Good morning.
Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to John chapter 6.
This morning I want us to spend some time.
coming to an understanding of what it means and what the description is of Christian.
from this idea.
that a
Christian involves something that God expects of us, and that is that we participate in a learning experience.
One moment while I turn the screen on.
Now I know why he didn't know what slide was up there.
Blaming that one on James.
He put the slides in, didn't turn the screen off.
learning experience.
John chapter 6, Jesus describes God's people and specifically the people who would be those who follow Him, and He describes them in this way.
John chapter 6, notice what Jesus says beginning about verse 44.
Verse 44 we read, Notice that Jesus is dealing with, He is describing those who will come to Him.
And He makes an exclusionatory statement.
He says,
that he is drawn by the Father and then he says, is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to raise him up on the last day.
Verse 45, he says, 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.
Jesus says, cannot come to me unless the Father draws you.
Some might suggest, well, that's the Holy Spirit working on your heart in a miraculous way in order to make it.
No, no, that's not what he's talking about.
What's he talking about?
He tells you what he's talking about because he uses the description draw in verse 44.
He uses the term hears and learns in verse 45.
The drawing comes by hearing and learning.
And Jesus says in verse 45, therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
But here in this passage, he quotes an Old Testament passage.
It comes from Isaiah chapter 54 verse 13.
He says in this passage, they shall all be taught of God.
I want to take just a moment and head back to Isaiah 54 because I want you to see this passage in its context.
I want you to see what Isaiah is saying.
First, it's valuable.
to remember the relationship and proximity of Isaiah chapter 54 to the preceding chapter, Isaiah chapter 53.
One that we're probably greatly more familiar with because it discusses the suffering servant, the one who is going to come, the one who is going to die for the sins of others.
It's prophetic, it's speaking concerning Christ.
But in chapter 54, Isaiah is going to shift his focus and he's going to make a proclamation to a barren woman.
Not a physical woman, not a particular woman in Israel, but to Israel.
Israel as a barren woman.
Israel as a nation who has become destitute and without offspring because of their sin.
Yet Israel represents more than that.
Israel represents humanity.
Israel represents people who have become those who have no hope, no future.
except they do if they are obedient to God.
So you'll notice in Isaiah chapter 54 and in verse 4, Isaiah writes, do not fear.
For you will not be ashamed, neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame.
For you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore, for your Maker is your husband.
The Lord of hosts is His name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
He is called the God of
whole earth.
As this woman is being spoken to prophetically by God, by Isaiah, God is saying your old scenario of barrenness, your old scenario of widowhood is going to be gone because your
husband is going to be God.
You are going to be married to the Holy One of Israel.
You are going to be the one who is redeemed by the one whom he sends.
But then notice what else he says.
Now Isaiah is looking forward to a judgment
that's coming on Israel, he's telling them that judgment's not an indication that God has put you away, that he's no longer your husband, it is rather an indication that he's going
to redeem you when you have been restored to obedience.
Okay?
It's a hopeful expectation, not an expectation of separation from God.
Then he says, verse 9, for this is like the waters of Noah to me.
For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you nor rebuke you.
For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD, who has mercy on you."
you afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems and lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies and your gates of crystal and all your walls of precious stone." If you've read Revelation 21 recently,
All this imagery is going to sound pretty familiar.
Concerning the bride that is described as coming out of heaven, go look at the description of the city four square.
Go look at John's description of the church in Revelation 21 and notice how he describes its walls and its foundation and its gates.
It comes from right here.
And notice He says, verse 13, all your children shall be taught by Jehovah.
and great shall be the peace of your children.
In righteousness you shall be established, you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
Indeed, they shall surely assemble, but not because of me.
Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake."
Isaiah says God is going to do something whereby the woman is going to bring forth her children.
She is going to be married to God and her children are all going to be taught of God.
And Jesus says that Isaiah is speaking about the ones who will come to Him.
Jesus says He's speaking about the ones who will follow Me.
He's speaking about the ones who will be My disciples and those who will be obedient to My commands.
So we know He's speaking about the church.
We know He's speaking about Christians.
Isaiah is looking forward and Jesus is bringing it forward and He's telling us, here's how you're going to come to Christ.
You're going to hear and you're going to learn.
You consider that the beginning experience of a Christian
The beginning experience of becoming a Christian starts with hearing and learning.
Then it will be of no surprise to you that the entirety of the Christian life involves a continuation in learning.
That part of the requirement of Christians is that they continue learning.
I was having a conversation just this last week with someone and revolved around some of the work that I do with technology.
And I said, yeah, I made the point years ago that if you don't want to relearn your job every 18 months, technology is the wrong field for you to be in.
Because if you work in technology every 18 months, you get to retrain your entire self to catch up with all the new things that have happened in the last 18 months.
If you're in that field by way of profession, you're going to never stop learning until you get out of the field or retire.
It's demanded.
There's no choice because the technology is not going to slow down.
Well, as Christians...
We have made a choice to associate ourselves with a God who sets an expectation that we're never going to stop learning.
because there's always going to be more for Him to teach us.
So as you consider this learning experience, consider that the offer of Christ, remember Jesus said, the ones who hear and learn from the Father come to me, but the offer of
Christ comes with some barriers.
One of the things that you find out quite quickly in education is there are people who want to learn and then there are people who are there because someone told them to be
there and they are not interested in learning at all.
They are there for an entirely different reason and the number of reasons could be vast but learning isn't one of them.
Rebecca is shaking her head.
She is intimately familiar.
Now, in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus presents the invitation to those who are present to come to Him.
In Matthew chapter 11, a passage we've probably all heard at some point in our lives, we read verse 28,
For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The promised offer of Christ comes with a condition, an aspect, an experience of continual learning.
He says, my yoke upon you and learn from me.
But as you read Matthew chapter 11, as we're about to do, you're going to find out that this comes at the tail end of Jesus offering barrier after barrier after barrier after
barrier as to why people won't take Him up on the offer.
Notice a few of these.
You go back to Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 through 6 and Jesus says there's a barrier to learning and that is those who are offended by Christ's position, His prominence, and His
power.
Matthew chapter 11 verse 1, now it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.
when John heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, Are you the coming one or do we look for another?
Now just not too long ago we studied in the book of Mark in our afternoon studies on Sunday about John being put in prison by Herod.
That's where he's at when this happens.
He's in prison.
having been put there by Herod because of what he said to Herod about Herodias.
Now, he sends these two disciples to Jesus.
Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see.
The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Blessed is he who is not offended because of me." Jesus answers these disciples of John and he says, go tell John what you see, go tell John what you hear.
And then he tells him, encapsulates a message of Old Testament prophecy and says, the prophesied one is here and I'm Him
John's in prison.
John can't come and see the one who I'm hearing about who's going around doing these things.
Is it Christ?
Is it Jesus?
I don't know.
I'm stuck in prison.
So he sends his disciples to find out.
But as Jesus concludes that statement, He says, blessed are those who are not offended because of me.
He's just described all these works that he's doing.
The deaf are hearing, the blind are seeing, the lame are walking, the dead are being raised.
You might think, well, what is there to be offended about concerning that?
John didn't do any of those things.
You don't read of one single time that John performed, that's the word I'm looking for, a miracle.
John didn't do any of those things.
And here are two of John's disciples who haven't become disciples of Jesus.
Peter was a disciple of John.
James was a disciple of John.
John was a disciple of John by all indications.
Andrew was a disciple of John.
And having seen and witnessed John pointing out Jesus, they left John to go to be with Jesus.
Because John made it clear to his disciples, I'm not the one!
There's one coming after me!" Yet here are two disciples of John who John's in prison and they're still not following Jesus.
Jesus says, blessed are those who aren't offended because of me.
Some individuals will be offended because they don't want Christ to have the position that he has.
They don't want Christ to have the prominence that he has.
They don't want Christ to have the power that he has.
And by the way, among that list of people who were offended by his prominence and his power were the Pharisees.
and the elders and the chief priests in Israel because they wanted that power so they were offended by Christ.
But another barrier to learning according to Jesus as seen in verses 7 through 19 is they're offended by the approach of the messenger.
I see this happen.
I see it happen even within the body of Christ and it's a shame.
Notice what Jesus says as they departed, so the two disciples, they received what they were supposed to relay back to John, so they leave to go back to John.
As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning, John, what did you go out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken by the wind.
He says, back when John was preaching in the wilderness, back when all Israel went out to hear John, he says, what did you go out to see?
He says,
But what did you go out to see?
A man clothed in soft garments?
Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
But what did you go out to see?
A prophet?
Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you."
Jesus says John was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy about God sending one ahead of the Messiah.
He says you went out to go see a prophet.
You didn't go out to see somebody and find clothing.
If you wanted to see somebody and find clothing, you'd have gone to a king's house, not a wilderness.
But then he says, Surely I say to you, among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come."
He who has ears, let him hear." He says, if you knew what the Old Testament prophets had been prophesying about, if you knew what the promise of Elijah's return had been, you
would have recognized John.
But even Jesus' own disciples didn't recognize John as the fulfillment of that prophecy.
Jesus had to explain it to them.
But then verse 16 we read,
But to what shall I liken this generation?
It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions.
Paint the picture in your mind.
Old, first century, old, ancient marketplace.
Big square of people.
And parents are all doing business.
So what do you think the kids are doing?
They're running away from the parents to go play and have fun.
All right?
There's the picture.
bunch of kids all gathered around in the marketplace, he says.
It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling their companions, this group over here, calling this group over here, and they're saying, we played the flute for you
and you did not dance.
We mourned to you and you did not lament.
What's Jesus saying?
What's the picture?
Here comes this one group of kids.
And they're yelling at the kids at the other side saying, you're not doing what we tell you to do.
You ever seen one group of kids trying to control another group of kids?
Now, you're supposed to do this, you're supposed to do this, you're supposed to do this, and who made you rule over us?
There's the picture.
Except the children aren't yelling to other children.
They're yelling to the prophets.
They're yelling to those who God sends.
They're saying, hey, we played the flute and you didn't do what we wanted you to do.
We told you to lament and mourn and you didn't do it.
Notice, for John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon.
John was bound under a Nazarite vow.
John came with the qualifications and the requirements of a Nazarite.
John never drank even grape juice.
He didn't touch the fruit of the mind at all.
Why?
Because he was under a Nazarite vow.
And he couldn't.
So he came not sitting in feasts, not participating in these normal things, and they said, you have a demon for the way you live.
He wasn't what they had in mind.
He didn't follow the approach that they would have followed, so they rejected him.
But then the Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and they say, look, a glutton and a wine-vibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, but wisdom is justified by our
children.
Jesus said, say of John, because he didn't participate in feasts, because he wouldn't touch the fruit of the vine in any way, shape, or form, that he has a demon, you turn
around and you look at me and I sit at the feast and I eat with the sinners and I eat with the publicans and you claim that I'm a drunkard and a glutton.
By the way, neither one was true.
But what are they doing?
They're being offended because of the approach.
They're being offended because one's not doing what they want.
Now think about this.
preacher comes along.
And he preaches the gospel.
but he gives it to you straight.
He doesn't, he's not real flowery in his speech.
He's not honestly all that comforting and somebody says, well I think the gospel ought to be preached in love, so I'm just not going listen to that guy.
Wait a minute.
If he's preaching the gospel, you better listen to that guy.
and someone else comes along and he's very eloquent and he speaks very well and he's able to articulate and take complex subjects and bring them and dumb them down to where people
understand them and they get them and they learn from them and you say, I'm not listening to that guy, he doesn't tell anything straight.
But what he's preaching is the gospel.
You better listen to that guy.
He's preaching the gospel.
We should not be offended by the approach of a simple preacher who may not know grammar all that well, but he knows the gospel real well.
We shouldn't be offended by a person who looks different than us and speaks with an accent and comes from another country, but he knows the gospel real well and he preaches it in
sincerity and truth.
We shouldn't be offended if somebody comes from a background where they've never worn a suit and they can't figure out a reason to start now.
The overalls they've worn their entire life are just fine.
It's the best pair of overalls they've got.
But they preach the truth.
And we shouldn't be offended when someone comes from a background that's a culturally different background, even from the same country that we're in.
And they act and talk differently, but they speak the truth.
And they teach the Word of God.
And if somebody comes along and they're just a little more brash than we think people ought to be, and they get right to the point, and they give it to you real strong, and
they don't put up with any nonsense, you know what?
If they're preaching the truth, who ought to listen to them too?
And another brother comes along and he's as long suffering as anyone could possibly imagine with his own brethren.
We ought to listen to him too.
Jesus warns us about not being offended by the approach if the message belongs to God.
But then consider verses 20-24.
Some are offended because of the commonness of the power of God.
Verse 20, then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done because they did not repent.
Woe to you, Corazan!
Woe you, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until
this day."
But I say to you it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and the day of judgment than for you." Jesus' home camp when he was in Galilee was Capernaum.
It was the city of Peter.
Peter's house was there.
Peter's mother-in-law was there.
Peter's house was where Peter's mother-in-law was.
And Jesus often taught from Capernaum and did many deeds in Capernaum.
roof was open and the man was let down and Jesus healed him.
was in Capernaum.
The city had witnessed great deeds.
But the city didn't repent.
The city didn't follow Jesus.
The city didn't come to God.
And Jesus says, you've become offended because you've witnessed all these miracles.
It's become altogether too common.
You see these great deeds being done, and if Sodom, who never saw them done, had witnessed what you witnessed, they would have repented.
And yet you just come and ask for one more miracle.
Jesus described the Jews as those who would say, just show us one more work and we'll believe.
Jesus said they were offended by the commonness of the power of God.
But you know that happens to us too.
So often we look at the world around us, we look at the universe that we live in, we look at the fact that gravity exists and the laws of nature exist, and we treat it as
altogether too common, yet we can't cause any of it.
We can't make it stop.
We could never have made it start.
And yet we have the audacity to take it for granted.
There's the witnessing of the power of God in the miraculous deeds that were done by Jesus and the disciples and others, but then there's the recognition of the power of God that's
around us every day.
And yet for some, they're offended because that power's altogether too common.
It's been there their entire life.
But then consider verses 25 through 27, Jesus says there are those who will hit a barrier to learning because they're offended by their own perceived education and wisdom.
Verse 25, at that time Jesus answered and said, thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and have revealed
them to babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight, all things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father
except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him.
Jesus prays to God and thanks God that the things that were true are readily apparent to the simple people.
And they're rejected by those who are educated.
They're rejected by those who think something of themselves.
They're rejected by those who are wise and prudent.
And the Word of God just seems altogether too basic for them.
Jesus says some are going to be offended because they think they're wise and so they won't listen to God.
But then he also offers the last barrier verses 28 through 30.
He says, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle.
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
He said, Aaron, I don't see the barrier there.
Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden.
Some are offended at the very concept of needing God.
For their burden in this world is light.
For they experience no great difficulties, no great hardships, and they don't understand the people who really suffer.
Jesus calls for those who have
who've borne the heavy-laden burdens, those who have endured the real hardships of life, those who understand how much they desperately need God.
And because of all that life has put them through, they know they need God.
And Jesus says, come to me, while simultaneously recognizing that those who think they've got it all figured out, those who think that they've accomplished everything they need to
accomplish, and they've made the plans that will secure them for the rest of their lives in comfort,
and tranquility.
they don't quite understand how much they need God.
So Jesus comes with an offer, an offer of learning, an offer of a yoke laid upon your neck that's light.
and he calls for you to learn from him.
Notice Hebrews chapter 5.
The Hebrew writer will make this point.
We read in verse 6, and he also says, in another place, you were priests forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
This is speaking concerning Christ, it's prophetic statement from the Old Testament, and speaking concerning him as priest.
who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because
of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him." When Jesus calls and offers...
Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me." He's calling upon us to learn as He learned.
Jesus learned by the things which He suffered.
You say, Aaron, I don't know how God can learn anything.
The learning here is experiential learning.
God had never suffered death.
Jesus experienced something that God had never experienced.
But also, He had to submit to doing it.
He had the power to call angels and deliver Himself from the cross, but He didn't.
He submitted to that death.
He submitted to that scenario and he experienced the idea of learning and he calls upon us to do the same.
I'm not going to go through all these passages in full, but I want us to see this point from the Old Testament.
God will say to His people that they are going to have to learn, they are going to have to fear if they want to live.
Learn, fear, live is the prescription of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy chapter 4 and in verse 10 we read this.
especially concerning the day which you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, gather the people to me, and I will let them hear my words, that they may
learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children." There at Mount Sinai when God appeared before Israel, God said, I'm going to
speak to them so that they might fear me, that they might learn to fear me.
so they
God called upon Israel to learn so they could do it right, to fear Him so they would reverence Him to be obedient.
Philippians chapter 4, Paul will write to the church at Philippi, and he will write to these brethren that loved him so much and to whom he loved a great deal.
And he will say, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
Whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy,
meditate!
Dwell on these things!
The things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
Paul calls upon Christians to meditate, to study, to learn, and then to do.
to those Christians in the first century.
And He will write, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror.
For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
James calls upon Christians to get in the Word of God.
Get the Word of God into them!
continue in it.
So if you're considering being a Christian, may I remind you that it is a lifelong learning experience.
I was asked one time when we were in the school of preaching by a student who was about two years behind me.
He said, Aaron, when do you think we're going to get to a point where we ever quite feel like we know it?
So they don't think we are.
because we're never going to be done.
I have loved and honored and appreciated men who are in their 80s, who have been preaching for 50 and 60 years.
being willing to say, love opening the Word of God because I'm always learning something I didn't already know.
And we need to look at God's Word that way as a learning experience.
Jesus said of His disciples, they shall all be taught of God.
Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
If you have need of coming to Christ, you must first hear and learn from the Father.
and be obedient and do what he says.
But once you've come to Christ, the learning is not over.
It's only just begun.
If you have need of the invitation, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing.