it more difficult to pray the prayer he intended, and he finally
realized that this man was preaching the truth. And my father embraced
the gospel and was greatly influenced by the ministry of those two
men. The Lord did something else a
few years later in the third week of June 1975. My father
at this time was again pastoring in North Carolina
after having pastored some years in Raynell, West Virginia. And the Lord had given him a
fruitful ministry there, raised up some men to the gospel ministry
under his ministry. These included Don Fortner and
myself, hopefully myself, But in the third week of June 1975,
there was a certain spiritual awakening
occurred in Winston-Salem. The venue was Victory Chapel
on Pius Avenue, a small structure on the north end of town that
had been converted from a private residence into a church building. The church assembling in that
chapel at that time was pastored by my dear friend Fred Wood,
who still is pastoring a church by that name in the city of Winston-Salem. And the attendees that week for
the week of meetings saw the mighty hand of God in a marvelous
manner. We also witnessed the nefarious
hand of the adversary because at 2 a.m. one morning someone
lit a fire under the church building intending to burn it down. The
Lord was pleased to spare the building and the meetings continued
without a hitch. A good number of attendees that
week became deeply troubled regarding the condition of their souls
through the preaching of the gospel. One of these was a classmate
of mine in the local seminary. And we conversed a few times
that week, particularly toward the end of the week. He had been
made to realize that he was lost. I can remember talking with him
on the telephone and his wife in the background chiding him
to get off the phone that he was not lost. that he'd been
spending too much time listening to a false preacher and that
he was indeed saved and his professors in school were telling him the
same thing. And to the best of my knowledge,
this friend of mine heeded the counsel of his wife and the professors of religion
and did not heed the gospel. At least three men that week
claiming to be gospel preachers, were convicted of their sins.
These three experienced not the sorrow of the world that produces
death, but rather that godly sorrow that produces repentance
leading to salvation and never to be regretted. These three
men, these three self-professed gospel preachers, and Calvinists
were gloriously converted to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I eventually lost contact with one of them because just about
four years after that I relocated to the Virgin Islands as a missionary. The second preacher saved that
week was a young red-haired butcher on the north end of the city
named Tim James. He now pastors in Cherokee, North
Carolina, has been there for many years faithfully serving
the Lord. And the third preacher saved
that week was myself. I was a devout Calvinist and
an ardent Baptist. I attended the first night on
Monday night, June the 16th, sat just about where your pastor
is sitting right now, front row. The preacher took his text from
John 6, verse 45. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore everyone who
has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. And he announced
at the beginning of this message that he was going to preach on
what God teaches a sinner. And on that Monday night, June
the 16th, 1975, he preached on what God teaches sinners about
themselves. He set forth the truth of the
scriptural doctrine of the total depravity of all mankind. He ably showed us that we all
are by nature sinners and in need of a Savior. For as I was concerned, he was
preaching to the choir, and I let it be known in my pharisaical
manner that I agreed with everything he said and amened and let my
approval be known. I came back the second night,
Tuesday night, June the 17th. My wife came with me, her birthday. And we sat about two or three
rows from the preacher on the right-hand
side next to the wall. And the preacher on this occasion
took the same text, John 6, verse 45. And he took the same thing
for his message, what God teaches a sinner. This night, though
he said that having preached the night before what God teaches
sinners about themselves. Tonight he wanted to preach on
what God teaches sinners about the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He had not progressed far into
his message before I realized, quite shockingly, that I had never learned of Christ.
I did not know Christ. The Lord began to deal with me
about my lack of knowledge of Christ. And I said somewhat aloud,
I'm lost. And the preacher said, leave
him alone. The Lord will deal with him.
And he continued preaching. And the more he preached, the
more lost I became. And I said aloud the second time,
I'm lost. And he said, leave him alone.
The Lord will deal with him. And he continued preaching. And the more he preached, the
more lost I became. Until finally I jumped to my
feet and I said, Oh God, oh God, I've been given a counterfeit.
referring to the gospel that I had believed in Pentecostalism. And I got up and ran out of the
building. And there, alone with the Lord,
a man who finally realized he was lost, had finally come to
realize and learned what he was, A man who had finally heard and
learned whom Christ is begged God to save him. And God responded
by revealing to this sinner Christ in all His saving glory. And
then He graciously drew me to Christ and He graciously gave
to me both the will and the strength to flee to Christ. And this morning,
I want to go to the same text. This morning, if God be pleased,
I'd like to preach to you on the subject of, they all shall
be taught by God. Let us observe, if God be pleased,
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 observe that first point.
The gist of being taught by God. What is it to be taught by God? 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. Now that's a long sentence. Let
me break it down. It is to have the truth of God,
not of self, not of religion, not of the church, not of rites,
not of ceremonies, not of doctrine. Not even of Calvinism, nor any
otherism. It is to have the truth of God
revealed in the heart. Not so that you may have a mere
head knowledge of it. The light must be shined in the
heart. It must be done by the Holy Spirit. That's why we say, leave Him
alone. God will deal with Him. The Spirit
of God must do this in order to spiritually apprehend a true
knowledge of self and of Christ. Because until God does this,
you know neither whom you are nor whom Christ is. Because otherwise
the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know of them because
they are spiritually discerned. Now, my friend, this is the gist
of what it is to be taught by God. Second, the necessity of
being taught by God is set forth unto us in verse number 44. The Savior says, No one can come
to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. Now, there's the
necessity of being taught by God. This necessity arises from
your natural inability to come to Christ. You are unable to
come to Christ. And this natural inability to
come to Christ is coupled and linked with a natural unwillingness
to come to Christ. Our Lord says furthermore in
John chapter 5 verse 40, not only are you incapable of coming,
but you are not willing to come to Me. that you may have life. You are incapable of coming because
you are unwilling to come. Man untaught by God will not
come to Christ for salvation. I'll give you at least two reasons.
First, he thinks too highly of himself and he thinks too lowly
of Christ. For example, a 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. Come to Christ? Oh, I think that at the end my
good deeds will outweigh my bad ones. How can they? You don't have a good deed. Man thinks too highly of himself. He refuses to acknowledge that
he has never performed a righteous deed and is incapable of doing
so. He has never uttered a righteous
word and is incapable of doing so. He's incapable of imagining a
righteous thought and is incapable of doing so. I'm glad you can't read my mind
and I don't want to read yours. There has never been a righteous
thought in our minds, never a righteous word from our lips, never a righteous
deed from our hands. And yet man seems to think he's
got something that might please God Why come to Christ when you've
got something that will please God? Man does not perceive that the
righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness that avails
before God. Man is both unwilling and incapable
of coming to Christ until he learns whom he is and whom Christ
is, until he realizes how utterly abominable he himself is and
how absolutely glorious Christ is God must teach that and God
alone can leave him alone the Lord of teaching God therefore must teach such
a man else he will never learn the truth and never come to Christ
or salvation and this truth is so offensive to the natural mind
that even many professing believers in this very instance in John
6, when they heard this, we read, they refused to walk with Him
anymore. And our Lord told His own disciples,
go away, just leave me. This truth is too hard for man. It is only a man taught by God
who will say, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life. Now there's a man taught by God.
Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you. There's a man
taught by God. A man who says, I have no life
unless you give it, and you alone can give it. Now that is the
necessity of being taught by God because otherwise you are
both unwilling and incapable of coming. Third, the promise
of being taught by God. It is found in our text in these
words. It is written in the prophets. The prophets of old prophesied
and promised that there would come a time when all should be
taught by God now reference here is first to the prophecy of Jehovah
to his bride the church recorded in Isaiah 54 verse 13 our Lord
says to his bride all your children shall be taught by the Lord the
Lord promised it all your children shall be taught by the Lord But
a promise being taught by God was given throughout the writings
of the prophets. For example, being taught by
God is prophesied. When God said, I will put my
law in their minds, I will write my law on their hearts, no more
shall every man teach his neighbor, no longer shall every man teach
his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they all shall know
me. When? when I teach them. When I teach them. The blessed truth we would hear
emphasizes this. God in his strict justice could
have left all mankind in our natural ignorance. And if God
had dealt with us in strict justice, none of us would have ever come
to Christ. because none of us would have ever heard of Christ,
nor learned of Christ, and given the wherewithal, the strength,
and the will to come. If God had dealt with us in strict
justice, none would have come. The second truth here to be learned
is this, that God in His sovereign grace has taught a great host
of men And they will come to Christ. Because God's promise
must be fulfilled. God said, I will teach them. God must do it. And He will. He promised and He fulfills everything
He promises. Fourth, the persons taught by
God. Our Savior says they all shall
be taught by God. Now it is most evident that this
all does not include every member of humanity for all humanity
will not come to Christ. So who is this all who shall
be taught by God? They are identified in verse
37. All that the Father gives me
will come to me. That's who the all is. They here are identified in two
ways. This all, first of all, is all
God's elect. This all is all whom God has
given to Christ. before the foundation of the
world, chosen unto salvation, predestined unto sonship and
adoption, accepted into beloved before
the foundation of the world. Every single solitary one of
them must come. to the one in whom they are accepted. They've been chosen to salvation,
they shall be saved. Been predestined to be sons,
they shall be sons. Accepted into beloved, they'll
come to the one in whom they are accepted. Every single solitary one of
them this is all whom God gave to the Son and this all is all
who will come to Christ and be taught as is written in the prophets
in these words 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. Now are you one
of those? Come. Let us go to the mountain
of the Lord's house. What is that? That's just church. Why did you come here today?
Got a new dress you want everybody to see? You thought we ought to be graced
by the beauty of your voice as you sing? Did you come because
you're lonely and had nobody to talk to? Nobody come visit
you so you figured you'd come out here? Did you come to be
social? Did you come in order to preserve
your perfect attendance record so that you can get another one
of them little things to hang down your lapel? Or do they still
do that? Why don't you come? To be taught by God. Come and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord's house and He shall teach us. Now that's what He's going to
do this morning. I hope. Leave Him alone. The Lord will
teach Him. I would hope that this morning
God's going to teach us something. despite the frailty and the worthlessness
of the vessel declaring the truth, may God teach us something. May He open our ears that we
may hear, give us hearts of flesh that we may believe, give us
the wherewithal to come to the One who teaches us. He will teach
us His ways, and if He does, we shall walk in His path. I
say to you, not one of these shall lack being taught by God. No one taught by God will fail
to come to Christ. And no one who comes to Christ
will ever be separated from Him. Fifth, the lesson taught by God. What does God teach? 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. How can you tell if a man has
come to Christ? How can you tell if he's learned the lesson? 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 desire
to do so. I'll come when I'm ready. I'll come when I decide to. I'll
come when I think it's time to make a decision for Christ. I'll
come when I think it's time to let Jesus do something for me
now that I've earned it. That man has never been taught
by God. Because when God teaches a man,
that man will confess, your people shall finally be willing in the
day of your power. Your people shall be volunteers
in the day of your power. When you move us, when you awaken
us, when you teach us, when you show us who we are, we'll run
from ourselves as fast as we can. When you show us who Christ
is, We'll run to Him as fast as we can. We'll do it in the day of your
power. Men prove they have not been taught by God when they
boast. We have our own personal righteousness. And we will not
go to Christ or go to Christ by trusting in His imputed righteousness
alone. Everybody likes to talk about
his own little personal righteousness. God says it's all filthy rags.
But we just have a proclivity to that in our Adamic nature
to want to talk about something good that we are, have done,
have said, have thought, or whatever. I mean, I'm not as bad as him. And I'm very proud of my humility. Those taught by God will confess,
I will go to Christ in the strength of the Lord God, and I will make
mention of thy righteousness, thine only, thine only. Until we learn to speak of the
righteousness of Christ alone, we show we have never come to
God. will quit boasting of self-righteousness
and boast of him who is our righteousness. And now sixth and last, the result
of being taught by God. The Master says, therefore everyone
who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. That's
the result. If you heard, if you learned,
you've come. This is the greatest result to
all wretched sinners who confess, I'm lost. I'm lost. Well, leave him alone. The Lord will deal with him.
And if he's truly lost, the Lord will see that he hears, and he
learns, and he comes. They hear from the Father when
He speaks comfort to them, telling them their warfare is over and
their sins are pardoned. That's what they hear. God's
man says, Comfort ye. Or the Lord says to His man,
Comfort ye, comfort ye My people. Whom do you comfort? That is
third. What is the duty of a gospel
preacher? to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed. And when God disturbs a soul
and begins to teach that soul, speak comfort. Tell them their
warfare is over and I won. Tell them they have received
from the Lord double for their iniquity. You mean he punished
me twice as much as I deserve? No. Means for one thing, God will give you twice as much
as you lost in Adam. You lost everything in Adam,
you get more than that back. The Lord will show you what a
glorious state it is to be in Christ. It's even better than
being in Adam, in his unfallen state. It is to know the glories
and the beauties of salvation, of redemption, justification,
sanctification, glorification, and all these blessings. This
is what we hear from the Father. He says, your sins are pardoned
through the blood of my Son. That's what they hear. They learn
from the Father when He shows them Christ as their only hope
of salvation. We have to learn that! And none
but God can teach it. And if God's your teacher, you
will be a learner. And third, they therefore come
to Christ through believing in Him, trusting and relying on
His person, His blood, His righteousness, and His sacrifice for their justification
and acceptance with God. God says to His bride, I will
teach all your children, they will hear the truth, they will
learn the truth, they will come to the truth, and then he says,
with great mercies, I will gather you in Christ. And there I was, a lost preacher, like so many others, lost church
members, lost religious people, having no knowledge of self and
less knowledge of Christ, oh, that God would teach us.
Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. Let us go to the
house of the God of Jacob. And oh Lord we pray that this
morning he would teach us. Open our ears that we may hear. Give us a new heart of flesh
that will beat with the vibrancy of your life Let the light shine in our hearts.
Let God shine in our hearts to reveal the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Give strength to legs that cannot walk except
in sin. Give sight to eyes that have
never seen the truth. Give utterance to mute mouths
that we may cry out, I'm lost. Show me Christ. The psalmist says, teach me your
way, O Lord. I will walk in your truth. Unite
my heart to fear your name. O God, our Father, teach us. We've been taught by philosophy
and human traditions and religion and churchisms and all kinds
of things, we desire to be taught of you. We pray that you be pleased
to teach us. Teach us about ourselves and
teach us about Christ. Let us hear, let us learn, let
us flee to Him, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor.