Verse 47, Nathaniel replies to
the great command, isn't it, come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael
coming to him, and saith unto him, Behold, an Israelite indeed,
in whom is no God. And Nathanael saith unto him,
Whence knowest thou me? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the
fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith
unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King
of Israel. And the Lord goes on to talk
about the fact that he saw him under the fig tree. Jesus answered and said unto
him, because I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou,
thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter you shall see
heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending
on the Son of Man. And these are live. is what I'd like us to ponder
this morning. It's the title of my message
and I want us to be reminded that those Jews that came and
examined John the Baptist and found him wanting and examined
the Lord Jesus Christ and found him wanting are now back in Jerusalem. They thought that they were the
Israel of God and they thought that they were worshipping God
in the very place of his presence back there in Jerusalem. But
far away in Galilee, the true temple and the true worshippers
of God, the Israel of God, were there in the very presence of
God Almighty, gathered to Him to be in His presence, and gathered
with Him and gathered to Him to go on what the Lord Jesus Christ has
been doing throughout this world. He's been going throughout and
calling his people to himself and he's taking all of his people
to a wedding. The consummation of all things is a wedding, brothers
and sisters. And I'm excited about what the
Lord might teach us out of the next chapter of John's gospel.
But we have to be careful about the chapter divisions because
they can break up these thoughts which are meant to be linked
together. So what is? What is an Israelite
indeed and what is it for an Israelite indeed to be someone
in whom there is no guile? That God himself sees no guile
in an Israelite indeed. I want to be both of those, don't
I? I want to be an Israelite indeed and I want the Lord to
be examining me when he looks as deeply as he can with the
eyes of omniscience. You might have noted that both
of these discussions and things that the Lord highlights with
Nathanael The bookends, as it were, of
Jacob's journey both to and from his time of 20 years of slavery
and servitude with Laban to where the Lord blessed him in that
place. And you know something of the story that Jacob was a
deceiver. His very name means deceiver. It means someone who operates
with subtlety and deception. You might recall that Jacob swindled
his brother out of his brother's birthright. And of course, Esau
had no regard for the eternal covenant and the promises of
God and was very happy to sell his birthright for a bowl of
beans. But nevertheless, Jacob deceived him and then he deceived
his father in the most appalling way, with the connivance of his
mother. And then he went off and he was
deceived by Laban. You might recall that he saw
Rachel and he loved her at first sight, but he worked seven years
for Rachel and then was given Leah and then had to work another
seven years to get Rachel. He says later on that Laban had
actually deceived him ten times. But Jacob, by his activities,
has actually robbed almost all of Laban's wealth. So he's a
deceiver. Let's turn in our scriptures
to Genesis chapter 32 and read something of this story of Jacob. I trust the Lord might cause
you to go back and read these chapters and find them extraordinary
in the Lord's dealing with Jacob. This word, Israel, is first used
here in Genesis chapter 32. And if we turn to verse 24, it
says, and Jacob was left alone. You know the circumstances. Jacob
was terrified that his brother Esau had 400 men with him, and
he'd sent his flocks and all of his family across his little
drive so that if, Jacob was terrified of what Esau had promised to
do which was to kill him. Let's read verse 24. And Jacob
was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking
of the day. He was left alone, all on his
own. And you might recall that when he went out there and he
saw that ladder that went up from heaven, which we'll look
at, Lord willing, next week, he was all alone in the desert
by himself. And there was a man with him,
wrestled mankind and wrestled with him. And the man, of course,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he saw that he prevailed
not against him, this is the Lord, he touched the hollow of
Jacob's thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint
as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the
day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go except thou bless me. He's saying to the Lord, I have
to have your blessing. I have to have your blessing. And the Lord says to him, and
he said to him, what is thy name? What's your name? What's your
name? See, the Lord is not asking a
question to get information. He never needs any information.
He's asking a question so that Jacob would confess his name
to him. What's your name, Jacob? Supplanter. Cheat. One who is crafty, one who operates
with subtlety. And that's what Esau said of
him, isn't he? Esau said in Genesis 27, 36,
he said, Jacob is his name and Jacob is his character. He's
one who operates by God. What's your name? Who are you? Who are you as a child of Adam? Who are you? In verse 28, and
he said, the Lord said to him, thy name shall be called no more
Jacob, but Israel, for as a priest, has prevailed. A prince who has power with God,
it has prevailed. Verse 29 says, and Jacob asked
him and said, tell me I pray thy name. And he said, wherefore is it
that thou dost ask after my name, says the Lord. And he blessed
him there. And Jacob called the place, the
name of the place, Peniel, for I have seen God face to face. He had no question about who
was there speaking to him and wrestling with him and blessing
him. I've seen God face to face and my life is preserved. What's an Israelite? What's an
Israelite? An Israelite indeed is someone
who was a Jacob and owns the fact that he is a Jacob. He's
one who has had an encounter with It's one who confesses what he
is and then in his meeting with God, he must have the blessing
of God. To be an Israelite indeed is to be a prince, a prince who
has power with God and is blessed of God. It's one who has seen
God face death. The Israelite is. Brothers and
sisters in Christ, all of God's children, all of the elect children
of God are Israelites indeed. And that's their description
according to God, isn't it? That's the description of all
of us. We have power with God. We are blessed of God. We have met God and prevailed. When we think of Israel these
days, we're inclined not to think of that description that God
first gives of nation Israel. And we think of that little bit
of dirt over there in the Middle East that people have been squabbling
over for thousands of years. But the scriptures make it abundantly
clear that the Israel that the Lord Jesus Christ is describing
Nathanael of is the Israel of God. He says, and I can just
read some of these verses to you quickly, but if you go through
the New Testament, you'll see that there was an Israel and
the Jews that came to John the Baptist and came to the Lord
Jesus Christ and heard that remarkable testimony, went all the way back
to Jerusalem, justifying themselves all the way and thinking all
the way that they are the Israel of God. And yet here we have
the Lord's description of the Israel of God. Nathanael is an
Israel of God. He's a man in whom there is no
guile, Those other ones who went back there with their man-made
works religion, you'll find later on in the gospel accounts, every
time they meet the Lord Jesus Christ, it's with some notion
of deceit. They want to take him by craft
and put him to death. So there is, according to 1 Corinthians
10, 18, there's an Israel after the flesh. There's my kinsmen,
as Paul calls them, according to the flesh. Return with me
to Romans chapter nine. Romans 9 verse 6. It's so important
that we get this clear that we don't get caught up in what is
now so commonly thought among so many people. In Romans 9 verse
6, for they are not all Israel which are Israel. They are not
all Israel which are Israel. He goes on earlier in that verse,
it's not as though the Word of God has taken none effect, for
they are not all Israel, but are of Israel. It's according
to the Word of God that all of those who think themselves to
be the Israel of God are actually not. It's only the elect children. Verse 7, neither because they
are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
all thy seed be called. You might recall that Abraham
had two sons. He had Ishmael and he had Isaac,
and Isaac had two sons, and he had Esau and he had Jacob, and
there is just one of each of those sons that is a true child
of God. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of promise. are counted for the seed. Nathanael
is a child of promise. He's receiving the promises of
God. The promises of God are fulfilled in him. Go down further
in Romans 9, in verse 31. He says, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, which is exactly what those Jews
were doing on their way back to Jerusalem, they were following
after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of
righteousness. They follow after it, but they
don't attain it. Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith,
but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at
that stumbling As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion, a stumbling
stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed. The children of promise are the
believing ones. If you go on down, just keep
reading. Brethren, Romans 10, one, brethren, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel, that's the Israel after the flesh,
is that they might be saved. He didn't wish them any ill,
these brothers and sisters in Christ, for I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
They didn't have a knowledge of God. They didn't have a knowledge
of themselves. They didn't have a knowledge
of God's law. They didn't have a knowledge of Christ. They didn't
have a knowledge of how God saved sinners. They didn't have the
knowledge that Jacob had when he met with God. For they being They have no notion of anyone
who thinks that they can do something of their own. What's your name,
Jacob? My name is Deceiver. My name
is one who's full of God. They're ignorant of God's righteousness.
Going about, that's exactly what religion gets people to do. Going
about, going about. All of their activities are getting
people to be busy. Our activities are getting people
to stop and be still and to look and to gaze upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Religion is always getting men
to be as active as they possibly can. We're telling people to
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The ignorant of
God's right have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. There's a humbling, isn't there?
Jacob was a humbled man, this Israel, this Israel indeed. He was a humble man. Nathanael came to the Lord as
a humble man. He had his questions. There are many, many other passages
in Scripture that relate exactly the same thing, that not all,
well, not all who see themselves as the Israel of God are of the
Israel of God. Not all who see themselves as
Christians are Christians. And Galatians chapter three,
verse 26 to 29, says, for we are all children of God, by faith
in Christ Jesus, for as many as you have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female,
for you're all one in Christ Jesus. There is, turn over the
page to Galatians chapter six, there is the Israel of God. And there is a contrast, as we
see in John's gospel, between those who see themselves as the
children of God and those who really are. He says in verse
12, But as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh,
they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. and to operate in this world.
Look what we've done. But God forbid that I should
glory, God forbid that I should boast, God forbid that I should
have any confidence in anything other save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and
I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature Your activities
under the law, your activities outside of the law. The new creation
is the thing that matters. The one thing that the children
of God boast in is the cross of the Lord Jesus. One place
we have our confidence in is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what it is to be an Israelite indeed. Look what he goes on
to say, as many as walk according to this rule, Peace be on them and mercy upon
the Israel of God. I want the peace of God. I want the mercy of God. I want that for you, my brothers
and sisters in Christ. I want it to be poured out abundantly
on you. So it's the children of promise. Taken by the Lord Jesus Christ
to this marriage are those given to him by the Father before time.
Before they'd done any good or evil, before the fall, they were
given to the Lord Jesus Christ. In a promised marriage covenant,
they were betrothed to him. They were the gift of his Father
to his Son. And the Son looked upon them
as Adam did upon Eve and said, he's doing all the way through
this time, this time. We have a glorious husband, brothers
and sisters in Christ, the children of promise, the children of faith,
the elect of God. The Lord Jesus kept reminding
people that he came I've come only for the house of the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. He told that to our aforementioned
world. I've only come to save the true Israelites. I've only
come to save those who the Father gave me. I didn't come on an
errand to save everyone. I didn't come as a failure down
on the church just down the road. You'll have a little sign there
saying Jesus Jesus, if he's waiting, and he's
waiting for dead sinners to come to him, he's going to be waiting
in failure. Poor Jesus. There are the Israel
of God. I love how Paul describes them
in Romans chapter 2 verse 28 says, For he is not a Jew which
is one outwardly. So those men went back there
to Jerusalem, they thought they were Jews. and they can trace
their lineage all the way back to Abraham. No wonder they found
Paul offensive. He's not one Jew who's one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. What's the letter? What's the letter of the law
saying? The letter of the law keeps saying, do this and live. Do this and be progressively
sanctified. Do this and be more pleasing
to God. Do this and live. What's the
spirit of the letter? We read it in Romans 10, isn't
it? They haven't submitted to the right, they didn't ignore
the righteousness of God. What's the spirit of the law
saying? I can't keep one single one of
them, I can't keep them for a millisecond. My only hope, my only hope, we
read it in Galatians 6, my only boast, my only confidence, is
that the Lord Jesus Christ has done it all. He's kept them perfectly
for them, for me. He's kept them perfectly for
all those for whom he represents. My only hope, the only hope of
any Jacob in this world is that God will show you a Jacob, and
when he shows you that you are a Jacob, you'd look and turn
away from yourself and everything that you've ever done, everything
that you think you've ever done, and you'd just turn to the Lord
and say, you better do it all for me. And we wrestle with God,
don't we? wrestle with God. He says that
the Israel of God, the Israelites indeed, they prevail and they
have power with God because we come as sinners, we come as needy,
mercy-begging sinners to a throne of grace to find help in our
time of need. That's how they're saved, aren't
they? You might recall in Acts, I love what Paul, Peter said
in Acts chapter 15, it's a glorious description, isn't it? So why
tempt ye God, he says to those Jews, those Judaizing Christians,
why tempt ye God and put a yoke on the neck of the disciples
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? They think
they can bear it. They still think they can bear
the yoke. I have some friends here in town, and yesterday,
on Friday evening, they stopped everything. Before the sun went
down, they get very anxious before the sun went down, they've got
to have everything prepared for the hot night. They spent all
day Saturday doing absolutely nothing. to find out exactly what they
want to be doing all that Sabbath day until the sun sets on Saturday
afternoon and they must heave a sigh of relief that they're
no longer under a burden. But they're not. They think that
they've done something good. They think God is pleased with
them. I know I don't want to pick on them. I trust that they
might be friends of the Lord indeed. But nevertheless, that's
what religion has everyone do. Peter says, doesn't he, we believe
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we Jews shall
be saved even as they. He says he's put no difference
between us and them purifying their hearts by faith. We are the circumcision, the
children of God, the Israel indeed are the circumcision. of Israel indeed do? They worship God in the Spirit.
Adam's children are all dead but God's children worship God
in the Spirit. They're born of the Spirit and
they rejoice and they glory in Christ Jesus and they have no
confidence in the flesh. No confidence in the flesh. Are
you a Jacob? If you're a Jacob in the presence
of God you have no confidence in the for the rest of his days, the
Israel of God comes up out of the wilderness, it says in Song
of Solomon chapter 8, leaning on her beloved, because she's
hobbling through this world, have no confidence in anything
other than who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what he's done.
Nothing with my fingerprints on it gets into heaven and I'm
so thankful for it and God's not looking for anything from
me. He's got his son standing before him, an Israelite indeed. An Israelite indeed. And look at this description
of the Israelite indeed. In whom is no guile. Let's just spend a little bit
of time looking at this. In whom is no guile. in his spirit is no guile. Obviously, this is a reference
to the new creation. It's a reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He had no guile in any of his dealings with men.
He had no guile in any of his dealings with God. He had no
guile in his proclamation of the word of God. He had no guile
whatsoever. As Peter says, Christ who did
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Revelation 14.5 says that in
their mouth the saints of God in heaven, the Israels indeed,
the Israelites indeed, in their mouth was found no God, for they
are without fault before the throne of God. We read in Revelation 21-27 There
shall be no wise enter into this new creation, into this wedding
feast, entering into anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written
in the Lamb's book of life. Our God looked at the heart of
Nathanael as he looks at the hearts of all his elect children
in this world and he says there's no God. We do often go to 1 John
3 and 1 John 3 has no meaning whatsoever unless we actually
understand in light of the two natures which is exactly what
the Lord is wanting to teach us. Jacob remained a Jacob. And
throughout the rest of Jacob's life, whenever Jacob is mentioned
as Jacob according to the flesh and minerals, Israel mentioned
as always Israel, the one who is the promised one. He was both
until the end of his days, and when Jacob died, Israel was embalmed. And one day our jacob flesh will
be gone and the one impediment we have to the worship of God
and the one impediment that we have in this world will all be
gone and we'll still be without sin. Whoever is born of God,
says the Lord Jesus Christ, cannot, does not commit sin for his seed,
the new creation, remains in him. The Israel remains in him. He cannot sin because he is born
of God. In him is no sin. So the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he sees Nathaniel coming, as I said earlier, he's rejoicing
in his work in the hearts of his people. He put away their
sins. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. All of the sins of all of God's
people were put on Christ, and they became His responsibility,
and He bore them. He bore them all, and He bore
them away. Blessed is the man whose transgression
is forgiven, whose iniquity is not imputed, Christ. In him there is no guile. Isaiah describes the Lord and
describes his people and they're always described in the same
terms aren't they? He is one with them. Bone of
his bones and flesh of his flesh and he says in Isaiah 63 and
he says for he said surely they are my people, children that
will not lie. So he was their saviour. God makes his Jacobs to be Israel
indeed, and they are honest, they're honest before God. All we are is sin, all we are
is sin. If we say we have not sinned,
if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves We make God
out to be a liar by not believing the testimony he has given. We
are honest. God causes his people to be honest
before him. We have no guile about ourselves. We don't believe ourselves to
be progressively becoming more and more holy. Paul said it so
well. Indeed, Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. What's your name? What's your
name? Remarkably, the Lord Jesus Christ
bears that name, Jacob, and it's an extraordinary passage, and
I haven't had time to ponder it as we ought. Isaiah chapter
44, he says, Now yet hear now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel,
whom I have chosen. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thus saith the Lord, that may
they deform thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not,
O Jacob, my servant, and thou Jeshurun, the upright one, the
one in whom there is no guile, whom I have chosen. The Lord
Jesus Christ took upon himself The Lord Jesus Christ had no
guile in anything he ever did. He had no guile regarding the
Word of God. He had no guile regarding his
life before men. Those who are made to be like
him have no guile. We bow to the Word of God. The
new creation bows to the Word of God. They receive the Word
of God about themselves, and they receive the Word of God
about God, and they receive the Word of God about God's salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they just bow to it and say,
you've said it. You've said it. And it's all
settled. You've said it. God looked upon Nathanael, and
he looks upon all of his children, and he sees in them no guile. This is the man unto whom I will
look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite heart, and
trembleth at my word, says Isaiah 62. See, we just believe God. We just believe the testimony
that God gives of himself. We believe the testimony that
God gives of the word of God his son, and we just rejoice multitudes around us who according
to Peter are stumbling at the word and they receive not the
love of the truth and yet God in the hearts of his people causes
us to say truth Lord even when the words are tough as they were
to that woman in Matthew 15 Truth, Lord. Every Israelite
indeed sees the Lord Jesus Christ, as Nathanael did. Look what he
saw in verse 49. Look what he saw. By a sovereign
hand in the new creation, he'd questioned him and questioned
what Philip's testimony was. And he answered and said unto
him, Rabbi, he said, Master, He said, Master, he said earlier,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And now he says, Rabbi,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? You're the Son of God.
You were the Son of Joseph, but you're the Son of God. You're
the King of Israel. The Israelite indeed acknowledges
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the eternal,
uncreated Son of God that we read about earlier in John's
Gospel. that he is the Son of God and
he's only known by revelation. He revealed himself to these
people on his way to revealing his glory at that wedding feast. He's known by revelation. John
only knew him by revelation. We know that he's the King of
the Jews. You are the Son of God. You are the King of the Jews.
At Lord's Wedding next week, we'll look more at what is involved
in the promise that the Prophet, our Sovereign King, makes to
Jacob, that there is a ladder. There's a ladder that reaches
from heaven to earth, and the angels and he's the means by which all
of his bride, all of the Israelites indeed, are taken into heaven. Behold, the Lord wants us to
look at an Israelite indeed. I want to be an Israelite indeed. I want for the Lord Jesus Christ
to be that lamb me. There is no God. There is no God. God our Saviour
takes delight in I pray that you might once again
cause your son to be high and lifted up in our estimation. Oh, our Father, we thank you
for the faith that you give your people. We thank you for the
Lord Jesus coming. and remarkably coming into the
very presence of the Jacobs of this world and renaming us Heavenly
Father. We bear his name in this world,
the name of our glorious husband. We pray Heavenly Father that
you would cause blood, to be precious for us, that we might
find ourselves washed, our sins completely washed away in his
blood, and find ourselves presented before your sight, our Father,
holy, spotless,