Let's go back to John chapter
1. John 1. As we've already mentioned, this
first chapter of John truly is an amazing chapter. It truly
is. It begins with Eternity past. That's where the chapter begins.
It tells us what was in the never beginning beginning. The never beginning beginning. Verse one says in the beginning. Was the word and that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Word. And the Word was with
God. And the Word was God. Father, Son, and Spirit. God. God. It says Christ the Word was in
the beginning with God. And it says Christ the Word was
God. Christ the Word is God. He is God. And it tells us here
in John 1 that in time, God purposed to create a heaven, an earth, everything
in the heaven, everything in the earth. And it tells us that Christ was
the one who created all of it. In the Bible study, we mentioned
that Genesis 1.1 is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
is the one who created all of it. Look with me at verse three,
it says, all things were made by Him. Speaking of Christ, the
Word. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. And this chapter tells us that
the creation that He made specifically, and most importantly, man, mankind,
fell into darkness. The darkness of sin. Look at
verse 5. It says, the light in Him was
life. Verse 4 says, the life was the
light of men. Verse 5 says, and the light shineth
in darkness. And the darkness comprehended
it not. Man, God's creation, fell into
the deadness and the darkness of sin. Spiritual deadness, spiritual
darkness. So this Word tells us that Christ
came to man. He came to man. Because man fell,
He came to man. Verse 14, and the Word, that's
Christ, was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He came to man. Verse 17 tells
us why Christ came to man. It says, for the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He came
to bring grace. The law could not give grace. The law could not give mercy
and justification and forgiveness to a sinner who didn't deserve
it. So Christ came. He brought the truth of salvation. And verse 29 here tells us what
that truth of salvation is. John 1 verse 29, it says, The
next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Christ
Himself is the truth of God's salvation. If we want to get
to the heart of salvation and the truth of salvation, Christ
Himself is it. He is the grace. He is the gift. We talk about God's grace, amazing
grace. Well, He is the grace. He is
the gift that God freely provided. The Lamb of sacrifice. The lamb
that possessed the blood, the spotless, pure, perfect blood
that was actually able to put away the sin of his people. Hebrews
10 says, it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
can put away sin. And it's not possible that the,
inner being, the inner substance of anything other than Christ
Himself can put away sin. Man is trying to put away his
own sin and it has never happened and it never will. Only one. Only one possessed something
that was worthy to make a payment for man's sin. John the Baptist told every person
who could hear him in verse 30 right here, he said, this is
he of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before
me for he was before me. After me, he's gonna be born
after me. He is coming a man who was before
me. Verse 31, and I knew him not,
but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come
baptizing with water. And John bear record saying,
I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode
upon him. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. Verse 34, John said,
and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. Now it's so important that we
understand. John did not say this is God's
Son. He didn't say that. He said this
is the Son of God. This is the equal member of the
Trinity. This is the very God who has
no beginning of days manifest in the flesh. The person who is one with the
Father of God and one with the Spirit of God. The Son of God. Verse 34, John said, I saw and
bear record. This is the Son of God. Now, these next few verses will
be the heart of the message this morning. I started dwelling on
this event, what is said right here. And one particular phrase
in this event is the title of the message. In all of this, we're going to
see this is the message of the gospel. This right here is the
message of the gospel. This is the great desire of every
believer. Every child of God. This is salvation. This is what happens when God
calls one of his own out of that darkness that we all fell into,
into his marvelous light. So let's read verses 35 to 39
and then we'll focus in on the message. Verse 35, it says, again,
the next day after, John stood and two of his disciples, and
looking upon Jesus as he walked, John said, Behold the Lamb of
God. I love envisioning these situations. Here John stands with two other
men. Three men are standing there. We're about to read one of them
was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. These three men are standing
there watching the Lord Jesus Christ as he's walking by. And
while they're watching, John said, Behold the Lamb of God. There he is. If the Lord is willing,
we're going to say that one day to each other. Oh my, behold. Just look at him. I haven't been able to stop looking
at him since I got here. There's the Lamb of God. But it says in verse 35, the
next day after John stood and two of his disciples and looking
upon Jesus as he walked, he said, behold, the lamb of God and the
two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. As those
two men heard John say that watching him walk away, they left John
and started following him. Verse 38, then Jesus turned and
saw them following and said 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 they abode with Him that day, for it was about the tenth
hour." That is just a glorious thought. That is special. That's special to me. That's
a special moment. The Lord asked those two men. He knew that they were following
Him. He went walking and they're just
following Him. And He stopped and He turned
around and He looked at them and He said, What do you want? What do you want? What have you
come for? I ask that right now to myself.
Here I am. What have I come for? What have I come for? Why have
you come? That's a great question. What
are you here for? What do you want? This is what they said. They
said, we want to see where you dwell. Isn't that what all of
God's people want to say? We want to know the personal
side of you. The person of you, we want to
get to know you. We want to spend time with you. in fellowship where you dwell. This is what the Lord said to
him. This was his response. Come and see. Come and see. They followed him
to where he was staying. He didn't have a home. But at
this particular moment, he was staying in a certain place and
they spent the evening with him. Can you imagine? He entertained them. And they got to know Him. They
truly did get to know Him. Because when they left His abode,
when they left that moment with Him, they went running and they
told everybody, we found the Messiah. We found the Messiah. No, actually the Messiah found
you, but we know what you mean. We know what you mean. Verse 40 says, 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 said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which
is being interpreted the Christ, God manifest in the flesh. The Savior, the Savior, the only
Savior of sinners. And I'm going to tell you, when
the Lord reveals Himself to a person, That's what that person says.
I was told about Jesus all my life, this poor man who was born,
who had a beginning of days, and needs my help. He's not God,
but he's God's offspring, and he knows the way to God, and
he can help us out, and he can put in a good word for us. Oh my goodness, He revealed Himself
and they said, we found the Christ. We've seen the Messiah. We've
seen God, the God. We've seen the God in the flesh. We've seen the Savior, not the
one who wants to save and is trying to save and has half saved. We've seen the Savior. Now here's the title of this
message. Come and see. That's the title of this message.
Come and see. That was the word of the Lord
to them. Come and see. That was his command to them. To each of his own, when the
time comes, it's not just an invitation, it's a command. Come and see. That was the desire of their
heart. Oh, they were glad to. They were willing to. They were
willing in the day of His power. Yes, we will. We will come. We
will see. This is what we want. That call,
that announcement, that is what quickened them. That's what opened
their eyes to salvation. That's what opened their eyes
to truly see Christ. Christ. At first they called
Him Master. They knew there was something
special about Him. But after they came and saw,
and after He revealed Himself, they called Him Christ. The Person of Salvation Himself. That's what the Christ is. That's what I pray we might see
today. I pray we might come and see Him. Come and see the Christ. I pray that He will reveal to
us an intimate knowledge of Him. I pray He will. So the message
goes out. Here it is. Come and see. Come and see. Whosoever will,
let him come. Whosoever will, let him see."
That's the message. But here's the reality of the
message. Unless God does a work of grace
for a sinner and in a sinner, no sinner will be able to come
and no sinner will be able to see. The message goes out. Have they not all heard? Come
and see. Come and see. But unless God
does a work of grace, no sinner will be able to come and no sinner
will be able to see. Look with me at John chapter
6. John chapter 6 verse 44, it says, And this is Christ Himself speaking,
it says, no man can come to Me, except the Father which hath
sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Mankind, man, is dead. Man is spiritually dead. He doesn't
realize that until God reveals it to him. But he is spiritually
dead and deadness creates lameness. That's the result of being dead.
Lame, lame in the legs, lame in the feet. A dead man can't
come. Verse 44 says, no man can come
to Christ except the Father which sent Christ draws that man. And if the Father draws that
man, Christ will raise that man up at the last day. Deadness
creates lameness. Deadness also creates blindness,
spiritual blindness. Look with me at John chapter
9. John 9 verse 39, it says, And Jesus said, For judgment
I am come into this world, that they which see not might see. This is the reason Christ came. He himself said, I came so that
the blind could receive their sight. And so the lame could
walk. And so the lepers could be cleansed. And so the deaf could hear. So the dead could be raised up. And so the poor could have the
gospel preached to them. All of that representing the
spiritual life that He gives. If any sinner is going to come
and see, that sinner is going to have to be made to come. And
the center is going to have to be made to see. Even that is
100% of the Lord. It's all of the Lord. God gives
the ability to come and God gives the ability to see. And if he
has given you that, then come and see. Come and see. All of God's people do. They
all come to Christ. And they all see Him as He is. They see the truth concerning
Him. The Word opens up to them. They see Christ in it. When God's
people come and see Christ, this is what they come to, and this
is what they see. Now, for the rest of our time,
I want to show you five things, five places in the Scripture
that say, come and see. Those words are in the verses.
Come and see. When God does this work, when
God calls, and when a sinner truly is quickened to life, quickened
to Christ, this is what that sinner comes to, and this is
what that sinner sees, okay? Here's the first one. Turn with
me, if you would, to Psalm 66. Psalm 66 verse 5. It says, Come and see the works
of God. He is terrible in His doing toward
the children of men. When a person is spiritually
lame and spiritually blind, all that that person can come to All that that person can see are his own works, his own physical
works. That's the evidence of a person
who is spiritually blind and spiritually lame, spiritually
dead. All he can see are his own works,
the works of his own hand before God. He believes and He sees
salvation to be a work of His doing. He sees it to be a work that
He must perform. A work that He must start. And a work that He must finish. Now he'll say that he's coming
to Christ for the work. He'll say that. That's what will
come out of his mouth. But he'll believe in his heart
that he has the ability to and the responsibility to. He'll believe that it's all up
to him to come to Christ for that work. And what that ultimately means
is he's putting the responsibility back on himself. He makes a work out of coming
to Christ for the work. The only thing that a natural,
a naturally dead man can come to and see are his own works,
his own works. But when God performs the work,
when he does a work of grace, he draws a sinner. and he quickens
the sinner, and he opens the sinner's eyes, and he reveals
himself to the sinner. And when he does that, that sinner
will no longer see his own works. That sinner will only see the
works of Christ. That's what he'll come to, and
that's what he'll see, the works of God for him. and the works
of God in him. This is what the sinner will
say. This is what he'll come to. This is what he'll say. This
is what he'll believe. He'll say, I didn't come to Christ. Christ came to me. That's what he'll say. He'll
say, I didn't choose Christ. Christ chose me. I don't see my own work in this.
I see His. What do you mean my work? It's not what I'm going to do
while the message goes out, that false message that men stand
up and say, now what are you going to do for Jesus? It's not
what I'm going to do. It's what He has already done. Known unto God were all His works
from the beginning. And all of his works were finished
on the cross. Our Lord said, I finished the
work you gave me to do. The more that a child of God
sees of Christ, the more that child will leave his own works
far behind. And he will come to, and he will
cling to the works of Christ alone. So that's the first thing,
a child of God will come and see the works of God. Here's
the second thing, go with me to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66, this is speaking of
the filthy works of sinful man, man's works that God says they're
all filthy rags in his eyes, his filthiness. So Isaiah 66
verse 18, it says, for I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will gather
all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory." In that great day of judgment,
every soul is going to behold His glory. And it's going to
cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess. Every soul is going to see His
holiness. Every soul is going to see his
judgment, but by God's grace, this is his mercy and his kindness.
Because of that mercy, God's people will see it right now. He'll bring them to it right
now. They will see his glory. They'll see the glory of God,
the high, holy perfection that He demands. And when they see
themselves, they won't stack up. Oh, I don't match what He
requires to enter into heaven. They'll see it and they'll bow
to it. They'll see that He is a holy
God who must punish sin. And they'll fear the glory of
His holiness. They'll know what they are. Sinners. They'll know what they deserve.
Destruction. Judgment. Death. They will come and they will
see His glory. They will. His holiness. His
judgment. That must come to every man.
Every man that enters this world, they'll see it. They'll bow to
it. But that's not the only thing they'll see. They'll also come
and see this. Turn with me to John 1. John
1, verse 43, it says, The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip. And he said unto
him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
said 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? The Lord revealed himself to
these men. And they went and they found
Philip, found Nathanael, and he said, We found him in Nazareth.
And Nathanael said, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip
saith unto him, Come and see. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Let me ask this, can any good
thing come out of this earth? Can a root, a tender plant, come
out of this dry ground? Can life spring up out of this
deadness? Come and see. This is what God's people will
come and see. There is one. There's one. There's one. There's only one that can be
called good. God's people will come to and
say, don't call me good. Oh, he's a good man. As the Lord
said, why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. Only one came from incorruptible
seed, the seed of the Holy Ghost. That woman at the well, when
the Lord revealed Himself to her, she ran into town crying,
come see a man. Come see a man. Is not this the
Christ? When salvation comes to a sinner,
that sinner will come and that sinner will see the works of
God. That sinner will come to and
will see the glory of God. and that sinner will come to
and will see that there's none good but God, none good but one. He will see Christ to be the
only goodness that there is on this earth, the only goodness
that the earth has ever known. What that means is His righteousness
is the only righteousness there is. Oh, it's not my goodness
I'm offering to God, it's His. I stand in His righteousness,
in His goodness, in His perfection. Look with me now at Matthew 28.
I'll be brief. We're almost done. Matthew 28. In this right here, we see God's
greatest work concerning man. This is His greatest glory and
His greatest goodness to sinful man. Matthew 28, verse 5, And
the angel answered and said unto the woman, Fear not ye. For I know that you seek Jesus,
which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen
as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. That's what
a child of God will say. Christ's death, Christ's burial,
Christ's resurrection, it'll be a child of God's only hope.
It'll be all that he has to plead before God. It will be all that
He wants to come to and all that He wants to see. I'm coming to
nothing but His work on the cross and in the grave. I want to see
nothing. That's what the Apostle Paul
said. I'm determined to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's His work. That's His glory. That's His goodness. only what Christ accomplished
by the sacrifice of Himself. A believer will see his own death
to already be accomplished. He'll see his own death to already
be over. Our Lord said, He that lives
and believes in Me shall never die. A believer will believe
that. He'll see that it's already over. It's already over. How
do you know? How do you know it's already
over? Come see the place where the Lord lay. Come and see. He laid there because of my sin.
My sin was on Him. He laid there for me. A child of God will see the work,
the glory, the goodness, the death. of the Lord Jesus Christ
for His people. Go with me to one more. Revelation
6. Revelation 6, verse 1. And I saw when the Lamb opened
one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder,
one of the four beasts saying, come and see. And I saw and behold
a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, And a crown
was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer."
That makes my heart skip a beat. Come and see. Come and see what? The conquering victory of the
Lamb. The conquering victory of Christ,
the victor over all things. Verse 16 right here says, said
to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face
of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb
for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able
to stand? When God's people are brought
to see Christ as He truly is, that's speaking of Christ, they
see a victorious, conquering Lord. They don't try to make
Him Lord. They see that He is Lord. God made Him Lord. Look at chapter
5, verse 1, it says, I saw in the right hand of Him that sat
on the throne a book written with within and on the backside
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof? And no man in heaven nor in earth,
neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to
look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David, that's Christ himself. hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers
of saints. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast
made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on
the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beast, and
the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And
every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. That's what it is. To come and
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. King of kings, Lord of lords. It's to see His work. It's to
see His glory. It's to see His goodness. It's
to see the finished accomplishment of His death. It's to see His
conquering victory of eternal life. I pray God will bring us
to see that. I pray He will. I pray He will
reveal Christ to us as He is. If God has, in your heart, given
that ability to you, then come and see. Come and say, look and
live. Look to Jesus Christ and live.
All right, let's all stand together.