Turn back to John chapter six.
We're going to observe the Lord's table together tonight. Mark and Jessica Moore had Henry
James safely this week. And also Alexis is going to be
induced possibly Tuesday. So everybody remember that family
in prayer. John chapter six verse 45. It is written. Now, before I go on, it is written. That's all that counts. It is written. The Bible is the inspired word
of God. The Lord Jesus appeals to this. It is written. And I want to remind you that
we're looking at the inspired word of God this morning, not
man's thoughts. Somebody says, how can I believe
that God inspired men to write a book and keeps it preserved
from men's thoughts and errors? How do you expect me to believe
that? Well, God created the universe from nothing, didn't he? And
if God is able to create the universe from nothing, he is
able to inspire men to write a book to reveal his thoughts. We're not dependent upon man's
thoughts and man's ideas. It is written. That's where we must begin. It
is Now, let's go on reading verse
45. It is written in the prophets,
and this is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 54. And they shall
be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that has
heard and has learned of the Father. cometh unto me." I've
entitled this message, Taught of God. They shall all be taught of God.
You know what my response to that is? Lord, would you teach
me? Would you be pleased to be my
teacher? Will you enable me to hear from
you and to learn of you? It's written in the prophets
and they shall be all taught of God. Now this all is a reference
to the elect. John chapter six, verse 37, all
that the father giveth me shall come to me. The all is the elect. And here's what always happens
when a man is taught of God, they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they shall all be taught
of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. To whom coming? May God cause me and you to come
to him right now. To whom? Coming now in verse
41. The Jews then murmured at him. This is a inward grumbling that
comes out, I guess, in some gasps and some mumblings where they're
in disagreement with what he's saying. They didn't like this. They didn't agree with it. It
didn't sit well with them. 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 came down from heaven? Now, on one level, I understand their
objection. We know his mom and dad. We know
his brothers and sisters. We know where he was born. We
know his birthday. And he says, I came down from
heaven. How can he say that? I came down from heaven. I am that bread that came down
from heaven. We know his mom and dad. And yet these same people are
the people who ate the bread that he created the day before. The day before, the scripture
says he fed 5,000 men, not including women and children, probably
15 to 20,000 people with two sardines and five biscuits. A Rupp Arena holds 20,000 people,
21,000 people, something like that, big crowd. Can you imagine
somebody taking two sardines and five biscuits and feeding
everyone in that crowd to the full with that food and then
having 12 baskets of fragments left over? They had reason to
believe what he was saying when they saw him do what only God
can do. But here they are murmuring. The Lord says in verse 43, Jesus
therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. He heard the murmuring. And then
he answers their murmuring with a rather shocking statement. Listen to what he says. This
is his response. Not that he ever responds to
anything. I mean, everything he says is the word of God. It's
not response. But this is how he answers their
murmuring at him. Remember, they were murmuring
at him. Look in verse 41, the Jews then
murmured at him. He was the one they had a problem
with. And look at the way he answers
them. No man. can come to me. You are unable to come to me. It doesn't say you may not come
to me. It says you cannot come to me. Now those are the Lord's words,
not mine. This is how he responded. If you can use those words to
their murmuring and they're complaining at him, you fellas are murmuring
at me. You can't come to me except the
father, which has sent me draw you. Now that word draw. It's the same word James used
when he said, do not rich men draw you before the judgment
seats. It doesn't mean they come on
in fellas. No, they drug you in. The word
means to drag, to drag. Those are the Lord's words. You say men come against their
will? No, he makes you willing. He makes you willing. But it's
because of his dragging grace. These are the Lord's words, not
mine. You object to me, you can't come
to me. Except the Father which has sent
me draw you. Verse 44, no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him, bring him in
irresistibly and invincibly by his grace. And he says, and I
will raise him up at the last day. Now, these words remind
us that There's a day coming called the last day. That puts everything in perspective. Upon the last day is when we
will begin eternal conscious existence in heaven or in hell. What else is important? I will raise him up at the last
day. Look back in John chapter five,
verse 28. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming. And this is what he's referring
to. The hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall
hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good
unto the resurrection of life. And they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation. Now on this last day, it will
be the beginning of eternal conscious existence in heaven or in hell. Back to John chapter six. Now
he appeals to scripture. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Now this is what you
and I need, to be taught of God. You see, if the only teacher
is me, he won't do me or you any good at all. My only hope
is that God might be my teacher. When he teaches, you're taught.
I've heard people say, God's trying to teach me something.
No, he's not. God doesn't try to do anything. If he teaches,
you're taught. They shall all, and like I said
that speaking of the elect, when that word all is used once again
in John 637, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now, why does the Lord say to
these people No man can come to me. No man has the ability
to come to me. That's the word. Except the Father
which has sent me draw him. Why does the Lord use that language? Let me answer that real simply.
Sin. Sin. The reason a natural man
The way you and I are born into this world. The reason a natural
man cannot come to Christ is because of sin. S-I-N, sin. Human depravity. Now listen to these words from
John chapter six, verse five. saw that the wickedness of man. This is including me and you.
This is a general sweep of all humanity. And God saw the wickedness
of Todd. Put your name in there because
it belongs there. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart. Not even talking about the actions
right now. We're talking about the stuff that goes on in the
mind, in the heart. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. That's what God says about my
heart. That's what God says about your heart. Every thought that goes through
your mind Your heart. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter
17 verse 9, the heart. Now the heart is the whole man.
It's not talking about that muscle that pumps the blood. It's talking
about the whole man, his mind, his affections, what he loves,
his will. The heart is deceitful. Your heart's deceitful. My heart's
deceitful. Don't trust your heart. Don't
trust your thoughts. Your thoughts are wrong. How can you say that? Because God says it. The heart
is deceitful above all things. Desperately, incurably is the
word. Incurably wicked. Who can know
it? Why does the Lord say no man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw up? Because
me and you are so sinful, we can't come. We can't come, and
that's our crime. That's not the world we feel
sorry for. No, that's our crime that we're so evil, so sinful,
so depraved that we cannot come unless the Father draws us. Now, that's the word of God.
That's what Christ says. Now, intellectually, a man cannot
understand coming to Christ. He may have the intellect of
Einstein and grasp the theory of relativity and know what E
equals MC squared means, but he doesn't have a clue as to
what it means to come to Christ. It's above him. It's beyond him. He can't grasp this thing of
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's beyond him. Listen to this
scripture from 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. The natural man
receiveth not. the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him. Neither indeed can he know
them, because they're spiritually discerned. You have to be given
a new heart. You have to be given a spirit.
The natural man, he's got a soul, but he doesn't have a spirit.
When you're born of God, you're given that spiritual nature that
discerns. But until you're given that nature
that discerns, Me and you are clueless. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. If you're a natural man,
you'll reject what I'm saying. It's going to be foolishness
to you. You're going to say, this is ridiculous. This is absurd.
unless God gives you a new heart. You see, the natural man has
no affection for Jesus Christ. No love for him as he's revealed
in his word. Now, people are okay with the false Jesus that
you got in your back pocket and you can pull him out whenever
you want and get him to do whatever you want him to do. Nobody's
mad at that Jesus. But the Christ of the Bible,
no natural man has any love for him. We don't have a will for
him. The Lord said, you will not come
to me. that you might have life. That's the state of the natural
man. And that's why no man can come
to him. And that is our crime. We have
no mind for Christ. We have no love for Christ. We
have no will to come to him. We are in bondage to an evil
nature and we will not come unless God draws us. Now that's what
scripture teaches. Somebody says that's a harsh
view. No, it's not. It's a scriptural view. It's a scriptural view. It's what the Lord said. This
is the Lord's language. No man can come to me. except
the Father which has sent me draw him. That means if he doesn't
draw us irresistibly and invincibly by his omnipotent grace, we will
go to hell. And that we'll be getting exactly
what we deserve. Amen? That's the truth. But thank God, Well, if this
is all I had to say, it'd be a depressing message, wouldn't
it? But thank God, there's a vast number of people that he draws. The elect. The ones he termed in this way,
all that the Father giveth me. There's a great, vast number
of people that he gave to Christ before time began. and he says they will all come
to me. Now, you can argue with that,
or you can say, Lord, draw me. Draw me, we'll run after thee.
The Shulamite said, well, draw me and we'll run after thee.
Lord, draw me. Lord, teach me. Lord, let me
hear from thee. Let me learn of thee. Verse 45,
it's 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. Now let's look where this was
written in the Prophets. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 54? Verse 13. It's written in the prophets
and they shall all be taught of God. Now look at verse 13
of Isaiah chapter 54. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord. Oh, I pray that everybody in
this room will be taught of the Lord. And here's what happens when
you're taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy
children." If I'm taught of the Lord, I'm
going to have great peace. Now what's that all about? Sometimes
I feel like I'm in such turmoil. Sometimes I'm worried. Sometimes
I look at myself and I think, do I even know the Lord? What
is this talking about great peace? What do I know of this great
peace being spoken of in the text? Now, if there's one thing
that I must do before I can be saved, I have no peace. If there's something I have to
come up with before God can save me, if my salvation is dependent
upon my faith or my repentance or my holy living or my ability
to stop any one particular sin and not commit it anymore. I
have no peace and no hope. Now, what is this thing of great
peace? Everything God requires of me,
Jesus Christ did. Great peace. That's the peace of justification.
Everything God requires of me, Jesus Christ did. When He said, it is finished,
nothing for me to do. Great peace. The peace of justification. The peace of Colossians 1 20
when it says, Having made peace through the blood of His cross. I love it. When I've been talking
about this, when I'm preaching, when I'm talking about this great
peace from what He did, I can feel tension leaving my body,
even right now. Great peace. The peace of justification. Ephesians 2 14 says, He is our
peace. The peace of if God be for us,
who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Come on, bring it on. God justified
him. Who is he to condemn? Christ
died. Yea, rather that's risen. All
my peace is in him. Great should be the peace of
thy children. Look what it says next, verse
14. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. The peace is because in righteousness
I've been established. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter
five, verse 21, For He, God the Father, hath made Him, Jesus
Christ His Son, to be sin. Who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now there's the peace. Absolute,
perfect righteousness. In righteousness, verse 14, shalt
thou be established, thou shalt be far from oppression. For thou
shalt not fear, for there's nothing to fear. If God be for us, who
can be against us? And from there, it shall not
come near thee. Behold, verse 15, they shall
surely gather together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather
together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Nobody's going
to lay anything to the charge of God's elect. Behold, God says,
I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire
and bringeth forth an ensign for his work, and I have created
the waster to destroy. Everything is mine, including
the waster to destroy. You see, the devil's God's devil,
and he can't make a move without God allowing it, purposing it,
causing it for his glory and his people's good. The Lord said, I form the light,
I create darkness. I make peace, I create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. That waster to destroy, he's
mine, and he's going to be used for your good. Verse 17, no weapon
that's formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Now this
is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And here's where
this great peace comes from. Their righteousness, what is of me? Now you know when you're
gonna have great peace? You're gonna have great peace
when you believe that the only righteousness you have is the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. You know what that's gonna give
you? Peace. If you're looking to yourself
for anything, you're not gonna have any peace. You may say you
do, but you don't. But if you have learned what
Jeremiah meant when he said, this is the name wherewith he
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. You see, my righteousness
is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He took my sin and put
it away, and he gave me his righteousness, and now I'm the very righteousness
of God. Peace. great shall be the peace
of thy children. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Now, if God's your teacher,
here's what you'll do. Every man that hath heard and
hath learned of the Father cometh to me. Now, here's the big question
that comes to my mind. What in the world does it mean
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, the reason I ask that question
is because there's nothing physical about this. You came into this
room this morning. It was a physical move. You walked
through whichever door you came in. and sat down, you came into
this room. And you can grasp that, you left
something, you left home this morning, you came into this room.
You know, when you come to Christ, there's something you're leaving.
You're leaving salvation by works. That's what you're leaving. You
can't come somewhere without leaving somewhere else. You leave
any hope of self-salvation. When you come to Christ, you
leave all hopes of doing anything to save yourself. And you come
to Christ for salvation. Now, this thing of coming to
Christ, it's spiritual. It's spiritual. It's the motion
of spiritual life. You know, living things move.
This is the movement. You come to Christ. This is the
evidence of election. All that the Father giveth me
That's election, shall come to me. This is the evidence of election. And this is the message of the
church. I love Revelation 22, verse 17, where it says, and
the spirit and the bride say, come. Don't wait. Don't improve. Don't get better. Don't wait till you feel more.
Don't wait till you experience more. Don't wait till you've
done whatever it is you think you need. No, come right now. Come unto me. The Lord says,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden. That's laboring and heavy
laden with this thing of sin. What's he saying? Come to me. And I will give you rest. That's his promise. And beloved,
it's a command. Come to me. Well, what if I'm
not one of the elect? Come to me. Don't think that. Come to me. This is his command. This is not good advice. This
is his command. Young people. He says, come to
me. Don't wait till you get better.
Don't wait for anything. Don't wait. Come to me right
now. Come as you are to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now somebody says, what in the
world does that mean? And that's a good question. I
want to know, what does it mean to come to Christ? Well, in Mark
chapter one, verse 40, we read, there came a leper to him. Now that man came to Christ.
It says that. There came a leper to him. Now I want you to turn with me
to Matthew chapter eight. This is Matthew's account of
what Mark said when he said there came a leper to him. And I don't think that there's
a clear exposition of what it means to come to Christ in this
passage of scripture. Matthew chapter eight. Verse one, when he was come down from the
mountain, after he preached that message, the Sermon on the Mount. Oh, what a glorious message.
The Sermon on the Mount, blessed. He tells us who are blessed.
Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the poor. Blessed
are the meek. He tells us who are blessed.
In that Sermon on the Mount, Seven or eight times he said,
I say to thee, you've heard it said by them of old, and they
would even quote a scripture. He'll quote a scripture. You've
heard it said by them. They're old, but I say to thee absolute authority
that's established in the sermon on the mountain. As a matter
of fact, look at the way it ends in verse 28 of Matthew chapter seven.
It came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people
were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them as one having
authority. Not as the scribes, not as the
religious. You know, anytime I'm out, I
don't want to tell anybody I'm a preacher, because I know they'll
hate me. Yeah, he's a preacher. There's
just something about that that people just, I don't like preachers. I don't, I don't. I mean, if
I see a preacher, I'm gonna turn the other way. I don't like religious
people. The Lord didn't either. He spake
as one having authority. What he said recommended itself
as the very word of God. Not like the scribes. When he
was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him
and behold, this is remarkable. This is something that ought
to get our attention. If you want to know what it means
to come to Jesus Christ, listen up and behold. There came a leper and worshiped him saying,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. A leper came to him. And Luke's account gives a detail
that Matthew doesn't. This man was full of leprosy. You know what that means? That means there wasn't one square
inch of his body that wasn't covered with leprosy. And you know that leprosy represents
sin. I want to read you a passage
of scripture from Leviticus chapter 13. You can turn there if you
want to. Verse 9, when the plague of leprosy
is in a man, Leviticus 13 9, then shall he
be brought into the priest and the priest shall see him and
behold if the rising be white in the skin and have turned the
hair white and there be quick raw flesh. Now what is raw flesh? Living flesh, flesh that does
not yet have leprosy. You hear that? If there's any
healthy flesh, that's what quick raw flesh is healthy. Flesh flesh, not affected by
leprosy. It's an old leprosy in the skin
of the flesh. The priest shall pronounce him on claim. and shall not shut him up, for
he's unclean. And if the leprosy break out
abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that
hath the plague from his head, even to his foot, wheresoever
the priest looketh, then the priest shall consider, and behold,
if the leprosy hath covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce
him clean. This man came full of leprosy.
You see, if you've got some clean flesh, go back to the leper colony. If you're completely full of
sin. Like Peter. Depart from me, Lord. I am a sin full man. Behold, there came a leper. Full of leprosy. Full of sin. And what's it say about this
leper? And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him. Here's what comes first. He's
to be worshipped whether he saves you or not. He's to be worshipped whether
he cleanses you or not. He's worthy to be worshipped
for who He is, and that has to be settled first. If you can
argue against Him, if you can say, Lord, this is not fair,
I don't think He should, forget it! He is to be worshipped for
who He is. And let me say this, you will
only worship a sovereign. if you don't worship him as the
sovereign you're in his hands he's not yours and he can do
with you whatever he's pleased to do he can save you or he can
pass you by it's up to him you worship a sovereign that's the
way you come to him you worship a sovereign he came and worshipped
him saying Lord. He's the Lord. That's who he is. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the Lord of providence. He controls everything that takes
place. He's the Lord of salvation. He can save you if he's pleased
to do so. You acknowledge that. Lord. Look what he says next. If you will. He doesn't say, Lord, I will
that thou make me clean. Why, that'd be offensive. He's
the Lord. You don't talk. You know, when you find out who
he is, free will is altogether gone. You see that your will
is controlled by sin and by sinful nature, and you can't change
yourself. You see that if you see who he is. And you don't
come saying, Lord, I will that you do this, or I'm going to
let you do this, or I'm going to accept you as my personal
savior. All that language is just gone
when you find out who he is. Lord, if you will, it's all up
to you. If you will, you can. You're able to make me clean. I can't make myself clean. You're
able. If you will, you can. You're able. to make me clean. I can't make myself clean. Only
you can make me clean. That's what I need before God
to be clean. And the only way I can be clean
and acceptable in his presence is if he makes me clean. Is that what it is to come to
Christ? Yes. Worship. Come full of leprosy,
full of sin. Worship him for who he is. Whatever
he does is right. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. That's what it is to come to
Christ. And it's written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that
has heard and learned of the father cometh to me. And look at this third verse,
and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him. This unclean leper probably hadn't
experienced human touch in years. As a matter of fact, he was called
upon to keep a cloth over his mouth. And when somebody came
to him and say, unclean, you don't want to be near me. And
the Lord put forth his hand and touched him. The other account
says he was moved with compassion, moved with compassion saying,
I will. Be thou clean. And immediately, his leprosy
was cleansed. Let's pray. Lord, we know from your word
that we cannot come to thy son, as we've just read. unless you're
pleased to draw us. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that you, in your grace and mercy, will draw us unto
your son. For Christ's sake, in his name
we pray, amen.