While we were singing The Sands
of Time Are Sinking, I love that hymn. And I thought, what a privilege.
to be able to sing that beautiful hymn that glorifies God together.
They're all good, but just while I was singing that, I thought,
what a, the bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's
face. I will not gaze at glory, but
on my king of grace, not at the crown he giveth, but on his pierced
hand. The lamb is all the glory in
Emmanuel's land. special gift of grace, just to
be allowed to sing the songs of Zion. Now, verse 43, the day
following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip. Do you know if you're one of
his sheep, he went after you and he found you. He found you. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. He went looking for Philip, knowing
who he was, and he found him. Verse 45, Philip findeth Nathanael
and saith unto him, We found him of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph. Philip wasn't mistaken. He found it. But there's a reason. Christ first found him. We love him. Why? Because he first loved us. Philip was one of his sheep.
He was one of his elect. He was his bride. He was one
he had chosen to be one of the 12. And it was through this man,
Philip, that we get what I believe is the most glorious statement
Christ made concerning himself. Philip, as many of the disciples
did, as you and I have often done, asked a very dull and stupid
question. Lord, show us the Father, and we'll be satisfied. It sufficeth
us. And the Lord looked at Philip,
and he said, Philip, have I been so long with you? Now he'd been
with him three years. This was at the end. Philip,
have I been so long with you? This was his last discourse with
the disciples in John chapter 14. He would be nailed to a cross
in less than 24 hours. Philip, have I been so long with
you? And yet hast thou not done me? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Is there a higher statement than
that? All we'll ever see of the Father
is the Son. And we owe grace to that, but
we owe Philip's dull, stupid question that he should have
known better then. to have this glorious statement
of our Lord concerning himself. He said to Philip, follow me.
And you know what? There isn't anybody where he
said, follow me, that didn't follow him. No example of that
description. Nobody said no. If he says, follow
me, you know what you're going to do? You're going to follow
him. And that is what Philip did. Now, verse 44, Philip was
of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Now you'll remember
that the Lord pronounced a woe on Bethsaida. Woe unto you, Bethsaida. But he still had his people there.
Philip, Andrew, Peter. Verse 45, Philip findeth Nathanael. You know, when you find out who
the Lord is, you want other people to know it. You really do. It's
in you. He wanted Nathanael to know this
one. 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. The Messiah, the Christ, is only
identified by the Old Testament Scriptures, and He knew that. We have found Him of whom Moses
did right, and the Law and the Prophets did right. Now, think
about this. The seed of woman There's only
been one seed of woman. That describes only one person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, you're the seed of Adam,
not him. He is the seed of woman. He's Abel's more excellent sacrifice. You know, I was thinking about,
every time I think about this, I'm amazed by this statement.
When the Lord looked at Abel and his sacrifice, what does
it say the Lord had toward Abel? Respect. Admiration. Think of that, admiration. You see, Abel could not be separated
from his sacrifice, and that sacrifice made the living God
respect him. If I'm a believer, God respects
me. You know, there's no thing more valuable really than
having someone respect you. And God respected Abel. He is Noah's ark. Everybody in that ark was saved,
weren't they? Everybody, no exceptions. Everybody outside of that ark
was drowned. He's the substitute lamb of God's
providing for Abraham. God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. That only describes the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the lamb of God. He is Isaac, the child of promise,
supernaturally born. I mean, we could go on and on
through the Old Testament, and the Old Testament paints a picture
that only one man fits. The man, Christ Jesus. I mean,
I could spend the whole message on this. I'm not going to, but
it's very important. When he comes to Nathaniel, he said,
we found him who's identified in the scriptures. Remember when
Paul said, the gospel is how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures. And the New Testament had not
yet been written. He died for our sins according to the scriptures. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. That's how Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. We found him who Moses and the
law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph. And I think Nathaniel's response
is so much like us. The response of skepticism, incredulous, unbelieving. Prejudice? Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of
that dirty, insignificant town? Could anybody have the proper
rearing in that place to be anybody? Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Now Nazareth no doubt had a reputation
of being insignificant. And what is the most insignificant
town in central Kentucky? I don't know what it is, or I'd
name it. Can any good thing come out of that town? Yeah. Yeah. I love Phillip's reply. Come and see. You know, in preaching the gospel, Come and see for yourself. I'm
to present the truth. You're to present the truth.
We want the people to believe, but we're not trying to manipulate
them. Come and see for yourself. If you see, you will believe.
If you see. And he says to Nathaniel, he
was so confident that this is the son of God. This is the Christ.
He thought he'll see. He said, come and see for yourself. I like that. Come and see for
yourself. Well, Nathanael did. Verse 47,
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him. His name means the gift
of God. And he found out what God's gift to him was. You know,
when he said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? When he
heard about the Christ, he didn't seem to have any faith, did he?
I wouldn't have called him an Israelite indeed in whom is no
guile, but look what the Lord calls him. When he comes to him,
verse 47, and Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him,
behold, an Israelite indeed. Now there were all kinds of Israelites
around there. He says, this is the real thing.
An Israelite indeed. Not just in name, not just in
birth, but a real Israelite. And what is the mark of a real
Israelite in whose spirit? Do you know that the natural
man, the unsaved man, does not have a spirit? He has a soul,
but he doesn't have a spirit. Remember when the Lord said,
in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die? Well, he didn't
die physically. His soul didn't die, but his
spirit died. And the natural man does not
have this spirit, this spiritual nature. But he said, behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whose spirit there is no guile. Now turn with me for a moment
to Romans chapter nine. I want to look at a few scriptures
with regard to the true Israelite. It's not as though the word of
God, verse six, it's not as though the word of God has taken none
effect. Four, They are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither
because they are the seed of Abraham. Are they all children? But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called, that is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of
God. Now there are not very many ways
to take that either. The physical Israelites born
that way, these are not the children of God, but the children of the
promise are counted for the seed. Look in Romans chapter two, verse 28, for he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. That's not circumcision. That's
physical. That's outward. But he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart in the spirit, not in the letter. Look at this next statement. I don't know if you ever thought
much about this. Whose praise is not of men, but of God. God praises this work of grace
that he has done. He praises the Israelite. Look in Philippians chapter three. Finally, my brethren, verse one,
be rejoice in the Lord. Now to write the same things
to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous. It's not irksome. You know, by the grace of God,
I'm not tired of the gospel. It's not old to me. It's new. It's fresh. It's powerful. I
speak the same things. And I better speak the same things.
I really believe that. If I start speaking something
else, y'all need to get rid of me or find another place. To
speak the same things to you, to me, is not grievous, it's
not irksome, it's not tiresome, but for you, it's safe. Beware
of dogs. And you know, he's not talking
about the kind that are canines. Beware of evil workers, beware
of the concision. They talk about circumcision,
but what they are are mutilators. This is a word I think Paul might've
invented. Beware of these people who speak
of circumcision, physical circumcision, as if it's something that saves
or adds to salvation. For we are the circumcision. Now here is the Israelite indeed. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. I know that the only way I can
worship God is in the spirit of God, by the spirit of God. I can't worship God in the flesh. I can only worship God in the
spirit. It's only the new man that worships
God. And I have to say, I've said
this many times, that's why I never say come worship with us. I say
come hear the gospel. I want everybody in Lexington
to hear the gospel. I really do. But only those with the spirit
of God worship. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. Remember what the Lord said?
They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. There are two things that cannot
be separated. The Spirit of God, the truth of God, that's the
only way He's worshiped. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice is glory.
Same word Paul used when he said, God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. We rejoice, we glory in Christ. All my salvation is in Christ. And that's why the greatest desire
that I have is that I might be found in Christ. That precedes
everything else, that I might be found in Christ so that all
God sees when he sees me is his son, Jesus Christ. That's my
greatest desire. It's the greatest desire of every
believer. I want to be found in Christ.
Look what he says next. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have No confidence
in the flesh. Now that's particularly talking
about my own personal flesh. I don't have any confidence in
the flesh. The flesh profits nothing. It's the spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profiteth nothing. And what is this distinguishing,
back to our text in John chapter one, what is this distinguishing
mark? of an Israelite in whom is no
guile. Behold, an Israelite, indeed,
the real thing, in whom is no guile. Now, the word guile means
deceit, decoy, trickery, dishonest. It's where the word bait comes
from. What does bait do? You try to trick the fish, don't
you? You cover the hook with bait in order to reel him in. And the scripture says, with
regard to every believer in whose spirit there is no guile. None at all. Now I have no doubt that this
comes from Psalm 32, if you will turn with me there, Psalm 32. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is
no guile, no deceit. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
14. This is a description of the
144,000, and that represents all of God's elect. And I looked,
Revelation 14, verse 1, and I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount
Zion, and with him, and 140 and 4,000 having his father's name
written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder,
and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and
they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before
the four beasts and the elders, and no man could learn the song
but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth, the elect, those
for whom Christ died. These are they which are not
defiled with women, By grace, they look only to the covenant,
for they are virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb, whether soever he goeth. These were redeemed from among
men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile." Every one of them. In their mouth was
found no guile, no deceit. We read, of these people in Isaiah
chapter 63 verse 8, children that will not lie. Do you remember how the Lord
described the good ground here in Luke chapter 8 verse 15? An honest and a good heart. An Israelite indeed in whom is
no guile. How can this line up with Jeremiah
chapter 17 verse 9 where Jeremiah tells us the heart is deceitful
above all things? Desperately wicked. And you know
what that word desperately wicked means? Incurable. It can't get
better. Did these people miss out on
that somehow? What about in Genesis chapter
six, verse five, where God saw the wickedness of man was great
in the earth. And here he doesn't even talk about the works. He
doesn't even mention anything they do. And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, nonstop, continually. And you know, if you're a believer,
you know that's your heart. An unbeliever would say, that's
not so. It's because an unbeliever can't
see what sin is. Now let me say this. The first
honest thing you can think about yourself is that you are nothing
but a liar. That's the first honest thing. You know that you are nothing
but a liar. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. Are these people who are described
as without guile not like that? Not naturally. And let me tell
you what the Bible says about me and you naturally. The wicked. are estranged from the womb. They go about as soon as they
be born speaking lies. And that's literally, that's
not, well, they can't even talk yet, but yeah, but they're alive
while they're crying. I mean, they go about as soon
as they be born speaking lies. No guile. There's a famous painting, and
I bet some of you have seen it, of the Greek philosopher, Diogenes,
with a lantern, going through Athens. It's night, and he's
one of these really brilliant men with a lantern. And it's
entitled, Looking for an Honest Man. Looking for an Honest Man. That
fellow, Diogenes, who's looking for an honest man, There's one
thing he was missing. He wasn't one of them. He was
a liar, just like everybody else, looking for an honest man. The
closest thing, as I said, you and I can come to honesty is
by seeing that we are not honest. If we say we have no sin, we've
deceived ourselves. The truth is not in us. If we
say we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not
in us. I love what David said in Psalm
62, surely men of low degree are vanity. Men of high degree
are a lie to be laid together in the balances. They're both
lighter than vanity. The Israelite in whom there is
no guile is the one born of the Spirit. It's the new man that
does not have this guile. The new nature that does not
commit sin, it doesn't lie. It doesn't lie. You know the
new nature does not lie. It's honest with the scripture.
It believes everything God says. It believes everything God says
about his character. You believe, don't you? You believe
about everything God says in his word. It believes everything
God says about the character of man. It believes everything
the Bible says about how God saves sinners by Christ. It believes. Somebody that doesn't believe,
What the Bible says about them, well, they're liars. That's all
they are. When the scripture says there's
none righteous, no not one, there's none that understands. When the
scripture says our righteousness are filthy rags, somebody that
doesn't believe that, they've lied to themselves. They have,
they really don't believe it, but they've lied to themselves
and convinced themselves that they're not like that. Turn with
me in 2 Corinthians chapter one for a moment. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 12. For our rejoicing is this, the
testimony of our conscience. We're not lying when he says
that. We're not lying. He's speaking under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. This is the testimony of our
conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, We've had our conversation
in the world, and more abundantly, to you. Now here is the believer. Simplicity. That means singularity. That means onlyness. I'm not
lying when I say that Jesus Christ is all I have. I'm not lying. I'm not lying when I say I look
only to what the scripture says as the truth of God. I'm not
lying about that. I'm not lying when I say that
Jesus Christ is the only object of my faith. Simplicity. I don't have two hopes. I have
one hope. Simplicity and godly sincerity. That's literally the sincerity
of God. Now in this guile of spirit,
there's true sincerity, and it's the sincerity of God. And the
guile of spirit does not live on fleshly wisdom. I know the
wisdom of the flesh is no good, I know that. The things I naturally
think, they're wrong, I know that. Here's how we have our
conversation in this world, by the grace of God. I am what I
am, by the grace. of God. Now let's go back to
our text in John chapter 1. This Israelite indeed in whom
is no guile is the new man. Verse 48, Nathanael saith 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. Now don't you love to think about
this. Old Nathaniel is, I guess he's sitting down under a fig
tree trying to get out of the sun. Nobody's around. No, no
human eye can see. He's under that fig tree all
by himself. And the Lord said, I saw you. Now, When the Lord said that,
he's telling Nathaniel, I'm omnipresent. You cannot go anywhere where
I'm not. Is the Lord Jesus Christ omnipresent
if he's in a human body? Yep. How? I don't know. Don't pretend to
know, but he's God. And he said to some people he
was talking to, even the son of man, which is in heaven, while
he was there on earth, there in John chapter three, he said,
even the son of man, which is in heaven. He's telling Nathanael,
the reason I saw you is because I'm omnipresent. The reason I
saw you is because I'm not omniscient. I know and see everything. The reason I saw you is because
I'm omnipotent. I'm all powerful and I can easily
see all things because I'm in control of all things. The reason
you were sitting under that fig tree is because I determined
you would be sitting under that fig tree. Before Philip came
to you, and you were sitting under that big tree. I saw you. Now Nathan could only, or Nathanael
could only come up with one conclusion. Verse 49, he now knows who he
is. And Nathanael answered and saith
unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God. Thou art the king
of Israel. When he makes himself known,
You know who he is. And that's what saving faith
is. It's knowing who he is. Nathanael knew who he, thou art
the son of God. Do you believe he's the son of
God? Do you believe he's the uncreated son of God? The creator
of the universe? The second person of the trinity?
Thou art the king of Israel. He knew what That means in three years later,
when the accusation is written over his head, Jesus of Nazareth,
king of the Jews, he understood that. Thou art the king of Israel. He knows who he is. Jesus, verse
50, 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 you shall see heaven open. Don't you wanna see heaven open?
I do. He says, you're gonna see heaven
open. You're gonna find out what heaven is and why it is and who's
there. You're gonna see heaven open
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
Man." Now that is obviously a reference to Jacob's ladder. You can read
about it in Genesis 27. I think it's Genesis 27. But that's where Jacob, this
is when the Lord reveals himself to him. He sees in this vision
this ladder that goes all the way to the earth, and heaven's
open, and it goes all the way into heaven. It's the biggest
ladder in the world. Never been a ladder like this ladder. And
in this vision, he saw the angels of God descending down that ladder. And he saw the angels of God
ascending up that ladder. Now what that lets us know is
that every blessing is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
God brings your way and descends to you, it's for Christ's sake. Every blessing of love, every
blessing of grace, all of his blessings come through the ladder. And if you're on that ladder,
you're already in heaven. When I preached on that, I remember
singing in grade school, we are climbing Jacob's ladder. Children
of the, I can't remember the words to it, but we're not climbing
Jacob's ladder. We're in Jacob's ladder. We're
already in heaven. Seated in the heavenlies. And
every blessing God has descends on us through the ladder. Somebody
thinks, well, I'm not worthy. I know, but he is. And every blessing you have,
full, rich, and free, comes through the ladder of the Lord Jesus
Christ. For Christ's sake, all blessing. And listen to this. pathetic, unbelieving, weak faith
that you possess. I'm talking about myself. I'm
not trying to talk down on anybody. I hope I'm not. If I am, I'm
a hypocrite. That weak faith of mine comes to God through
the latter, and it's perfect faith. That love that falls so
far short of what it should be comes through the ladder and
God accepts it perfectly. That's perfect love. That prayer
that is so wandering and unbelieving is presented to the Father and
it's a sweet smell to Him through the ladder. Every blessing that
descends down to us Everything that we bring to the Lord comes
through the ladder and heaven is opened. And Nathaniel found
out what his name meant. This is the gift of God, isn't
it? Now Barnard used to make this statement, Ralph Barnard,
the man that first preached the gospel in Ashland some long time
ago. He said, honest men don't go
to hell. The only honest men are those
who have this spirit in whom is no guile, no deceit. They're honest about what they
are, they're honest about who God is, and they're honest about
the way of salvation. Every believer is an Israelite
indeed in whose spirit is no guile. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for Christ,
our ladder. He brings us to you to where
we're in your very presence, accepted, holy, and beloved. Lord, how we thank you that you
didn't leave us to ourself, but you saved us, that you gave us
a new heart that sees the beauty of your son, that sees the ugliness
of our sin. Lord, we wouldn't see that without
this gift of grace, this heart that you've given. We ask that
you would bless this message for your glory and for our good.
We give thanks, in Christ's name we pray, amen.