Let's open our Bibles again to
John, chapter 1. The title of the message is,
Have you beheld the Lamb of God? Look, last week, John's great
declaration, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the
sin of the world. Now, I'd like to ask and answer
this question. Have you beheld the Lamb of God? is not saved through the same
experience. We all have the same salvation.
We're saved by the same blood, the same righteousness. We're
all saved by the same Savior. But the circumstances of that
experience varies. The Lord is pleased to save some
the very first time they ever hear the gospel. The Lord is
pleased to save others after hearing the gospel many, many
times. There are differences in the experience of that salvation. But now, there's a lot of similarities,
too. And those similarities that we
see here in the end of the first chapter of John help us answer
this question. Have I beheld the Lamb of God? I've got four or five things
here that I believe will help us in answering this question.
Number one, if I believed the Lamb of God, if I beheld the
Lamb of God in faith, the Holy Spirit has revealed Christ as
your all. Look at John chapter 30, verse
1. You know what I mean. Chapter
1, verse 30. This is he, of whom I said, After
me cometh the man which is preferred before me. For he was before
me, 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 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. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God." Now, this is the third
time in this first chapter of John that John the Baptist has
told us, Christ is preferred before me. He's preferred before
John the Baptist and before all of us because Christ is preferred
above all. He is all. Jesus of Nazareth,
the Son of God, is the long-awaited Savior. And He is preferred above
all because He is all, all in all. Now, how did John know that
Jesus is the Son of God? Because God the Holy Spirit revealed
it to him. When John says that he saw the
Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abiding upon
our Savior, he's referring to what happened after he baptized
our Lord. When our Lord came up out of
the water from being baptized, the Holy Spirit descended in
the form of a dove, apparently, and it abode, it stayed upon
our Lord Jesus Christ. It didn't come and go like the
Spirit does with us. It stayed, it abode upon the
Lord Jesus. That's how John knew this is
the Messiah. This is the Son of God, because
the Spirit came and stayed upon him. Now, John and our Lord were
cousins. But apparently, from what we
understand here, they didn't meet as children or as young
adults. They weren't together. They didn't
know one another. And that's important. That's
not just some statement John makes here. It's important because
this What John here is identifying our Lord as the Lamb of God.
This is not something these two cousins cooked up from the time
they were little or as young adults. They didn't cook this
up to get fame to themselves. They didn't know each other.
John only knew the Lord by the Spirit identifying him, by the
Spirit revealing to John this is the Messiah. John didn't know
Christ until he saw the Spirit abide upon him. Well, the Holy
Spirit is only going to abide, to stay, on the Messiah. The Savior had the Spirit without
measure because He is God. And as God, He's one with the
Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit are one. He had the Spirit without measure
because He's one with the Spirit. And everything that John the
Baptist knew about Christ, he knew because the Holy Spirit
revealed it to him. It's not something he knew inherently.
The Spirit revealed this to him. What John believed about the
Messiah, he believed by God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, a lot of people wonder, what do these early believers
know? What do these people know and understand as John was preaching
to them? Well, I don't really know exactly,
but I know this from the very beginning. John preached the
whole Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that
they're one. And that's how he recognized
the Messiah. And you and I, if we behold the
Lamb of God, if we see Christ, we're going to recognize Christ
the exact same way. By the Holy Spirit revealing
Christ to us. The Holy Spirit's going to give
life. He's going to give light. And we'll recognize Christ because
the Spirit will show us the things of Christ in the Word and through
the preaching of the gospel. You're not going to see a vision
of a, you know, a ghost or a dove or something like that. But you
will be just as convinced as John the Baptist was. This is
the Christ. This is the Savior. Christ is
all to me. You'll believe that as firmly
as John the Baptist did. You'll believe Christ as all
of your salvation. If you beheld the Lamb of God
in faith, you will be convinced. Christ is your only hope of salvation.
He's the only one who can take away your sin, and to you, Christ
will be all. If you beheld Him, Christ will
be all. Second, if you beheld the Lamb
of God, you've heard the Gospel, and you've followed Jesus. Look
at verse 35, And again the next day, after John stood and two
of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said,
the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them
following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where
dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and
see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and they abode with
him that day, for it was about the tenth hour." Now John's message
never changed. John's message was always Christ. This is the second time in two
days, John said, behold, the Lamb of God. John, couldn't you
get another title? Couldn't you get another message?
Couldn't you? No. The message is always the
same. Behold, the Lamb of God. This
is the third time. In this chapter, John says that
the Lord Jesus is preferred before me. He keeps hammering on this,
the preeminence of Christ, the preeminence of Christ, the preeminence
of Christ. John, can't you get another subject? Now, if you've
seen the Lord Jesus Christ, you can. The message is always Christ. And that message should be repeated. Who he is, what he did, why he
did it, and where he is now. I had in my notes Dale's text. You won't need to turn to read
it. We just got done reading it. Paul said in Philippians
3.1, to write the same things to you? That's not grievous to
me. I love repeating this theme of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not grievous. And for you
it's safe to hear the same message of the message of Christ over
and over and over again. And if you've beheld the Lamb
of God, you never get tired of hearing Christ preach. These
men These disciples of John, they left John. They didn't leave
John because they got tired of him saying the same thing over
and over and over again. They left John and followed the
Lord because they did hear what John said. They beheld the Lamb
of God. They loved John the Baptist,
but they must follow Christ because they heard the message. If you
beheld the Lamb of God, You love to hear the preeminence of Christ.
You can't get enough of it. If you've beheld the Lord Jesus
Christ, you've beheld Him taking away your sin. You never get
tired of hearing of His sacrifice. How He shed His blood to put
away my sin. How could I ever get tired of
hearing that? If you've beheld the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't
get tired of hearing about His righteousness. Because His righteousness
is my righteousness. Tease my righteousness. You love
the Lord Jesus Christ. So you never get tired of hearing
of Him. The message of Christ should
be repeated. And I tell you where you find
believers. Believers are the ones that love to hear it be
repeated. And this is important too. John's doctrine, his teaching,
was the same when he was in private as it was when he was in public.
When John had all those people gathered around him, he cried,
Behold, the Lamb of God was taken away to the center of the world.
And he was standing there alone with just two of his disciples.
He said, Behold, the Lamb of God. The message was the same,
whether he was in public or private. When Jen and I were in college,
she was looking for a place we could go worship there in Columbus.
I don't know if you put an ad in the paper. Somehow she got
in touch with this pastor there in Columbus and they began talking
about the doctrines of grace, about God's sovereignty and salvation. I got elected of people. Christ
didn't die for everybody. This man told her, so I believe
that. That's true. He said, I can talk to you about
that in your private devotions. I can't preach that from my pulpit.
People won't have it. Why do you say that? He never
beheld the Lamb of God. If he'd ever beheld the Lord
Jesus Christ in faith, he couldn't preach anything else. If you
beheld the Lord Jesus Christ, how much must you hate people
to not point them to Christ? To tell them you've got to do
something? That's hateful. If you care anything about people,
your message, whether you're in public or private, Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Here John
was walking with his disciples and he saw the Lord. Can you
imagine the happiness? He looked upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Can you imagine his happiness? I mean, what a moment in human
history. He had to be so excited to point
to the one that the prophets had spoken of him for centuries.
Here he is. They've spoken of him for centuries.
Here he is. What a moment in human history. And John's disciples, by God's
grace, heard the message. I know they heard the message
because they left John and they followed the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's the goal of everyone God's servant. It's not that
people would follow me, but that people will behold the Lord Jesus
Christ and follow Him. You look to Him. You follow Him.
You hear His voice. Follow Christ. And that's what
they did. And the Lord turned and saw them
following. And He asked them, What seek ye? What seek ye? Now, why did the Lord ask that
question? We know the Lord never asked a question for information.
He knows everything. He already knew the answer. He
asked this question, first of all, to encourage them to seek
Him. It's all right if you're seeking
Him. What's seeking Him? It's okay. What are you looking
for? These are sinners who are just
beginning to seek the Savior. And our Lord never broke the
bruised ring. He never took His thumb and finger and quenched
the smoking flax. It was weak. It was weak faith.
They're just beginning to seek him. But the Lord encouraged,
what seek? It's OK. What seek ye? And he also asked
this question to reveal their true motive in seeking him. What seek ye? Very soon, it's
going to be the popular thing to do for people to follow Jesus. It's going to become a craze
to just go through all the public. It's a craze to follow Jesus. It's not going to last, just
like crazes don't. They last a short time and then
people move on to something else. But for a short time, it's going
to be the popular thing to do, to follow Jesus. Is that why
you're following him? Pretty soon, people will follow the
Lord for the blessings. They heard how he fed the 5,000
with those few loaves and fishes, and people want material blessings.
Well, is that why you're following him? So you can get something
out of him? It won't last, but for a while. People will follow
him, hoping to get a free lunch. But believers will follow the
Lord. The Lord, just like these disciples
of John, they weren't seeking a what. The Lord said, what seek
ye? And they said, Master, where do you dwell? They weren't looking
for a what. They were looking for a who.
They were following a person. They weren't seeking blessings.
They were seeking the blesser himself. These men came to be
taught of God. They said, Master, Rabbi. They
came to him to be taught, they didn't come to him, let's have
a conversation, I'll tell you what I believe, you tell me what
you believe, we'll banner this back and forth. No, they came
to be taught of God. I'm going to sit down and shut
up and hear what you have to say. You're the master. You're
the teacher. You are salvation. I'm seeking
you. They wanted to know where the
Lamb of God dwelt. Now, I've seen Him. I've beheld
Him. I want to know where He dwells, because where He is,
that's where I want to be. They're following a person. They
wanted to be where the Savior was, and they wanted to know
Him. They wanted to know Him better. They wanted to learn
more of Him. And they weren't able to put it into words now,
like they would be later. But their heart's desire now
It doesn't change. All through their ministry. Look
over a few pages at John chapter 6. Here's another time our Lord
asks a question. And Peter gave the answer for
all. And this was the heart's desire, what was on the heart
of all these men. John 6 verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. The craze was over
already. They walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto
the twelve, Will you also go away? You're free to go. What
are you looking for? What seek ye? Will ye go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? See, they're still looking for
a person. They're still following a person. To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. They're looking for a who. They're
following a who. They're following the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I ask each of us the same
question this morning. What's Hickey? What are you looking
for? People generally find what they're
looking for. What are you looking for? Did
you come here this morning hoping that maybe if you made the sacrifice
to get up Sunday morning and not sleep in, come to the church,
that God will be happy with you. And you know, you have a better
week the rest of the week. You know, you made this sacrifice
and God's happy with it. Is that what you're looking for? Or did you come for social reasons? Did you come out of habit? I
can't remember a time on Sunday, my parents, I mean, from the
time I was a little guy, Always brought me to church. I mean,
always. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, there's
special service and the doors are open. My goodness, they're
dragging me out and they're taking me. Well, now it's habit. Am I coming just because it's
habit? Or are you seeking a Savior out
of your deep need for the forgiveness of sins? Are you seeking the
Savior? The one in whom God's made you
complete. Are you looking for Him? Our
Lord said, seek and you shall find. Are you looking for Him?
Are you seeking the Savior? Look over Psalm 42. If you are, you identify with David here
in Psalm 42. Unfortunately, we can't say I'm
always seeking the Lord this way. Sometimes I'm cold and dead,
Lord, don't lead me that way. He'll bring me back to this point
where I'm seeking the Savior this way. Psalm 42, verse 1. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? When can I come? Oh, I need Him. Are you looking for Him that
way? If you are, you'll find Him. your findings, if you beheld
the Lord Jesus Christ, more than likely you're like these disciples,
these disciples of John. You heard the gospel many, many
times. And one day you heard, you heard
with an ear of faith and you understood what was being said. And if you've heard the gospel
like that, you'll follow the Lord like these men did. You'll
follow the Lord in believer's baptism. You'll follow the Lord
by worshiping with his people. When his people meet together,
when those doors are opened, if it's possible, that's where
you'll be. You're following the Lord. You'll follow the Lord
by walking in his ways in this world. The rest of those people
you work with don't, but you will because you're following
the Lord. And not so you get something
from God, not so you get some reward from him. You follow the
Savior. because you want to be with Him.
You follow the Savior because you wish you were like Him. That's
your desire, is to be like Him. You follow the Lord because you
want to be with His people. You want to be where the Gospel
is preached. That message is life. That's what you need. If you've heard the Gospel, if
you believe, if you've beheld the Lord Jesus Christ, you've
heard the Gospel, and you follow Him. Third, if you've beheld
the Lamb of God, You've got a new name and a new nature. Look at
verse 40, John 1. And one of the two which heard
John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We
found the Messiah, which is being interpreted to Christ. And he
brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. Now one of these disciples
of John, one of these two disciples, is Andrew. The other one is not
named, so we assume that that other disciple was probably John,
the writer of this gospel. John seldom identifies himself
by name. He just leaves his name out of
it. If he has to identify himself,
he'll call himself that disciple whom Jesus loved, or the disciple
which leaned on his breast at supper. But more than likely,
this is Andrew and John. Andrew heard John the Baptist
say, behold, the Lamb of God. And Andrew followed the Lord
Jesus. He went spent that evening and
that night with Christ himself. I mean, what a discussion. I
mean, wouldn't you love to have been there and heard what our
Lord was telling Andrew and John there. Andrew got up in the morning
and he ran to share this good news with his brother, Simon. Andrew had good news. I mean,
he's so excited. He's found the Messiah. The one
that generations have looked for. His parents, his grandparents,
his great-grandparents, his great-great-grandparents had been looking for this One,
and now Andrew's found Him. And he wanted his brother Simon
to know this good news. He wanted his brother Simon to
come with him and know the Savior like Andrew knew Him. Did Andrew do what all of us
do? We meet the Savior. And we want
those that we love after the flesh. We want our family to
come hear the gospel and know the Savior. We found him. We
found life itself. We found him. We want those that
we love to come to know Christ, too. You know, it's interesting. We almost never have public prayer
in this building that somebody doesn't pray for our children.
Now, don't think you always have to do that. I don't want it to
be something we just kind of, you know, write. But this is
our harsh desire, isn't it? That our children come to know
the Lord. Because we've got the same desire
Andrew had. It's a blessing when your brother
is your brother, isn't it? When your sister is your sister.
When your wife and your daughter is your sister. Oh, and your
son is your brother. It doesn't get any better than
that on this earth. I remember it was a long time
ago, after service, one of Dale Simpson's children was baptized.
My girls were little teeny tiny. And I told Dale, one day I'd
love to have that blessing. I cannot imagine the blessing
that you experienced. I just can't imagine it. And
Dale said, It's right up there. It's right up there. It doesn't
get any better than that on this planet. Andrew went to Simon
and said, come with me. I found a Messiah. And Simon
came to the Lord and says here, Jesus beheld him. Now, it is my desire to behold
the Lamb of God. But I need him. to behold me. I need him to set his eye, set
his heart, set his attention, his focus on me. If you're one
of God's elect, Christ has beheld you. Not only did he see you,
he set his love upon you. He determined an eternity past.
I'm going to die for that one. I'm going to be sure as he put
that one. My blood is going to pay for the sin of that one.
Accept that one in me, in my blood, in my righteousness. The
Son came to die as a substitute, bearing your sin, because He
beheld you. We can say with Hagar, Thou,
Lord, seest me. The Lord beheld Simon. And He
showed Simon his deity. From the very beginning, the
first words out of his mouth to Simon, He showed Simon his
deity. And that's what every sinner
is going to learn first thing. God don't need me. I need him. This thing's not up to me to
decide whether I'm going to accept him. He's the king. He's God. I come to him as a mercy beggar. I'm in his hands. He'll do with
me as he pleases because he's God. And he showed Simon this
right off. He's God. Simon, I already know
about you. I know everything there is to
know about you. You're Simon, the son of Jonah. From now on,
you've got a new name. You're going to be called Cephas.
Peter. Cephas is the Hebrew name. Peter is the Greek name. And
that name change is significant. Jacob had his name changed, didn't
he? From chief and supplanter to
Israel, prince of God. It's going to have name change.
Now Simon by nature is a fiery, rash man. Simon is as unstable
as water. But Peter, Cephas, that name
means a stone or a rock. Peter is going to become fixed. He's going to become a stable
man because he's built on Christ the rock of ages. And every believer
has a very similar experience. We're born in sin, unstable as
water, rebellious. But when the Lord comes, he gives
us a new name to go along with our new nature that we received
in the new birth. When a baby is born, we give
that baby a name. When a believer is born again,
we get a new name. Look in 1 Peter 2. In every believer,
when they're born, we get a new name. and would become a stone,
just like Peter did. 1 Peter 2, verse 4, to whom coming, as unto
a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious, ye also as lively stones. You're made a living stone and
you're built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You're
become a living stone because you're founded on Christ, the
living stone. Now. Every one of us knows this. I'm still me. I like Peter. I mean, Peter gives me a lot
of hope. If the Lord say Peter, I'm a lot like Peter. There's
good hope. Maybe he'll say somebody like me because I'm just like
him. I'm still me. Just like Peter was still Peter,
wasn't he? But there's going to be a steadiness and a calmness
in your soul because you cannot leave Christ. You can't leave
the gospel of Christ because you're grounded and you're settled
upon Christ, the rock of ages. Your new nature will not let
you leave. If you beheld the Lamb of God,
you've got a new name because you've got a new nature. Four,
if you beheld the Lamb of God, you'll come to Christ as you
are without God. You'll come to God as God says
you are. Look at verse 43. The day following,
Jesus would go forth into Galilee. He 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 and the Law
and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. And Jesus
saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith unto him, Behold, an
Israelite indeed, and whom is no God. Now you know we're just
like Andrew and Philip. We say, I found the Lord. And that's true. I found the
Lord. But it's more accurate to say the Lord found me and
he found me. I found the Lord, but only because
he came where I was and he found me. I beheld the Lord because
the Lord beheld me. See, the sheep are lost. The
sheep aren't finding anything. The sheep are lost and they're
going off in the wrong direction. Typically, the sheep aren't even
looking for anything. They're lost. It's the great
shepherd of the sheep that comes and finds that lost sheep. Puts
that sheep on his shoulders and brings it home. And that sheep,
that lost sheep, gets back to the fold of the 99 and comes
in there and says, I found the shepherd. Hell yeah. Because
the shepherd found you. And notice the way Andrew and
Phillip witnessed to their family and friends. They didn't come
to their brother and say, do you want to go to heaven? Simon,
would you like to go to heaven? He didn't say that, did he? Philip didn't come to Nathanael
and make this emotional plea to Nathanael to make a decision. They just said, come and see.
They just brought them to the Lord. Come and see. And most
of us aren't eloquent speakers. And usually we find it hard to
put into the right words what we really believe. And it's difficult
for most of us. And you know what we have to
do? Is say, come and see. Come in here. Today, you don't
even have to carry a cassette tape around. Henry, you said
about that cassette tape. You don't even have to carry
that cassette tape around to give to people. Eric told me
he was watching the old video of Henry. You know how he did
at the end. It got done. He said, if you watch this message,
send him two dollars. We'll send you a cassette tape.
And one of the boys said, what's a cassette tape? You don't even
have to carry one of them around anymore. You can just give people
a web address. You can get their email. You
can send them a link. You can put a link on Facebook. You can say,
come and listen. Just listen. Faith cometh by
hearing. Come and listen. Come and see.
Come and see. That's all Andrew and Philip
did. And when Nathaniel put up objections, Philip just said,
come and see. He didn't argue with him. He
said, come and see. Nazareth must have been such a wicked
place. that Nathanael didn't think was possible. Anything
good could come out of that place that's so wicked? And the gospel
will never sound appealing to the natural man. They say, that
can't be. That can't be right. That's not
what I've always heard. That's not what my parents believe,
my grandparents believe. That's not what I hear. They'll
come up with all kinds of objections. Sometimes they come up with objections
to the gospel. Sometimes it's religion in general.
I don't want anything to do with that. These people say they're
religious. I see how they are. I don't want anything to do with
that. Come and see. Come and see. We can't convince
them anyway. Go back to our very first point.
It takes the Holy Spirit to convince them. Just come and see. Come
in here. Come here for yourself. But now these men did have an
advantage. They were very familiar with those Old Testament scriptures.
When Andrew said, we found the Messiah, Peter knew exactly what
he was talking about. When Philip said we found that
prophet, Nathanael knew exactly who he was talking about. And
that's exactly why we teach our children the scriptures. We teach
their heads. That's what Wayne said in his
prayer this morning. Give them a head knowledge. All
we can do is give them a head knowledge. Things that they can
remember. But if the Lord is ever pleased to reveal Himself
to them, they're going to say, now it all makes sense. Now,
I knew what Sabrina and Tara and Eric were talking about all
those years. It makes sense. I see that now. Why do they say
I see that now? It makes sense now. Because they
beheld the Lamb of God. If you see Christ, the Scriptures
are open to you. They understood the Scriptures.
I mean, they heard the Scriptures read, the Law and the Prophets.
When they came to Christ, not only did the heavens open up
to them, the Scriptures opened up. Now I see, this is Him of
whom the Prophets speak. And when Nathaniel came to the
Lord, just like Peter, The Lord showed him his deity from the
very beginning. He knew all about Peter and he knew all about Nathanael.
And the Lord says Nathanael is a man in whom there's no God. Now you know the Lord's not saying
Nathanael's not a sinner. Nathanael's a sinner. We all
are. Of course he's a sinner. But what the Lord's saying is
Nathanael is a sincere man. He's a man who's truly seeking
God. He's an honest man with a genuine
spiritual interest. With no guile, he's seeking God.
He's not a hypocrite. A religious hypocrite is the
worst thing in this world. If you find somebody that's not
a religious hypocrite, that's a work of God. And if you've
beheld the Lamb of God, you've come to God like Nathaniel did,
with no guile. There's no use pretending that
we're something we're not. God sees things as we are. There's
no use pretending we're not a sinner, because we are. Then come to
God as a sinner. Come to Christ as God says we
are. God says I'm a sinner. Then I
come to Him as a sinner. God says I'm helpless and I'm
hopeless. Then I come to Him to accomplish
all salvation for me because I'm helpless. God says I'm undone
with no goodness at all of my own. Then I'm not going to try
to clean myself up to make Him accept me. God already knows
I have no goodness and I'm going to come to Him with no goodness
of my own. God says there's no soundness
in me. I'm defiled by sin and I'm guilty, deserving God's wrath. Then that's how I'm going to
come to God. I'm going to come like he says I'm guilty, deserving
his wrath. But I'm going to come begging
mercy. A sinner needs mercy. Then I'm
going to come begging mercy. A guilty man needs mercy. Then
I'm going to come and throw myself on the mercy of the judge of
all the earth and begging to have mercy on me. come to Christ
without God, as a sinner seeking a Savior. And fifth, if you beheld
the Lamb of God, you bow to Christ as King. Look at verse 48, Nathaniel
said unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said
unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou was under
the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathaniel answered and said unto
him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of
Israel. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,
believest thou? thou shalt see greater things
than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Now, in other
words, he saw Philip under the fig tree. Some people think this
has reference to when Nathaniel was a baby. They say that Nathaniel
was a baby when Herod gave the order to kill all the boy babies,
hoping he would kill this king of Israel. And the story goes,
Nathaniel's mother hid him under a fig tree, and he was saved
alive. Now, I don't know if that happened
or not. It's a good story. I don't know if it happened or
not. But if it did, the Lord saw that baby hidden under that
tree. Herod didn't see him. The soldiers
didn't see him. God saw him hidden under that
tree, protected, keeping him safe. Of course God saw him under
the fig tree. He saw Nathaniel before he was
formed in his mother's womb. Yeah, he saw him hidden under
the fig tree. Of course he did. He's protecting him and preserving
him there. To this moment, when his friend
brought him to the Lord. And that's true of every child
of God. The Lord has always known his
people. He preserved them. He protected
them until the time came. His appointed time. that he crossed
their path with the gospel, and they beheld the Lamb of God.
Wednesday, Roy told me, he said, when I was in the Navy, I don't
know why the Lord didn't send a big wave to just wash me off
that ship out in the ocean. If God dealt with this injustice,
that's what would happen. But God didn't do that, because
He's preserving His child. And it was a rebellious child,
just like a rebellious teenager, but God's preserving His child
to the time He brings him. to the Savior and gives him a
new nature and a new name. That's the way it is with all
God's children. Now, most people think that when
the Lord says, I saw you under the fig tree, it means that before
Philip came to Nathanael, Nathanael was there sitting under a fig
tree. He was praying. He was seeking the Lord. And
the Lord saw him there. And the Lord heard his prayer.
You know how I know the Lord heard his prayer? Here comes
his friend saying, we found that prophet. Come and see. This is the Savior. Come and
see. He sent a witness to him to bring him to the Lord. Maybe
both are true. Maybe the Lord preserved him
under that fig tree as a baby. And there he sat under that fig
tree, a man of no guile, a sinner seeking the Savior. And the Lord
called him to him. But either way, the Lord taught
Nathaniel who the Lord is. God's omniscient. And that means
God knows everything. God sees everyone, He knows everyone. The Lord, we just looked at this
Wednesday night, Jehovah's Shepherd. The Lord's there. He's everywhere
at the same time and He knows everything. You can't hide anything
from Him. And the fact that the Lord knew
Nathanael was sitting under that fig tree when nobody could see
him astonished Nathanael. And just that simple fact made
him understand this man is the Son of God. This man is the king
of kings. Nathanael learned that something
good can indeed come out of Nazareth. Goodness itself came out of Nazareth. But none good but God. God in
human flesh came out of Nazareth. Goodness came out of Nazareth
to accomplish the salvation of his people. And Nathanael, he's
going to grow in grace. He knows the Lord. but he's going
to grow in grace. He's going to grow in knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ because he's going to keep following
Christ. And that's the experience of everyone who follows the Lamb
of God, who beholds the Lamb of God. They keep following Christ
and they continue to learn more and more and more of His person
and His work. His work for them and His work
in them. After the Lord gives you eyes
to see Christ, the heavens are open. The scriptures are open
because now you see, now you understand. And my prayer is
this, that the Lord has beheld you, that he'll behold you in
mercy and grace, and that this morning he'll give you eyes to
see and behold him. If he does, you can go home rejoicing. seeking, and you'll find it.
Have you beheld the Lamb of God? I pray that the Lord will make
it so.