TAUGHT OF GOD
By Winston Pannell
John 6:45
Read
Proverbs 4: 1-13.
Here we have
instructions from God, through the writing of the wisest man who ever lived to
seek after wisdom and understanding. At Solomon’s request for understanding to
govern as king of Israel, God said to him in 1 Kings 3; “Because thou has
asked for, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart so that there was
none like thee before thee, neither shall there arise any like unto thee. And I
have also given thee that which thou has not asked, both riches and honor: so
that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.” Solomon,
third king of
Why is wisdom so important? Read v-13. “For she is thy life.” No one should underestimate the importance of wisdom and understanding. And no one has all wisdom and understanding. The process of learning begins (some think at conception) and never ends. Even in heaven those who have wisdom will continue to behold the wonders of God throughout eternity as they learn of him.
The sad reality is that there are many who pursue wisdom and never find it. They might attain great heights of knowledge and understanding. They might “have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and have all faith, so that they could remove mountains,” as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13 and still be ignorant of truth. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy of this spiritual ignorance upon those who are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7)
Then there are those who put down knowledge and promote ignorance. They accuse those who seek after wisdom and understanding of making doctrine their god. They promote mysticism and emotionalism in lieu of wisdom in truth. They hold to such philosophy as this: “all I need to know is that I’m just a sinner and Christ saves sinners.” Those who know the truth know this is not salvation knowledge. It is true Christ saves sinners but he also sends sinners to hell who are void of his righteousness. Jesus said this of wisdom and knowledge in John 17:3; “this is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.” Salvation is not just knowledge and wisdom, but is both in truth concerning the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Such knowledge and wisdom is “hidden from the wise and prudent but it is revealed unto babes.” (Luke 10:21) It is hidden from those who are righteous within, those who opt for saving themselves by “trusting in themselves that they are righteous”, (Luke 18:9) and rejecting the Savior of Gods choosing and sending. To babes, (those in total dependence upon God for grace) truth is revealed.
Well, where does one get wisdom and understanding? What is the source of true wisdom? Read John 6:45. “And they shall be all taught of God.” We know this does not mean every person on earth shall be taught of God because this verse also says; every man therefore who has heard, and learned of the Father, comes unto me.” Every man who is taught of God listens, learns and lives. We know that most don’t come to Christ. They don’t listen, learn and therefore they do not live spiritually. They reject Christ as the one sent of the Father to make reconciliation for his people at the cross. They will not come to the true Christ but will readily come to a counterfeit. They do this for one of two reasons: they are either ignorant of Christ’s Person and work to establish a righteousness of such value that God can remain just when He justifies ungodly sinners or they go about seeking to establish a righteousness of their own in opposition to Gods righteousness in Christ. (Romans 10:1-4.) They will not submit to Christ’s righteousness for all their salvation. Either way they have not been taught of God.
What does God teach his children? Those of us who have been taught the truth concerning how God saves sinners know, and readily admit that we don’t have all the answers. There is much we don’t know. But there are some things about which we are dogmatic. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 2: 20 these words; “but you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and no lie is of the truth.” These truths, (these all things of which John speaks) are not known to the natural mind. They have to be revealed to man by the Holy Spirit of God under the preaching of the gospel. Unless and until we are taught of God these truths we remain in darkness. He say’s here in1 John; “you know all things.” We know John is not saying we have total knowledge about all things but that we know all things necessary to reveal our salvation in Christ. It is this truth that sets men free: free from the bondage of going about seeking to establish a righteousness of our own, and resting in Christ.
I submit for
your consideration three truths God teaches to all his children. I know, and
have stated that we never stop learning as we grow in grace and knowledge of
God in Christ, but these three truths are revealed to all those for whom Christ
died and God redeemd. God teaches his people that:
Satan’s lie since the fall of man is that salvation is
conditioned on the sinner. Natural man reasons thus: I got myself into this
mess; it’s up to me to right the wrong I’ve done. When God confronted Adam with
his sin, his first reaction was to hide himself from God and cover up his
nakedness, (his exposure to God’s wrath.) The lesson God taught him about
substitution, satisfaction and imputation has remained a mystery to the vast
majority of sinners to this day. I know that I was ignorant of these truths,
much less believe them. If you who know you are saved today are honest, you
will have to admit the same was true with you. If Adam, to whom God gave great
wisdom, didn’t know the answer for his sin, (evidenced by his sewing fig leaves
to cover himself), how can we, who are plagued with sin, admit anything but
ignorance of God’s way of salvation by nature.
God’s testimony is that all men, by nature, are ignorant of the fact
that salvation is not man’s work; it is God’s alone. Read Romans 10:1
God, the Holy Spirit, speaking through the
Apostle Paul, says in v-1; “my hearts desire and prayer to God for
Faith that believes God’s testimony is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not in us by nature; we are not born with it; it is not by us; we had nothing to do in producing it and it is only given to that sinner who was justified at the cross, two thousand years ago. How could I have anything to do with something that happened 2000 years before I was even born? It is true that in time, in each successive generation God enables us to receive by faith what Christ accomplished for us on the cross as all our salvation, but the establishment and the implementation of our salvation is totally of the Lord.
A good
illustration is that of physical birth. None of us had a hand in our physical
birth. We didn’t have a choice as to when we would be born, to whom we would be
born, where we would be born or under what circumstance we would be born.
Everything about our natural birth happened without any input from us
personally. The same can be said for our spiritual birth. Sinners have no part
in deciding if, or when, or where, or how we will experience the new birth.
God’s word is explicit in it’s declaration that a sinners spiritual birth is; “not
of blood, (it’s not a physical thing, it’s not inherited from our parents)
nor of the will of the flesh, (it’s not a personal accomplishment) nor
of the will of man, (it’s not of mama’s calling) but of God,”(it’s
of the Spirit of God) John 1:13. Read John 6:44, 63. The flesh
contributes nothing toward the saving of our souls. If the Spirit doesn’t give
life, there is no life, John 6:65. Christ said this of lost sinners in
John 5:40; “you will not come to me that you might have life. Sinners,
by nature will not have God’s salvation. They insist on believing that God has
done all he can do for sinners and the rest is up to them. And sinners go on
believing such heresy until they are taught of God that: salvation is the
work of God alone.
We were condemned in our federal head and representative, Adam, not based on sins we personally committed but based on sins that he as our representative committed and God imputed to us. (Roman’s 5:19) Even God’s elect were guilty, defiled, ungodly and under the just sentence of condemnation and deserving of eternal death in Adam, and this before we were even born. Likewise, God’s elect are justified in their representative, Christ, based on his work, his righteousness imputed before we were even born. This also took place outside our self at the cross. One of the first truths the justified sinner learns is that salvation is totally the work of God. “They shall all be taught this truth. Secondly, God teaches his people that:
Ezekiel prophesied; “The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die.” (Ezekiel 18:20) God told Adam; “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17ff
The second
myth or lie of Satan is that God is not holy. He is not just. He will not be as
strict as the scriptures portray him to be concerning the punishment of
sin. By nature we will admit we are
sinners but we don’t believe a loving God will punish us with eternal death for
our sins. We’ve not done anything to deserve eternal death. God’s word declares
otherwise. Read v 48-58, especially V-51.
“I will give my flesh for the life of the world.”
In this
exchange with his hearers, Jesus is prophesying his death to provide the
necessities of eternal life for his people. He is comparing his body as the
Living Bread to the manna provided to the nation
When
Let’s look at some of the parallels between this manna and Christ, the Living Bread.
Remember our
subject is this: God teaches his people that sin incurs the wrath of God.
The penalty of sin is eternal death. There is no escaping this truth. A holy God cannot overlook sin. He cannot excuse it; He cannot but judge by strict law and inflexible justice. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25) Shall he not judge in righteousness? (Acts 17:31) The law say’s; “do and live, disobey and die.” God’s word also say’s in Romans 3: 10-12; “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandest, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Who, in this company is excluded from God’s wrath? No one. What is the end of all who sin? Eternal death. Listen: even the Son of God, when sin was imputed to him, was not excluded. God must punish with eternal death all who are charged with sin, and all will suffer this death, either in our own person or in the Person of a Substitute, a Surety, a Representative who can satisfy a Holy God’s requirements of the law to perfection. Such a Surety is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is very God of very God. Co-equal with the Father in every attribute of character, infinite in every attribute of Deity. He is one Person with two natures, infinite Deity and true sinless humanity. He is the One appointed of the Father, who willingly assumed the responsibility for the salvation of all the Father gave him in the Everlasting Covenant of Grace. He, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2: 6-7) Did his death get the job done? V-9 says; “wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” The resurrection of Christ is a declaration from the Father that satisfaction to law and justice is accomplished, and sin is put away by the death of Christ. The cry from the cross, “my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me” by Christ is God’s testimony that sin demands eternal death. When the sins of his people were imputed to Christ, he suffered, in three days in the grave, the equivalent of an eternity in hell. “He hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust:” 1 Peter 3:18. By the same principle of substitution and imputation, we who are the blessed of God were charged with his righteousness at the cross. Read Romans 6:6-11. V-7 say’s “he that is dead is freed from sin.” See V-11. Paul said this in Colossians 3:3; “for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” We are dead to the guilt and condemning power of sin. Those who know how God is just to justify ungodly sinners based on Christ’s righteousness imputed and have submitted to that ONLY way of salvation are dead to sin’s condemning power and alive in Christ.
They, as John
6: 53 reveals, are those “who eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
his blood.” It is the body of Christ (our bread) and the blood of Christ
(our drink) that sustains God’s elect. As the manna in the wilderness was bread
to
The memorial supper given by our Lord is a constant reminder of the suffering and death he endured to save his people, to insure they didn’t have to suffer eternal death. He said in 1 Corinthians 11:26; “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death until he comes again.” You declare openly that all of salvation is conditioned on Christ alone by his perfect satisfaction to law and justice; his obedience, his suffering and his death.
Is the God of the universe a holy God? Will he overlook sin? “Can we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” If he spared not his own son, (Romans 8:32), how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation,” (Hebrews 2:3.) Sin incurs the wrath of God: either in our person or in the person of God’s only acceptable Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God teaches
his people that salvation is the work of God:
God teaches his people that sin incurs the wrath of God, and: God teaches his people that:
Another lie of Satan is that many for whom Christ died will finally perish. How can a sinner who has been justified by the blood of Christ at the cross finally perish? How can a sinner who is holy and righteous in his person, based on the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, fail to inherit the kingdom of heaven? How can a sinner perish whose eternal security is in the hands of a sovereign God? The answer is that; - he can’t,- if Christ died for him. Why? Because everything necessary to his eternal security has been accomplished by his Savior at the cross. The scriptures say in Ephesians 1:11 that; “God works all things after the counsel of his own will.” In other words, whatever happens in time is and was God’s will and purpose before time. God’s will is eternal; else God has to change. His will is wise. It selects the best possible ends and the fittest means to accomplish that end. God’s will is free. It is not influenced by the creature. And God’s will is absolute and unconditional. It is not suspended upon any condition that might be met. It is God’s will that all for whom Christ died be finally glorified in heaven. Is there anything that can thwart the sovereign will of an omnipotent God? NO. ll Peter 3:9 say’s; “the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Who are the “ANY”? He’s longsuffering to “us-ward”, to those who have obtained like precious faith. (ll Peter 1:1.)
Christ, in John 6:37-40 describes the security of the elect: He say’s our eternal security is:
·
The
will of God. V-38. I came not to
do mine own will but the will of him that sent me.” God willed in eternity past to have a people
for himself. “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will, he hardeneth.” Romans 9:18.
“I came not to do mine owns will.” Christ had no will outside that of
the Father. His will was that of the Father. Read John 5:30. Christ’s
whole purpose, his will in coming was to glorify the Father in the salvation of
his people.
· The work of Christ. V-39. “This is the Fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” Jesus said in Hebrews 10:7; Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.” The sum of scriptures is about Christ. His work was to “lose nothing the Father had given him.” He secured them by satisfying law and justice for them, thereby removing sins charge against them.
·
The witness of the Holy Spirit. V-40. “And
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the
last day.” Christ told his disciples that it was necessary for him to die,
else the Comforter would not come. (John 16:7) But when he was come in
regeneration and conversion we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1: 13-14) The witness of
the Holy Spirit is to communicates to our minds in regeneration and conversion
all that the father willed before time and the Son provided in time. Where we
once believed that Christ died in vain for many, we now see that what God has
purposed (willed) and Christ has provided will surely be accomplished. That’s
what it means in V40 to “see the Son and believe on him.”
Have you seen the Son? Do you believe on him? Do you have everlasting life? Is there a resurrection unto life in your future? HAVE YOU BEEN TAUGHT OF GOD?
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5.