Good evening. I invite your attention to the
gospel according to John chapter six. I was born 1948, sixty years ago, in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. My father, at the time of my
birth, was a very irreligious man. That's probably putting
it softly. He was living in infidelity. and an open rebellion against
God, partly because of what he had come through in World War
II by his own account. The first time he ever prayed
was the day I was born. And the reason for his prayer
was that he says I was the ugliest baby he had ever seen. He was
convinced there was something bad wrong with me. And he prayed,
I might be normal. It is often questioned whether
the Lord ever answered that prayer. He shortly after that time began
to live in piety, made a profession of faith, became quite religious. This was about 1950 or so. Shortly after that time, the
Lord began to do a very remarkable thing in the city of Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, a great spiritual awakening. And two preachers
in particular, and there may have been pastors as well, I
would not know, but two preachers, evangelists, were greatly used
of the Lord. The first of these was a pastor
from Louisville, Kentucky, named A.D. Muse. He was invited to
preach in a church on Urban Street in Winston-Salem, close to where
my father then lived. And my father attended one night,
sat on the front, and his purpose for being there that night, along
with some of his friends, was that they were going to pray
silently while this man preached 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. However, the Lord was pleased
to overrule that night, and my father learned the gospel while
Lady Muse was preaching. My father became very zealous
for the truth. The Lord blessed him to gather
a church in Winston-Salem. And then the second man who was
used of the Lord mightily came into my father's life, and that
was a preacher by the name of Rolf Barnard. Rolf Barnard was
a professor in a seminary there in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And many of you perhaps know
his name because he caused no small stir in Ashland, Kentucky. Indeed, about everywhere the
gentleman went, no small stir occurred. And Rolf Barnard began to teach my father, and
my father learned much from him. As a young lad that Rolf Barnard
held a meeting for my father just about every fall, this included
the nine years or so we lived in Raynell, West Virginia. We
moved back to Winston-Salem in 1966. My father took the pastorate
of a church there and remained as pastor of that church until
last month, retiring because of bad health. The Lord was pleased
to raise a few young men out of that church and from other
churches nearby. Two men among the two that were
raised out of my father's ministry were Don Fortner down in Danville
and hopefully myself. Also in that city, other preachers
were raised up, a young man named Jim Bird and another man I'll
mention in a moment. But the Lord used the work of
these two men, A.D. Mews and Rolf Barnard, in such
a great way that had a lasting effect from the 1950s. Another spiritual awakening occurred
in Winston-Salem during the third week of June in the year of our
Lord, 1975, in Winston-Salem. The venue was Victory Chapel. on Tice Avenue on the north side
of the city. A little congregation pastored
by my dear friend Fred Wood had purchased a residence, and they
had knocked some walls out and converted it into a church building.
And there they met and had scheduled a week of meetings, had brought
in a visiting preacher to preach for a week for them. The first
night that I attended was on the 16th of June, 1975, and everyone
that attended, I think, saw the mighty hand of God working in
a rather marvelous manner. We also saw the nefarious hand
of the adversary at work. At 2 a.m. one morning, someone
climbed under the church building and set a fire in the hope of
burning the building down. Thankfully, their purpose was
thwarted. But a good number of attendees
that week became deeply troubled over the condition of their souls
through the preaching of the gospel. One of these was a classmate
of mine in the local school of religion, and I recall toward
the end of the week he telephoned me and he was sobbing and weeping
over the telephone. thought he had been made to realize
that week that he was lost. However, his professors in the
School of Religion and his friends, classmates, and particularly
his wife, whom I could hear on that occasion in the background
while we talked, were telling him that the preacher was a false
prophet and that he was saved and that it was wrong of this
preacher to have brought such undue concern to this gentleman. knowledge, my friend, heeded
the counsel of his wife and seminarians and did not heed the gospel. But three men that week, claiming
to be gospel preachers, were convicted of their sins. These
three experienced not that sorrow of the world that produces death,
but rather that Godly sorrow that produces repentance, leading
to salvation 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
one of them because this was in 75 and 79. My wife and I relocated to the
Virgin Islands, and I hope he has remained faithful to his
commitment. The second young preacher the
Lord saved that week was a young, slender, red-haired meat cutter
who owned a butcher shop in North Winston. His name was Tim James. He has now pastored for lo these
many years in Cherokee, North Carolina. And the third man claiming
to be a gospel preacher whom the Lord was pleased to save
that week was myself. I was at that time a devout Calvinist
and an ardent Baptist. And the first night I attended
was Monday night, June the 16th, 1975. I sat on this front row
to the left of the preacher, and he took his text from John
6, 45. in which text Jesus Christ declares,
it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught
by God. And therefore everyone who has
heard and learned from the Father comes to me. And the preacher
announced that he was going to preach that night on the subject
of what God teaches a sinner. He preached that night on what
sinners are taught about themselves when God teaches a sinner. He
preached on total depravity, and he set it forth very clearly.
Well, I was an ardent Calvinist, and he was preaching to the choir,
and I recall sitting on the front row and letting everyone know
in a vocal way that I agreed with everything he said, as though
my agreement meant anything. But I did come back the next
night. 17th of June, Tuesday night,
1975, my wife's birthday. She came with me that night.
This night we sat on the right-hand side of the preacher, about the
second row from the front against the wall, and the preacher again
took the same text, John's Gospel, chapter 6, verse 45. And he again
announced he was going to preach again on what God teaches a sinner. And this night, having set forth
the night before what God teaches a sinner about himself, this
night he preached on what God teaches a sinner about Jesus
Christ. He had not progressed far into
his message until I realized that I did not know this Christ
he was preaching, though I claimed to be a preacher of Christ. And when that realization first
struck me, I said aloud, I'm lost. And the preacher said,
leave him alone, the Lord will deal with him, and continued
preaching. And as he continued preaching, I became more lost. more realizing of my lost condition. And again, I said aloud, I'm
lost. And the preacher said, leave
him alone. The Lord will deal with him.
And he continued preaching. And he had gone a bit further
into his message until I jumped to my feet and I exclaimed, O
God, O God, I've been given a counterfeit. referring to the gospel I had
embraced while in Pentecostalism, and I ran out of the auditorium
and into a classroom by the front door. And there, all alone with
the Lord, I begged Him that He would save this sinner, this
preacher who did not know the man he claimed to be preaching. I am delighted to report that
the Lord was pleased to answered the prayer, he revealed Christ
to this sinner in all his saving glory, and then drew me to Christ
and gave me both the will and the strength with which to flee
to Christ, and Christ received me. I learned a lot that night. They shall all be taught by God. And tonight, if God be pleased,
I'd like to take my text again from From that very same text,
preached to you tonight, if God be pleased, 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. Now, let's go to the first point,
the gist of being taught by God. What is it? To be taught by God
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, but let's just
break it down, if you will. It is to have the truth of God.
You've been told a lie about Him from the very beginning.
It is to have the truth of God revealed in the heart of man,
not merely in his mind. It is not merely a head knowledge.
The Lord gives a heart knowledge when He teaches sinners And this
is done by the Holy Spirit because I cannot do it and you cannot
do it. The Spirit of God must do this
in order that we might spiritually apprehend a true knowledge of
self and of Christ. Because until God teaches you,
you don't know who you are. And until God teaches you, you
do not know who Christ is. And therefore, the gist of being
taught by God is this. You're finally going to learn
who you are and whom Christ is. And otherwise, the natural man
does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. These things
are foolishness to him because they are spiritually discerned.
So that's the gist of being taught by God. Second, the necessity
of being taught by God. Why is it necessary to be taught
by God? Well, the answer is found in
verse number 44. No one, Jesus says, no one can
come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. Now, that is the necessity being
taught by God, because until God teaches you, you cannot come
to Christ. Man has a natural inability to
come to Christ. This natural inability is coupled
with a natural unwillingness to come to Christ. Jesus says
in John chapter 5 verse 14, you are not willing to come to me
that you may have life. So man has both a natural inability
to come and a natural unwillingness to come. And he is unable to
come because he is unwilling to come. Man untaught by God
will not come to Christ, and I'll give you two reasons. First,
he thinks too highly of himself, and second, he thinks too lowly
of Christ. And until a man is taught by
God, he will not have a true realization of whom and what
he is, nor a true realization of whom and what Christ is. For
example, 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. Until God teaches a sinner, a
sinner thinks, well, you know, I just kind of believe that my
good deeds will outweigh my bad ones. A man untaught by God doesn't
realize he doesn't have a good deed. He has never performed
a righteous deed. He has never uttered a righteous
word. He has never imagined a righteous thought. In him dwells no good
thing, but he does not know that until God teaches him. Man thinks that, well, I'm okay
and you're okay. Preachers are telling us that.
Are they not? Man untaught by God thinks too
highly of himself and too lowly of Christ. And therefore, God
must teach such a man else that man will never learn the truth
and see the need to come to Christ for salvation. Oh, and I tell
you what, this is an offensive truth. You mean to tell me that
man is a worm of the earth? Oh, he could wish he were that
high. You mean to tell me that I am a wretch? That doesn't halfway
describe how bad we are. My Lord taught that truth in
this passage. You can't come to me, and you
will not come to me. No one can come to me unless
my Father draws him. And this truth is so offensive
that thousands of disciples listening to this very message got up and
walked away and left the Master while he preached. This is offensive. It is offensive for men to be
taught whom they are. And it is offensive for a man
to be taught whom Christ is. God, therefore, must give to
such a man not only an ear to hear the truth, but he must take
out that old stony heart and put in a live, beating heart
that will receive the truth and learn to do it. Now, the third
point is this, the promise of being taught by God. And there
is a promise. The promise is found in our text
in these words, it is written in the prophets. Well, my friend,
if it is written in the prophets, it is promised by God. It must
be done. It is written in the prophets.
Now, reference here is first to the prophets of Jehovah, to
his bride, recorded in Isaiah 54, verse 13, where the Lord
says, all your children, speaking to his church, all your children
shall be taught by the Lord. Well, if the Lord made that promise,
it must come to pass. It is written in the prophets,
and a promise being taught by God was given throughout the
writings of the prophets. being taught by God is prophesied
when he said, I will put my law in their minds, and I will write
my law on their hearts, and no more shall every man teach his
neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they
shall all know me. Why shall they all know him?
Because I will teach them. It is written in the prophets,
and God has promised, I will teach them, and then they shall
know. There will be no need for men
to teach you. The Lord will teach you, He says. The blessed truth we would here
emphasize is this, that God has made a promise, but God in His
strict justice could have left all mankind in our natural ignorance
so that none of us would have ever come to Christ if God had
saved only one member of our race that is infinitely more
than our race ever deserved. God in strict justice could have
left us, but God made a promise. God made a promise that I will
teach all my children, and God in His sovereign grace has taught
a great host of men, and every single solitary one of them will
learn and come to Christ. Every one. Why? Because God promised. And it must be fulfilled. It
is written in the prophets. Fourth, the persons taught by
God. The text says, they all shall
be taught by God. How many is all? Every one of
them. All. They all shall be taught
by God. Well, who is the all? It is most
evident that this all does not include every member of humanity.
Because every humanity does not come to Christ, as we already
have observed. Rather, Christ had earlier identified
this 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. Now, that's who the all is. It
is all that the Father gives me. And all that the Father gives
me will come to me, because all that the Father gives me will
be taught to come, and they will come. This all is identified
in two ways, therefore. This all is all God's elect. This is all whom God has given
to Christ. In the Council of Eternity, when
before the foundation of the world God chose a people in His
Christ, predestined them unto sonship, and accepted them in
the blood, and every single solitary one of them God gave to the Son. And then Jesus says, and they'll
all come to Me. All that the Father gave Me shall
come to Me. Why? because God is going to
teach them to come. They will be taught of God, and
when God teaches sinners, they come, every single solitary one
of them. This all is all who will come
to Christ to be taught, as also written in the prophets. The
prophets wrote these words. Many people shall come and say,
And let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob. That's His church. The mountain
of the Lord and the house of Jacob is the church of Christ.
And listen, where shall we go? He will teach us His ways, and
we shall walk in His paths. Why are you here tonight? Why
did you come? Got a new dress you want us all
to see? New suit? Did your pastor promise you that
if you came tonight, he would teach you on financial security,
how to be successful? Is that why you came? Were you promised that if you
came tonight, you'd learn how to get along with your wife or
your husband? Did your pastor promise you that
if you came tonight that you would learn how to raise perfect
children? Or did you come tonight because
you just don't know who to vote for in the next election? Or
you don't know where the next protest rally is to be held,
and you need to know what to put on your placard? Now, my
friends, there are, what, hundreds, if not thousands of churches
in your part of the state, and that's what they're going to
learn tonight. financial security, how to get along with that difficult
woman I married, or that impossible husband, or how come my children
are so rebellious and I need to find out what to do, or I
just don't know who to vote for. And all around us, thousands
and thousands of people are going to be taught those kinds of things. When God teaches you, you say,
come. Let us go up to the Mount of
the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach
us His ways, and we will walk in His laws. That's why we've
come. O Lord, teach me this night. I want this to be the night again
when the promise is fulfilled that they shall all be taught
by God. Teach us, O Lord. I want to be
one of these. Not one of these shall lack being
taught by God, and not one of these taught by God shall fail
to come to Christ, and not one of these who comes to Christ
will ever be separated from Him. Because when God teaches you,
you learn. You learn. Fifth, the lesson
taught by God. What would He teach you? 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 His Son. Now, that's the lesson
to be taught. You're incapable of coming, but
if God teaches you, you will come. Men prove they have not
been taught by God when they boast. We may of our own free
will and strength come to God any time we desire to do so.
Well, please show me one who ever did. Show me one. Show me one who ever came to
Christ of his own free will and of his own strength. There's
nary a one, none, not one. When a man says he can come of
his own strength and free will, what he's saying is, I've not
learned anything from God. When God teaches you, you'll
say this. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." And when God teaches and gives strength,
then they volunteer and come, and they're drawn because they're
taught of God. And that's what people taught
of God do. They flee to Christ in the day of God's power. 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. You mean to tell me I
don't have any righteousness? Not a shred. Not a shred. You mean to tell me that you
think that I'm supposed to trust in the righteousness of someone
else? If God teaches you, you will. When God teaches you, you'll
learn that the only righteousness that suffices is Jesus Christ,
Jehovah, our righteousness. And the only righteousness that
you can have is that imputed by God by His grace to those
who trust in His Son. The only righteousness that we
who have been taught by God would want to boast of is the righteousness
of someone else. Oh, that I might know him. I would not have my own own righteousness,
that which is of the law, but that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness of God. Oh, that I might be found
in him, that he and he alone would be my righteousness." That's
what God teaches. When God teaches a sinner, that
sinner will say, I will go to Christ in the strength of the
Lord God, and I will make mention of thy righteousness and thine
only." That's what God teaches. God teaches you to forsake every
shred of self-righteousness you think you have. It's a filthy
rag. God teaches you to trust in Jesus
Christ alone and find all his righteousness in Christ Sixth
and last, the result of being taught by God. It's found in
our text. Here it is. Therefore, everyone
who has heard and learned from the Father, Jesus says, comes
to me. Now that, my friend, is the gracious
result. To all wretched sinners who will
confess, I'm lost. I'm lost. Well, just leave him
alone. The Lord will deal with him.
Let the Lord teach a man something and he'll learn it. Let a man
learn he's lost. And the gracious result is this.
He will hear and learn and come. The three verbs our Lord uses. Hear and learn and come. What do they hear? They hear
from the Father when He speaks comfort to them. He tells them
that their warfare is over and that their sins are pardoned.
They hear from the Father. He speaks comfort. The gospel
preacher has two duties. Number one, to disturb the comfortable,
and second, to comfort the disturbed. And God speaks through His preachers,
and He says, now, comfort ye, comfort ye My people. Tell them
their warfare is over, and tell them, I won. I won. Throw down your arms of rebellion.
Tell them that their warfare is over. Tell them that they
have received pardon. Tell them that they have received
the Lord double for their iniquity. Does that mean the Lord punished
you twice as much as you deserve? No. It means that the grace of
His salvation is at least twice as great as the damnation we
deserve. It means that we gain a whole
lot more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam. It means that infinite
grace and mercy the Lord has for us, just go ahead and double
it, Because you have received the Lord double for your iniquities. Tell them their sins are pardoned.
Oh, that was sweet news to this sinner. When the Lord began. To open his ears. And spoke, hey, Moose, it's over. It's over, I won. The battle
is over. He brought comfort. I heard. I learned. I learned from the
Father when he shows Christ as the only hope of salvation. I
was so proud of my Calvinism. I was so proud of being a Baptist. And I was so proud of this and
that and the other. And it just wasn't worth anything,
was it? Worth nothing when you learn
from the Father that Christ is all. Christ is all. The Father speaks
words of comfort. They who hear then learn from
the Father whom and what Christ is. And then third, they come. They hear, they learn, they come. They come to Christ through believing
in Him, trusting and relying on His person alone, His blood
alone, His righteousness alone, His sacrifice for their justification
and acceptance with God. They come. They come. You know, I supposedly may say
that the longest distance in the universe is the distance
between a sinner and Christ. Longest distance there is. We
and all our sin and He and all His righteousness. What a great
gulf is fixed. And yet He says, come. And you
know what? When you take the first step,
you have arrived. Take that first step. Now, you'll
keep coming the rest of your life. But take that first step
and you have arrived. Because they that hear will learn.
And they that learn will come, relying and trusting on Christ
alone. And God promises all whom He
teaches that with great mercies I will gather you in Christ. You'll come to Christ. I'll gather
you in Him. You were in Him from before the
foundation of the world, and you'll be in Him for all eternity." And there I was. lost as I could
be until God taught the lesson. Oh, that God might teach us tonight
again and again and again, and perhaps someone for the first
time, that God might come down and teach a sinner whom is the
sinner and what a Savior Christ is. Teach me your way, O Lord. I
will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name.