The walk of a believer in this
world isn't what natural man thinks it is. Believers don't look like what
people think they ought to look like. Sadly, we often don't act
like we ought to act like. But when the Lord circumcises
our hearts, puts a new man in us, stirs up that pure mind,
as Paul said, let this mind be in you. That's a whole of me.
Put Christ in me. Then we sing, I worship the King. Not when it's convenient. Today's a good day. I ain't got
a lot going on. I think I'll worship the King. He puts it
in us. Good times or bad. We worship the King when it's
good. We know it's of His hand. And
when He's gracious to us, that's somebody that's in absolute misery. Outside looking in, that's a
person that, oh, what'd you do for God to punish you that way?
And you say, Lord gave me this. Lord put me in this prison. Lord
gave me this trial, gave me this ailment, and I'll worship Him.
That's grace. Like a sheep before it shears
is done. Thank you, Lord. This is of you. If you will,
let's open our Bibles to John chapter 1. quick announcements while you're
turning. We'll have a memorial service, a member of Mike's family,
Barbara Loretta Walters, this Friday the 10th at 2 p.m. So
if any of y'all would like to attend, we'll be here and I'll
record the audio of the message. if you aren't able to make it.
And then I spoke to Brother Joseph Murphy down in New Caney, Texas
for a good bit yesterday, and it was wonderful. I told him,
I said, you tell them folks down there, and he was talking about
the missionaries and some of the brethren, one of the pastors
down in Mexico, and I'll get more information out to you about
that soon, tell me how they were doing. And I said, next time
you talk to him, I said, you tell them that we've never met
him, I don't speak your language, but you have brothers and sisters
here in San Diego that pray for you and love you." And he said,
I sure will. He said, you tell them saints
in San Diego that we may have never met them and I don't know
who they are, but they have brothers and sisters in New Candy, Texas
and we love you and pray for you. I said, likewise. Alright,
Lord willing, we'll finish John chapter 1 this evening. But we'll
begin there in verse 45. John 1 verse 45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write." What truth! Philip was telling
what he knew. That's what the Lord revealed
to him. All those laws, all those prophets, this is him. We found
him. Now, Philip's going to tell the
truth too, but it's briar. It's a stumbling stone for somebody. He said, 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. Boy, what we could learn from
them two verses. I don't know the heart of Nathanael at that
moment. I don't know the heart of any man or woman that hears
the gospel preached to them. I don't know. I don't know. And
my heart's wicked and deceitful, and I don't even know mine. I
know the Lord. I could lie to myself, can't
I? Quick and in a hurry. We can talk ourselves into about
anything real quick. I don't know the heart of Nathaniel
at that moment, but I can relate to two different points, two
different angles that he could have here. The first one's caution. Caution. That was commendable.
Not to take up with just every little claim that comes along.
You hear some news. Oh, really? I'm on board. Well,
be cautious. We shouldn't lean on a statement
so lightly. Oh, yeah, we'll run with that.
That's something new. Paul told that church at Thessalonica,
he said, prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Prove those things. And whenever
you see something good, you cling to that. Well, there's some bad
stuff going on. Let that alone. Leave it alone
and cleave to that which is good. Paul and Silas, they preach those
Bereans and they call those Bereans noble. Why? It says these were
more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word
with all readiness of mind. On a good term, this man's coming
to preach the gospel to you. I want to receive the word. I'm
going to prepare myself to hear what he has to say. And they
searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
They went home and they opened their Bibles and said, did that
man lie to us? Nope. But there it is. That's
the truth then. That's the truth. But how often
our caution, how often my caution, is a result of pride and ignorance. Oh, don't touch that. Hold on. I know better. Let me take a
look at it first. Or I just don't know, haven't
been taught any better. Just straight ignorance. Pride and ignorance,
they go hand in hand. It's so easy. I had a bulletin,
an article in the bulletin not too long ago, Brother Joe Terrell.
He said, we need to be careful to make sure our doctrine isn't
what we don't believe. It's so easy to, I don't want
nothing to do, I'll never have an altar call. You can forget
it. I'd never do that. I'd never say that. I'd never
tell men and women to work. So easy to cling to what we don't
believe instead of who we do believe, isn't it? I can relate
to Nathanael because he's cautious, but I can also relate to Nathanael
in this comment, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Because it was one of ignorance. As Philip said, the best he knew,
Nathanael said the best he knows. If he meant, if what Nathanael
meant by that was the Messiah, the good one, there's none good
but God. It's Emmanuel. It's God with us. Could He come
from Nazareth? He would be right in saying so,
wouldn't He? Moses said that Christ would come from Judea.
That's south of Galilee. Another province, isn't it? And
the prophets, they all told us it'd be Bethlehem. That'd be
the place of our Lord's birth. Bethlehem-Ephratah. Not that
Bethlehem-Galilee way up north. We know where this Messiah is
going to be born. What goods will come out of Nazareth?
But He admits the fact Christ was born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah,
there in Judah, but He spent the majority of His life in Nazareth.
At a young age, they moved to Nazareth. Boy, what a picture!
Bethlehem, Ephrathah, is right next to Jerusalem. What a picture
of Christ coming from holy Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem, down here
to this undesirable Galilee, this heathen world that we're
in, and abiding with us. What a picture of the Gospel,
isn't it? Poor Philip said, the son of
Joseph. He said, this is Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, the son of Joseph. And most people said that too,
didn't they? They said, isn't this a carpenter's son? We know
his daddy. Who's this guy? A prophet. Not
without honor, except in his own home. His own hometown, isn't
it? People know him. This is true. Joseph was married to Mary. And
in that office of a father, He raised Christ. He took care of
the home. If a roof leaked, He's the one
who climbed up there and fixed it. Made sure He was fed. Made sure
He was in bed in time. He fulfilled that office that
He was given. This is true. But this is the Son of God. That's
who He's speaking of. This is the one who is one with
that triune God that created heaven and earth and rules all
things. That's who He is. Matthew Henry called this the
blunder of Philip. calling him Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph. And he said, the mistakes of
preachers often give rise to the prejudices of hearers. And I sunk in my chair. The mistakes of preachers often
give rise to the prejudices of the hearers. One off word can
make a stumbling stone, can't it? I try to think before I speak.
I spend a whole lot of time, even when I'm out walking or
running or hiking or doing anything, I try to think, how am I going
to word that? How can I make this plain and
easy to understand and that won't cause a stumbling stone for somebody?
With man, that's impossible. My pastor growing up, he said,
you don't chew on the briars. In any man's ministry, in him
preaching, there are going to be some briars here and there.
Even a donkey's got enough sits not to eat the briars. Don't
do those. But when Philip was given his
spiritual life, the Lord spoke to him in power. He came to him.
We looked at it last week. He said, follow me. That's all
he said to me. There was a new man in Philip
right then. However, he knew the One who was all-knowing. He knew Christ, but Philip was
not all-knowing, was he? He knew that Christ is our wisdom. All wisdom is in our Lord Jesus
Christ. But Philip was not all-wise.
Philip knew the Lord, and he was given enough wisdom to go
tell Nathanael about it and say, come and see. Here's where Christ
is. At the end of verse 46 there
it says, Philip saith, come and see. Like Philip, I pray we can
see our weakness and our inability and not try to answer every question
that comes up. Don't try to answer all the objections
to the Gospel, but just say, come and see what wisdom is in
our weakness. Come and see. Turn over to Isaiah
chapter 2 and we'll see this. Isaiah chapter 2. I've told a
couple of people this recently. I hope I didn't use it as an
illustration, but it's alright. When I was growing up, I was
a young teenager, and as a teenager we can often see all the things
our parents ought to be doing, because we know so much better.
And every time my dad did anything, if he went and bought lumber,
or if he got concrete, or he was getting gas, he'd say, come
church with us, come service with us. And I thought, what
a fool. Well, he can do so much better
than that. You know, get some brochures made up or have some
tactics, you know. And I thought, he tells everybody.
Nobody ever comes. Every now and then somebody might. He just
tells everybody, come to church with us. What I'd give to have
the wisdom and the power of God and be gracious to me to just
tell somebody, come and see. Come and see. Here in Isaiah
chapter 2, it says in verse 2, And it shall come to pass in
the last days that the mountains of the LORD's house shall be
established on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted
above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many
people shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain
of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. Not you go,
You need to go down there. No, let's go. Let's go. Come
ye and let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways. And we will walk in His paths.
For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the
nations and shall rebuke many people, not all, but many. How many? Sands of the sea, as
the stars in the sky. I don't know, but many. He'll
rebuke many. And they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore. O house of Jacob, Come ye and
let us walk in the light of the Lord. How is it that the Lord
is going to rebuke His people? How is He going to make us lay
down our arms, turn our swords into plows, turn them spears
into pruning shears? He's going to look upon His child.
He's going to reveal Himself to His child. And at the same
time, revealing to us what we truly are, exposing our sin,
convicting us of sin, convicting us of His righteousness. And
He's going to show us that He did all the work. That every
bit of that was His doing. That's what He's going to show
us. Back in our text here in John chapter 1 verse 47, Philip told Nathaniel, he said,
Come and see. It says in verse 47, And Jesus saw Nathaniel. Oh, to be seen of God. Jesus
saw Nathaniel coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold, an
Israelite indeed in whom is no God. Brother Spurgeon called
this the chapter of beholds. We see behold the Lamb of God,
behold the Lamb of God, and here's the Lamb of God. God Almighty
in human flesh says behold an Israelite indeed in whom there's
no God. This is a declaration. Behold
a true Israelite. That's not just a Jewish person,
a child of Israel. This is a true Israelite. And
the Lord said, Behold Him. Look at this. That's salvation. Having reconciliation with the
Holy God. And it's not an offer. It's a
declaration. It's not a take it or leave it. If a person preaches God's trying
to do things, He's offering you salvation, they are not preaching
the Gospel. That's not the truth. It's a
declaration. There's so much doubt and so
much fear and death in those things and that religion of man. But when God declares salvation,
that's mine. That's my child. It might be
kicking and screaming and it don't know nothing, that's mine.
Now there's hope. Now there's all assurance. Now
there's full comfort because the Lord did it. It wasn't in
my hand to do. Isn't that amazing? What is an
Israelite indeed? The word indeed there, that's
in truth. Whenever we see the Lord say, verily, verily, He
could say indeed, indeed. It's the same word. Look over
in Romans chapter 2. He wasn't proclaiming that this
was just a child of that physical nation. He was saying, this is
mine. A true child of Israel. Romans chapter 2 verse 28. Paul writes, for he is not a
Jew, a true Israelite, which is one outwardly, not by birth,
not by your heritage, by your lineage. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God. Who can circumcise the heart?
They said, well, they didn't have surgeons back then, but
we've got surgeons now. No, you can't do it now either.
The Lord told Moses, He said, and the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart. He'll do it. And the heart of
thy seed too. There's an outcome to that. He
doesn't just circumcise the heart and leave it on a shelf until
you go home to be with the Lord. He said, I'll circumcise thine
heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul that thou mayest live. The Lord declared Nathanael.
He said, right there is a true Israelite. That's mine. The Lord
declares to his children, you love the Lord God with all your
heart because I put a new heart in you. You're going to live
because I made you live. It don't matter if we feel like
it. There's so many days I can wake
up and look in the mirror and say, there's no way. Look at me. Look at my
thoughts. I know me. Y'all see me. I know
me. And that's where the work had
to take place. Not on the outside of cleaning up a cup. All had
to come to the inside. It says there, Behold his Jew,
which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God.
That is in the spirit and not the letter. The letter of the
law says you do it or die. Do or die. And you can't. You
can't. The spirit of the law says, I
can't, but my Lord did. That's the law of grace. That's
the law of Christ. I can't, He did. I must decrease,
He must increase. That's a growth in the child
of God. That says we do not praise men. We don't tell other people,
oh, your works can do it. Good job. But all glory and all
praise is to our God who loved us and saved us, gave Himself
for us, isn't it? We don't praise worldly men,
but on the other hand, worldly men don't praise those that God
saved. They're ridiculed, they're mocked
just as our Master was, just as Christ was. Those that are
given a circumcised heart, they're praised of God. Man don't praise
you, God does. Imagine that. I've said on that
for 30 minutes this morning. God does a work in the heart,
you're praised of God. Leaving this world, leaving a
legacy for all men to honor and praise, that's what most people's
concerned in, is it? Or leaving this earth, facing
the holy God of Israel and Him saying, well done, my good and
faithful servant. You fed me when I was hungry.
You clothed me when I was naked. You bathed me when I was in prison.
You comforted me when I was sick. Lord, when did I ever do that?
We never saw you that way. Our substitute did, didn't he? Turn over to Genesis 32. We'll see this first Israelite
of men. And this took place with Jacob. I
pray the Lord is pleased to circumcise our hearts, be gracious to us,
be merciful to us. In our text it says, Jesus saw
Nathanael coming and said to him, behold an Israelite indeed
in whom there is no guile. There is no guile. There is no
lies. There is no deceit. How could
that be? How could that be? Brother Scott
Richardson once said, there is only honest people in heaven.
Now, he didn't mean that those were morally upright. Those that
didn't lie, cheat, or steal nor tolerate those that do as people
that declare who they are and who God is. Lord, You are holy
and I'm not. That's where we have to be broad.
Here in Genesis 32 verse 24, it says, And Jacob was left alone,
and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, He was losing. He touched the hollow of his
thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he
wrestled with him. He popped his hip out of socket.
And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, this is
that raster saying to Jacob, what is thy name? What's your
name? This man whooped him all night.
Just popped his hip out of socket. Got him right where he wanted.
He was not prevailing. What's your name? Would you give
an alias? My name's Bill and I live in
Tallahassee. Let me go. I'm gonna run for the hills.
He confessed who he was. What is thy name? And he said,
Jacob. I'm a supplanter. A deceiver. A liar. A crook. That's what I am. And he said,
Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Israel. For as a prince hast
thou power with God and men, and hast prevailed. How did he
prevail? He was honest, wasn't he? The Lord revealed to him what
he was, and he agreed with God. I'm nothing. And Jacob asked
him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said,
Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? I always thought
of Philip. And Philip said, Lord, show us
the Father. He said, Philip, how long have I been with you?
And he blessed him there. And verse 30 says, And Jacob
called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face
to face, and my life is preserved. The Lord made an honest man out
of him, didn't he? That's an Israelite. That's the first one
of Adam's birth, Israelite, and there's no guile in him. Back
in our text, just as Jacob was loved in Christ before he was
formed in the belly, before this earth began, so was every other
sinner saved by God's grace. Those written in that Lamb's
Book of Life. Those put on the breastplate of Christ our High
Priest. It was declared before. Salvation
of His elect was declared before this earth was. And then it was
revealed in His elect at the appointed hour of God when He
chose to do so. It says in verse 47, Jesus saw
Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite
indeed, and whom is no guile. He declared salvation before
Nathanael knew anything about it. Verse 48, Nathanael saith
unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Nathanael seems shocked,
doesn't he? More so than if he had called
him by his name like he did Simon Peter. If he had said, Nathanael,
I know you, I know your daddy, I know everything about you.
No, he said, there is an Israelite, behold an Israelite in whom there
is no God. More so, if the Lord had said
he was from Cana, that was Nathanael's hometown, he was so shocked because
this man saw him and he described the internal state of his soul.
He saw the inside. He declared what he was. How do you know me? Turn over
to Matthew 9. Would it be easier for man to
say, here comes Nathanael, or would it be easier to say, behold
an Israelite indeed? Here in Matthew 9 verse 1, speaking
of our Lord, it says, And he entered into a ship and passed
over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought him
brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And
Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son,
be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. There's no guile
in you. And behold, a certain of the
scribes said within themselves, on the inside, not out loud,
this man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Wherefore thank ye evil in your hearts. For whither is
it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise
and walk? But that ye may know that the
Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then he saith
to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into
thy house. And he arose and departed to his house." The Lord declared Nathaniel was
his child. Declared that he was an Israelite
indeed. Declared that his sins were forgiven. What a shock. How do you know me? Who is this
man? What a shocking statement. Who
has the authority to say these things? Our Lord does, doesn't
He? Our Lord does. It says back in
our text, John 1 verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
there is no God. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou
me? In disbelief, in shock, in awe, Nathanael asked a question,
How do you know me? How do you know my heart? And
the Lord answers him by showing him his omniscience and his omnipresence. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the
fig tree, I saw thee. I saw that. First off, Christ
knew that Philip had called Nathanael. He knew the conversation they
had. He wasn't there with them, and Philip didn't have time to
inform him to whisper in his ear, but he knew the conversation
they had, didn't he? He's declaring himself to Nathanael.
David wrote of that. He said, Whether shall I go from
thy spirit, or whether shall I flee from thy presence? If
I ascend up to heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell,
thou art there. If I take wings in the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, if I go out as far
as I can from you, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy
right hand shall hold me." You can't escape the Lord. You cry
for the mountains and rocks fall on you, you ain't going to get
away from Him. And the Lord said, this is who I am and I know you. I've seen you. But before Felix
spoke to Nathanael, Christ had eyes on him underneath that fig
tree. There was no information received for him to know that.
He wasn't in that area. Phillip couldn't have told him.
What was Nathan doing underneath that fig tree? I don't know. I don't know what he was doing. I can't say for sure. I got an
idea. I can't say for sure what he was doing. But he knew what
he was doing and the Lord knew what he was doing. These words
were effectual. It was effectual when he spoke
to him. And it was likely that Nathanael was praying underneath
a fig tree. Robert Hawker said, the fig trees in Judea were large
and shady, and religious people called them prosayyuks, and that
means a place of prayer. They'd go get underneath a fig
tree and pray. That's our brilliance, isn't it? I'm going to go underneath
a fig tree. That's where I'm going to worship God. How often
I pray in my vain mind in religion, saying words with repetition
and what sinfulness. A fig tree, there was a picture
of man's works. Adam and Eve, whenever they knew they were
naked, the Lord opened their eyes. They went and took fig
leaves and sewed them together. That was their covering. Took
the leaves of a fig tree, wouldn't they? To cover their nakedness.
Christ cursed the fig tree. Turn over to Mark chapter 11.
Went the wrong way. Mark chapter 11. He's telling Nathaniel, I saw
you sitting underneath your own works, under your own thoughts. And Mark 11 verse 12 says, And
on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry.
And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came. If happily, he might find anything
thereon. He was looking for some fruit.
And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. For the time
of figs was not And Jesus answered, said unto it, No man eat fruit
of thee hereafter forever. And the disciples heard it. What man tries to cover himself
with is cursed. And the Lord cleanses the temple
there, and then in verse 20, they're walking back out. Mark
11, verse 20. And in the morning, as they passed
by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter
called to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold the
fig tree which thou cursed is withered away. And Jesus answering
saith unto him. Here's a response to that. Well,
we're worried about this fig tree. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Well, what
about faith in the fig tree? No, don't have faith in the fig
tree. Don't have faith in your works. Cross cut to the heart
of that one. Have faith in God. Have faith
in God. We see that same account in Matthew
21. And it says, The disciples saw a marvel and they said, How
soon has this fig tree withered away? And Jesus answered and
said unto them, Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith, and
doubt not. You can take them mountains and
throw them in the ocean. If you have faith. Faith is the gift of God, isn't
it? And being declared an Israelite
indeed, in whom there's no God, that's a gift of God as well.
That's a gift of God as salvation. He gives us faith to believe
Him and He gives us what to believe. What work He has accomplished
in Himself. What that Lamb's blood did. Paul
wrote to us and said, for when you were yet without strength,
and you were underneath that dying fig tree, no fruit on it,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. That's when he came
to us. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth His love towards us, in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Nathanael, I saw
you sitting underneath that fig tree. However, the Lord effectually,
in power, impacted Nathanael with that. He was pleased to
do so, but he got the job done, didn't he? I heard you under that fig tree.
I heard you under your sin and in your religion, and I said,
your sins are forgiven you. I saw you like that baby left
in the field to die. And I looked upon you, I saw
you, and I covered you with my garment. I have pity on you.
I'm back in our text here in John 1, verse 49. Here's the
response. Nathanael answered and saith
unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King
of Israel. The response to Christ revealing
Himself to a sinner is this, you're God and you are the true
Israelite in whom there's no God. You are the King of Israel,
my God and my King. If I'm a true Israelite, if there's
no God in me, when the Lord looks at me, and not in pretend, not
as if, when He looks upon His children and He says, perfect,
that one's mine, it's holy, set apart for me, for my use, That's
because of the one that had no sin. That's because of the one
that had no God. It was His doing. The Lord saw
His people. He comes to them. He reveals
Himself to them. And we say, Lord, You did all
the work. We bow. And we say, Thou art the Son
of God. Thou art the King of Israel. And the Lord responded
to that in verse 50. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under a fig tree,
believest thou? Is that all it took, Nathaniel?
If the Lord speaks, that's all it takes, isn't it? You just look at Philip and say,
follow me. It's done. That's all it takes. A word from
him. Live. That's all he has to say.
Because I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest
thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. You've learned
something today, Nathanael, but you're going to see greater things
to these. And He saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man. You're going to see Me,
My glory. Nathanael. On this earth, he's
going to see a lot more. In those next three years he
has of his life, he's going to see our Lord glorified. See Him
lifted up on that cross. See the miracles He performs.
You'll see everything. See all these wonders. This miraculous
God that we have. But in that end day, after His
last breath, boy, then He's going to see Him face to face. Then
He's going to see Him face to face. Just as Jacob saw that
ladder that reached heaven and earth, Nathaniel, you're going
to see that Christ is the way. He's the truth. He's the life
for his people. More and more. You know it now. Right now. Nathaniel knew it.
Just like Philip. Right then. He didn't have all
his ducks in a row. Right then he knew it, but you're
going to see it more and more. I was talking to a brother today
about language of old. And terms that were in common
usage years ago, and hundreds of years ago, we wouldn't use
nowadays. We were talking about succor
the other day. To succor someone has to comfort and to nourish. But some of the writers of old
and some people I know in this lifetime, they had used the term
progressive sanctification. And they didn't mean that You
were getting holier and holier until you were just so holier
right for the picking. Now you can go home. No, no,
no. Those men that knew God, he saw them. You grow in grace.
You progress. To start as a baby, you got all
your fingers, you got all your organs, that you have your whole
eye. You got your eye, that's what you'll have until the Lord
takes them from you until you die. But you grow. We grow, don't we? Nathaniel's
going to grow. Philip grew. He knew the Lord. He was His.
He was a babe. And then that babe was a toddler. And that toddler was a teenager.
Got some trouble. And he started aging a little
bit more, getting some more wisdom, calming down. Philip, when called,
he had everything required of God, just as a baby does. And
then he grew. But the believer don't grow like
the world thinks either, do we? We don't live, we don't look
like the world thinks we ought to. But we don't grow. You should have a higher octave
in your voice, Kevin. You should stand up a little
straighter and have a little lighter step in this world. The Lord
grows His people down. He must increase, I must decrease.
That's true growth. Get quieter, more patient, more
humble. And the Lord has to do it. We
can't do it ourselves. Just as I can't add one cubit to my measure.
If I want to be seven foot tall, I can't. I can't humble myself
either. That's a work of God. That's
a work of God. You see, more and more, Christ
is revealed more clearly. That fig tree will become more
and more bitter because our faith is strengthened. All those works
and those coverings we tried to do and the fruit we tried
to produce ourselves, it wasn't there. That becomes more bitter
and He becomes more sweet. You who Christ has looked upon,
You who He's convicted of sin, who He's revealed Himself to,
who He's done all the work for, there's going to be more. This is wonderful. Seeing Him
is wonderful, but this ain't it. You're going to see more
and more until that final day. Then you'll see Him. See Him
as He is. What a beautiful day that'll
be for us. Lord willing, next week we'll look at that first
miracle, the water turned into wine.