It reminds me, Brother Scott
one time told someone, I hear, he was looking for a passage. It may have been one of the minor
prophets, Ezra or Habakkuk. He flipped through and said,
I think somebody stole that book out of my mind. Oh, I wish you
could have met him. Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the Gospel according to John, chapter 1. John chapter one. I'd like to look this morning
in verses thirty five to thirty nine. And before we begin, let's let's
have a word of prayer. Our father, we. Thank you this
morning. For this time that we have. Lord, it's good to be here. And
we ask you, bless our time together. Bless our worship. Bless the
hearing of the gospel. Bless the preaching. I pray for
the men that are standing this morning, faithful men that you've
raised up. Bless in those congregations. Comfort your people, I ask, for
Christ's sake. Amen. Verse 35 in John 1 starts and
says, Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples,
and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the
Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them
following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where
dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and
see. And they came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him
that day. For it was about the tenth hour. After John had his discourse
with the Pharisees, you remember they talked to him and they asked
him, you know, asked John, Are you, are you Elijah? He said,
No. Are you that prophet that wanted
to have been prophesied in the Old Testament? Are you, are you
him? No. Who are you? He said, I'm just a voice. I
am the voice of one. Crying in the wilderness, prepare
you the way of the Lord. Well. The next day, it says in
verse 35. John stood the next day after.
John stood. You know, I got to thinking about
that a few minutes ago. Isn't it amazing how the Spirit
of God can write something down, and if we're not careful, how
easily we just read right over that, like, you know, you think.
John stood. And as I thought on that, I thought
a couple of things here. Number one, he was looking upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's about to make a comment
to his two disciples. And he's standing there respectfully. He has no right to sit. The only one that has a right
to sit, the only one that is worthy to sit, was walking because his work was not done.
Now, he will sit later. After he cries from the cross,
it is finished. He is going to soon ascend into
heaven, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. salvation. But here's John. I
just thought about that. I looked at that. John stood. And it's respectful. You know, a lady walks into the
presence of a man. He stands up. Why? Because he's respectful.
You're respectful. Someone walks up, I would tell
you as I've thought many times before, for a believer or another believer
to walk into their presence, stand up, shake their hand, the Lord Jesus Christ at the
stoning of Stephen He who is worthy to sit at the
right hand of the majesty on high stood up. Stephen said,
I see the Son of God standing to receive one of His own into
His presence. Respectfully, John stood. Verse 36 says, And looking upon
Jesus as He walked, He saith, Behold the Lamb of God This was
John. This was his calling. Make straight
the way of the Lord. That means point men to Christ. Stare them toward Him. Make your answers. If someone
were to ask you something, attempt, strive. Think upon. Make your answer to be that which
is honoring to the Lord. Steer them to Christ. Make straight
the way of the Lord. This morning, the Spirit of God
has directed us to do the same thing, looking unto Him Do the same thing that John the
Baptist did to his two disciples. Looking, verse 36, upon Jesus
as he walked, he saith, Behold, the Lamb of God. Oh, how many
times has John said that so far in this chapter? Listen. He's in our midst. We've said that before, but we're
so forgetful. What we need to hear. I need
to hear that. I needed to hear one more time. He's here. Two or three are gathered together
in my name. I'm in the midst of it. Thank
you for his presence. Lord, thank you for being here.
Thank you for letting me be here. And Lord, would you speak to
me today? You have not because you ask not. If you if you've
not asked before now, ask him now. Lord, I knock and I. I ask and I seek. Would you bless this word to
my heart? Behold the Lamb of God. You remember his he said
my sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow
me and I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Behold him, he who is the surety
of the sheep, the one in whom the sheep were chosen, justified
freely by God's grace through the blood that was shed at Calvary,
and put away the guilt Oh, the presence of sin is still with
you, but the guilt of it. Behold Him who the Scripture
reveals back in Proverbs 8 was rejoicing always in the habitable
parts of His earth. He said, His delights were with
the sons of men before the foundation of the world, when Almighty God
in His infinite mercy and grace had chosen a people before they were ever called
into being, before God Almighty ever took dust and formed man
and breathed into him. And he became a living soul before
Almighty God ever brought man into existence. He said, I knew you. Chose them in Christ. Named them. Called them to be His people. Established their names. I've
said that. I thought about that. How many
times have you, you know, you that have children, you know,
you get your book and, you know, Well, let's see. What are we
going to name this child? Oh, I think we're going to name
him Carl. Carl. That sounds like
a good name. Yeah, I guess so. Since the Spirit
of God directed you to name him, that God had already named him
before the foundation of the world. I called him by name. He knew
their name before they were ever born. Behold Him, the obedient Son,
whom the Father was well-pleased, suffering Servant, the Servant
of God, God-Man, He who came into this world made of a woman,
made under the law, made Himself answerable. answered as the federal head,
as the surety. Here was Almighty God dealing
with one man on the behalf of all of His elect. Here is God
Almighty looking at the Lamb. There He is. And all for whom
He represents God's dealing with one man. And that one man right
there, at his baptism on the Mount of Transfiguration, this
is what God the Father said of that one man that he was dealing
with. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And all in him I'm well pleased. He right now, as the Father beholds
Him, whoever liveth to make intercession, the marks of His crucifixion,
of His substitutionary death, those marks, the very marks that
Thomas was told, you put your finger here, you put your hand
here. Thomas said, my Lord and my God, those marks right now. Or in heaven, I can make good
on that. I looked it up. Revelation 5,
6 says the lamb stood. As it had been slain. And I looked
that up as it had been slain. Here it is bearing the marks. I'm telling you. There's a man
in glory, the God-man, the Lamb of God. You behold the Lamb. And verse 37 says, And the two
disciples, after John said, Behold the Lamb of God, the two disciples
heard him speak. They heard John say, Behold the
Lamb of God. And I'm telling you, the Spirit
of God blessed that word to their hearts, and they heard. Faith cometh
by hearing. My daughter Hannah called me
yesterday, and she said, Dad, I've got to teach the little kids. They've got a little class for
their kids. She said, I'm going to teach
it. And she said, I'd like to teach out of this particular
passage of scripture. And she said, they're so young,
I don't know how much they'll understand. I don't know what
they'll do. And I said, Hannah. I said, I stand every day, every
week, Sunday and Wednesday. And I said, this is what I'm
commanded to do. Preach the gospel. I said, someone,
an adult, you know, could be hearing. And I said, unless the
Lord opens their eyes, opens their heart, they're not going
to hear either. I said, you tell those children the truth. And
I said, who knows? Peradventure. God may be pleased
to open their hearts, just like He did Lydia's. How do you know? I mean, there may be someone
sitting here this morning That's heard and heard and heard and
heard. And all of a sudden they heard
God open their hearts. And I know this, unless he does,
they're not going to hear. Unless God Almighty opens a man
or a woman's heart, they're not going to hear. John said, Behold,
the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him
speak. And the Scripture says they followed
Jesus. Verse 38 says, And Jesus turned
and saw them coming. You know, isn't it marvelous
when you read something that sets forth the Master? John spoke. They heard. And the Lord knew they heard. He was the one by His Holy Spirit
that caused them to hear. He blessed that Word to their
eyes. They don't have any ability.
No man has an ability to hear the Word of God unless God Almighty
gives a man ears to hear. He doesn't hear. It's just words. We're just going through the
motions. That's all we're doing. But John spoke as directed by
God Himself. It was a preacher. God sent a
preacher. And when he spoke, the Father
was pleased to draw those two. And they heard. And they followed the Lord, and
the Lord turned. Oh, the blessed effect. of true
faith, faith that is given from above. Men, women are not born
with faith. He that believeth hath life. That does not mean that he had
life after he believed. It means that if he believes,
he's already got life. God Almighty gives spiritual
life. And then believe. I've said before,
does a baby cry in order to become alive or does he cry because
he's alive? Well, you say, well, he cries
because he's alive. Right. He turned and he saw them following. Oh, the myriads of days, weeks,
months and years eternal. that he always saw Him. He always
viewed Him. He viewed Him in the fall. He viewed Him in redemption. He viewed Him in God's eternal
electing grace. And in that day of regeneration,
he saw Him, looked on Him, drew Him to himself. They heard
Him. They followed Him. And then he
saith unto them, What seek ye? You know, this world seeks that
which is failing. Luke 12, 28 to 30 says, If then
God so clothed the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow
is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye
of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall
eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of a doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations
of the world seek after. And your Father knoweth that
ye have need of these things." Man, by nature, is just going
to seek things, mess, and stuff. Stuff that's not going to matter.
But what does the believer seek? What seek you? What do you want? What do you
want? What seek you? Let me tell you what a believer
seeks. He seeks, number one, Christ. His honor, His glory, His will,
His purpose. Matthew 6.33 says, But seek ye
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto you. I had to look that up again today.
Seek ye first. I thought, I wonder what that means. I'm going
to look that up one more time. First in time, first in place,
and first in importance. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God. May my time be directed first
to seek Him. May He in importance and place
be sought first. First, what seek ye? Now that information wasn't absent. The answer to that question wasn't
absent from the Lord. He knew. He didn't ask them that
to obtain some knowledge from them. He asked them that they might
express their desire when we pray. Don't you know that the Lord
knows what we're going to say before we ever say it? Let me
tell you something. Prayer is by the grace and mercy
of God for our benefit. It's good pleasure of Almighty
God to draw His people to call upon Him. That they might express
their desire their need of Him. It's good. What do you want? What is your request? What is
your heart? And the Scripture says, They
said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master. Now listen to this answer. What do you want? What do you
seek? What do you desire? Here's what they said. Man, I tell you what, you know,
you think about this old carnal nature. If the Lord were to ask, what
do you want? A man left to himself. Well,
I want to be healthy. I want to be rich. I want to
be popular. Man, there's a lot of stuff that
I'd like to have. Man, I want to be happy. I'd like to just have everything
that this world could give. What do you want? This is their
answer. Where dwellest thou? Where do you abide, Lord? I thought,
man, what an answer. In the days of our Lord's earthly
ministry, some people sought Him, the Scripture says, for
what they could get out of Him. Now here's John 6, 26. Jesus
answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, what
seek ye? No, no, I'm sorry. Ye seek me.
Not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the
loaves and were filled. But these made an answer, gave
an answer, because they were made to see something of their
eternal need of Him. Where do you stay? Where are
you? Where abidest thou? Where do you dwell? Lord, where
are you pleased to dwell? Listen to Isaiah 57, 15. For
thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,
whose name is Holy. I dwell in the High and Holy
with Him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite
ones. I know this. Upon his word. Almighty God and he who inhabits
eternity is pleased to dwell in the heart of those made to
be humble before him to just see something. Of their lack. Because believe me when I say
something of our lack, believe me, we don't see the depth of
it. We think we do. Oh, I know how much I need him.
Oh, no, you don't. No, you don't. I'm telling you,
we struggle every day. There's not a believer that's
sitting in this congregation this morning that doesn't struggle
with this thought. Your old flesh still tries to
tell you, you know, well, you know what? I know, I know that,
I know that I need Him, but I still, you know, you have to admit,
I have been here sitting under Brother Scott for, oh man, years. At least I, you know, I do, I
do believe the gospel. And praise be unto His holy name
that you do. But I'm telling you, you still
struggle. You still struggle. You struggle against the flesh
that wants to puff itself up and tell you somehow you've still
done something, and I tell you, and you hate it. You struggle
with it, you think it, and you strive and struggle. The Lord answered John 14, 23,
and said unto him, If a man love Me, he'll keep My words, and
My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make
Our abode with him. Where is he? Lord, what do you
want? He asked him. What do you desire? What seek you? Lord, where dwellest
thou? David said in Psalm 115, 3, Our
God's in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Where dwellest thou? He rules. He reigns. And as we said just a moment
ago, he's pleased to Be in the presence of those that gather
together in his name. Lord, where do you dwell? Dwells in the hearts of his own. Every man, every woman that God's
called out of darkness and revealed unto them their need of him. This is what they want to know.
Where is he honored? Lord, where do you meet? Lord,
if you said where two or three are gathered together in your
midst, you're in the midst of, you know, they're gathered together
in your name, that you're in the midst of them. Lord, show
me where that is. I want to be there. I want to
be there. I want to be where God's honored.
I want to be where Christ is preached. I want to be where
the glorious gospel of God's sovereign grace is set forth. I want to be there. Lord, keep
me from wanting to be anywhere else. Where dwellest thou? And he said, verse 39, unto them,
Come and see. And they came and saw where he
dwelt, and abode with him that day. For it was about the tenth
hour. Those made sensitive to the Lord
Jesus Christ, sensitive to their need of Him, They need Him right
now. That's what the bride said. Song
of Solomon 3. Just turn over there. Song of
Solomon chapter 3. Listen to the bride as she speaks. Song of Solomon 3-1. If you want
to listen to it. By night on my bed I sought Him
whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. I will rise now and go about the city and the streets and
the broad ways. I'll seek him whom my soul loveth.
I sought him, but I found him not. The watchman that go about
the city found me. To whom I said, Saw ye him whom
my soul loveth? Let me just say this before I
read that last verse, verse 4. How wonderfully, mercifully our
God deals with us, there are times that he will, as I've told
you, Brother Maurice Montgomery told me one time, he said, Marvin,
he said, there's times that God will put a man out on a limb
and make him think he's going to leave him there. You ever
been there? You ever felt like that? There's
times that you just feel, Lord, where are you? Lord, help me. Oh, how wise,
how merciful he is to do that. And then to create within your
heart a longing desire. Lord, where are you? Where dwellest
thou? And listen to the bride in verse
4. It was but a little that I passed
from them, but I found Him whom my soul loveth. I held Him and
would not let Him go till I had brought Him into my mother's
house, into the chamber of her that conceived me. Oh, there's
nothing that's more settling to the heart. When Almighty God
brings a man, brings a woman to see their need of Him, Lord,
where dwelleth thou? Come and see. What a word of comfort. What a precious thought. Come and see. Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast him out." Those made to see Him, they are made to see because
He drooled. And they came, they saw, they
stayed, they abode with Him. Where His Word is preached, that
is where He is. Where His report is set forth,
as He has set forth. Who has believed our report? Who has believed the glorious
message of God's saving grace, sovereign grace? Where is there
a place where man is not honored, where man is not exalted, where
man's free will is not set forth, is that glorious thing that Man
possesses that God desperately wants somebody to do something
for him. Where is there a place where
man is not lifted up? Where is there a place where
men must decrease and he must increase? Where is that? That's
where he is. That's where he is. Where dwelleth
thou? You go to a place and all that's
talked about is is what we've done for God and what we've accomplished
and how the Lord is pleased with us because we... This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. You hear Him. What seek ye? Lord, where dwellest thou? Come
and see. If He gives you a heart, to come. It's because He gave you a heart
to come. He gave you a new heart. He gave
you a new will. He gave you a new mind. He gave
you new eyes and new ears. And I'm telling you, your eyes
and your ears, the new eyes and ears, doesn't want to look upon
or hear anything that doesn't honor Him and exalt Him. May
the Lord bless these words to our heart, for Christ's sake.
Amen. All right. Let's take about a ten-minute
break.