This is the Lord's Day. That's
what the scriptures refer to it. I was thinking on that and
took a little excerpt out of the notes on the book of Revelation. This is the day that the apostles
began meeting in thankfulness, in celebration, in remembrance
of our Lord's resurrection. This is the day that the Scriptures
sets forth that is given especially for the meeting together of God's
people. This is the Lord's day. This
is our blessed privilege to be able to meet together and to
worship. Who knows? Maybe the Spirit of
God will bless these messages to our hearts. Perhaps He will
allow us the privilege to be able to truly hear. Who knows? He may call out someone today
out of darkness. He may bless this Word to the
salvation of one of His elect. He may comfort somebody. I pray
that He does. Let's ask the Lord's blessing
upon this Word. Our Father, this morning we thank
you for the blessed privilege to be able to meet together.
Father, we realize that it is only by your grace and mercy
that you have given this place and established this assembly
and maintained it all these many years and has blessed this part
of the world with the privilege of hearing your gospel and having
a place where it was maintained and kept by mercy and compassion. Thank you, Father, all for this
blessed time together. Blessed, we pray Your Word. For
Christ's sake, Amen. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the gospel according to John chapter 1. I'd like to continue
in our study this morning on in this in this book, I'd like
to look at verses 40 to 42, John chapter 1 verses 40 and 42. I remember last week we looked
at the scriptures where John the Baptist had said, Behold,
the Lamb of God, two of his disciples followed the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord saw them coming. And
he asked them, What seek ye? In verse 38. And they asked him
this question. Master, where dwellest thou? Where do you stay? Where do you
abide? And we considered where he does abide. He abides with his people. He
abides in their hearts. He's seated in the heavenlies.
He is omnipresent. God Almighty. Well, today let's
look at verse 40. One of the two which heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Having followed the Lord, probably
the other besides Simon Peter. It says, one of the two which
heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother. Probably the other one was John
himself that penned this. We have no way of knowing that.
It's just that John never drew attention to himself. in this
book or any other book that the Spirit of God used him to write. But the beautiful part of this,
it does say, one of the two which heard John speak and followed
him. They did walk after John. There's
no doubt about that. But I'll tell you who they are
going to follow. They're going to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. They heard John speak and walked
after John as far as being the one that was teaching them. But
John pointed to Christ and they followed after the Lord. No one
save the Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to be followed. John the
Baptist said of himself, I'm just a boy. I'm just a voice
crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord." So John
the Baptist pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, verse 41
says, "...he first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith
unto him, We found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the
Christ." that followed John the Baptist,
heard John the Baptist point and say concerning the Lord Jesus,
Behold the Lamb of God. Andrew, the other, followed after
the Lord and asked Him, Where do you dwell? He said, Come and
see. They came and they abode with
Him. And that Andrew that heard John the Baptist speak found
Peter. Now there's a miracle of God's
grace. How did Peter come to cross paths
with the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the Lord was pleased to
reveal Himself to one of His own and providentially ordered
and caused Peter to come and to hear. And I said last week,
how did you come? How did you cross paths with
the Lord? How did the Lord move in mercy
and power and grace to cause you to come? You look back and
you see how the steps, the Scripture says, of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. It amazes me as I look and see
how few places there are where the gospel of God's grace is
preached. But where you do find it, the Lord raises up a group out
of that area. You may drive for hours and hours
and hours before you find a place where where Christ is proclaimed
in all of His sovereignty and His glory and His majesty. In all of that distance you wonder,
is there anyone here? Are there any of God's sheep
here? And then you find a place. It
was Andrew. Andrew went and told his brother
Peter, And Peter, you know, the Lord called him out of darkness. Andrew, one of the vessels of God's mercy,
and he said to Peter, Simon, we have found the Messiah which
is being interpreted, the Christ. when someone says, ìWe have found
the Messiah. We found the Lord.î Do you know
why they found the Lord? You know just exactly what Iím
getting ready to say, donít you? Because He found them first.
Because He looked upon them first. He has always looked upon His
people. He's always seen them in mercy. He's always seen them in compassion.
We found Him. Why? Because He found us. If Almighty God does not reveal
Himself to someone, they don't find Him. How do you find Him
who dwells in the secret places? If He doesn't reveal Himself,
He's not known. Why does someone love Him? They
said, we love Him because He first loved us. He has to give
us a new heart to love Him. A new heart to hear Him. My sheep
hear my voice. Who else hears it? No one. Almighty God does as He will.
He called Peter through Andrew. Andrew told Peter, we found the
Messiah, because the Messiah found him. Well, he brought him,
verse 42, that is, Peter, he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called
Cephas. which is, by interpretation,
a stone." Or the margin says, Peter. That's what cephas means. A stone. Peter. Andrew brought
Peter to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the miracle of that
blessed statement is that If we bring by God's grace those
that we love, want to hear, we bring them to the place that
God has raised up as the way in which the Lord is going to
speak. I've told people, I said, you know the best thing in the
world? Take Scripture. What is the best way any of us,
any of us to learn what's the best way. Here's the scriptural
way. Is any good thing, can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? Come and see. Just come see. Come listen. The Lord has been pleased to
raise up His means of teaching. And this is how it is. He sends
a pastor. And a pastor's responsibility
is to sit down. Does that mean that no one ever
talks? No, that doesn't mean you never talk. I mean, yeah,
we always talk. We always fellowship with each
other. But this right here, what we're
looking at right here, the assembling together. Isn't this a marvelous
thing? Look, everybody and their brothers
got stuff you could do. I mean, you know. But look how
wonderful it is that brethren come together and dwell together.
Unity and harmony. You come together. Andrew brought
Simon. He brought him to the Lord. He
brought him to the place where the Lord was pleased to teach. I'm so thankful that the Lord
would allow me to be here today. I said, He may be pleased to
teach me something. And oh, how desperately do I
need to be taught. How desperately do I need to
learn. Sometimes my kids will call me
and ask me, Dad, I'd like to ask you, in this certain, certain
Scripture, Hold on just a second. Let me look it up. Let me study
it. Let me see what the Scripture
says. And let me get back with you. Boy, I don't know it all. You
don't either. We need desperately to be taught. He brought Simon to the Lord. He brought him to Jesus, and
when Jesus beheld Him. Oh, if He looks upon one in mercy. I want you to turn to Ezekiel
chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. Let's read the first six verses. The Scripture says in John, Jesus beheld him. Ezekiel 16,
1. Again the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, call Jerusalem to know her abominations. And say, Thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy
mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity in the
day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was wast
thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at
all, nor swaddled at all. None, I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast
out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when
thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live." Here's the miracle of regeneration.
When I saw thee, when I looked on you, when I looked on you
in compassion, when I looked on you in mercy, when I said,
live. That's when you lived. That's
when life was imparted. That's a new birth. That's regeneration. When I said
to you, life is Christ. He is the way. I am the way.
I am the truth. I am the life. Life. Christ. Back in John chapter
1, the Scripture says, Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, when
the Lord Jesus Christ, He who knew Simon, He who knows
every person, all souls are mine, People say, well, I can do what
I want to. I'm my own man. I'm my own woman. I'm this. I'm
that. No. No. No, you're not. You're the Lord's. And He will do what He will with
His own. All souls are mine. You say,
what do you mean He'll do what He will with His own? That's
what he asked. Can I not do what I will with
mine own? We all came out of the same lump.
Came out of the same lump of clay. Look over there. Just look at
it again. Look at Romans 9. Just turn over to Romans 9 and
look at this passage of Scripture. Now, buddy, you talk about a
passage of Scripture shut the mouths of the gainsayers, men
that are, you know, I'm this and I'm that. Romans 9, who is the potter? The Lord's
the potter. Who's the clay? We're the clay.
Romans 9, verse 21, Hath not the potter power over the clay
of the same lump to make one vessel into honor and another
unto dishonor. What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, made up, that's
what it says, made up, that He might make known the riches of
His glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto
glory." You know what we need to do?
Just be quiet. Here was Peter. Andrew brought
Simon. He brought Simon to the Lord,
and the Lord looked at him, and He said, Thou art Simon, the
son of Jonah." Now I looked that up just to
find out. I know that had to have significance. Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.
I know this. I know the Lord knew him. I know the Lord knew Simon and
knew his daddy too. You're Simon, the son of Jonah.
Jonah's your daddy. He knew all things. But Simon,
the son of Jonah. This is what I found out about
that Simon and Jonah, those two names. They were one of the most
common names in all of Israel. Simon, Jonah. Just a common name. You're no different than anybody
else. I don't know the depth of all
of it, but I can tell you this. You're no different than anybody
else. John Smith. Tom Jones. Just common. Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah." But he said, Thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. The Lord gave him a
new name. You remember when the Lord in
Scripture refers to him as the man that was wrestling with Jacob. And the Lord said to Jacob while
he wrestled with him during that night, He said, What's your name? And the Lord had told Jacob,
Let me go. And Jacob said, I won't let you
go unless you bless me. Let me ask you this. Has He given
you a heart this morning to echo that? Let me go. Lord, I won't. Lord, I can't. If I let you go, to whom shall
I go? Let me go. By the grace of God,
if a man or a woman can say, I won't let you go unless you
bless me. What blessing could he have given
Jacob? What blessing could he give Simon? Simon, you're just common as
dirt. You think you're a big-time fisherman.
You think you're somebody. Who do you think you are? You're nobody. Simon, son of
Jonah, save his name was written in
this book right now. What would you have known about
him? What would you have remembered about Simon, son of Jonah, if
his name wasn't written in this book? He's just somebody that
was born and lived and died, that's all I know. Like that
woman that had that alabaster box and she broke it and poured
that point money. One year's wages is what that
Spikenard cost. That could have been sold for
300 pence. You remember, a pence was a day's
wages. Almost a year's wages. You broke that and poured that
out. That could have been sold and
given to the poor. The Lord said, you leave her
alone. She's done what she's done. toward
my burial. And as long as this gospel is
preached, her name is going to be brought up as a memorial.
Do you remember? That's what he said. Her name
will be brought up. And she's going to be remembered
as the woman that broke the alabaster box. What's your name, boy? I'll tell
you who you are. You're nobody. Simon, son of Jonah. But I'm going to give you a new
name. Your name is going to be called Cephas. Cephas. A stone. A rock. Not the rock. Not the capital R rock. There's
only one capital R rock. But you're a little r rock. A
lively stone built up in a spiritual house. It was the Lord that revealed
to Simon who he was in Adam. Simon, son of Jonah. But this
is who you are in me. I made you. I created you. All things were
made by Him and for Him and without Him. was not anything made that
was made. I've given you a new name. Simon
didn't give himself a new name. Simon didn't say, well, I'll
just exercise my free will and I'll just make myself new. How? How? I think I'll just turn myself
right now. into a new person. I think I'm just going to exercise
my free will and I'm just going to make myself something else.
You say, that's ridiculous. I know. I know. I'm bound. We are what we are
by the grace of God, by the power of God. The Lord gave Simon a
new name. And that act of mercy reveals
what Almighty God eternally purposed. The Lord always saw Simon. The Lord saw him when he was
chosen in him before the foundation of the world. The Father gave
him to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world Crossed paths with Him. Told Him, this is who
You are. As being born in Adam, this is
who You shall be in me. Revelation 2.17 says this, He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. To him that overcometh, that
is, is victorious as a soldier in Christ. He that is victorious.
Well, I give to eat of the hidden manna. The hidden manna is the
Lord Jesus Himself. There's some hidden manna that's
being given out today. The Lord Himself who is the bread.
I'm the bread. And spiritually, all that the
Lord has called out of darkness, you're eating right now. You're
eating of Him. You're feasting on Him. You taste
Him. You hear the gospel preached.
It's not my gospel. Paul says our gospel, but we
are the preachers of it. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you eat of this gospel and
you taste that bread and you spiritually ingest it into your
heart and you feast and you think that's the bread right there.
That's it. Yeah. Yeah, that's the bread
of heaven. That's that bread. That bread talks of sovereign
grace, electing sovereign grace. That's bread. His blood, that's
the blood that put away my sin. Not the blood that tried to do
anything. Not the blood that attempted, that made salvation
possible. That blood covers a multitude
of sins. That blood put away the guilt
of his people. That blood's effectual. When
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I will give him to eat of
the hidden manna. I'll give him a white stone.
Now, it means a stone of acquittal. You remember how, maybe you read
about, they'd have a voting from the judges. They'd all, judges
would have Two stones in their hand. Now here a case, here a
court case, had a white stone, black stone. White stone, stone
of acquittal. Black stone, stone of judgment.
Go to vote. There's a bucket over there.
One of them may let go. And they go to vote. And after they'd
all voted, He started pulling the stones out. If there was any stones in there
other than white, the stone of acquittal, judgment was passed. Black stone, he said, I'm going
to give you a white stone, a stone of acquittal, that stone that
sets forth your debts being paid. That stone that sets forth us
now. No condemnation to them that
be in Christ Jesus. And in the stone, a new name
written, which no man knoweth, saving he which receiveth it. You see, Almighty God gives each
of His people a new name. And they know it in their heart.
I can't express to you what He has taught me by faith. He has
given me a stone of acquittal. By faith I know. It is that name
that sets forth, that stone that sets forth by His precious blood
that I stand in Him complete. That new name is reflective of
our marriage to the Bridegroom. Listen to this last passage before
we stop for this morning. Isaiah 62, 4. Thou shalt no more
be termed forsaken. Isaiah 62, 4. That is destitute. Neither shall thy land any more
be termed desolate. That is devastated. But thou
shalt be called Hezabah, my delight, and thy land Beulah, married. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married." Oh, when the Lord gives a man
or woman a new name. Whenever Glenda and I got married,
she took on my name. Now she's going to sign her name. It says, That's my name. My last name's
Stoniker. That's her name. Her name's Stoniker. Sandy Locke. I was born with that same name
as your husband took his name. He said, I'm going to give you
a new name. Your name. My name. Not going to be forsaken anymore.
It's not going to be your name. Not going to be desolate anymore.
This is going to be your new name. Married. That's your new
name. Sons of God. Heirs of God. Join heirs with Christ. When
the Lord gives a new name, that new name's forever. That new
name is merciful and kind. Compassionate. May the Lord add
His blessing upon the preaching of His gospel for the blessed
sake of His Son. Amen.