Hearing and Learning from God

Intro

Text - John 6.44-45

John 6:44–45 NKJV

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

Background

People are coming to Jesus for different reasons

there are those who followed him because of food

there are those who followed him because they believed him to be a good teacher

But the people are confused because Jesus claimed to be the bread that came from heaven

Jesus explains an important truth -

Main Subject

To be taught of God is to hear and learn from God.

God wants His people to hear and learn from Him, not from other means.

Main Points

Hearing from God is the key to learning

Hearing and learning from God brings us to Christ

Hearing from God is the key to learning

God spoke in the hearing of Israel so they will learn

Deuteronomy 4:10 NKJV

10 especially concerning the day 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 they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’

Israel heard the audible voice of God at Mount Sinai

God wanted Israel to hear His words every seven years

Deuteronomy 31:10–13 NKJV

10 And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

hearing the words of God spoken to them was like hearing from God Himself

Hearing from God is the key to learning His -

will / purpose - what He wants to accomplish, and desires to see in us

plan / ways - what He is doing or intends to do

The New Covenant is established through hearing -

Jeremiah 31:33–34 NKJV

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

the only way that for God’s Law to be placed in a man’s heart and mind is by hearing them

WHAT’S THE POINT?

#1 - IF WE ARE NOT LEARNING, WE ARE NOT HEARING FROM GOD!

#2 - IF WE ARE NOT HEARING, IT MEANS WE HAVE CALLOUSED HEART!

Matthew 13:13–15 NKJV

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’

Hearing and learning from God brings us to Christ

The purpose of God’s teaching us is to “draw” us to Christ

John 6:44 NKJV

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:45 NKJV

45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

The Law was given to bring Israel to Jesus - Galatians 3:22-24

Galatians 3:22–24 NKJV

22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

WHAT’S THE POINT?

#3 - men cannot truly follow Christ just because they are interested in what He offered them - it takes more than human will

Those who come to Christ are “given” to Him by the Father - John 6.36-37

John 6:36–37 NKJV

36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 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.

How are they given to Christ?

by election - chosen before the foundation of the world

by teaching - God speaks through gospel, unlocks their hearing, and empowers them to hear and learn!

SO - A MAN THAT HAS HEARD AND LEARNED FROM GOD WILL BE DRAWN TO CHRIST!

THE ATTRACTION IS INESCAPABLE!

Conclusion

How should we ‘hear’?

The unconverted

God brings the gospel to his ears through preachers

the unbeliever will not hear -

but God forces him/her to hear because faith comes by hearing

Romans 10:14–17 NKJV

14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The converted

because he/she has heard from God, he/she will desire to hear more! - Micah 4:13

Micah 4:2 NKJV

2 Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

David testifies to a continuing experience of being taught of God - Psalm 71:17-18

Psalm 71:17 NKJV

17 O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.

SONG - Draw Me Nearer