To turn back to John 1, we're
going to have the preacher's class this month in November
9th. I'm going to be going to Mexico
tomorrow, and so we can't have it the first Saturday in the
month, but it's going to be November 9th. I've entitled this message, Disciple. Verse 40, one of the
two which heard John speak and followed him, was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother. He had been a disciple of John
the Baptist. He heard John the Baptist preach
and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Peter and Andrew
and James and John had a business together as fishermen. and they
hear, or Andrew hears the Lord preach. We don't know who the
other disciple was, but this is the first time, really, chronologically,
we find a response of somebody to the preaching of John the
Baptist, where they follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and they become
his disciple. At first, he was John the Baptist's
disciple, and then he heard John's message and followed Christ.
Now, look in verse 35. Again, the next day after John
stood. And he brought the same message
he did the day before. Look in verse 29. The next day,
John sees Jesus coming unto him and he says, behold, the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Verse 35, again,
the next day after John stood unto his disciples, Andrew being
one of them, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith,
behold, the Lamb of God. Now, I love to think of John
the Baptist in a loincloth, a hairy man, he must have been, looked
like something, preaching. And he was preaching in the wilderness. He did not in any way want to
be identified with mainstream religion. He didn't. If you were
going to hear from God, you wouldn't hear about it in the temples,
in the temple and in the synagogue. And you have to go out to the
wilderness to hear this man, John the Baptist. And his message
was, behold, the lamb of God. That was his message. Now, listen
to this very carefully. This is the eternal message. Behold the Lamb of God. You remember that scripture from
Revelation chapter 13, verse 8. Christ is called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. This is all that was
spoken of in eternity. This is the eternal message. God made the universe for this
purpose. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. The fall of Adam had this one
purpose. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. That's God's purpose. That's
the purpose of the triune God in everything. the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And this is the message of the
scripture, not a message, but the message, the only message. And any message without the lamb
of God is not of God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
one, verse two, or chapter two, verse two, I determined not to
know anything among you, said Jesus Christ. and him crucified,
the lamb slain. Now this is the message that
makes disciples. And it's the only message that
makes disciples. Behold, the lamb of God. I love to think of Isaac and
Abraham going up the mountain. Isaac said to his father, see,
here's wood. Here's fire, but where is the
lamb for the burnt offering? He knew that there could be no
worship without the lamb. And I love Abraham's reply. My son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. Now let me point out three things
about that statement. I'm so thankful I can make this statement. Everything God requires of me
and you, He provides. There's nothing you have to come
up with. Not a thing. He provides it all. And He provides
the Lamb for Himself. You see, God's holy. God's just. He can't accept me or you the
way we are and remain God, remain just. He's gotta do something
for himself. And that's what he did in the
Lamb of God. He did something for himself.
He made a way for him to be just and justify somebody like me
or you. And God provides himself as the
Lamb. I just love thinking about this,
Christ Jesus, is the priest, he's the sacrifice, he's the
altar. He provides himself. Behold the Lamb of God. Then look back up at verse 29.
This is the message that makes disciples. This is what God uses
to beget life, nothing else but the gospel. Verse 29, The next
day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold, the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is
he of whom I said, After me cometh a man, which is preferred before
me, for he was, he eternally was. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. He was before me. And John was
older, six months older, but he was, eternally was before
me. And John says in verse 31, and
I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore,
am I come baptizing with water? And John bear record saying,
I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and in a boat
upon him. And I knew him not, but he had
sent me to baptize with water. The same said unto me, upon whom
you see the spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God. Again, the next day, After
John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, behold, the lamb of God, same message, same
message. And you know, one of the things
that is thrilling to me is this message by God's spirit, by God's
grace, by God's mercy, this message never grows old. over again. I do not grow weary
of the Lamb of God and his accomplishments, God's eternal purpose. He had
the same thing to say. Behold the Lamb of God. Verse
37, and the two disciples heard him speak, these disciples of
John, and they followed Jesus. Now this is the evidence that
they heard. They followed the Lord Jesus Christ. They quit
being John's disciple and they followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 38, then Jesus turned and
saw them following and saith unto them, what seek ye? What seek ye? What are you seeking?
What do you want? What is it that you desire? And
I'm asking myself that question right now. What seek ye? And
I think that I can say with Paul in Philippians chapter three,
here's what I'm seeking. I want to win Christ and be found
in him. I want to know him. I want to know the power of his
resurrection. I want to know the fellowship
of his sufferings. I want to know that what he did,
he did for me. I want to be made conformable to him in his death,
if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.
Perfect conformity to the image of Christ. Now that is what I
am seeking by his grace. But I love their reply. Jesus
turned and saw them follow and saith unto them, what seek ye?
And they said unto him, Rabbi, A title of respect, which is
to say being interpreted master. Where dwellest thou? You're the only teacher. Where
dwellest thou? Now the true disciple wants to
be where he is. Isn't that simple? If you're a true disciple, you
want to be where he is. I think of what he said in John
chapter 17, verse 24. Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am. Not where I will be, but where
I am right now. That they may behold my glory. Where dwellest thou? And this is not talking about
wanting his address. He didn't have one. He didn't
have a place to lay his head. But where can we be so that we
have your presence? Where dwellest thou? Now, I want
to know because I know he's not where many people think he is.
I think of his parents. They supposing him to be in their
company. They thought he was, but he wasn't. I don't want that to happen to
me. I don't want to suppose that I have his presence. I want to know. You know, I have to have his
presence. That's the one thing needful.
I need his presence as my surety before time began to take full
responsibility for my salvation. I think of his presence as my
surety. I need his presence as he kept
God's holy law and he kept it for me. I need his redeeming
presence. I need his presence when he was
nailed to the cross and put away all my sins. I need his presence
even right now as he's at the right hand of the Father, making
intercession for me. I need his presence. I love what
David said, thy presence is salvation. Psalm 42, five. Now I hope this
is in everybody's heart. Master, where dwellest thou? Now, one of the two They came
and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day. What a day
that must have been. What a day that must have been. They came
and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day. It was about
the 10th hour. And one of the two which heard
John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. And I've entitled this message,
as I said, Andrew, the first disciple. Now, there was another
disciple with him at this time. It could have been he was in
business with Peter and Andrew. And I mean, he was in business
with Peter and James and John. So it might have been James or
John. I don't know. But the Holy Spirit
is not pleased to let us know who it was. But he does let us
know about this man named Andrew. Now, somebody says, why would
you talk about needing his presence
if he is omnipresent. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
omnipresent. I don't understand that, how he can be in a body
and yet be omnipresent. But look in John chapter three. Hold on just a second, I need
to find the, verse 13. John 3, 13. And no man hath ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. How many times
did the Lord say that? He came down from heaven. He
came down from heaven. If I said to you, I came down
from heaven, you'd do well to throw tomatoes at me and say,
I'm not gonna listen to this guy anymore. But not the Lord. The
Lord came down from heaven. But look what it says next, even
the son of man, which is in heaven. While I'm down here speaking
to you on earth, I'm in heaven at the same time. Now that is
the omnipresence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I've heard
people argue against that. He's in a body. Well, yeah. A lot of things we don't understand
and we just believe. And we just believe that this
is who he is. But I'm not simply talking about
having his presence by way of his omnipresence, where he's
everywhere. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. I've heard people even speak of hell, and they say, that's
complete separation from God. Well, in a sense, I understand
what people mean when they say that. You certainly don't have
his favor. It's complete separation from
his favor. But David said, if I make my bed in hell, thou art
there. And the fires of hell are fueled by the justice and
holiness of God. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. So when I'm talking about his
presence, I'm talking about his saving presence. That's what
I'm interested in. His saving presence. Where dwellest
thou? Where can I have your saving
presence? I've got seven things right here from the scripture.
to tell us where he dwells. And I want to know, don't you?
I want to know his saving presence. I want to be wherever he is.
That's where I want to be. And I know every believer feels
precisely like that. I want to be where he is. I have to begin here. Number
one, he's in the scriptures. He is in the scriptures. That's where he dwells. You search
the scriptures, he said in John 5 39, in them, you think you
have eternal life. You think if I can just figure
out how to keep these rules and do what this book says to do,
I'll have eternal life. You think in the scriptures,
you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. Every single one of them has
something to do with the Lamb of God. And any scripture that
I don't understand in that light, I've not understood it. You know,
the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a treasure hid in a field. Christ is that treasure hid in
the field. Many people go to the field and
they never see the treasure. I don't want to be one of those
people. Christ Jesus is the treasure. He said, I thank thee, O father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. I want him to
reveal himself to me. I think of what Paul said. He
said, Paul separated under the gospel of God. which he had aforepromised
in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Everything that he's promised, it's prophesied before in the
Holy Scriptures. Now, I want to say this as dogmatically
and emphatically as I can. We'll never know where he dwells
apart from this book. Anything we hear that's not in
the scriptures is wrong. He dwells, where can I find him?
First, he dwells in this book. Secondly, Psalm 80 verse one,
give ear, O shepherd of Israel, thou that dwelleth between the
cherubims. Shine forth. Now, you know what
this is a reference to. This is a reference to the mercy
seat. Exodus chapter 25, verse 22. And there I will meet with
thee and commune with thee from above the mercy seat between
the two cherubim. Now, what is this thing of the
mercy? You're going to find him in the mercy seat. Let me give
you the New Testament commentary of the mercy seat. Turn to Romans
chapter 3. Verse 19 now we know. There's no question about this.
This is not up for debate. This is not up for various interpretations. We know. We know I love it when
Paul says we know. We know. That what thing soever
the law sayeth. It sayeth to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped. and all the world
may become guilty before God. Now, all the law has to say is,
I'm guilty. And if I can come up with objections
to the gospel, well, this is not fair. How could God, my mouth's
never been stalked. I've never really stood before
God as guilty. When you stand before God as guilty, your mouth
is stopped. You don't make objections. You
don't say, well, what about this? What about this? You know that
you are guilty before God. That's your state before God.
And there's nothing you can do to change it. Let's go on reading.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, it's what the scripture
teaches, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ, the faith of Jesus Christ, His faithfulness, His obedience,
His faithfulness to His Father, His faithfulness as the mediator
in His covenant engagements by the faith of Jesus Christ, His
faith to keep the law. He's the one who believed God.
He's the only one really to believe God. Me and you, that doesn't
describe us. Perfect faith. He had perfect
faith. Even when He was in darkness, He cried, My God, My God. the faith of Christ. Unto all
and upon all them that believe. There's no difference. There's
no difference between one man and another man. I love thinking
about this. What's the population of either
7 billion, 8 billion? I'm not sure. I'm about like
however many billion people there are. We're all the same. There's
no difference. Well, somebody's more outwardly
righteous than somebody else, somebody else is more morally
degraded. Same before God. Same before God. You take the
most moral man and the most immoral man, there's no difference. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified. Here's the hope. Having been
justified, being justified freely, by his grace, through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. And that word is also translated,
a mercy seat. A mercy seat. And this concept,
I don't know whether that's the right word, but this thing of
propitiation, you don't hear many people talking about that
today, do you? Propitiation. What's the word mean? The word
means a sin-removing sacrifice. Now this propitiation, this sin-removing
sacrifice, this is what the publican in the temple cried for. God be propitious. The word merciful
is propitious. Be propitious. Do something about
my sin. I can't do anything about it.
Remove it. I think of that passage of scripture
in Hebrews chapter eight. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. That word merciful is actually
propitious. I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness. And because of that, their sins
and their iniquities, I remember no more. And this is this just
I can't get hold of this. I believe it. Don't understand
it. God looks at every one of his people and says, No sin to
remember. God looks at me. This is the
way it's going to be in heaven. He's not going to be, I remember
what he did. I remember what he thought. I
remember those evil things. No! God, through this perpetuatory
sacrifice of Christ, the mercy seat. No sin. No sin. How can God forget? Listen. The
only way He can forget sin is if there's nothing there to remember.
And that's what Christ accomplished on Calvary Street. There's nothing
there to remember. Now, He dwells, the mercy seat,
whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. Do
you have faith in His blood? Do you believe His blood is enough
to make you for God for that sin? To declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past in the forbearance of
God? to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness. Not just His mercy, not just
His grace, His righteousness for the remission of sins. The
very law of God demands the salvation of everybody who God meets at
the mercy seat. Where does He dwell? It's the
third thing. Where does He dwell? Well, Mark
16, 19 says He's seated at the right hand of God. That's where
he dwells. Somebody says, where is Christ?
Where he's always been. Seated at the right hand of the
Father. Now there are three significant things to him being seated at
the right hand of the Father. Number one, that's the place
of all authority. What's he doing there? Reigning,
ruling, controlling everything. I love to think of the reign
and rule of Christ. And this is, this is another
one of those things I don't understand, but I believe. I do what I want
to do. God's not manipulating me and
coercing me to get me. I do what I want to do. You do
what you want to do. And he is completely, absolutely
sovereign over all of that. Even the thoughts going through
your mind right now, He's sovereign over everything. That's who He is. So to say He's
seated at the right hand of the Father means He's ruling and
reigning. He's not worried. He's not pacing
back and forth thinking, oh, I wish my will would be done.
His will is done. That's what it means for Him
to be seated at the right hand of the Father. There's a second
thing it means. It means his work is finished. Hebrews 1, 3 says, when he had
by himself purged our sins, he sat down. Why did he sit down? Mission accomplished. Sins purged. Nothing left to do but rule and
reign. Now here's the third significance
to him being at the right hand of the Father. He's there as
the intercessor of his people. It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's also at the right hand of the Father,
who also makes intercession for us, Romans 8, 34. He's there
making intercession. And let me remind you, I'm sure
you already know this, but let me remind you, if you don't,
When Christ intercedes for His people, it's not like I commit
some sin and He says, Father, forgive Him for that. And maybe
I commit the same sin a thousand times and a thousand times. He
says, forgive Him again, forgive Him again. No, He just sits at
the right hand of the Father and nothing else needs to be
said. He's my representative. He's my great intercessor. He's
able to save them to the uttermost. who come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Where is he? Well, he's seated at the right
hand of the Father. He's at the mercy seat. Let me tell you somewhere else
he is. Where dwellest thou? Well, he
said in Matthew chapter 18, where two or three are gathered together
in my name. There I am in their midst. The Lord Jesus Christ is in the
public assembly of his saints all the time. Somebody says,
well, I didn't feel his presence. Well, that doesn't mean he wasn't
there. He is. He's promised. where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. He's still the one, as John said
in Revelation, who walks in the midst, who walks in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks, the church. Now, there's something
special. There's something, oh, I can't
even express the importance of public worship. Somebody says,
well, I can worship privately. Yeah. But if you don't worship
publicly, you don't worship privately either. There's something about
the public assembly of his saints where he has promised his presence
and his blessing. And really, when it comes to
private worship, I know this. The most private worship I have
is during the public preaching of the gospel. That's where the
Lord speaks to me most privately, yet so powerfully. Now, if he
has promised to be here, I want to be here. I want to be here. If he's promised
his presence, I want to be here. I've even heard people say, well,
I don't want to be legalistic about coming to church. legalistic
about being where he is? I don't think that's something
you're going to need to worry about being legalistic about.
We want to be in his presence. He's promised to be here right
now. And wherever he is, I want to
be. The gathering of the church is
where he makes himself known. Where dwellest thou? Well, he
dwells in the scriptures, he dwells
at the mercy seat, he dwells where his people meet together,
and he dwells in the hearts of his people. Ephesians 3, 17, that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith. He dwells. He lives. in the hearts of his people,
and that's the new heart he's given them. I don't think he'd much want
to dwell in your old heart, would he? Of course not, why would
he? But he gives you a new heart, and that is his dwelling place. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. Every desire you have to be found
in Christ is because Christ is in you. Any love you have for
Christ is because Christ is in you. You can't take the credit
for any of that. Any reliance you have on Jesus
Christ, where you actually trust him as your all in salvation,
it's because he's in you. You can't take the credit. And
you don't want to take the credit. If you take any of the credit,
that means salvation is partially, at least in some degree, by works.
You don't have anything to do with that. Every believer knows
any spiritual desire I have, any faith I have, any true repentance
I have, any love for the brethren I have, any love for God I have
is because of Christ dwelling in my heart by faith. Where dwellest thou? Psalm 22
verse 3 says, O thou that inhabitest the praise of thy people. And this is the sixth point of
where he dwells. He dwells in the praise of his
people. Lynn and I were watching the
decade of the 80s It says the decade that made us, which I
don't know why they, it's not the decade that made us. But
at any rate, it got back to the time when the PTL, Praise the
Lord Club, and Jim Baker and all that kind of stuff. And anytime
I hear religious people talking about praising the Lord, and
they praise the Lord, praise the Lord, it just irritates me. praise the Lord. Oh, anything
with an I will that starts with that, it's no good. You can just
write that down. It's no good. And the thing that
is the Lord they're praising isn't the Lord of the scriptures.
Now somebody's praising the Lord of the scriptures, the Lord praising
him for his sovereignty, praising him for his holiness, praising
him for his justice, praising him for his faithfulness, praising
him for his independence, praising him for his immutability, praising
him, whatever We praise Him for it. You know the Lord dwells
in the praises of His people. He delights in the praises of
His people. Oh, when God gives you the grace
to praise Him from your heart, when you love that He is who
He says He is, well, that's Christ in you. You know that. And that
praise that comes from your heart is because of Christ in you.
But the Lord dwells. He inhabits the praises of His
people. I want to be where people praise
him for who he is. And I want to be one of those
people, one of those people he inhabits. And finally, turn to
Isaiah chapter 57. Verse 15, for thus saith the
high and lofty one, that inhabiteth eternity. He never had a beginning, he'll
never have an ending, and he inhabits that, whose name is
holy. I dwell, here's where he dwells,
I dwell in the high and holy place with him also, that is
of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Now that's, first
of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the truly humble one. And that blows my mind to think
about the humility of Christ. He said, I'm meek and lowly in
heart. The creator, the Lord of glory,
is the meek and lowly one, and everybody in him. And you know what they all have
in common? Every one of them are poor. Every one of them are
contrite. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Every one
of them are like that. He dwells with the poor, the
broken and the contrite. A broken heart, O God, thou will
not despise. Now he's in the word. He's at
the mercy seat. He's at the right hand of the
father. He is where two or three are gathered together in his
name. He's in the heart of His people. He inhabits the praises
of His people. And He dwells in the high and
holy place with everyone that's poor and contrite. His Son and all those that are
in Him. Now, back to John chapter 1. Verse 40. One of the two which heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. And what did he do? He first
findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We found
the Messiah, which being interpreted the Christ, and he brought him
to Jesus. And that's what folks do who
want to be where he is. They want to bring others to
him. And that's what he did. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, oh, glad. He already knew him, didn't he?
He already knew him. Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, a stone. And the next time we're gonna
consider Philip, and here's a way to begin considering Philip.
Verse 43, the day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee
and findeth Philip and saith, follow me. I want to be somebody
he finds, don't you? Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might be as Andrew, hearing your message, behold the Lamb
of God, and only wanting to be where you dwell. Bless us for
Christ's sake. Bless these words for Christ's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.