Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to John, chapter 1, and reading from our text, verse 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him. And saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. John 1 verse 47, coming unto Jesus, what an encouragement that this would be if our name was put here instead of Nathanael, that Jesus saw us coming unto him.

It is a precious truth for the people of God that the Lord does come to his people. The visits of his face, sometimes very unexpectedly, through the preaching of the word, maybe in prayer, at home in the closet, those visits are very memorable, they're very precious. We prize those. The Lord said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. It is equally true, though, that the Lord draws his people and makes them willing so that they venture and they come to him. They are drawn to him. No man cometh unto me except the Father which sent me draw him.

In this account that we have read from verse 19, it has struck me how things are developed day by day and different things are done over four days, culminating in the account where our text is with Nathaniel coming. We have in day one from verse 19 through to 28 who John was. In that day, he declared as they were asking him, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord as said the prophet Esaias. Then we have from verse 29, which begins the next day.

And on that day, there is a declaration of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. In verse 30, this is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of course, clearly stating that he is the son of God. And I saw in their record that this is the son of God.

Then on the third day, beginning in verse 35, again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples. And so on that day, there's this declared in verse 41, that which Simon was told by Simon Peter, his brother finds him, and he says, we have found Messiahs, which is being interpreted the Christ and he brought him to Jesus and then we have verse 43 the day following and on that day the Lord finds Philip and Philip in turn finds Nathanael and Nathanael comes to him. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.

It's a beautiful fact that the Lord knows everyone that is coming to Him. They're not coming unknown to Him. They're not taking Him by surprise. He knows them, He knows of their coming, their venturing, and this should be a great encouragement to us.

I want to look at four points this evening. Firstly, who are to come unto Jesus? And then secondly, where they come from? And thirdly, how they are to come in these gospel days. Our Lord, of course, is not on earth. It cannot be in the same literal sense as what Nathaniel was coming to the Lord in this account. So how is it in these gospel days? And then lastly, what they are brought to see in the Lord Jesus Christ. And each of these points has a parallel in that of which we read of Nathanael coming. But I want to look first who are to come unto Jesus.

Of all those that come, very often there is something that is hindering or an objection or Satan will put up an obstacle. And therefore it is very good that the Scriptures are clear as to who may come. So though I won't put these in any necessary order, and certainly not all, the characters that may come, yet may it be somewhat of a help to some. May you also realise that by nature we do not desire the Lord, we do not want to come, there's no inclination, there's no desire, depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways, And the Lord said to the Jews, you will not come unto me that ye might have life. And they came, many of them came, just to test the Lord, just to try him, to question him, but not after life. And so when we come, there must be a real motive and desire to come to the Lord. So we need that encouragement.

The first one I do, and we've got the children here, how many times in scripture that children are told to be the ones that come to the Lord. In the gospel, according to Luke and Matthew and Mark, they all record our Lord speaking of the children coming. In Luke 18, we read where they had brought infants to him that he would touch them. But when his disciples saw it, they rebuked him. But Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. And there are many accounts of those that are very young that have been called. And not only called, they've also died young as well and left a good testimony that God has truly worked in their hearts and they've been drawn to him.

Never think that there's an age limit. Some people have questioned and they've said about baptism, but instead of saying believers' baptism, they say adult baptism. And I correct them and say that is not what the scripture set forth. It is believers' baptism. It is not adults, children, those that are truly converted and know the Lord, they also may be baptised.

And we need to remember that. There's not an age at which we say, well, now we can come. Now we can seek the Lord because we're this age. It is, even as said here, infants. It's good to realize that. Instead of just seeking to read the Bible stories or understand the doctrines or teaching, to think, I have a soul. I need the Lord. I need life from Him. I need forgiveness. And where there's a drawing to Him, to know very clearly that you may come. You don't need to be older to do so. The second one to mention is sinners. The Jews often accuse the Lord that he sat with publicans and with sinners. They found fault with him in this.

And the Lord made it very clear on such occasions that it was from that group that he was working and calling and receiving. The beautiful chapter in Luke 15, is a chapter that I always remember with the prodigal son. And you have the accounts of the lost sheep and the lost coin. And each one is speaking of repentance.

And it begins in that chapter, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. That is notoriously open sinners, those like the tax collectors, the publicans, who were charging the people more and pocketing what they'd had. Zacchaeus was a publican.

Sinners, sinners in the eyes of those round about. We know all have sinned, our thoughts and affections, however much the outside may be kept clean. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But what is highlighted here is those that are notorious outwards. So other people will say, that person is a sinner. How they are living is a sinful and wrong way.

Because we have in the Old Testament Manasseh, how great sins that he committed as the king of Judah. But our Lord, he says, when they say, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them, as a reproach, it's a beautiful thing for us to realize that truth. But then he speaks these three parables. as those which are called to repentance. And so after the first parable with the lost sheep and going to find the one that was lost, leaving the ninety and nine, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth or turns his way, changes his way, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance.

And each time, he spoke of this. And the prodigal son, of course, when he comes back to the father, he comes to the father. He is in want. He remembers what was in his father's house. He comes. But the father sees him afar off. He runs to him, embraces him, won't hear anything of what he's saying about being a servant. He's a son. and he receives him joyfully.

May we always remember this. Sinners are welcome to come to the Lord, but he always says to them, go and sin no more. As we come with our confession, come with our sin. He doesn't say, well, it doesn't matter. You can just live your life like that, and you can just sin, and I'll save you anyway. No, he said to the woman taken in adultery, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.

Change would be a wonderful thing, wouldn't it? If those whom we know as notorious sinners, or those round about in our town, or those that are even well known in the news as committing public disgrace and sins, are being brought to come to the Lord, confessing, changing the way that they live, confessing it as sinful and wrong, a real difference made.

That is what the Lord calls his people to do. And those that come to him, they come for forgiveness and they come as a change instead of departing from him. That's one great evidence, isn't it, of desiring to come to the line that their deeds might be made manifest. But then we have those that are invited.

And in these days that lead up to our text, it's not just Nathaniel, but we have Peter. And you think, well, Peter, so greatly used an apostle, surely his beginning would be very marked. It wouldn't just be that his brother, Andrew, hears John speak, pointing out the Lamb of God, and follows the Lord, and then he finds his own brother, Simon, Saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus.

To those that are welcome to come, those that are invited, should be a real encouragement to us, shouldn't it? Because we have Andrew, then we have Philip, and immediately they think, who else? would like to hear this news, who else would be interested, who else is precious to me and I want them to know what I know. We do not have power to convert and to change another person at all, but God does use and has done in many times where someone has gone to their work and invited someone along to hear the word of God. Someone has told another person, and they have been the means of bringing another unto the Lord, and they have come.

Peter came, and now we have Philip going to Nathaniel. And Nathaniel comes to those that are invited. They're not to think, well, This is not really a scriptural or remarkable way to start in the things of God, but it is. And no doubt of great encouragement to many that have first begun in the ways of the Lord in this way.

But then we have in Matthew, the short portion we read at the end of chapter 11, Our Lord's very clear invitation, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Sometimes it's easy to read over portions like this and not realise the condition that's set forth. Labour and are heavy laden. spiritually so, but also naturally, mentally so as well. Very often it's hard to separate the two.

But those that are bowed down, those that are in trouble, those that feel heavy laden with their sins, those that do not have any rest in their souls, to know from the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that such are welcome to come. And then we have in John 7, of those that thirst, if any man thirst. In verse 37 in John 7, in that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. It was the woman, the well of Samaria. He said to her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst ask of him, and he would have given thee living water. The gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, those living waters that flow forth from Calvary, and flow to Jew and Gentile alike. Well, there's many other characters, but may you notice this, may I do, as we go through the word of God, where the Lord has given a clear encouragement, a drawing to men, women, children, different characters to come unto him.

They shall come. They do come. So I want to look then, secondly, where they come from. Well, in Luke chapter 13, we are told that they come from all quarters of the earth. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. Every nation, kindred, and tongue. We have in Psalm 107 as well, that they shall be gathered again from the east, the west, the north, and the south. Again, what a beautiful picture is that.

When we think of the nations of the earth, and we think of how different their cultures are, how different peoples are, outwardly perhaps, but in every nation, every nation, him that serveth him, him that cometh to the Lord, will not be cast out. The Jews, they found it very, very hard to accept that the Lord would receive Gentiles. And yet it was made abundantly clear in the prophecies, in Isaiah especially, that it would be so. And very, very clearly to Peter in going to Cornelius' household. And so again, that is a beautiful thing to realize.

We can be very cosseted or narrow, and we say, well, here we are in England, and we've got our little group of churches, and the gospel standard churches, and our doctrine is right, and what we do is right, our practice is right. And we hold that up in a standard, as it were, to put on every other nation and kindred. upbringing making a very big difference on non-essential things, things that are vital for salvation, they cannot be changed at all.

The gift of faith, grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, the faith in the Lord, the belief, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that we are justified not by works, but by faith in Christ alone. Those things, the truths that were really encapsulated in the creeds of the early church, which were mainly centering on our Lord Jesus Christ, His Godhead, His sufferings, His death, and faith in Him. But there are many other things surrounding it. In our worship, where we worship, the pattern of worship, how many hymns, or whether we sing psalms, whether we have one reading, two readings, or start with a call to worship, how long the sermon may be, how we dress even, all of those things that are not essential to salvation.

There's accepted norms and what we feel is right in our own circle and people, but you can come to many other nations and they're viewing those unessential things in a different way, or even in our nation. And we need to discern The difference between what is absolutely essential and what is not. What is commanded and what is not commanded. And to realize that God has his people which have never come into contact with some of the things that we do, never know the things that we would hold as very important.

And they don't see anything wrong in maybe doing different things. Very interesting sometimes to hear of the pattern of worship in some other climes and nations, and sometimes perhaps the informal way. I often think of, I think of Stephen Hyde saying of where they have the worship in one of the nations he goes to, And he said, the time is up for worship, and you come along and no one's there. And then half an hour later, they all come. But they don't want to go away. They stay for three hours, and they want one sermon after another. That timekeeping is not very important. So it's very different than what we are used to here. And we need to kind of remember that.

And the more perhaps we move amongst God's people, or in other nations, we realise that there is differences outwardly, but the faith of God's people is the same. And it is a wonderful thing to realise that. We are very thankful with the ministry here, to have access with the sermon audio and to realize last year that the ministry here reached 140 countries. When you see the picture of the earth and the colored nations in which the sermons are going into, it is very humbling. It's a wonderful thing that the word preached here is acceptable and received. by many different nations and is much to pray for that the Lord would bless that word.

Where they come from, the world, the children of Israel came out of Egypt. That often sets forth the world, separated from the world, all of God's children. were once in the world, the Lord says that they are not of the world, even I as not of the world. And often picture the picture of Jericho, or a city, a walled city like that. God's people, the Church of God, is spoken of as being really a defended city. so that the world cannot attack it, they cannot destroy it, the Lord defends it like a city with bars and gates.

But however well it is defended, it allows sinners to come from outside to inside, from the world and into it. And I think that's a wonderful thing because The world really is the field that is where the Lord sent his servants. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned.

And out of the world then they come. Come ye out from among them. Touch not the unclean thing. I will receive you. You shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord. a separated people in the world but not of it, chosen out of the world and coming to the Lord, Jesus Christ, from the world. Then there is a coming from the law. Paul speaks of the law as being a schoolmaster unto Christ.

Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, pictured his Christian And the Christian is desiring life, he's seeking the things of God, but he comes to worthy wise men who would direct him to Mount Sinai, direct him to the law. If you want life, then you go to the law, you fulfill the law, you obtain salvation by your works. And Paul Bunyan's pilgrim, he found that Mount Sinai was like to fall upon him and to crush him.

By the law is the knowledge of sin, and the law is a hard taskmaster. Whoso offendeth in one point is guilty of all, but the law was given that the whole world might come guilty under God. But God's people come through that way. They come from being under the law, under condemnation, They come like the apostle did, what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, and in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. To know what the bondage of the law was, to know a broken law, to fulfil law in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have a picture in Hebrews 12, that ye are not come unto the mount which might be touched, which burneth with fire, with smoke. Even Moses said that I exceedingly fear and quake. But ye are come unto Mount Sinai, and unto an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. A real contrast between Sinai, between the law and the gospel. the good news of the gospel, and of course our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

To those that come, those that are labouring under the law, those who have gone that way, they are brought to then come unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We have also the enemies of the law. We have the Apostle Paul, soul as he was, an example of those that were fighting against the Lord. How many of that early church would have thought, well, if Ananias and Saviour were struck dead for lying to the Holy Ghost, how much more shall Saul, this Pharisee, who is hailing men and women to prison and giving assent to those that are being slain, what will God do with him? Well, God converted him. We need to remember that.

There are those that are openly at enmity and hatred to the things of God, to the people of God, and from amongst them. There are those who are brought to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. It gives us a lot of hope, doesn't it? You might have a loved one. You might have in-laws. You might have your own siblings. that hate the things of God. You feel you can't really share. You can't speak to them. They don't like to hear it. But when you realize this, that God is able to change them and turn them from being an enemy to a friend, from being hatred against the things of God to loving the things of God.

Some of us, we know those have been like that. Some of us were like that. Now they come from that position. Then there are those like in our text with Nathanael. And he comes from under his fig tree. You say, well, what does that set forth? Well, if Nathanael was reading the word of God there, he's already, as it were, seeking. He's brought from that point to the Lord. But there are many things that are bound up with Nathaniel coming from that point. Nathaniel would have known our Lord could not have seen him there because of the fig tree's umbrella. Someone walking past would not have seen him. But the Lord knew him. He knew what Philip had said to him. He knew. The objection that Nathaniel had, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

The Lord knows his people before they come. It's very highlighted in John 4, where the Lord knew that the one thing that the woman at the well of Samaria knew was that when Messiah's cometh, he will tell us all things. And he began by telling her all about herself, the five failed marriages and the one that she was with that wasn't her husband. Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ? Nathaniel is a picture of this, of one coming to the Lord and finding out that the Lord actually knew him first. Knew all about him, where he was.

The Lord has a way of convincing his people through providence, through the word that he's preached, through the word finding them out. And many a soul has said to a preacher, how did you know? Who's told you about me? And no one's told them about them. But the Lord has found them through the ministry and describe what they'd been doing and how they'd been before they had actually come to the Lord.

And so we have this thought here with Nathaniel coming, because we're told where he came from, what he was doing first. And there may be those of us that we can think back to what we were doing. where we were, what was our position when the Lord brought us first to seek him, first to come unto him.

Well I want to look then thirdly at how we are to come in these gospel days because our Lord is not here, he's not on earth, and what is it to come to him? Well the first thing is to come to him in his word. hearing his word as the disciples did. If we picture when our Lord was on earth, he was there, he was speaking his word, and those that came, they came and they heard him speak the word.

Well, those words are here in the word of God. And that's not just reading the word of God. It is coming to the Lord with that desire to hear his voice, a hearing ear that is opened And we want the Lord to speak to us through his word. We want to hear his voice. Where the word of a king is, there is power. My sheep, they hear my voice and they follow me. And that applies to generations.

It's not just when our Lord was upon earth. And so it is also learning from his word, seeing him, in the lattice of the Word of God. It's a beautiful thing when we do see Him, and there's many passages that are precious to me, where reading through them and not perhaps expecting to see the Lord, and then to see the Lord set forth in the Word, is coming in that way, and especially with a changed attitude. Instead of indifference, Instead of just reading the word but not desiring to see anything, there's a change of attitude, a change of heart.

And that is the vital thing, even with repentance. Repentance is never perfect. We never fully turn away. We never can fully change our heart. And we'll still be sinners. But what is perfect or what is right is a repenting spirit, a desire to change, a desire to go after the Lord Jesus Christ.

Often it can be contrasted by when we have pulls in two directions. One person perhaps might have two people that they're friends with, but those two people may be there's a conflict between them. It's all right when they're meeting just on one-to-one, but when there comes a situation where there's those two at once, then that person's got a choice to make. Do they embrace that one or that one? Do they offend this one or that one?

And in the things of God, often there's a choice that is made where it's said, Like with the test on Mount Carmel, if Baal is God, follow him. If the Lord is God, then follow him. How long halt ye between two opinions? And sometimes that can happen in a workplace, sometimes it can happen with friends, and there is a call whether either we go the way of the world or that we say, no, I am following the Lord. I'm seeking after the Lord, I'm not going to go in this other way. And then it's very made clear where our heart is, where our attitude is. And that is a very important thing.

I remember solemnly years ago when I was in my early 20s and we had a chap that made profession in the workshop at the where I was working as a draftsman. And he was in the service department. And he said he was a Christian. Well, I happened to be in the service department one day when the foreman came in. And he said, there's extra work we needed. We need someone to work overtime on the weekend. It'll be triple time on the Sunday. And this chap, he said, oh, good, great. And I thought at first he was just joking, but he wasn't. He rose that bait, he wanted three times his pay, and he'd work the Sunday. And I thought, well, all your profession, all what you've said, and this is how you're treating the Lord's Day.

And it wasn't until that situation came up that kind of highlighted where his heart was, where his bent was. And in a way, it's like with Simon Magus in the scriptures, where Philip was He used to, he baptised him, he received him as a believer, but then along came Peter and when Simon saw that by laying on of hands the Holy Spirit was given, then he offered money, give me this power also. And Peter discerned, he said that thy money perish with thee, thou shalt not, no, heart is not right in this matter. is shown where he was really seeking. And there's many instances where the Lord tried those that came to him, wanting eternal life, wanting inheritance, and the Lord put them to those tests.

And instead of coming to him, they went to those other things. Another way of coming is in prayer, especially in prayer. And again, it's the attitude. It's not just, wrote prayers, but prayer where we really desire the ear of the Lord. We want to know that He hears us. Instead of just indifference, there's a real coming to the Lord in that way.

It's also coming to where the Lord has promised to be, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst, He will be in the assemblies of his people. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Unto him shall the gathering of the people be. If it is truly that we are seeking after the Lord, like in the days when our Lord was on earth, there was crowds about him, there was people there, They went where the people were, because the Lord was there.

That's the same with us. We desire to be where the Lord's people are, where the Lord comes, and where the Lord blesses his word. That is how we will come in these days. It'll be like the Greeks as well, desiring him. The Greeks came to the apostles. They said, sirs, we would see Jesus.

Again, it's the attitude, it's the desire. that we might see him with spiritual eyes, see him by the eye of faith. These are some of the ways that we, in these days, would come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to look lastly at what they are brought to see in Jesus. In a literal way, when our Lord was on earth, when they came to him, then they are brought to see something in him, something above natural.

In Isaiah 53, we're told that there's no form or comeliness that we should desire him. So it is very remarkable when Nathaniel comes, as in our text, And as he's coming, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him, behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.

And Nathanael says, whence knowest thou me? And Jesus says to him, before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. And from those words that the Lord spoke to Nathanael, Nathanael saw something in the Lord. He says to him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.

How did he see that? The Lord had made known he knew Nathanael, like the woman at the well. Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? She'd been brought to see something in him that others missed, others did not see. Nathaniel had seen here was the Son of God.

In our last hymn when we sing it, there's four verses in it, and each one, it has something that's is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first verse, he is wounded, suffering for their sin. I, if I be lifted up above the earth, will draw all men unto me. There's one thing that those that come to the Lord will be brought to see, the suffering Saviour. Those two on the way to Emmaus, they saw him. They saw Him bearing their sin, wounded for their transgressions. They brought to mourn over Him, to weep over Him.

This is a real mark of those that come. They don't just come and see nothing. They do. Now the Lord had said to the disciples, blessed are your eyes because they see. And it's to see what the world doesn't see. In the second verse, a righteousness that they need. That's a beautiful thing to see, isn't it? To come in to the Lord with no righteousness of our own, just sins, just iniquity. all our evil heart, nothing acceptable to God, but then to see in the Lord Jesus Christ all the righteousness we need, a holiness to impart to us, that which shall make us meet and fit to stand before God faultless. That's a beautiful thing, to see in the Lord, behold the Lord, our righteousness.

Then in verse three, it speaks of the hope, the only hope that we have. The one thing needful. One hymn says, I could from all things parted be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. The hope of the people of God is centred upon one. And our Lord said, if you believe not that I am he, you shall perish in your sins. There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved.

And that is one aspect. With the people of God that come and that see him, the woman that pressed through the crowd, we sang of the crowd in our second hymn, and she pressed through, if she may but touch his garment, and she did, and was made whole. There is none other. She lived 12 years with that infirmity. The man that was 38 years at the pool. In each case, it is Jesus only. That's a big test, isn't it? Is there some other help, some other way? Or is he the chiefest amongst 10,000, the altogether lovely?

Then in verse four is grace. Those that heard him, the grace that was poured into his lips, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is something that is very beautiful to see in the Lord. Grace to help in time of need, saving grace, the grace of our Lord, giving to rebels and those undeserving, giving to them, and they know that they don't render again as what really is due. Those are beautiful things to see in the Lord Jesus Christ. To see as dear Thomas did, though he came first, unbelieving you might say, but then to be able to say, my Lord and my God.

A beautiful thing to see and behold him. This is the blessing for the people of God that come. There is that which they see by the eye of faith, that which touches their hearts. They're brought to love Him and to cleave to Him and to follow Him and to serve Him.

The coming just doesn't end up. with just coming, it results in discipleship, it results in seeing a beauty in Christ, it results in a cleaving and a following after Him. So may we be a Nathaniel, may we be one that comes to Him, is coming perhaps even now to Him, And to realize, as Jesus saw Nathaniel, he sees you. He sees all that goes on in the closet. He sees all your fears and all what is said.

Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and saith of him, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. In other words, he was honest through and through. There's no pretense. There's no imitation. He wanted to be truly a follower of the Lord and was sincerely seeking after Him. May that be us. May the Lord's blessing be upon Him. Amen.