Come and See

Q: What does the Bible say about following Christ?

The Bible encourages us to follow Christ, as seen in John 1:37, where two disciples followed Him after John the Baptist identified Him as the Lamb of God. Following Christ is a central theme in the New Testament, especially highlighted in John 1:37-39, where two disciples leave John the Baptist to pursue Jesus after hearing him proclaim, 'Behold the Lamb of God.' This signifies the transition from following a teacher to following the Messiah, emphasizing the importance of recognizing Christ's authority and truth. To follow Christ means to respond to His call, seeking a relationship with Him rather than merely adhering to religious practices. True discipleship involves a personal commitment to learn from Jesus and abide in His teachings.

Q: How do we know Jesus is the Messiah?

We know Jesus is the Messiah through prophetic fulfillment and personal revelation, as exemplified in John 1:41 where Andrew declares, 'We have found the Messiah.' The recognition of Jesus as the Messiah is crucial in Christian belief and is articulated in John 1:41, where Andrew, after encountering Jesus, proclaims, 'We have found the Messiah.' This confession is based on both Old Testament prophecies that predict the coming of a Savior and the personal experience of those who interact with Christ. Throughout the Scriptures, Jesus fulfills various Messianic prophecies concerning His lineage, ministry, and sacrificial death. Moreover, personal experiences of grace and salvation affirm His identity in the hearts of believers, leading them to proclaim His messianic role.

Q: Why is understanding Christ's sovereignty important for Christians?

Understanding Christ's sovereignty reassures Christians of His control over all things, as He possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. Christ's sovereignty is foundational for Christian faith as it assures believers that He is ultimately in control of all circumstances, both in their lives and globally. This is vividly described in the sermon, where Jesus is portrayed as having authority over nature, as seen when He calmed the storm. The recognition of His divine sovereignty provides comfort and peace amidst trials, affirming that nothing is outside of His realm of power. Additionally, this understanding fosters a deeper trust in His plans and purposes, knowing that all things work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). Cherishing the sovereignty of Christ draws believers closer to Him and encourages them to rely on His wisdom and guidance in their daily lives.

Q: What does 'Come and see' mean in a Christian context?

'Come and see' is an invitation to experience the person and work of Christ directly, encouraging believers to seek a personal relationship with Him. The phrase 'Come and see' is a significant invitation in the Christian context, encapsulating the essence of discipleship and exploration of faith. It first appears in John 1:39 when Jesus invites His followers to discover where He dwells, embodying an invitation to intimacy and learning. This call reflects the desire for individuals to not only hear about Christ but to truly engage with Him personally. By accepting this invitation, believers are encouraged to deepen their understanding of His character, His sovereignty, and His redemptive plan, leading to a dynamic and transformative relationship with the Savior. In essence, it is a call to leave behind mere curiosity and step into a living faith.

revelation, I believe, of these
verses. And one thing we can do, like
one of our ladies told me, she said, I can get the tape and
listen to it again. And you know, you can always
stop the tape and get a hold of that point, and you can't
stop me up here. But you can do that with the
tape and pick up each point. But I felt like I had some things
that we needed to learn this morning, and I hope tonight.
But here's the title of the message. Down here in John 1, verse 39,
he saith to them, Come and see. Come and see. Come and see. And then down here again, while
John was reading a while ago, in verse 46, it was Nathanael
that made the statement, Can there any good thing come out
of Nazareth? Such an awful place. And Philip
said to him, Come and see. Come and see. Now let's begin
our message down here with verse 35. This is where I think this
is a good starting point. Verse 35 and 36. Again the next
day after John stood with two of his disciples. Now these two
disciples, one of them we know was Andrew. And we believe the
other was John, the author of this book. You know, John was
very modest. John, I don't think ever in this
entire book, refers to himself by name. I think that's correct.
He always said, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Even when he
talked about leaning on the Master's breast, don't you remember he
said there was one that leaned? He didn't name him. We know who
it was. But we believe these two men,
Two disciples standing with John the Baptist were John, who wrote
this epistle, and Andrew. And they were standing there.
In verse 36 it says, And looking upon Jesus as He walked, John
the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God. And my friends,
this was always John's ministry. This was always John's message.
Behold the Lamb of God. We find him saying that same
thing up here in verse 29, the day before. He preached two messages,
Charlie, and both of them the same message. Oh, the Lamb of
God. That was John's message. That
was his ministry. That was Paul's ministry. He
said, we preach Christ. We preach Christ. I'm determined
to know nothing among you. Say, Jesus Christ. Somebody said
one time, he meant it. Not as a compliment, but I took
it as one. He said, when you hear man, you've
heard him. He preaches the same thing every time he gets up.
Christ. Well, that's what John preached.
This was always his ministry. This was always his message.
This was always his objective to point men to Christ. Paul
said that. He said, I don't want your faith
standing in my wisdom, but in the wisdom of God, in Christ.
I'll tell you this, we were talking last week the meeting in Dingus. There's nothing that any person,
be he pastor or evangelist or missionary, there's nothing that
any organization, whether it be a true congregation, a true
assembly, a true church, there's nothing that any ordinance, the
Lord's table or baptism or whatever, There's nothing that any person,
organization, or ordinance can do for you to prepare you to
meet God, or to preserve you in the favor of God, or to present
you holy and unblameable before God. There's not any person who
can do anything for you by word, by the laying on of hands, or
by his own individual prayers, salvations of the Lord. You see,
it's all found in Christ. That's right, it's all found
in Christ. And here John the Baptist is
standing with two of his disciples, two of his followers, two of
his friends. And Christ came by and He said again, as He said
the day before, Behold the Lamb of God. There He is, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Unto Him who
is able to present you faultless before His throne with exceeding
joy. Unto Him, there He is. That's
what a true servant of God, a true messenger, a true preacher, a
true evangelist, true whatever, He won't draw you to Himself,
He'll point you to Christ. He'll, like the mother eagle,
He'll kick you out of the nest. He won't let you lean on Him
or depend on Him or draw from Him. He'll kick you out of the
nest. You go to Christ. You flee to Christ. You fly to
Christ. That's where it is. And sure enough, look at verse
37. And the two disciples heard John
say this, and they left him. But they didn't leave him mad.
They followed Jesus. They took him at his word. You
see, John and Andrew were fishermen by trade. They were fishermen
by trade and they had attached themselves to John the Baptist.
They heard him. They believed that he was a prophet
of God. They believed that he had God's
message. They believed that what he was saying was true. They
heard him. They were baptized of him. And
they eagerly awaited the Messiah whom he preached and the Savior.
He said would come. And at last, at last the day
arrived when their teacher, here they are walking alone. I'm sure
John the Baptist and these men, John and John the Baptist, John
and Andrew walking along were talking about, I know John was
talking about his message. The hills will be brought down
and the rough places smooth and the deep places filled up and
the Messiah will come, prepare you the way of the Lord and they
were talking And as they walked along, the day came and John
pointed to Christ and he said to these two men, Behold the
Lamb of God. There he is. Behold the Lamb of God. And these
two men did what they must do. They did what they should do.
They did what they ought to do. They reached over and shook hands
with John and said, Thank you. Thank you for your words, and
thank you for your encouragement, and thank you for your prayers,
and they followed Christ. They followed Christ. Was this
difficult for John? Do you think it was? Do you think it was? I don't
think so at all. I really don't. I think it caused
his heart just to rejoice. He had fulfilled what God sent
him to do. He identified Christ. He pointed
to Christ. He shut men up to Christ. He
urged them to follow Christ. And when they did what he said,
I believe his heart just leaped. Don't you, Tom? I believe it
leaped within him. I think that's true of any true
servant of God. I know that we've got a lot of
preachers today and religious organizations and churches that
want to get a grip on people. They're afraid to let them go
here and hear this one. They're afraid to let them go
there and hear that one. They're afraid to bring men in
for them to hear. I don't know what it is. I don't
think it's jealous for God's glory. I think it's jealous for
their own position. But John said, Behold the Lamb
of God. Was this difficult for John?
Not at all. He had seen a fulfillment of
what God sent him to do. He pointed those men to Christ
and they followed. Do you think it was difficult
for the disciples? Do you think they had a difficult
time leaving John? I don't think so. You see, John
told them, I am not the Christ. I am not the Christ. I am not
that light. I am a lamp-bearer. That's all
I am. I can do nothing for myself,
I can do nothing for you. Stay with me, look to me, cling
to me, and perish. You follow Him. Follow Him. And my friends, let's give honor
to whom honor is due, and let's give respect to whom respect
is due, and let's give tribute to whom tribute is due, but men
are only what they are. I don't care if it's the best
preacher in the country, he's still a man. He's still a servant. He's still a messenger. And Paul
said, he's in himself nothing. That's right. Turn to 1 Corinthians
3. Let me show you. In himself, he's nothing. In
himself, he's nothing. They had a little conflict going
down there in Corinth about this matter. In Corinth, in 1 Corinthians
3, verse 4, One said, I'm of Paul. Another said, I'm of Apollos. That's the reason Paul said,
I didn't baptize any of you. I thank God I didn't baptize
any of you. He said, I don't want anybody
saying, Paul baptized me. Your baptism isn't quite as glamorous
as mine because Paul said, I didn't baptize any of you except for
Stephanus and one or two others. Somebody else said, well, I'm
of Apollos. Paul said, that's carnal, that's
evil. Who is Paul? Who then is Paul?
Who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believe,
even as the Lord gave to every man. I planted, Apollos watered,
God gave the increase, so neither is he, so then neither is he
that planteth anything. He's not anything. Talking about
himself, he's not anything. And he that watereth, he's not
anything. Be alright if you say, Paul,
you're not anything, but you're saying Apollos is not anything.
Yeah, and all the rest of them are not anything. We're nothings. That's all in the world. That's
just so. And so nobody, don't cling to
an organization, or cling to a person, or cling to a leader,
or cling to a preacher, or cling to an old experience, or to anything
in and of this way. This is what John said. There
He is! The Lamb of God. Now, Barnard,
you say you skedaddled over there and joined up with Him. You go
to Him. You go to Him. You go to Him. That's what they did. Alright,
let's go to the next verse. So, verse 37, those two disciples
heard Him. They heard Him. Tom, evidently,
they heard what He had to say, didn't they? They heard Him.
They actually heard Him. How do you know if a man hears
you? He'll do what you say. That's exactly it. If he hears
you, or if she hears you, they heard Him. And when they heard
Him, they followed Jesus. Boy, I wish that could be said
of my ministry. When people heard Him, they followed
the Lord. When people heard Him, they went to Christ. When people
heard him, they believed on Jesus. Man's heard you when he does
that. You hadn't heard me if you hadn't followed Jesus. Oh,
I believe the Bible. No, you don't. You don't believe
the Bible until you follow Jesus. That's when you show you believe
the Bible. Oh, yes I do. I believe the Bible. You believe
the Bible when you show you believe it by acting upon it. I sure
believe what you preach. No, no, you believe what I preach
when you do what I preach. They heard him and they followed
Jesus. And then look at verse 38, Then Jesus turned and saw
them following him, and he said to these two men, What seek ye? Now you can take that just like
he said it. I try to, when I study these verses and preach from
them, I try to project myself back into this situation. And here is John the Baptist
and these two men. He said, Behold the Lamb of God.
That's the Christ. And they left John and they started
following him. Our Lord's walking along, these
men are following him. And he turned and saw John and
Andrew following him, and that's exactly what he said, What seek
ye? What seek ye? Now, that seems
strange at first when you read that. Here's the omnipotent,
omniscient God. He said a little later to Nathanael,
when you were over there on the fig tree, this is before Philip
ever found you, when you were over there on the fig tree, I
saw you. Well, what was he doing on the
fig tree? Whatever it was, it startled him. He said, you are
the Son of God. He might have been praying. He might have been
saying, Lord, show me the Messiah. He might have been praying, Lord,
if this is what this man John the Baptist is saying, so teach
me. And the Lord said, I saw you on the fig tree. You're the
Son of God. So when he turned to John and
Andrew and said, what seek ye? He wasn't asking for information. His question is not for knowledge.
He already knew what they were seeking. He knew everything that
had transpired. Just like he said to Nathanael,
I knew you. He said to Jeremiah, before I
formed you in the belly, I knew you. But what he's asking, the
reason he's asking, what seek ye? He is going to reveal the
true motive and purpose of these men. It's like, you know, when
Adam fell, the Lord said, Adam, where are you? Well, he knew where Adam was,
but let's hear it from you, Adam. Let's hear it from you. Cain,
he said, where's your brother? He knew where his brother was,
but let's hear it from you, Cain. And to Andrew and John he said,
What seek ye? Let's hear it from you. Well,
a lot of people, some followed him because they sought the loaves
and fishes. Isn't that what he said? He condemned
them. That's the reason a lot of folks followed him. They followed
him. He said, I know why you follow
me. You follow me for the loaves
and fishes. You ate and were full. Another
group followed him because of the miracles. He said to them,
I know why you're following me too. because of the miracles. And
he wouldn't reveal himself to them. He walked off and left
them. And some followed him crying, let's make him king. Hosanna
to him that cometh in the name of the Lord. Let's make him king.
He knew why they followed him. So he turned to John and Andrew
and he said, well, what seek ye? What do you seek? And they replied, listen. And
they said unto him, Rabbi, master, which is being interpreted, Master,
Rabbi, where dwellest thou? Master, we're not seeking a what,
we're seeking a whom. I believe that's what they said.
I know, I've read different interpretations of this. I'll tell you, these
men, when they answered him, they said, Master, where do you
abide? Where do you dwell? It's not
a what, It was a who, they're interested in him, they gave
the right answer. Once it was the blessing, now
it's the Lord. Once it was the feeling, now
it's his word. Once the gifts I wanted, now
the giver I own. Once I sought for healing, now
himself alone. This is what they're saying,
and I believe it. I read one author who said this,
they wanted to know where he was living at that time so they
could go sit down and talk to him about eternal matters. That
may be so, but I doubt it. I doubt it. I believe there is
a whole lot more here. Maybe, maybe this is what is
here. Maybe the confession of Ruth
back yonder puts a better light on it. When Ruth said to Naomi,
entreat me not to leave thee." Ruth didn't know where Naomi
was going. Ruth didn't know what conditions
she would be living under. She didn't know anything about
that country, but she did know Naomi. And she said, Naomi, don't
make me leave you or to return from following you. For where
you go, I go. And where you lodge, that's the
reason I want to know where you lodge, because that's where I'm
going to be lodging. And your people will be my people, and
your God will be my God. And that's what leads me in answer
here. The Lord turns and says, what seek ye? And I'm sure the
question can be asked of me, of you, of all who are here tonight.
What seek ye? Master, where dwellest thou? And oh, the tenderness of this
next statement in verse 39. Oh, the tenderness. He looked
at them and said to them, Come and see. Come and see. Three simple words.
Come and see. If you do come to Him and come
with Him, then in Him, My friends, you will see what can be seen
nowhere else. Do you know that? Come and see. That's what Philip said later
on here to Nathaniel. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Come and see. Come and see. And I want to divide
this into two parts. First of all, His glorious person. Oh, His glorious person. Come
and see. And you'll see in Him divine
sovereignty and majesty. One day the disciples were with
Him in the boat and the storm was raging and the disciples
were so frightened, they were so upset and they went back and
they said, Master, don't you care if we perish? And then our
Lord stepped out on the bow of the boat and the wind was blowing
and howling and the waves were dashing the boat The clouds were
so dark and he stood out there and he said, peace, be still.
And that wind stopped blowing and those waves just went down.
And that boat sat on a glassy sea. And one of the disciples
said, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves
obey his voice? Come and see. See in him, sovereign
in majesty, him who says to the blind, Who says to the lame,
walk! Who says to the dead, hear! Who
says to the dead, live! All authority is given unto me
in heaven and earth. Look here at John chapter 5. Listen to this. John chapter
5, verse 25. John 5, 25. Listen to it. Verily,
truly, truly, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is,
right now. When the dead, that's the spiritually
dead, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. Come and see. In Him, divine
sovereignty. But something else, come and
see, in Him, eternality. Eternality. They said, well you're
not, they listened to him, they said, you're not fifty years
old. Hast thou seen Abraham? He said, listen, Before Abraham
was, I was. That's all He didn't say
that day. Before Abraham was, I am. Our Lord Jesus Christ never says,
I was. He says, I am. I am. Before Abraham was, I am. When
He prayed and guest Him in His garden, He said, Father, glorify
Thou me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world
was. Sometimes read Proverbs 8 where it talks about wisdom.
In wisdom there is Christ Jesus. Back before he laid the foundations
of this world, I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him. Eternality. Scripture says in Isaiah 9, 6,
unless a child is born, unless a son is given, and the government
is on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the what? Everlasting Father. Come and see. And come and see
in him thirdly, unchangeableness. Everything changes. Now, Doris
and I often comment when we leave home and drive anywhere around
this area how things have changed since we came here. I came here
43 years ago, March 1947. Next month will be 43 years ago. You remember about all the streets
were brick, don't you remember that? I think Blackman Avenue
was even brick, wasn't it? Everything was so quaint. Came
up here and boy, I tell you, it's changed. Everything changes. I'm changing, you're changing,
everything's changing. Change and decay in all around
I see. But I tell you this, He never
changes. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Jesus Christ is the same, the same in His love, the same
in His faithfulness, the same in His promises, the same in
His power, always the same. Never changes. He never changes. I tell you, that's comfort. That's
comfort. I'm up and down, and you are
too. We feel good and we feel bad.
We feel spiritual and we feel wretched. We're up and down,
but He never changes. Always the same. I've drawn you
with an unchangeable love, an everlasting love." He never changed.
Come and see. Come and see. If you're not seeking
a what, but you're seeking a whom, you come and see. And I'll tell
you fourthly, you'll see in him the wisdom of God. Not only the
majesty of God and the eternality and the unchangeableness, but
you'll see the wisdom of God. He is wisdom. He's called the wisdom of God.
He's called the truth. I am the truth. You shall know
the truth. That's Christ and you'll be set
free. You see, the wisdom of God, the mystery of God, the
hidden wisdom of God is all revealed in Him. It says all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ. Everything else, everything connected
with this world is foolishness. The things men say and the things
men do and all the projects that they have, it's all foolishness. It'll all pass. Even the wisdom
of men is foolishness with God. Christ is God's wisdom. In Him,
the wisdom of God. In Him, all the treasures of
wisdom. and knowledge. To know Christ
is to know God. To know Christ is to know eternal
matters. To know Christ is to know the
mysteries of God. To know Christ. The more you
know of Christ Jesus, the more you come and see and sit at His
feet and learn of Him. That's the reason Mary was so
content just to sit there on the floor and look up into His
face and listen to Him. He's the wisdom of God. You know,
I wonder why we don't read the Word more, when the Word, the
written Word is simply a revelation of the incarnate Word, is it
not? It's simply the speaking forth of the incarnate Word,
it's Christ speaking. Come and see the wisdom of God.
And then fifthly, come and see. Come and see. Come and see. Come and see the
power of God. Now the power of God is seen
in the creation of the world. God spake and the world came
into being. God spake and the stars took
their designated and assigned places in the planets. God spoke
and the trees bloomed. God spoke and the rivers flowed.
God spoke and all this world was made. By Him were all things
made. The power of God is seen in the
governing of the world. By Him all things are held together. How it's held together. We keep
getting fish out of the ocean, but there's that many more in
it. We keep breathing this air, but we've breathed this air for
6,000 years, and there's plenty more left. We keep eating the
food off the trees, and we keep plowing the ground and planting,
and it keeps yielding. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullest thereof. And He said the seasons aren't
going to change, spring, winter, summer, and fall, until Christ
comes back. It's going to be the same. It's
going to be the same. Everything held together. And
then the power of God is seen in divine providence. But listen
to this. Come and see. Come to Christ. Never did God
demonstrate His power as when He did when the man of God's
own right hand, Jesus Christ, walked that winepress of God's
wrath, destroyed the very strength and power of hell, spoiled principalities
and powers, destroyed death by death, redeemed a people and
purchased an everlasting kingdom and then arose from the grave
by His own power. Come and see. Come and see. And something else in Him. Come
and see perfect holiness walking in human flesh. The Bible plainly
says there is none good, there is none righteous, there is none
that understand it, there is none that seek it after God.
The Bible plainly says God looked down from heaven to see if any
did do good and he found they're all gone aside. In the flesh
dwelleth no good thing, but here's a man. You come see. Here's a
man in which perfect, absolute holiness is embodied in human
flesh. Holiness. Divine justice, not
only magnified but made honorable. God's love wrapped up in human
flesh. Here's love! Everybody's running around talking
about make love not war and all this stuff. Let's love one another.
You don't know, I don't know anything about love until I know
Him. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but He loved us. Come and see. Come and see. Somebody said a picture is worth
a thousand words. Then tell me the value of Jesus
Christ. He's worth ten billion. And something else before I close.
His work. Come and see. What seek ye? Lord, where dwellest thou? Come
see. You want to. And you know, verse
38 and 9 says, when He said, Come and see, they came. They
came and they saw where He had dwelt, and they abode with Him.
It was about four o'clock in the evening, two hours before
dark, and they abode with Him. They stayed there. And I'll tell
you, if you stay with Him, He said, come unto Me and I'll give
you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn
of Me. Learn of Me. Sit down and learn. Learn of Christ. And you're going
to see some more things. I'll give them to you just quickly. First of all, if you'll come
and see, you'll see the counsel of God The everlasting counsel
of God opened. All of us like secrets. Isn't
there a person here that somebody said to you, I'm going to tell
you a secret? We're all ears. I'm going to tell you a secret. We just say, boy, tell me. Tell
me. I like secrets, don't you? Well,
let me tell you something. Would you like to listen to and
hear and look into the secrets and mysteries of God? concerning
His eternal kingdom and purpose and covenant before the foundation
of the world? Would you like to eavesdrop on
the counsel of God in eternity? All you got to do is come and
see. That's right. That's right. You know who He
is? He's the surety of the covenant.
And you'll find in Him everything you need to know about God's
eternal covenant of mercy. His blood's the blood of the
covenant. He's the surety of the covenant. He's the shepherd
of the sheep. Come and see. He's got on the counsels of God. For in Him are all the treasures
of wisdom. All right. Come and see something
else. Come and see the way literally
opened into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Don't you know,
if I had been a young man dwelling in Israel in the days of Moses,
boy, I would be inquisitive about that tabernacle. Here the camp
is, all around here, and right in the middle of the camp is
that great field with the high eight foot white linen fence
around it and right in the middle of it, that tabernacle and all
the awesome the presence of God and the cloud hanging over that
tabernacle and the pillar of fire by night. I'd look out of
my tent as a young boy and I'd see that tabernacle and I'd see
that pillar of fire. Awesome. Awesome. And during the day when we was
marching, I'd see that cloud out ahead of that tabernacle.
And then I'd stand on the Day of Atonement and I'd see that
old priest take that lamb and slay it and then come here to
the labor and wash his hands and wash his feet and take that
basin of blood and go inside that tabernacle, wouldn't see
him anymore when he came out. My dad would tell me that he'd
gone into the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God, right
before the mercy seat, and I'd say, oh, I'd love to know something
about that mercy seat. I'd love to know something about
that Holy of Holies. Son, nobody can go in the Holy
of Holies but the high priest. You come and see. You come and
see. When my Lord died as our high
priest on that great cross of Calvary, he literally took that
old veil in the temple and tore it in two from top to bottom.
And he said, come and see. Come on, boldly, before the throne
of grace. Oh, my, draw near with a true
heart and full assurance. Walk into the presence of God
with great liberty. You see what I said at the first?
John couldn't do this for them. And I can't do it for you. And
you can go to church the rest of your life. You can go to church
until they give you the rose for the oldest mother in the
congregation. Or give you a tie for being the granddaddy there
with the most grandchildren. And still not see anything. You've
got to go to Christ. Come and see. In Him you'll get
a glimpse into the counsels of God. And you'll get a glimpse
into the Holy of Holies. And not only that, but you'll
come and see the Red Sea opened again. Oh, I tell you, those
boys and girls, Luke, must have been astounded when they came
to the Red Sea and their parents were panicking and there was
the sea in front of them. There was Pharaoh's army gaining
on them from the rear, and there's these mountains on either side,
and they've got two or three million people, and they've got
babies and wagons and oxen, and here this man's coming with chariots
moving as fast as a desert storm over there right now in Iraqi.
And Moses stood there and told them to stand still. I bet it was hard for all of
them to stand still. It's been hard for me to stand
still. Stand still, though, and see!
the salvation of God. And you know that old Red Sea
just parted on either side, and they walked right through on
dry land. And I see out in front of me now as I get older, death, judgment, eternity. And in between
me and that eternity is a deep, wide, dark sea. But if I can come to Christ,
I can see the way. Not around it. You can't go around
it, Richard. You've got to meet it head on.
You've got to buck it. You can't go around it. I've had friends that always
wanted the Lord to come before they die. I think the main reason
not to want the Lord to come is you just don't want to die.
Let's be honest now. Come on. That's right. But we can't go around it. You've
got to meet it head on. But come and see. He's going
to park that thing on either side. You're going to walk through
on dry land. That's right. Come and see the
head of the old serpent crushed by the woman's seed. For this
purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works
of the devil. Come and see the royal law of
God magnified and made honorable by the second Adam. Here's a
man actually that can look the Lord God in the face and say,
I always do those things you command me. And every man spake like this. I pray. I say, Father, may it
be Your will to do this. May it be Your will. Thy will
be done. My Lord didn't pray that way all the time. Sometimes
He said, I will. Isn't it? Father, I will that
those whom You've given me be with me where I am. That's my
will. And you know He has it? Come and see. None like Him. Come and see. Is the Old Testament
a mystery to you? Christ will unmystify it. He
will. He'll unmystify it. Come and
see the serpent lifted up. Come and see the rock smitten.
Come and see the Passover lamb slain. Come and see the manna
fall from heaven. Come and see. He's fulfilled
every jot and tittle of it. Come and see. And then I invite you to come
and see the last enemy. Destroyed. Death. The last enemy destroyed by the
death of the Redeemer. He destroyed death by death. He didn't destroy death by some
power over it or hocus pocus around it. He destroyed death
by submitting to it. And when he died, I died. Paul
could say after that, O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law. But preach me unto God who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, who destroys death
by death. Come and see. He said, he that
believeth on me will never die. Well, I've still got to go the
way of all flesh. And I've got to go down into
that tomb. This body must someday line the tomb. I was sick last
Sunday and couldn't be here. Was that last Sunday morning?
I can't remember. Last Sunday morning, I was sick. And it's very unusual for me
to be sick and miss a preaching engagement. In fact, I can't
remember it happening before but one time. missing services
here because of illness. But Doris was talking to Paul
and Mindy and Hannah and told them I was sick. Well, she's
not used to her granddaddy being sick. I don't think she's ever
known me to be sick. She said, is he going to die? Is he going to die? That troubled
her, you know. Yeah, he is. I don't know when,
but he is. and he's got an appointment with
the grave. But I'll tell you this, you want
to see a victory over the grave? Come and see. Those women went
to the tomb and the angel stood there and said, why are you looking
for the living among the dead? He's not here, he's risen. And
because he lives, I'm going to live. Come and see. All of this, This
is not doctrine. This is reality. This is not
just doctrine. This is revelation. This is not
just theory. This is God's wisdom. And every
bit of it is found in Christ. And that's the reason this wise
servant of God called John the Baptist, who didn't have much
longer to live, but these two disciples, these men that loved
him and had followed him and been with him, he said, there
he is, there's the Lamb of God. Now you follow him. And they
did. They did. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies,
which according to His abundant mercies hath begotten us unto
a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Come and see. Well, I like verse
39. I'll quit with this. And so it
says, When our Lord said to them, Come and see, they came and they
saw. And then you know what they did?
Verse 41, he found his own brother Simon and said to him, I found
the Messiah. And now old Andrew had a message,
didn't he? I found the Messiah. And then
they went to Peter and they said, I found the Messiah. And then
they went to Nathanael and they said, we found the Messiah. That
was the message. May we be dedicated Every one
of us, first ourselves personally, to come and sing. And when we've
seen to go and tell, we've found the Messiah. All right, Ronnie,
come and lead us in whatever song you've picked out, the closing
hymn.

Come and See

What does the Bible say about following Christ?

How do we know Jesus is the Messiah?

Why is understanding Christ's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does 'Come and see' mean in a Christian context?

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Come and See

What does the Bible say about following Christ?

How do we know Jesus is the Messiah?

Why is understanding Christ's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does 'Come and see' mean in a Christian context?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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