We love to think of the deity
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the sovereign power of his and
the extraordinary grace of the revelation of himself. In Matthew
11, 25, the Lord Jesus speaking, at that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes. For even so, Father, for it so
seemed it good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son.
And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come. Unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. No man knows God, no man knows
God apart from the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
as he says in John 17, that verse that's so familiar with them,
this is life eternal, this is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Eternal life. is knowing eternal
life is being in relationship with the One who has been revealed
to us in Jesus Christ. May it be our portion this morning
that the Lord would cause us to hear his voice to say, come,
and may we come and see as his disciples did on the banks of
the Jordan. Let's pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank
you for your word of truth. We thank you for the revelation
of yourself. In your word, heavenly Father,
the revelation of yourself, as the Blessed Spirit takes the
things of the Lord Jesus Christ and makes them known to us, reveals
them to us. And we do pray for us, Heavenly
Father, at this time when things are so different from what we
normally expect, we pray that you might bless those who listen
to us and bless us who are here, Heavenly Father, that once again
the Lord Jesus Christ would be lifted up that you would cause
him, our Father, to be glorious in our sight, that we might behold
him, behold his glory, behold him as the Lamb of God, who is
taking away and continues to take away the sins of the world.
Our Father, we thank you for the revelation of him to the
hearts of your people, and we pray you might bless us again
this morning, Heavenly Father, that we might see the Lord Jesus
Christ in his glory yet again, and that we might find ourselves
at rest and peace under his light and easy yoke. We pray these things in his name,
our Father, and for his glory. Amen. We're going to sing. Thank you, Norm. We're singing
number nine. Is that the church's The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With His own blood He bought
her, And for her life He died. Elect from every nation, Yet
one or all the earth, Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith,
one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food, and to one hope she presses with every grace
anew. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Till with a vision glorious her
Her longing eyes are blessed, and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with
God the three in one, And mystic sweet communion with those whose
rest is one. O happy ones and holy, Lord,
give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may
dwell with Thee. I'd like to turn with me to Psalm
103. Psalm 103. Let's read it together.
Psalm of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. The benefits
of the grace of our God. Benefits that flow not from the
merit of men, but obviously from the merits of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so let's read some of those many benefits. Verse
three, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy
diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth
thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. Blessed be His holy name for
these next blessings. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. What a remarkable
pardon to contemplate. That's the gospel, isn't it?
That's the good news. Good news for sinners. Now that Christ
was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities,
and with his stripes we are healed. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. God the Father
dealt with those sins and iniquities in the Son as our substitute. And as I read these next few
verses, I'm reminded of Ephesians chapter 3 where the apostle prays
for the church. You might recall that the apostle
prays that the church might be able to comprehend with all the
saints what it is breadth and length and depth and height,
and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that
ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." What a wonderful
way to describe the love of Christ, the dimensions of the love of
Christ for the church and the fullness of God. described in
terms of the breadth and the length and the depth and the
height. Not that we can measure such
things. Our God cannot be measured. Our
God cannot be quantified. But the Holy Spirit employs these
terms to help us understand something of the immensity of the love
of Christ and to find comfort in the greatness of his favour
towards us, the breadth and the length and the depth and the
height of it. So in verse 11, we can see the
psalmist speaks of the height. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. And
of course the picture of it is that our Father in heaven is
far above his creation. The idea is that so too, so too
is the greatness of the love of Christ for his church. Verse 12 speaks of the breadth.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us." And of course we know what that
signifies, don't we? If you travel north, you'll get
to that north pole where the north meets the south. And if
you travel south, you'll get to that south pole where the
south meets the north. You start going north again,
but east and west, east and west never join. They never join. You can keep going west and west
and west and you'll never get to east. And if you travel east,
you'll never get to the west. That's the distance, that's the
distance that our God has put between the sinner and his sins. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. The
sins of the sinner are so far removed, one from another, that
they shall never meet. They shall never meet. I am so
glad that there is no possibility that my transgressions will come
and meet me again. They are separated from the believer
forever. And verse 13 speaks of the depth,
the depth. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. That word
pitieth refers to his compassion and love, the depth of love of
God, the depth of his compassion. And here it is said as a father's
love for his children. Of course, the love of earthly
fathers is fickle and frail. But the love of our heavenly
father is perfect. Romans 8 tells us that when we
receive the spirit of adoption, we cry, Abba, Father. Abba, Father,
the children of God, are loved more deeply and more perfectly
than they can possibly imagine by a perfect father. Verse 14, for he knoweth our
frame, he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days
are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place
thereof shall know it no more. And then finally, in verse 17,
is the length of the mercy of God and the love of Christ. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting. His mercy towards the children
of God always is, always has been, and always will be, everlastingly. Mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness
unto children's children. To such as keep his covenant,
and to those that remember his commandments to do them, the
Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom
ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, ye angels, that
excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto
the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all his hosts,
ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord,
all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
and Thine alone Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that
all that's necessary to sustain us here and for all eternity
has been found on our behalf, your dear and precious. Thank
you, Father, that we have the opportunity still under grave
circumstances to meet together today and do pray Pray you strengthen our pastor
and rebuke him today, Heavenly Father, and that your word would
flow through him to our hearts and strengthen us in our faith
and grow us in the grace and the knowledge of our great King
and Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. We do pray you keep your love
on us, Heavenly Father, and we pray for mercy upon our land
with all these dramas. Pray most of all for the souls
of men power it is to salvation, not
only initially but forever. Thank you for the work of your
Holy Spirit in us amongst us and of course thank you most
of all for the finished work of our great King and Saviour
and Lord Jesus Christ. Father we pray in his name for
your glory. Well, all this has come upon
us very suddenly, but I'm still thankful that we can meet. And
even if there's two or three of us, the Lord has promised
to bless us. And we do pray for our government
and for the wisdom of those in positions of responsibility at
this time. We are reminded in the difficulties
that we have here of the remarkable difficulties that our brothers
and sisters have had. My friend Gilbert has not been
able to meet with any of his congregation since, I think,
March last year. And yet, here we are. Looking
this morning, I want us to look more particularly at the call
of the Lord Jesus Christ in John's Gospel. He says to the disciples
that had followed him, they heard John and they followed him, verse
37 of John chapter 1. The two disciples heard him speak
and they followed Jesus. They followed, they heard John
speak, behold the Lamb of God. Then Jesus turned, and saw them
following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They saith unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where
dwellest thou? And 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.
I want us to look at this this morning under the heading of
the emblem of this being the beginning of the gathering of
the church in this gospel age. And what a remarkable event it
is. The church is the place where
the Lord Jesus Christ is promised by his Father to get glory. Unto
him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages,
says Paul in Ephesians 3. And then in verse 10 of the same
chapter, to the intent that now under the principalities and
powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold
wisdom of God. It is in God's great wisdom that
he chooses to gather his church together. I want to look at the
various elements of what it is for the Lord Jesus Christ to
gather these disciples to himself. Later on they will be called
from their fishing and they will be called to apostleship and
are called to martyrdom as apostles and witnesses of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here they are called to be disciples. The word disciple
is a really important word, it just means to be a learner. which
implies that there are things that we need to know and it implies
that God alone must be the teacher of it. And so in the very word
disciple, in the very demeanour of these disciples, we have what
it is to be a disciple and what it is to be a disciple particularly
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the sovereignty of it.
They came and saw. He says to them, come and see. And they came and saw. He says to them in command, come. And he says to them in command,
see, perceive, examine, study closely, take heed. You see,
these men had by the grace of God taken John at his word, and
they had took Christ at his word. I love how the gospel comes as
a command from God. Our warrant for coming to him
is his command to come. He calls on us, whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord, whosoever A glorious word of
breath. But he calls us to come and it's
a command. We come to him and say, you have
commanded, I'm coming because you commanded. And they came,
they took the Lord Jesus Christ at his word. What did they see? He asked them, what seek ye? And we looked at that question
last week and I trust the Lord has not given you rest to consider
what seek ye again and again and again. What seek ye? It's
the beginning of this church age is a remarkable question.
What seek ye? And seeking the Lord is is the
grace gift of God in the hearts of his people. He stirs the hearts
of his people to come to him. He stirs the hearts of his people
to seek him. He stirs the hearts of his people
that they have no peace and they'll have no rest in this world until
they are with him. You seek him. Are you seeking
him now? You seek him every day. At the
time when you leave this world, what will you be seeking? Eternal
life, according to the scriptures, is the possession of believers. John, it's remarkable, isn't
it? I love standing before people and reading the words of God
and saying this is what he says in John 6.47. Verily, verily, truly, truly,
I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Hath everlasting life. It's a
possession of the child of God, the believing child of God. In verse 54 of the same chapter,
he says, whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath
eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. want to know that I have eternal
life on that great day. He says seek first the kingdom
of God and all these things shall be added unto you. If you turn
with me to Matthew chapter 6 I want us to see the beginning of this
is a question from the Lord to those who are already following
him, a question of the Lord to those who have been disciples
of John the Baptist and have heard those glorious words of
his. This is the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God who is
taking away the sins of the world. In Matthew chapter 6 he says
in verse 33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you. We live in times
where there is much concern about the future. He says in verse
34, take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow
shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof. He says while you're in that
chapter, he says in verse 19, lay not up for yourselves treasures
on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves
break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where
thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure
is. It's remarkable, isn't it? We
would think this is inversion of what would be naturally in
the hearts of man, isn't it? But he says where your treasure
is, what you treasure, that's where your heart is. The light
of the body is the eye, and if therefore thine eye be single,
thine whole body shall be full of light. If your eye is singly
fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what seek ye? If your eye is
singly fixed on him, your whole body shall be full of light.
The light of the world will invade every part of your body. And
if but, verse 23, but if the lion be evil, thy whole body
shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. No man can
serve two masters. You see, you seek him, you seek
him first. You seek him early. Psalm 63,
one says, early will I seek thee. You seek him continually. If God has laid it upon your
hearts to seek him, to answer this question, to look to him,
to hear him say, what seek ye? To hear him say, come and see.
You'll be seeking him continually. You're seeking him now, child
of God. Seek the Lord in his strength
and seek his face continually, says 1 Chronicles 6.15. We keep on, the child of God,
keeps on knocking and asking, seeking. And the servant of God,
like John the Baptist, keeps on declaring, he says, behold
the Lamb of God. You keep on knocking, you keep
on asking, you keep on thinking. You might remember that woman
who came to the unjust judge. And he turned her away and turned
her away, and eventually he succumbed to her pressure. And it says,
because of her impotunity, her impotunity, what was the most
important thing for her? She wasn't going to give up,
she wasn't going to rest until she had the very presence of
him and the very thought that she would be heard and responded
to. See, God calls upon his watchmen,
which is why John the Baptist is such a great testimony to
the Church of God, isn't it? We just keep beholding the Lamb
of God. He says, the Lord says in Isaiah 62 verse 6, I have
set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never
hold their peace day or night. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
keep not silence. Give him no rest till he establish,
till he make Jerusalem a praise on the earth. Keep on. God's
children just play this one note on this one instrument all the
time. Just look away from yourself. You are, if you're a disciple,
you're a learner. You're continually in need of
being taught. And this is what God does in
the hearts of his people. This is what he did in the hearts
of these two men who were, in a sense, the foundation of the
church. They seek. Lord, I pray that
he won't let us rest and keep reminding us, what seek ye? We
seek union, we seek communion, we seek peace with God. He says, our Saviour says in
Psalm 37 verse 37, mark the perfect man. There is only one perfect
man, you mark him. And behold the upright, there
is only one upright, for the end of that man is peace. As Norm so wonderfully reminded
us out of Psalm 103, peace communion and fellowship and
union with Him. We seek Him like these men did. We seek Him with all thine hearts,
says Deuteronomy 4.29. It's the work of grace to change
the hearts of men, to cause them to seek Him. Psalm 34.10 says,
They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. The
Lord said to those disciples who had followed him, is it lacking
of anything? When you've been with me, have you missed out
on anything? Is there anything that you want that you haven't
received? Which is why the child of God is the Lord, so he come
when they came. delight thyself also in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. These men answered
that question by their question, where dwellest thou? And then
they had this very, very simple word from the Lord Jesus Christ,
come and see. And then they had the power of
God to cause them to come. They came, they came, and they
followed the Lamb. to his dwelling place. They found
the Messiah, the Christ. They found themselves in his
company, invited into the place where he dwells. What a lovely
picture of the beginning of the church in this gospel age. Just
think of that, you being there as a witness. I like putting
myself in these stories in the Bible because they're so picturesque
in remarkable ways. The previous day, There had been
that crowd of people that had come from Jerusalem to inspect
John, and they had heard John say, this is he. They heard John
say, behold the Lamb of God. They heard John say, this is
the testimony that God the Father gave me. They came, didn't they? and they left. On that very same
day that the Lord Jesus Christ is taking these two disciples
of his to his dwelling place to reveal himself and to speak
of himself from the Word of God and to comfort their hearts and
souls, there was a crowd, a crowd of religious people on the way
back to Jerusalem, out of sight, And what an extraordinarily insignificant
thing it must have appeared. No doubt when John the Baptist
said to them, there's the Lamb of God, they would have looked
across and they would have seen a carpenter of Nazareth. He looked
absolutely no different from anyone else whatsoever. When they looked at John the
Baptist, they were seeing this man dressed in the garb of Elijah. Matthew chapter three gives us
a picture of him, doesn't it? John and his raiment of camels
here. Have you been in the presence
of camels? It's not very comfortable, camels here. And a leather girdle
about his loins and his meatless locusts and wild honey. They
came out from the religious world into a wilderness. And how simple
and how unattractive to men the church seemed to be in that day,
and yet this is the place, this gathering of God's people, right
until this day is the place where he gives glory and reveals his
manifold wisdom. John the Baptist had a testimony
from the Father, just a word I heard Him, this is the One,
He told me that the One on whom you see the Spirit descend and
remain, He says, this is the Lamb of God, this is the Son
of God. God, just a word to one man got
from God the Father. The Holy Spirit, the blessed
Holy Spirit, a dove, and the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son. the word, the creator of the
universe, dressed as a carpenter from Nazareth. A lamb declared
to be a lamb. The priests and Levites were
looking for a lion, and John was declaring a lamb. They found the proclamation of
the lamb unworthy of any further inquiry. So religion, the religion of
men, always has its symbols. and never has the substance. They have lots of talk about
God and lots of talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. But where
was he? He was meeting with his people
in a wilderness. When they went back to Jerusalem, they went
away from this remarkable scene, as empty as they had arrived. They went back, no doubt, full
of pride that they had examined and found all of this too ordinary
for them. They had their symbols, they
had their words, and they had their rules, and they had their
obedience, and they had none of the Spirit of God and none
of the joy of the presence of God. John's testimony had no
place in their hearts. They had a curiosity because
of the crowds, but they had no need. They heard John's word
and they saw John's Lord and went back to Jerusalem. Oh my God, have mercy upon us
and show us the lamb. May we hear him say to us, come
and see. And in the wilderness, these
two men at the beginning of the church, they fed on the bread
of life and they drank from the streams of abundant grace and
living waters. While others left as they came,
these disciples, These disciples feasted. So I want us to think
about the beginning of the church and foundations are incredibly
important and John has laid the most remarkable foundations here
regarding who the Lord Jesus Christ is. From Him being God,
the Word, from Him being the One who is the same, from Him
being the One who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things.
You see, the church begins, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the church that he gathers to himself begins when he sends
a witness. There was a witness sent, there
was a witness sent from God. And he's just a voice crying
in the wilderness. And his voice is saying, make
straight the paths of the Lord. Go straight to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't take any other deviations.
Behold the Lamb of God. The beginning of the church,
it's absolutely necessary, isn't it, that we behold the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
as the Lamb slain on Calvary's tree, as the Lamb. Without blood there is no remission
of sins. Without blood there is no passing
over. Without blood there is no satisfaction
of the justice and the holiness of God. Without blood shed there
is no law satisfied, honoured and magnified. Without blood
there is no peace. There is no sin removed. There is no covenant of grace
fulfilled in the covenant of love where the Lord gathers his
people in holiness to himself. Just remember who they are in
the presence of these two men. What a lovely picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ walking along the shores, the banks of the
Jordan River with the disciple on either side. It would have
seen something that the rest of the world could have Completely
ignored and yet it is at this beginning. They heard he sends
to gather his church. He sends his witness And don't
forget that the Lord Jesus Christ is the initiator of salvation
in every way possible and is the initiator of maintaining
and energising and exercising that salvation. He comes to where
his witness proclaims him. He comes to where his witness
says, this is the Lamb of God, behold the Lamb of God. And he
comes and identifies himself with his witness. I do love that
verse in Matthew chapter 3 verse 15 when the Lord Jesus came to
be baptized of John and John verse 14 John forbade him saying
I have need to be baptized of thee and thou comest and comest
thou to me and Jesus answering and said unto him suffer it to
be so now It becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ identifies
with his witness and identifies with his church at the same time. It becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness. He comes to gather his own to
himself. What seek ye? Come and see. Where do you dwell? Come and
see. He comes to them. He turns as they follow him. He turns his face to them and
he calls them with a command to come. to come and see. You come and see where I abide,
and come and abide with me. When he gathers them unto himself,
they commune with him privately. And this is incredibly important,
isn't it? He took them away from this world,
and he took them to himself, and he communed with them privately,
personally, and he communed with him particularly all that day,
that night. See, he takes his bride to his
dwelling place. That's what the little Shulamite
in the Song of Solomon said, isn't it? He's taken me into
his banqueting house. He takes, he's brought me to
his banqueting house and his banner over me was love. See, she was seeking. She says to him in verse 7, Tell
me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon? Where do you abide? He takes them to his dwelling
place. The Church hears the witness
and follows the Lord Jesus Christ. Come, he says, not come on your
own, he says, come with me. And he walks with them. It's
a beautiful picture, isn't it, of the Lord Jesus Christ coming
from heaven and coming to this earth and he comes to where they
are and he meets them where they are. It's the glory of our gospel,
he meets us where we are in this world. And he comes into this
wilderness world and he comes to them particularly and he says,
come with me and abide to where I abide and abide with me. And
in his abode, he reveals himself from the word of God as the Messiah. What's the thought that they
go out and say, we have found the Messiah. Verse 41, we've
found the Messiah. And who had found who? Such is
the glory of our salvation. Such is the glory of the work
in our lives. And such is the wonder of this mystery that's
revealed in the gathering of his people, that we feel our
hearts move to seek him and he at the same time is seeking us.
He reveals himself. He confirms the word of promise. fulfilled personally. That would
have been such a remarkable day and evening as they communed
with him in his abode. And then he sends his lambs out
to gather others to himself. He gathers them to himself by
the testimony of John the Baptist, the testimony of his preachers,
his servants. The foolishness of preaching
is the wisdom of God to gather his people. He gathers them to
himself by a word of command. He says, come, and his people
come to him. He gathers them to himself by
revelation of his glory. He gathers to himself by a promise
of further revelation. He says, I'll be with you. I'll
never leave you nor forsake you. I'll be with you forever. And he separates his own to himself. You might have wondered, as some
people suggest that John the Baptist did, that where was the
fulfilment of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? He said to
the Pharisees and these others that came to him, he called them
a brood of vipers, a generation of vipers, Matthew 3, 7. Who
hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth
therefore fruits, meat for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. He's able to take stony hearts
out. He's able to do what is impossible, always. And now also,
people will be wondering when this has occurred, now also the
axe is laid under the root of the trees, therefore every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into
the fire. I indeed baptise his water unto
repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptise you with
the Holy Ghost and with fire. His fan is in his hands, he will
thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner,
and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. When's
it happening? Right on that day by the shores
of Jordan, as he gathers his church to himself, he separates.
He separates his own to himself. The church begins with a proclamation
from the witness. The church begins. As the witness's joy is fulfilled
because he sees these men following the Lord Jesus Christ. So what
happened beside the shore of Jordan 2,000 years ago is exactly
what's happening today throughout this world. May God cause us
to be a church that just continually declares, behold the Lamb of
God, behold the Lamb of God. That we will hear him say to
us, come and see, come and see, That come and see is a phrase
that's used in many occasions in John's Gospel. In verse 46,
Nathanael says to Philip, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Can any good thing come out of this part of Israel? Well, all
the good things should be down there in Jerusalem. And Philip
saith unto him, come and see. I'm so looking forward to preaching
with us as we all look together at John chapter four, but that's
what the lady said. She says, come and see. She went
back to that village. Come and see a man that told
me all things that I've ever done. Come and see. And we began
our service this morning with the Lord Jesus' words, isn't
it? Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden. Are
your efforts at establishing your own righteousness, at creating
your own peace, at finding a place where you can find comfort and
satisfaction in this world are all your efforts at righteousness,
just nothing but something that has caused you to be heavy laden
and a burden. That's what religion says, isn't
it? Religion is saying, do, do, do, do, do. The Lord Jesus Christ
says, come, and they come, and they come to him, and they abide
with him, and they have rest with him. all that are like you
that labor and heavy laden you come to him and he says i'll
give you rest and i love what he says take my yoke upon you
and learn of And that word of denotes origin. I am the source of all. Learn
of me in my deity. Learn of me as the word of God. Learn of me as the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Learn, learn again as disciples. Learn of me. And then this glorious
description of him, which is a description of what we see
by the banks of the Jordan, isn't it? He says, for I am meek. What
a remarkable description of our Saviour. I am meek and lowly
in heart and you shall. You come and you shall. The great declaration of the
covenant of grace, isn't it, again and again throughout the
scriptures is I will and they shall. I will come. and they shall hear, and they
shall see, and they shall come unto me. You'll find rest for
your souls. Is the yoke of the Lord Jesus
Christ easy for you? Is his burden light? Are the obligations of the gospel
heaviness to you, or are they the joy The Lord Jesus Christ says, come
and see. He doesn't say, come and do.
He says, come with me and see. Come with me and see, and I will
do the doing. He says, taste and see that the
Lord is good. He's good, he's meek, and he's
lowly at heart. He gives rest to his souls. Come
and see. Come and see our testimony. Come
and see our witness. Come and see him. Come and see
him gathering his church. Come and see him nurturing his
church. Come and see him being the teacher of his church. Come
and see him being the great high priest who takes his church into
the very holy of holies of God. Come and see him with the names
of all of his elect upon his breastplate. Come and see him
with the government of this world upon his shoulders. Come and
see. That's what they found, didn't
they? They found the Messiah, they
found the one who was anointed. The anointing came upon kings
and priests, and prophets and the Lord Jesus
Christ embodies all of them. That's why in verse 45 it says,
we have found him whom Moses in the law did write. If you
find the Lord Jesus Christ, you found all of the Old Testament
embodied in a person. All of the promises are yea and
amen. I love the fact that the Lord
Jesus comes with a command and an invitation all wrapped up
in one. How he works graciously in the
hearts of those that he loved from everlasting, that they would
be drawn of love into his arms. A new
heart, a new heart seeks him. A new heart and the seeking Lord
meet together. I love what the hymn writer said,
I sought the Lord and afterwards I knew. He moved my soul to seek
him, seeking me. It was not that I found a saviour
true, no, I was found of thee. I was found of thee. And he's
going throughout this world. We read Ezekiel chapter 34, he
goes throughout this world, and he goes to every nook and cranny,
and his eyes have been ever on his lambs, wherever they might
be, and he will gather them to himself. All who find him have
been found by him, found of him, and all who are found of him
are drawn into his presence. personally, privately, particularly. And what do you see in his presence?
I love what verse 14 says in John's chapter one, and the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He came and he does the dwelling. And what do we behold in his
presence? We beheld his glory. the glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. In his presence, you'll
behold his glory. In his presence, you'll understand
grace. In his presence, you'll understand
your need of grace. In his presence, you'll understand
him. More and more, as the Lamb slain,
you'll understand why that blood is precious, because He is precious. You'll understand the efficacy
of that blood that takes away the sins of the world. We beheld
His glory to be in His presence. In verse 14, as many as received
Him, as many as received Him. as many as received him. It's to be received by Him and
it's to receive Him. It's to be given power to become
the sons of God. It's to be born of God, to be
born anew with new eyes that don't see the Lord Jesus Christ
as the religious world did, as that man who just looked like
a carpenter from Nazareth, but they see Him as the very Lamb
of God, as the very Son of God. You see, when you come and see,
where he dwells and he takes you to his resting place, his
abiding place, a place where he reveals himself and reveals
his character. You'll see him through eyes,
the spiritual eyes that he alone can give, the hearing ear and
the seeing eye, they're both from the Lord. And you'll see
him with a heart, a heart of understanding. You'll see him
with a heart moved, To love him, a heart that believes, a heart
of grace, a heart given by grace. And you'll behold in his presence
what no natural man can see. We worship him in the beauties
of his holiness. The world didn't know him. And
the world doesn't know his people. Because the world didn't know
him. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? That's who believes the report.
When the arm of the Lord is revealed, when the power of the Lord is
revealed, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness.
And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised. And we esteemed
him not. That's your testimony, isn't
it? That's my testimony of him. And then surely, surely he hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But, this is what
you see in his presence. in his abide when he calls you
into his presence. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. As the Lord Jesus Christ began,
so We rest in the promise, the promise that it's finished
from the foundation of the world. We rest in the promise that the
declaration of behold the Lamb of God is as powerful now as
it was when John spoke to those two men beside the Jordan River
all those years ago. May God cause us again and again
to hear his voice say come in the troubles and trials of our
life. May we hear him say just come,
come, come, come and see. Turn your eyes away from this
world and fix your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ who is
the author, the foundation, The author, he's written it all for
us. He's written all of what comes and befalls you. And he says, come. He's the author
and he's the finisher of faith. Come to the faithful one. Behold the Lamb of God. Let's
pray. Our Father, we pray that you
would cause us to be seeking people You would cause us to
be those who, by your sovereign grace and mercy, our Father,
hear those words, come and see these commands from our Saviour. And that we might yet again,
Heavenly Father, In the depths of the sin and the troubles of
this world we might come and see him in the place where he
dwells, that high and holy place, that we might come and behold
his glory and behold his beauty and find in him our completeness before you,
our Father, that he has taken upon himself to present us holy
and spotless and unblameable and unreprovable in your sight,
heavenly Father. Cause your people, heavenly Father,
wherever they hear your words, to know that what you see is
reality. Bless your words to the hearts
of your people, Heavenly Father. You alone can make the Lord Jesus
Christ and his precious blood so dear and precious to our hearts
that we would be ever coming, that we would be ever seeking
to see, that we would find an abiding place in your dear and
precious Son. For we pray in his name and for
his glory. Amen. May the Lord bless you
as you go through this week. Thank you for looking in. We're
going to sing one more hymn. I need thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can
peace afford. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now my Savior. I come to Thee. I need thee every hour, stay
thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when thou art nigh. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee. I need thee. every hour to thee. I need thee every hour, most
holy one. O make me thine indeed, thou
blessed son. I need Oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee.