What a good morning we've had
thus far. I was talking to Brother Donnie just a moment ago. Some
of us have been walking together in the sweet fellowship of the
gospel for the better part of 40 years. Uninterrupted, blessed, blessed
fellowship. I've known Dan Parks since high
school. His father was my pastor. When
I was ordained, we've been friends a long time. And Uncle Clay Curtis,
since he was a boy, had a little shine for my daughter, came to
visit me. I ask you to pray for both of
them, most as he goes to the islands. And Brother Clay, first
time I went up to New Jersey, the folks up there called and
asked me if I'd I wanted to see about the possibility of getting
a work established. And I went up there and I knew
whoever goes there has got his work cut out for him. This is
in Princeton. I mean, a place that once was
so famous for the preaching of the gospel of God's grace. Now
it's a yuppie, yankee, university town. I mean different. I mean different. I was riding
around with Brother Scott Keller. We were going to the motel somewhere
up around the university. And I ain't lying to you. There's
a full grown man walking his dog. And he got down behind that
dog with a bag. I laughed out loud. I said, they're
going to have a tough time. They've got a delightful, blessed
fellowship. Brother Clay and that congregation
are excited about the message of God's grace and getting it
out. And I ask you to remember them in prayer. Right now I've
got a message that's popping to get out. I pray God will give
me the grace to preach it. John chapter 1. John chapter
1. In verse 47, the Lord Jesus sees
Nathanael coming to Him, and He says something that demands
our attention. The Son of God who sees all and
knows all, He from whom nothing can be hid, before whose eyes
all things are naked and open, says of a man walking in flesh
and blood on this earth, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is
no guile no guile no exaggeration that's
my subject no guile no exaggeration Only four times in Holy Scripture
do we read of people being free from guile. Here in John 1.47,
in Psalm 32 verse 2, David speaks of the forgiven man having no
guile. In 1 Peter 2.22, Peter tells
us that our Lord Jesus, who was made sin for us, had no guile. And in Revelation 14, 5, we're
told that those who are God's saints, those virgins before
his throne, all God's elect in heaven, are a people in whom
there is no guile. John tells us in Revelation 21,
27, concerning that heavenly city,
none shall enter into that city who have any guile. That's exactly
what Revelation 21, 27 says. Anybody who makes a lie will
not enter into that city. Now this is the thing I want
you to see in this message. All who are accepted of God are
without guile. Guile. Deceit. Dissimulation. dishonesty, craftiness,
subtlety, hypocrisy, pretense. But brother Don, that shuts us
out. Maybe it does. Maybe it does. But those who
are born of God and taught of God in whom Christ is formed
have no guile. Let's begin in verse 43, John
chapter 1. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow
me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law,
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip saith
unto Nathanael, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
him, and saith unto him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile. Nathanael saith unto the Lord
Jesus, Which knowest thou me? How do you know me? Jesus answered
and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou
wast under the fig tree, I saw thee, Isn't it interesting that
when the Lord Jesus said, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile, Nathanael took that to be true. And he said, How is it that you
know me? How is it that you know me to
be a man before in whom there is no guile? How is that? How is that? Dares
a man? Dares any man declare himself
to be a man with no God? Dares any man? Nathanael did. And the Master said he so. How
is it that you know me? And Jesus answered Nathanael,
Let me find myself here. And said unto him, Before that
Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw
thee. And Nathanael answered and saith
unto him, Rabbi, Master, thou art the Son of God, thou art
the King of Israel. You're the one we've been looking
for. You're the Messiah we've been
worshiping who hadn't yet appeared to us. You're the Savior we've
been trusting. You're the one we've been looking
for. The Son of God, the Messiah,
the Christ. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,
believest thou? You mean, Nathanael, that you
believe me just because I said I saw you under the fig tree?
Thou shalt see greater things than these. I'm going to show
you greater things than a miraculous display of my omniscience as
God in human flesh. I want to see something greater
than that. Don't you? Can a man see something
greater? He says, I'll show you greater
things than that. And he saith unto him, Verily,
verily, Amen, Amen, of a truth, of a truth I say unto you, Hereafter
ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man. Now here the Spirit of God tells
us about the Lord Jesus calling two of his early disciples, Philip
and Nathanael. Everything in these verses is
precious and instructive. May God the Spirit write the
lessons upon our hearts. Number one, we are told that
the Lord Jesus came into Galilee because he would the following day Jesus would
go forth into Galilee it was his will his resolution his determination
to return to Galilee everything our Lord did was on purpose and
everything he does is on purpose it was his will and it is his
will, his unalterable determined purpose that caused him to come
to Galilee and there began his ministry and there began the
display of his miracles, the wonders of his grace in the lives
of men by showing the wonders of his mercy in the bodies of
men He did this, he came to Galilee because Isaiah chapter 9 verses
1 and 2 said he must be a minister of the grace of God in Galilee. It was his will to come to Galilee
specifically because Philip and Nathanael were both in Galilee
and he must come to them. Look at verses 43, 44 and 45 We're told plainly that the Lord
Jesus found Philip. Verse 43, do you see that? Then
in verse 45, Philip told Nathanael, we found the Messiah. Which is true. Did the Lord find
Philip or did Philip find him? Yes. Without question, all who get
Christ seek Him. And seeking Him with all our
hearts, we find Him. And you will not find Him except
you seek Him. But if you seek Him, you soon
discover that your seeking Him is the result of Him seeking
you. I sought the Lord, and afterward
I knew He moved my soul to seek Him seeking me. It was not I
that found, O Savior, true. No, no, I was found of Thee. Thou didst reach forth Thy hand,
and mine enfold I walked, and sank not on the storm that sea. It was not so much that I on
thee took hold, O no, but thou, dear Lord, on me. I find, I walk,
I love, but all the whole of love is but my answer, Lord,
to thee, for thou wert long beforehand with my soul and always lovest
me." If we're saved We are saved by the will of God our Savior
and we gladly acknowledge that to be the case. Yes, we seek
Him and find Him and seeking Him and finding Him we discover. We do so because He sought and
found us. Second, we see in the experience
of Philip and Nathaniel that though God's elect all experience
the same saving operations of His grace, though we all experience
the same great operations of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration
and conversion, giving us life and faith in Christ, our experiences
are all somewhat different, if not greatly different. The believer's
experience of God's grace are like the fingerprints on his
hand. They're singular, distinct, and
personal. Now this is very, very important.
I want you to hear it. We're told of this man named
Philip being added to the Lord's disciples. But just prior to
this, we read about three other men, Andrew and Peter, and the
Apostle John, who was unnamed. Andrew and Peter were called
by the direct instrumentality of other men as was the Apostle
John they were called to the Lord Jesus by the influence of
John the Baptist and by one another's influence upon one another but
this man Philip was called directly by the Lord Jesus himself and
appears never to have been influenced by the apostle John. He is called
directly by the Savior. We recognize that God Almighty has ordained
the saving of his elect as our brother just declared by the
foolishness of preaching by the preaching of the gospel of Christ
and God does exactly as he has ordained. I have no idea how
it was that Philip learned the gospel, had no idea how it was
that he learned the things of Christ, but he did. But when
he's called, he's called directly by the Savior, and I think there's
a reason why it is so revealed by the Spirit of God. And that
is that we must never make ourselves and our experience of grace a
standard by which we judge the truth of another's experience. And we must never make another's
experience the standard by which we judge the truth of our experience. If you need to compare your knowledge
and experience of God's grace, your knowledge and experience
of redemption, your knowledge and experience of the Son of
God with Don Fortner, you're in bad shape. And if I need to
compare mine with Donnie Bell, I'm in bad shape. Brother Todd Nybert sitting over
here, I know his mother and his father. He was raised in 13th
Street Church all his life under the sound of the gospel. And
God saved the sinner by his free grace. Raised in that environment. I was raised in a hell hole.
And God saved this sinner out of that environment. Same to
you. And it is not reasonable to assume
that the things I experienced, and the things Todd experienced,
the things Moose experienced, and the things Donnie experienced
are all the same. It just doesn't happen. God saves
his own as he will. Giving us the light of the knowledge
of his grace by the preaching of the gospel. But in the experience
of grace, sometimes he spits and puts mud on your eyes, and
sometimes he don't. Sometimes he sticks his finger
in your ears and other times he just says, be it unto you
as you will. Sometimes he reaches and takes
you by the hand and leads you out of the city and causes you
to see men as trees walking first and then causes you to see all
men clearly. And sometimes he just simply
opens your eyes and causes you to see. Some men are like the
Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road, suddenly stricken down,
unhorsed by God's almighty grace, and given life and faith in Christ,
and calls to grow suddenly as men in the kingdom of God. And
others grow and learn like babes here a little and there a little.
Don't ever make your experience and another's experience to be
compared with one another by which we would determine the
truthfulness of that experience. Don't do it. Don't do it. If
you do, you just create trouble. Well, buddy, I don't know whether
I'm really a Christian or not. I sure can't say I've experienced
things Brother Greg has experienced. I didn't go through things the
way he did. I didn't come to know the Lord that way. Only one question matters. Now
listen to me. Listen to me. Just one question.
It does not matter anything yesterday. You say, well, I don't know about
yesterday. Forget yesterday. It's gone. It's gone. Dust. Present tense. Thou believest. on the Son of God. Do you? Do you, where you are now, find
yourself trusting this Christ of whom you've heard? Do you
find yourself trusting the Christ of God, the Son of God? If you
do, all is well. If you don't, nothing is well.
Third, the Holy Spirit, He reminds us again that the singular message
of the Old Testament is the same as the singular message of the
New, it is Christ crucified. This is not the Old Bible and
the New Bible, it's the Bible. This is God's Word. It is one book of God written
by the finger of divine inspiration. And in this book there is but
one message. That one message is the gospel
of Jesus Christ crucified. When Philip described Christ
to Nathanael, he said in verse 45, We have found him of whom
Moses in the law and in the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph. He speaks as though Moses and
the prophets just wrote about one man. Is that the way you read that?
We have found that man of whom Moses and the prophets principally
wrote. That's not what he said. We have
found one of those men of whom Moses and the prophets wrote.
That's not what he said. That's not what he said. He said
we have found Him. Him. The only man they talked
about. Now wait a minute. Moses tells
us about Moses. And he tells us about Aaron.
And he tells us about Joshua. And the prophets tell us about
Isaiah and Nathan. And Samuel, and David, and Solomon,
all of them. Now that tells us about hundreds
of people. Hundreds of people. You haven't read it yet. No,
you've just been reading words. You haven't read the message
yet. You haven't heard it. Moses and the prophets all speak
of Him. Just Him. He is the woman seed
who is coming to crush the serpent's head. He is Abraham's seed in
whom and by whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed
by the gift of His Spirit in life eternal. He is that one
who shall be hanged on a tree and thereby identified specifically
as the curse and yet he is the one who shall be raised up like
Moses whom the people will hear, to whom they will be obedient.
He is a priest like Aaron and like Melchizedek. He is that
one who is a king like David the king and a king like Solomon. This is he of whom Moses and
the prophets did speak. Nathaniel knew exactly what Philip
was saying. He knew exactly what Philip was
saying. You mean to tell me, Philip, that you found the Messiah? You mean to tell me you have
found the Christ? You mean to tell me you found
the One I've been sitting here under this fig tree worshiping?
You mean you have found Him? He said, yep, it's Jesus of Nazareth. Ah, can't be. Can't be. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Philip tells him that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph, this man, this man who is associated in scripture with
Nazareth. This man who has come out of
Nazareth. He is the Messiah. Now turn to Matthew chapter 2. Matthew 2. I want you to see the significance
of this statement. Verse 23. He came and dwelt in a city called
Nazareth. Why on earth did the Lord Jesus
come and dwell in Nazareth for this purpose? That it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called
a Nazarene. Now I'm going to give you a homework
assignment. You go home and get you one of
those fine electronic concordances. You'll spend your life trying
to do it with a paperback one. Get you an electronic concordance,
a computerized concordance. and you look up in the Old Testament
everywhere in the Old Testament that the scripture says that
he shall be called a Nazarene look up every reference and it
will take you about a half a millisecond and it will come back and say
no references found how come? because there are no
such references It is nowhere written in the Old Testament,
he shall be called a Nazarene. Well, there's a mistake. There's a mistake. Or, that was
quoted from one of the old writings that is not in the book, and
it's not written there. Or, that's found in one of those
apocryphal books. Or, the Spirit of God must have
understood something, in the book that we missed I think it's
the latter in Numbers chapter 6 there is a law given the whole
chapter is taken up with the law of the Nazarite the whole
chapter and do you know there was never a single man who fulfilled
that law never was not a single man But that law said, such a
man is coming, and on the basis of his coming, God bless you
and keep you and make his face to shine upon you. Who's he? He of whom Moses and the prophets
did write. Him. Him. Whom Abraham worshipped. Him whom Moses worshipped. Him whom David worshipped. Well, did those Old Testament
saints know who He was? Of course they did. Did they
know what He was going to do? Of course they did. Did they
have the full revelation? Of course they did not. If they
had, we wouldn't have any need for the rest of the Scriptures.
But they knew who they worshipped. The Messiah. God incarnate. This one who is a Nazarene, from
his birth, from his conception in his mother's womb, from the
time he comes forth from his mother's womb with his hand lifted
to heaven, crying, I come to do thy will, oh my God! To the day that he says, it is
finished! And gave up the ghost. He lived
in utter consecration to God Almighty. Totally devoted to
Him. Our mighty Samson, who in his
death conquers all the enemies of his people and carries away
the gates of captivity, bolt and bar to a high hill on his
mighty shoulders and wins salvation for us. He is Jesus, Christ of
Nazareth. Well, when Nathaniel showed his
skepticism, And we're all this way. We hear something, we're
a little skeptical. Boy, the Lord's working in revival
down at Crossville. Ah, he's a shoo-er. He's a shoo-er. Boy, did you hear what the Lord's
doing out in California? Ah, he's a shoo-er. He's a shoo-er. How do you deal with skepticism?
Oh, we argue with it, we debate it. and we divide up and make
new denominations over it. Let me tell you a better way
to deal with it. Nathanael said, can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Philip said, come see. Come and see. In verse 39, when
our Lord Jesus spoke to these disciples, and
they asked Him, said, Master, Where dwellest thou? He said,
Come and see. But the words are slightly different. Slightly different. In verse
39, the Lord Jesus said, Come, and you shall see. But here,
Nathaniel said, essentially, Come, and you just might see. Come, and I hope you'll see. Come! Because this is the way
to say, come see for yourself. That's the only way you'll see.
That's the only way you'll see. Come and see for yourself! Oh, come Nathaniel, and see. Come! God calls you to see what
I've seen. The best witness on this earth
is that sinner who understands that faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God, and he goes and gets his neighbor
and says, I want you to come to church with me. I want you
to hear what I've been hearing. I want you to hear what I've
been hearing. Back years ago, most of you know
how Zebedee Church in Piper was started. Brother Paul Thacker
was now with the Lord. He asked Brother Mahan, he said,
Build a church building, would you come down and preach for
us and send somebody down?" Henry said, well sure. Well he built
the church building. I mean he built the church building.
It's nice, nice brick building, fully furnished. Called Brother
Mahan and said, the building's ready. And gave him the keys. Tom Harding's pastor there now,
he's been for a number of years. Well when it first started I
used to go up and preach for him once in a while. I went up there and
preached one Sunday morning. And normally there was about,
oh, 15, maybe sometimes 16 or 18 people there. I was at a preacher
one Sunday morning and when I walked out to go to the pulpit, came
out of the back door, man, that auditorium was packed. Just exactly
like this one right here. Plump full! Plump full! And if
I'm still interested, when I get to glory, I'm going to ask Paul
how he did it. But somehow or another, That man managed to
get everybody he knew in Papua, Kentucky that he had any influence
over under the sound of the gospel one time. I mean his whole family. Everybody that worked for him.
Everybody that owed him. Everybody. Everybody. It wasn't
that. How come? Come. If God will do for you what he
did for me, you will see. Come and see! Faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Now here's something
else. In the last verses of this chapter, Nathanael was told by our Lord
that great as were the displays of His omniscience, this supernatural
display of His omniscience, supernatural display of His divinity in human
flesh. He said, great as this is, you're
going to see something greater. You're going to see something
greater. Look at verse 51. And He saith unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see. Now listen carefully. He said to Nathanael personally,
singularly, barely, barely I say unto you, plural. But Nathanael's the only one
he's talking to. No, he's talking to you. He's talking to me. He's talking to all who shall
believe on him. Hereafter, ye, singular. Well, what a horrible construction
of language. No. This is God speaking! And He's got a message for you!
He says, now Nathaniel, I promise you, and I'm as good as my word,
I'm talking to you, you. I'm just talking to you Mr. Best,
just you, just you. And I'm talking to all of you,
all of you, all of you. Hereafter, you shall see, heaven
open and the angels of God, now watch how he speaks ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man ascending and descending same
thing Jacob saw at Bethel this is the ladder Jacob saw reaching
from heaven to the earth On this ladder, Jesus Christ, the Son
of Man, the Son of God, you who believe shall see all blessedness
ascending up into heaven accepted of God and all blessedness descending
down to the earth through him and by him and with him and in
him who is accepted of God give me this any day Wouldn't you like to see the
Lord show his omniscience in a wondrous display by which he
shows himself to be God here this morning so that anybody
here could recognize that this man who does such a thing surely
must be God. No! Wondrous as that is, I'd
heapsight rather see Jesus Christ the God-man having fulfilled
everything God demands of sinners. Having fully satisfied justice
and brought in everlasting righteousness, ascend up to heaven. The heavens
open, there he goes. Ascended to the right hand of
the majesty on high because the work's done. And now, surely
as you see the work finished in heaven, you see all the blessings
of God. descending to sinners in Him. Greater things. The greatest
thing God ever revealed to a sinner. The greatest thing God ever made
known to a man. The greatest thing there is to
know is redemption accomplished for my soul in Him. who is God in human flesh. Redemption accomplished for my
soul in Him who is God in human flesh. Now, give me just a couple
of minutes. Look at verse 46. 47. Behold
an Israelite indeed. in whom is no guile. John the Baptist said, Behold
the Lamb of God. There is something worth attention.
There is something worth attention. But here, the Lamb of God says,
Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. I love what
John Trapp said about this. He said here, Christ wandereth
at his own work. Ah, he wanders at his own work. Look, do you hear? Behold what
I've done! Behold what I've done! An Israelite indeed. But Lord,
don't you know we're all Abraham's seed? That ain't who I'm talking
about. Don't you know we all live over here in Palestine and
have claim to the promised land? That ain't who I'm talking about.
Don't you know we all have certain physical traits that identify
us as Abraham's physical thing? That ain't what I'm talking about.
That's such one. I remember correctly, don't I?
That's such one. That's one of Abraham's physical
descendants. And he didn't know God from a billy goat. Didn't know God from a billy
goat. Until one day he heard about this lamb who is God. This man who is God. Who's finished redemption's work.
And found all God's salvation in him. How come he found that? How come? Because that man right
there, he's an Israelite indeed. He really is one. So was that
one. So that's right, Bruce Crabtree.
But he don't look like a Jew to me, does he you? He don't
look like one to me. Nobody does to God, that's all
that matters. An Israelite in deed, what's
that talking about? They're not all Israel, which are of Israel.
No. No physical thing has got any
claim on God. An Israelite in deed, He's one
who is a child of promise. A child of covenant promise.
To whom all the blessings of grace are freely given because
of a covenant promise. He is one who is circumcised
in his heart. That is, he's been born in the
Spirit. He's one in whom Christ is born. And he can't know he's
an Israelite indeed until Christ is formed in him. Christ in you,
our brother said. The hope of glory. Not Christ
crucified for you, the hope of glory. That ain't so. Not Christ living for you, the
hope of glory. Nope, that ain't it. That ain't it. That's the
basis of hope. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. behold an Israelite indeed that
part's not difficult but this one I've got choked on it in
whom is no guile and you know how long I've been choking on
it? for 41 years I've been reading this verse of scripture that
can't be that can't be It can't be in Nathanael born of Abraham. It can't be. It can't be. It can't be of Nathanael because
of anything he has done or experienced. It can't be true of Nathanael
speaking of himself on the basis of anything about him of nature. It cannot be. But Nathaniel fully
believed it to be true of himself. Lord, how is it you knew me?
Philip Denshaw didn't know I had no God. He didn't know that. No, he knows
me too well. I've been hiding stuff from him.
And he knows I've been hiding stuff from him. And he'd been
hiding stuff from me. Lord, how is it you knew me?
Before Philip spoke to you, I saw you sitting under that fig tree,
worshiping me. You are he a person. You're the one of whom Moses
and the prophets did speak. You're the Messiah. You're the
Christ. How can it be said that Nathanael
has no guile? It can be said of him eternally. Because his name is written in
the book of life. of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. They and they alone are those who enter into heaven
who make it not a lie. It can be said of Him representatively
because Christ, His surety, has no guile and He is one with the
Savior. Oh, the most wondrous thing imaginable
is the real union of God's elect with God's Son. I'm really one with Him. Brother
Moose, I read your article that you sent out on that. Great article. I've been reading it, studying
it for years. And you know what? It's kind
of like the Trinity. The more I read and study about
it, the more I stand back and say, wow. I can't begin to get
this thing organized in my mind. It's beyond me. It's bigger than
me. It's greater than me. But it's
not truer than God. And it's not less true than God. One with Jesus Christ my Savior. Eternally one with Him. And whatever
is true of Him is true of me. Is there no guile in Him? He
lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years in the perfection
of humanity with no guile. Me too. The full age of a man. How can it be? No guile. That which is born of God sinneth
not. What's that which is born of
God? Christ in you, the hope of glory. What is that which
is born of God? It is Christ born in you. Christ
born in you. It's no more I, but Christ that
liveth in me. Logi. Logi. No God. No God. How is it? How is it that you
knew that about me? It's true. You can't grasp it. And you can't see it. And you
know what? I'm not interested in trying
to show it to you. That'd just be the display of
guile. That'd just be the display of
guile. Our Lord warns us, Matthew chapter 6. Folks all the time
saying, well, I want to show folks I love Jesus. Quit trying.
He said, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't blow your
trumpet. Don't pray. Don't try to show people you
love me. Show people I love you. Don't show people your goodness
or your Godliness. Show mine. Show mine. I'm not interested
in showing you I have no God. Honestly, I don't care whether
you think I don't or do. I honestly don't. I just got
beyond that. Lord, You know all things. You know what no man can know.
know. You know, because you're it. I have no guile. Amen. PRABHUPÄ€DA Thank the Lord. Oh, what a blessing. No guile, that's it. Just the
way it is. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul.