This evening to the first chapter
of the book of John. John chapter 1. And we'll read
a few verses here of this chapter. Beginning there at verse 34. John the Baptist speaking here. And I saw and bear record that
this is the Son of God. referring to our blessed Savior. Then 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. There again is another indication
of what's been said so many times that salvation is in a look. John said, 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? They said unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where
dwellest thou? He saith unto them come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt,
and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother
Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which
is being interpreted to Christ. And 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. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow
me. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Verse 45, Philip findeth Nathanael,
and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the Law
and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and
see. Now, in this forty-fifth verse,
it says, Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found
him, of whom Moses, and the Law, and the Prophets did write."
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Well, when a soul comes to Jesus
Christ, I guess you could say that's the greatest event in
the soul's history. As a matter of fact, up to that time, that soul is
spiritually dead. And it's at that time that that
soul begins to live. So in light of that, we could
readily say that that's the greatest event in the history of a man's
soul when he begins to live, when he comes to the Lord Jesus
Christ for life. As a matter of fact, it says that the angels in heaven
rejoices over one sinner that repents, which certainly has
reference to a soul coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest
event, I believe, in the soul's history is that day when he comes
to the Savior and he begins to live great to the extent that
even the angels in heaven rejoice. It's a day when all of his sins
is blotted out. That's what makes it so great.
All of his sins are blotted out. It's kind of like when a hard
wind comes along and drives the thick clouds out of the sky and
the sky becomes clear. The greatest event in a man's
history is when he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and he begins
to live. It's the day when the blind man
sees. What a day that is. A man who's
been blind all of his life, and like a bolt out of the blue,
His eyes are opened and he can see. That's an eventful day for
a blind man, isn't it? Once he can see. A man who's
dwelled in darkness all of his life, but all at once he's able
to see. Well, that's an eventful day.
The day when that poor leper is healed. The leper who is hopeless
and helpless in himself, abandoned by society and put outside the
camp. friendless, helpless, and hopeless
that day when he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and says, you
can if you will. That's an eventful day, I think,
when a man comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like the day
when the lame man walks. Oh, I was reading over here in
the book of Acts, chapter 3, about Peter, some of them doing some
preaching here, and there was a fellow, a fellow responded
to what went on. And our Lord healed this fellow.
Look at this third chapter of the book of Acts. It says in
the sixth verse, Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have, I give to thee. in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and his ankle bones
received strength." What I'm saying is that it's an eventful
day when a man comes to the Lord Jesus. An eventful day when the
lame is made to walk. A man's been limping around all
his life, not able to walk right, helpless. depending upon other
people to help him out. And all at once, his feet and his ankle bones
receive strength and he's not satisfied with just walking around.
He's so happy. This eventful day, he's so happy
and so full of rejoicing and praise that he's not satisfied
just to walk. It says, leaping up. And leaping
up stood and walked. and entered with them into the
temple, walking and leaping and praising God." Can't you see
that fellow? Been limping around all his life.
All at once the strength came into his muscles and his bones
straightened out and he was able to stand up and walk and he began
to leap. He began to jump for joy and
he began to praise God. I think that's what I am trying
to say here. For a soul, when that soul comes
to the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the most eventful day in that
soul's history. It's like when the lame man receives
strength in his ankle bones and he's not satisfied with walking,
he's got to leap. It's like when the slave finally
comes to the place that he can enjoy the privilege of liberty,
when he's been delivered from the suffering and the horrors
of slavery, how happy that slave is. It's a day when the helm
of a ship is put right about, and the man now sails in a different
direction. As a matter of fact, he sails
in the right direction. It's a time when a man comes
to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord puts His foot on the neck of
sin, and that man or that soul is delivered from the power or
the dominion of sin. It's an eventful time when a
man comes. to the Lord Jesus Christ, a man
who has been in darkness all of his life, a man who has been
spiritually dead and had no inclination toward God, no desires toward
God. Now he is bound for holiness
and bound for heaven. It is a great day, I think. And
I was looking at a hymn there. just before service, and I was
thinking about that, and it goes like this, it says, O happy day
that fixed my choice on Thee, my Savior and my God. That was
a blessed day, wasn't it? A eventful day. O happy day,
happy day, happy day that fixed my choice on Thee, my Savior
and my God. Well may this glowing heart rejoice
until its rapture's all abroad. O happy bond that seals my vows
to him who merits all my love. Let cheerful anthems fill his
house while to that sacred shrine I move. Tis done, the great transaction's
done. I am my Lord's and he is mine. He drew me and I followed on,
charmed to confess that voice divine. Now rest my long-divided
heart, Fixed on this blissful center-rest, Now ever from my
Lord depart, With Him of every good possessed. O happy day that
fixed my choice On Jesus as my God! O happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away! An eventful day, An eventful
day. That's what happened here. That's
what happened here in this 45th verse. Philip findeth Nathanael,
and he said unto Nathanael, We have found him. We have found
him. He come to the Lord Jesus Christ. They found him. It was a happy
day. Well, I want to talk to you a little bit here this evening
about Philip's conversion. About the conversion of Philip. Here in the text, he gives a
description of his conversion. And I'll read it again. Philip
findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him,
of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus
of Nazareth. We have found him. That's the
description of his conversion. It says here that we have found
Him, He said. We have found Him. We have found
the Lord Jesus. Now this is perfectly true. I
believe this is to be true. I don't think that there is a
contradiction or I don't even think that there ought to be
a controversy in regard to Him finding us and us finding Him. I don't think that they clash.
I don't think that there is a division here. I think we make more out
of it than what the Bible does. But it says here, in Philip's
description of his salvation, he said, we have found Him. Now, and I say that this is true.
And I'll make another statement that I believe to be true now.
If anyone is saved, it will be by finding Jesus. If we're ever
saved, we're going to have to find the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
going to be by making a personal discovery of Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the man who found the treasure in the field. And
as he understood the value of that treasure, he went back and
sold all that he had and bought that field. You see, if there
is no search, We found Him, which is indication that He was looking
for Him. He was searching for Him. If
there is no search for the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be certain
of this this evening, there is no consciousness of our need
of Him. If we never look for Him, it's
because we feel no need of Him. So we don't look for Him, you
see. So, His description here, His description of His conversion,
of His salvation, is we have found the Savior. We have found Jesus, who Moses
wrote about, and the prophets, and what the law has to say in
regard. We finally found Him. We found
Him. Well, I think that our Lord Jesus
Christ is honored and glorified even in this man's testimony.
I think God's glorified there. You see, Philip had searched
for him. Else, he would have never said
that he found him, if he hadn't been looking for him. Seek the
Lord while he is near. Philip was looking for him. Philip
searched for him, or he wouldn't have said, we have found him.
So I'm saying that if a man ever enjoys the salvation of God,
he'll have to search for the Savior. He'll have to look for
the Savior. And if he never looks, you can
be certain of this, he has no need of Him, because only those
who have a need search. But before he found Him, I believe
he knew that he had a need of the Messiah. And I don't think,
as I said, that anybody will ever seek Him till he feels his
need of Him. That's the reason why folks do
not flock after the preaching of the gospel, is because they
do not feel any need of hearing the gospel. They have no need.
If you have a need, you're going to go someplace where the gospel
is preached and where Christ is exalted and where you can
feast upon the daily bread. See, the Lord Jesus Christ is
our daily bread. He's the children's bread. We've
got to have Him and we're going to search and search until we
find him. If a man's hungry, he'll not
just be satisfied to sit in one place and die, but he'll get
up and begin to look for something that satisfies his hunger. He's not going to sit there and
say, well, I'll just sit here and die. I'll just sit here and
die. Oh, no. His need, his need will
drive him from that place And he'll begin to look, and he'll
begin to turn things over, and he'll begin to ask, has anybody
got anything to eat? I'm hungry, I need something
to eat. And if he asks you, he'll beg. He'll beg. If his hunger
is great enough, he'll beg. Well, I think that before Philip
found the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew there was a need in his
own heart of a Messiah. He said, we have found the Messiah. We have found Him. Had a need
of Him. Well, I believe that old Philip
realized that he needed a stronger arm than his own. He'd been leaning
on the arm of flesh, and that's where most people lean. They're
leaning on the arm of their fleshly wisdom, their fleshly understanding. They're leaning on ceremonies,
they're leaning on their rituals, they're leaning on religion,
they're leaning on their good works. But Philip, I believe,
realized that he needed a stronger arm than the arm that he had
to lean upon. He needed an arm that was far
stronger than he is. And he began to look. He'd heard
about the Messiah. He'd heard about it. And he began
to look. He needed one who could conquer
his sinful heart. He needed one who could put down
that rebellion that was in his heart. He needed one that could
do something about his past sins and his present sins. He needed
someone to forgive him. He needed that. He felt a need
of the forgiveness of his sins. And he began to search. But I'm
telling you, no man will ever search. No man will ever look
until he has a need of him, friend. When he has a need, and he's
made aware of the situation that he's in, the trouble that he's
in, and the danger that he's in, then he'll begin to look
when he's made aware of it. And only the Spirit of the living
God can make him aware of it. Well, until a man's been made aware
of it, why, as I said, he'll be satisfied with his religion. He'll be satisfied with his profession.
He'll be satisfied with his goodness, and there he'll sit, trusting
in his own righteousness, trusting in his own goodness, and he'll
never look. He's satisfied. I'm okay. And he keeps telling
himself that. And the devil comes along, and
the devil, he pats him on the back, and he tells him, yeah,
you're alright, you're a good fella. You don't do anything
wrong, and you've got a nice family, and everybody speaks
well of you. You're alright. Don't make a fool out of yourself.
And he's still trusting, you see, in the arm of flesh. And
he never will. The fella never will resolve
in his heart like that prodigal son. That prodigal son would
have never, he would have never left. that far country unless
there had come a famine in that land. And God sent that famine.
And when the famine come, there was nothing for that fellow to
eat. He'd spent all of his money and didn't have anything. And
when he'd come to the end of himself, when he'd come to the
end of himself and nowhere else to go, he felt a need. That's when he said, I'll go.
I'll go back home. I go back home. I can't stay
here. I can't stay here. I'm eating
with the hogs now. And no man would help me. No
man cares for me. I've got to get out of here. I'll tell you another thing,
brethren. This fellow was looking and searching and wanting a Messiah. He was wanting a Savior. He was
wanting someone. to subdue his wicked, rebellious
heart. He was wanting someone to forgive
him of his sins. Now, what did he do? I'll tell
you what he did. He read the Scriptures concerning
him. That's what it says. We have
found him of whom Moses and the Law and the Prophets did write. How did he know that? How did
he know that? We found him of whom Moses wrote
about. In the law, and what the prophet
said, we found him. Begin to read the scriptures
a little bit. Remember I read to you over there, where was
it, John 5 this morning, where it says, I think it was John 5, maybe
not. Yeah, and the Father himself which hath sent me hath borne
witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice
at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding
in you, for whom he hath sent me, him ye receive not. Search
the Scriptures, search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." He searched
the Scriptures. And in the Scriptures, he found
that the Scriptures pointed to a person. The Scriptures in themselves
are not salvation. The Scriptures testify of the
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this fellow, evidently, looking,
desiring, searching, wanting a Savior, didn't just sit down
and say, well, I'll wait until He comes and knock on my door.
No, he felt his need and he began to look and he began to search
and he began to read the Scriptures. Read the Scriptures. I think that if a man reads the
Scriptures in hope of finding the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe
that he'll be rewarded for his efforts. If actually we pick
up the Bible. I was talking to my mother this
morning, and we talked a little bit, and she said, well, she
said, I've been reading the Bible. That's what she told me. Never
talked like that to me. I don't know how old she is.
In her seventies. In the 57 years that I've known her, she never
talked to me like that before. But she told me, she said, I
got my mother's Bible out, and she said, I began to read the
Bible. She said, I've read 20 pages. And she said, you know,
I've seen a whole lot of things in there that I never knew before.
I said, well, there's a whole lot of things in there that I
don't know either. And she said, I'm going to read that Bible.
I'm going to read the Bible. I'm going to read it through.
I'm going to start at the first read and clean through. Well,
I didn't attempt to instruct her or dampen her enthusiasm
or anything, but I'll tell you this, if a man or a woman or
a boy or a girl, in looking for the Lord Jesus Christ, if they'll
read the Scriptures with the hope in their hearts of finding
the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe they'll be rewarded for their
efforts. I believe that. I believe that these Scriptures
concerning Christ will jump up at them, and they may not be
able to understand them, but the Scriptures will so capture
their imagination and capture their heart that they'll not
let them be until they find a preacher and a seeker and sender. You
have a seeking sinner, you're going to find a seeking preacher.
A preacher is going to come along. A prophet is going to come along.
Just like he did in the day when that Ethiopian eunuch was reading
the Scriptures. And all at once, miraculously,
here come a prophet. Right here, this fellow here,
Philip. This fellow right here that I'm talking about. Here
come Philip. Jumped up on the side of his carriage. And he
said to him, he said, do you understand what you read? Why,
he said, how can I except some man teach me? And he said, what
does this mean here? He said, is this speaking of
the man that wrote it or is it speaking of someone else? What's
he talking about here in Isaiah chapter 53? And old Philip said
he jumped up in the carriage and sat down beside him and began
to preach unto him Christ. And that fellow said, I understand.
He said, why? He said, see that water out there?
He said, what hinders me from being baptized? Well, Philip
said, if thou believest with all your heart thou mayst. He
said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. See, I believe,
brethren, as Philip here, who was looking, who was searching,
desiring. He said, we found Him. He'd been
looking for Him. And it says that, it indicates
that he'd been reading the Scriptures. and reading the Scripture, and
things that Moses wrote in the Laws, and things that the prophets
wrote concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. We read
them. With that in mind, I believe
that we'll be rewarded for our efforts, and we'll come to see
the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
we'll understand who the Lord Jesus is and what He did for
poor, hopeless, helpless sinners. Part of it is that most people
don't read the Bible at all. I know prior to my conversion,
I didn't read the Bible. I know that. I wasn't interested
in the Bible. We had a Bible. I remember a
Bible salesman came along and sold Martha a Bible, and she
paid about $10 for it. And it was a day when I was only
making about $8 a day or $7 a day, something like that. And she
spent $10 on a Bible, and I was pretty well. And I came home
that night from work. We've got a new Bible here."
And I said, well, you think we need that? Well, we don't have
a Bible. It's a great big Bible, a heavy
Bible, had the sum index to it and all, you know, and paid $10
for it. I think maybe a dollar down,
a dollar a month or something like that. I never read the Bible.
I was upset with the Bible. I couldn't understand the Bible.
My case is no different than multiplied thousands and thousands
of people a day. Nobody reads the Bible. If we
could get people to read the Bible, and particularly with
the hope of finding what the Bible, the object of the Bible. The object of the Bible is the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible is all
about. It's about Christ. From the first part of the Bible
to the last part, it's all about Jesus. The offering is all about
Jesus. Even there in the Garden of Eden,
when Adam was cast out, the Bible says that God clothed him with
skins of animals. That was a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That innocent animal died in
the stead of Adam here. He died that Adam might be clothed,
a type of the Lord Jesus. Well, all right. I think that he also realized
that He Himself might claim the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as His very own. I think He said, May I have Him?
May I have Him? Can I have the Lord Jesus? Well, if you feel your need of Him,
you can have Him. He felt His need. He could take Him. Remember
I talked to you here Wednesday night? This is my body. Take
and eat. received. He had a need. Can I have Him? Well, if you
feel your need, you can have Him. We are told in the Bible
to go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. You can have Him. You can have
Him. The Bible says, He that believeth
is not condemned. You can have Him. Look over here
in this 12th verse. Philip received our Lord Jesus
Christ, and you can do the same thing. Look in that 12th verse
of the book of John here. It says in the 11th verse that
He came unto His own. That's the Lord Jesus that we're
talking about here. He came unto His own, but His
own received Him not. They wouldn't receive Him. If
a man doesn't receive Him, if a man doesn't find Him, he's
never going to enjoy eternal life. He's never going to have
it. He's never going to enjoy it if he doesn't find Him, if
he doesn't receive Him. Now it says he came unto his
own, and his own said no, they wouldn't receive him. But as
many as received him, gave he them power to become the sons
of God, even to them which believe on his name. I believe Philip. He received him. He received
him. I said that he realized that he himself might lay claim
to the Son of God as his very own Savior and substitute. You know there in the book of
Galatians, in the first chapter and the fourth verse, it says
that he gave himself for our sins. That's what it says. Our
Lord gave himself. He gave Himself for our sins. Do we want to die in our sins?
He said, if you believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your
sins. I believe Philip realized that
he might take Him for himself. And he received Him. And this
was his description. This is his testimony. This is
the description of his conversion. Philip found Nathanael. And he
said, I've got something to say to you, Nathanael. He said, what's
that? He said, we found him! We found him! He received him. He received him. Well, can you
say, can you say, I found him? I found him. Well, that is the
description there of Philip. in regard to his conversion.
Now I want to talk to you for just a few minutes of the description
of the conversion of Philip by the Holy Ghost. I want to show
you what the Holy Spirit has to say about how Philip was converted. Now, it says in that 43rd verse, look at that, the
day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth
Philip, and he saith unto him, Follow me." Now, the day following,
I want you to notice that, Jesus finds Philip before Philip finds
Jesus. Do you see that? Jesus finds
Philip. before Philip finds Jesus. Philip finds Jesus because Jesus
had found Philip. Do you know what I'm talking
about? I'm talking about the doctrine of election. That's
what I'm talking about. Now, I remember when I was converted,
and I'm sure you remember when you was converted. And I'll tell
you about that in just a little bit, but this 43rd verse, where
it says, the day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and
find Philip. This was a previous work. This came before Philip found
Jesus. You see, Jesus went forth and
found Philip. And I said, I remember when I
was converted. If anybody at the time would
have spoken to me in regard to the doctrine of election, I'd
have been very confused and puzzled. When I was first converted, if
someone would have said, I said, I received Jesus. I said, accepting,
and I used all the terms of Armenian theology. And I thought that
this salvation rested on my decision. And in a sense, it did. I was
like Philip. I said, we found Jesus. I found
Jesus. Jesus was never lost. I was the
one who was lost. But I was looking, I was searching.
But I didn't know that when I was searching, the Lord was searching.
I didn't know that my searching was the result of the Lord searching. See, I didn't know that. But
if someone would have talked to me about the doctrine of election,
I'd have been confused and puzzled. I'd have probably had a hard
time getting over that. But I'll tell you this, the instant
that I saw this truth, the first time I saw the truth of the doctrine
of the sovereignty of God in regard to the doctrine of election,
I said this, I said, it's so. When I first saw it, when I first
heard about it, I picked up a little old track. I picked up a little
old track so many months after I was converted, and I'd never
been exposed to this truth before, never heard of it. And I picked
up this tract and the tract was the doctrine of election. And
I picked it up and the instant I looked at it and read it through,
I said, it's so. That's so. That's so. I said,
glory to God, that's right. That's what it's all about. That's
so. I thought all along it was up
to me. But it was up to me in a sense.
But behind all of it was God. God be glorified." Well, I said,
why has this great work been wrought in me? It's the work
of God. The doctrine of election sets
forth the fact that God, before time ever was, chose us in Christ. And all that happened to me here
in time was a work of God in my soul. My seeking, my searching,
my accepting my God, all of that was of God. I thought it was
me. I was like Philip. We found the
Messiah. I didn't know the day following
Jesus went forth unto Galilee and findeth Philip. The Lord
found me. Well, I said, why has this great
work been wrought in me? I know that there's no merit
in me before God. I know that. There's not one
good thing in me. I've never done any good work
that would be commendable unto God and would entice or induce
God to show mercy on me. I'm a poor leper. I'm hopeless
and helpless and I've got nothing that would attract God's attention
to me. I know that. Well, I had to say, well, He
dealt with me in free and sovereign, distinguishing grace. He didn't
have to do it. It wasn't nothing about me. I was dead in trespasses and
in sin. My heart was in total rebellion
against Him. He didn't have to do a thing
for me except send me to hell. That's all that was left for
me. And I seen when He saved me, it was distinguishing, sovereign,
free grace. He didn't have to do it. He didn't
have to do it. Well, anybody who has been brought
to find the Lord Jesus Christ and who prayerfully studies the
reason for His salvation, I believe will see the same truth that
I see, that salvation is of God. And if I'm ever saved, God's
the first cause of it. If I'm saved, it's the result
of God's election. before time ever was. And I believe
when a man sees it, I believe he'll say amen to it. I remember
Glenn one time. This had been years ago. We was
up at the willow tree. And I preached on the doctrine
of election. After the service, we stood out
in the out front there in the grass. And Glenn came to me and
he said, Breacher, I see what you're talking about. I said,
I know what you're talking about. He said, I believe that. Seen
it and agreed with it the first time I'd ever ever been brought
to Him. And everyone who really studies,
and prayerfully studies, as to the reason why, they'll come
up with this. They'll come up with this. That
it's God's work. Salvation is God's work. Well,
that's the description. That's the description of the
Holy Ghost. And His, or the description of
the Holy Ghost, Philip's conversion in regard to the way the Holy
Ghost looked at him. Well, I think when our Lord found
him, I think it was a pleasant and pleasing work of the Savior
to find this fellow. Because the Scriptures say that
our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. And so by finding Philip, that
was a pleasant work, a delightful work for him, see? I'm hoping
that he'll find somebody here. I'm hoping that the Lord Jesus
Christ will find somebody here. He's found some here before.
So if you're here tonight, you're not here by accident. You're here and you've never
bowed to Him. You've never bowed to Him. You
just haven't bowed and surrendered yourself to Him. You haven't
seen Him. What's been going on here in regards to the preaching
of the gospel? Well, I want you to know you're
not here by accident. You're here because God determined
that you'd be here. Now, He's going to be a Savior
to you, a Savior unto life to some, the Savior unto death to
others. But what I'm saying is that you're
in a good place. You're in a good place because
God has found some people in this place before. God's found
some people. And it may be that He might find
you tonight. He might cross your path and
He might create an interest in your soul. And you might set
out to seeking and to searching and to reading the Scriptures
and asking questions. And I'll tell you this, if it's
done sincerely and by faith, you'll wind up like Mary did
and defeated Jesus. You'll wind up there. And if you prayerfully study,
ask for a reason why, you'll agree with me on the doctrine
of God's sovereign grace. Well, and another thing about
this, and then I'll quit. The Lord finding Philip was not
only a pleasant work for our Lord Jesus Christ, He delighted
in doing it. He delights to show mercy. That's
part of the gospel that we fail to preach many times. He delights
to show mercy. He delights to do it. That's
the glory of God, is show mercy to poor sinners. Poor sinners
who ask for mercy. God will never show mercy to
a man that doesn't ask for it. He won't do it. He won't do it. You're going to have to ask for
it. Ask for mercy. Be thou merciful to me, thou
son of David. Be merciful. Seek and search,
cry out, be merciful. He delights in showing mercy. Well, the last thing I want to
mention is that it was an effectual work. He didn't preach a long
sermon to this fellow. As far as I know, he just preached
two words. The day following Jesus would
go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip. And this is what he preached
to him. And he said unto him, Follow
me. That's all he preached. Follow
me. Follow me. Well, if you don't
know the way tonight, I'll tell you just what our Lord told Philip. Follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't know the way? Follow Him. You're looking for
a leader? Follow Him. You're looking for
righteousness? Follow Him. You're looking for
forgiveness of sins? It's in Him. You're looking for
sanctification? You're looking for redemption?
You're looking for a covering? You're looking for comfort? Whatever
you're looking for, follow Him. It's all in Him. It's all in
Him. He said, follow Me. Follow Me. Follow Me. You need a scapegoat? You need
someone to bear your sins into a land of no return? Follow me. That's what our Lord said. Follow
me. Need someone to take your sins away? Need someone to stand
in your place in judgment? Need someone to bear your punishment?
Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. The Lord
helped us to see that the description of the conversion A Philip given
by Philip was right. That was true. We found him whom
Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote about. We found him. That's
true. You find him. You find him. You look for him. You search for him. Never do
until you have a need of him. But then, after you mature a
little bit and you come along and you're faced with the doctrine
of sovereign grace, you'll see you'll see that your seeking
and your searching was the work of God in you, and that the salvation
that you enjoy in Christ Jesus is all of God, from first to
last and all in between is all of God. I believe it is. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed.